Snow-God's Gift!

I'll bet most of you are beginning to think the opposite of my thoughts on snow! We are currently enjoying the Palestinian "blizzard" of '08. It's the first time we've seen snow this winter! We've all be anticipating it for a while now. We are experiencing such high winds that yesterday my students thought there was a band of pipers outside our window,(who knew wind could create piping noises in harmony) and it sounds like there are multiple cat fights going on in our school building (creepy, I know)! However, we love the wind and the snow along with it. We were able to crawl back into bed this morning and enjoy a nice leisurely breakfast (Doug makes the BEST omelettes). We also know that with snow days comes some strange behavior, such as our neighbor on top of his roof, shoveling a small patch of snow with a huge shovel. To which we were surprised that he dragged his entire family out to watch him do that in 10 seconds. Ahhhhh, the joy of having the time to watch things like this! With a snow day comes a blog post. It's long overdue, I apologize.
Doug is in exam week now. He's busy making up tests that cover this past semester and grading them. I am extremely jealous that he's done at 11:00 each day, but what can I do? The perks of teaching high school! We are both going to start grading for report cards today or tomorrow (most likely) that go out next Monday. He's busy, as always, being the janitor, assistant high school principal, Miss Grace's errand runner, etc. The things he does on a daily basis still amazes me. He was fixing the heat in an apartment down the hall yesterday then going to get permissions for some students participating in Model United Nations later next month. He's a very handy guy to have around, and I never know what he's up to. Miss Grace is already freaking out about next year, without him around to help with everything. What did they do before Doug came? Sometimes I wonder....
My class is still proving incredibly challenging. Usually while I'm teaching I feel like an eruption is going to take place between the students. For some reason, the Christian students in the class ostracize the Muslim students. Mainly it's the boys. They do little things to leave them out, or blatantly push them out of the way. I find they're often snickering when the Muslim students speak. I think it's many bad habits that have solidified over their years of schooling, but pray I can talk to parents about encouraging their children to stop doing this, and I can create a community where people are truly loved for who they are. Sadly, the parents are teaching their children to do this, as they often deal with each other in the same manner. My heart breaks for my student Watheq in particular. He tries to fit in with the other boys, but finds that the mold he fits into is being the butt of their jokes. He allows them to tease him to fit in. It's really sad! Pray I can find a way to stop that, and make Watheq want to stop it!
On a much brighter note my Bible study is going extremely well. I have three girls who are devoted to our group. One of them asked me if we could meet weekly! We now meet every Saturday afternoon in our apartment and continue studying God's call on our lives (through a book by Bill Hybels). This past week we were discussing one area in our life we'd like to change, and the discussion got steered in a way that one of the girls suggested we "check up on each other." Accountability was the next step, and they knew they needed it before I even suggested it! Praise God! I'm not sure whether one of the girls still attends a Muslim religion class or not (last thing I knew she was) but I'm praying for an opportunity to ask her about where she's truly at. I can tell the Lord is really working in her life, though, which is awesome. I'm also working on getting the girls to read their Bibles on a daily basis. They are going to try reading verses geared for particular circumstances such as when they're: sad, stressed, lonely, happy, etc. It's a start.
I'm coordinating a talent show for the elementary school to take place in March. The kids are very excited about it, and are even working out group performances! I hope they will stay committed to doing it! I'll keep you posted on that.
Okay, now it's off to read and download some pictures. We pray God is blessing your lives and you are a blessing to others!

Why I'm NOT voting for Mike Huckabee (Doug)

I know we don't really go into politics this directly on this blog that much but when this came to our attention I couldn't stay silent. I was kind of interested in this Mike Huckabee guy who's put his hat in the ring for the presidential race. He seems like an interesting candidate so I've been doing my homework. But my interest immediately ceased when I read this about him...

When asked about a Palestinian state, Gov. Huckabee stated that he supports creating a Palestinian state, but believes that it should be formed outside of Israel. He named Egypt and Saudi Arabia as possible alternatives, noting that the Arabs have far more land than the Israelis and that it would only be fair for other Arab nations to give the Palestinians land for a state, rather than carving it out of the tiny Israeli state.

I guess this leaves me with a question for Mike Huckabee. My question would be this "Mr. Huckabee, would you not agree that by your train of thought that since there are plenty of other European countries in the world, the people of the state of Arkansas should give the land back to the Choctaw and Illinois indians who lived there first since there are "far more" lands that people of Anglo-Saxon descent could use to live in?" To simply banish the Palestinians from the lands and homes they've owned for centuries out to the desert somewhere is the most degrading inhumane suggestion I can think of short of an all out ethnic cleansing. In fact, what should scare us is that historically speaking, mass relocations of people are typically a precursor to genocide. The thought process usually goes like this...'Hmmm these people are a real problem for us. It would be better if they weren't here. Let's move them. Hmmm they're still a problem. Let's just kill them since nobody really cared when we moved them all. Obviously nobody will really miss them all that much." Well let me just say, I'd miss them.

I'm sorry if my statements here make some of our readers angry but frankly this needs to be said. The discussion over "who was here first" is not relevant. There are two groups of people who live here NOW. The issue is what to do now, not how do we figure out who came first. Secondly, the issue of the Biblical "right" to this land is also severely abused by Christian dispensationalists who have no idea what the modern state of Israel is really like. Do the Jewish people have a right to a homeland here...YES. Is the modern state of Israel the same as Biblical Israel...NO. I feel like the confusion between these two points shapes many American viewpoints including many of those in power. Fact: Biblical Israel was a theocracy. Fact: Modern Israel is a democracy (a VERY secularized one at that). It is irresponsible of us obliterate the livelihoods of millions of Palestinian people and displace them from their homes because we think the state of Israel is the equivalent of Moses and the 12 tribes running around knocking down all the evil Canaanite high places.

So thanks for letting me vent. I'm sorry if I've made you angry but I'm not sorry if I got you to think about this a little more and to question what the various candidates say about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This one single issue is probably one of the biggest problems that most Arab nations have with the U.S. today. God help us if someone like Mike Huckabee becomes president and continues to create policies towards the Palestinians that only make matters worse.