A thought after listening to Dan's messages again:

Many Americans come from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds.  For families who have been in America for multiple generations, a distinct heritage separate from being "American" often doesn't really exist. Or at least that's how it is in my family.  My brother has done some family lineage to find our English and -- to our surprise -- Irish roots.  But that really has little to no influence on how we think of ourselves.  So, for people with this melting pot heritage (and I suppose they could be from any country, although America certainly has a good number of mutts like us), what role does this non-heritage have in how people respond to discovering their Jewish roots?

We've talked about how, for those of us from non-denominational backgrounds, part of the allure of Jewish studies is the rich history, the tradition, the grounding in something older and larger than ourselves.  But I wonder if it isn't just a time issue or a non-denominational issue.  Maybe it also taps into our lack of connection to a unique ethnic culture.  How can you be excited about being one of the nations when you have no strong ethnic identity?  Which of the nations would you belong to?

So a mutt who grew up in a non-denominational church might be doubly susceptible to ignoring the Gentile/Jew distinction.  What do you think? How do you relate to being one of the nations?

From Wikipedia:

literary magazine - a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters.

Coming soon.

I'm not sure it gets any better than this.

(Photo is the fabulous work of Jessica Youmans)

A quick update on Peter Loth and his book, Peace by Piece:

Peter has been doing a lot of ministry in schools lately and has been seeing amazing results, like rival gang members forgiving each other.  Also, his book has been published in German and Spanish.  You can buy the book at Peter's website or online at BarnesandNoble.com or Amazon.  The book has also been translated into French and Korean, and they're just waiting for the finances to be able to publish in those languages as well.

It's still hard to believe that the L-rd blessed me with participating in Peter's book. It's humbling to think that four translators have used our work as the foundation for these new editions.

"There are many who want to do great things for the King, but there are few who want to make Him great."

This might be my favorite quote from the book I'm editing.

Here's Eliana using her words.  I think "Grandma" is my favorite.

Picture Update

Lunch with Opa and Nana

Dancing and dress up with Cass

Falling asleep at lunch