We took out the wise men and their camel for the nativity scene but put away our other Christmas decorations. What do camels say? Ptt... ptt... ptt... One of these days we need to take a little trek north and see some real camels. I'm a little annoyed with myself for training Ruth Anne on all these animal noises instead of exposing her to live specimens and seeing how she interpreted their calls. On the the other hand, she has a great nasal oink. It's so cute to hear her imitate our spitting noises and say "doodle-doo". Besides, Joe had a neighbor in Dushanbe with an "asthmatic rooster" (he became soup before I arrived), so there is also a degree to which I should be grateful that we haven't experienced more genuine animal noises. (Aside for Christal - yes this also brings back Canada Hall memories).
It addition to the token black kid our adorable Fisher Price creche also has a wise guy with Asian features. Political correctness aside, we always feel a special attachment to the Magi when we're out here in the Orient. The core message of the holiday is that Jesus came for everyone. As the priest tonight put it, the Magi were the last people to divine truth from the stars. The president of Turkmenistan declared January 2 a public holiday so there would be a long weekend but made today a make-up day so it's going to be a long week. Several people from the Russian speaking community came to the English service because they'd had to work during the Sunday morning mass. Once again, I felt deeply privileged to worship alongside people for whom Christianity is not an easy path to follow.
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