Easter Mishap

I can't stop laughing. This might be wrong, but it's a really funny wrong. I know the mood was somber and all, but how did everyone not die laughing?

Objectivity

This has been something I've seen for a long time but has come to a head recently in my thoughts. Fans of sports teams have no common sense. (get ready, I'm about to make some broad generalizations). Also sorry for two sports posts in a row.

Let's start by clarifying there is a difference between a fan of a particular team and a fan of a sport. I have a friend who loves college basketball. Loves it. Takes major time off of work during March Madness so he can see more of the games. He might have teams he roots for more than others, but he just loves to watch college basketball period.

I would say that I love hockey. There are teams I would love to see win more than others. There are teams I would just love to see lose most every game (Flyers). But I just love watching hockey and Martin Biron (Flyers goalie) makes a good save I ooh and aah. I love the game not necessarily a team. (Though I'd love to see the Sabres or Penguins win The Cup sometime soon.)

Conversely, we all know people who are die-hard fans of a particular team. There are no other teams but their team.

Here's what I've seen though...and you know I'm right. Fans of a team, lose all objectivity toward the particular game itself.

As you know we don't have TV. I'm really good with that....except for watching sports. I've found ways to watch sports online. Most of the sights though have the game in one window and a chatroom for everyone watching the game in another window. Now granted as a general rule the people who make the most noise aren't always the best representatives for the whole....however....the preposterous statements I've been reading make me lose faith in sports fans in general.

-Fans of a team have the inability to see that referees are doing the best they can. They're human. They usually screw up calls for both teams. Granted now and again, there is a HUGE CALL that is missed for one team other the other.....OR a HUGE CALL made that shouldn't have been. But just the average flow of the game, team fans, only see that their team is being whistled. Ex: Last week the Pens and Flyers were playing. The Pens won the game. After the game a Flyers fan was complaining at all the bad calls against the Flyers on an online forum I'm on. In that game the Pens had 4 more minutes of penalties called on them than the Flyers.

In the age of free agency there are less and less pure rivalries in sports. Sports writters will hype up certain teams playing each other and get the fans all boiled up....and players always are competative so they say things that might spark something....but where are the old rivalries? I bring this up because Mr. Team Fan, likes the players on their team. But as soon as the season is over and that player goes to another team during free-agency, instanty they can't be liked anymore. Ex: Ask a Pittsburgh Pirates fan about Sid Bream. He made a good play. He's a good player. He just wasn't playing for the Pirates when he made it.

I don't care one hoot that you are a fan of a team. Good for you. Go crazy with it. Just be objective enough....intelligent enough to see sports for what they are. GAMES. It doesn't matter.

NHL Round 2

So as of last night the match-ups for Round 2 of the NHL playoffs were set. So I feel obliged to make my predictions again. Before we get there, let's see how I fared thus far.....I originally made picks in 6 of the 8 games and coped out on two. I got 4 out of my 6 picks right. Not horrible. Not psychic level either.

I also should say that both of the matchups that I got wrong were pretty big shocks to me. I can't believe the Sharks choked the way they did. And the Devils lost a heartbreak of a game last night.

Ok so without any further delay, let's get to the match-ups and my picks.

EASTERN CONFERENCE:

Boston Bruins vs. Carolina Hurricanes: The fact that Carolina is here is a shock to me. I'll grant them that they're playing well. Cam Ward has been pretty good. However.....they now face the Bruins. I'm not a Boston fan, but I have to tell you that I really love watching them play. They are just a dominant team. They can play any way they need to. They can be fast and finese or they can drop the gloves and fight. They have a great goalie who is hot. I don't see Carolina beating Boston. I don't see this going 6 games.....maybe not even 5. Boston is just too strong and Carolina barely got by New Jersey. My pick: Boston Bruins hands down.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Washington Capitals: The NHL has to be salivating at this. Conspiracy theorists would say that somehow Gary Bettman pulled strings to make New York lose so they would have to play Pittsburgh. We're going to hear about Crosby vs. Ovechkin and Malkin vs. Ovechkin. You defiinately have lots of marque talent on the ice here. Washington was smart and finally ditched Theodore (goalie) and replaced him with rookie Simeon Varlamov who has been really good. However Marc Andre-Fleury has been sensational as well. Beyond the hype this could be a really good match-up. Since I don't feel I should have any more cop-out answers I'm going to pick Pittsburgh...only because I'd like to see them win.....but this could go either way.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Detroit Red Wings vs. Anaheim Ducks: Again, I didn't believe Anaheim would be here. Much like Washington, they benched their normal starting goalie and have ridden their hot back-up Hiller. He has been the difference. And you could argue that the Ducks have just beat the Presidents Trophy winner and that they could knock off Detroit too........but I wouldn't. San Jose has a history of poor playoff performance (illiteration). Detroit has the exact opposite history. I think Detroit has too much spead and fire power up front for Anaheim. I don't think this is a good match up for the Ducks. Detroit will roll to the Conference Finals.

Vancouver Canucks vs. Chicago Blackhawks: Neither team has had a lot of success in the playoffs for a number of years. In fact Chicago hasn't been out of the first round in 13 years....since some of the guys on their team were in elementary school! Of all the match-ups I care the least for this one. I probably won't watch any of these games. I just don't have a vested interested in either team. That being said, there should be some really good hockey in this series. Both teams have some youngsters that have speed and some good goaltending. Should be a good series. This could go either way....but since I have to pick.....I'll say Vancouver.

So there are mine. Disagree? Give me your picks!!!

When Pigs Fly

As a preface: I recognize that this is a very serious situation. I also recognize that I will laugh at my own funeral. In doing legitimate research today I found these and chuckled. They're only for humor sake.

The start of the Swine Flu
















This PSA came out in 1976!!!! Why was nobody paying attention?



And finally Neatorama is selling these T-shirts. Link to buy here.

4/27 Monday Update

( can I just say that the picture I used last Monday makes me laugh every time. Puffy staring amazed at a 1 dollar bill.....how'd that get mixed in there. HA)
the weekend that was:
-WHAT AN AWESOME WEATHERED WEEKEND!!!!!
-Friday morning I needed to go set some tables up at church. Pastor Mike was having a rough day of it so we ended up sitting in the nursery chatting while the boys wreaked havoc on the room. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I really love my pastor. He's a real person.
-We left the church and went to do groceries. We ran into a couple other people from church while we were there. Tobiah decided that the middle of last week was a great time to get pneumonia, so everyone wanted to make sure he was OK.
-Lots of playing outside and "walks" all weekend. Walks now means that Tobiah goes in the stroller, Corban rides his bike (because that's the only thing he wants to do with his time these days) and Mari and I walk.
-Friday night Mari and I struggled and argued about what we were going to say to my friends 30 Hour Famine group the next day. We really approach a task like this differently and to have us do it collectively was a HUGE challenge for us.
-Saturday morning I pounded coffee while working hard on our talk. All of a sudden at 10:30 Corban wanted to go to a playground because it was GORGEOUS. It made sense that we go to a playground.....but we also had to speak at 1 and were totally not ready. We went anyway.
-We spoke at 1. It didn't go great. The kids were tired and we had too much to say. It was fine though.
-Saturday evening was PIZZA, baths, and another walk.
-Sunday morning was pretty normal. Then it was home for quick lunch then I was off to play paintball. I haven't played in a LONG TIME. I know this will sound weird, but it felt really good to shoot my friends.
-I high taled it out of there to make it back in time for youth group. After youth group spent some time talking to my buddy J about life and kids etc. Looking forward to having coffee with him this week.
-Back home to watch the first Star Wars.

where i am at the moment: Home. It's another great day so we're headed outside in a minute here. It's almost too hot for my taste. I have to figure out how to set this gate up to keep Tobiah on the porch.

on my to-do list this week: Pick music for this week. Pick music for the Annual Conference worship service that's Friday night. Somehow I'm leading that now. Need to make some calls.

procrastinating about: Eh....a little procrastination never hurt anybody????

book I'm in the midst of: I have to be honest here....I'm really in a lull. I have some books I should be reading but just can't bring myself to do anything.

media that seemed to catch my attention this past week: For whatever reason I've been listening to and downloading some Lifehouse lately.

grand revelations this past week: My wife and I are very different. I know that isn't much of a revelation...more of a rediscovery. I love you Mari.

how i’m feeling about this week: unsure. I just don't know what to expect from this week.

on blogs

This was on my friend Tara's blog. Soooo good.

Oceans

A new remake of Ocean's Eleven!

Trust Fall

4/20 Monday Update

the weekend that was:
-A really long, but really good weekend.
-Friday Mari took off work. I love when she's home. I just love being a family and spending time together. This also allowed me to meet with some youth pastors and two really cool friends from the camp I spoke at last year (and am speaking at again this summer!). I just really love spending time with those folks.
-Weather was beautiful all weekend. Got our oil changed. Went out for dinner. Took walks. Got ready for family coming. Great day.
-Saturday morning started early. Mari's sister Helena her husband Martin and their 5 children arrived at our house at 9am. Beyond the fact that we love them to pieces and love when they come to visit.....they brought us Tim Horton's donuts!!!! We spent the morning playing around the house with them.
-Saturday after lunch Mari's parents and other sister Beatrice and two of her daughters arrived.
-in the afternoon we all went to a farm that is owned by Mari's co-worker (the pastor of the Rouse Home). They kids had a blast seeing the goats and sheep and walking around the farm. We then went down the road to a playground to play.
-Sunday morning for me was similar to most other Sunday mornings. However it was Tobiah's baptism so I had some extra instructions to do things when I got to the church.
-Our little church was PACKED! It was really cool looking out at our congregation and not seeing empty spaces. Church was awesome. I'll probably blog the baptism in the next couple days.
-After church we had brunch downstairs for friends and family. This was a great time to chat with everyone. Sooooo much fun.
-Afternoon was hanging out with family at our house.
-Sunday night was youth group as usual. Good fun. THEN it was home for WIZARD!!!!

where i am at the moment: Home. I'm watching the Boston Bruins vs. Montreal Canadiens. Great series just as I predicted.

on my to-do list this week: As always music to pick out. Teen drama. Planning ahead. Meeting with people for coffee!!!!

procrastinating about: I feel spent. Right now I'm procrastinating about everything (as witnessed by the fact that it's 8:30pm and I'm not done with this post yet).

book I'm in the midst of: Reading is for suckers.

media that seemed to catch my attention this past week: Xylopholks. An odd group from NYC. They dress up funny and play in parks and subways, but they're really good. Check out this video. or this one is really good too. You can also check out their myspace page.

grand revelations this past week: The problem with this category is that I have to remember the entire week to think about it......I got nothing....

how i’m feeling about this week: in a word....LAZY.

This might go against good blog etiquette but I'm doing it anyway. My friend Andrea from Better than Good had a link the other day to this cool video. Thought I'd embed it for those who don't frequent her blog.

A 4 year old!

In March of 2005 Marjorie and I got a letter in the mail with some pictures in it.....some REALLY CUTE pictures. We believed that he would be in our arms that summer......fall at the latest. July of 2006 our little boy was home.

As only Africa can do Corban has a birthday AFTER we had pictures of him. As of April 8th we have a 4 year old living at our house. A still very cute 4 year old I might add. He's so hilarious. I love talking with him because he's so stinking smart you never know what's going to come out of his mouth.

Happy Birthday Big Dog!

Search Me

This is neat. How many times a day do you use a search engine? I use one A LOT! Mainly because I wonder about lots of random things and the fastest way to find answer is search. ANYWAY....

Hoongle uses United Nations World Food Program. Every time you use their search engine, you are routed through Google.....so all your searches are the same. HOWEVER.....Google donates part of their revenue to Hoongle who then gives it to the Food Program. You can check out there "How It Works Page" or the FAQ

This is kind of similar to the Free Rice definition game. You pick the right definition and they donate grains of rice.

Anyway....more way to make a difference, if you've got time. I wish Firefox had an easy add-on for the toolbar.

Too Much Time on Your Hands.

You know you have too much time on your hands when you can create something like this. How much planning did this take? I'm amazed by stuff like this. Not only because I know I'm not this creative, but just the dedication to carry it through....

Story Time

Ok kids. Gather around. Sit down cross legged and enjoy a story.....read by the President of the US. Not just any story though. Sit down and listen to the President read, "Where the Wild Things Are". Love him or hate him....he's reading Where the Wild Things Are!!!!!

NHL Playoff Time

If you read my blog you know I love hockey. You may not and that's fine....so stop reading this post.

Tomorrow the NHL playoffs start. It's like Season 2. Everything is different. Forget the regular season records. Forget who's won last year. Each team either steps it up or goes home. Less fighting, but bigger hits. Every goal is HUGE.

As I looked at the first round match-ups, 5 out of the 8 really intrigued me. So I'm going to go WAY out on a limb here and make my first round predictions. So here they are. If you disagree or would like to make your own predictions, please leave a comment below!!!!

EASTERN CONFERENCE:
Let me just say that all of the games in the East look really good. I don't necessarily care who wins all of them, but they should be really good hockey.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Philadelphia Flyers: Great match-up. These two teams have faced each other a lot in the playoffs. They have the Pennsylvania ties that go along with it too. Lots of history. Penguins went to the cup finals last year. Flyers have been tough this year. I really want the Penguins to win this series because I like them and I despise the Flyers. Flyers have weak goaltending. Penguins are hot right now. Flyers have lots of guns up front though. I'm going to cop out here and say that this matchup depends on the goalies. If Biron or Fleury get hot it's lights out. Please please let it be Fleury. No Pick

Montreal Canadians vs. Boston Bruins: I think this has the potential to be the best matchup in the first round. Boston is the top seed in the East and has been dominant all year. Montreal is the 8th seed. HOWEVER....these two teams have MAJOR history. Like...original 6 teams in the league type history. 3 of the last 4 times Boston has made the playoffs, Montreal bounced them in the first round including last year. Don't think this series will be good? Check out this "highlight" from just the other day when they played each other! Tim Thomas (Bruins goalie) has been ridiculous this year. They have an incredibly talented young group of guys. Bruins win this gritty battle.

New Jersey Devils vs. Carolina Hurricanes: New Jersey is a playoff powerhouse. They take their game to a level that most other teams don't even have. They have the best goalie that's playing in the NHL EVER (and that from a Grant Fuhr freak). Carolina was weak the first part of the year but have poured it on the second half. Cam Ward has been steller in net. Carolina beat NJ in 06 on their way to a cup, and in 02...but that's ancient history. Good match up of very similar teams. New Jersey Devils

New York Rangers vs. Washington Capitals: Again I could care less who wins this series. In fact I wouldn't mind if they both lost...but that's not possible. The Rangers have one of the best goalies in the league. Washington doesn't, but they do have the best goal scorer in the league. From that stand-point this series is interesting. Washington is younger but the Rangers have experience. History is non-existant here. I'm going to say the Capitals....only because they've just been really good down the stretch....but either team could win here.

WESTERN CONFERENCE:
There's really only one matchup that I find interesting in the West. The others are OK, but lack flair, pop, whatever...the second round should be really good out west though.
Anaheim Ducks vs. San Jose Sharks: This is the one good match-up. When these two teams get together sparks go off. San Jose has had the best team in hockey this year. They have great goaltending (which is what I always look at first...wonder why?). Anaheim has some tough guys. This should be a very chippy series. I don't think Anaheim can hang with the big boys this year though...too many old guys that should've retired after their Cup win a few years ago. Sharks win this one.

Detroit Red Wings vs. Columbus Blue Jackets: This is the first time the Blue Jackets have made the playoffs EVER. This is exactly where the Red Wings expect to be every year at the start of the season. They are a playoff powerhouse. Let's also not forget that they won the cup last year....and have only gotten better by adding Marian Hossa (Penguins fans all boo). Columbus has had great goaltending this year (probably the Vezina winner) from Mason. Columbus is young and will make some waves in another year or two....this year however.....nah. Detroit wins.
St. Louis Blues vs. Vancouver Canucks: Don't care. St. Louis picked it up late in the season...but how much do they have left in the tank? Vancouver has a great goalie in Luongo, but he hasn't been steller in the playoffs. I'd like to see Vancouver win, but honestly nothing would surprise me here. No pick.

Chicago Blackhawks vs. Calgary Flames: Chicago is really young. Like the youngest team in the league. Calgary is completely relying on their goalie Kiprusoff to win. Chicago has two good goalies though Khabibulin has been the stand-out. I'd love to see Chicago win....because their young and Patrick Kane is from Western NY. Blackhawks.

So there you have it. Six picks and two cop-outs. The upside to this post is that while it's long....the next round of the play-offs will have less teams and thus I'll make less predictions!

4/13 Monday update

the weekend that was:
-I'm glad last week is over.
-Friday was boys day like normal. I found a piano player on Wednesday of last week, so I had to meet him on Friday morning to practice some stuff. We spent a little more time than I had thought. Tobiah was a bit cranky by the time we left.
-Home for naps for all of us...then Mari came home to make pierogies. (Again possibly a story for later)
-Good Friday service went really really well. It was a Tenebrae service. Basically throughout the service candles are extinguished and lights turned out until it's dark and you leave. More people showed up than expected which is nice because we thought no one would be there.
-Saturday morning we took the boys to the local TSC (Tractor Supply Center) because they had baby chickens and ducks. The boys loved that.
-Corban and Mari dyed eggs for Easter.
-most of the rest of Saturday was chill time....including a special movie night for Corban.
-Sunday morning was nuts. Easter is a big deal. The worship team didn't get a chance to practice on Wed. because the prayer stations took up the entire church. So we had to get their early to practice.....which bled over into Sunday School. Worship was great. I love Easter.
-Sunday afternoon naps were very much in order.
-Sunday evening we had Easter dinner that Mari rocked out!

where i am at the moment: Home. Watching Oceans 11....mainly just to turn my brain off.

on my to-do list this week: This next Sunday we are baptizing Tobiah. We have family coming in from all over the place. I'm really excited by that, but it also means we have a little more to get ready this week than normal. Work-wise...I need to make sure youth stuff is done WAY ahead of time this week. ALSO....we found out that Tobiah's Social Security number was kicked out of the system so I have to go to the SS office this week to give them copies of documents to verify that he's actually who he says he is......um......right.

procrastinating about: Nothing. Because I'm too cool for that.

book I'm in the midst of: I had no time for reading last week....so I'm still working on Jesus for President. Maybe I'll finish this week.....maybe not.

media that seemed to catch my attention this past week: See my posts about David Crowder. "Lead Me to the Cross" by Hillsong. I sang it on Good Friday....and can't get it out of my head.

grand revelations this past week: I think next year we should see about cancelling Holy Week.

how i’m feeling about this week: As long as everything goes smoothly this week, we should be good to go.

and now there's a video.....

Crowder

You may or may not know this but David Crowder is recording a new album. I can't wait.

As they've done the past couple albums they've recorded, the band has set up webcams around the barn/house/studio they're recording in. So you can be a voyeur and watch them do what they do....which some of the time is just check their facebook status.

They are also posting a video every day on YouTube. Some of these are just pure fun. Some of them actually show the band doing some work. If you watch them though you can hear snippets of songs....which are sounding AWESOME.

The other day the also released a really goofy "Rockumentary" video that was just pure silliness.

This morning they "released a new song" on their MySpace page. All you need to do is click the link and it'll take you to their page. The music plays by itself. It's not for real. For those not in the know....B-Wack is their drummer. He is a technology junky. If you'll remember back to this post I did awhile ago, B-wack rewired a Guitar Hero guitar to play real music. He's done bunch of goofy fun stuff like that. Anyway, the song makes me laugh.

After watching thier videos and listening to this song, I wonder how much work they're really doing though.

4/6 Monday update

the weekend that was:
-A weekend of business. Which should be a good build up to this week, which should be insanity.
-Friday I had the boys as always. We had a special trip to undertake. There's a bigger story that will go behind it (see blog post later this week). Suffice it to say, we drove in the rain an hour away to an even smaller town (Tionesta) where Mari and I found a dinor (that's how they spell it) that sells home made pierogies. We had lunch and picked up our order.
-Our trip took up most of our Friday. We also had to drop orders off at Mari's work to some of her co-workers.
-Friday night I went to the All-County Musical. Every other year, all the high schools in the county do a musical together. This year they did "Thoroughly Modern Millie". Almost all of my youth group was in the musical in one way or the other. This will sound biased, but THEY WERE FABULOUS! One of my girls had one of the leads and was just outstanding good. Wow.
-While Saturday is usually my do nothing day.....this day would be different. Around 10 Corban and I went downtown to this free kids fair thing. Basically a bunch of business and day-cares have tables that kids can do activities or get free stuff. Lots of coloring books, candy, etc. It's something to do. It kills time. However most of the people there are looking for free stuff. I just wanted to have fun with my son. Big difference.
-Afterward the two of us went to McD's for lunch. I love having lunch with just him. Good conversation. Corban's hillarious.
-Corban's birthday is this week (Wednesday). Because it's in the middle of a busy week we had some friends over Sat. night for some cake and ice cream. It was way fun. Very relaxed. Kids played, adults just chatted. Good times.
-Sunday morning was the usual business of Sunday morning. After church Mari stayed to set up the prayer stations we're doing on Wed. and I took the boys home, fed them and got them napping.
-In the mean time I got word that the director of the musical that all the kids were involved in, had a massive heart attack and died early afternoon. So instead of taking my normal Sunday nap, I was texting and facebooking (is that a word?) teens.
-Sunday night was Connections. Good time. Not a giant group, but we had a good lesson. I had a really good talk with a parent/volunteer afterward that helped me get some perspective.

where i am at the moment: My dining room. It's been a long day. It's going to be a long week.

on my to-do list this week: I can't even list it all. Tunch Ilkin is speaking in town tomorrow night. Wed. is prayer stations. Thursday is a Maundy Thursday service. Friday is a Good Friday service....and then Easter Sunday. As of this moment I have no pianist this week. That's bad when you're trying to do a fairly tradtional week of music and I have let my piano playing slide over the past 15 years.

procrastinating about: If I'm procrastinating about anything this week I'm an idiot. I have no time to mess around. There's tons to do.

book I'm in the midst of: I'm still working through "Jesus For President" by Shane Claiborne, and Chris Haw. I'm enjoying it, but it's slow going. The farther into the book I go the more I struggle with their premise on some things. Every little section builds on the previous sections, so it's getting thicker and thicker.

media that seemed to catch my attention this past week: Note for the record that I remembered that it's now "media" not music...even after a week's hiatus. For whatever reason the song You by Waterdeep has been in my head for weeks. It's not a popular song. Third Day doesn't play it. No one does in fact. The only version I found on YouTube was a cover by some teenagers in a room with bad sound. There's no online copies. But it's in my head.

grand revelations this past week: I need more sleep.

how i’m feeling about this week: STRESSED.

Random Hockey Saturday

-Soon after Corban came home I posted about how I was disappointed he won't be the first true African in the NHL. THEN I found this guy. Yared Hagos. He was drafted by the Dallas Stars in 2001. He never played a game in the NHL and has been playing back in Sweden where he grew up the past couple years. He was the most penalized player on his one team. Oh yeah I forgot to say that he's from Ethiopian decent. So on one level, there's still a slim amount of hope he could make the big leagues......on another level...it's not likely....which means my boys could still be the first full on ETHIOPIANS to play in the NHL.

-As part of my above topic search, I found this odd entry on Wikipedia. The reason it's odd is this.....the players on this list aren't all necessarily of African decent. What I mean is that several of these players were born and raised in Canada or so forth. One or two of their parents might have been from Africa.

-Then there's the amalgum that is Olaf "Olie the Goalie" Kolzig. He was born in South Africa. He was raised in Canada. He never applied for a Canadian visa....so because his parents are German...he still has citizenship there. He has played for the German national team in numerous international events. Very odd to represent a country that you weren't born or raised in I think.

-It's March Madness time.....IN HOCKEY TOO!!!! That's right. There is a bracket called the Frozen Four. They start with WAY less teams.....16 not 64. They're now down to their Frozen Four....and this year there's a shocker......Bemidji State. Not exactly a hockey powerhouse. In fact their the first 16 seed to make the last 4 standing...after beating some serious hockey powers. They play their next game next Thursday....the finals should they make them are the day before Easter.

-And now a series of hockey videos. The first is my hero. Grant Fuhr. This is the reason he's my hero......that and he has 5 Stanley Cups, a Vezna Trophy, and played in more games in a season than anyone to date!


-I need to say that I'm pretty sure this next video is not totally real. However if it is, I'll say this....I love a lot of guys I play with....and I would NEVER EVER EVER trust anyone to do this....not Gretzky or Mario....no one.


-Speaking of college hockey. Down a goal late in the 3rd period, Northern Michigan pulls their goalie to get an extra attacker. Usually not a bad idea. Until one of their guys.....well you'll see....

Madonna Update

Madonna was rejected by a Malawi judge to adopt.

Just to clarify my previous post....If Madonna or any other superstar wants to adopt a child, I fully applaud them. When they try to circumvent the system that's in place....the system that the rest of us have to follow....I'm saddened by that. If you read the above article, the judge denied her adoption because Malawi has rules in place about residency before you can adopt.....rules that she had "waved" for her last adoption in Malawi...rules she wanted waved this time too.....just because she's miss so-and-so.

The bigger point of my last post is that there are A LOT of children that need homes and there aren't that many getting homes.

I am neither sad nor happy that Madonna was denied this adoption. I'm happy that a small poor African country stood their ground.

Leading Worship

Ok so I was on YouTube the other day looking for a song. I got side tracked. I know that comes as a shock to you. The following are the results of me being side tracked.

I know you're not suppose to laugh at other people's expense.....but......


I would first refer you to the fact that I hate feet. With that in mind, this next video makes me want to vomit. There are many feet issues that I can't get over. THEN there's the actual music. I know that there are songs that can be redeemed....but this might be pushing it slightly. Maybe not...



And it was only a matter of time before this happened. How many times has this happened and has NOT been posted on YouTube?

Yeah and You missed the point....both

Let me get past my initial thoughts on this...to get to the real point of this post.....please bear with the rant to get to the heart.

So the big news is that Madonna is trying to adopt a second child from Malawi. I don't want to sit in judgment here. I don't know her motives. I don't know her heart. On the surface though it seems a little odd....and my dander raises slightly in thinking of Miss Jolie and her swoop into Ethiopia that held us up while adopting Corban.

Again, I don't know the behind the scenes stuff....but there are families waiting a long time for paperwork to clear. Out of nowhere she appears and wants to take a little girl home with her. Must be nice to have millions to grease some palms. When Angelina did it in Ethiopia back in 2005 we were held up for most of the next year because so much pressure and scrutiny was put on the Ethiopian adoption system. It appears that the same thing is replaying for a SECOND TIME for Madonna.

Let's not be too hasty to give Madonna sainthood. (or Angelina.....I'm still a little bitter there can you tell?)

SO ANYWAY......(rant off)....this morning as I sit here reading news and drinking coffee.....the AP has an article about how Madonna's adoption is part of a growing trend of African adoptions by foreigners. I would highly recommend you reading it so you know what I'm talking about from here on out.

The article talks about how these "high profile" adoptions draw attention to the ability of Westerners to adopting from Africa. I would say that's probably true. (However it does not paint a true picture of how the process actually works....you can't just show up with your family and walk out 5 days later with a new child). It also points out that traditional adoption powerhouses such as China, Russia and Guatemala have severely restricted foreign adoption, so more families are turning to African countries......particularly Ethiopia.

Apparently 1,725 children were adopted from Ethiopia from September 07-Sep. 08.....YEAH WE'RE A STATISTIC!!! Visas were issued for 2,399 African children last year by the US. That's cool. OH WAIT.....there are still 14 million orphans in Africa.....

So last year 2,399 orphans were adopted to the US out of approximately 14 million (and growing daily.....18 million by 2010!!!!!). DROP IN THE BUCKET. I know there has been a push by agencies (AAI included) to work on caring for children in country....either by extended families or by agencies in country. That's AWESOME. That's clearly option #1. Unless foreign countries severely fund stuff like that though, there's no way that can completely take care of the orphan problem.

I love hearing that adoptions are up. My hearts breaks to know how incrimentally small they are up compared to the overwhelming monster that faces us.

A religion that is pure and stainless according to God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows who are suffering, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.