Hold The Phone...

Someone has referred to me as a (gasp) FOREIGNER!

Now, I've been called many things in my life but this is just low. How long do you have to live in a place before you fit in? Those who know me well know I'm not a foreigner. I mean, real foreigners are Mormons, Peace Corps volunteers, short-term missionaries and tourists. They wear weird clothes and most of them are in serious need of a shave and a haircut. They wander around aimlessly from one Internet cafe to another, with their impressive body odor saying stuff like, "Dude, the sign said 'high speed Internet so why is it taking so long?' or 'I thought Peace Corps was supposed to cover my birth control'".

Foreigners are taken advantage of because they just look so dumb. They snap pictures of stupid things and ask dumb questions like, "Why is that person digging that hole?" If you ask me, they have it coming to them.

I get treated like a foreigner every day and it really doesn't bother me too much as long as it's not by someone close to me. This time, it was a lady from church who ought to know better. And as much as I'm trying to not let it get to me, it stings a little. It's not the first time someone has pulled the foreigner card on me ("You're just a foreigner so you could not possible understand Mongolians" etc.) and I'm sure it won't be the last.

I'm not trying to be Mongolian. I don't even go out of my way to fit in. I just think that people should look a little deeper to see the potential God has given me to serve the people of this country before they judge and label me.

Nate

Soaking in a tub full of bubbles:

"Aaaaah, this is so relaxing... Abi! Come in here and sing me a lullaby!"

Abi passes by the bathroom door, dragging bobby (her blankie) and sucking her thumb and gives him a look that says, "in your dreams", then walks away.

"AAAAAABIIIIII, come and sing for me NOW!"

"NO Naynay"

"Abi, if you don't sing me a lullaby right now I'm gonna beat you up!"

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The other day, I was getting the kids their lunch while they sat at the table, discussing whether they thought our next baby was going to be a boy or a girl (and I'm not even pregnant but not a day goes by when they don't ask). Abi said that she'd like a girl to which, Nate emphatically replied that he'd rather have another brother.

I asked Nate what he would do if God gave us a girl. He said God wouldn't because he'd pray for a boy. I asked again, what he would do if God still gave us a girl and he said, "Then we'd know it was the devil's work!"