Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Eid.

Eid is coming up.
But at least a few of you probably don't know exactly what Eid is... I'd define it as a Muslim holiday, and this one, Eid al Fitr, is celebrating the end of Ramadan, the month in which the Muslims fast from sunrise until sunset. Living in an Arab country, it means we can't eat or drink outside during that time, but it's not too bad.
Last night was the Night of Power, and I meant to post before then, but forgot. The Night of Power is when the Muslims stay up all night praying, instead of doing a certain number every night during Ramadan. They say that their prayers during this time are worth a LOT of other prayers, and it's a powerful night because they believe that this night is when the "angel" came to Muhammed.
We had a discussion about this last year at one of our Desert Challenge seminars. The Devil can masquerade as an angel of light, so that was probably what Muhammed saw. And, Muhammed went home in disbelief, and his wife convinced him it was a message from God.

And with Eid comes our yearly conference. This year is going to be fun, even though it'll be more scheduled for the youth than last year. We don't have to help out with the kids at all, though, and we get to work only part of the mornings in the nursery. We're doing a DVD thing by John Piper, I believe it's called The Blazing Center.

But I'm scared for after Eid. That's when we're supposed to call to make an appointment for another ultrasound... if you don't remember why, it's cuz we thought I had appendicitis back in the end of August. It hasn't really bothered me again, sometimes it'll hurt just a little for a short time, then be gone (the other day I actually got a little scared, my upper thigh was hurting as well, and it was coming and going...), but nothing enough to get me really worried.
I posted an update on the Rebelution forums, and one guy really encouraged me by posting Psalm 27:
Psalm 27
Of David
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh,
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.

4 One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.

6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.

7 Hear my voice when I call, O LORD;
be merciful to me and answer me.

8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"
Your face, LORD, I will seek.

9 Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
O God my Savior.

10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.

11 Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.

12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.

13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.


On a bit of a lighter note...
Other than Lord of the Rings, during my "vacation," I read a book called Bread Upon the Waters I would not recommend it to people under 13, but it's a really good book, set in Poland during World War II. I read it in one afternoon, it was so good I just couldn't put it down.

Also, Nanowrimo2007 is coming up! And I plan on doing it again. Last year I reached the 50,000 word goal, but this year will probably be harder, however my plot is already more devloped than last year's (last year I found out about Nanowrimo on October 31, and the "National Novel Writing Month" starts on November 1...). I'm excited.

The STS-12o Discovery is set to depart earth on October 23rd. Please be praying for the crew and the technical people, and everyone important involved in getting the STS-120 on its way to the space station and safely back.
In Kazakhstan they're preparing to launch something else from the Cosmodome, they launch tomorrow, actually. Expedition 16 is its name.

I also wanted to re-state some things I'd said about the Rebelution before. Rather, re-state my definition of it. Bananabint and I had a long conversation over email (and I don't think we're done yet...), and I thought I'd paste my new definition here:
"Teens these days are not at all what they used to be.
I quote from Alex's talk - "12 year old Dave was expected to return a ship
to America. We are expected to return our pillows, sheets, and blankets to
our beds. Dave succeeded. How many of you did this morning?"

The majority of youth today give up too easily and think that the teen years
are a time to be crazy and forget about the hard things in life. But what
the teen years really are are a time to prepare for the future, so you're
ready for what's coming. Not to give up."

One last thing... lately Cait has been browsing through old America's Got Talent and Britain's Got Talent videos on YouTube, and as a family we really enjoyed the group Celtic Spring. And guess what? They're a Christian Homeschooling family (I think they may be Irish Catholic, but not sure)! This is the link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZJlsAguqE8o
And I'll try to get the video embeded, not sure if it'll work.



Watching them makes me want to dance... and it makes my light jig (complicated compared to what Nate and Candace are doing), look easier than the partner dance the younger class did last week.

Over'n'out
Kilo-Yankee

3 comments:

Dara said...

you changed your blog link without telling me!! ahh! now this means I'll have to go change the link on my blog..... =P haha, oh well, I guess I can manage it. =D

Dara said...

haha, my bad...you DID tell me that you'd changed it..I just hadn't seen it yet =P =D

Lostariel said...

They are just wonderful... and the girsl have such be-utiful long hair... I adore long hair...