World Events

Back on September 11, 2001, I was 7 months pregnant with my first child. As I watched the events of the day unfold, I felt a growing feeling of fear, anxiety and sadness at the state of the world I was bringing my child into. The next day I was hospitalized with premature contractions due to the stress. Luckily, Emmelia stayed put until the week before her due date.

But today we received word that a predominantly Christian village in Lebanon, Deir Mimas (which I'm told literally means "Monastery of Mamas") has been destroyed by Israeli bombing. 350 Orthodox Christian families (and families are BIG in Lebanon) are displaced from their homes. These are people NOT INVOLVED in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. The nearby monastery of Hamatoura was also destroyed. The monk working to repopulate the monastery was thankfully not there at the time.

One of Emmelia's best friends from church is in Lebanon now with her mother. They go every summer to visit family and I've been so worried about them through this whole thing. They are in north Lebanon, so somewhat safer, but the options for returning to the U.S. early next month, as planned, are severely limited by the destruction of the Beirut airport and all roads and bridges to Syria.

{{Sigh}}