Mail Call: Dubai Edition

In My Mailbox is a weekly feature hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. Here, we post books that we have bought, borrowed, or received.

About 2 weeks ago, I visited Dubai, which is only about an hour and a half away from me. One of the places on my "Must Visit" list was Book World by Kinokuniya in Dubai Mall. My goodness the place was HUGE! So. Many. Books. We're talking about 68,000 sq. ft. of awesomeness here. You know I was in heaven, right? Cos I was. Book Nerd Heaven.

I had to stop myself from going crazy with the book-buying. I ended up buying a few books. Just a few...

The Genius Files: Mission Unstoppable by Dan Gutman

Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Talented Pop Star by Rachel Renee Russell

The Clueless Girl's Guide to Being a Genius by Janice Repka

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I Dare You: Embrace Life With Passion by Joyce Meyer

Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou

Modelland by Tyra Banks

Update/Future Plans

I'm still alive. I promise. Adjusting to living and working in another country has taken longer than I thought it would take. But I AM adjusting and that's what counts. I've just been totally drained by the end of my work days. Who knew teaching 20-something 3 and 4 year olds who don't speak speak your language could be so tiring. Because of my lack of energy, my writing, reading, and blogging has fallen behind. I'm hoping this is only temporary...something I'm experiencing cos I'm in a new country. Adjusting to a new environment takes time, right?


The end of the 1st trimester is near, so I should be good. I plan to relax and enjoy my WELL-DESERVED break in December. Of course, I plan to catch up also. There will be a few changes to both blogs for the new year. What changes, you may ask? Well, you'd have to wait til 2012. Until then, I'll be posting book reviews for the rest of this year.
Stay tuned...

Tickle-Me Tuesday

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Man-ificent Monday: Udi Karni

Manificent Mondays are back! This week's cutie is actually from my side of the world. Udi Karni is an Israeli athlete turned model. Aren't his eyes gorgeous? And I love his lips.
Word(s) to Describe: Cutie pie. Gorgeous.

Inspirational Sunday

"All the believers were united in heart and mind."

Acts 4:32

Rae's Thought: This is a previous post. I'm going to focus on lessons 21st century Christians can learn from 1st century Christians.

Lesson #1: Believers should be united in heart and mind. Somewhere between the first century and now, Christians became divided over the legalities (how to worship God, church laws, what should be worn, etc) of Christianity. Now, we have several groups separated - and sometimes even warring - with each other. But it wasn't always like this. There was a time, in the infant stage of Christianity, when believers were just that...believers.

Christianity was birthed during the first century. At that time, the death/resurrection of Jesus was fresh on believers' minds. Some believed because they witnessed the events first-hand, while others became believers simply because they heard and chose to believe. Either way, the Bible says they were "united in heart and mind." There were no Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, etc. They were just Christians - those who believed in the resurrected Savior, the Son of God. They may have disagreed with each other on certain things, but still they were united.

We, as twenty-first century believers, must become united. Sometimes we get so stuck on whose way is better, on who's the better believer, that we forget that it isn't about us, but about God. When we focus on the differences, not only do we become divided, but we also take the focus off of God and put it on us.

The Bible later tells us that "God's great blessing was upon them all" (Acts 4:33). Do you know how much more God would bless us if we move our focus of off us and put it on Him? Do you know how big of an impact we can have on this world if we were united in heart and mind. We live in a dark world, thirsty and desperate for light. WE can be that light. But first, we need to get over our differences and realize that, under all the legalities, we're all believers who love and believe in Jesus, the Son of God and the resurrected Savior.

Random Thoughts Thursday: I'm Baaaaaack!

I know. I've neglected this blog in the midst of my moving. It's just been...crazy, ya know? But I'm back. This blog is like the oldest child. Born first, had "mommy's" attention for a while, basked in the awesomeness that is being the only child then BAM! Another child comes along and steals the spotlight. Now, "mommy" is paying more attention to the younger child than she is the 1st one. Yes, my attention was pulled away to my 2nd "baby" (my other blog), but it doesn't mean I love this baby any less.

I'm the oldest child in my family, by the way. While it may have been cool being the only child for my first four years, I'm so glad my parents had my brother (4 years younger than me) and my sister (6 years younger than me). When they were born, they were my babies. Who needed baby dolls when I had real babies in the house? I love them to death. Even in adulthood, they're my punkins...my babies. :) So anyway, I'm back. I may not be back at full capacity yet what with school about to start and this being my first year teaching in another country...but I'll be blogging as much as I can.

Ahhhh! It feels so good to be back!

Please be patient...

I arrived in Abu Dhabi last night. It'll take some time to get used to things and get settled in, so please be patient with me. I'll be back posting in no time. Promise. Until then, follow my adventures in Abu Dhabi on my other blog, The International Diva (www.theinternationaldiva.blogspot.com).
See ya soon!