Pardon Me! Meet Sophie

Some teenage girls were watching Mariama sweep the front this morning and acted as if they were going to tease her. I asked them to move along to school so that she could finish sweeping. They looked like the girls who came in our house one day without being invited, but I did not want to assume that.

With trying to do school and Rich studying and going out, I kept the front gate locked, so we would not be disturbed. It also worked out since our house helper is still out, and her sister who came in for her does not know who to interrupt us for and who not.  I still feel weird locking the the gate, but I am following our neighbors' example. Rich came back from his visiting, but he forgot to lock the gate.

I came around the corner to find a strange teenage girl in our home. I asked her why she had come in, and I stepped out into the courtyard with her. She said she knocked and knocked but no one answered. I told her she should have waited for an answer. I asked her why she came, when she was obviously on her way home from school for lunch. She said she wanted to be our friend and asked my forgiveness for coming in the house uninvited. I confessed to her that I have a hard time believing her. She is too old to be friends with my children and too young to want to be my friend. I told her that most her age just come here to see the white person and tire us out. I hoped she was telling the truth, but I was having a hard time trusting her. She said she passed by yesterday and wanted to talk with us, unfortunately she thought we spoke French. She does not speak English nor our current local language.

So we communicated in the major trade language.  I asked her name and where she lives. I asked her what grade she is in, which is roughly equivalent to our tenth grade. I asked her how school was going, and she said it was painful. She recently moved here from a town two hours west of us.  She started to leave, but I asked her if I could pray with her before she left. I prayed that God who knows our hearts would reveal what is true and help her in her school work.

I don't know that I will ever see Sophie again. I do not know her heart's intent, but I know there are no accidents. She did not accidentally walk in our home. Pray that God will bless Sophie in her school work and to draw her unto Himself.

Vive le Difference!

Opposites attract!  When you put batteries in a flashlight, the opposite ends of the batteries must touch in order for them to work. Looking at Rich and me this week has been like looking at two batteries.  Thinking back to when we started getting to know one another, I told our mutual friends it would never work because we were too different.

In contemplating our language learning styles this week, I remembered how Rich would embody the personality of our first people group overseas, while I would get the sentences structured more cleanly. He is more street sense where I am book sense. I love grammar, but he can play the part. Together we can really get the point across.

I want to have the right answers, where as he loves to play devil's advocate. In fact, it is that devil's advocate that helped me know he was the man for me. He was the first man I ever dated that actually tried to engage my mind, which made for interesting road trips, and wanted me to really be able to articulate what I believe.

We have lots of differences. He was country, and I was city. He is watching wrestling, and I am visiting museums.  He was "Rocky Horror Picture Show", and I was "Gone with the Wind."  He is working in the theater, and I am attending the theatre. He reads fiction, where I prefer reading self-improvement books. I can be very task oriented, but he is very people focused. He is laid back and relaxed, and I have been known to want to get the most out of every possible moment. These differences give spice and variety to our lives. It would be so boring if we were the same.

They also make us better as individuals and a couple. I need him to get me to relax, and he sometimes needs me to help him get going. On vacations, he makes sure we have down time and enjoy the moment, while I enjoy planning fun and educational things to do. I need him, and he needs me.

I find it interesting that God intended it to be that way. God created man in His image and said it was very good. It was not good for man to be alone, so God made a helpmate for him.  The helpmate was also made in the image of God but was created different from the man, physically and otherwise. It was their physical differences that would enable procreation and the continuation of the species. Ephesians commands the wife to respect her husband and the husband to love the wife. It commands those things because that is what the other needs. Men want to be loved, but they need to be respected. Women want to be respected too, but they need to feel loved. God created them male and female.

Enjoy the differences!
Vive la difference!