I’m linking to my friend Kourtney’s blog post about her political tour of Bethlehem . It’s an excellent, insider look into some of the issues facing the Palestinian population here. I had no idea. You probably didn’t either.

I had dinner in Ramallah today, a city in the heart of Palestine. It’s a bustling and busy place, a modern city. Yet there are many who live there who don’t have the privilege of leaving, or whose freedom of movement is restricted. It’s hard to wrap my brain around everything I’ve been learning here. But this is a side of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that doesn’t really get talked about in the media, or at least isn’t really conveyed very well.

So please head over to Kourtney’s blog. It’s a journey through Bethlehem worth taking.

It’s Shabat, and we are out of shekels.  We spent our last 10 shekels on the cab we took to church.  We were trying to walk there, but it was raining, so we got a little desperate.   But being Shabat, we can’t change any money, so we’re chilling at home.  I thought I’d catch up on some photos, though.  (Since some of you said you care.) (more…)

So I get my facts straight, so nobody else can get on this blog and call me stupid or ignorant or offensive before I write more about the Holy Land, here is part of the Wiki entry for Bethlehem:

Bethlehem (Arabic: بَيْتِ لَحْمٍ‎, Bayt Laḥm (help·info), lit “House of Meat”; Hebrew: בֵּית לֶחֶם‎, Beit Leḥm or Modern Hebrew Beyt Leḥem, lit “House of Bread;” Greek: Βηθλεέμ Bethleém) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, approximately 8 kilometers (5 mi) south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism. (more…)

It’s Israel’s legislature, and we visited it today. Well, the building anyway. It’s not like we saw Netanyahu making laws, or anything. But like most adventures without a car, it took a long time to get there. (more…)

I’m sick. So very, very sick. It started last night, and it got worse today. A vicious stomach bug has completely flattened me. And while some are saying it’s the food, I have a hard time believing it–none of my kids are sick, and DH isn’t sick. We’ve been eating the exact same food, most of it prepared by my own hands. But I haven’t been able to leave the house, as I’ve been hard pressed to go a half an hour without needing to use the bathroom. DH took pity on my plight, and came home early to get the kids out of the apartment. He took them to the Old City for pizza and, at Little Sister’s request, candy. Yes, my 3 year old daughter associates gummy worms with the Holy Land. (more…)

I deleted my last post about my musings on Judiasm when I was told it was borderline offensive. That was not my intent, and I apologize.

Today we headed out towards Bethlehem. It was hot. And dusty. I feel for Mary. (more…)

We went there today. Or at least, through part of it. It’s the most direct route to the Sea of Galilee, which was our ultimate destination.

If you’re anything like me, you don’t know anything about the West Bank. At least, I didn’t know anything before we started planning our trip here. Basically, it’s the area nestled up next to Israel that is controlled by the Palestinian Authority. There is also a big wall that separates the West Bank from Israel. You can see the wall from parts of Jerusalem, and we live about a 5 minute drive from the barrier. I had no idea our neighborhood was so close until we drove through the checkpoints today, although coming back to Israel, the guard gave little more than a cursory glance at our passports (still closed—he didn’t even take them from my hand or ask me to open them) before he waved us through. I guess that’s the advantage of racial profiling? White Americans in a rental car don’t look very threatening? (more…)

We finally made it to the zoo the other day. I learned a few interesting things: (more…)

Shabat officially starts in an hour or so. Dh is out frantically looking for a store that is open. He will have to leave our neighborhood, as it is already shut down tight. They don’t mess around in these parts. (more…)

They were the bane of my existence in Haiti, living under our balcony and waking me up in the awful hours in the morning. Seriously, if I had had access to a gun, I would’ve shot the biggest one, who I swear never shut up. And then I would have given it to our cooks to fry up for dinner. And I would have eaten it. And enjoyed it. (more…)

I spent a summer in Switzerland when I was 15. Not the whole summer—looking back, it was a week shy of 2 months, but in my 15 year old brain, it felt like an eternity. I was eager to do and learn everything. Even helping my host mother in the garden felt interesting. Shopping with her blew my brain, and when I took a solo journey to a craft store to buy my host sister some colored pencils for her birthday, I felt, in a word, totally awesome.

I also was never afraid to talk. I talked, and talked, and talked. I was confused a lot, I was corrected a lot, and people smiled that small smile they use when children are trying hard to learn. But in the end, I learned. A lot.

Here in Israel, I’m afraid to talk. (more…)

So my brother is forcing me to talk about this. WITH LITERAL BODILY FORCE. Not really. He just asked really, really, nicely. But it’s actually interesting and cool, so I acquiesced. (I love that word - ‘acquiesced’. I don’t get to use it often enough, really.) And just so you know, I don’t put up EVERYTHING my brother asks me to, or else this blog would talk about William Shatner and his toupee quite a bit, with some Battlestar Galactica thrown in for good measure.

Our story begins with the fact that about 80% of juveniles who commit crimes will likely wind up in jail again within a year of their last arrest.

Why? (more…)

The last time I crossed an ocean, I went to London. I was tired. I remember pushing myself to do fun things, the whole time wishing I was just back in bed. But I kept thinking, “I can’t sleep. I’m in London. I might never be here again. There’s too much too see to just sleep!”

And that was after just a 7 hour flight, without a 3 year old or a 9 year old. (more…)

Comment # 19!  ErinMadameLibrarian, that’s you!  Congratulations!  I’ll be in touch to set it up!  Enjoy it.

And to all the rest of you readers - happy mother’s day!

I got this message not long ago from my friend Angela Hallstrom, writing goddess and the beautiful face of Irreantum (at least in my mind she’s the face of Irreantum, mostly because I’ve never met anybody else who works there. And she is beautiful.):

Irreantum’s 2011 Literary Contest deadline is rapidly approaching. All poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction submissions are due by May 31, and we’d love to receive something from you. Visit http://irreantum.mormonletters.org/Rules.aspx for more info. Please pass the news along to any of your friends/colleagues/students who might be interested!
Best,
Angela Hallstrom
contest coordinator, Irreantum

So if you think you’ve got something worth writing about, or if you started something ages ago and need a reason to dust it off and make it pretty again, here’s your chance.

My husband tells me I should submit something this year, and his suggestion is always that I rework a classic and give it a little twist. This month, my book club read Jane Eyre, one of my favorites, and DH said, “See? Rework Jane Eyre. That’s a great story!”

“Yes, it is, so how am I supposed to rework it, not to mention I’ve never written fiction in my life?”

He thought about it for a second and said, “Easy. Add a vampire.”

Poor Charlotte Bronte. Never knowing that someday, her classic novel could very well end up in the “paranormal teen romance” section of Barnes and Noble.

Happy Writing!

Did you that they changed the rating for The King’s Speech?. It’s now rated PG13. It’s like the universe bowed to my will. I love it when that happens. (more…)

Ok, do you all remember how I fixed my problem of not being able to dress myself?  Or, to be more accurate - my husband, combined with Alicia of Chic on a Shoestring fixed it?  Well, now you can be cool, too!  Or not. Whatever’s good for you, really.

Ok, so Alicia is having a mother’s day special on closet and wardrobe evaluation (aka - shop your closet) combined with 2 hours of personal shopping.  (Alicia Richmond is the woman who does the fashion segments on TV for Good Things Utah.)  Normally, these 2 services would be $320, but the special is $280.  MMW readers get an extra 20% off of that if you go to her site via our site, bringing the price to $224. How cool are we?  And seriously, this is SO MUCH BETTER for mother’s day than flowers and chocolates.  Forget breakfast in bed - learning what’s in your closet that actually fits you and how to put stuff together is long-term life changing.  And I’m not using hyperbole.  It really changes forever the way you look at yourself, your body, and your clothes, and all in a positive, good way.   Kind of like “closet therapy.”  Here’s the link.  Oh, and other services are 20% off, too.  Boo-yah!  (Does anyone say boo-yah anymore?  They did at one point, right? No? OK then.)

The catch is, however, you have to live in the Wasatch Front area to use a lot of these, because, well, that’s where Alicia lives.  The special website will be taken down on mother’s day. (If you click on ‘testimonials, my old post is up there.  So I’m totally famous.)

But I also have something else.  (more…)

This being a single mama in the LDS church is turning out to be a lot harder than I thought it was gonna be. Don’t get me wrong- this is my church, and I know that I belong here– but boy, if I didn’t come into this thing with a rock-solid testimony, this whole new world might have broken me. It’s no secret we are a family-centered church- I suppose a lot of church are- maybe all of them try to be. I don’t know. We may give lip-service in random talks or conference addresses to non-traditional families, but when it comes down to brass tacks? It’s just lip service. The actual facts of being a divorced woman with three kids in the LDS church are hard and sharp. And I’m tired. (more…)