*Hello from Ethiopia*

We’ve made it & are living life here in Addis now!! We just got internet access this evening (Monday night for us), I’ve been journaling each day since leaving Germany on Friday but haven’t been able to upload anything until now…so I’m including Friday-Monday in the post below :) From now on I should have internet & be able to keep you all up to speed on our life over the next 4 weeks…..

Friday, June 22^nd

Today we began our journey into Ethiopia. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time for hugs & tears & more hugs goodbye. We made it through security with no problems, just MANY stares at the crazy mom w/a child on her back, and 2 by her side, 3 rolling carry-on bags & a backpack :) it was pretty funny! We settled ourselves onto the airplane and the kids happily ate their chocolate-granola bars that everyone received as they entered the plane. As we were taxing down the runway Jacob looked at me w/this funny look that I know from past experiences occurs when he thinks he’s eaten peanuts….i think my heart skipped a beat. I had checked the bar and it said choco-crispie but nothing about peanuts—I frantically found the ingredients on the inside edge of the wrapper and  found what I thought was peanuts in german..my heart sunk, why I had I not checked in greater detail….. L by this point we are taxing further down the runway getting close to take off. I asked the Asian man next to me if he spoke german and english and he didn’t..the man in front of me heard my question and said he did and confirmed my suspicion. It was peanuts and under german law they just do not have to put any warning on the wrapper or any labels on it. My heart sank AGAIN when I realized that b/c the plane was so small they had put ALL of my carry-ons under the plane for this short ride into Frankfurt which included the epipins and benadryl. I was by this point beginning to panic. Jacob was doing ok, saying he could breath fine, but I was afraid it would be any minute for the reaction to start (we had found sometimes it can take 30 min or so for the symptoms to occur). I know many of you reading are starting to panic like me, but I have to tell you that God showed me that HE is in control and dependable. What happened next is a true miracle and only the work of God.  The man in front of Jacob turned around and said “ its going to be ok ma’m” I responded, but he has a peanut allergy & everything is under the plane…he then calmly said “I am a pediatrician and the girl next to me is finishing up her last year in medical school, so need to worry, we will be ok.” Praise God!!!! I truly believe that God allowed me to experience this situation at the start of our day to show me that He is going to take care of me each step of this trip like He had faithfully done our entire time in Germany and that He will continue to do this b/c I wasn’t alone although at the moment I was pretty scared of what I thought was about to happen. The doctor told me he had stopped many planes in his years of flying for instances similar to this ( I’m not sure if that was very comforting or not lol-) Jacob started to cry a little and was scared but kept saying he could breath ok, the doctor felt pretty confident that b/c the reaction wasn’t instantaneous all would be ok. The flight attendant said they did have an antihistamine on board, this was a little comforting—the plane then began to lift off the ground and I just smiled and in my heart said “thank you God-you are an amazing God-to so CLEARLY show me that you have everything under control-a pediatrician on this little flight the sits in front of us, really God, wow, I still am just in awe as I recount the story—Praise be to God for his loving care for us!!! We never had to give Jacob any medicines and only had a slightly stuffy nose which I later gave him some Benadryl for just to be on the safe side once we were on the next flight. This was the FIRST time that Jacob hasn’t had a reaction after eating peanuts—that in itself I believe is a complete miracle from the Lord!

So we arrived in Frankfurt and without any complications made our way to the gate for our next flight. We decided to stop at McDonalds for some lunch, they were only serving breakfast at the moment so we played about 30 min there while waiting then grabbed our lunch just in time to pack it up and run to our gate as they were walking onto the bus that would take us out to our plane. The kids did amazing this whole time, everyone as happy-it was a fun “adventure” for us to do all this alone w/out papa….jacob asked me several times how I could do this alone b/c I can’t talk to anyone. I reassured him over and over it would all be ok, mommy could handle it :) lol-don’t you just love the trust our kids have in us sometimes :) We continued to get many looks and we did get a little help by some very nice people on our flight this time to help me get the kids on and off the bus and carry one carry on for me (by this point Kayley couldn’t roll her’s b/c she was to tired) J we made it onto the flight and enjoyed our time so much on the plane. It was a great time!! We all sat together and had a bassinet for Macey (Which she never slept in :) ) but enjoyed playing in. I can’t even begin to tell you how well the kids did on this 8 hour flight. No complaining or whining-they watched movies, played, we talked to the flight attendants a lot-they loved the kids of course. They remarked several times that they couldn’t believe how well they traveled—of course made me very proud of them.

After about 5 hours we landed in Sudan in the middle of NOWHERE (I’m not kidding). I kept thinking to myself, I can’t believe I’m on the continent of Africa. Felt very surreal!! I couldn’t see out the windows during our hour on the ground to re-fuel, but the attendants said there was nothing there only dust and sand (falk said the same thing) J As it would be, only kayley slept while flying and Jacob and macey fell asleep as we landed in Sudan, so we sat the entire time on the ground and kayley watched cartoons and I chatted w/the flight attendants as I held a sleeping baby

We took off again and it felt like we made it into Addis in no time (the pilot came over the PA and said he was hoping to get us there as quickly as possible so that he and the flight crew could get to their hotel room to catch the last ½ of the Germnay vs Greece soccer game on TV)

We landed in Addis & easily found our way thru customs and to our bags and a man to help us carry everything. All our luggage arrived with no problems, our bags went thru xray with no problem (although we saw a long line of people having to get their bags opened and checked)—another answer to prayer that this part went so smoothly.

We walked out the doors and were sooo happy to be greeted by Falk’s smiling face as well as our leaders Vic & Cindy! It was so nice to see familiar faces after a long day of traveling!!!

As I stepped out into the air, the smells and sounds were so different. I can’t even describe it….once again the thought crossed my mind “I can’t believe we actually made it here!”

We walked to our car keeping close eye on everything b/c of some recent problems at the airport. This was a little nerve racking to me, but thankfully Vic speaks ahmaric and was able to tell men several times to “Back off” from helping us (they are looking to make some money by helping to load your car for you). We got everything in the “Bus” and headed off to the SIM guesthouse……

My first experience driving was JUST like Vic had warned us of—CRAZY!!!!! They drive like the saying says “bats out of hell”. (I hope I don’t offend anyone by saying that but there is no other way to describe it.) The don’t look they just go when and where they want whether you are there or not—I’m so thankful that Vic has driven here for so many years and knows how to maneuver his way through traffic-it was a very interesting 4kilometers to the house. We arrived safely and got settled into our room and to bed quickly—we were tired and I had been fighting a headache the last half of the day-I was grateful to be back together with falk and to lay my head down and sleep! We had made it!!! Praise God for his protection over our day of traveling-what a fun adventure it had been!! Thank you for ALL of your prayers!

Saturday, June 23^rd

We woke up for breakfast at 7:30 (this was early for us 6:30 Germany time and 2 hours before the kids and I were used to getting up)-but we did it!!! Breakfast was very good has falk had told us it would be. I unfortunately woke up w/my headache still so we made it to the playroom here and I slept on the little bed while the kids played and falk read for a couple of hours. We spent the day letting the kids play outside on the playground here on the compound and in the playroom. Macey slept and we all had a delicious lunch-we were all very impressed w/the cooking-they even had a fresh salad-I was sooo excited! This first morning I have to admit I was feeling extremely overwhelmed. This wasn’t the greatest way to start off what should have been a “Relaxing Saturday” but I think my senses were just totally overwhelmed and a headache didn’t help things. Macey and I slept again in the afternoon while Falk and the kids played outside. I woke up feeling much better. Falk got a nap and hopefully a little rest. Unfortunately he was very tired from his busy week and having us here isn’t exactly as restful as it had be the previous weekends. He and I were able to “talk” some :) and figure out how this is going to work here w/him needing to study to finish up his week of school. My friend Kristen told me she had the sensation of feeling trapped (b/c you are in a fairly small compound and you don’t feel comfortable to leave) so this was strange for me & I was pretty irritable at times-thank you to my sweet husband for loving me even in these moments. I’m used to being able to just go with the kids. Looking back now falk was trying to communicate w/me that this wasn’t just as easy and simple to do, but I didn’t understand it then, I just wanted to get out and walk somewhere and DO something. After more conversation he convinced me it was best to just lay low and rest so we decided to just stay around and let the kids play until it was time to leave for the house where the team was staying and we’d have dinner. It was at this time that I finally understood what falk was trying to get across to me earlier in the day (when I thought I knew better—I’m a little hard headed at times lol)—so we decided to walk there..we were told it was to long w/the kids, but I thought we can do it no problem and we’ll get to see whats going on outside these walls……we opened the doors to the gate w/Macey on Falk’s back, and a backpack on me and a child on each hand. “OH WOW” is the only thing I can use to describe what I saw…exactly what you see on movies of the street life in Ethiopia (you have to know also we are living for these first 3 days right in the heart of the city). I held Kayleys hand a little tighter, and Falk walked a little closer to me b/c  we definitely stood out and everyone was looking at us. It was a strange feeling, one I’ve NEVER experienced before and my first thought was (just being honest) was “oh my gosh, Lord help me, I can’t do this, I want to go home.” What I saw was so heartbreaking, my mind couldn’t wrap itself around these conditions. The emotions and thoughts during this walk was of saddness, scared, almost in tears, fearful of my surroundings, felt out of place, wondering how God can allow this type of poverty,how do people live in these conditions, my head hurt, my nose and throat hurt from the diesel, how can we live so comfortably in America when are living in such poverty, what are the kids thinking, what will Laura think, how are we going to make it over the next month here, I will definitely not be out on the streets walking alone, is it like this everywhere here in the city, I just want to help them-but how can you..where would you even start, I thought of the babies I knew that had been adopted out of these conditions—these were my raw thoughts, my first glimpse of the poverty that I had only heard about or seen on tv. (when we drove in the night before it was dark and there are no street lights, so you don’t see much)

*I want to stop here and say-I promised Margit (Oma), Wiebke (Laura’s mom) and my parent’s that I would not only right the good and “safe” things…but real life.  So don’t stop reading here, keep reading b/c I’m writing looking back over the weekend—its Monday morning as I type this, we are all safe, no one pick pocketed us, the kids like it and are doing well, no one is sick (of course our tummy’s are all a little off b/c even the good drinking water is still different than in the states, macey has had a little tummy problems, falk had some tummy problems last night too, but we cannot complain-we are doing GOOD and I can’t believe how much I have adjusted in just 48 hours.

After an 1:15 minutes of walking we made it to their house. It was in a much nicer and totally different feeling neighborhood than the SIM guesthouse we are in currently (I was a little relieved about this). They opened the gate and we said hello, and all I could say was “WOW” and started crying….I just told them that was my first time out of the compound and I was just totally overwhelmed. They assured me this was 100% normal and that it was ok to cry!! I pulled it together and we had an enjoyable evening w/the team. It was great to visit and fellowship and all be together! Vic drove us home later that evening and we ended our first full day in Addis! What a day it had been…..i was feeling pretty overwhelmed but just held onto the fact that Cindy told me it was ok to feel this way— :) I was excited for Sunday and going to church and seeing our house that we’ll live in for the next month!

Sunday, March 24th

Estrogen assembly in your physique drops and these after-effects in a bifold buy cheap tadalafil whammy- Decreased sex drive and dryer vaginal tissues which advance to aching and afflictive sex. So most people choose them over branded variations since it helps save some money on drug look at here price of viagra tablet purchase. Pancreatic gland produces digestive enzymes; very powerful substances, which can split up fat, carbs and proteins from foods on the tiny particles that can go through intestinal wall for assimilation. order viagra online Another shocking thing that my doctor told me was this problem tadalafil 20mg españa learn this here now has no permanent cure. We woke up and had another great time at breakfast-the kids are eating as I expected…it will take some time to get used to the different taste of food here, however they do like the watermelon & oatmeal (or porridge as they call it here). The kids got to take their first shower here—that went well-its things like this that I wasn’t sure how it would go b/c you can’t drink the water-they did great though and enjoyed this “adventure too” (the guesthouse has community bathrooms so it just takes a little more effort to shower & brush teeth.) The accommodations here are simple, but all that you need. We are thankful to have been here over the weekend. We got ready for church and started our journey to IEC (International Evangelical Church). We walked to the first round about (where the taxi’s & mini-buses are). The taxi’s are expensive so we asked the mini buses but they all wanted crazy amounts of money (1^st one 50 birr, 2^nd 160 birr) to take us there— With the request for that amount of money we knew they were trying to scam us….we decided to walk to the next round about named Mexico….here we found a mini bus willing to take us for 1.6 burr. We jumped on and had an entire seat (normally fits 2 people in America—we had all 5 of us and our stuff). We waited for about 10 minutes and the bus was filled PAST capacity and we went to the next stop-I didn’t think they would stop, but they DID and 2 more people got on-really –can’t believe we all fit…..then we were off and assumed we be at our location in 2 min, but it seemed now we needed gas J lol-so we stopped by a gas station and 5 min later we were off….we arrived at the church—our FIRST mini bus experience behind us and it wasn’t near as bad as I had thought it would be!! This is really going to be a month of adventure and taking me SO far out of my comfort zone!! But I know that our God is protecting us and I’m thankful for the comfort we have in this.

We had a wonderful morning in ABF (Sunday school) and church. The big kids stayed w/us and Macey enjoyed playing in the nursery during church. It was a great worship service-amazing to see so many different people groups worshiping together. I just kept thinking, wow, we are in a church service in Ethiopia that is so much like a church service in America…amazing. (I believe that Vic told me that there are over 50 different people groups represented in the church.)

After church we went to Pastor Ndembe and his wife Augustine’s house. He is the French pastor at IEC and they are originally from The Democratic Republic of Congo. It was a GREAT afternoon of delicious food and fellowship! We got to hear his story and I just loved his spirit and funny laugh!

In the afternoon we were able to visit the house we will be staying in the remainder of our time here. We had been told it was AMAZING, but I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. We left the kids with Cindy & Kristen and Vic, Falk & I walked the 10 minutes over from the team’s house to our new house. We met Andy & Haimie and their 2 kids Naomi & Nathan. What an amazing house—he is from the UK & she is from here in Addis and they will be going for 1 ½ months to visit his family in the UK. He works for the international school here, Bingham Academy. He designed the house and it IS AMAZING!!!! Not exactly “Roughing it “ as we were thinking it might be like. Andy said they are very grateful to be able to afford such a nice house-anywhere else in the world they couldn’t, but here in Ethiopia its possible. It’s in the same neighborhood as a famous secular singer in Ethiopia and a completely different feel than the SIM Guesthouse in the center of town. I am thankful for this-here the kids and I can walk around outside of the walls of the house and have a little more freedom. We enjoyed visiting w/them and having them show us the ins and outs of their beautiful house. They have a house helper, Feleketch, who will continue to be with us during their time away. They are her primary source of income, so they want her to continue to have work while they are away. This will be a little different, but nice that she knows the house and how to take care of most things. She is also able to buy fruits and veggies locally which are much more affordable and can help me in preparing them. She doesn’t do the cooking, but if we like they also have someone who comes in 2x a week to help w/the cooking (it’s much more preparation than in the states to cook here, everything fresh must be washed and bleached and left out for 20m in to dry, EVERYTHING is from scratch, so every house has a cook or helper to help with these daily tasks.) I look forward to meeting her and learning a little of the Ethiopian culture from her. We learned we will have very good internet access, so I will be uploading all of this as soon as we arrive there later this afternoon. After Andy showed Falk a few things in the attic “just in case” something happens it was time to leave. Their son, Nathan, really wanted to meet Jacob, so Haimi & the kids walked back with us to the team house and the kids played for about 30 min. We then had dinner that Cindy so graciously made for us b/c we missed dinner at the guesthouse and had no way to make dinner on our own. We then headed back to our room & called it a night. It had been a very full day!

*I know I’m giving lots of details about the first weekend here, there is just so much to say and EVERYTHING is so knew I don’t know what to write and what not to write! J lol- I feel bad that we haven’t been able to post anything since Thursday night, but here at the guesthouse we have no internet access. I was able to get on for about 5 min on Saturday evening from kristen’s computer to let our parents know we made it, but I was not at my computer and couldn’t remember my access info to get onto the blog (on my computer its all saved) . From now on i’m planning to be posting once again each day

*oh and we had been told that you cannot skype or if caught you’d get 15 years in prison….but yesterday the pastor cleared this up and said it was a hoax and not true-the government has denied saying this….so I’m not sure though if we’ll even chance it. Better to be safe than sorry, right?!?

Monday, June 24^th

Today is moving day!! We woke up for breakfast w/Falk at 7:10 today- wasn’t as hard to get up this morning-it’s been very enjoyable to meet everyone that’s staying here the guest house as we eat together at big tables. Everyone has such interesting stories!! Falk left for work and the kids and I spent the morning in the playroom. Lunch today was amazing—they are phenomenal cooks! Today was salad, lasagna, bread and carrot cake. After lunch we rolled all the suitcases outside to be ready to move as soon as Falk and Vic arrived as well as drop off our passports and my wedding ring at the main office to be put in their safety deposit box in the treasury during our stay here. Now we were ready-we were all excited to be in our new house. Cindy so nicely watched the kids for us again so we could go with Vic to get groceries and drop off our bags. We got to meet Feleketch, our housekeeper at this time. We’ve heard she is REALLY good at what she does, so I’m excited to work with her. The grocery store was a fun new adventure. I was so glad Vic was there to help us out this first time. We planned to buy all we needed, esp the heavy stuff b/c we had Vic w/the Range Rover, but we forgot the majority of our birr in Falk’s computer bag back at the house L good one us—thankfully Vic had some birr we could borrow, but it limited us a little. Buying fresh veggies here is so affordable. We got 6 bags of different fruits and veggies for $12. Other foods though were extremely expensive. A normal size bottle of apple juice was $10. Yikes! Falk & Vic both enjoyed an Ethiopian coffee from a lady who walks around to different stores and offers it to you for 2 birr (that’s like .10 cents)-the cup is about the size of a childs play teacup but its strong and good they say-I’ll take their word on it!  We loaded up and headed back to get the kids and unpack at our new house. Falk and Vic headed back to study then begin teaching their evening class. As soon as I brought the food into the kitchen Feleketch began washing ALL the veggies for me so they will be ready to eat when we need them-this is so nice. So the process is like this: you have to scrub the veggies that still are real dirty w/soap and a brush first, then you have to let ALL veggies sit in bleach and water for 10-20 min, then rinse them again and dry then your ready to go :) lots of work for healthy foods, huh! The rest of the day I unpacked while the kids played-they were so happy to have a big house to run around and be loud in! Falk made it home at 830 this evening after another good evening in class. He is busy studying now preparing for teaching in the morning! Our week in the real world of Addis has begun-feels a little strange being on our own tonight :) Spot, our ‘guard’ dog has been barking a lot-I guess we will get used to this-Andy, the owner, said he barks when people just walk by, so he tunes him out the majority of the time and only goes to look if Spot continues to bark and bark..this is going to get some getting used to :) we have a pet turtle too who’s name is Ellie which means turtle in Ahmaric

Oh and we learned a little ahmaric today while grocery shopping today….some of the veggies are similar to german…

Pineapple is- ananas

Tomatoe is –tomaten

Lettuce is- salat

1 is- Ant

Thank you is-Ishi

Goodnight from Addis it’s 11:45 pm here-i’m heading to bed!!!