More Congratulations Are In Order..

Our friends Kerrey and Kari are now the proud parents of Lillian. 8lbs even and 19 3/4 inches long. Prayers of thanksgiving for safe delivery and a new daughter to compliment their two sons. Praise be to God!

Another hit on my childhood...

Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary dead at 72

(AP) – 1 hour ago

DANBURY, Conn. — Mary Travers, one-third of the hugely popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, has died.

The band's publicist, Heather Lylis, says Travers died at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut on Wednesday. She was 72 and had battled leukemia for several years.

I can remember my daddy singing "Puff the Magic Dragon" to me with his guitar when I was a wee baby and have loved Peter Paul & Mary's music ever since. And the woman could play one heck of a guitar.

Rest in peace and play with the angels.

We're #37!!!

Hat tip to IT...

Great News!!!

According to the Dr's, Sprout is doing much better and should be able to come home tomorrow!!! Apparently it was just a NASTY little virus that's been going around. My guess is that either I brought it home from work (I do work in a hospital) or Spud brought it back from daycare. Sometimes I wonder if I'm not raising little petri dishes...

Thank you all who prayed for her and for us. My baby girl's coming home tomorrow!!!

You have GOT to be kidding me...

This has got to be THE height of Biblically induced HOGWASH I have ever heard...

I wonder if anyone has told him he's the antichrist...

More Prayers Please

Mrs. H has been at the ER with Sprout since about 4:30 this morning.  I don't think it's anything serious, but that's the optimist in me.  She had a 100.8 fever this morning, and the discharge instructions said "if the baby has a fever over 100.4 call the Doctor." Long story short, the Dr. on call at the ER told her to bring Sprout in.  So far they've run tests for flu (negative), chest x-rays (clear), blood and urine cultures (pending) and such.  Her temp has hovered between 97.7 and 100 since she got there.  The doctor on call told Mrs. H that normal procedures for babies that small (I think they are treating her as a preemie, even though she was only 3 days early) is to admit for three days.  They have poor Sprout on all kinds of monitors and Mrs. H is at her wits end.  I of course am manning the fort and keeping Spud out of trouble at home, so I am getting all the news second hand.  Please keep Mrs. H and Sprout in your prayers today.

Recap, or How to Almost Have a Home Birth part 2

You know, you'd think I'd learn my lesson the first time around, but no...

8-31-09
1230am  Mrs. H asks me to put her to bed since I am still up working on a 1000-15000 word essay for class on Monday.  She is complaining of some back pain and wants me to rub her back... She asks me to stay home from work "just in case".

2am  Finish the first 500 words of the essay and call it a night.

6am  I get up to call in to work.  I leave a message saying that Mrs. H thinks she's going into labor, but I'm not so sure.

6:15am  Bloody show. Crap... Call work back and tell them it looks like there will be a baby after all. Since Spud came in about 5 hours from that point, I still have some time.  I start double checking our bags.

7:00  I go wake Spud up and take him to daycare.  I let them know that a friend of ours will probably be picking him up later because he's about to be a big brother.  Spud is ambivalent.    Teachers are excited for us.

7:45 I stop at McDonald's for a quick xtra large vanilla iced coffee.  Rush home.

8am  Mrs. H calls her doctor's office.  Hospital policy is that if possible you stop at your clinic first (which is on the same campus) so the doctor can check you out before hand.  Her contractions are "mild" (her words) but moving to about 10 minutes apart... crap...   The clerk can't get the nurse on the line but moves her 3pm appt to 9am.  We start loading the car.

8:40am  Finally on the way to the hospital (10 minute drive).  On the way Mrs. H has a contraction that nearly puts her on the roof of the car... count to 30....crap... still going to doctor first.
8:45 get to parking lot to Dr's office.  I go get a wheelchair for Mrs. H.  Before she gets out of the car she says, "I need to push!" ...s**t.  I tell her to get in the wheelchair and run across the parking lot to the hospital.
8:50am  We get to the L&D ward (on the 5th stinking floor).  Mrs. H is now only speaking two word sentences, mostly "Help!  Baby!"  I grab a nurse and tell her, "We're having a baby, NOW!"  Nurse calmly takes us into a room.  About 4 nurses follow.  One gives her a gown and says, "here's a gown, the bathroom is over there if you want to change.  Mrs. H is ripping her clothes off and trying to get the gown on herself.  "Y'all don't understand, she was pushing in the parking lot..." Not much more urgency.  They start hooking her up to monitors.  One nurse does a quick check of her cervix... "Guys, her bag of waters is right there."  Now they start moving with some urgency, Dr. Johnson is paged.

9am  After another 10 minutes of "Don't push" which Mrs. H ignores, "Not doing that again" (she endured 20 minutes of  "don't push" while we waited for the Dr. with Spud) and, "Doctor! Now! Baby!"

9:01am Dr. arrives, out of breath (he's clostrophobic and ran from the clinic, up 5 flights of stairs and into the room).   Someone throws a gown at him, "Gloves!"  He gloves up and gets into position when Mrs. H's water breaks.

9:04am  After 3 good pushes, Sprout is born.  Mrs. H rips her gown off to hold the baby.  I cut the cord.  After a bit she gets to hold our new daughter.  "So what's for breakfast?" she asks a nurse.

I don't ever want to cut it that close again...

Today she wants to go to some sort of Tupperware event... I don't think so.  The nurses keep asking if she's a patient because she's up and about and acting like it was no big deal...  She's a machine!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Lorelai Elisabeth Adkins born 8-31-09 @ 0904am.  5lb 3oz, don't have a length yet.  Mrs. H. and Sprout are doing great!  Talk about quick... 3 hours of real labor (her words, not mine), and we got to the hospital about 15 minutes before she was born.  I told the Dr. that she would go quick...

Update---  My wife is a friggin' machine!  She hasn't sat down for more than 10 minutes except to nurse.  First words out of her mouth after Sprout was born...."What's for breakfast?"  Here it is after 10pm and she's still awake and going strong.

Maybe Baby...

This may be my last post for a day or so.  It looks like Mrs. H. is going into the first part of labor so if you all could keep us in your prayers we would apreciate it. 

They're at it again

H/T to John Shuck ant Shuck and Jive...

Apparently the folks that brought us the Jesus Seminar are at it again.  This time they are working on an "Origins of Christianity Seminar".  If that don't beat all.  One of the members of the original Jesus Seminar, Dr. Marcus Borg, has been a profound influence in my theological persuits, and I think bringing out the human in Jesus is every bit as important as the divine Jesus.  While it had many critics, the Jesus Seminar did open up the floor for scholarly debate on the place of the historical Jesus.  Let's see if the same thing happens with this one.

Still No Baby Yet, but Here's A Little Filler from Margaret and Helen

Shamelessly pinched from Margaret and Helen's blog...

You can’t be Pro-Life and Pro-War at the same time. If one of
these dispositions has to be in your cadre, then pick one and
live with the consequences.

You can’t deny the right to marry to some and then cheat on your
spouse. The right to happily marry belongs to all no mater how
unhappy it makes you.

You can’t tolerate the atrocities of one President for eight years and then
assign the consequences to one who follows. From this day forward
everything was Reagan’s fault.

The Christian Right should be forced to spend a week in Iran. May the
best radicals win.

Still on pins and needles waiting for Sprout's debut.

Another Request

I just found out tonight that one of my fellow parishoners, call him R., was laid off today. Please keep his family in your prayers.

Prayer Request

Ok, I know this is nothing serious, but the Dr's want to check Mrs. H out today with a quick ultrasound to make sure her amniotic fluid level is ok. Their concern is that Sprout is too small, but they had the same concerns with Spud two years ago and he's fine. Still, as late in the game as it is, I don't think there is much to do besides pray, so if y'all could think about Mrs. H and Sprout in your prayers today I'd appreciate it.

Update: As I suspected, everything is normal.

It's Official... Arkansans are Nuts...

According to a recent poll from Public Policy Polling the outlook in Arkansas is not good...

Some snippets from the poll:

When asked whether they think Obama or Limbaugh has a better vision for the country,
55% of respondents selected Limbaugh in spite of the fact only 35% of them have a
favorable opinion of him, compared to 44% unfavorable.

This survey also found Arkansas is home to many ‘birthers,’ as just 45% of voters believe Obama was born in the country.
Do you think Barack Obama was born in the
United States?
Yes ................................................................. 45%
No ................................................................... 31%
Not Sure.......................................................... 24%

While these numbers sadden me, they don't shock me. I've heard these opinions and the "Obama=Muslim=Enemy" assertion from most of my family since the elections. Ladies and gentlemen, Jim Crowe is alive and well in the the state of Arkansas.

A Healthcare Creed

Pinched shamelessly from Father Jake's website:

As one of God's children, I believe that protecting the health of each human being is a profoundly important personal and communal responsibility for people of faith.

I believe God created each person in the divine image to be spiritually and physically healthy. I feel the pain of sickness and disease in our broken world (Genesis 1:27, Romans 8:22).

I believe life and healing are core tenets of the Christian life. Christ's ministry included physical healing, and we are called to participate in God's new creation as instruments of healing and redemption (Matthew 4:23, Luke 9:1-6; Mark 7:32-35, Acts 10:38). Our nation should strive to ensure all people have access to life-giving treatments and care.

I believe, as taught by the Hebrew prophets and Jesus, that the measure of a society is seen in how it treats the most vulnerable. The current discussion about health-care reform is important for the United States to move toward a more just system of providing care to all people (Isaiah 1:16-17, Jeremiah 7:5-7, Matthew 25:31-45).

I believe that all people have a moral obligation to tell the truth. To serve the common good of our entire nation, all parties debating reform should tell the truth and refrain from distorting facts or using fear-based messaging (Leviticus 19:11; Ephesians 4:14-15, 25; Proverbs 6:16-19).

I believe that Christians should seek to bring health and well-being (shalom) to the society into which God has placed us, for a healthy society benefits all members (Jeremiah 29:7).

I believe in a time when all will live long and healthy lives, from infancy to old age (Isaiah 65:20), and "mourning and crying and pain will be no more" (Revelation 21:4). My heart breaks for my brothers and sisters who watch their loved ones suffer, or who suffer themselves, because they cannot afford a trip to the doctor. I stand with them in their suffering.

I believe health-care reform must rest on a foundation of values that affirm each and every life as a sacred gift from the Creator (Genesis 2:7).

Amen.

The petition this comes from is here.

Good On ELCA!

Today the ELCA, our brothers and sisters in communion, officially voted that gay and lesbian clergy in comitted, monogamous "lifelong relations" are in fact eligible for ordination! Welcome aboard!

This news is of interest to me also because All Saints is currently renting space from Christ the King Lutheran Church (ELCA).

Thanks be to God!

From Grandmere Mimi

FDL ActionHelp us reach 25,000 petition signatures: House progressives need to keep the pledge for a strong public option.When Congress returns to work on health care next month, Jane Hamsher and nyceve will be there to deliver the petition.Click here to add your name to our petition.Dear June,After two months of your hard work, 65 members House drew a line in the sand: no public option, no health care reform. You responded by raising more than $175,000 for those members in less than 48 hours. It's a great start, but it's just the beginning. We need to make sure these 65 members hold firm. We've shown them we have their backs. Now they need to get ours.I'm starting a petition to the House to keep their pledge to support only a public option in both the House bill AND the conference bill.

I'm going to be in DC next month. If we can reach 25,000 signatures, Jane Hamsher and I will be there to hand-deliver the petition to the House when they return to take up health care.Click here to add your name to our petition to members of Congress who pledged to support only a strong public option.Members of the House who took this pledge will be under insane pressure from Rahm Emanuel and the rest of the Obama Administration to cave for an insurance industry bailout. Rahm's plan all along has been to trade away the public option. But Rahm didn't count on you. Now that we've shown progressives in the House it's possible to stick together, it will be our job to make sure these members hold the line on a strong public option.Let's be clear: these members need to hold the line on two votes.

Once when the House passes its own bill, and again on the conference bill that's combined with the Senate's version. Anything less is a vote for an insurance industry bailout.Help us reach 25,000 signatures on our petition to House progressives. You can make sure that progressives keep the pledge to only vote for a strong public option.Click here to add your name to our petition: http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/keepthepledgeThanks so much for your help. I hope we can get to 25,000 signatures so I can deliver the petition with Jane next month.

Best,
Eve Gittelson (nyceve)

Award time once again...

For those of us playing the home game, this is Jerry Cox, president of the Arkansas Family Council. the AFC is the Arkansas wing of Focus on the Family. He has previously been awarded the Asshat Award for his efforts to keep orphans and children in foster care from being placed in loving homes via Initiated Act 1 (which banned any and all single cohabiting couples from adopting or caring for foster children).

He and his hatemonger group today recieve the award once again for their efforts to make sure that the poorest of us do not have affordable healthcare.

What I find especially deplorable is that this "gentleman" and his group claim to be Christians and yet are fighting tooth and nail against helping "the least of these."

Back to Healthcare

For months I have been couching the health care debate into a Christian context. I believe that basic health care is not only a right, but in a Christian context is mandated by the Gospels.

Let's put this in terms of our salvation, since that is another hot button issue. Where would we be today if John 3:16-18 had said, "For God so loved the Jews that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who is Jewish may not perish but may have eternal life, Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the Jews, but in order that only the Jewish might be saved through him. Only those who follow the Torah are not condemned; but those who do not are condemned already, because they have not believed in the Law of Moses."? Praise God that is not the case!

What if Jesus had turned away the Centurion, the representation of Roman oppression in Palestine, when he asked for healing for his favorite servant? What if Jesus had stood His ground with the Cannite woman who asked for healing for her child? He very well could have. Instead, He gave them what they asked for, healing. Then He gave himself for all of us, black, brown and white, male and female, gay and straight, sick and well, Christian and Non-Christian. He did these things without conditions. How can we, who claim to follow Him do any less?

In the gospel reading for this coming week, Jesus says, "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them." In participating in the Eucharist, we believe that either symbolically or literally we are doing just that. It is a physical action of "letting Jesus into our hearts" to be our Lord and Savior. Stop and think on that for a second. In accepting Him as Lord, aren't we then saying we will do His will? What is his will? Matthew 25 pretty well sums it up:

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'”

If we don't do this, then how can we say that He is Lord of our lives? In denying those most in need, are we not thumbing our noses at Christ? This is why there is such a need for honest health care reform in this nation. We are the richest, most powerful nation in the world, and we still have one of the highest infant mortality rates in the industrialized world! Families each day have to choose between paying their rent or mortgage and paying for treatment for cancer. This should not be!

It seems rather ironic that many of the people who before were promoting and selling the WWJD bracelets and T-shirts are now on the forefront of the healthcare debate urging us to do just the opposite of what He did. To be a Christian means to be the hands of Christ within the world. If we cannot do this for the least of these, how can we say that we are Christians? Is basic healthcare something that only those that can afford it should have, or is it something that everyone is entitled to? To quote Rev. Deacon Gary Baird, “Today Jesus is laying the sick and lame at our feet and is asking, ‘What will you do?’”

More News on the Baby Front: No News on the Baby Front

I don't seem to remember this much hardship with Spud. Mrs. H. is cranky and uncomfortable, and has run out of things to clean. Her Dr. visit yesterday said she is only dilated to 1cm, so it may be shaping up to be a LO-O-O-O-O-O-NG couple of weeks. I think Spud is starting to suspect something is up, but his little two year old mind can't fully grasp the whole "big brother" concept just yet.

The bags are packed, the birth plan is written and signed, the babysitter is on speed-dial, and we are all set for the big day. I don't think it can come soon enough.

Then there are the irrational fears and concerns. Mrs. H. started hawking Tupperware, and has parties scheduled for the next couple of weeks. She has threatened to send me to the parties with a laptop so she can do her schpeal live via webcam. I am having nightmares of being in the middle of communion as a chalice bearer during the Bishop's visit and her water breaking at the altar. "I'm sorry, Your Grace, I have to take the Mrs. to the hospital now. Would you be a dear and finish this for me? There's a good lad." Or worse, having to deliver the baby at home or church. Like I said, completely irrational, but there nonetheless.

Whoever said it gets easier the second time around had rocks in their head.