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Syria (A Quick & Easy Way to Get Caught Up)

Sy map

We all know something is going on in Syria. But what exactly? What has happened since the beginning and, most of all, why?

Here are a few significant statistics regarding the conflict. Since March of 2011…

  • Well over 100,000 people have lost their lives. To put that in perspective, think of the size of your college and how many students it had. Picture multiplying that number of people until you get to 100,000. They’re all dead. 
  • An estimated 9 million people have fled their homes. To put that in perspective, it’s like if everyone on Manhattan island were forced to leave (and never return to their home as they knew it). Times five.
  • Lebanon, a country of just over 4 million people, has already absorbed over 1 million refugees, and the number is growing daily. That’s like if the entire country of Canada took up residence in the United States. Twice over.

Part of the reason it’s easy to be under-informed is that, well… it’s complicated. Which is why this brief storied timeline from the BBC is a great find. The post moves quickly, but addresses the origins and complications of the ongoing conflict.

Living in the Middle East, it’s admittedly easier to know and understand a bit more about the conflict. Even still, I didn’t have a good grasp on events until I came across the BBC post.

Is there anything you wonder about regarding the Syrian conflict? Share in the comments and maybe we can sort it out together.

 

The Weekly End (and a Shameless Plug: Please Vote for Us!)

The flurry of real life these past few weeks has required the space and energy I’d otherwise employ blogging and sharing. It’s been a bit silent around here, I know. I’m hoping it won’t last much longer.

This week I’ve been working on new products, working with our designers on the new Serious Creatures website, and making decisions about our upcoming international move. It’s fun and exciting and completely overwhelming.

Also, our little art biz is in the running to receive a free app development! Would you take a quick second and vote for us (Serious Creatures)?

We’d love to have an imagination-inspiring drawing app developed where users could draw on top of outlined drawing-starters. Think scenes from nature or outer space with lots of room to imagine the details. Or the feet of a monster. (What does he look like? What is he doing?)

We’re currently developing these drawing starters for printables and books, but wouldn’t it be cool to have them available on the go with naught but a stylus? And of course an app like this could help support our work abroad, so that’s pretty great, too.

In other news…

  • Tartine – one of my favorite bakeries and the most gorgeous cookbook I’ve encountered – is only $3.99 right now for Kindle.
  • Dave Ramsey’s well-reviewed Complete Money Makeover (the handbook for Financial Peace University) is free from Noisetrade this week. If you choose to donate, proceeds go to Younglife. Sweet, right?
  • And I found out our friends from Nashville (the show, that is) have been gigging at the Grand Old Opry on occasion, including playing some songs they haven’t recorded yet. I swoon for good harmonies. {video}

This weekend we’re out of town visiting friends. I even got to shower in a REAL shower today.

What are you up to this weekend?

The Weekly End

This week has been a normal week-in-the-life. Some weeks have super-fun elements to them and some weeks are just regular, you know? This week was a regular one.

Brady started doing photo-illustration mash-ups like the one above, though, and I’m loving them. Oman looks a lot like Tatooine, so I’m sure this isn’t the last time Jawas will sneak into my photographs. About that happy I am.

In related news, they’ve begun casting the new Star Wars. Though nothing is official, rumor has it that Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and Mark Hamill will all be returning. Another rumor? Landon from Friday Night Lights might make an appearance, too.

Then there was that missing plane. I don’t follow news stories 24-7, but Brady loved the movie-like way the whole thing has been unfolding. Me? I like it when someone speaks sense. (Even if the alternative is quite likely.)

The most challenging thing I read this week was “Schopenhauer on Style.” Schopenhauer’s postulations on clear thinking and good communicating are right, I suspect. But to live them would require an amount of focus I remain without. Borrowing a Schopenhauer quote from Popova’s article,

Truth that is naked is the most beautiful, and the simpler its expression the deeper is the impression it makes…

An article definitely worth reading, even if you have to bring a dictionary to the party.

What’d you enjoy this week?

 

(This post contains affiliate links. If you complete a purchase through one of them, you help fuel our little odd life. Thanks!)

What I’m Reading

Every month, Anne Bogel hosts a “Twitterature” link-up. Thinking it a good way to track my annual reading goals, I planned to participate this year. But oops. Life happened. It’s March, and I’m just getting started.

But first, a quick check-in on the status of my 2014 Reading Goals. I’ve read eight books so far, putting me two books behind. Which is isn’t bad, honestly. I have not, however, even looked at the other sub-goals and therefore have done absolutely zero toward them. Double oooops.

But, onward. Here’s what I’ve been reading:

All My Road Before Me, C.S. Lewis

I love C.S. Lewis. I love his writing, too, but am most thankful for his life and the way he lived it. All My Road Before Me is a collection of diary entries from his early life, spanning 1922-1927 when he was 24-29 years old. Seeing his life in Britain 1920’s through his pre-Christian eyes will be fun for any fan of Lewis-the-man, but its 530+ pages would be slogging for anyone expecting the pointed clarity of later Lewis.

Gregor the Overlander, Suzanne Collins

(books 3, 4, & 5)

I’ve gushed enough about Collins and Gregor elsewhere, and am enjoying the final installments just as much. Highly Recommend.

 

A Million Little Ways, Emily P. Freeman

This book is full of encouragement to live generously who God made you to be starting right where you are. I needed it five years ago, and I’m guessing Freeman wrote the book SHE needed five years ago. It always encourages me to see God put nearly-identical things on the minds of people who’ve never met. In this case, I mean right down to particular words. Phrases like “show up” make a regular appearance in our household conversation.

Some of the semantic choices, however, went beyond my personal preferences (something most readers would likely disagree with me about). On the whole, recommend.

The Books of the Bible (NIV)

Reading this one for Lent. I’m currently in the Old Testament and can’t help but laugh at how teeny and kindly our view of God has become (on the whole). I mean, He does some really crazy stuff.

I’m thankful for this, actually. I serve God because he’s God, not because I understand Him. And He’s certain to have  some curious bits. But seriously, he does wipe out entire tribes from time to time. And nearly wipes out the planet. It’s good to be reminded of what is rather than just what we wish.

Get Big Fast and Do More Good, Ido Leffler and Lance Kalish

“Do more good” is another phrase that is a regular staple of conversation around here. So a business book  that claims to speak to just that? Perfect.

I haven’t gotten to the “do more good” part just yet, but it’s wildly entertaining so far. It’s basically their adventures in founding Yes to Carrots and the business world version of Catch Me If You Can. Thumbs up.

As for my goals…

The list this month reminds me I need to start reading what really matters to me. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve been reading, but I won’t be as satisfied at the end of the year if I haven’t read a bit more widely.

What have you been reading? Tell me in the comments, or write a post and join me for the link-up!

(This post contains affiliate links. If you complete a purchase through one of them, you help fuel our little odd life. Thanks!)

The Weekly End

around here…

Late last year we hired a design firm (Aeolidia) to rebrand our little art company and build a new website. I sometimes think that it was a good thing I didn’t know what I was getting myself into at the time.

The experience with Aeolidia has been fantastic, nothing tricky there. What I didn’t realize is how many things would come up in the process that I wanted to redo or rebuild or whatever. And tackling those things has been pretty intense. Especially when you’re trying to do them from half a world away. Yes, we have the internet. But there’s nothing you can do about being 10 time-zones apart.

As the project nears completion (we have 2-3 weeks left, I think), the tasks are mounting like Sylvia Stout’s garbage. And I don’t. like. task lists. I mean, I love lists. I’ve got them for everything. But completing a list? No so much.

I’m a meanderer. Be it thoughts, reads, conversations, vistas, I like interests to lead the way, not deadlines. I’ll accept this necessary nonsense for a time, but I need it to end soon.

So, in a nutshell. Things around here are too busy. Gotta give that the axe.

In other news, I am ASTOUNDED how the Omanis know exactly when it’s going to rain without any weather agency telling them so. They may not know about the planets or that babies grow in a uterus (instead of your stomach), but if they say it’s going to rain you can mark your calendar. Last week, under our eternally clear skies, Brady’s students told him it would rain this weekend. Today, the weather channel caught up with them and declared rain for Sunday. I love it. The rain, and how  ancient wisdom is often smarter than its modern approximation.

Also: Countdown to Operation Desert Desertion = 92 days.

around the web…

There’s been a lot of talk of small and slow around lately. That, or I’m just noticing it more because my own world has been too fast and full. Regardless, here are a few of my faves:

Here’s a teaser from that last one:

…My wife and I have even tried to implement this practice with our kids. We give them all 5 senses and we ask them to give us all 5 senses whenever we are communicating. It practically means that people have to be in the same room when talking to each other, the screens have to be paused, and eye contact occurs. It has worked wonders…

Also, I love these kinds of stories. 

and close at hand…

  • Tazo Ginger Tea
  • My few remaining Crunch bars (tear)
  • Shawerma & frites (yum)

Sadly, my stateside drinks-and-chocolate stash is thinning. Boooooooo.

And I’m thinking of writing a short series this spring with travel-related musings and resources. Would you read it? What would you want to hear about?

Home of Hope (and a New Adventure)

I’ve been hoping to escape the Middle East almost since the day I landed here in late 2009.

There are things I love about the Peninsula, and Oman in particular, but while some people were made to adore sunny 108+ degree cloudless days for over half the year (I’m looking at you, Brits), this rain-lover was not.

And while I love other cultures and languages (and will never be disappointed in the years I’ve spent here), living forever in this particular culture would not be my favorite fit.

So how excited am I that not only are we off on new adventures, but new adventures that might just take us to mountains and valleys and fruit and flowers and rain and seasons and the Mediterranean?

Uhhh… pretty excited.

And better – way better – than that, this move resonates with our deepest desires. We’ve realized our current life is a lot of he-does-this and she-does-that, when really, we want a WE do THIS.

We’ve long wanted the stories we’re living to mingle more intimately. We’ve prayed that when they do, there would be a strong element of tangible good in it. We’ve hoped that it would use the best of how we were made, challenge the best of what we have to give, and put all of it to good use.

Well…

Last spring, in the chancest of chance meetings, we heard of a home for kids in Lebanon that, while doing great good, remains underfunded and understaffed.

While many homes host only orphans, or only children from a particular religious background, Home of Hope takes in kids picked up by the police, and accepts them regardless of background or tribe (space permitting, that is).

Most of these 4-18 year-olds aren’t orphans. They may be refugees that have lost touch with their families, or been removed from severely abusive situations, or in many cases, their parents are (or soon will be) in prison. In the extreme cases? The police intervened as their parents sold them for their organs. Or as slaves.

Yes, you read that right.

And parents or no, the majority of the kids don’t have Lebanese papers (citizenship, a visa, etc.) and can’t get them. They also can’t go anywhere else. (It takes papers to travel.) Effectively, they don’t exist.

They can’t enroll in school, can’t get healthcare, can’t be adopted. When they’re old enough, they won’t be able to legally hold a job, rent an apartment, or get married.

They will, of course. Because life demands it. But they’ll have to do so in the cracks. In the shadows. Unseen.

And this is the real need, I think. Who has ever been for them? Who has noticed that she has a way with spacial manipulation or that he has perfect pitch? Who has ever given them a chance and who ever will? Who has ever seen that one valuable life and leaned in to tell them how important they are?

There’s a funny thing about us discovering this need, at this time. It fits exactly who Brady and I are, where we are in life, and the many things He’s been putting on our minds and in our hearts. We don’t have our own kids. We spent a decade living in community working on a college campus. We’ve been thinking more and more about injustice and our responsibility as the “haves” in the world. And we’ve been yearning to be able to live the same story (instead of separate ones).

So, late one Tuesday night last spring, we decided to leap. Into the wild. Into a new story. It’s pretty freaky, really. But the good adventures always are.