to all who commented on the last post--thanks so much for the congrats!  and yes, it really is as huge a deal as it seems (what are the odds....50,000 out of 8 million??), and yes, it is Super Crazy Roller Coaster Time.  perhaps you all shall help us get through it with your prayers and good vibes :).

umm...i think our lives may have just changed about 180 degrees.  i think.

esther won the diversity visa lottery.

...there is still a long process to go, as well as the need to get through said process as quickly as possible, since they select double the number of peple as there are visas to assign.  it is a little bit of first come first serve ( Read more... )

It was for this world that Christ had died; the more evil you saw and heard about you, the greater glory lay around the death. It was too easy to die for what was good or beautiful, for home or children or a civilization-it needed a God to die for the half-hearted and the corrupt.

- Graham Greene,
The Power and the Glory

 

• a reasonable, welcoming and compassionate immigration policy
• amazing natural areas, from high desert to lakes to mountains to glaciers to beaches to pampas
• a wonderful large city with all its benefits (millions of bookstores, cool restaurants, theater, visiting exhibits, interesting people....)
• our wonderful church, including awesome new lady pastor ( Read more... )

did everyone see/read about the UAFA hearings this week?  you know, that legislation that could change my life???

come on, government, recognize me and let me come home, dangit all....

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/us/politics/03immig.html?em

The choice we face is broader than politics, deeper than charity. It is whether we see the world chiefly as property to be controlled, defined by walls and fences that must be built ever higher, ever thicker, ever tougher; or made up chiefly of an open weave of compassion and connection.

- Rabbi Arthur Waskow,

Director of the Shalom Center, from ( Read more... )

oh.  my.

so my colleague at our office in brussels, charles, speaks english pretty much perfectly.  but, every once in a while, there is a word or two he doesn't know.  on this past wednesday, he was telling me that the following day was a holiday, and i asked him which one it is.  he paused for a moment, laughed, and said "um...when Jesus goes up to heaven ( Read more... )

hey kids ( Read more... )

the year is fairly skipping by ( Read more... )