The girls & I are back in Addis now & after a very busy weekend I’m finally able to find the time to update you all on our fun adventures down country this past week. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to find the time to sit down and have some uninterrupted time to write:) We were so sad to have to leave Jacob & Papa behind on Monday, but as you can tell by the previous posts from Falk this week they boys really enjoyed their time together as “just the boys”. As much as we missed them too, it was very special to spend 3 days w/”just the girls” and the rest of the team.
Here is a recap of our week down country..pictures will be up tomorrow 
Tuesday, July 3rd-
Tuesday we headed out of Addis in the pouring rain & unfortunately the rain continued most of our drive towards Camp Langano. This limited us some in how much we could see the countryside, but what I did see I couldn’t believe. It’s just like what you see on tv of rural life in Africa and it was almost like taking a drive back in time..grass huts, donkey carts as “taxi’s”, very simple living….it was such a new experience for me to see people living with so little-was hard to see at times as some of the children were dressed in so very little just as you would imagine, chasing the bus we were in at times…..not exactly sure how to put it all in to words. The girls really enjoyed the ride with everyone on the bus together-Cindy, Kristen and I enjoyed 3 hours of girl talk About ½ way our bus started to overheat and the guys had to investigate—thankfully it wasn’t a busted hose, so after about 30 minutes of checking things out and adding water we were back on the road. Then about 45 min later we heard a strange noise which sounded like it was coming from one of the tires. The guys didn’t think much of it until we were going down a huge hill and the bus did a strange swerving motion and Vic pulled over and found that the back wheel was about to come off b/c we were missing 1 bolt and the others were VERY loose—scary….(Addis is at about 8000 feet and Langano is a couple of thousand feet lower-it was very interesting to see the different terrains as we made the drive). So once all the tires were checked we headed off again, and immediately got off the main road (which was nicely paved…when Vic & Cindy used to vacation here this main road was a dirt & rock road that took much longer to travel) and onto a side road that was extremely bumpy..we were grateful to have checked the tire before moving to this road, b/c the likelihood of the tire bumping off would have been very high. This road was fun, felt like on a roller coaster at times-lots of bumps and holes to maneuver. The girls loved it and were laughing and giggling the whole way (I got a video of them on the bumps on the way back-its hilarious)!! We drove into camp and fixed some lunch. You won’t believe that one of the first things we saw were baboons just walking around the camp like you’d imagine dogs or cats to do—it was a very crazy site to see!! The rest of the day we just relaxed and hung out at the little beach and got settled into our room. The “beach house” we stayed at was very nice-screened in porch and nice swing…we are excited to be here for a few days!! Vic showed us around the camp and we got to see more baboons & colobus monkey’s hanging in the trees & a couple of HUGE wild boars—its amazing to see these animals in their natural habitats. Andy, our teammate had told us that the guards that walk around the camp day and nite to keep an eye out on things carry a spear-I’m not sure if I didn’t believe him or not at the time, but they really do—it felt very surreal to see! Dinner is served in a meeting hall all together with about 50 campers that are part of “Sports Friends”-they are a bunch of energetic 8-12 year olds that are chosen by their churches to get to participate in this camp for 1 week—they were having a blast!! Tonight was rice and veggies with a little fish added to it & a roll, simple but very good!! ( I have lots of pictures to post but they are on our teammates computer, so I will get them up on the blog tomorrow-you’ll be amazed at how they cook for 80 plus people 3 meals a day!!).
Wednesday, July 4th-
Today we woke up & enjoyed just taking it easy around the house! Kristen was so sweet to play games with Kayley while macey slept and I got in a little run around camp. I love to explore while running..this camp is rather small and I had been told that its best to stay within the camp perimeter since I was running in shorts—so I tried to do this- 2 times though I realized I ended up outside the gates and quickly came back in after a few strange stares oops…..there were little trails everywhere where the guards walk to make sure everything is kept safe. Once again it was strange to meet them walking around with a spear :) All of us girls enjoyed some time in the water before lunch. The girls just LOVE to “swim” as they say-which is really just wading in the water and playing in the sand. We had a great time. We ate lunch w/the campers which consisted of injeria….some places it is better made than others, and I have to admit it was not my most favorite meal, but I am thankful for the food that was provided. We enjoyed some great conversations w/2 families that are full time missionaries there at the camp. It was very interesting and informative to talk with them and hear real life stories! In the afternoon we walked to the medical clinic that is part of the camp there. This is one of many sights that SIM has across Ethiopia. The medical clinic provides medical help to the locals there. It was a great experience to walk through and see what it looks like in rural Africa (once again just like what you imagine or see on movies). As Allyson, our missionary friend who helps run the clinic, opened up one room she found that a local pregnant mom had just been brought in by donkey cart 10 minutes before, walked in and “dropped a baby” as they termed it. So about 10 minutes later we got to see this newborn little one. It was such a special honor!!! The rest of the day we just relaxed, the team really enjoyed the down time. We wish that Falk and Jacob could be with us-jacob would love seeing the monkey’s everywhere—we can’t wait to show him pictures! We ended the evening w/a big bonfire and popcorn and fellowship with one of the missionary families serving at Langano full time. This was another great opportunity to learn more and get to ask questions about what life is like living with kids down country. So thankful for these women and families that I’m meeting!!
Thursday, July 5th
As we went to bed tonight Vic made the comment that he hopes it doesn’t rain tomorrow as we are planning to leave and with the bumpy road coming in, he wasn’t sure how well it would hold up in the rain and would it even be possible to leave…..well we woke up to SO MUCH RAIN!!! Oh wow—not what we had prayed for-but it was ok-we spent the morning trying to mop up water from covering the screened in porch, and from the ceiling leaking in Kristen’s room. We ate a late lunch, packed up and headed off to Babygao around 3..I was hoping all along Falk and Jacob would join us. I felt bad b/c we didn’t know if they would or not, depending on how Jacob felt, and we were leaving much later than we had planned b/c of the down poor we had this morning! Once on the road, it was like dodging one animal after the next—they just have NO FEAR!! We arrived in Babyguyo but about 4 hours later than expected. The boys were very concerned that something had gone wrong with us. We had no internet or phone service the whole trip. They had an interesting trip themselves to get there (as you see in a previous post by Falk). We were so thankful to all be back together as a family!!!
Friday 7/6/12
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This morning we woke up and ate breakfast and headed off for a hike up a local volcano (has not been active in many many many years. Falk explained some of this too in a previous post-but it was a massive tree! We all enjoyed climbing it and taking pictures. Falk and I ended up carrying the girls up and DOWN the mountain. I was pretty tired and sore once we made it back. I was very impressed that we climbed our FIRST mountain all together as a family! The whole way we had a following of little kids. Falk especially enjoyed visting w/the locals-its pretty impressive all the English they know! After lunch we packed up and headed back to Addis. This was an adventure just driving back into Addis dealing with the traffic!!
We had to change quickly once we arrive back at home and the teaching team and myself went to speak at IEC’s young adults class. This was a lot of fun-very laid back, good conversation, meeting new people. I met 2 ladies who do BSF –this was a neat bond that we have b/c of our study of the word!
Felt like a very long day-I was tired from all the “Go go go” since Thursday morning –but thankful for the opportunity to get to experience ministry as a couple while Vic & Cindy so nicely watched the kids for us!
Saturday 7/7/12
This morning we woke up excited b/c tonight Laura arrives and our teammate Kristen moves in.
It’s hard to believe we have now been here for over half of our time. Unfortunately Jacob started throwing up again today 
he seemed to be fine after the same type of episodes on Monday morning that Falk wrote about earlier this week…. we are not sure what is going on. He is running no fever, and we are not aware that he ate anything wrong yesterday. He spent the day watching movies and just resting.
Kayley & I joined Cindy & Kristen for the morning and visited a missionary family that has 5 children that are in Addis for the rest of this month going to language school. They have raised their family here and live 12 hours down country from Addis. It was VERY interesting to talk to her and hear what life is like for a family on the field. She was so very encouraging and I really enjoyed meeting her. It’s great to hear real life stories (both good & challenging things) that you could only hear and learn from those people who are currently serving in missions. She had some very intense and challenging stories that she shared. I was telling Kristen & Cindy after we left, “Wow, not sure I could handle everything she has with such a positive attitude.” But then I realized that God isn’t asking us to leave in the next 10 days and serve in such a remote and isolated area, only He knows where we will end up, but gaining knowledge and just seeing that it is doable is so encouraging!! I have been so blessed by the people we have met here, missionaries and nationals.
For lunch we were invited to our house helpers house for a graduation party for a friend of hers that we have met (Geteya-he is the young man that helped Jacob & Falk find us on Thursday at Bubagyo for the last day of our time outside of the city. He graduated from Pharmacy school this weekend and is a neat young man. This was such an amazing experience-we got to see “real-life” here in Addis. We were just blown away by their hospitality. Feleckech had made some amazing food in her 1 room house w/no kitchen, only a little stove that she moves in and out. She had made everything fresh and spent yesterday preparing the injera…she performed a traditional coffee ceremony for everyone and Geteya & Betty, Feleckech’s daughter performed a traditional Ethiopian dance. Geteya’s family has an amazing testimony and it was an honor to meet his mother and 3 of his sibblings. They live about 9 hours outside of the city and currently his dad is living in Addis and attending ETC (the school falk & our teaching team taught at earlier in our trip). It was such a great cultural experience. Laura arrived safely this evening and we are so excited she’s here!!! Kristen got all moved in and we enjoyed a fun evening laughing and just hanging out after Falk & Laura arrive back home! It’s so nice to have our family all together now!!