I use Kindle, with apps on various devices, plus a dedicated Kindle reader. If you have a US address and credit card attached to your Amazon account, which I assume you do if you’re living in the US now, you’ll be able to buy or check out ebooks anywhere in the world. I’ve been doing that for 14 years now in many different countries, from Uzbekistan to Saudi Arabia to Mexico. Dh once changed my account to be Saudi-based when we were living there and I couldn’t get much of anything for an hour while I changed it back. He won’t do that again. 🙂

Not personally, but I have many friends who move regularly with their pets to different countries. International travel with pets can be very expensive and difficult for the animal. It really is as hard as you’ve heard, except in certain cases. Most people I know wouldn’t do it except for a move. And for many of them, dealing with the airlines, quarantines, expense, and worry about their pets is by far the worst part of an international move, which is saying a lot. But in the right circumstances, it can go well and be relatively uncomplicated.

I keep reminding myself that getting it over with will at least get me past the dread, which usually turns out to be the worst part.

Before 9/11, I’d get asked if I wanted to be a terrorism expert when people heard I was studying Arabic. When 9/11 happened, I knew that would get much worse. But I didn’t think it would last this long. I have Muslim friends who have never felt welcome in the US since 9/11, particularly if they aren’t US citizens. I miss them. I still am sad about the man we knew who was arrested on terrorism charges and kept in solitary confinement for over a year before being acquitted because the charges had no basis. My dad commented to me right after 9/11 that it must have been hard for me in a different way, and it was, but not for the reason he thought. I wasn’t disillusioned about Islam because of 9/11. But the fallout for Muslims has been a lot worse than I’d feared it would be. I know too many people who are refugees because of decisions made after 9/11. And the excuse of terrorism has allowed so many countries to openly oppress people. I really don’t care about the security changes. They’re a hassle, and I get caught up in extra searches and questioning because I live in “scary” countries, but my American passport still carries a lot of privilege. There are a lot of people who don’t have it as easy as I do.

Cancel the card, but also contact the USPS. Do it now. https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Identity-Theft#involveusmail

Up till now, it’s been rare for him to have headaches. They had increased very slightly since we moved to our current location a year ago, and then suddenly they were constant.

Dh has had headeaches almost all of the time since early June. They did stop for a few weeks when we traveled to the US, but they came back pretty quickly after we returned home. They almost never really go away, but they are much worse in the late afternoon and into the evening. He tried an antihistamine at first and now he’s on migraine meds which don’t seem to be helping, although he’s still taking them. Any suggestions of what could be causing this?

They’re a little older now, but I love Mediterranean Grains and Greens and the Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean by Paula Wolfert. Claudia Roden’s Book of Middle Eastern Food is great too.

I don’t donate on FB and I don’t ask for donations on my birthday, but I like it when friends post about birthday donations. I don’t think of it as soliciting donations in place of a gift, and I like seeing what causes my friends are interested in. I don’t think it’s tacky at all. Even though I don’t donate, I’ve learned about many different organizations that are doing good things.

We loved seeing pyramids all over the Yucatán peninsula. We flew into Villahermosa and rented a car, then dropped it off in Cancun. Mexico is easy to travel in and the food is wonderful, especially in the Yucatán. It was a great family vacation.

We’ve often split up when we’re traveling, based on what different people want to do. We had a long layover in Paris in the middle of an international move and I took one son to explore the oldest parts of Paris while dh took another son to Disneyland. All four of us were happy (even though dh thought it was tacky that we didn’t all do something together). Once we flew my oldest ds to visit grandparents for a week rather than making him come on a trip we knew he’d hate, but that the rest of us, especially another son, wanted to do. In this case, I’d go to a place with great wildlife viewing and other fun things to do and plan to spend most of my time with the child who wants to see wildlife, and let the rest of the family do their own thing most of the time. We could plan a few activities together that everyone wanted to do. If dh didn’t have time or didn’t want to plan activities ahead of time for himself and the younger children, they could do it after arrival if they’re bored.

I came home to this news earlier this afternoon, after watching Palm Sunday celebrations in a country that has had its own Palm Sunday bombings in the past. So many people killed.

Truly, he is risen! Happy Easter! It’s Palm Sunday where I live, so Holy Week is just beginning. The churches were being prepared yesterday after services for Lazarus Saturday.

Yes, the headline is misleading. It was in a guard’s room attached to the Marwani Mosque/prayer area (the old “Solomon’s Stables” before 1996) which is under the main platform of the Holy Mount/Haram al-Sharif. Neither al-Aqsa nor the Dome of the Rock were ever in any danger from this fire.

Tonight we had noodles with gochujang, tofu, and vegetables Monday- garbanzo beans and fried halloumi with tomato cucumber pomegranate salad Tuesday- chicken with ferik and leftover cucumber pomegranate salad Wednesday- fish. Ds usually makes some kind of lemon sauce and makes sautéed peppers and rice to go with it. Thursday- khachapuri I only ever get as far as Thursday because we have a Friday/Saturday weekend.

I always love Sharon Eubank.

We usually don’t watch any sessions live, since they’re both on school nights for us, but we did listen to the first session just now.

Yeah, most of these are worst-case scenarios. And since the State Department has to deal with US citizens getting themselves into all sorts of stupid situations, sometimes they warn about everything. US citizens can be incredibly naive when they travel. It’s interesting to see what travelers are warned about when they’re going to the US. Expensive healthcare is a major one, since some travelers don’t realize how expensive even a relatively simple medical problem can be to treat in the US without adequate health insurance. There are often warnings about guns. Public nudity also gets mentioned for European travelers.

Yes, and that’s what my blog is still attached to. I’m surprised someone remembered!

Yeah, I would be interested. Most of my religious reading isn’t LDS-oriented anyway so I’d probably fit in. 🙂

Thanks for the book suggestion. It sounds interesting.

Thanks, everyone! I’m always curious how other denominations interpret things, and why. This was really helpful.

I’ve always been taught that Jesus came to teach and minister to Jews/the House of Israel, and that the gospel went to the gentiles after Jesus’ death. However, I’m not really convinced that’s what the New Testament says. Matthew certainly does, but Mark, Luke, and John don’t. In fact, they specifically contradict that idea with Jesus staying with the Samaritans for two days in John 4 and many people believing him (contrary to the instructions Matthew gives in 10:5 for the Twelve to not even enter a Samaritan town) and Jesus frequently traveling through gentile areas, teaching and healing. Acts does seem to promote this idea with Cornelius in chapter 11, but even that requires you to ignore that a gentile was baptized in chapter 8. One of the places Matthew clearly states this idea is in 15:24, but the earlier Mark parallel in 7:27 isn’t entirely obvious, although I can see why someone would argue that Mark here (but only here, from what I can see), promotes this idea. So, two questions. 1. Have you been taught that Jesus went only to Jews/the House of Israel? 2. If so, what is the evidence for that, outside the gospel of Matthew? I’m not as familiar with the epistles so there might be something there. It’s time for bed in my time zone, so I won’t be around till morning, but I’m really curious to read anyone’s thoughts about this.

I love what he said at the end. Thanks for posting that, umsami.

I am so incredibly sad as I read the stories of the people who were killed. So many were immigrants, some of whom were trying to find a safer life than their own homes could offer. Daoud Nabi was born in Afghanistan in the late 1940s. He would have been younger than I am when the Soviets invaded, and Afghanistan is still at war, 40 years later. But the shooter called him and other Muslim immigrants “invaders.” His sons were late for prayers and survived. Somalis were part of the leadership of the al-Noor mosque, and some were killed. My ds is doing a gap year in an African country where he teaches Somali and other children from different African countries to read. To think of them getting shot while they are praying is horrible. Palestinian refugees were shot. They’ve been refugees for at least 50 years. People born in India, Pakistan, Jordan, Bangladesh. Syrian refugees. Any immigrant community has so many stories to tell, but it also has people who hate its members simply for moving to a new country. This is certainly not unique to New Zealand and it’s hard to be an immigrant anywhere and always has been. But there’s no denying that anti-immigrant rhetoric has increased worldwide in the last 5-7 years and I’m really concerned that it’s getting worse. And yes, I do think anti-immigrant rhetoric in the US empowered the shooter to do what he did. He made that clear in his manifesto. This photo shows a man being taken to the hospital with his finger raised to siginify there is one God. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-15/christchurch-mosque-shooting-victim-taken-into-an-ambulance-1/10904630