It's Raining in the House!

Have you ever gotten in the shower after being outside working, or just after a LONG tiring day and feeling SO gross? There have been times in my life when I've worked so hard and then gotten in the shower and just stood there letting the warm water pour all over me. It's so refreshing...and I just feel CLEAN! Like all the grime, dirt, and grossness of the day has just washed right off me. Showers are GREAT, and so often we don't think about what it would be like to not be able to take one.
This past Saturday I got to be a part of an amazing "first" shower experience, and I wanted to share it with you....I hope it blesses your heart as much as it blessed mine!
When Liz and Adam met Lajton and his family I don’t think they ever imagined that they’d be “adopting” 8 more children. They have been blessed with five beautiful daughters who each have their own personalities, and upon moving here they felt called to specifically work with the Roma peoples.
Adam met a young Roma boy one day and this led to meeting his 6 brothers and 1 sister. From there the relationship grew and the oldest boy became a follower the summer of 2011. Adam and Liz have had the opportunity to love and serve this family who lost their mother 5 years ago, and through this they have also had chances to minister to their father who is not a believer.
Since the oldest brother's salvation he has spent time with Adam growing and learning what it means to live for and serve Christ. His brothers and sister also have heard the Gospel and he is continually working with them to teach them more about Jesus.
Liz and Adam felt though that since these kids have become such a huge part of their life they wanted to genuinely treat them as they would their own family. If they had family members back in America who did not have running water or means to wash their clothes they would offer their home to them to use. With that, it was determined that they would invite the Roma family to their home ever Saturday for breakfast, to take showers, and to wash clothes.
The past Saturday was the first one to begin this, and I went to help Liz and Adam “maintain” the chaos. Seven of the eight Roma children showed up, and with the five girls already living there it was filled with lots of laughter, noise, and fun. The Roma family seemed a bit hesitant at first. Liz and I made breakfast and Adam came in to ask us how we thought he should handle getting the kids bathed. No one wanted it to be awkward, but the reality is when you are offering to give kids a shower who don’t often shower it is just going to be a little awkward. Adam rounded up the youngest one. He is a hilarious little boy. He is constantly trying to tickle people, acting like he is going to karate chop you; he’s just a joker! Liz and I started feeding the kids and then afterwards were able to sit down ourselves to have a bite.
When Adam and thislittle boy came out of the bathroom we cheered for the little guy and how “good” he looked. He just smiled and wandered over to the other kids playing the Wii.
Adam then told us that when he turned on the shower for this little boy he looked at Adam and said, “It’s like it’s raining in your house!” Adam laughed a little and said, “Yea. Kind of.” He then told us that this sweet little kid was standing in the shower (buck naked) dancing back and forth singing, “It’s raining in the house, it’s raining in the house!”
Liz and I busted out laughing, and then my eyes started to feel with tears as the realization that this six year old boy had never experienced a shower. How heartbreaking and how humbling! The things I take for granted are numerous, and this little guy reminded me of that in a very funny, but very impactful way. I’m very excited to see what happens from here with these Saturday mornings: to build relationships with these kids, to have the chance to love them, to serve them, to get to experience other “firsts” with them.
This was a perfect memory for the first Saturday morning with this family. I don’t know if I’ll ever take a shower again with the thought at least once crossing my mind “It’s raining in the house, it’s raining in the house!” And who knows I might even start dancing in the shower too!

Livin' With Locals #2: "I'm A Little Bit Country..."

My parents gave me the name Courtney...
I've never really cared one way or the other about my name. I don't remember ever wanting to change it, but I WILL say that it's had it's share of difficulties. See, for some my name is a little hard to say.
Kids under the age of 4 usually have a hard time with it. Hence, this is why I'm called Aunt CaCa (and yes I'm aware of it's meaning in other languages!) by my nieces. Carsyn couldn't say Courtney when she was learning to talk, and so we had MaMa, DaDa, and CaCa...Since the other two were obviously spoken for...I took what I could get :) And I've grown to love the fact that when I would get off the plane and Carsyn would see me she would yell (very excitedly and loudly) "CA CA!!!!" And I would have the priviledge of smiling while everyone looked to see WHO IN THE WORLD SHE WAS CALLING "CA CA" :)
While working with children throughout my life I've often been called Courty and Court. One of my favorites though is that some people of other cultures who aren't use to the whole "T" being next to the "N" thing often call me Corny :) Which if they understood the context in English they'd know why I giggle a little when they say my name.
My name being prnounced wrong doesn't bother me. I often realize the person is trying to acknowledge me, and it's just not that big of a deal to have to correct people.

So begins my second story of my "family" that I'm living with here...
There is a little boy in the family who is almost 5 years old. He is a typical plays hard, wants to karate chop things, gets dirty, loud, funny, and is just described by the word "BOY". He's precious, and often cracks me up. (For the purpose of telling these stories and not having to write "the little boy" we'll call him "Amir".)

My self-proclaimed (almost) 5 year old "boyfriend"

Since I've been living with the family, we (Amir's parents and myself) have been working with him on pronouncing my name (moreso his parents than me). Here, my name would be spelled Kortni. So, it's not THAT weird. I mean no one here is named Courtney, but the letters are pronouncable. The mom and dad can pronouce my name, but poor litte "Amir" has a very hard time with it.
See, "Amir" calls me "Country" :) And given the fact that I AM from MISSISSIPPI and am often given a hard time for the "y'alls" and drawl in my speech, this is not only ironic, but rather humerous.
The other night "Amir" was talking with his grandmother on the phone. His grandmother knows I'm living with them and was asking about me. He kept saying, "Country, blah, blah, blah..." Then she responded by saying, "Country?" because that's what he said. And Amir got a little angry and said, "NE! (No) COUNTRY!" She responded again, "Country?" And even louder "Amir" said, "NE!!!! CCCCCOOOOUUUUNNNNTTTTRRRRYYYYY!!!!" because when he heard her say my name she was saying it wrong! :) He was getting very upset that she was pronoucing my name WRONG! :) Finally, his mother got on the phone and told the grandmother that my name is pronounced "Courtney" and the grandmother said it back to "Amir". He was pleased with this and said, "Da (yes). Country." :) HA HA!!!
The poor thing probably has no clue why his parents and I keep trying to get him to say "COURTney". In his mind he's saying it right. To him, I'm "Country".
Now, it just really cracks me up everytime he says it...and I've gotten to where rather than correcting him I just look at him, smile, and say,
"Yep, I'm Country" with as SOUTHERN an accent as I can :)

This is the pose I got when I told him I was taking his picture :)

Stevie Sung It Best..."Very Superstitious!!!"

So last night I got to thinking. (As my dad would say this is very dangerous. And right now with me on "language learning overload" he'd probably be right!) But nonetheless, I was thinking about some of the things I've noticed here...superstitions if you will.

Some simply crack me up. Like for instance if you read my previous post about the socks...well, that's a superstition here. Another one I've come across was from a fellow American in this area. He hurt is back some time ago and was asked by a local if he had been wearing an undershirt, like one of those tank-top things (we call them "wife-beaters" (not the best name :) ). When he responded that he didn't typically wear those, this local informed him that is why he hurt his back :) Really?!?!

Another one is about drafts in the home. You can't have two windows/doors on opposite sides of the house opened. Some people hold to this so devoutly that when someone comes to their front door they will close their balcony door, go let the person in the front, and return to the balcony door to reopen. "NO DRAFT ALLOWED!" I think there's some belief that it'll cause injury or sickness to someone in the house.

The most recent though (and the one that got me thinking about all of this) is a superstition about pregnant women. If you are eating something and a preganant woman is around and she sees you but you don't offer her any of what you have, you get sickness in the eye.

Now just a sidenote here: for all you pregnant women out there I would take FULL advantage of this one. I mean that's like a ton of free food! :)

Back to the point...we all have superstitions. I'm sure if locals here came to the States they would think some of our superstitions are just strange! Like I remember in high school throwing salt over my shoulder if it spilled. Still don't really know WHY we did this, but my friends and I did. And who decided Friday the 13th was unlucky? Or the number 13 for that matter! Or like athletes who wear the same socks, shoes, etc. (and not wash them) because they won a game in them and now this item is "lucky". Personally, I just think they've gotten the words "gross" and "luck" confused!

I became aware of being superstitious a few years ago. Even words and phrases I use: "wish", "good luck". They are so common, but a few years ago I decided to really concentrate on my vocabulary and the things I say. See what we say and do portrays something about ourselves, as do our superstitions. Superstitions often show what we fear, give us a "reason" for why something happens that we don't understand, or show what we desire to control.

Ultimately, it comes down to TRUST. Our speech, our actions, our superstitions proclaim to ourselves and others what we are trusting in.

So a few years back I stopped saying things like "good luck" and "I wish" because I don't believe in luck...I believe IN Jesus. I don't "wish" for things like some genie is going to appear and give me all I desire....I hope IN Christ and trust in Him to provide what I NEED (not want!).

I'm not trying to get on a soap box about language and articulation...well maybe I am, but as I was thinking yesterday about the superstitions here and then elsewhere in the world, I came to realize these things really DO matter. They really do tell others something about us. I don't want people to think I trust in some tradition or "omen" or that I fear I have to appease someTHING out there. I want what I do and say to portray the Gospel.

As I was thinking yesterday it made me ask myself if I do have any "superstitions" right now, even silly one's like throwing salt or wearing socks (that I might be blinded to or maybe I AM aware of), and what do those superstitions say I'm trusting in? Whatever they might be, they are taking my trust away from Christ...and according to scripture, that's idolatry! So while I don't think I need to walk around on eggshells, constantly worried over these things (that's why there's grace!) I do think I need to be more aware of these things in my life. I know I'm often too apathetic towards them!

So, I leave you with the same question I asked myself: do you have superstitions and what do they declare to yourself and others about what you are trusting in?