Good Friday Update

April 20 – Part 3

After all the ups & downs I’ve already told you about, we still weren’t finished with that day.  Earlier one of the other guests in our guest house had just warned us to really watch our money.  She was missing 700 birr (about $42).  She didn’t want to say anything because she wasn’t definite that it wasn’t her miscalculations & they were getting ready to leave.  Well, DURING our supper our friends had even more taken from them.  So, now we are on high alert & actually feel really weird about being here.  We are never away from our cash now, but it still a creepy feeling.

Yesterday – Thursday, A. from our agency took us to Hawassa.  It was an amazing trip.  It was so good to get out of the city & see the real Ethiopia.  It ended up being about a 4 hour drive.  We took a ton of pics & learned a lot.  All of the different tribes in ET have a different way of building their homes.  I’ll post some of those pics when we get back.  (By the way, Cande was able to post about 100 pics last night to FB if you happen to be friends with her.)

We stayed at the Haile Resort Hotel, Haile being the famous ET runner.  Oh it is so quiet there.  It is situated on a huge lake.  We could have spent a lot more time there.

At 3:00 our driver & A. picked us up to go to Shalom orphanage to have our birth family meeting.  The director there is an amazing man.  You can tell he does a good job & loves the kids genuinely.  He said “it’s the hardest work ever.”  They have an amazing staff which includes 2 full time nurses & 2 part time nurses.  He showed us a couple of babies that are results of their work & lots of prayers.  During the tour he even let us take a picture of the bed that Genet slept in when she was there.  Currently there are a set of twins in that bed & the one beside it.  They are dolls!!!!!!!!

The birth family meeting went amazingly.  Andy & I have decided not to share what all was said because that meeting was really for Genet even though we received the blessing for now.  I will tell this, she is an amazing woman.  She loves Genet & wants the best for her.  And the best part for me was when we found out she is a Christian.  Praising God for that extra blessing today.  I am still in awe of how the meeting went.  I was a nervous wreck & of course the waterworks & sniffles didn’t stop.  I will never forget that day or that meeting.  Besides Genet, that was the most priceless couple of hours of this entire trip.  If you have the chance to meet the birth family – even if it means you must travel then I highly recommend you do it.  It’s worth every penny & then some.

We learned a lot about the tribe that Genet is from.  She has 2 that we were told about.  One I am familiar with & the other I will learn about.  We are going shopping tomorrow & I hope to find more things from both of those tribes. ;0)

A. took us to a government run beach park.  There we got some amazing pics & saw a traditional Sidamo (Genet’s tribe) house & very friendly monkeys and birds.  Of course there were the begging children who followed us the entire walk of the park because no here doesn’t mean the same thing that it does to us no matter how many times you say it.  Then we found a clothing shop where I could buy Genet a traditional clothing outfit from her tribe.  It’s too big for her now, but I can’t wait to see her put it on one day.

Then he took us to the other resort on the lake to watch the sunset.  We had coffee & drinks (good COLD waters & cokes) while we watched the sun go down over the lake.  It was fun to sit there & chat with him.  We had already asked him a million questions but we were able to learn a lot more about Ethiopian culture.  He found it funny that we Americans would ski on lakes like that.  I think he wants to try it when he comes to the states. He wants to come to the US to study more law.  He has a law degree & is a social worker for our agency.  He’s the one that does the paperwork for the Embassy portion of the process.  He told us how things are constantly changing.  You could have everything correct & then the requirements change as you are bringing it to the embassy.  Side note – we drove by the Embassy.  Why is it that the American Embassy is at least 10 times larger than all the other countries?  I mean really?  You should see it – it’s quite the spectical.  I would have taken pics of it but you can be arrested for doing so, even in the moving van – it’s that way for most of the big official buildings & the locals here know it!!!!

We drove home this morning from Hawassa (by the way, it used to be Awassa but they added the H just a few years ago & that’s the official spelling.)  I think we are all emotionally & physically drained.  We are so tired.  They drove us to the care center so we could see Genet & then we came back to the guest house.  We ate some lunch & then decided to have some quiet time before we go to the convenient store next door to get ice cream – yes I am extremely excited. ;0)  HG played on her Vreader & when I woke up she was asleep.  I am getting ready to wake her up.  She slept some on the van & I don’t want her not sleeping tonight.

Today is Good Friday.  It’s been really neat to watch everyone preparing for Holy Week.  A. was fasting the entire time.  The people are all heading to the Orthodox church in their whites – either white clothing or they put a white shawl over themselves.  We passed by many of them & all of them are covered with people inside & outside the gates.  They seem to be very ritualistic in that they all have this chanting thing they do while bowing & making certain hand movements.  The country as a whole are all celebrating.  The sale of lambs & chickens right now is unbelievable, which will be the main dishes served on Sunday.  I am so thankful that Ethiopia is such a Christian nation.  We Americans could learn a lot from them. 

Fekadu

The other couple that traveled with us (they left earlier today & we didn’t get to say goodbye.  We really thought we’d catch them at lunch – I guess that just means we HAVE to go to Ohio for a visit sometime soon. ;0)  They already had connections here in the country.  That’s how we’ve met.  He is an amazing guy.  He was sponsored by Compassion International as a child & then went to work for them later.  He grew up Orthodox Christian but came to the conclusion that all you have to do is have the relationship with Jesus, plain & simple.  Oh how I like him!!!!!  He’s the one who took us the other night to the traditional Ethiopian restaurant, Yob Abyssinia & to Entoto Mountain.  We are calling him tonight so he can take us shopping tomorrow – I can’t wait!  He laughs a lot & of course is fascinated by HG.  It’s amazing how she can capture people.  It’s like she has this power where she draws them to her & then she pulls the reigns tight and doesn’t let go.

I guess that’s enough for now.  I hope I’ve put enough on here for me to remember once I get home.  I’m sorry we haven’t been able to post like we would have liked.  The internet isn’t like it is at home.  I can’t wait to share all the pics we have with all of you.  It really is beautiful here.

Have a wonderful Good Friday & remember to thank Jesus for what He did for you today.