A sort of quandry has come up recently. Someone has done something that I'm not sure if I should address. I understand the difficulties in their situation, but I'm not sure if they realize the stress and irritation they are causing. I don't know if the frustration in my own spirit is right or if I'm just too easily troubled. I know that I shouldn't bring it to them while I'm riled up about it, so I'll just pray for now. But how do I know if I should carry it to them later? How do I know what should be done for the peace of the group, for the betterment of our work, the growth of our students? How much do I make allowance for human folly? Which situations require grace and even abundant grace? When should one cover over a matter to promote love (Proverbs 17:9)? When would it be better to confront a bear robbed of her cubs? When is it my own foolishness that needs confronting?
This kind of situation seems to be reoccuring for me over the last couple of weeks. Most of the time I wait and pray and God works it out for me. Other times it hangs over my head for a while. I lack wisdom and discernment for telling the difference between the problems with my own attitude and the problems with other people's actions and attitudes. Hopefully I'm growing.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Success?
Ok. It wasn't a failure at least...
Kurds are very picky about their food and most really hate to try anything new. A group of basketball players that went to the U.S.A. were most traumatized by the food out of all the cultural differences. We like flavors, spices, variety. Kurds like greasy rice and chicken cooked in tomato paste water.
We made baked chicken with egg, salt, basil, oregano, and bread crumbs. (Light on the spices.) We also made spaghetti (which they do occasionally eat here) and that was mostly tomatoes, tomato paste, some onion, garlic, and just a little basil and oregano. We also had bread, a cucumber/tomato salad, tirshiat (a red pickled cabbage and cucumber dish), and some sauteed peppers and zucchini.
It worked. They didn't love the food... but they did eat it. We almost had a tea crisis because I struggle with making Kurdish tea, but they seemed to like it and had seconds. And our pudding with a digestive cracker crust had the 3rd grader coming for seconds.
The best part was after they left and we pulled the dishes (we hadn't been able to wash all of them before the guests arrived) out of the laundry rooom and had a chance to sit down and laugh about all the silly things we'd done to try to pull off this feat. And all in all we felt pretty good about it. We have Dutch company tonight... Thanksgiving at our house tomorrow. Company!
Kurds are very picky about their food and most really hate to try anything new. A group of basketball players that went to the U.S.A. were most traumatized by the food out of all the cultural differences. We like flavors, spices, variety. Kurds like greasy rice and chicken cooked in tomato paste water.
We made baked chicken with egg, salt, basil, oregano, and bread crumbs. (Light on the spices.) We also made spaghetti (which they do occasionally eat here) and that was mostly tomatoes, tomato paste, some onion, garlic, and just a little basil and oregano. We also had bread, a cucumber/tomato salad, tirshiat (a red pickled cabbage and cucumber dish), and some sauteed peppers and zucchini.
It worked. They didn't love the food... but they did eat it. We almost had a tea crisis because I struggle with making Kurdish tea, but they seemed to like it and had seconds. And our pudding with a digestive cracker crust had the 3rd grader coming for seconds.
The best part was after they left and we pulled the dishes (we hadn't been able to wash all of them before the guests arrived) out of the laundry rooom and had a chance to sit down and laugh about all the silly things we'd done to try to pull off this feat. And all in all we felt pretty good about it. We have Dutch company tonight... Thanksgiving at our house tomorrow. Company!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Dinner Time
We're having a local family over for dinner.
This is a rather stressful event for us foreigners. We want them to actually be willing to eat what we put before them. But if we try Kurdish food, we'll fail miserably and we'll end up spending all night having them tell us how to really make Kurdish food (their way!). So we've got to come up with something that is both semi-Kurdish in flavor and not at all Kurdish in appearance. How about that!
Add into the mix that this guy is a germophobe to the nth degree. And his wife pretends she doesn't speak English around her husband... and their kid goes to our school.
Yeah... it'll be fun and exhausting.
This is a rather stressful event for us foreigners. We want them to actually be willing to eat what we put before them. But if we try Kurdish food, we'll fail miserably and we'll end up spending all night having them tell us how to really make Kurdish food (their way!). So we've got to come up with something that is both semi-Kurdish in flavor and not at all Kurdish in appearance. How about that!
Add into the mix that this guy is a germophobe to the nth degree. And his wife pretends she doesn't speak English around her husband... and their kid goes to our school.
Yeah... it'll be fun and exhausting.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Psalm 19:7
"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul."
"Even on days when every cinder in our soul feels cold, if we crawl to the Word of God and cry out for ears to hear, the cold ashes will be lifted and the tiny spark of life will be fanned. For "the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul."
~John Piper
"Even on days when every cinder in our soul feels cold, if we crawl to the Word of God and cry out for ears to hear, the cold ashes will be lifted and the tiny spark of life will be fanned. For "the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul."
~John Piper
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