Keeping track of the passage of time was crucial to the ancient Egyptians, especially to the astronomers and priests who were responsible for determining the exact hour for the daily rituals and sacrifices. They divided the day into two equal periods of twelve hours each. However, due to the revolution of the earth around the sun, the length of the hours …
What’s a “naja haje”?
The Egyptian cobra, also called a “naja haje,” is most likely the snake the magicians in Pharaoh’s court used in their duel with Moses. It is the most dangerous and one of the largest cobras of the African continent. When disturbed, cobras have the ability to raise the front quarter of their bodies off the ground and spread their necks …
What Happened to Kindness?
When a city of powerful people loses power, and is basically powerless to do anything about it, it’s not pretty. If a natural mega-disaster ever hits the greater Washington DC area, it will not be the event itself that destroys the city. It will be the lack of kindness, compassion and basic care for one another that does it. The …
Naked Babies and Toothbrushes
I’m sitting here sobbing, having a hard time typing this. A friend of mine who is working as a missionary in Kazakhstan just sent pictures from a graduation ceremony from one of the orphanages she’s connected with. 26 kids she’s known since first grade graduated today from ninth grade. They’ll be sent to boarding schools all over the country, leave …
Drama … for Better or Worse
Drama. In a house with three teen/preteen girls, drama is not usually a good thing. It’s something to be circumvented, squashed, avoided at all costs. You tell the kids it’s bad, and you try to teach them better ways to settle conflict. But the last month or so, drama has begun to mean something different to me. A writer friend …
The Best Christmas Gift Ever
My oldest daughter graduates from high school next week. It’s hard to believe. I won’t repeat the old cliché that it feels like only yesterday we brought her home from the hospital, because it doesn’t. Not that they’ve been a hard eighteen ½ years—just that I’ve enjoyed living every one of them. It took us eight years to get pregnant …
Angry with God
I recently had a conversation with a friend about being mad at God. I think this friend was mad at God for allowing a tragedy in her life, but didn’t want to be. Some people believe you can’t be angry with God because He’s … well … God. After all, it’s not like you can walk into the Oval Office …
Highway to Heaven
It took me a little longer to pick up my mom and get to church last Sunday. Between her house and the church is a Cambodian Buddhist Temple, one of the largest outside Cambodia, I’m told. Last Sunday marked Cambodian New Year, and literally hundreds of cars were parked in the temple complex, the lot next to it, and up …
What Good is Citizenship?
On Sunday, our church had a special moment to celebrate one member becoming a US citizen. He’s been in the country for many years as a permanent resident, but a few years ago he lost his livelihood when all non-citizens working for certain government agencies lost their jobs. He had to wade through all the background checks, fingerprinting, and paperwork …
It’s A Beautiful Thing, the Destruction of Words
So says George Orwell in 1984. If you recall (or if you don’t), the Party aims to make “thoughtcrime” impossible by removing words which describe forbidden ideals, such as freedom, rebellion, etc., from the dictionary. No words, no thoughts. One character remarks on the slender volume with the above quote. Apparently, the New York City public school system (see link …