40 days

40 days after a baby is born is a significant day for several reasons in this culture:

  • this is the day that women can leave the house for the first time since the birth of their baby (things are changing more now where women leave before the 40 days, but as a culture it is “cleaner” to stay at your house for the first 40 days)
  • the baby’s hair is shaved sometime within those 40 days, then weighed and the family gives away money to the poor equal to the weight of the hair (or something like that- this was explained to us in Arabic- so we are not exactly sure of all the details- ha)
  • an animal sacrifice is performed (2 animals for a boy and 1 for a girl) and the raw meat is given away to the poor, neighbors & friends of the family; a life for a life our friends told us
  • the women get together for a celebration (kind of like a baby shower in the states) and bring food, gifts and spend time blessing/praying for the baby

On November 11, was Lydia’s 40th day of life! So we decided to open our home to our friends (locals & westerners) to celebrate our baby’s life, to praise the Lord for her, to bless her, and to commit to the community that we want to raise her to love and serve Jesus. We decided to combine some of our traditions as well as the traditions out here. We gathered the women inside and the men were outside (yes I had to make two of everything!). Chase had a great time showing off his baby girl (it is a lot easier for me to show Lydia off to my local friends because she comes with me on my visits, but Chase usually meets up with his friends at coffee shops, so this was a great chance for his friends to meet her) and was able to share about the blessing that Lydia is to us and thank God for her life.

As you might remember November 11th was also Blair’s, my niece, first birthday in heaven. So on this day we got to celebrate her first year of Glory with Jesus while also praising Jesus for Lydia and the blessing she is to our family. It made me tear up when I calculated the days and realized it was the same day- the Lord is so good… He turns ashes into beauty time and time again.

Some friends of mine helped me make goodie bags with chocolate to send home with the guests. We attached a blessing prayer and Psalm 139: 13-18 in Arabic on them.

Our Lord, 

You are the creator of all things created. We know that children are a blessing from You and that every good gift comes from You. Bless Lydia with every spiritual blessing. We praise Your name in all the earth. Thank you. 

In the name of Jesus Our Redeemer, Amen. 

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    5 Responses to 40 days

    1. kirstin says:

      What a great idea, Britt. I love the way you guys celebrated some of the local traditions for Lydia’s 40th day!
      And I love what you said about the Lord trading ashes for beauty- praying for your family.

    2. Katie says:

      This is so awesome! I love the pics and I love what you guys did. Thank you for posting this! Miss you dear!

    3. Alison says:

      What a WONDERFUL idea! I’m glad it went so well! Give our love to all! And kiss that sweet girl for me!

    4. lauren reeves says:

      Oh goodness, got so emotional reading this. Love y’all. God is good.

    5. roxanne says:

      love that you did a siku 40- that is what we called it on our island! 🙂 Very cool to show your intentions in bringing up this little girl you have been blessed with! Much love