President Trump has suspended the US Refugee Resettlement Program. Please read the stories in this book, teach them in your schools and share them in your communities of faith and friendship. The measure of how we treat those in need is a measure of our ability to hold on to our humanity.

More of beautiful Damascus.

That light. Nowhere else in the world has that light.

So many memories flooding back. Deir Mar Musa, near Nebek, Syria.

Beautiful Damascus, 2004.

Syria. The Country where I learned Arabic. Fell in love. Made some of my closest friends. So many lives lost- to war, to the sea, to prison. And now, a fragile hope... Here's a photo from the desert in Deir Mar Musa, near Nebek.

Whenever I feel down, I find it helpful to look at Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka's glass flowers, now located at the Harvard Natural History Museum. "Beauty will save the world," and all of that-- they never disappoint.

Is there a starter kit for people who get really excited about beautiful bars of soap? Asking for a friend...

Spent the afternoon at the al-Badawi tree near Bethlehem, which is believed to be among the oldest olive trees in the world. Still, it gives new fruit every year. A truly blessed, hopeful tree during difficult times. I've learned so much from being in its shade.

The blessing of the oil at the Feast of St. George in Lod/Lydda on November 16.