Congratulations to our daughter Anna (w/ my wife's parents) for leading her CC team to the state meet
Last night I visited the home of a North African pastor who is studying theology here in Jordan. They have 2 kids under 5 yrs of age. Because they are not from Jordan, their social opportunities are limited. When I asked his wife what her average day looks like, she talked about cooking, taking care of the kids, and visiting a Muslim lady daily who is from her home country. His wife asked me how to get her son to do what she tells him to do. It was my first time visiting them and I had already been there for longer than an hour, so I told her that I would visit again soon and we would talk about it. As the father walked me out to the street, he told me that he thinks his wife spends too much time at the Muslim neighbor's home. She tells him that she can't just stay at home all day but he says that his son is learning bad habits from the neighbor's older kids as they pick on him. He wishes his wife would have more structure to her day so that the kids would be more obedient. As I drove away, I thought about how I first need to read and discuss with them some of the foundational principles of biblical parenting before moving on to more practical lessons.
Thanks to those of you who prayed for the completion of the parenting website in Arabic. While I was waiting, I began using a simple Google doc which I actually like better than the website, at least for now You can see the English translation
here. I've visited and sent the Arabic version to more than a dozen pastors/parents over the past month. While they all say that they will do it, no one has contacted me yet. Pray that I have a healthy balance of patience, flexibility, and persistence.
Please pray also for my wife as she has been experiencing back pain that she thinks is related to prior hip pain. She is trying to continue her stretching/strengthening exercises... not exactly yoga as I had thought :-)
