Something Else... (by Thom)

Hannah and Miriam are doing well today. We're waiting on a shipment of soy milk formula to arrive from the US and hopefully it will arrive soon. We've been running into problems getting goat's milk here in Bamako. It's not that we can't get it, but the quantity is much less than Hannah needs. We were able to buy more than we needed in Segou a week and a half ago, but that is about out. If we don't get the soy milk tomorrow, we might have problems. Please pray with us that it will arrive or we can find better source of goat's milk (ideally, both would happen so we can mix the two).
On another note, the girls have occupied most of our thoughts and attention but something funny happened last week at our house that wouldn't normally happen in the US: we employ a day guard and a night guard. We actually hired the night guard first and gave him his choice of assignment. He picked nights, and we were very happy with the way things worked out. Our day guard is a very nice guy and loves to help out. There is a language barrier between him and I, since he only speaks Bambara, but we get along very well. During the day, he often watches our househelp's baby and reads his Bible. There is a deep joy in him that is difficult to put into words. A little over a week ago, the night guard came to us and said (in Bambara, which Amanda tried to translate) that the guards wanted to switch rotations and he would become the day guard if it was ok with us. We were saddened but agreed, since they both seemed to want the switch.
Over the course of the week, we realized we didn't like the switch at all. We were even discussing if we could politely ask them to move back. Near the end of the week, the former day guard started asking why he was demoted and if he could have his old job back! It turns out the night guard had imposed himself. Whether he was dishonest or not we can't be sure (too many language issues) but we were glad for the opportunity to switch them back. I asked Jeanette, our househelp, what she thought and she didn't hesitate to say she liked the old system better. I didn't like doing it, but I went out and told the old night guard/new day guard through a translator that he had to go back to working nights. He was obviously sad, but we've been glad to have things back to normal.
Living cross-culturally offers up some really weird situations sometimes. I pray we can be honest and compassionate with our workers and those we interact with, that they can see Jesus through us - even when language barriers exist.
Two final notes: our day guard's name is Solomon, but he goes by Solo. I always think of Star Wars around him. I caught a glimpse of his Bible today. It was one of the most used, re-read Bibles I've ever seen. It made me very happy to have him around my growing family!