This past week, Ir has requested more than once to don Ad's head covering. E requests one too, and since married women here wear both a head covering and a shawl (despite the heat!), there is usually one for each kid. Of course, E looks a little silly dressed up like a woman! Both kids then run to the mirror to admire themselves. We appreciate this child-initiated cross-cultural interest. Everyone always tells us that children adjust easily to new cultures, but Ir at least has not always found it easy to live in a different environment. Sometimes she seems to feel threatened by differences, being at times either timid or rejecting those differences. We need wisdom to shepherd her through the process of cross-cultural living. The other day, she surprised me with the question of whether this is the old earth and America is the new heavens and the new earth. I explained that no - sad, bad, and painful things happen in America too, and people in both places are still waiting for the old to pass away and the new to come. I'll have to be careful not to idealize America when we talk about differences, even though there are many things I love and miss from home and there are many blessings there that people here do not have. So, in seeking to encourage the kids in their cross-cultural experience, we are thankful for the times when, of their own accord, they seek out and enjoy acculturation.
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