Part of me waited to feel like I had a "family" because it wouldn't feel official until my husband and I had a child of our own. I'm learning to feel blessed with the family God has given me in this season of my life, and take care of them how I would take care of my familial ideal.
My husband and I recently moved into a new home, and my sister in law and her husband are renting the spare room from us. Since we've all moved in together I've learned how much I enjoy taking care of everyone, from cooking, to cleaning, to encouraging their ambitions. I never expected this to be the case, but God has truly opened my eyes to how a Christian woman can be a homemaker even when she has no children.
This might look different for you. Perhaps you an adult daughter still living with her parents and siblings. Take care of them. Perhaps you are a college student with roommates. Take care of them. Perhaps you live alone in an apartment complex, but have many elderly neighbors on your floor. Invite them to dinner, and take care of them.
God is faithful to lead us to a community, but sometimes we get distracted by the fact that it isn't the ideal we see for ourselves, and overlook our ability to serve and love them nonetheless. I've been thinking a lot about how I would feel if I found out we would never be able to have kids — and whether I could be happy homemaking for a family that didn't consist of my children.
I think I could, but this realization has come only through God opening my eyes to the fact that we are all His children, brothers and sisters in Christ — family by default, and all responsible to serve one another.
The Book of Enoch, also known as The Book for the Last Generation gives a different perspective of the Flood of Noah. Could it be the Bible is not giving the whole story? 🤔
Recommendations for media about translation, interpreting, and foreign languages
Movies and TV
Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020)
The Interpreter (2005)
The Last Stage (1948)
Books
Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang
The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Interpreter by Suki Kim
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
Translation Nation by Héctor Tobar
Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip
Translation State by Ann Leckie
Other Important Topics and Subjects
La Malinche
The Rosetta Stone
The Tower of Babel
The Adamic Language
Esperanto
Philology
Goethean World Literature
Documentaries and History
The Interpreters: A Historical Perspective
The Nuremberg Trials
Biblical Translation
St. Jerome - patron saint of translators
Shu-ilishu's Seal (first depiction of an interpreter)