The Abominable Easter Bunny

Well it sounded like a good idea. Cindy took the kids to an Easter Egg Hunt/ Breakfast at Coventry Junior High School this morning. Evidently, Sarah smiled and laughed as other children sat down on Mr. Bunny's lap, but when the time came for her to get her picture taken...well, I think the photo says it all.

Dear Easter Bunny,

Please leave this in my basket this year...just don't tell my wife!

What's Up Doc?

Hey everyone, I had an awesome birthday. Thanks so much for all your prayers and love that I received over the weekend as I turned the big numero uno! However, can you believe that with all the hip-hop stylin' clothes I got as gifts, my dad dressed me up in this ridiculous outfit? He thinks he's funny.

Love,

Sarah Kay

The Gift

The Card

The Love

A Birthday Celebration

With Sarah's big party scheduled for this Saturday, we all had a relatively quiet birthday dinner for the little princess tonight. Sarah seemed pretty enamored with the birthday cake and candle- as well as Josh's rendition of "Happy Birthday to You..." Like most one year-olds, Sarah was more content to simply play with the wrapping/ tissue paper than the actual gifts themselves...although she did received a very cool OSU denim dress!!! She's already acquiesced her affinity for Buckeye football to me on more than one occasion.

My request for my little girl is simple...keep that awesome smile on your precious face...forever!

Title: Daddy's Dream

Artist: Dave McCamon

Text reads:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

I had yesterday afternoon free, and so I used the time to go looking for that perfect gift for little Sarah, whose birthday is this Thursday. You know at age 1, their needs are so great and the list so long! (ha, ha) Anyway, I wasted more time than I cared to at a few department stores leaving each one with nothing that I thought my little girl would be able to hopefully cherish one day. Then, I found it. Honestly, I saw this print at the Cornerstone bookstore, and it had Sarah Kay's name written all over it. Hope she likes it!

The Leprechaun

He looks like a small, old man (about 2 feet tall), often dressed like a shoemaker, with a cocked hat and a leather apron. According to legend, leprechauns are aloof and unfriendly, live alone, and pass the time making shoes. They also possess a hidden pot of gold. Treasure hunters can often track down a leprechaun by the sound of his shoemaker's hammer. If caught, he can be forced (with the threat of bodily violence) to reveal the whereabouts of his treasure, but the captor must keep their eyes on him every second. If the captor's eyes leave the leprechaun (and he often tricks them into looking away), he vanishes and all hopes of finding the treasure are lost.

Anonymous Christians

I had an interesting conversation with a colleague of mine the other day about the idea of Anonymous Christianity. Frankly, I had never heard of this before, and in my ignorance I assumed that the idea must simply be yet another version of pluralism. But it did spark my interest, so I began to do some reading on the Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner and his teachings.

Rahner wants to make clear that in the end, Christ is the ultimate and final source of all grace and salvation. Yet, salvation, while ultimately coming through Christ, can be experienced by non-Christians. Since all grace ultimately comes from Christ, those in other religions who are experiencing the grace of God are linked to Christ. They are encountering salvation through that grace and are thus Christians without knowing about Christ. It is from this argument that Rahner coins the phrase -Anonymous Christian.-

"Anonymous Christianity means that a person lives in the grace of God and attains salvation outside of explicitly constituted Christianity… Let us say, a Buddhist monk… who, because he follows his conscience, attains salvation and lives in the grace of God; of him I must say that he is an anonymous Christian; if not, I would have to presuppose that there is a genuine path to salvation that really attains that goal, but that simply has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. But I cannot do that. And so, if I hold if everyone depends upon Jesus Christ for salvation, and if at the same time I hold that many live in the world who have not expressly recognized Jesus Christ, then there remains in my opinion nothing else but to take up this postulate of an anonymous Christianity." (Karl Rahner in Dialogue, p. 135)

All my life I’ve been taught that the Christian faith is the way to salvation. But, for the non-Christian child who, through no fault of his own, either tragically dies at an early age or lives out his life detached from the Christian church/ teachings of Christ because of an oppressive culture/ society- yet embraces a righteous life and adheres to the same ethical and moral principals that Christ taught …how can he/ she be denied salvation? It's instances like this that I crave to comprehend God's ultimate plan. This book excerpt entitled “Isn’t It Sad that Gandhi is Burning in Hell?” indirectly addresses Rahner's teachings.

These boots were made for walking...

Cindy and I had more fun with Ms. Sarah tonight...and her first steps in her young life. She'd walk from me to Cindy, wait for some congratulatory response from the two of us, and then turn around and scamper back towards her starting point. Finally, she pooped out and just lounged on the ground for a bit. Oh well, I guess she'll sleep well tonight!

Little bit of this, little bit of that

Josh and I headed off to Mansfield Friday night to watch the Lady Knights play in the Regional championship game. We had an interesting dinner at Applebees as we sat at the bar (Josh had a Shirley Temple and flirted with the waitress most of the evening...) and come to find out next to us was the grandfather of one of the young ladies who was going to be playing for the opposing team. He gave me the inside scoop on their star player, and boy, was he ever so right. Our girls hung with them for most of the first half, but Sandusky's team had a 6' 4" center whom we simply could not stop. It was a phenomenal season for our kids, and it would have been ever so nice for them to have made it to the State's Final Four...ugh!

Speaking of ugh...after yet another impressive victory over Kent State- again- the Zips lost a one point heart breaker to Miami in the Mac Tournament. It will take a small miracle for them to get a bid to the NCAA tournament...double ugh!

Speaking of double ugh...I finally got around to taking down the Christmas lights on Saturday afternoon. You know, you can't rush these things. Part of me felt like, "Hey, I just have to put 'em right back up there in 9 short months...why bother taking them down now?" I'm not sure if my wife, though, shares the same rationale as I do. The icicle lights do tend to clash with the house on a nice sunny 50 degree day like we had on Saturday (not to mention the tulips even have begun to sprout), so I took my life in my hands and scampered up on the roof and painstakingly dissembled my December masterpiece...any sympathy?

And speaking of pain and sympathy, I finally got my butt in gear and ran a few miles Saturday morning in preparation for the Cleveland race...it was a bit of a struggle to say the least. Good thing that I've got two more months.

We had a phenomenal dinner with the gang from St. Vincent's Saturday night. Tim and Jackie simply outdid themselves...I'm still stuffed! Anyway, it was great to visit with everyone, and we all need to not wait so long to get together again. I sure do miss playing with you guys each Sunday!
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Speaking of Sundays (impressive transitions so far, huh?), we had another awesome ABF luncheon at church this afternoon. If it kind of sounds like all I've done this weekend is eat, you're right! We've started a new format where we only have class twice a month now, and then all stay together for a common meal and fellowship. Good time!

And speaking of good times, after we all got home from church, Josh reunited with his best buddy next door- they haven't seen each other all winter. The two played outside for a good couple of hours while I did some much needed yard work. As I told Kenton this morning, I sure hope we get this kind of weather for the home opener. Just a few more weeks away!

Finally, an afternoon siesta...I love naps.

Witness This!

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Lebron scored a season-high 41 points, leading Cleveland to a 101-97 overtime victory over the Detroit Pistons tonight. Can we say a sneak preview to the Eastern Conference Finals? I think so! This win was huge! Here's a shout out to my sis and her hubby in Michigan and my cousin in Lima- all Pistons fans...you're going down!

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Marie and I have tickets for the Knicks game on the 23rd...can't wait!

Power of Prayer

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This young lady is truly one of the most exceptional kids that I've encountered in my 17 years at Hoban, and here's just a small example to the testament of her character.

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Excerpt from Bob Dyer's report in today's Akron Beacon Journal:

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With 3 ½ minutes left, Murphy went up for a shot, came down awkwardly and bumped her head on the floor. A Hoban player tripped over her, then righted herself and ran down the court. Murphy stood up and tried to run, too, but couldn't move. She grabbed the back of her head, went down on one knee, then lay on the floor.
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Her spill didn't look particularly severe, and Murphy is known as a tough, physical player, so most spectators figured she'd shake it off within a couple of minutes. But a couple of minutes turned to five, then 10, then 15. Clearly, something was seriously wrong.
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Tenishia Benson had never met the injured player. In fact, she didn't know any of the St. V-M players. But she saw another human being in big trouble, and she thought about what she always thinks about in difficult moments: the power of prayer.
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Benson gathered up her teammates and led them over to the St. V-M bench. The Hoban girls and the St. V-M girls formed a circle, joined hands and recited the Lord's Prayer. Then they did it again.

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Benson was pleased, but thought even more prayer power was required. So she stepped away from the circle and -- arms extended, palms up -- urged the crowd to stand and join them.

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The spectators rose in waves. Pretty soon, all 1,000 people were standing. The words rattled through the rafters: ``Our Father, who art in Heaven.... '''
At that moment, two warring schools became one. (Complete article)

I tell my kids- Hoban kids- that catharsis is a theatrical term used to explain the emotions that a theatre audience releases while witnessing a tragedy. It can be an extremely complex array of feelings that a person encounters while watching a tragic hero inch ever so closer to their demise. That said, I could never empathize with this idea simply because I had never experienced this feeling...until today.

We took the Hoban juniors to a small theatre in Hudson to watch Arthur Miller's classic, Death of a Salesman. I've probably read/ taught this play at least 10 different times; not to mention, I am a huge fan of Dustin Hoffman's cinematic production. Needless to say, I had prepared myself for what I thought would be a mediocre performance at best.

From the opening curtain to the very end...the entire cast had just about every single person in the house captivated by their acting/ depictions of Miller's discombobulated family- Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy. All these characters miserably strive to fulfill the American Dream, and all but one (Biff) fail to realize their limitations in life. Willy, being the worst offender, goes so far as to take his life in the false perception that his life insurance money would bring some sort of comfort and happiness to his wife and children. The play definitely does not include a "and they lived happily ever after" type of ending.

This play has also always appealed to me simply because my father is also a traveling salesman...a businessman full of pride; a father who tried to do everything in his power to provide for his family; and a guiding parental figure who pushed his kids to "reach for the sky" and become a smashing success in life. Like the character of Willy Loman, Dad has always lived his entire life in pursuit of the American Dream and to play the role of a man whom people would pronounce that...and I quote Miller..."attention must be paid!" (out of absolute respect) In my humble opinion, my dad has achieved this noble quest.

If you've never read the play, do yourself a favor and take a look...it's simply a great read.