Dirty Dishes

I previously mentioned that I wanted to take more time to share about what I am currently learning. While my last post was thoughts on a book about py er, I am now into another book called This Momentary Marriage, by John Piper. But first, I need to back up a bit.

In college, one of my dear friends and I often had discussions of a spiritual nature, since that is the foundation of our lives and a rather inescapable topic at Grove City College. Of all the things we discussed, one that will forever stick with me is a conversation about doing the dishes. As brothers and sisters in Chr st, we are called to bear one another's burdens; to pry for others when they cannot do so for themselves. There comes a point when we are so tired and burdened by our own sin that, if we want to change, we are almost forced to share the load with someone else. To clean up the dirt and grime in our lives takes someone else's help, and cleaning it up requires pryr. Pryr is the work. So, because I need help cleaning up the mess in my life--washing my dirty dishes, you will wash them for me. And some days, I will do the same for you.

There is also a particular message from the ch rch I attended my last few years of college that I will also keep with me, which happens to be about--you guessed it: dirty dishes. Our vi car was talking about grace, using his marriage as an example. This man does not like to do the dishes. He hates doing the dishes. To quote him quoting a song, "I would do anything for love, but I won't do that." His wife used numerous methods and arguments to try to get him to do the dishes, against which he always had some method or excuse for not doing them. Finally, she said ok, enough. Because I know that you don't like doing them, I won't ask you to do them anymore. Guess who now does the dishes in their house? Yep. He does. He explained that by showing him grace and by lifting that expectation/demand from him, doing the dishes changed from being a chore that he hated into a way to blss his wife.

So I now return to what I learned today. Piper has been talking about the need to have grace as the foundation of marriage. He's approached it from numerous angles. First, it allows couples to keep the covenant-commitment that they made to each other, "What G has joined, let man not separate/till death do us part." Second, it gives couples the freedom and security to change and grow. Asking someone to change is not a threat or an ultimatum; if done in the spirit of grace, then it is grace itself. Someone is asking you to change because they want to see you grow--to become the person you were meant to be and to become more like Ch st. I've been trying to wrap my mind around all that Piper is asserting, and I was having difficulty. I'm definitely an examples kind of person. Give me an example of how it works in real life to help me understand. In the end, I finally came up with my own.

I imagine that someday, when I am married, my husband and I will no doubt have at least one fight, maybe two or three. And I imagine that at least once or twice we will hit a wall after going back and forth long enough, and I will just plain need to leave the room. This is how I see grace played out in real life: After leaving the room with smoke coming out of my ears, I can imagine seeing a pile of dirty dishes sitting next to the counter, waiting for my husband to wash them. And then I will realize that there are more important things than staying mad or justifying myself and my anger--that the man and the relationship I committed to are far more significant than a momentary argument. And because of that, I will know that there is nothing greater I can do than to show him grace, despite how I am feeling. So I will wash the dishes. Not to spite him or to prove a point because they are still sitting there, but calmly and intentionally I will choose to do something for no other reason than to bless him. And it seems to me that one act of grace on my part (or reverse roles and say on his part) might just be followed by an act of grace on his part. And we will both be able to take a step back and re-evaluate what is really important. Thus, grace sustains the marriage, and allows love to flourish where it might otherwise be dampened or smothered altogether.

I realize that I am still young, and unmarried as of yet, but I choose to have faith in what can be. Not just hope, but faith. And those are my thoughts for the evening.

Thanks for reading.
~Nikki

Little Gidding

These men, and those who opposed them
And those whom they opposed
Accept the constitution of silence
And are folded in a single party.
Whatever we inherit from the fortunate
We have taken from the defeated
What they had to leave us--a symbol:
A symbol perfected in death.
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
By the purification of the motive
In the ground of our beseeching.

T.S. Eliot



After quoting part of that for someone else, I felt the need to also share it here. I love Little Gidding and highly recommend reading it if you haven't (this quote is taken from part III). You can find it online.

Back to normalcy. Sort of.

1. Another Monday back at school (which is really my Tuesday). Not a bad day all in all. Less painful than I had been worried it might be.
2. I think my dad ought to be just about over the continental US by now. His flight is scheduled to get in at 4:00 pm ish Minnesota time, which would 1:00 am here, and assuming it takes roughly three hours from New York to Detroit, plus at least an hour and a half layover, then another two hours or so from MI to MN, which adds up to about 6 1/2 hours, that means since it is 6:30 pm now, it is exactly 6 1/2 hours until 1:00 am. Just in case you were interested in the math...
3. I actually forget what three was. I spent so much time looking up flights to see approximately what time he left Amsterdam, and how long it might take to get from New York to Detroit to Duluth that I've lost my train of thought.
4. Correction on an earlier posting of my dad's blog address. notes-maple-hill.blogspot.com
5. Interstingly, I thought I'd end up have a ton of posts while my dad was here. Given all of the exciting and cool things I figured we'd be doing, that should have meant I had lots to say. However, I have a daily committment to reading right now, which takes a good 45 minutes or so. Factor in that my dad is typically awake later or up earlier than me (the man just doesn't need as much sleep), and there is a surplus of free time for him that I didn't have. Right about the time I'd finish my reading, he'd finish blogging, or he'd already be done and watching tv/surfing the internet. Not wanting to waste any more time (especially since we kept going to bed so late, which meant getting up late), I forewent--yes, that is a word; I looked it up--the internet a good deal. So, while I really loved having my dad here and wish he could have stayed longer, I'm enjoying a bit or down time this evening.
6. Sometimes I'm impatient. But that really doesn't matter when you don't have a choice.
7. I'm going to go read again. :o)
8. And to correct tests. :o(
9. ...Maybe :o)

Dad in Dubai

Well, my dad and I have been having a nice week together, touring Sharjah and Dubai (my mom didn't come. She claims some silly little thing, like not having a passport, kept her from being able to leave the country and go back again. Honestly, what kind of excuse is that? Who needs a passport anyway? Just kidding mom. :o) Our first day we got up late and just went walling around Sharjah. We went to the nearby Blue Souk (or Central Souk) where there is a gold souk and a textiles souk. Souk (also spelled souq) is the Arabic word for market, by the way. (And I shockingly don't have a picture of it yet...) And we also walked along the harbors near the gulf where we checked out the boats used for shipping cargo, which are called dhows. Dhow's are pretty cool, actually. Traditionally they are made without nails. Instead, holes are bored into the boards, and then wooden dowels are driven through the holes. Then it's covered in a sealant (creosote). They are all unloaded by hand, and they dhows will line up four or five deep, then just hand the cargo across from boat to boat. It's pretty amazing.

That night we went to a movie with my flatmate Farah and Rania, who is another teacher from school (she is on the left, Farah is next to me, and then, of course, my dad). Khalid, who is a friend of Rania, also came along. But Rania was trying to set us up, so it was kind of interesting.

We went to the Sharjah Aquarium one afternoon, which was fun. This sign was one of my favorite things there. (Look closely at the pictures. They crack me up.)

Sunday we went to the beach, finally! It was a really great day, the only complaint being that it got really windy after a bit. Made having a picnic a bit difficult, but hey, a bad day at the beach is still a pretty good day.

And yesterday evening, after I got my DRIVER'S LICENSE!, we had a barbeque/picnic at one of the lagoons. It was pretty darn good. And now Farah and I have a little BBQ (I had to go buy one for the occassion), so we can do that sort of thing more often. The little charcoal BBQ that I bough, and that you frequently see here, is different from anything I've seen at home. It's basically just a large metal shoebox on short legs, just the right width for putting shishkababs on. People typically have a pot along as well for tea, and often the coals are used for sheesha after you eat. It's a really nice way to spend an evening.

Today we I did the Dubai Big Bus Tour. I've done it once before, but I really enjoyed it again. The weather was nicer this time, and since I had an idea of what I did and didn't want to do, we made better use of our time. All in all, it was a pretty good day. Pictures aren't on my computer yet, but I'll put a few of those up as well when I get them.

And now, to avoid another 1:00 am bedtime, I'm going to sign off here. Here's a little plug for my dad's blog, however. He's been keeping posts a little more frequently than me this trip, so if you haven't visited his before, you can get another perspective. maple-hill-notes.blogger.com

Thanks.

~Nikki

What I'm Learning

I've decided that since I've been reading and learning so much lately that I think is of merit, I ought to share a bit of it here. My apologies to those of you who have read bits and pieces (or large chunks) of this already via emails. Also, I highly encourage you to pick up a book that seems like it would be good for your soul and to actually study it. You can't just read it because that makes it way to easy to forget what you've learned, and even harder to apply it. Just reading makes you feel good because you feel like you learned something, but then you change nothing about your lifestyle, so nothing changes; you get discouraged and wonder why you bothered to read to the book (or go to the service or listen to the seminar or whatever) in the first place because it didn't do you any good. Wrong! Parents (and teachers), you know how much work you've put into developing your children's character, so why shouldn't you have to put some work into developing your own character? Grab a some paper and a pen and start taking some notes, then read over them again later and start fitting them into your life! That being said, here are some thoughts and excepts from my own journal:

*Understanding the Power and Purpose of P...* (by Myles Monroe)
- In G's creation of the man, he said "let them" rule over the earth. G put care of earth completely into the hands of man.
-Legal authority to dominate earth was given to mankind only: Man is a spirit with a physical body. Spirits without physical bodies cannot legally function in the earth realm without the active or passive permision of man. This includes G.
- P is many giving hv'n an earthly license to influence earth, and man excercising his legal authority on earth to invoke hv'n's influence on the planet.
-Man is the legal steward for earth. If we don't p, h'vn cannot intervene in earth's affairs. We must take responsibility for our stewardship of earth and determine what happens here by our p's.
- This is confirmed in the Lr' d's P. "your k'm come, your will ... on earth as in h'vn." 6:09 - 11 in Matthew. (Since I think this is a topic I'll be writing about more in the future, I'm going to try particularly hard not to drw att'n to myself.)

*Seemingly Unanswered Pr'y*
-We feel: abandoned and isolated by G; he doesn't care about us.
- We questions his character and integrity
- We feel our lives are unsettled and unstable. P feels hit-or-miss, so we rely on other people, groups, believes etc to meet our needs.
- We make premature conclusions about ourselves and our p's without understanding the various truths and principles truths concerning p. We assumer they are unanswered because we lack faith.
- We doubt our calling to p. It is only for "super-sprt'l" Cr'ns.

I think those are enough of my notes for now, but you get the idea of what I mean by note-taking. And with this particular book, writing/journaling about it was really nice because writing down my p's afterwards gave me a way and place to thoughtfully begin practicing what I was learning about. So, if you're serious about making some personal growth right now, and you take me up on my challenge to read and write about a though-provoking book, I'd really like to hear what thoughts are provoked. Leave me a comment or send me an email! sweetpickle05@gmail.com.

Finally, in other news, MY DAD SHOULD BE HERE IN LESS THAN 8 HOURS! and maybe my mom too, but that's just a small, sneaking suspicion that I'm not really letting myself believe. (note the difference between shouting and whispering)

Well, speaking (or writing) of which, time for me to go read and do some cleaning before the arrival of company.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to read my thoughts.
~Nikki

English Week

Whew. English Week at school is over. Fortunately it was only four days (we had Sunday off), and we did get to do a few fun things with the kids, but events like that always ensure chaos with the kids and extra stress with everyone else. One day they had an alphabet treasure hunt where the kids had to run all over the school looking for letters of the alphabet. Bless whoever made up the clues because the Grade 2 teacher put a clue under my desk (which across the room from the door), and the Grade 1 teacher went so far as to put 2 clues in my room, with one of them being under my chair. So, for the duration of the day, I had groups of kids barging into my class several times a period, looking for letters of the alphabet. And because whoever made up the clues also used words the kids couldn't understand, the kids would just look for a class, like "Music Room" and go running into that room, ignoring the rest of the clue that said "on the board opposite the Music Room". It was hectic. But, we survived without too many injuries.

In other news, today I'm about to finish a book that I've been working on for a few months--hurray! Understanding the Power and Purpose of Prayer has been a fantastic book to study. If you're wondering why your prayers feel unanswered, or how to be more effective/Bib'cl when you pray, then I would highly recommend reading this one (by Myles Monroe). It definitely isn't a light read, however. Like many books, if you want it to be of any use, then you really have to put time into it--do some good old fashioned note-taking, then apply what you learn. Maybe I've mentioned this before--I don't recall, but I think that is one of the biggest problems that Chr'ns have. We read these kinds of books and get nothing out of them because we don't put anything into them, or we feel really great because we've learned a lot, but then we fail to do anything with what we've learned (because it might be a little bit hard or uncomfortable!) So, those are my thoughts. For all you John Piper fans, This Momentary Marriage is next on my list (no tv for Lent = reading lots of books). Sharon Cousino is reading it right now and loaned me her extra copy. It's about holding a high and proper/Bib'cl view of marriage, and she said it's pretty good for anyone, no matter what your relational status may be. So, I'm sure you'll be getting more thoughts on that in future posts.

Lastly, my dad is coming on Thursday! YAY! I'm pretty excited to be able to share first-hand with someone where I'm living and what it's like here. For me, it means even more new adventures, and for the rest of you, hopefully some fun posts and cool pictures. As the saying goes here, Insh'Allah (God willing). Hmm... I'll have to start throwing in a few more Arabic words (at least my version of their spelling) into my posts. I'm picking up a couple at a time. It's fun.

Halas for now. (Halas is pronounced HAH-lahs, with ah sounding like "Open your mouth and say ahhhhhh. It means something like enough, stop, done, finished, don't worry about it...)

~Nikki

Weekend Adventures

It has been quite the weekend here! Very busy, but good. On Friday I caught a ride to church with my friend Elizabeth, so we spent about 45 minutes or so chatting during our ride (meaning she asked me a few questions and I talked the whole time, again...) After church I went to the Cousino's for lunch, and then I tried to figure out how to get back home to Sharjah. The Cousino's were going into the desert for a cookout, and the person I thought might be able to give me a ride (otherwise it's an expensive taxi ride) wasn't able to. However, Elizabeth was also going to the cookout and then back to Sharjah (she actually lives in the emirate of Ajman, which means that my place is on her way home), so if I went with the Cousino's to the desert, than I could catch a ride with Elizabeth. So! into the desert for about a 15 minute appearance, which was just enough time to grab some food, and then Elizabeth and I had to head back to Sharjah because some of her friends design/sell dresses and had some being modeled on the runway and "The Perfect Wedding Show". Oh, by the way. Going into the desert means that you drive just past the outer limits of Dubai city where civilization starts to diminish but is still evident, and then you pull off the road at a previously decided upon spot and drive behind some sandunes. So, in reality, you're probably within 50 meters of the road, but it looks and feels like you are in the middle of nowhere. I'll have to try to get a picture sometime. Anyway, after leaving the cookout I went with Elizabeth to this fashion show, finally making it home around 10:45. That may not sound late to you, but for me, it really is (I'm usually up at 4:45 in the morning). Especially when I had woken up at 6:00 and was unable to fall asleep again afterwards (bummer). But, it was a fun day.

Yesterday Farah and I went "power-walking" in the park for a while, and then we decided that it was so beautiful out that we needed to go to the beach, which we haven't done yet. It really was the perfect day--the temperature was probably in the high 70's with clear skies (meaning not a lot of sand/dust in the air) and a slight breeze. So, around 2:00 we grabbed our stuff and caught a taxi. After a slight mix-up in communication, we ended up not quite where we wanted to be. I thought we were going to Mamzar Beach Park--which is on the gulf, while she was just planning on going to Mamzar Beach--which is a lagoon (people here call it a lake, even though it's saltwater. Don't ask my why). Mamzar Beach is accessible from Sharjah and requires only one taxi. Mamzar Beach Park, on the other hand, is in Dubai and thus requires two taxis (taxis charge a lot more if you want to cross emirates, so we get out at the emirate line and catch a second taxi). In any event, we quickly stopped the taxi while Mamzar Beach was still sort of in sight and started walking.

As we started walking, I made a slight error in judgement. You have to understand that the beach was in front of us and to the left. However, between us and the beach was a large divided high way with an overpass that was a tangle of on and off ramps. I thought we would have to go right across the overpass, then back below the overpass and across the highway. So, we crossed the busy road, only to realize that I was wrong because we wouldn't be able to cross the highway underneath (there were large cement barricades in the middle). Then we decided to walk along and over the overpass (they sort of expect people to do that kind of thing here because there are sidewalks everywhere, which is pretty nice). We then crossed back over the road to the side we were originally on, climbed the guardrail, and tottered our way down a sandy path that had been made by lots of other feet. We crossed one more road at the bottom, then walked a stretch of sandy nothingness which finally brought us to the Sharjah side of the lagoon (I really should have taken a picture of all of that so you could understand what I'm talking about). However, the Sharjah side is the conservative side, and Farah wanted to go to the Dubai side (the border of the two emirates is in the middle of the lagoon, so the beach on one side belongs to Sharjah, while the other half belongs to Dubai). We then proceeded to walk around to the other portion of the beach. Finally, we put our towels down and took a lovely nap in the sun.

After taking in our fill of rays, we decided to walk over to our school. I had forgotten a book there, and since we could see the school from the beach, we figured we might as well. The school, however, is inside a walled/gated area. Being the weekend, all of the back gates were locked, so after much prodding and making an example of myself, Farah and I cimbed one of the gates (me in a dress and her in a skirt) and strolled on inside. Afterwards we walked back to the beach, back to the Sharjah side of the beach, back across the odd stretch of nothingness, back up the sandy slope, and across the busy road to try to catch a taxi. I wasn't too hopeful, since we were on top of an overpass, but a taxi did indeed stop for us. Hurray! SO. To end this long story, it was a very full day with lots of walking, be we had a really fun time together. Next time, however, we are decidedly going to Mamzar Beach Park. The sand at the lagoon really wasn't very nice, and the things that some of the men were wearing... gross. Men, don't ever go swimming in briefs, or thin white shorts. IT'S JUST WRONG.

There are a few pictures in my Picassa folder now. Follow the slideshow link on the side of the page.

Thanks!
~Nikki

Oh, and I have today off for Birthday of the Prophet. Yay for a three-day weekend! (Especially at report card time)

March Maddness

This week has been...exhausting, to say the least. I've had so many kids in at break writing for me that I have been running out of paper. Seriously. I think the effectiveness has worn off some, as I feared it would. Most days I've been leaving school with a pounding headache and a sore throat. And then there was today... But let me rewind a bit.

A few weeks ago a new boy came to our school and was put in class 2A (I teach 2B, and it goes all the way up to 2F). Now, 2A already has a new teacher (Tagreed), who is used to teaching high school kids. Grade 2 is a bit of a change for her. On top of that, the teacher who left had been at the school for a long time and was very experienced, so Tagreed has some very big shoes to fill . On top of that, the new child, Mohammad, decidedly did not like coming to this school. Now, Mohammad is not exactly a small boy, and apparently he has some training in boxing, or so I've been told. Either way, the boy can be extremely violent and will punch/kick/bite/hit anyone who is standing between him and what he wants. I feel so badly for the poor nanny who guards the door to outside, which is where Mohammad typically wants to be (not too long ago I saw him shoving and beating her, finally grabbing and yanking her hair before I got to him). Now, fast forward a bit. This week my Arabic teacher, Ms. Amna, came to me and said Mohammad should come to my class. Ms. Amna is the Arabic teacher for both 2A and 2B (all Arabic teachers have two classes, since their workload is much smaller), and Mohammad has taken a liking to her. He will attend her classes without any problems--it's the English classes he doesn't like. So, Ms. Amna suggested that he come to my class so that he can keep the same Arabic teacher, but have a different English teacher since he doesn't like Tagreed. Well...! Yesterday afternoon he came in for a math period and was just fine--I gave him the math test along with everyone else and he did really well as far as I could tell. Afterwards he followed Ms. Amna next door again but said he would ask the vice-principal to be in my class and that he would come back starting today. The vice-principal and I spoke for about 10 seconds and agreed to that, but this morning...no Mohammad. I thought, "Ok, guess he won't be coming to my class." Oh was I mistaken. Mohammad simply did not want to go to classes again. I spoke with him briefly when I saw him, at which time nothing much was resolved, so I told him he would not be allowed to come back to my class. Again I thought, end of story. Well... after lunch there was a knock at my door, followed by four adults entering my room with a screaming, crying, writhing Mohammad. Two janitors, the vice-principal, and the Arabic supervisor dragged him inside with the supervisor yelling at him the whole time. And I'm trying to have class... To end this long story, after speaking with the vice-principal it was decided that Mohammad will be in my class. Apparently he does indeed like me, he is just really struggling to acclimate to being in a new school. So, joy for me, I get to work with him. I'm choosing to belive that God has a purpose for this. I have to.

But even that was not the end of my day. On Wednesdays I plan Science for the following week with another teacher (in every grade there are two teachers responsible for planning each subject. The plans then get compiled and handed out so that all teachers are covering the same things at the same time. It makes working here soooo much more bearable.) She and I got to talking about my class, especially since she came and did a quick informal observation for me last week. After her observation, which was not a very good lesson, I stewed for a while and tried to figure out everything she would say to me. So, I already had my own list of things I needed to change, which was actually a good thing. She had less to say than I thought, but I took her advice and put it into action for the rest of the day. I realize that my kids may have simply been in the mood for it today and that tomorrow may be different, but wow, what a difference. Like I said, I don't expect every day to be like this, but today when I walked exhausted out of the classroom it was largely from how much we got accomplished, and I walked out with a smile. PRAISE GOD. Yesterday I was job searching. Today, I am renewed. We're never given more than we can handle, right?

Believe it or not there is much more I could say about both stories, but I figure this post has been long enough. Suffice it to say that I am blessed, and that God is growing in me in ways that I can't even fully articulate. I think that sometime in the near-ish future I'm going to make a sort of personal statement for my life. A statement of purpose and of mission, with maybe a list of all the things I want to do/accomplish in life. From the little things, to the big things; the concrete to the more abstract. I want to sort out the things I'm hoping for, versus the things that I have faith have already happened in the future that I need to work to see manifested. I realize that's a sort of difficult thing to explain/grasp, and a lot of it has to do with a few books I'm reading right now, but in the end, it makes sense to me. And I guess that's what really matters.

Those are my thoughts for today. Thanks for stopping by to catch up on my life, and feel free to leave a comment or to send me an email (sweetpickle05@gmail.com) --I love hearing from people. Now I'm off do write comments and start doing grades for all my kids (it's report card time again and initial comments are due tomorrow. Yikes!) Later on, gym time! Actually, I should post about that too because it's interesting. But I guess I'll leave that for another time.

Thanks,
Nikki

Finally!

GUESS WHO FINALLY HAS INTERNET IN HER APARTMENT!?! PICK ME!

Bring on the emails. I'm ready. :o)