Language is still a big barrier between us and Levi. He is picking up English really well, but there's just some words that he doesn't get and others he can't really pronounce well. A few of these have made for some funny moments here at home.
Sunday morning I was in a battle with Levi. He kept saying, "Bubbles to church?" No, Levi. No Bubbles to church. "Mommy, bubbles to church?" (a little more frustrated) No, Levi, we do NOT take bubbles to church. After a few rounds of this, I was pretty much to the counting to 10 mark. We do NOT take BUBBLES to church! Period! (Breathe)..... That is, until Levi takes off running and comes back with his BIBLE! Oh, Bible? Well. Um. Okay, yes Levi, we do take BIBLES to church. (hiding under a rock) No wonder the poor child was looking at me like I'd lost my mind. He doesn't yet know that I really have!
Yesterday, we had a house full to feed for dinner, as I was keeping a friend's kids after school. Tacos always works for an army, so that's what I fixed. I was asking Levi if he wanted soft or hard shells. He looks at me like, "Huh?" I asked him again and showed him each type of shell. Hard? or Soft? He started cracking up laughing. "Soft?" Then, I got it. The word "soft" is Amharic for toilet paper or tissue. He ended up having a Charmin taco.
It would be so nice to have the luxury of someone who spoke his language around us. I hate that he will one day lose it. For now, we soak up his sweet accent, faux pas and all. He continues to melt our hearts as we pour God's love into his. Despite the language barrier, it's comforting to know that God's love is powerful enough to rise above these language barriers and can be demonstrated in any language.
