The First Ever "hayk" Blog Awards

4andcounting gave me a blog award the other day. I was plesantly surprised, so to continue in the tradition, I will bestow the Blogger Reflection award on some blogs that make me think.

1. mab - she always has something to say and it's always funny or insightful.

2. cnn.com - in the field - I feel like a nerd putting this one on here but, oh well! Though I obviously don't know these reporters personally, it's interesting to see where they are and what they are blogging about.

3. Saxon Update - This family has just lost one of their three sons to cancer. Their raw honesty and reflections on faith always challenge me in my faith with Christ. Kudos to them for being so open and honest to so many strangers. They know that their son's too-short life was not in vain and they are making sure others know too.

4. The FancyPants Factory - Tough I've only been reading her blog for a short time she makes me laugh and think about a lot of deep subjects at the same time. Plus she posts frequently, which is always a plus.

Two New Books (and a Soap Box)

My husband gave me two books I'd been wanting for my birthday. They were both excellent, so I read them pretty fast. Here's a little review.

A Thousand Splendid Suns - After reading Khaled Hosseini's first book, The Kite Runner, I knew I would read this one. This story of two girls in Afghanistan spans the war-torn years of their country and their lives as they grow into women. It was a great story and he's an excellent writer. Though I didn't enjoy this as much as Kite Runner. It seemed that there was not a redemptive quality in this book till the very end and I felt the story of the Kite Runner was laced with redemption and remember making some very specific biblical parallels. I love stories of redemption, because that is what we're all seeking.

My other concern is bigger, perhaps because I lived in a similar culture. I read a book in the Middle East as part of a book club. The book was called Pillars of Salt and chronicled the lives of two women growing-up in a Middle Eastern country (obvious parallels to A Thousand Splendid Suns) and the hardships that existed for them. A comment from one of the Muslim-Arab women in the book club, who was born and raised in America, was that she thought the author simply wrote all the horrible things about her culture because that's what Western readers wanted to hear and that Western readers couldn't discern between that and everyday life in the Middle East. I didn't agree with her at that time, but I kept that comment in the back of my head.

But that is just what I saw in A Thousand Splendid Suns that disturbed me. If you made a list before you read the book about all the bad things you think happen to women in predominantly Muslim cultures, you would find those things in this book. I could predict, very accurately, what was about to happen to each woman in this book and how the men were going to act towards them. I feel like it's sad that Hosseini portrayed his own culture in such a negative way by highlighting all the things that are wrong with it. I felt like the Kite Runner told a story that could happen in any culture and any country. The culture simply enhanced the story.

Yes, horrible things do happen to women, in many cultures, and they are not acceptable, and I don't think they should be belittled or ignored, but when do we start trying to see the good in other cultures? When do we try to find common ground and learn about how we are similar? When do we try to understand the beautiful cultural differences that might drive us crazy? What are we teaching our children by constantly pointing out the bad things in a culture and never highlighting the good? Because there is good, and plenty of it. It is good that a total stranger would invite us into his home for coffee and insist that we stay to share in his meager poor man's dinner. It is good that a poor couple invited us into their one room apartment (and I don't mean one bedroom, plus a bath, kitchen and living room, I mean one room) where they lived with their three children and honored us by serving us coffee and weren't embarrassed by their surroundings but simply shared everything. It is good that the cashier at the grocery store would never put my change directly in my hand. Why? Because he knew I had a father, husband, and/or a brother, and didn't want to dishonor my family name by touching me.

Ok, if you've made it this far, here's one more review with less of a soap box.

Perpetua - As you may recall I actually recommended this book before I read it. After reading it I can still say I recommend it. The author puts a great human side to the story of this young martyr and I could see myself in her life in so many ways (not the martyr part, but learning about my relationship with Christ, being newly married, etc.). This book also spoke to me about my spiritual life, which surprised me, I don't expect that out of a book that's basically historical fiction (the story is based on the true diaries Perpetua kept). I do have a few critical thoughts about it. I felt like the author had an underlying agenda about what she thought church should be. I can't say I completely disagreed with what seems to be her idea of church, but I thought the agenda was a little too obvious at times. Another criticism is that I felt like she had the Christians in the book use Christian terminology that we use today, and I highly doubt some of those terms existed in the third century. One character even uses the word "saved" to describe someone. My understanding is that that is a more modern Christian term. But, all-in-all a thumbs-up on this book. And if you really want to enjoy the book, go visit the site of her martyrdom. It makes the whole story come alive.

What are your thoughts on any of these books or subjects?

Not so LAZY Hazy Days of Summer

Busy-ness is something I enjoy, sometimes even thrive on. But as we lived in a different culture, one that took life at a slower pace, I learned to appreciate not filling every minute of my day with some activity and taking time to sit and enjoy the people and places around me. When we returned to America that was something we wanted to keep as a part of our family, taking time to enjoy life and refusing to get caught-up in the crazy busy-ness of our own culture.

Well, I think we've gotten caught-up. It seems like every time I turn around there is something new to do. I'm not sure where this flurry of activity sprang from that sent me from Jan 1. to now the middle of July in the blink of an eye, but something got me here. And the hard part about it is that we aren't just creating random things to do for ourselves (we aren't in sports leagues, book clubs, dinner clubs, or anything else), we're doing things we enjoy, spending time with people we love, and investing in those people and in ministry. But why does it have to equal a crazy schedule?

What have we been doing? Once a week we each have meetings with friends from church, so we scheduled them on the same night so we could be together the other nights. It seems at least once a month I have to work late for an event. And because of where we live and the people we know about once a month a friend comes in to town that we haven't seen in years, or won't likely see in years, so we have to hang out with them. We've had a few speaking engagements, I had a work conference in the spring, we picked-up a little extra money by working proms a few weekends. My brother got married and I got pregnant so new events are necessary for each of these. And none of this includes, me working 40 hours a week, CDK working part-time and going to school full-time, or any necessary activity required to live (i.e. eat, sleep, etc.).

I'm just thinking there has to be more in life than following my calendar around. We want to teach our child that activity doesn't equal success and definitely not Godliness or more spirituality. But how do we do that when it seems like we can't stop doing things ourselves? How do you keep a check on your busy-ness? Or, do you?

Prayers for Friends

If you have a moment today, visit The Saxon Report at http://www.paulsaxon.com/. Here you will read about a family who has just made an extremely difficult decision regarding their 4 1/2 year battle with their 5 1/2 year old son's cancer. Please pray for this family. If you have more than a moment, peruse their blog (especially the thoughts on the right) and you will witness a journey of a family who is grounded in faith and puts their hope in nothing less than Jesus Christ.

Witnessing History

I was there. I watched Sammy Sosa join the likes of Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays, as he hit his 600th career home run last night. It was pretty cool and now I can say I was there at this moment in history. Though this would have to be under the category of Sports History, not the category of history that truly effects or changes the world we live in.

This made me think, have I witnessed any true historical events first hand. Our parents can easily recall where they were when Kennedy was assassinated and our generation will always be able to tell what we were doing, in detail, when we heard the news about Sept. 11. But have I truly witnessed history. I've seen Presidents Clinton and Bush (the elder) and had a picture taken with First Lady Laura Bush (and 10 other people). But these aren't actual historical events, I guess historical people.

Getting closer to witnessing history I realized we were in Israel the day that Yasser Arafat was buried. Though we weren't anywhere close to the funeral. Later we talked to some people in a restaurant that had gone to the funeral to film a documentary. Their experiences made me glad I wasn't there.

The closest I could come to actually witnessing a historical event was the terrorist attack on Amman, Jordan in November 2005. I was in the town and heard one of the explosions. Two of the three explosions were within a 2-mile radius of where I was. The next day I saw the ruins of the hotels. A few days later, I was in one of them and the baggage handler pointed out the blood on the sidewalk and holes in the wall from the shrapnel in the bomb.

So, I witnessed history, but it wasn't a major world-changing event. Obviously it changed the lives of all involved and the country, but because of the frequency of these news items in the past several years, was probably just a blip on the radar.

I'd love to hear how you've witnessed history.

The Results

The results are in and only one of you were right. Congrats Jennifer! It's a GIRL! We're extremely excited and thankful that everything is perfectly fine with her growth and development. She was very active when we watched her on the screen. We have a name picked-out, but we'll keep that a surprise. Isn't it amazing what God can do?!

Poll: Pink or Blue?

So tomorrow is the big day for us. We'll find out if it's a boy or a girl, if our baby isn't too modest. I thought I would take a poll to see what your guess was. Leave your guess in the comments.

If you want the facts that may (or may not) help you guess, here they are:

1. I have always thought my first child would be a boy. But I have no specific strong feeling as to what it is.
2. The heart rate has been high. It was 170 something at the first sonogram and 150 something at the 12 week visit.
3. I have one brother, CDK also has one brother.
4. The Chinese Lunar calendar says it's a boy. I haven't done any of the other tests with the wedding ring or whatever.

If you want to know any other facts, ask, but don't ask any questions that are to personal, please! Our appointment is the afternoon, so I'll likely post the results on Wednesday morning.