Urban Onramps

She’s seven pounds, eight ounces, and born at 10:28 p.m. We haven’t settled on the name. Here’s Baby with Grandma Muslimah. Kafi is well.

UPDATE — DEC. 30 — AFTERNOON: Later tonight I’ll put up some photos of this event. I’ve languished here at home, hoping to rest (I’ve had little sleep), but not quite able to fall out. Liverpool and Manchester City are going at it like two boys who just called each other’s mothers foul names. That might be part of my problem. I’m about to go fetch Samuel and Micah so they can see baby sister. They are in West LA, staying with Aunt Shirley, while mom and dad and grandma try to get a grip on reality.

UPDATE2 — DEC. 30 — EVENING:

Ok, I’ve got some pictures up. Just click on the photo above.

Informed Reader:

In what Mr. Clark calls the “Starbucks reverse jinx,” the chain’s arrival continues to stimulate demand for coffee and the cafe experience that spills over into independent shops. Some customers, having cultivated a taste for drinks like espresso and cappuccino at Starbucks, look for less-pricey versions at locally owned shops. From 2000 to 2005, a period when Starbucks tripled in size, the number of independent cafes in the U.S. grew from 9,800 to 14,000.

I wish independent coffee shops could figure out how to offer the equivalent of Starbucks gift cards. I know, I know, one could use and give basic Visa check cards (that are good anywhere). But not every indy coffee shop accepts credit/debit cards, either.

Ironic:

The rising cost of oil has wiped out the benefits many African countries were expecting from western aid and debt relief over the past three years, new research from the International Energy Agency has shown.

The foreign aid game is so tricky. Remember how, in the wake of Live Aid (think back, the 1980s), many food shipments ended up stuck at the harbors and ports of countries governed by corrupt leaders, never to be delivered to the people who needed them so desperately. The belt-buckle and skinny sideburns types, who talk most about eliminating all foreign aid, reference lots of stories like this. We can’t stay out of the foreign aid situation, first of all on Biblical grounds, but we can’t be blind, either, to on-the-ground realities that make these efforts all that much harder.

Sam and I leave the house in a few minutes. We are due at City of Hope at 545. Sam’s surgery is at 730. I AM TIRED. Successfully picked up Ma Muslimah from LAX, only after navigating Olympic-level traffic inside the airport itself (and thanks to Regis and Malcolm from the Harambee, who jumped out of the van and extracted Grandma from the baggage carousel scrum). Sam’s surgery is a scheduled procedure (see post below), part of his “exit from chemo” plan. Thank you for praying.

UPDATE: 8AM: Sam is in, and probably out, of surgery. The doc came by and said it would just be a five-minute procedure. It’s the recovery from the anesthesia that takes the most time. I’m sitting here in the 2nd floor waiting area of Helford Hospital - City of Hope, waiting. Here’s a pic of Sam just before the wheeled him out of prep and into surgery.

And so it starts…

Micah posed for a good chunk of Christmas afternoon. I don’t know where she learned this one. It’s a move that her Aunties in Brooklyn are known to make.

Kafi is getting very close to delivery. The baby is due in a few weeks, but she’s been in early labor for a few days and we’ve gone to the hospital for labor/observation twice. We have a hunch that baby will come in a few days. Kafi’s mother is flying out from New York as I write this. We’ve got contingency plans for Sam and Micah.

MEANWHILE, Sam is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. It’s a planned procedure. They’ll remove his port-o-cath, the metal “button” that he’s had under his skin for the past three years. It’s another milestone in his recovery. We are due at City of Hope at 5:45 a.m. Sam cannot eat anything after midnight.

If Kafi does not go into labor in the next few hours, I think I can make it to the Harambee Junior Staff Christmas Dinner. This event is a wonderful gathering point and reunion for Harambee youth of past and present. We give the youth gift cards (it looks like about 50 youth and young adults will receive cards worth a total of $1,400). We have dinner. Junior Staff alumni who are now in college will get up and say a few words. We will also hear from a guest speaker, as we do every year. This year’s speaker is Jurnee Smollett from Denzel’s new movie, The Great Debaters.

So that’s what’s up. We didn’t feel like cooking, so we are waiting for Chinese food to be delivered. Here’s a shot of Sam at the Harambee Christmas program:

Answer: Offer movie rentals through iTunes. It will be worse than BitTorrent. That’s why I don’t think Jobs will announce it at the January MacWorld.

I’m watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3. Y Que? Downloaded it off the iTunes ese.

Christmas was nice. Sam and Micah were eager to wake up and open presents, Sam more than any of us. First we read the Bible. Kafi picked Luke 2, which is straightforward and positive. Then I read the Matthew gospel account, the slaughter of the innocents and the flight into Egypt. Sam’s gotta know the real, he’s old enough (7). Plus Jesus came up from Egypt, Sam needs to know that, too. Then the present-opening commenced. I was diligent to clean up wrapping paper as presents were being opened. Alas, I was a bit too vigilant, temporarily throwing out Kafi’s Dream Dinners gift card (I found it later). Friends came over for chicken and waffles, mmm. Much fun and trash-talking ensued. I read from the Book of Proverbs to the horror, edification, and gaping wonder of all in earshot. The stuff is over 2,500 years old but it reads like this morning’s newspaper. We took naps. We’ll, all except myself. I watched A GREAT MATCH between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Ruud Van Nistleroy and Baptista combined for this ridiculous world-class, scratch that, galactic level goal to win, 1-0. “They” woke up, we went to Aunt Shirley, cousin little Aubrey came through and piled his plate HIGH with mac n cheese - man, a 22 year old college senior male can eat. Good times all around. Left Sam and Micah for an overnighter with Aunt Shirley. Came home and watched House. Yes.

Today I’m at Harambee, going through various and sundry items. A volunteer electrician came earlier to save the day. First he laughed at us, then with us. Kafi’s got a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon. The baby will come (drumroll) any hour, day or week from now - how’s that for precise?

Our Scholarship Drive for Harambee Prep is up to $80,382. Our goal is $175,000. Details about the scholarship drive are here. You can make a year-end donation by clicking this. Your support is much appreciated.

I serve on the World Vision United States board of directors. As a board member I communicate regularly with Cheryl Plantenberg, a staffer who helps us during board meetings (among her other duties). Her son, Brandon, is 29 with a wife and kids. He came down with an auto-immune disease (the doctors think) and is in very critical condition. It started with a flu and high temperatures for days, and it’s just gotten worse. This morning he was airlifted to another hospital so that he could be put into a bariatric chamber to increase oxygen. Please pray for his healing. This just touched me deeply. I don’t want a family to be without their father and husband. Pray for the doctors and for the family and extended family, I would appreciate it.

One of our Harambee Prep School graduates, Mark Anthony Arellano, won second place in a national Christmas card competition sponsored by the National Assocation of Street Schools (NASS). Above is Mark’s entry. After graduating from HPS in June 2006, Mark became a boarding school student at Jubilee Christian School in Prescott, WA. Congratulations, Mark! Below is a picture of Mark with me and his brother Ramiro (Mark is the one on the left). This photo was shot over a year ago, the day that Mark left Pasadena for Jubilee

For Christmas I’d like my son’s feet to stop hurting. His feet have been hurting for a while. The docs say it’s because of the chemo (specifically, because of the vincristine). They also say that, now that he’s coming off the chemo, it’s natural for his feet to hurt during the readjustment period. But it’s not going well. For the past couple of days Sam has said, “My feet hurt, and when I take the medicine (Children’s Tylenol) it doesn’t help. They still hurt.” Tonight, when he went to bed, the last thing he said to me was that his feet still hurt. This morning he climbed into my bed and Kafi spent some time rubbing his feet. Your prayers for the healing of Sam’s feet will be appreciated.

She’s a little cutie.

I can’t quite link to this story at John Liotti’s blog (hint, hint) but the scoop is that a community-based credit union is soon to rise from the streets of East Palo Alto. The Silicon Valley Community Foundation has a great spread about the NorCal Urban Development, Liotti’s nonprofit, and the soon-to-be East Palo Alto Federal Credit Union.

I’m completely impressed with what John and team have pulled off so far. Congrats, brother.

It was formerly Rescue College and was run by the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions (AGRM). Now it’s City Vision College and it is under TechMission. This is a great move for TechMission. One can earn a BA in Missions. The school is fully accredited by The Distance Education and Training Council. The academic dean is Dr. Fletcher Tink, who I’ve known of since his days at Bresee in LA, and the director of education is Rev. Michael Liimatta. More info here.

This thing is a mess. Which means it’s entertaining. Peggy Noonan’s article today was interesting (btw, looks like the Wall Street Journal will be free to the unwashed masses beginning sometime in the New Year). We’ve had the best kinds of phone calls at Harambee lately, people calling up to say is there a family that needs help. The answer is yes, we know many families that are in peculiar pickles. Sometimes they are victims of circumstances, sometimes they created their own troubles, but always the children suffer. It can be tough for urban ministry workers like me to address every situation, so it’s wonderful when others step up and offer help and get personally involved.

I was flattened out for over a week last week. I’ve been easing back into things the past few days. Man! Flu will wipe you out. Yesterday Sam had a final spinal tap and bone marrow draw. It was all scheduled, part of winding down from treatment. After Christmas Sam will have surgery to get his port (presently in his chest, under his skin) removed. The bone marrow was something else. They stick this thing that resembles a corkscrew into a portion of his hip and then twist and twist and twist. When the marrow comes out… sheesh. I got woozy. Kafi is 8 months pregnant, baby due in early to mid January. Word to the wise in LA: Harambee got a grant from the Dwight Stuart Youth Foundation for our afterschool program. If you have a regular car to donate (four door, like a toyota ford or honda) let us know, the Harambee could use one.

Pasadena Star-News:

Five suspected gang members, who police believe are connected to a series of shootings, led police on a high speed chase from Pasadena Monday night…. The chase began at 5:20 p.m. at Howard Street and Mentone Avenue in when the driver failed to yield…

Howard and Mentone is my neighborhood.