. Dressed in South Asian Love .

 After Riley was born, I learned several "cultural" things that happen here- that quite honestly had caught me off guard and left me a little hurt and missing America...

It is common here for people you employ: house helper, gardener, car washer, etc... 

(anyone who may considered a benefactor of yours)

to ask for money when you have a child.

Or they expect you to feed them sweets to celebrate the birth.

Their thoughts are : God has blessed you, so  you pass the blessing along.

HOWEVER...

This heart of mine wasn't prepared for this, so I immediately was thinking:

We DON'T do this in AMERICA!

When a woman gives birth, people go out of their way to pour out love on US and our family... bringing meals, flowers, kind words, sweets, etc...

But they would NEVER ask it FROM me.

So if I wasn't already missing home, family, and the whole bit- this was the last thing I needed.

(I admit- I may have taken a violent shove into culture shock in the moment. haha)

THEN...

We returned to our home in our city,

and the Lord redeemed this culture and kindled my love for it and the people once again.

A family we have befriended came by to meet Riley, and as soon as they walked through the door they did not demand ONE THING, but rather began pulling out gift after gift for both Riley and I.

(Mind you, this family does NOT have a lot of money- yet they CHOSE to pour out LOVE on us)

My heart lifted- and the Lord put a smile on my face through the kindness of these women!

So here we are- sporting the outfits they bought for us:

And to top it off, our house helper (whom we were told would demand money from us)

instead brought an outfit for Riley, Levi, and myself- also and never asked for a thing.

Don't you LOVE how the Lord works?

I sure do, and am so grateful when He sees my heart and provides a way to protect it from bitterness and resentment (which the enemy would just love to breed, wouldn't he?)...

Instead He leaves me overwhelmed by the LOVE I feel by those He has placed in my life.

~ Redeemed & Grateful ~