Faith and I have now completed 36 weeks of pregnancy, and are approaching the 37th week--which is when Baby Anonymous will be considered full-term. (Though his parents are quite certain he's been full-term for at least a month already!) Faith is at the point where she's pretty uncomfortable, walking with the all-famous waddle.

That said, the Baby Name Drama reaches the 3rd and final act. The top 5 names are still holding at Amani, George, Caleb, Samuel, & Eli. However, Faith and I differ in how we'd rank them. Personally, I like George, then Amani, then Caleb. On the other hand, Faith's top 3 are Amani, Caleb, and then George. So something's gotta' give!

Perhaps looking at each individual name would help with clarification:

1. Amani: Faith's favorite and one of our top names from the start. It is Swahili for "peace", and Arabic for "believer". A huge positive is it's meaning and uniqueness. However, not everyone is a fan of it, plus it is often mispronounced as "Armani".

2. George: I like this one a lot. Faith likes it but is a little turned off by it because some folks simply don't like it. It was my grandfather's name. One of it's meanings is "farmer/to work the earth", so we figured this would be great name since he was conceived on the farm! Plus, he'll spend a lot of his early life in the orchards of Kazakhstan. One positive is that noone today names their child George, so in 30 years he'll likely be the only George around! A negative is that we often get asked if we're naming him after George W. No.

3. Caleb: A solid name. Is liked by both of our families. Has an interesting story from the Bible. Caleb means "bold". The only turn-off I have to it is that it seems a lot of people are naming their sons Caleb nowadays.

4. Samuel: A very cool name. "Sammie" would be the neatest nickname of all the names we like. Like Caleb, Samuel has a nice story from the Bible tied with it and means 'asked of God'. My brother and his wife are pregnant and both like the name if their child is a boy, so if want to use it, this may be our only chance!

5. Eli: Another cool name, although the Eli from the Bible doesn't carry a lot of respect with it (unless we used Elijah/Elisha). This was once a top 2 or 3 name, but with the recent rise of Caleb and Samuel, Eli has dropped a bit in the rankings.

So there you have it. I was hoping making up this list would help narrow things down for me, but it did just the opposite. If anything, it pulled Caleb and Amani up into a 3-way tie for first!

As far as middle names go, it's not as confusing. We both plan on using Thoma (the Haitian form of Thomas) or Davis (a family middle name passed on from my g'pa to my dad to me).

Sheesh.

I began a book today called Reading the Bible with the Damned, by Bob Ekblad. It originally sparked my interest because our church is beginning a corporate Bible reading campaign, with the book as a guide. Additionally, my personal life in Scriptures is practically non-existent at the moment. So since the title described me quite well, I began turning the pages.

Ekblad is sensitive to the fact that we, as mainstream Christians/Christians living within the dominant culture easily and ignorantly label the marginalized with titles such as "poor", "illegals", "homeless", and "disabled". (Even within well-intentioned socially aware circles, the tendency to profile someone due to their race or social status is rampant.)

Ekblad proclaims early on that we must humbly "seek out personal contact, always with an openness to listen in order to understand, recognizing our own tendency to distrust and judge". This truth rings out louder than ever, even more so now Faith and I are living in an intentional Christian community. I find myself horribly guilty of settling into the community here, not seeking out "personal contact" with those outside the mainstream, all the while wondering why this community of Christians lacks diversity, ministry, outreach. So as I grow restless and frustrated with the, at times, bland environment, I find myself damned for contributing to the vanilla atmosphere.

The next chapter in the book is entitled "Reading Scripture for the Liberation of the Not-Yet-Believing". Bottoms up.

Last week, Faith reached the coveted 34th week of pregnancy. The 34th week is the week when doctors will allow labor to have it's way should it start. So from this point forward, if the little kicker decides to join us, then the invitation's open!

Additionally, as many of you know, the names George and Amani are the top 2 names in the running for our son. Eli, Samuel, and Caleb round out the top 5. However, we recently found out my brother and his wife are pregnant with their first child and are strongly considering the name Samuel should their child be a son. To confuse matters, several family members have recently adamently voiced support over the name of Caleb.

So, does Samuel move up the list since this may be the only chance we have to use it?
Does Caleb do likewise due to popular opinion?
Or do George and Amani keep a stronghold on the top 2 spots?

Looks to be an interesting race to the finish...or the nursery.

...Or Portugese, English, and Mexican for that matter.

Now that the World Cup is done for another 4 years, I've been wandering aimlessly around the farm. However, this recent video I came across quickly lifted my spirits.

Something billions of people from across the globe can appreciate together. Who needs Coca-Cola? Enjoy.

I've always been a bit hazy regarding where I stand regarding the Middle East. For a good part of my life, I considered the U.S. honorable for defending and promoting Israel's statehood. However, those thoughts have generally worn away in recent years as our true intentions look more and more dishonest...and as we just can't seem to admit when we're wrong.

Case in point, we were the lone nation to veto a U.N. resolution to demand Israel's attacks in Gaza to cease. Granted, there was more to the resolution than a simple ultimatum to Israel, but how can one not demand a cease-fire? Perhaps this will provide ample diversion from our antics in Iraq?

Oh to be Swiss.

45 days.

In 45 days, this relativly selfish man who spends 2-3 days/week playing disc golf, quiet hours reading, mornings playing fetch with Kia and Ginny, and moments before bed playing backgammon will be thrust into a world where those days, mornings, and quiet moments seem to vanish.

Oh, and the odds are that those 45 days will likely be shorter.

Needless to say, Faith and I are now completing this Tuesday with overwhelming feelings of inadequacy.

How will we make it with little or no sleep?
What if we're the world's worst set of parents?
What if we go broke?
Where's God in all this?

Though in the back of our minds, we're aware that moms and dads have been quite apt at adapting to parenthood for countless years, the fears still linger.

Prayers would greatly be appreciated.

Next month, life will invariably be forever changed. Obviously, parenthood comes to the forefront, as we become charged to bring up a child in Christ.

Additionally though, life at the farm will be over at the end of the summer. A full year will have come and gone, leaving Faith, the boy, and me somewhat homeless. Life of early mornings milking goats and feeding chickens, afternoons spent laboring under the hot Texas sun in our pecan orchard, and noonmeals with the community here will be finished.

We're eager for change, no doubt about it. For the change that comes this autumn will bring daddy-hood and life in Kazakhstan one step closer to reality. But in the process, it ends a sweet life that we've grown to love.

The writer of Ecclesiastes, and more recently, the Byrds, acknowledge that there are times, or seasons, for everything. Life. Death. Laughter. Weeping.

Though we usually quote such words during moments of despair or bittersweetness, I've think that maybe I've grown to embrace such seasons. For what I've learned of the natural world, seasons don't just reciprocally come and go, but they're necessary for life. Period. Through dormancy or perceived death, life is actually preparing to burst forth. And it can't come forth without the "down" time...the time of rest...the time of apparent lifelessness.

So as I look to make the most of these last weeks at the farm and these last weeks of selfishness before Boy Dowdy arrives, I prepare to let go of the life I've grown accustomed to here, while in the same motion, embracing the life that awaits.