Last week, in honor of Veteran’s day, my daughter’s third grade class was asked to write a thank you letter to the soldiers. What a precious gesture I thought. And then I found out what my sweet little girl wrote in her letter. “Thank you for protecting us and thank you for protecting mommy’s country, Iraq.” I was beyond emotional and proud when I found out about her simple yet true and powerful words. My 9 year old seized exactly how I feel about the U.S. military in a short and humble sentence. I don’t think there are enough words…

He was 42 years old when he overthrew the existing leader, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, and took over his seat in power. It took endless years of methodical planning to get to that point. It began with getting an education, attending three years of law school, gaining people’s trust by improving the infrastructure, helping the country’s economy grow at a rapid rate through oil money, and improving the education system along with the healthcare system. He was charming and charismatic, easy to trust and believe. He grew in stature and popularity amongst the citizens, gained the necessary power and force to…

Halloween is by far one of my least favorite holidays. Although it’s one of the most controversial holidays amongst the Christian community for obvious and understandable reasons, it’s not why I dislike this holiday. I dislike it because I had no idea what took place on October 31st when I first came to the U.S. I didn’t have the privilege of learning about the American culture prior to my arrival, nor did anyone give me a quick rundown after either. High school is a rough world as it is, throwing an immigrant in the middle of it with no survival…