12 years ago today I left America to come to be with my husband Mo in Jordan. We thought of freedom and starting a life in a Muslim country, free to practice our religion. We hoped for love and togetherness and we hope to give our cat Tiger a new place to call home.

I was frightened to fly on Halloween and cancelled my first flight. Then something happened to change my mind and I flew anyway and paid an extra $50 to change my ticket back, lol.

I arrived in Jordan on November 1, 1998. It so does seem like yesterday.

As many of you may know, Muslims do not celebrate Halloween as it is a day of witches and ghosts. In fact we do not celebrate any American or British holiday. We have two holidays a year and those are our holidays.

Today has been a hard day for me. I had to bury my two baby kittens who someone stomped to death. The one baby kitten had its guts torn out and the other one died in awful pain from a crushed lung. I cried for two days.

I buried them side by side in a grave that my friends dug. I also had some other bad news which we won't go into. I am looking for a new home and quite frankly am surprised that I Sara, can live in such luxury.

When my husband died we were paupers and I did not have one cent to my name. There was no yogurt in the home and I had no propane to heat my home with. I remember coming home from the hospital with a chicken shawerma sandwich to feed my cats in our dark and damp home and they were so glad to see me.

Things have changed now and I live very well. I am amazed how Allah brought me out of darkness and gave me so much mercy. So on this halloween I can't celebrate goblins and witches, but I can celebrate new beginnings.

I do hope this coming holiday season will be a time for us all to reflect on blessings and not heartaches. A time to hug our kitties and the little folks and a time to thank Allah for his mercy. Amen.

Sara, as always