my big sister

(This is the traditional dress of her minority people group.

She wears this each day, as do many of the women of her generation.

The younger generations do not continue this since many of the minorities are assimilating into the more popular culture and many traditions and languages are being lost.)

This is Da Jie (pronounce Da with a short A and Jie like Geah), meaning big sister. It's traditional that I would call her this but everyone calls her Da Jie. Her whole family, even her actual older sisters. The boys call her Da Ma, Big Momma. But no matter what you want to call her I call her a blessing.

Whenever I talk to anyone in the States and mention that I have a house helper I feel slightly guilty. I'm afraid that they won't understand why and I always feel the need to justify it. Because we do what we do I always feel like it gives other people the impression that I'm sitting here watching movies and eating bon bons (you know, like all SAHM do ;) while someone else is doing all the house work and taking care of the boys. I also sometimes think to myself, I could do it without help, having her here is just making me lazy...until this week. It is Mid-Autumn Festival and harvest time so she stayed in her village to help her family. After the last few days I am absolutely reminded that Da Jie plays an important role in our day to day life.

First of all, if you ever get the chance to come and visit we have to sit down and let you hear her amazing story. She came to know the Lord about 6 years ago, when she worked for some friends of ours that are now back in the States. She has strong faith and a servant's heart. So when our friends were leaving they asked her if she would like to work for us. In this culture anyone that has status (which we do by default) or is well off is expected to have a house helper. For us we find that it saves me time in the little things--this week the shopping process seriously took almost an entire day between the actual shopping and then the washing of everything, usually Da Jie helps and it goes much faster, mostly because she has been doing it her whole life. The time I save allows me to spend time with the boys and study, hopefully when the boys are older it will allow me time to get out and do work. The bonus of having a local in our home is that she helps me with culture and language learning. Anyway, some of you may still think I am lazy and I'm ok with that. What I really wanted to do is give credit where it's due. My big sister has become such an important part of our life here. We feel so completely blessed to have her in our home, to partner with her in work and to be her friend.