Here's what I gathered from BBC online news. None of it inspires much hope. Pray harder than you are right now. Love, Bob.
* Rebels take up positions in the heart of nearby Ramadi, after US troops withdraw from the city, a former insurgent stronghold
* Iraq's largest Sunni-led political party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, pulls out of the interim government in protest at the Falluja assault
* The main association of Sunni clerics calls for a boycott of elections due in January
* The United Nations refugee agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross express concern about the civilians in Falluja
* A suspected car bomb hits an Iraqi National Guard base near the northern city of Kirkuk
* Rebels attack police stations in Baquba, north of Baghdad, wounding a number of officers
* Two US soldiers are killed in a mortar attack at their base in the northern city of Mosul, the US military says
Posted by nickles at November 10, 2004 12:02 AMPray for our dear friend Abby Kinley's brother-- Mike. He is stationed in Falluja. Oh my stars! I've never been incited to worry so much. It really brought the news home to me- now that I know someone, who I have actually met, who is himself traipsing through the streets of Falluja with a gun, the news is much more important to me. Why has it taken me this long to care? Also, my own brother is off to Marine boot camp this Saturday-- but he'll hopefully be in the drum and bugle corps.
Posted by: Hackenstars at November 10, 2004 09:31 PMPray also for my students. Three in particular: Bonnie, Jade, and Judy. Don't worry. I changed their names so their identities are protected. But they have heavy burdens for right now. The poor things are only teenagers to be dealing with the kind of stuff they're dealing with!
Posted by: GrammarQueen at November 11, 2004 10:06 PMWhat kind of stuff? And how do you handle being sensitive to their needs while treating students equally? I'll be praying for them.
And for Mike in Falluja.
Posted by: bob at November 12, 2004 10:46 AMI work to treat them equitably, not equally. Mayble I'll post about that difference. I pray for them. I work at making my lessons about real things and at bringing the gospel into everything, where it belongs. And I love them. I pray for God's love for them to flow through all of their teachers, and me. That I would be a refreshing spring of love for them to rest near.
Posted by: GrammarQueen at November 17, 2004 11:40 AM