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May 09, 2005

Fat Boys are Back


Today Jaron turned 9 months old. To celebrate, we took him to the doctor's office for his 9 month visit. After waiting for an hour outside (there were too many sick kids inside and they didn't want any healthy babies exposed), we were finally seen. Jaron has learned what happens at the doctor's office, so as soon as he hit the table, he started crying. But he did well, and would stop crying as soon as we picked him up again. So the stats are in: he weighs 24 lbs. 2 oz. and is 29 1/4 inches long. For the first time in his short life he is ON THE CHARTS and weighed in the 90th percentile! He's still a big boy, but at least he is slimming down a LITTLE bit!

In other Jaron news, he is working on crawling. He can move forward, but not with much speed. He is a pro at going backwards and sideways, but the forward thing is still being worked at. He is not liking rice cereal much anymore. We tried bananas on Saturday, and he liked them a little better. But his doctor said today that we shouldn't feed him bananas because they are high in sugar (he gave a more scientific term, but I wasn't paying attention). So he suggested going ahead and giving him cut up broccoli, peas, green beans, pears, apples, and even chicken. I am sure Jaron will enjoy those things more and will enjoy feeding himself too. Jaron loves being outside and watching birds fly by. He also adores dogs and will kick his feet and flail his arms with excitement whenever he sees one.
He loves when we read books to him and likes to turn the pages himself. He has started playing ball, by "rolling" it back and forth with us (a skill he learned from his uncles).
And he has begun to wave "bye-bye" by flapping his arms. He's at such a fun age right now and we love him more and more each day.

Posted by laini at 10:21 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

May 04, 2005

Where Is the Love?

Most of you know that my family, and church, has currently been attacked (the post has been deleted, but you can see it here). We don’t know this guy, but he found our website and has decided to use us as an illustration for his racist agenda. When I first read it I just thought, “what an idiot”! Then the more I thought about it the more upset I got. But ultimately, I just felt sad for the guy and his ignorance. What has been cool to see, though, is the response that others have had towards this guy. I want to thank all of you that have defended my family and tried to talk sense into this guy. It is encouraging to know that I belong to a broader family that will stand by my side when I am treated wrongly. This is what the church should always be doing – standing for justice and being a voice for the oppressed. Of course, many of you don’t even know me, and perhaps your intention for commenting was not to stand up for my family, but rather to just argue the issue. Regardless of what your intentions were, I still feel the love!

Part of me is glad that this whole thing came up because I think that it has brought up an issue that is not often talked about within the evangelical circle.

Talking about race issues is often taboo, due to the history of our country. But if we are to move on to be the church that God has called us to be, we must openly address these issues with love. I am surprised that so many people have commented about this issue, but I must admit that it is a lot easier to attack someone who opposes interracial marriage today than it was 50 years ago. It is a lot more accepted in our society today to have interracial marriages, and that is why it is easy to be shocked by the views of this guy. But I guarantee you that if this blog was written just 20 years ago (if blogs existed then) there wouldn’t have been nearly the response that it has gotten today. The thing is that interracial marriage is still not as accepted as we may think. My husband and I cannot live anywhere we want in the United States due to our marriage. There are even areas in Chattanooga that we cannot go because of how people would view us. I have heard many Christians tell me that they would never marry outside of their race. Even though their views may not be as extreme as presented in the aforementioned blog, they still struggle with accepting interracial marriage. Even one of my husband’s close friends was opposed to us getting married. But thankfully, he is a Christian and was sensitive to the Holy Spirit and was able to look objectively at scripture and see the error of his beliefs. It is easy to stand for justice when we are in the majority, but where was, and is the church, during times when scripture opposes cultural norms? I encourage you to stand for justice when everyone else is doing it AND when you are the only one. This is what God has called believers to do.

You know, it is easy for us to see the racism in this guy and his friends. But we should not get so caught up in pointing out his faults that we look past the sin in our own lives. We may think interracial marriage is biblical, but would we ourselves do it? Would we want our children to do it? What other racist thoughts do we harbor in our hearts? Maybe it is not towards black people, but maybe it is towards Hispanics, Chinese, or “Red Necks”. We need to examine our own lives and see where we may be allowing racism to take root. It may be so subtle, or so much a part of our lives, that we don’t even notice it. But I guarantee it is there. Even my husband and I have had to, and continue to, deal with the racism in our hearts. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to make any progress in this area at all. And it is only through the power of the gospel that we are able to love those that are different from us. May God continue to make us one, as He and the Father are one (John 17:20-23).

Posted by laini at 10:53 PM | Comments (22) | TrackBack