The Greatest Part of Mother's Day!

Living overseas and being a parent can bring many challenges!  Trying to get your children to learn a new language when they are playing with friends and not hitting with sticks or throwing rocks when they do not understand the other children for example.  Trying to teach your children that they cannot just do or have whatever they want when the culture says it is ok for small children or for children who are "special" like yours are.  Trying to get your children to play with the children rather than the animals because the animals are still such a novelty.  Teaching your children to just eat with their right hand and not their left, because the left hand is "unclean".  Teaching your children not to drink the faucet water because it is unhealthy and will make them sick and to treat them for heat rashes when the heat seems unending. Teaching them to just play rather than play according to their imaginations because often their imaginations just do not translate well. 

But the greatest part of my mother's day was also something that I would only have the pleasure of experiencing because of where we live.  We meet for worship each Sunday with the others on our team, which is another couple and two singles.  One of the greatest joys of being a parent is watching one's children worship and contribute to the worship of others, which often does not happen in the states. 

Mariama loves praise and prayer time.  She is great at singing and wants to make sure everyone gets involved, which is one of those times that her leader personality comes out in a good way.  She likes to ask each  person in the group if they have a song they would like to sing, so that no one feels left out or does not miss out on the opportunity to share.  She does have to be kept focused though, otherwise she will run away with the praise time.  She would have us sing for a full hour if she could.  She also is great about sharing prayer requests when it is time to share them.  She is especially good about remembering prayer requests that others have shared, much longer than most of us do.  She can be rather simple in her thoughts or repetitive, but she is only 4.  One of her praises yesterday was that we get to tell others about Jesus.  Now for her that means she has to show any one who comes into the house her bear that sings "Jesus loves me", but that is what she sees as her contribution.  Oh, if it were only that simple!!

Then William is our teacher/ preacher type, more quiet and reflective than Mariama but desiring to share what is on his heart.  William loves to share what he has read from his devotional or Bible or whatever other book about the Bible that he has.  He gets so excited about sharing that it is hard to get him to wait until the time to share scripture.  Yesterday, he did not just read the devotional and lead us in repeating the Bible verse and the prayer, but he even started it out by tying it to something from personal experience.  The devotional started out talking about the children being sad because a bird died and he tied it to the fact that our househelper's dad had died, a long time ago, but still a person close to him and not just a story in the devotional.  He often will also lead in singing a hymn, and it may not be one he knows the tune to but he likes the words.  His favorite as of late has been "Holy, Holy, Holy" but he is not bound to it alone.   

God has blessed me with two precious children, so very different from one another in their gifts and talents and personalities, but both so very aware of who He is and why we are here.  Often the things about them that cause me the most challenge at other times are the very things that are used to bless me when it comes to worship.   William has come to a personal relationship with Jesus, but Mariama has not as of yet, though it seems often that she is quite close.  I am so looking forward to seeing what this next precious gift that God is giving us will be like and how she will glorify the Father at even a young age.  I am so blessed to be their mom and pray that I teach them even half of what they teach me each and every day. 

Vocabulary teaches so much!

A culture's views on marriage and parenting tell so much about their culture.  Today in class I learned 5 words for a man to use meaning that he is married.  There are 5 other words for a woman to use meaning that she is married.  The words are almost the same for the man and woman but the endings are different.  The words for the man to use are in the active voice, meaning it is an action which he performs.  The words for the woman are in the middle and the passive voice meaning it is something that she does to herself or something which is done to her.

The word from the lesson which I started today is the most ironic to me.  For the woman, it is "joodoyaade" which means "to go to sit".    For the man, the word is "joodinde" which means "to make to sit."  Obviously the word sit could be interpreted stay, but it is still ironic to me.  The idea that a woman here would sit is humorous.  They have so much work to do, especially as they get married and have children.  The idea that they would be sitting is funny to anyone who has seen how hard these women work. 

The second word my teacher taught me, which I had already learned, was "mareede" for the woman, which means "to be kept, guarded".  The word for the man that corresponds is "marde" which means "to keep, guard."  This word is actually my favorite I think to express marriage.  It offers that security that women desperately need to feel in the marriage relationship and one of the purposes for men in marriage to protect her and the home.  Literally as I would say it would mean, "I am guarded."  I love that word picture!

The third term could be looked at either positively or negatively, depending on your personal experience.  The word for the man is "tiggude" meaning "to put a veil on someone", and for the woman "tiggeede" meaning "to be veiled".  Often brides in western culture will wear veils, but then they are unveiled for the groom as they marry.  I believe that is symbolic of how she has been protected and preserved for her husband.  With the idea of being veiled as a term of marriage, I see a picture of her beauty and preciousness being preserved still for her husband only.  It is not a prison for her but a means of protection and guarding.  A woman in the Bible who was not veiled was seen as a loose woman.  In Song of Songs, Solomon describes the bride's beauty which lay behind her veil, which was for he alone to know and cherish.  The women here wear a headcover when they are married, which is a type of veil, but not as restrictive as the veils other women wear.  The veil of the temple was to keep sacred the Holy of Holies.  I too like this word picture, though I know some would argue the negative side of this term.

The fourth term for the man is "resde" simply meaning "to marry" and "reseede" for the woman meaning "to be married".  This is the least informative and least descriptive of all the words used.

The fifth term for the woman is "hortaade" meaning "to be old or to no longer be tired" which is ironically humorous once again as the lives of the women here are quite tiring.  However, the term for the man is "hortinde" which means "to esteem someone very highly".  I am not quite sure why this pair of words does not sync up as well as the others, but I definitely like this term for the husband to use.  The idea that a husband would highly esteem his wife is fabulous.  Unfortunately it does not always happen as often as one would like.  But I am blessed in that I feel highly esteemed by my husband.   

Isn't language funny?  In English we have but one word, "married", and it offers so little in the way of a word picture.  But this language offers 5 different words for both the husband and the wife.  Which one is your favorite term and why?