doula!

This week we interviewed and hired our doula, Carissa. For those who are unfamiliar, a doula is a support person who assists a family through the labor and delivery process.
You may be wondering, why do you need a doula if you have a really amazing and supportive husband who also happens to be tall and [...]

am I a eugenicist? are you?

This past week I started to read the new book of essays edited by Brian Brock and John Swinton called Theology, Disability and the New Genetics. It’s a great volume with a wide variety of perspectives on the theology of disability. The authors are a man with a disability, a theologian whose son has Down [...]

first baby dream (not mine)

Everyone always asks me if I think The Babe is a boy or a girl. My response: “statistically the chances are higher it’s a girl.” The person then says, “No. Do you FEEL like it’s a boy or a girl?”
I’m not sure what this means. My ovulation timeframe, acupuncturist and conception eating habits would learn [...]

prince caspian: a review

I am prefacing this post with a confession. I am come from a family of Narnia purists. I think my father latched on to these stories in college because imagination and wonder turned out to be the perfect antidote to his fundamentalist upbringing. Fundamentalism and its sister Piety tend to strip the imagination, forcing you [...]

Mennonites on retreat…

We had a great time at Portland Mennonite Church retreat this weekend. Nine of us became members, five of whom are in our church small group. Only two had a Mennonite background (or were “ethnic Mennonites” as I like to say).
I love that Mennonites are completely fine nurturing Anabaptist stereotypes. We even rebaptized a former [...]

the root of all evil and This American Life

We knew the loan industry was experiencing some weirdness when we had our car loan rejected by three banks. At first, I was scared out of my mind. Had my credit been hacked? Was my identity now the possession of a computer saavy 13 years old in the United Arab Emirates? A quick check and [...]

it is time.

At church this Sunday we officially become Mennonites. Wish us the best.

fear and trembling

I have to admit something: I am pretty scared of health professionals in hospital childbirthing practices. I realize this every time we go to a prenatal appointment. I always seem to offend our midwife (or so I imagine) by making snarky comments about Kaiser, our evil health care provider or bringing up things like how [...]

who are you?

I’ve started to wonder: what exactly is Baby Flo-Bix going to look like? The problem for our imaginations is that Jacob and I were completely different looking babies. Here’s J:

Jacob came out of the womb wearing lederhosen and grasping a sausage in each hand. He’s a round Arian child. He’s smiling so big in this [...]

Jeremiah Wright in light of my Christology paper

 
 
One of the things I’ve been struggling with in class this semester as we’ve explored liberation Christologies is the relationship between corporate justice and individual culpability. I was writing my paper to answer the question (ha!) “Who is Jesus in light of race relations in America?” The question of systemic and historic oppression of African-Americans [...]