Newborns in Need will be hosting its annual baby shower on Saturday, May 4 with free knitting, crochet and sewing lessons for anyone who attends.

I did it. Even though it might make me the last person in Ahwatukee over the age of 9 to do so, I have a smartphone. It was not a case of desire; the screen on my “vintage” phone was so scratched I couldn’t see it, and it turned out I could get the smartphone and pay $10 less per month. I suspect the kid that sold it to me was like a seedy, back alley pusher — “come on, its even cheaper” — and that a smartphone is gateway technology.

Heartland Payment Systems

Jozef Bagby, 14, of Ahwatukee recently received his Eagle Scout Award in a court of honor ceremony on March 16 at Esperanza Lutheran Church. Bagby began his scouting career as a Cub Scout Webelos in 2007. He earned his Arrow of Light before bridging into Boy Scout Troop 124, and eventually transferred to Troop 14 after moving to Ahwatukee.

About five years ago when Children of Hope Preschool needed funds to install sprinklers, staff and volunteers were able to raise about half needed to pay for the expensive price tag through the help of the community.

Six years ago, Janine Skinner was a mother of three who was reentering the workforce. Some of the return was financial: the aforementioned kids were just a few years away from college. While serving as a youth event chaperone, she was introduced to Minnesota-based Feed My Starving Children (FMSC). That was the beginning of a six-year whirlwind.

Around 25 years ago, I was racing bicycles in Southern California. It was mostly local club races and I enjoyed training rides with teammates. We began hearing stories of a talented junior (under 18) in Texas. He had gifts, but tended to be so relentlessly competitive that he wanted to lead a race from start to finish, which often is not the best strategy. That young Texan turned out to be Lance Armstrong.

For years the Ahwatukee Foothills community has been connecting and collaborating to serve its neighborhoods. Now, eight advocacy teams have been formed and they’re gearing up for another successful year of serving.

I have always been more interested in the questions than the answers. I guess that is because the questions begin conversations and answers, even the good ones, end them.

With all due respect to the Mayans, I have plans for Dec. 22. It also may be news to you, but you guys are not the first to predict the end of the world, and even though you still have a shot at being the first to correctly predict the end of the world, I have plans for Dec. 22. My daughter is getting married. Perhaps to be on the safe side, I won’t pay any bills until the 23rd.

Two new garden beds at Esperanza Lutheran in Ahwatukee Foothills are only the beginning, as the church hopes to eventually turn all of its empty land into a functional community garden.

I am not sure when you will be reading this, but chances are good that you have already voted, or it could be that the votes have been counted and the election is over. Regardless of the outcome I am pretty certain of two things. First, whichever candidate won, whether you voted that way or not, is likely not nearly as bad as his or her opponent told you. No matter what has been written by those who frequently write letters to the editor, no elected official is loosing a lot of sleep trying to design ways to destroy the country. The second thing I am pretty certain about is that whichever candidate won, whether you voted that way or not, is likely not a savior either.

Understanding that language is limited in its ability to describe some things, the ancients often used metaphors to speak of the divine. Three of the most common were fire, water and wind. They are three things that can be quite wonderful: a warm fire on a cold evening, water to grow crops, a cool breeze on a hot summer day. They are also things that can become large and uncontainable: a brushfire, a flash flood, a tornado that uproots mighty trees.

Three Ahwatukee Foothills Girl Scouts are collecting new or gently used books for underprivileged children at Phoenix Day.

To be honest with you, I don’t really care where you get your chicken sandwich. The thing that interests me the most about the whole Chick-fil-A, marriage equality discussion is wrapped up in the phrase, “the biblical model of marriage.” It interests me because there are assumptions being made about a “biblical model” that simply does not hold water. The Bible does not have that much to say about marriage, and a great deal of what is said does not fit the assumptions.

I found it impossible to take my mind off of it. As I watched thousands of kids gather outside, I was awash in worry and sadness. I was in New Orleans a couple of weeks ago for the triennial gathering of Lutheran youth. This Youth Gathering was very different for me, this time I was present as part of the leadership team, working with other adults to provide some of the programming and service learning for the more than 33,000 kids who came.

Happy birthday United States! The 236 years has put a bit of wear and tear on you, but you’re looking pretty good, and the millions of us who are blessed to be a part of you will toast to your good health today.

Curiously, in an election year that was supposed to be about jobs and the economy, social issues with a religious and spiritual dimension have played an important role. Observing the annular solar eclipse last month, I had a little fantasy about what it must have been like to be Giulia Ammannati, the mother of Galileo. So imagine if you will, that the year is 1616.

No one is prepared for a premature baby or the death of a newborn, but one group is doing what it can to make the process a little more caring.

Forty some years ago I was in a small town on the Fourth of July. There was the usual kind of celebrating going on but there was also a group of men passing out fliers. On one side was a peace symbol and, in large block letters, “Footprint of the American Chicken.” The war in Vietnam was still on and still dividing at home.

Forty some years ago I was in a small town on the Fourth of July. There was the usual kind of celebrating going on but there was also a group of men passing out fliers. On one side was a peace symbol and, in large block letters, “Footprint of the American Chicken.” The war in Vietnam was still on and still dividing at home.

To celebrate going strong for five years and hoping for at least five more, the Children of Hope Child Development Center at Esperanza Lutheran Church is hosting the Ahwatukee Foothills public on Saturday for its inaugural Western Day.

To celebrate going strong for five years and hoping for at least five more, the Children of Hope Child Development Center at Esperanza Lutheran Church is hosting the Ahwatukee Foothills public on Saturday for its inaugural Western Day.

Every profession has its own lexicon of esoteric language, mine included. When it comes to the language of religion, there is a decided lack of agreement on what some of the language means.