If you haven’t already heard, Steven Curtis Chapman’s daughter was killed when her brother accidentally hit her while driving their SUV; he never saw her. I’ll be honest; I’m not extremely familiar with his music (though I know some of it), but I am familiar with his philanthropy. Please pray for them as they deal with this tragedy.

I haven’t watched American Idol this year, but I must say that both of the finalists this year were good–probably the best duo since Underwood/Bice, and definitely the best talent since Daughtry.

But the highlight of the night was George Michael’s song “Praying for Time.” I had never heard the song before…the lyrics are incredible. You can watch it here, or just read the lyrics:

- Praying For Time -

These are the days of the open hand
They will not be the last
Look around now
These are the days of the beggars and the choosers

This is the year of the hungry man
Whose place is in the past
Hand in hand with ignorance
And legitimate excuses

(more…)

In John D. Caputo’s What Would Jesus Deconstruct?, Caputo relates Jacques Derrida’s concept of gift to the New Testament concept of forgiveness. He notes that, in the New Testament, forgiveness is uneconomic and mad–that is to say, it is not an exchange of debts and credits.

Caputo rightly expresses that the Christian Right (as well as Jews) has typically put conditions on forgiveness. In this economic view of forgiveness, forgiveness has four steps:

Forgiveness requires an expression of sorrow, the intention to make amends, a promise not to repeat the offense, and a willingness to do penance. If someone meets all four conditions then they have earned forgiveness. We owe it to them the way the bank owes us the deed once the mortgage is paid off. A deal is a deal.”*

But Jesus turns this concept of forgiveness on its head in Matthew 5:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Or as Caputo puts it,

“If you love those who love you, what good is that? It makes perfect sense. Even the mafia does that. The unaccountable excess of love is felt when you love your enemies, when you love the unlovable–those whom it is unreasonable to love–which is the madness of the kingdom, which follows the nonprincipal of nonsufficient reason! Just so, the unaccountable excess of forgiveness is felt when we forgive precisely those who do not meet some or all of the four conditions, who are not sorry, do not repent, and do not intend to mend their ways. That is, genuine forgiveness is offered unconditionally, not the subject to meeting any or all of these four conditions, exactly the way Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of the Roman soldiers. Just so, we often speak of things that are unforgivable–the Holocaust, say, or the atrocities of American slavery or apartheid, or the several attempts at genocide we have witnessed in the past century. But would not such unforgivable things be the very subject matter of genuine forgiveness?”**

Can you imagine a world where we actually followed Jesus’s teaching on forgiveness instead of our hearts?

* 73-74
** 74

Y’all need to sign up for RME (Revolution Money Exchange). It’s like PayPal but it doesn’t charge fees for sending/receiving money. If you sign up before May 15, you’ll get $25 just for signing up! And I’ll get $10 for referring you. So DO it. It’s win-win.

I think they look sooo cute, but I’ve heard some less than stellar reviews of these diapers. Anyone tried them and had good success with them?

Here are the ones I’m eyeing:

Waaahh! They’re CUTE. I want them to work well, too.

Kyrie is so cute. She’s got our point & shoot camera and keeps saying, “Wookie (lookie) Mama! Say PEAS!” while she snaps photos of me. I love her.

Oh, and also, photos have been added to my photoblog.

Argh! This is frustrating. I’ve had a stuffy/runny nose for months now, along with watery eyes and an itchy throat. I kept debating whether it was a cold or allergies (it felt more like allergies, but I’d never had allergy problems before). Well, the entire time we were in Spokane, I felt WONDERFUL. No congestion, no sneezing, no watery eyes, nothing. It was the first time since Antonio was born that I was really feeling 100% healthy.

Well, now we’re back and I’m feeling HORRIBLE again. I could hardly sleep last night, it was bugging me so much. I’m guessing it’s a mold problem or something, but it’s almost definitely connected to our house.

Good thing we’re packing up and moving out in a month.

It’s cold enough to snow here, but of course it isn’t snowing. It was so chilly in our house last night that I decided our house was not built to withstand these temperatures (after all, it’s not often that it dips so low here in the South). Of course I woke up this morning to discover that our kitchen door was slightly open, so that didn’t help. Whoever left it open, I am frowning a frown of disapproval at you!

Kyrie, Antonio and I all snuggled up in the king size bed last night and slept wonderfully through the night. I have to admit that my favorite moments with my kids these days are the ones where they’re asleep.

Rick is in Florida doing classes and Rebekah, Forrest & the kids went to Texas to visit the Enloe family yesterday. So it’s just me with the kiddos. Play-Doh was the best Christmas present ever (for me, at least) because it has kept Kyrie occupied quite a lot lately, which helps me get things done.

Antonio smiles, coos, and giggles now. It’s lots of fun. I need to keep the camera next to the bed because he’s the happiest first thing in the morning.

Kyrie has possibly the worst cold of her life so far. She sounds really sad when she talks and she has quite a cough. No runny nose, thankfully. She rarely gets sick, so her worst cold isn’t necessarily horrible; just bad for her. I caught it, too, but I’m coping.

I enjoy cloth diapering more than I thought I would. I got a bit panicky about my decision a few days before he was born, wondering if it would add a lot of work, but it hasn’t. A little more laundry, perhaps, but not enough for me to really notice. Plus it’s nice that we don’t have to buy any diapers at the store.

I think I’ll go find something evil to eat. I have plenty of candy left in my stocking.

Today I spent three hours at the mall with a 2-year-old. Not exactly sure what I was thinking, but Kyrie had a blast. I brought quarters and let her ride on those car things (pregnancy brain, I can’t think of the names of anything) and we did lots of window shopping (she’s a total shopper — tried on several pairs of sunglasses, headbands, looked through clothes, etc).

The house is messy. I don’t want to clean it. I wish I had abilities like Mary Poppins.

Until I have the baby, so that nobody starts wondering and decides to call me and ask me how I’m feeling or if I’m having any signs or symptoms of impending labor. If you’ve called and I haven’t called you back, it’s not because I don’t like you. I’ll call you back when I actually have something to tell you.