Great Cats

With all the stress of my book deadline I needed some laughs. Check out the pics on Stuff On My Cat or I Can Has Cheezburger. Here are a few of my favorites ...

weight of the world

As I near my next revision deadline I am becoming less and less social, active, less able to write anything except my book. But it's been a week of blows and I had to write. Good blows and bad. Our friend the Rooneys went to Ethiopia to collect their son, their lovely new son, Abenezer Rooney. Another blow: I had another birthday, and the number just sent me over the hump toward another milestone, toward wisdom and experience and crap. Old age.

And there have been a rash of shooting deaths. Mostly gang related, but also just human nature falling apart related. Tonight as I drove home from the library, right at the bottom of our hill were ten cop cars, police tape, and a big detour around the block.

A couple weeks ago a high school football star with college aspirations was gunned down forty yards from his home. Jamiel Shaw's story made it into the papers. I read it and wept. There's just nothing good about this. What good can come of it? And today I read a headline about an 11 year old boy killed by gang gunfire. And some other guy chopped up his brother's basset hound.

I can't bring myself to think of that poor creature. But they're all poor creatures. Our home group is studying N.T. Wright's book, Simply Christian. Wright argues that all religions and cultures show the fact that we all long for justice, spirituality, relationship and beauty. Wright then examines how Christianity makes the most sense of those longings, what God intends to do with them. Wright believes that God's plan for redeeming and rehabilitating the world came to full fruition in Jesus Christ. And now we (should be) bringing God's redemption to all parts of the world by restoring justice, spirituality, relationship and beauty.

To which I reply, "We have seriously dropped the ball, of late."

Wright doesn't believe that the chief end of man is to "get to heaven when we die." Maybe it's a rest stop, but our ultimate destination is back here, to redeem THIS place, because this is where we're going to be for forever.

I have assumed that after death I'll go to be with Jesus in some other place or at least, dimension. But what if we end up back here? Well then, trashing this place or its people, isn't an option.

It kind of makes it my responsibility to be working on redemption now. It kind of makes it my responsibility to join that mentoring program for would be teen writers. Or recycling. Or sending money to Africa to start wells. Or stop being an ass when I drive (That was my Lenten sacrifice and I'm doing pretty well, PTL)

Still, I'm not sure what to do with the cop cars at the bottom of the hill or Jamiel or that basset hound. Except pray they are at the way station, resting up and waiting for the time to return.

"It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, of burden of my neighbor's glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken."It is a serious thing... to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you could see it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. "There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. "All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations." CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory

A Rooney Of Their Own

Our house owners, Ted and Lori, applied to adopt a baby from Ethiopia. It's been a year-long process, from starting paperwork, passing screenings, getting approved by "Gladney," the adoption agency in the States, then by the orphanage, then waiting for a child referred to them. They 'met' their referral baby via pictures in December. Lori had started a blog back in May chronicling the whole journey.

The day came in the Ethiopian court. Gladney has a great reputation and never had any problems with adoptions. But this time the judge didn't trust the paperwork. Adoption Denied. That was January 4. Ted and Lori were crushed. But the attorney who works for the orphanage launched a vigorous appeal, made sure all the paperwork was in order, backed up and attested to, so no judge would doubt it. But even with everything in order, nobody knew what to expect.

Lori came down from Portland this weekend. The court date for the appeal is tomorrow.

My plan was to fast and pray today as. Ethiopia is 11 hours ahead. This morning I was in my office, and heard Ted and Lori on speaker phone with someone. After some time the speaker phone went silent. I went out to the dining room.

"Was that Gladney?" I asked.
"Yes," Ted replied.
"Were they prepping you for tomorrow?"
Ted smiled. "We're parents."
Court officials reviewed the paperwork a day early and said, "Why was this ever denied?" They approved the adoption without the court date! You can read more on their blog, but here's a picture of the peanut.

The community of parents who've adopted from Ethiopia is tight, and the Rooneys have gotten a lot of support. Lori pointed to me to the story of one couple who've adopted two children. On their last visit they stayed a while at the orphanage, playing games and visiting with the children. They met an adorable 8 year old boy, Samson. When they finally left camp, the boy he whispered in the man's ear, "choose me."

The good news is, the three of them are coming to The States they're going to The States to the "Bright Futures" camp, where families who are interested in adoption older children can come and meet lovely children like Samson and his sisters. If you're the praying sort, please pray that Samson and his siblings find parents who are worthy of them!