Thanksgiving

I am thankful it is rainy in Addis today- makes it feel more like the holidays at home.  I am thankful to live in a old cozy Italian house with a fireplace, big veranda doors, and stone steps.  I am thankful that I know the holiday table at home is one of happiness and peace, and is going to be beautiful and full of good food.  I am thankful for friends here is Addis that become like family, because we are, and can share tables of peace and beauty tonight.  I am thankful for my husband, who is my home, and has made my home Ethiopia.  I am thankful that my palate doesn't really notice chicken in place of turkey, and that food coloring can make the yams look just right.  I am thankful for the strength and pioneer courage of the people who founded my home country.  And for our God, who loves us and challenges us today to be strong and courageous for His name and His kingdom.

It is a happy Thanksgiving!!

The Great Ethiopian Run

Brian and I, the guards, and 35,000 other people ran Sunday morning in the Great Run!  It is so fun being out on the streets with so many other runners.  I felt SO hot and tired- I should have carried water- that I wasn't too happy with my time, but it was really fun to be out there.  Our guards were limping the next and claiming, "My legs won't obey me!"  Not sure they are used to running that far!!

Bingham Races, and Visiting

Things are going well- Brian has same long days but good days with lots of after school activities.  Last Thursday was a Bingham only cross country event, and this Saturday there will be about 7 schools at Bingham for the big meet:  the Greek school, Italian school, American school, French school, etc.!  Seeing the little kids run last Thursday was just so cute- they make the 1 km loop and when they come through the finish line, their faces look like they are in so much pain!  Sweet little things!  I always see a lot of my gal-friends when I am at Bingham so it is really fun chat time.

 

I had lunch with a nurse friend Becky yesterday.  She is doing some community work somewhat similar to mine, but she has started lots of small group Bible studies- she says the only thing she uses is just the Bible stories.  It was really inspiring- could that ever work in our neighborhood?  Maybe I could get the ladies together around Yiftu's house and tell them a story?  I know our project has a spiritual arm that I don't feel connected with- I want to talk to the spiritual relations man.

 

We went to visit the house of another of our guard friends- I would like to visit each of their houses sometime.  We were tired (from the Great Ethiopian Run 10k) that we ran on Sunday morning and I was looking forward to a nap in the afternoon when he invited us, but then I started thinking and realized how much these visits connect us- we went and had a good time.

 

Community Education.... Drama involving a cough!

Visiting...Typical home scene

Weekly update

We've been visiting Yiftu almost every day this week!  She is perky and cheerful, even though she is so thin she looks wasted away.  We're trying to encourage her to drink more, but she eats and drinks as little as she can because she doesn't have anyone to get her up to the bathroom.  I took a physical therapist yesterday to see her who suggested a chair/bucket modification to be a potty chair!  Brian is the one with all the wood tools, so I'm asking him if he'll help me make something!  I think she could get herself there if we did that.  We prayed for her in her house last week, too.

Otherwise, Brian is taking his 9th and 10th graders on a camping trip this weekend- it is part of their curiculum!  They have to pack their own food and, to some extent, find their own way.  He got permission for me to come along- I'm excited to use my new pack I got for a wedding present, and share a tent with my favorite person!!  The forest/park we're going to is just an hour outside of Addis.

After we visited the north of Ethiopia, I was thinking of all the "legends" that the tour guides talk about, and how skeptical all of us/the kids are.  "The legend is that angels helped King Lalibela build the churches, that's why they were built so fast".  Lots of vague statements like that.  

So how about our Bible?  Maybe it all sounds just like a bunch of "legends."  So I wanted to talk to Brian's 8th graders about the reliability of the Bible, the manuscripts, the historical records, etc. I think they would love hearing some of the interesting archaeology!  So Brian and I are going to team-teach some Bible classes in the next few weeks.  I hope that gives them the desire to know their Bibles more!  Lots of the kids come from non-Christian homes.