Texas and Israel Bluebonnets

This time of year in central/north central Texas usually means Bluebonnets. It's common for the girls/women in a family to sit among the flowers to have their photos taken with the natural beauties. Following the Bluebonnet theme of the last two posts, here are my girls: one born in Texas, the other in Israel.

Happy First Birthday, Zach!

Yesterday was Zach's first birthday. One of his gifts was a t-ball set that looked pretty interesting . . . to me. He, on the other hand, demonstrated something we hear all the time: "Kids are more interested in the packaging than the contents!"

Zach's First Game

Last Friday, we took Zach to his first baseball game. He didn't have any clue where he was, but it was fun for us.

Midland Rockhounds 11
San Antonio Missions 0

We've Got a Baby!

Zachariah Samuel Dunning

Born on April 8, 2011, 6lbs 3oz (2.8k) @ 11:38.

All indications are that he is healthy, and both mom and baby are doing fine at home.

We are thankful the Lord heard our prayer and has blessed us in this way.

We've Got a Date!

Okay, the doctor has decided the little guy in the photo below will be introduced to the hard, cold reality of this world on Thursday, April 7, 2011.

At this time, both mother and baby are fine. However, mother wouldn't be disappointed if today were April 6. Please pray for her as she waits another nine days.

Rodeo Update

Well, I survived. A great time was had by all, and my legs still hurt more than I could have imagined. But that's what 4-5 hours of competing on horseback will do.

We were divided into teams, but the ropers (a specialty skill) served double, and sometimes triple duty on different teams. In the end, there were no trophy buckles or saddles, which is fine. We had the chance to spend the day on horses, encouraging one another in our efforts.

I had my first opportunity to ride a horse out of a roping box, which made me realize how much of a specialty skill calf/steer roping really is. There's a lot involved in guiding the horse with one hand and trying to rope with the other.

I appreciate those who made their horses available to those of us who don't have horses. I especially appreciate Mr. Smith who let me ride Tonka most of the day. I tried to ride the sorrel horse in the photo at the top, but couldn't reign him in a way that worked for either of us. So, I switched to Tonka (more affectionately known as "Chubs") and had a great day.

Grace also rode Tonka.

Colleen's Favorite Green: Swiss Chard

Personally, I don't eat the stuff, but it is my wife's favorite green on her plate, and it's now available at the market.

I'm Proud

I just want to take a moment to say that I'm proud of my cousins.

The photo on the left is of my cousins, first and first once removed. Jennifer is my first cousin, the daughter of my mother's sister, Terry. Brittney is Jennifer's daughter, my first cousin once removed. Gardina is also Jennifer's daughter, or, at least she will be in short order, which will also make her my first cousin once removed.

Gardina was an orphan in Haiti, and thankfully survived the devastating earthquake that rocked that nation to its core. She just arrived in the US and is being adopted by Jeff and Jennifer DeWitt and their 4 kids.

Gardina had been on their hearts and minds for some time, as either Jeff or Brittney had, on different occasions, visited the orphanage where Gardina lived, and brought reports of Gardina back home to share with the rest of the family.

For many reasons, this is a moving story, which you can read the rest of here. 

My hat is off to all those who "love the least of these," and I'm proud to count my cousins among them. How do you say, "Welcome to the family" in Haitian-Creole?

Corn Nuts, One of My Favorites

I was happy to discover roasted corn nuts in the Jerusalem market. Well, . . . not those Corn Nuts®, but close enough to satisfy my salty snack craving. These corn nuts are from Spain, but they taste identical to Corn Nuts®, and that makes me really happy.

When we are in the States, we usually spend a lot of time on the highways, and I have a few favorite road snacks: Jack in the Box tacos (usually 2/99¢, but even better at 3/99¢!), Corn Nuts®,  and quick stop (i.e. gas station snack bar) burritos when we are driving in west Texas. Wow, my mouth's watering just thinking about those treats!

Here's a bin of Spanish corn nuts at the Jerusalem market. 

Happy Birthday, Grace!

Early this morning, six years ago, I stood next to the midwife near the foot of my wife's delivery bed. I was taking it all in, doing my best to encourage my lovely bride to finish the task that was hers - but mostly standing there numb trying to take it all in.

While "our" delivery was a relatively quick process start to finish, time seemed to drag on. As each stage came and went the midwife seemed more excited than I was, but I was taking it all in with great amazement and wonder.

Finally, our daughter's head crowned and suddenly there she was! It seemed quicker than the flash of a flashbulb; and in one motion the midwife caught her and delivered her into my wife's arms. 

I hope that one moment in time, a flashbulb of a moment, will never leave my memory. I pray that through any future sickness, injury or old age God will be kind to me, allowing me to treasure that sweet and amazing moment until my last breath.

Happy Birthday, Grace!

I'm Back . . . I Think

My slow blogging of late hasn't been planned. Rather, it is the result of a number of things, not the least of which has been a lack of desire.

Just before Christmas, I thought I had come down with the swine flu, but it turned out to be something else that included a pretty serious Strep-B infection. Thankfully, I seem to be nearing the end of that awful experience.

Last week, I had the opportunity to spend time with a friend who is leading a seminary group on an Israel study tour. My friend even let me teach a little, which is always a blessing.

Some have expressed a concern for me since I have bid farewell to baseball, asking how I'm doing emotionally and such. Really, I'm doing fine. It was a great opportunity to be involved in Israel Baseball like I was, but it is time to move on.

We are transitioning in ways that we are not always able to share in this forum, but do appreciate our friends' continued interest in our well being and vocation.

Recently, I've been learning much about disagreeing more agreeably, and God has given us a graduate seminar in that topic. May God give us grace to succeed.

13 Years Ago Today

Thirteen years ago today, Christmas Eve 1996, Colleen and I met on a blind lunch date at the Chinese Kitchen in Odessa, Texas.

Today, we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Jerusalem, and Grace took this photo for us.

We wish each of you a Merry Christmas. 

Farewell Israel Baseball

Twelve years. That's how long I was intimately involved in the activities of the Israel Association of Baseball: umpire, umpire trainer, club team coach, national team coach, fitness instructor, board member, peace envoy, guidance counselor and who knows what else.

Mine was an unlikely beginning: As I was walking down King David street, I heard the sound of a ball hitting a bat come from behind the YMCA. Curious about that sound, I went around the building to see, to my utter surprise, a baseball practice. I stood around watching, making mental notes of things that could be improved, and when the players took a break, I asked the coach if he would mind if I made some suggestions. He was receptive to my input and asked if I wanted to umpire the scrimmage game that was about to start.

That's how it started. A twelve year relationship that has taken me to places like Cyprus; Moscow; north, central and south Italy; and Philadelphia, Omaha, Kansas City and Pittsburgh for various competitions. A relationship that gave me the opportunity to participate in two Jewish Olympics, once as an umpire, once as a coach. A relationship that gave me the opportunity to travel to Jordan as a peace envoy in a failed effort to forge a relationship between Israel Baseball and Jordan Baseball. A relationship that gave me the opportunity to meet Major League Baseball owners, players, scouts, and executives.

But most importantly it was a relationship that gave me the opportunity to invest in the lives of young men, to see boys mature into men who will one day move beyond baseball to be soldiers and university students and build careers and families. And hopefully do those things better because of something they learned in one of my programs.

I'm thankful to those who offered any type of support to my efforts whether it was a financial gift, a kind word, friendship, a word of wise counsel, or by running interference for me with my adversaries.

Now, it's time for my four-month leave of absence to officially become a resignation. Thank you Israel Association of Baseball, it's been a great ride.

Here are a few pics of my last act as Israel Baseball national team coach.

Hannukah 2009: My Gift - Day 6

Our Hannukah gift this year was a 2 year residence visa.

This Made Me Smile

I was going through my files and ran across this valentine that Grace made for me this year. It made me smile.

She signed her name right to left with reversed letters, which shows the influence of her Hebrew studies.

A Public Word of Thanks

Colleen, my wife, is in Houston, Texas helping her mother who is undergoing radiation treatment. Colleen has been gone for 6 days now, and every day it becomes more clear to me how much we need her here.

Colleen, thank you for being a "taker carer." (I don't think that was a word until now.) Thank you for helping take care of Meema, and thank you for taking care of us. I'm sure I don't realize the full extent of how you take care of us and our home, but I want to thank you for all that I'm more aware of at this moment.

Grace and I miss you and wish that you were here right, right, right now. 

All our love,
Craig and Grace

Ken and Lucy and Wolf Brand Chili

It's football season and almost time for the State Fair of Texas, so these really hit the spot. Our dear friends, Ken and Lucy Nunn, from North Carolina blessed us with a treasure trove of goodies. And among the goodies were several cans of Wolf Brand Chili, which are now being rationed.

Before Ken came on his last visit, he asked if there was anything special that we would like. Our answer: "Canned chili. Preferably, Wolf Brand Chili, but since you are on the east coast, any local brand of chili will be fine."

Ken likes a challenge, so he searched the Internet to find where he could get Wolf Brand. We never imagined Ken would go to the trouble of shipping WBC from San Antonio, Texas to North Carolina so he could bring it to us in Israel, or we would not have asked for that item. However, Ken and Lucy are like that: They really want to bless those they love. And in God's mercy, we have been one of the targets of their love.

Over the years they have brought a variety of things for us and others: clothes, candy corn, licorice, scented pencils, beef jerky, kids books, scholarships, baseball uniforms, baseball equipment, and chili are a partial list. And, all of it has been gathered, packed and carried with lots of love.

Ken and Lucy, you are a treasure. We love you.

By the way, the chili has been enjoyed in the form of chili cheeseburgers and chili dogs. Next up: Nachos with a perfect blend of cheese, chili and (recently acquired) jalapenos. Thanks for your part in the menu.

Choosing Thomas

The Dallas Morning News has published a beautiful [video] article Choosing Thomas, which details the heartbreaking and joy giving story of TK and Deidra Laux whose son Thomas was a victim of Trisomy 13.

As a parent who has walked this path, I want to complement the staff of The Dallas Morning News on a wonderful job of presenting this story, capturing the heartache and disappointment and fear that parents feel when faced with the terrible news: "There appear to be some serious problems." The staff also did a wonderful job in capturing the surprising joy that a baby with "serious and fatal problems" brings to his/her parents and family and friends.

As I watched the video and read the accompanying article(s) and journal, I continually thought: This is our story. That's what happened to us.

However, our story was different in that our Abigail Hope didn't survive to birth; she was stillborn. Our story was also complicated by the fact that it took place in Israel, far away from our family and most of our life friends.

We were thankful that there were a few people here who hurt with us, but so many seemed to dismiss our situation as nothing too serious. Perhaps some just didn't know what to say, which is common. But in many cases, it was simply a cultural callousness toward these types of things. At least one person assumed Abigail didn't have a name yet, thus she didn't have "person hood." He was wrong on both counts. Others blindly followed the traditional Jewish thought that a life duration of more than thirty days establishes a human being as a viable person. If a child dies before that time, he is considered to not have lived at all.

The medical community offered no comfort either since they could only think of one thing to say: "TERMINATE NOW!" In fact, the country's expert in 3-D ultrasound and genetic abnormalities was shocking in his callousness: In response to our question regarding the reasonable expectation of length of life for Abigail should she survive to full term, he said, "Not long, but I would hope she wouldn't live one second! Her problems are too severe to want her to live. My advice is to terminate NOW!" Unfortunately, that wasn't his only disaster in bed side manner, but I'm not interested to recount the others here.

"Terminate now," was so foreign to our thoughts, the doctors all thought we had parachuted in from another galaxy. We insisted that we wouldn't even consider killing Abigail, and the doctors looked at us in utter disbelief and disdain. Who were we to be so resistant to their advice? They were the experts; and they know the outcome of these situations. I knew our position was right, but it was nice to hear other parents in our situation agree with us - even three years later: Toward the end of the video report [in a voice over the funeral scenes] Deidre Laux clearly articulated our thoughts: "We didn't not terminate because we were hanging onto some sort of hope there was a medical mistake or there was going to be some some sort of medical miracle. We didn't terminate because he's our son." Because Abigail was our daughter! We loved her, broken body and all; how could we even consider breaking her body more?

Burial is another point at which our story and the Lauxes' diverge. In Israel, most cemeteries are religiously segregated, which is to say that Abigail couldn't be buried in a Jewish or Muslim cemetery, the most abundant cemeteries here. As it turned out, she wasn't welcome to be buried in the evangelical Christian cemetery either, which is a story in itself.

This all happened so fast, and the hospital staff was pressing us for an answer regarding the disposition of the body. Dealing with death, especially that of our own child, in Israel was all new to us. We didn't know to whom to turn. And it was late Thursday afternoon, which is to say that the Sabbath was quickly approaching and things would be shutting down for the weekend. We made a few phone calls, only to reach dead ends or endless stalling, which we understood to be a no without actually saying, "no." Meanwhile, the hospital was pressing for an answer.

Finally, we decided to use the service of the Jewish burial society, who gathers the bodies of all children under the age of 30 days and buries them in an unmarked grave. I guess to their credit, even though they don't consider the children to have genuine person hood, at least they give them a somewhat proper burial.

I recommend this video report to you. If you aren't familiar with the emotions and thoughts and struggles that take place when parents are told, "there are some problems," this report will give you some insight.

If you are struggling with the issue of termination, please watch the video - to the end.

In our days on this road, we leaned heavily on each other, but more heavily upon the Lord: "Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper! (Psalm 30:10)” He was, and continues to be.

Our 10th Anniversary

Ten years ago today, I received this shirt. It's been a great shirt, which I still wear. On that day, I also got something incomparable to that shirt: I got a great life partner.

Colleen is a great wife and mother, just the wife and mother we need. When we met on a blind date at the Chinese Kitchen in 1996, I could never have imagined the blessing she would be to me.

Today, on our 10th anniversary, I'm blessed beyond anyone I know.

Happy Anniversary, Colleen. I love you.

Canada vs. Israel

The Maccabiah opened yesterday with us playing Canada. Unfortunately, we lost 7-3, but we are still very much in the mix and have no reason to hang our heads.

Today, we play Mexico and then have the official opening ceremony. We'll march into Ramat Gan stadium with over 6,000 other athletes to the thunderous applause of more than 40,000 people. I'm excited about both events.