Small talk with the contractors before my husband's arrival on the night we signed the paperwork revealed to me that both men are Christians.

The first baited me casually with a passing mention of an early stint in California at a Bible college. I made a mental note without seizing upon the disclosure. Even to inquire which school would have been idle curiosity on my part because I haven't any familiarity with California Bible colleges.

The second man hails from New Orleans, so adherence to the Christian faith is safely presumed.

Neither man carried business cards, so in jotting down their contact information for me, I made available a handy piece of scrap paper from a scratch pad for an Exodus study. I didn't realize until after the paper was returned to me that, during an earlier study time, I had scribbled on the paper a list of the ten plagues. Before writing out his reach numbers, one of the men studied the page carefully but made no comment. I was not embarrassed too much except for the final plague listed, "first born," due to its potentially negative connotation where human contracts are concerned.

The second man returned tonight to complete the permit paperwork.

Again my husband was delayed in arriving home, so again, we were forced into small talk as we waited.

The man took a close look at our Israel pictures hanging on our great room wall. He couldn't be sure of the location, so I informed him of their origin as I quickly identified each place. He wasn't familiar with my favorite, the mosaic at Tabgha, an image I have had on this blog. The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes apparently not significant for him.

I had been working on a study of Revelation 7 when he arrived, but I had placed my Bible and paperwork aside on a nearby table. He asked whether I had been studying the Bible just as he arrived and I said that I do a number of studies throughout the week.

He mentioned that he has recently heard the Mt. of Olives referred to as "the mount of corruption" in 1 Kings. I showed him our picture of Jerusalem as seen from the Mt. of Olives and explained the messianic tradition of the Eastern or Golden Gate. But, off-hand, I was unfamiliar with the mount's association with corruption.

After he left, I tracked down the references with ease: Solomon's high places in 1 Kings 11:7 to honor of his wives' pagan gods and Josiah's reforms in 2 Kings 23:13.

What's more interesting to me than calling the Mt. of Olives "Mt. of Corruption" is the Valley of Hinnom's reputation as a place of human sacrifice and a trash heap and how that reputation works its way into the New Testament language as "Gehenna".

Still, what a curious thing to mention, "Mt. of Corruption"? Talk about biblical minutiae!

Why was the world created with the letter bet?

Why does the Torah's first word begin with the second letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet?

I can't say that I ever noticed.

Yet, insightful answers range from the simple to the complex.

Midrash B'reishit Rabbah theorizes that, "Just as the bet is closed at the top and at the sides, so one may not inquire what is below, what is above, and what is before, but only what is in front." In other words, we are not to inquire before the moment of Creation. The Torah beings with the letter bet instead of the letter aleph to teach us that something always comes before the beginning.

As satisfying as such a simple answer is, there's a more profound suggestion still.

God reserved the aleph for a higher purpose than physical creation: the giving of the eternal Torah at Mt. Sinai. The Decalogue begins with aleph. (This is something that I had noticed before.) So, as beautiful as the created world is, it is not an end in itself but simply the setting for God's eternal plan of salvation.

You know that things are convoluted when an outsider like me has to explain their eschatology to them.

One of our study group provided us with colorful charts of the end-times.

In analyzing the illustration, a younger woman expressed her frustration in reconciling the timing of the rapture on the diagram with the expectations of the on-video teacher. Specifically, the timeline reflects a belief in a pre-tribulation rapture and the on-video speaker leans towards mid-tribulation.

I recalled to her that, on a number of occasions, the video speaker admits that she taught pre-trib formerly, but a close study of Scripture has altered her beliefs in support of mid-trib.

The shift accounts for the irreconcilable differences.

My explanation apparently made sense because the young woman accepted it.

Most of them favor pre-tribulation rapture. But the video teacher is influencing them gradually to think otherwise.

"Two plead guilty to setting 2000 fire at SHU dorm" - CNS, 11/27/06:

Former students Joseph Lepore and Sean Michael Ryan, both 26, pleaded guilty Nov. 15 to arson and witness tampering surrounding the January 2000 fire in the freshman dormitory that killed three students and injured more than 50 others.

See previous blog entry.

The Christmas Mass schedule was made public this morning. Let's see how well I remember it from Father's announcement:

Sat. Vigil (for Sun.): 4 PM and 6:30 PM
Sun. morning (for Sun.): 10 AM

Christmas Vigil (on Sunday):
4 PM, 6 PM and Midnight

Christmas Morning (on Monday): 9 and 11 AM

The conundrum this year is that Christmas falls on a Monday. And the concept of "vigil" complicates things. This all may be moot for me anyway, as I may be in the hospital.

Last year, as Christmas was on a Sunday, I remember that most Protestant churches in the South, where we were visiting family, didn't have services that Sunday at all. I was actually quite shocked by that.

But they made up for it on January 1, 2006, another Sunday, with SRO capacity, as people's New Year's resolutions of "attending church regularly" kicked in.

Of course, for us, 1/1 is a holiday whether it falls on Sunday or not. But I was happy to see Protestants in church on 1/1, even if it happens only every five or six or seven years (but the last time was in 1995. The next time is 2012, 2017).

Father says he needs time to get the church ready on Sunday for Christmas Mass. I don't know what that entails. The banners and other linens need to change from purple to white. But, I imagine that he'll have decorated trees up already and a nativity / crèche. So I can't think of what else needs to change.

I can't remember the last time that I was in town for Christmas because we usually travel.

Somehow we got on the subject of sterilization, my mother-in-law and I, Thursday. I'm not sure how. She isn't the type to say "Four is enough, sweetheart!"

But, anyway, her comments were interesting.

I told her that after I delivered Christopher, the hospital staff asked us, "Tubal ligation, so long as we're all here?"

Jeff and I were like, "Uh, no! No thank you."

And she said that in her day, nearly 40 years ago, sterilization wasn't permitted unless the family already had six children or the mother underwent a psychological profile to determine her mental state and ability to make such a decision.

That blew me away. I mean, in a lot of ways, I feel as if we are legislated to death in this country but here's an area were "freedom" if you want to call it that, has actually expanded. Was it all in reaction to the reproductive craziness of the eugenics era in the 30's? How would I know?

But, today, if a couple never wants children, there's no one to stop them in that. Even socially, most people would leave them alone and not pester them about their decision.

I have fallen into the habit of buying them new slippers for Christmas.

I've had the catalog for weeks but sat down with them to look at it yesterday. I let them pick which ones they like.

Kenny wants camouflage. I can tolerate that so long as it's blue instead of green or sand.

Tim wants the fire truck ones again. And, even though I have hand-me-downs that would fit the baby, I'm getting him his own new pair, penguins.

There was some confusion with Tim convinced that I would pass his slippers onto Chris without replacing them. I assured him that, yes, he has outgrown them but they are still too big for the baby.

I went to the online store and panicked because I didn't see the styles they wanted. I was afraid that they had sold out and I was too late.

I called the catalog number and discovered that the items were in-stock. I ordered robes as well, since the kids hardly ever have robes. A neighbor gave us her son's old one a couple of years ago and it got passed down but presently nobody has a robe that fits.

And, for the life of me, I can't keep Timmy in socks. I bought him a dozen pair at the beginning of the school year and they are already worn out and dirty. I blame his leather penny loafers for discoloring his white socks. Besides, he has to share with his younger brother who since the end of a sock-less summer is wearing socks regularly.

So, I ordered some packs of socks, too. The operator sounded concerned.

"Everything will ship next week but the socks are backordered until 12/8."

Then she perked up.

"Still, they ought to ship in time for Christmas!"

Sounds like they can't keep themselves in socks either. But I already knew from my online shopping that the socks were backordered, so I was prepared for that.

I replied, "Don't worry. I'm not getting my kids socks for Christmas!"

But I am getting them slippers. Isn't that just as unimaginative?!