Gross.

This might be the most disgusting display of wealth I've seen in a long time... meet Ed & Nina Otto of Boca Raton, FL, who spent $150,000 to clone their dead yellow lab, Lancelot.

Can you think of anything more ridiculous?! According to the ASPCA's website, half of all dogs in shelters are eventually destroyed because there is no one to adopt them. So rather than provide a home for one of these animals, this crazy couple decided to create a new one.

And you know what, that's not even the part that really gets me. I'd much rather more people adopted strays and mutts from shelters. But let's say this couple had rather paid several thousand dollars for a purebred puppy. Okay. That's their perogative, and a choice made lots of mostly responsible purebred dog enthusiasts and breeders. Even if they'd done that, at least they'd have had $148,000 dollars to spare and could've donated that to the ASPCA or their local humane society or any other charity or even put it in a trust fund for their grandkids for goodness sake!

I am a lover of animals and I understand the intense emotional connection you have with a pet. For crying out loud, I held our family dog Bear's head in my lap as the vet put him to sleep, after he was too old and exhausted to even get up off the floor - I grasp the heartbreak of a pet's passing. But here's where Mr. & Mrs. McCrazy and I differ. Because my next thought after my dog died was not, "Let's go ahead and freeze up some of this DNA because I need an exact replica of this dog in the future. Literally no other dog on the planet will do. Good thing I'm rich!"

How pathetic and, to be frank, bat-sH*# INSANE is this couple that they believed this was the best course of action?! CLONING. THEIR. DOG. I feel like Amy Poehler & Seth Meyers, doing a "Seriously?" sketch on SNL. Seriously, Mr. & Mrs. Otto, it never crossed your mind to just GET A DIFFERENT DOG? And seriously, you couldn't think of anything better to do with $150K? SERIOUSLY?!

Sorry for a rant first thing in the morning, dearest reader, but this story just got me all riled up. Now I can't wait to get home and give Scruffy a big fat hug and thank God that He gives us the special honor of caring for the creatures of His creation, and maybe pray we screw it up a little less often.

Just Really Sad

This morning at work we found out the saddest news. One of Steven Curtis Chapman's children was killed in a horrible accident. Here is the story from the Tennessean:

Singer Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter is struck, killed by car
By LINDA ZETTLER and KATE HOWARD • Staff Writers • May 22, 2008

Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest child died Wednesday evening after being struck by a car driven by her teenage brother in the driveway of the family's Williamson County home. Maria, one of the Christian singer's six children, was taken by LifeFlight to Vanderbilt Hospital, which confirmed the death, according to Laura McPherson, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The 5-year-old was hit by an SUV driven by her teenage brother, she said. Police did not give the driver's name. The teen was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser down the driveway of the rural home about 5:30 p.m. and several children were playing in the area, McPherson said. He did not see Maria in the driveway before the vehicle struck her, she said.

"It appears to be a terrible accident,'' McPherson said. No charges are expected, she said. The accident was witnessed by two other children; the entire family was home at the time, McPherson said.

Singer/songwriter Chapman, who recently was inducted into Music City Walk of Fame, is one of contemporary Christian music's most recognizable and most awarded names. He and his wife, Mary Beth, have long been supporters of international adoption, having brought three girls from China into their family. Maria was the youngest. The couple is so active in the cause that they formed an organization, Shaohannah's Hope, to aid families wanting to adopt.

With his latest music tour, which came through Nashville in November, Chapman started a campaign called "Change for Orphans." He asked audience members at each stop to bring spare change to the concert, where it was counted and given to a local family to aid in their adoption process.

"I don't know of anybody who loves his children more than he does and is so committed to the adoption concept, and to lose one, no matter what the circumstances, is heartbreaking beyond all comprehension," said John Styll, president of the Nashville-based Gospel Music Association. "He talks about his kids all the time. That's his life. His kids are more important to him than music, that's for sure."

The tragedy was announced during Wednesday-night services at Harpeth Hills Church of Christ, which the family attends. Maria had just graduated from the church preschool. And word spread throughout the tight-knit Christian music community on Wednesday evening. Styll got the news not long after Maria's death.
"I'm confident I can speak for everyone in the community to say we will do everything we can to support this family, as we would do at any time, but especially at a time like this," he said.


What else is there but to believe that even in this, God is in control? There aren't any other words to say. Please pray for the Chapman family during this time. If you would like to make a donation to Shaohannah's Hope, you can visit www.shaohannahshope.org.

A Little Shaken Up

I usually like to keep this blog more upbeat, but every once in a while something happens that I just need to talk about... Today while I was driving to work I almost hit a man with my car, and it scared me horribly.

I was driving on a major road, and coming up to a large intersection (Nolensville and Old Hickory, for you Nashvillians). I moved to get into the right turn lane, which was wide open. The other two lanes in my direction were backed up waiting at the red light. I was zipping past them, totally within my boundaries, when from between two of the stopped cars darts a guy hustling across the street. He appeared and was almost instantly in my lane. I slammed on my brakes and screamed as my car screeched to a halt. This man literally had to jump out of my way and was so close my car must have brushed him; one step further and I would without a doubt have hit him, injured him, maybe even killed him.

I was shaking and crying so I pulled over after a few minutes to try and collect myself. I do NOT understand why someone would try to cross 6 lanes of traffic just a few yards from a busy intersection and not use the crosswalk! And he didn't even pause, didn't even look to see if there were cars coming down my lane. Even though if I had hit him I wouldn't have been at fault, realizing that I was so close to potentially seriously injuring or ending someone's life was terrifying. My mind was racing with the thought of what could have happened. What if I had glanced down to dig something out of my purse or change my CD? What is he had been jogging just a little faster? What if I had left my house 30 seconds earlier? What if what if what if...

But how good is our God, to place his hands in our lives, in the daily workings of our existence? To exist beyond and above our linear notions of time and our ideas about chance and fortitude. God is not playing a game of "what if." I believe that despite the seemingly incongruous ideas of His omniscience and our free will, God's plans are without flaw. I almost hit a man with my car today. Maybe I almost hit him so that the car behind me wouldn't actually hit him. Maybe I almost hit him so I'd be shaken up and more careful and deliberate about my driving habits. But I know there is a reason I didn't hit him, and at the same time a reason that I almost did. Thank you God, that today I didn't hit that man. I pray wherever he is that he is okay and that you have impressed upon his heart that it was more than just a chance occurance, just as you have revealed that to me.

A Sad Thing

I saw a very sad thing today and I just need to write it down.

I was driving to work and going behind a slow old man driver. I was getting annoyed and thinking of how I was already late for work. Then the car in front of me swerved into the other lane to avoid something in the road. All I could see was that it was some sort of roadkill. "Gross," I thought, and followed suit in driving around it.

As I passed it I saw what it was - a tiny baby deer, young enough to still be covered with white spots on its back. It had obviously suffered a very recent death, no doubt at the hands of someone like me driving 55 mph down the curvy back road.

It just made me think about how normally dead animals in the road are either so mangled that they are unrecognizable or are so common that the sight of it doesn't bother you anymore. A dead possum or dead squirrel won't ellicit much more than an "ew" from me. But for some reason to see the little baby deer's body in the road just made me sad enough to cry. Which I did. For about the next two miles. I cried for that baby deer even though I know there are thousands of deers and that what I saw is not that uncommon. I cried for that baby deer even though I know deer aren't exactly the brainiest of animals and that the baby's mom was probably over it already. I cried for that baby deer even though I know the real world isn't like Bambi.

And even though I know that animals don't "go to heaven" in the sense of humans I prayed that God had been there and comforted it upon its death. I prayed that as a part of creation which God made to glorify Himself, the baby deer and its life mattered to God and that perhaps that baby, and animals of all kinds, will be present in eternity. I don't know if that is true, but what I know of God's character makes me believe that it is.