One month ago today...

(My plane!!!)

One month ago today I landed on Ethiopian soil.  When I close my eyes, I can remember the sounds, sights, smells.  The giddiness in my heart.  The stress in my soul, knowing I was so far from my kids and home.  The excitement for what laid in store in 24 hours.  The aching to finally hold Yohanna in my arms.  The nervousness about our first meeting.  I remember exactly how I feel.  And today, I yearn for that again.  Ethiopia was everything and then nothing, of what I thought it would be.  I must say there were parts I didn't like, but there many parts I fell in love with. 

(At Dulles airport, before boarding the plane to Ethiopia!)

Today is my 34th birthday.  I can't believe I have lived at least one day longer than Christ did on this earth.  I am so thankful for this past few years.  The road to adoption He led me on.  The people He brought into my life.  The family He formed for me.  Somedays, now that our adoption is over, I worry I won't sense His presence as much.  Like an old friend who will move away for awhile.  I miss Ethiopia.  I miss many parts about it.  And I can't wait to go back on a mission trip, or another adoption. ;0)  And because it is my birthday, and one month from landing onto the soil of my daughter's homeland, I'm gonna do a post slightly different than the others.  I'm gonna give you a few snippets of some of the things that embedded into my memory in a Late-night fashion.  With a countdown.  These are small snippets that wouldn't truly make it into a daily post, but will never leave my mind.  These are what Ethiopia is and was to me.  The good, the bad, and the ugly....

10:  The night we sat talking to Yonathon, the guest house manager.  We were talking about odd things, when he told us that his grandfather was very old.  I raised my eyebrows thinking, Yeah right.  When he proceeded to tell me that his paternal grandfather was 113 years old.  He used to be the richest man in Addis Ababa.  He moved to the city when it was just a rural "Tiki" hut town.  That he was the richest man in town because one time he lost all his money to a relative.  He stole it.  But he didn't fight about it.  That he felt life was too short to fight about money.  I got goosebumps.  Wow.  That was something my deceased grandfather would have said.  And that was so like Yonathon.  He was raised by a wonderful family.  And I sat in awe in the middle of the living room. What a living testimony to love can conquer all....

(The picture we stared at while forever flying to get to Ethiopia!)

9:  When we were in Awassa, on saturday night at supper.  Abreham was down talking to us, and Bill told him he spends his summers teaching troops in California.  Abreham recognized the word "California", left the table, and came back with another man.  This man owns a liquor store outside LAX airport, and drives one of the four Hummers in Addis Ababa.  When we tried to explain how much money Abreham would have to have to buy one, he kept refiguring it on his calculator.  When he finally came to the realization, it was that much, he was stupified.  Shaking his head, laughing, wondering why in the world Americans pay such an amount for a vehicle!

(Her legal paperwork to get to the States!!!)

8:  In Awassa, when my heart stopped and I closed my eyes.  Smiling and relieved when I saw the green and white motorcyclist standing on the side of the road...

(Bill and I at Yod Abssyinnia Restaurant)

7:  Coming home from Yod Abssyinnia restaurant on wednesday the 17th.  It was dark and silent.  And as we drove silently through the night, I would see families gathered together, completely covered, head to toe, under white blankets.  Everywhere I looked.  Side streets.  Main streets.  Everywhere.  Nowhere to live.  No bed to lie in.  Nothing but blankets.  Whole families.  I will never forget, God....

6:  Walking down the street with my husband to take a picture of this "half-airplane" restaurant.  Sitting on the side of the street was a young boy who had no one sitting with him.  He must have had elephantitis.  As we walked by I smiled at him, and when we passed by, I said a silent prayer for him.  He reminded me of the age of my brother.  But yet he had no one...

(The lady and her stick)

5:  While on Entoto mountain, my husband took a picture of a donkey running down the mountain with brush on his back.  A few minutes later an elderly woman came down the mountain, and put her hand out, we "thought" begging for money.  When my husband shook his head, no, she got angry and started shaking her big stick at him.  I thought she would literally hit him with it.  Later we found out that was her donkey.  She wanted payment for the picture.  We felt so bad that we denied her.  Soon we learned that every day these ladies walk up and down this mountain to sell "fuel" at the market.  When they get paid, it is the equivalent of 70 cents per day.  70 cents to walk up and down the mountain, carrying this weight on their back.  God bless them...

(The donkey picture that made her mad)

4:  On the final day we were in Ethiopia, there was a young mother sitting at the marketplace.  She had a baby on her back.  She seemed so sad.  She wasn't begging for anything, just sitting.  Not paying any attention to us, or anything going on around her.  With such a sad, sad look on her face.  Bill leaned over and gave her some birr. (Birr is the currency of Ethiopia.)  The excitement on her face, melted our hearts.

(A silly picture of our friend, Abel)

3:  While in the van, Bill would play a game with Abel, our guide.  Abel had a degree in tourism, and knew Geography like the back of his hand.  He would try to stump Bill, who also has great geography ability.  It was like we were at home driving in the car, playing a game with a friend we have had longer than we could ever remember.  I will never forget when Abel wanted us to tell him what continent "Sea Shells" was on.  I literally turned around and said in a silly voice, "Your  teasing!"  And Katie, another girl traveling on the van said, "Nope sea shells is an island off the coast of Africa, by Madagascar."  I was speechless.  Abel was amazing, and I will never look at another "Sea Shell" the same, without smiling and thinking of Africa...

(The two doctors and their family)

2:  Having an authentic ethiopian dinner "family style" with the two doctors at our guest house.

1:  And number one, my most favorite moment of all the time we were in Ethiopia, (besides picking up Yohanna ;0),  was when we were driving back from Awassa in Selam's van.  I had been be-bopping my head to the American music Selam had been playing into the van speakers from his Ipod...  Then the song came on.  The song I have playing as my number #1 song on my blog right now.  "God of this city".  To listen to a song I sing all the time, here in the States, while driving through an Ethiopian town.  Listening to the words of the song, while seeing all the people on their way somewhere, anywhere.  Knowing God was God of this city.  You could have heard a pin drop in the van.  As people looked out the windows, completely in a world that God does live in.  I had goosebumps.  It was the most surreal moment of my life.  And definately my very favorite moment of the whole trip.  Now whenever I hear that song, I think of Ethiopia, and say a prayer for the people I met.  Completely surreal...

There is no one like our God...