Can someone please do this at their wedding?

One: i love youtube.
Two: this seriously looks like something one of us would come up with and think is a good idea. I had to share.

Something On Non-Violence in Palestine

This is the reality of non-violent protests in Palestine. The unfortunate reality is that very few find hope in it. I am not at the point yet where I agree with everything Christian Peacemaker Teams do but I think that they have started a trend that is much more favorable than force and violence. Anyway, give it a read and leave any comments if you want.
Steve

CPTnet26 February 2007HEBRON/BIL'IN: "I'm Ok"--CPTer lightly injured by grenade at Fridaydemonstrationby Abigail OzanneI limped home from the demonstration on my own two feet after Israeli forcesshot a grenade at me. I watched four carried away on stretchers.On Friday 23 February, I attended the weekly demonstration against theseparation barrier in Bil'in. Along with hundreds of Palestinians,Israelis, and internationals, I marched from the mosque in the village outto the fence that cuts the village off from 2300 dunams of its land. Wedecried the fence in Arabic and Hebrew, demonstrating nonviolently as thevillagers have done every Friday for two years.When Palestinian youths farther away from military than the nonviolentprotesters threw stones, the Israeli forces responded by shooting teargasand concussion grenades at everyone. A group of about twenty Palestinians,Israelis, and internationals sat peacefully in a circle on the ground infront of the fence. The military blasted them repeatedly with a watercannon and shot concussion grenades and teargas near them. Israeli policeforcibly removed two people from the group. As I sat in the circle, my armslinked to those next to me and faced the Israeli forces, I felt the power ofnonviolent resistance. The Israeli forces, armed with M-16s and a multitudeof anti-demonstrator weapons, felt threatened by us. I sat there, soakedfrom the water cannon, my ears aching from the concussion grenades, mythroat sore from the teargas, and wondered what weapons the military woulduse next.When at last we finished the demonstration and prepared to return to thevillage, we could see that the battle still raged in the valley.Palestinian youth and children used slings against the Israeli forces thatadvanced on them with rubber-coated bullets, teargas, and concussiongrenades. The military also shot teargas and concussion grenades at thenonviolent protestors as we left the site. Grenades exploded around me as Ifled. When I felt a grenade strike me in the legs, ricocheting off mebefore exploding at my feet. My ears rang, my legs hurt, and I choked andgagged on the teargas all around. I was terrified. I could not tell howbadly the grenade had hurt me.I looked down at the valley between Bil'in and me. Grenades continued toboom and release clouds of teargas. I could see soldiers aiming their gunsat the youth and children and the flash as the soldiers shot. Then I saw astone-thrower in the road hit. He fell down screaming, and his friendstried to get him to safety and medical treatment.I limped slowly back up the hill. I could see no blood on my pants andcould still walk, although painfully. A medic checked me out and determinedI was only badly bruised. After resting, I eventually made it safely back tothe village.Looking at my three bruises--each at least the diameter of a coffee cup--Iknow that I am lucky to be ok. Others left the demonstration in ambulances._______________To stop receiving messages from CPTNET on MennoLink, do NOT hit reply. Senda message with only the word, "suspend," in the body toserver@MennoLink.org.Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) seeks to enlist the whole church inorganized, nonviolent alternatives to war and places teams of trainedpeacemakers in regions of lethal conflict. Originally a violence-reductioninitiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonite, Church of the Brethrenand Quaker), CPT now enjoys support and membership from a wide range ofChristian denominations.To ask questions or express concerns, criticisms and affirmations sendmessages to peacemakers@cpt.org.To receive news or discussion of CPT issues by e-mail, fill out the formfound on our WEB page at http://www.cpt.org/subscribe.phpDonate to CPT on-line with your credit card! Go tohttp://cpt.org/donate.php and click the DONATE button to make acontribution through Network for Good, a secure way to help support CPT.

there are a lot of cats in the forum.

welp, here we are in italy. we started out in rome, where devon promptly informed me that "there are a lot of cats in the forum." she wasnt kidding. incidentally, there is both a cat hospice among the ruins of ancient rome and a cat sanctuary. go figure. highlights of rome included: seeing the forum, cats and all, stumbling upon the pantheon, and cutting in front of old italian women while in line to see St. Peters Basilica. its fine, they pushed us first. from rome we took a train to orvieto, which is as good, if not better, as devon has told us all. there we went to an enoteca (wine bar) which gave us the best atmosphere and the worst sandwiches imaginable. but orvieto was great because i (devon) went on a walk and ran into old professor Skillen, who treated us to cappuccino and explained how orvietani takes care of the old crazy ladies. also we had dinner at a restaurant in which we were the only 2 women, and so obviously a lot of staring ensued. the staring, oh the staring. italy is a funny country.

next was florence. we were alternately charmed by the citys renaissance art history lessons and annoyed by the massive amounts of tourists which were there. we found the highlight to be a vespers service at the monastery of San Miniato, overlooking the city of florence. i (lex) had a small crush on one of the monks. oh well what are you going to do. also we saw the uffizi gallery, home to a lot of bigwigs. or at least their art. we saw the graves of galieo, michelangleo, the art of santa croce, and numerous other fun stuff. we ate the messiest gelato ever, and also the most overpriced.

now we are in the cinque terre, and planning to flee. pretty as the views are, its also the off season and fairly dead. so, on to siena we go. we have had the best food here, though, taking the opportunity to sample the seafood for which the cinque terre is so famous. before we leave we will grab some focaccia and perhaps one last cappucino before we get on the train.

wish yall could be here. italy, as we miight have mentioned before, is a funny country. it brings out the humor in all of us. pictures to follow after we get to our respective homes.

well wishes from the cinque terre, devon and lex.

Colorado

Holy nut... Colorado is amazing! I went skiing all day yesterday, and it was amazing. It felt go to really do some hard skiing, and by the last few runs everytime I would stand up from a tele-turn it felt like someone was pouring cold water down the front of my legs. And I thought to myself.... huh... so thats what it feels like to have your muscles being turned into mush... awesome. All in all fabulous, skiing huge long runs, cranking awesome tunes through my head, doing some sweet tele-marking.... I was in heaven.... maybe I should move to CO, and just teach ski school here. Yea, that would be amazing.

Wish y'all were here.... we should plan a ski trip.... stellar!!

holy rattlesnake jacket, batman

i nearly choked when i saw this at blockbuster on friday night.
thought you all needed to see it too.

Dear friends,

First off, I must affirm that little Jack Sheesely is just adorable, and thank you to Peter for posting the video online for those of us not fortunate enough to see him in person these days.

Life in the mountains (my view off the balcony is the picture above) continues to be surprising, beautiful, hard and interesting as ever. At the moment, “hard” does not very much apply, as I am sitting on the couch with Corn, the Bouttiers cat, cuddled up like my own little daimonion, as Milosz might call him. This cat (whose brother’s name was Flakes—Corn and Flakes—is that the sweetest thing you’ve ever heard?) takes particular delight in rubbing his face all over mine. He is very affectionate, and doesn’t seem to like the computer, which has my attention at the moment.

It is strange to pick out the interesting things from what has become a day-to-day routine and post them online to be read. This week, the famous Cousin Remy (famous by Bouttier standards) has come to vacation in Alpe d’Huez and I am sharing the apartment with him and his 6 friends from school in Aix-en-Provence. They arrived around midnight last night with such a noise as you have never heard, but it reminded me of the good times we have all spent together to see a bunch of friends my age hanging out. I am hoping to spend some time with them, and Remy has asked that I do so in order that they all practice their English. It is a good opportunity for me to learn some French as well, which I have almost given up on at this point. The Bouttier daughters took it upon themselves to teach me, but have no guiding point or structure (they are, after all, 10 and 12) and I get more confusion than clarity. But it’s really sweet.

I am slowly emerging from what has been a really difficult couple of months and finding some peace in places that were otherwise unsettled. Last Sunday I went skiing by myself and had one of the best days here yet; it is amazing to sit at the top of Pic Blanc in Alpe d’Huez in the afternoon silence after everyone has left the mountain and just admire God’s creation as it stretches out before you. I have yet to find a church in France where I have felt welcome or even comfortable, but to be outdoors here is to be worshipping God. There are still times here that are incredibly lonely or painful, but I am more and more seeing them as times of growth.

Right now I am most looking forward to Lex’s visit to Italy and spending time in some of my favorite places with her. We have an itinerary: Rome, Orvieto, Florence, Cinque Terre, Siena, and back to Rome. Basically my dream trip. It promises to kick some serious ass. I am also looking forward to real cappuccinos, because the French really don’t know what they are doing with coffee. Café Tal has the best coffee in Italy as far as I am concerned, and in two weeks I plan to spend considerable time absorbing it.

Well, I have to go do some ironing-- unfortunately the mundane has to continue
even in fantastic places like this. I miss everyone so much; I think of you all every day and pray for you. Much love and blessings,

Devon