Must See-Go rent Hotel Rwanda!

I've just finished watching this movie and I really have to say I think everyone should see this.

Just as some background: This is a movie about a group of people caught in the violence at the beginning of the genocide in Rwanda.

This movie is so important because it puts a face to the numbers and it is brutally honest about western views towards Africans. Extend that and it highlights just how little concern for people around the world who are not like us. Genocide and ethnic cleansing are as common place now as they have ever been. Isn't that such a sad statement about us as humans!

Genetically we are not so very different. Behaviorly we are not so very different. Even physically we are not so very different. Most people on Earth are born with 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 arms, 2 legs. We all eat, sleep, and poop. We all have the capacity to love and be loved as much as we have the capacity to hate and seek revenge. The differences are essentially superficial yet we give them so much value.

Nearly 1 million people were killed in Rwanda. Nearly half a million have been killed in Sudan so far. By some estimates say more than 655,000 Iraqis have died in the past few years with the numbers rising as more than 1000 attacks occur daily around the country. As of last year more than 160,000 people have died in Chechnya. Anywhere from 100,000-260,000 people died in Bosnia. (Statistics on many more countries around the world both past and present can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_toll#Genocide_and_democide .)

So many dead, but what do a bunch of numbers really mean. Watch Hotel Rwanda and read this article at National Geographic http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0601/feature2/index.html and you will begin to see some of the human faces behind the numbers.

Honestly, I have no idea how to help or stop such violence around the world. All I can do is try to remind myself and my family that we are all so very much alike. And that God made us individuals with slight superficial differences so that we could celebrate our diversity and take pleasure in them. Imagine a garden filled with only one kind of flower in one color only. Now imagine that same garden filled with the variety and uniqueness of a 100 different kinds of flowers in a rainbow of colors. Where would you rather to spend a day?

Please pass these recommendations on to everyone you know so that maybe, just maybe we can all learn to be a bit more accepting of and more open to the variety that God has blessed us with.

Computer woes

Sorry I haven't posted or commented lately. It seems my computer caught a virus or worm and over about a week's time, slowed to a halt. DH had to go through and redo everything. I've only just had time to get back on-line.

The news for this week. I can't remember if I've posted this yet but our contract was accepted and if all goes well, we'll close the end of Jan. We're giving ourselves all of Feb. to paint and get new carpet installed. We'll do the painting ourselves, which should be pretty interesting with 4 kids. 3 of them I'm sure can help to the best of their abilities while I'm sure number 4 will be happy to provide the chaos factor. :)

My Dad is coming to visit in a few weeks. This is great news since he hasn't seen the kids since Mustafa was 2. We can't wait for him to get here.

Other than that all is calm.

For those of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a Merry one.

Happenings

So much has been going on in the last couple of weeks.

I went to my first, ever quilters meeting and really enjoyed myself. Even though we won't be in this area much longer (2-3 more months), I plan on joining the group. It's a very nice group of ladies, who made me feel very welcome.

The kids' and I joined a homeschoolers sewing group this week where they learned (and I relearned) how to knit. Next week, I'll begin teaching the girls and moms how to quilt.

We are in final negotiations for a house. It's the nice one on one acre I mentioned previously. Not very close to dh's work but we think the house is worth the extra commute time, especially as it puts us closer to friends and the masjid/mosque we attend.

Quilting is going slowly as I have little time and three projects going at once but they'll all get finished one of these days. ;)

Still no pictures yet. DH's uncle isn't due back from visiting his daughter and brothers in Iran for a couple of more weeks. He hasn't seen them in 3 or 4 years, during which time his mother died, so he's spending a bit of extra time there.

Last weekend we went to the National Aquarium which the kids always love. Each year the Aquarium sets aside one weekend where admission for everyone is just $1. Since we first found out about this event we've tried to make it an annual event. The discount is major since with parking the trip would have cost us $100 this year. I appreciate that they have major expenses in their operation but that's just way more than I can see spending for just 2 or 3 hours of fish sights. But it is tons of fun to go.

I just found out this morning that my dad is going to come for a visit in about a month, God willing. This is wonderful news since he hasn't seen any of the kids since Mustafa's 2nd birthday. Mustafa's now 8. Dad had moved to CA and is now in Arizona so it wasn't exactly easy to go see him. Combine the distance with the cost and logistics of travelling with small children along with the fact that I was finishing my B.A. for the 2 1/2 years prior to going to Iran and you might understand how we never managed a trip out to see him. Keep you fingers crossed for us that nothing goes wrong to keep this trip from happening.

Time to go get busy with all of the other stuff that has to get done today. I hope to get in a bit of quilting time today. I owe Patty a Pay It Forward project. ;)