Radio Game

When my parents were dating in high school (they were way too young when they started dating, or so I've been told) they used to play something they called the Radio Game.  The concept is simple - you turn to a radio station, and the first person to (correctly) guess the artist gets a point (or ten points, or negative points for a bad guess... the point system is a little bit complicated, and the rules vary depending on... well, depending on just about anything you can think of).  I remember Mom and Dad continuing to play the Radio Game in the car when I was growing up.  Dene' and I thought it was a pretty huge waste of time, and they usually waited until we were otherwise occupied (a nap for Dene' and a book for me) before switching from the Christian radio station to oldies.

The advent of satellite TV and the plethora of music channels it provided was a major turning point in Radio Game history.  Now disputes could be settled quite easily (I have no idea what they did before) and commercials could no longer disrupt the game.

When I moved home for my final semester at UNL I was faced with a choice between spending my evenings upstairs doing homework (okay, who am I kidding - reading) or downstairs with my parents while they played the Radio Game.  Despite my love of solitary evenings with a book, it wasn't much of a choice.  Of course, I was at a significant disadvantage going up against a pair of opponents with ... well, a lot of combined experience :)

It's not much fun to play a game when you always lose, so naturally I decided I need to do some research.  I created a couple Pandora stations based off some of the standards (Moody Blues, Boston/Journey/Foreigner, Fleetwood Mac, James Taylor, Pink Floyd, America, Crosby Stills & Nash, etc.) and went to work.  Pretty soon I could hold my own.  I even won occasionally.  Moving to Colorado threw a bit of wrench in the system, but I have it on good authority that I still gain points at times even when absent (as I said, the point system is ... creative).

Missing my parents and this very special bonding quite naturally led to seeking other outlets.  I found one in writing new lyrics for some of the songs.  Below is my first attempt - a surprise for Alex on our second Valentine's Day:

to Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69" (it's a lot funnier if you have the song in your head for comparison - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f06QZCVUHg)

I found my first real true love

Met him at an Irish pub

We became Facebook friends

It was the year of 2009

Me and some friends from school

We took Greek and we tried real hard

Derek quit the Davids got married

I wasn’t sure I’d ever get far

Oh when I look back now

That year seemed to last forever

And if I had the choice

Yeah – I’d always wanna be there

It led to the best days of my life

(CHORUS)

Ain’t no use in complainin’

When you got a job to do

Spent my evenings praying for a husband

And that’s when I met you

Sitting on your mama’s couch

You said that you’d love me forever

Oh and when you held my hand

I knew that it was now or never

These are the best days of my life

Yeah after the year 2009

Man we were lovin’ the time

We were young and restless

We needed to unwind

We know it will last forever, yeah

And now the times are changin’

Look at everything that’s come and gone

Every time I look at my true love

I know he fixes whatever is wrong

Sitting on your mama’s couch

You said that you’d love me forever

Oh and when you held my hand

I knew that it was now or never

These are the best days of my life


A couple weeks ago I got the inspiration for my second attempt.  Michael was hanging out with Uncle Matt who was making up lyric parodies to fit Michael's actions.  As usual, Michael started bouncing, leading Uncle Matt to sing out "Don't stop ba-bouncing."  Brilliant!  I couldn't resist carrying this line to its logical conclusion:

to Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I-SbwCHJ80)


Just a small town boy
Livin' in Colorado
He had a midnight snack almost every night


Just a happy boy
Born and raised in a loving home
He had a midnight snack almost every night


What's he gonna do for fun
Spending all his time at home
For a smile he can bounce away
It goes on and on and on and on


Playthings waiting
Up and down they bounce and bounce
Their shadows bouncing all the time
Bouncing baby
Living just for time to bounce
And snacking through the night


Working hard to get his fill
Everybody wants a thrill
Givin' anything to bounce away just one more time


Sometimes up, sometimes down
Sometimes going all around
Oh the bouncing never ends
It goes on and on and on and on

Playthings waiting

Up and down they bounce and bounce

Their shadows bouncing all the time

Bouncing baby

Living just for time to bounce

And snacking through the night

Don't stop ba-bouncin'

Hold on to that feelin'

Bouncing baby

Don't stop ba-bouncin'

Hold on to that feelin'

Bouncing baby

Don't stop ba-bouncin'

Hold on to that feelin'

Bouncing baby

τι εμοι και σοι;

One of my students had a question about the meaning of the Greek phrase τι εμοι και σοι; (ti emoi kai soi), which is Jesus’s response to Mary at the wedding feast in Cana in John 2:4. This exchange between Jesus and Mary seems to be widely misunderstood, and I thought I would post my explanation here as well. 

The phrase can be literally translated as "What is this to me and to you?" or "What is this between you and me?" The RSV's "What have you to do with me?" is, in my opinion, very misleading and contributes to the common misinterpretation that Jesus is rebuking Mary for her request (as a new mother myself, I can just imagine what my response would be if Michael were to ever say "What have you to do with me?" - “What have I to do with you?! Oh, nothing much. Just nine months of carrying you in my womb, not to mention the last 10 days past your due date, and then 17 some hours of labor, and over four months of intense sleep deprivation… constantly being on hand to feed you, hold, you change you… THAT is what I have to do with you”!). The NAB's "How does your concern affect me?" is not much better in helping to shed light on this passage. 

There are several potential layers of meaning in this statement. The basic, literal sense is that this statement actually shows great deference on the part of Jesus. This same phase is used by demons when Jesus addresses them, showing their acknowledgement of his authority and their compliance (e.g., Lk 4:34, 8:28). 

It is also likely that it indicates some difference in understanding of the situation - Jesus may be using this question to indicate to his mother that they understand the significance of the wine differently. Mary sees the potential for embarrassment and dishonor for the couple due to the wine failing; Jesus sees the reality that Israel is waiting for the coming of the Messiah which is associated with an abundance of wine in several Old Testament passages (e.g., Amos 9:13, Joel 3:18). 

Another layer has to do with the second part of Jesus' response: "My hour has not yet come." In John's gospel the "hour" always refers to Jesus' passion and resurrection. Certainly John's placement of this miracle of water and wine at the beginning of Jesus' ministry parallels the miracle of the wine and blood at the end - and Jesus' statement may be a foreshadowing of the latter, indicating to his mother that it is not yet time for that greater miracle. At the same time he may be telling her that if he performs this miracle it will mark the beginning of his journey to that "hour." In this case Mary's response (which indicates full trust that he will perform the miracle) signals her willing participation in God's plan - the mother giving up her son to God's will.

The interpretation proposed by my student - "Why is this our business?" - fits as well. Of course Jesus knows that it is a very serious problem for the couple to run out of wine (much more serious than my husband and I running out of wedding cake at our reception) and he knows why his mother is bringing this to his attention. But we see throughout the gospels that Jesus often waits to be asked before performing a miracle. Of course the blind want to see - but Jesus asks "What do you want me to do for you?" before healing them (Matthew 20:29-34). This is an excellent interpretation of the moral sense of this passage - Jesus does not provide more wine until his mother intercedes for the couple. 

None of these are mutually exclusive, so all these layers can enrich our understanding of the passage (although they are hotly contested by many scholars - but then again, what isn't?). The one line of interpretation that is clearly wrong is the one which sees in Jesus' response to Mary either disrespect (a modern understanding of what he means when he calls her "woman") or an outright rebuke (which seems to follow from the English translation of the idiom). Clearly Jesus, being like us in all things but sin (cf. Heb 4:15), would have perfectly obeyed the commandment to honor his father and mother (Ex 20:12) – so any interpretation that involves disrespect is problematic. Furthermore, if Jesus were rebuking Mary she obviously missed the point – she ignores the so-called rebuke and tells the servants to listen to Jesus. Then Jesus apparently repents of his harsh response to his mother and does what she asked after all. Possible? Maybe. Plausible? Not so much. The story ends with Jesus and his mother leaving together – no mention is made of any tension or conflict (Jn 2:12). Other rebukes in John’s gospel are very clear, and they are never “resolved” with Jesus and the person he rebuked leaving the scene together. Thus it is clear that Jesus’ response to his mother is something other than a rebuke – however it may sound when translated into English.

Sleep Saga

When Michael was born I was mildly horrified by the idea of putting him in his crib in the nursery and letting him cry himself to sleep.  For the last four months Michael has been sleeping - when he sleeps at all - either in a bassinet at the foot of our bed or in bed with us.  It made me feel so much better to have him in the same room with us.  If I woke up during the night I could fall back asleep to the sound of his breathing.  When he woke up I could usually get to him before he went from fussing to crying, and I could bring him back to bed to nurse in comfort - or at least convenience.  The two nights (over a month and a half ago) that he slept for longer than five hours at one stretch I didn't have to rush to the other room to check on him when I woke up and realized how long it had been.  At our two month checkup the pediatrician strongly recommended that I stop nursing Michael to sleep and put him down in his bassinet drowsy but awake - but there was no way I was letting him cry himself to sleep at two months!  I told myself that if he wasn't sleeping really well by August when Alex was preparing to go back to school then we might try crying it out (CIO) to enable us to start the new school year well rested.

These last five or six weeks that he has been waking up every one to two hours and nursing for what has seemed like forever to get back to sleep I have been able to doze off in bed while he nursed instead of being up for an hour at a time (usually resulting in him staying in bed with us for much of the rest of the night in a desperate attempt to get him to stay asleep).  But slowly my attitude began to change... and about two weeks ago Alex and I decided that we would try CIO at the end of May when Alex was done with school and we could deal with the possibility of a couple completely sleepless nights (instead of the current mostly sleepless nights for me and partially sleepless nights for him).

That plan went out the window Thursday night when Michael took forever to stay asleep when putting him down at bedtime (for the umpteenth night in a row) and then proceeded to wake up at least every hour.  After spending over an hour trying to nurse him back to sleep at 5:30am and recovering from the ensuing emotional breakdown, I told Alex that was it - we needed a change no matter what it took.  And thus we commenced Operation CIO starting with naps on Friday.

The first nap was not impressive - forty minutes of screaming off and on followed by about 25 minutes of sleeping.  I checked on him every fifteen minutes to make sure he hadn't wedged himself into an uncomfortable tangle in the corner of his bassinet and reassure him I still loved him - although I am convinced that checking on babies during CIO is more to make the parents feel better than the babies.  The second nap was much more encouraging - only fifteen minutes of crying followed by another twenty five minutes of sleep.  While he was screaming/napping I worked in the nursery - thankfully my nesting phase finally hit on Friday (only about five months later than it was supposed to) and I cleaned up and rearranged the room so it actually looks and feels like a functional nursery and not like an incredibly messy storage room (pictures to follow once we get rid of the remaining pile of boxes and hang pictures on the walls - possibly in another five months).  So Friday night we were able to combine CIO with transferring Michael from the bassinet in our room to the crib in his new room.

I expected to go through several nights of Michael crying for hours on end throughout the night, and me crying it out from my bedroom feeling like a terrible mother for not comforting him.  Instead Michael fell asleep after crying for about half an hour, and proceeded to have a night that was, on average, better than he had for the last couple weeks.  When I put him back in his crib after nursing he whimpered and then promptly fell back to sleep.  I was amazed.  It was as if all my prayers for his sleep these past six weeks were suddenly answered at once.  And Saturday night was even better - Michael cried for twenty minutes and then only woke up three times between 8:30pm and 7:30am.  I got to sleep for five hours straight for the first time in... I can't even remember how long.  Maybe two months.  And it was only the third time I've gotten that much sleep at one time since he was born (actually since well before he was born, as I was getting up every two hours to go the bathroom for at least the last trimester of pregnancy!).

So I am absolutely a CIO convert now.  But I am glad we waited as long as we did.  Maybe Michael would have been ready for it before four months, but I certainly wasn't.  I needed these last several miserable weeks of sleeplessness to allow me to have absolute peace that this was the right thing to try at this point.  And that peace is also due to the loving support and encouragement of family and friends - and no thanks to the multiple books and websites I consulted in an attempt to research ways to help Michael sleep better.  The only thing I learned from those websites was that he was (according to the experts on the respective ends of the spectrum) apparently destined to have some sort of complex about sleep regardless - if I let him cry it out he would feel abandoned and hate bedtime for the rest of his life, and if I didn't let him cry it out he would never learn to fall asleep on his own and so would hate bedtime for the rest of his life.  Stupid internet :)

Our sleep difficulties were peaking right around the beatification of John Paul II on May 2nd.  So Alex decided to start asking the intercession of Blessed JPII as the patron of Michael's sleep.  We praise God for the answer to prayers and continue to pray for consistent, adequate sleep for all three of us.  JPII, pray for us!

End of soccer season

Tonight was the last JV game for Regis.  Michael and I went to show our support for Alex and the girls - and they made it well worth our while by winning 5-1.  Michael was very cooperative (thankfully) and will hopefully sleep especially well after all the excitement and fresh air.  After the game Michael and I went to say hi to the team, and we instantly found ourselves in the center of a storm of high-pitched exclamations of  "Oooh, he's so cute!" and "Look, he smiled at me!"  I told Michael to get used to it -he's going to hear that sort of thing from girls all his life :)

Alex and head coach Jen talking to the girls between the periods.

Michael enjoying the game from the comfort of his stroller.

Daddy's biggest fans!

Coach Crane

Gooooo RJ!

Alleluia, alleluia

Christ is risen, He is risen INDEED!  We wish all our friends a family a most blessed Easter.  May our Risen Lord fill your hearts with the joy and hope of His Resurrection.

In the spirit of this most joyous day we're excited to be able to share a video of Michael laughing. He's been doing it for a couple weeks now, but has refused to perform for the video camera. But we have discovered that Michael thinks the phrase "is it just so silly?" is... well, just so silly :)

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