please pray...

On Thursday, there were several fires in downtown Canton.

In one, five people were taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

In the other, five people perished, quickly. An 11-year-old, a 13-year-old, a man, and a brand-newly-engaged couple.

In addition to the friends and families of those who lost their lives... please also pray for the firefighters, and the cops, and the news reporters, and the photographers.

This stuff isn't easy...

http://www.cantonrep.com/slides/2006-12-29_fires/index.html

better than bows

"I hope we have a kid by next Christmas," Mike said to me on Monday. "I think it would restore some of the magic of Christmas."

I'm not sure if he's just saying that because one of his best friends & their kids are at Disney for Christmas, or if he really is ready for diapers and bottles and crying... and smiles and giggles and first steps and snuggling and being someone's whole world for a while.

We got each other everything we requested - and then some - but I think we're both at the point that we are ready for the next step. Not that we're not very happy now - we are - and having a baby isn't an obsession with us, we just think we're ready. More than ready :0)

We'll see what the year brings, right? I mean... who knows. So much can happen in a year.

Right now, I'm studying about hope... as in expectant, active, confident waiting hope.

I guess that's what Advent is all about, right? Waiting, expectantly, for the magic of Christmas - that Christ came and was here and is coming again.

help!

okay, so... i've bought the Christmas cards.

i've addressed about half of them.

and i haven't sent ANY of them!

i do that every year... i always buy & address Christmas cards, and yet i rarely actually send them.

so, my friends, if you happen to get a Christmas card from me, i'll have had a good week.

and if not, know that i'm thinking about you :)

this i believe...

npr has been doing snippets every Monday about faith, entitled 'this i believe.' i heard a bit of it today, and even though it was a belief much different than mine, i appreciated it.

what do i believe?

i believe... in faith. faith has never not been a part of my life. certainly, i've been "born again" at a specific time/date/place... but for me faith has always been ever more than that. it's ingrained into my earliest memories, my deepest desires, everything of whom i believe myself to be. i believe in a faith that's more than a bumper sticker or a list of dos and don'ts. i believe in a faith that's about more than politics, and intrinsically, i am leery of when they're mixed together. not because people aren't sincere, but because most politicians only care about a vote. i believe faith is action... that faith and social justice should not be separated. i believe that by helping the body that the soul is helped as well, and that when one helps the body, the body who is in need will then be open to the faith. i believe that faith can be difficult and gut-wrenching and beautiful and simple and honest.

i believe... in love, and i believe that love is a choice. at our best, every human being will still screw up, and i must choose to love them any way. my family members, my spouse, my friends... and even more difficultly, myself.

i believe... in doing whatever one can to relieve suffering in others. it's easy to see suffering everywhere one looks - in those with money, in those without; in those who seem to have everything, in those who seem to have nothing. suffering takes on many forms and too often i ignore suffering, but on my best days, i think that i can do something to take some of someone's suffering away. sometimes i can offer relief in big ways; sometimes it is by barely doing anything.

i believe that it takes a long time to get to who you want to become. and that's okay.

i believe in truth, and i believe that there is absolute truth, despite my tendency to be really gray.

i believe in friendship. i believe in grace. i believe in beauty. i believe in art. i believe in childhood, and i think that every human should have a good one. i believe in adoption.
more later... :)

update:

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — A mother suspected of killing her month-old daughter in 2005 by putting her in a microwave oven was indicted Thursday on a charge of aggravated murder, and the prosecutor said he would seek the death penalty.
The indictment against China Arnold, 26, does not provide details on the death of Paris Talley. Investigators have said evidence that includes high-heat internal injuries and the absence of external burn marks on the baby were consistent with a microwave oven.
“The Montgomery County coroner came to the conclusion that the injuries sustained by this baby could have only been caused by being placed into a microwave oven and having that oven turned on and cooked the baby to death,” Montgomery Country Prosecutor Mathias Heck Jr. said at a news conference.
Heck said Arnold would be subject to the death penalty if convicted because the victim was a child.
Heck said the baby was killed in the early morning hours of Aug. 30, 2005, at Arnold’s home. He declined to discuss motive or release any other details about the case.
Arnold took the baby to the hospital after finding her unconscious at home, according to defense attorney Jon Paul Rion. He said she told hospital officials she did not know what had happened to the child.
Rion has said Arnold had nothing to do with her daughter’s death and was stunned when she was told a microwave might have been involved. He said she plans to plead not guilty.
“China has the moral courage and the confidence in her God that the truth will come out in this case,” Rion said. “We will seek every single way possible to communicate to our government and to the jury in this case that China is innocent of all the charges.”
Police said a microwave oven was taken as evidence. Ken Betz, director of the Montgomery County coroner’s office, said the case was difficult because there is not a lot of scientific research on the effect of microwaves on humans.
The night before the baby was taken to the hospital, Arnold and the child’s father went out for a short time and left the child with a baby sitter, Rion said. The mother didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary until the next morning, when the child was found unconscious, Rion said.
Arnold was arrested Nov. 27. She is being held on $1 million bond in the Montgomery County Jail.
Heck said he will ask the court to order Arnold held without bond. She is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.