Made ATL on time...

Customs and headed to BNA flight. Starting to get giddy.... :)

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On the ground in ATL. We need a quick exchange to make next flt.

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School Day or Do Ethiopians Get Car Sick?

If you are like me, you have often asked yourself, "Do Ethiopians get
car sick?" After a days research, we can definitively say Yes. They
get car sick like crazy….a new kind of car sick.

We left the Guesthouse at 5:15 AM this morning for a long drive to the
boarding school. We arrived in time for our meeting, and it was
great. The eight orphans that were chosen to go with us were showered
and dressed in their new clothes. We had a full tour of the
facilities which were impressive. It is a self-sufficient k-12 plus
college. They grow their own food, have a carpenters shop, the whole
deal….

They did express some concern about admitting a number of orphans that
do not have a parent to involved in the discipline process, but Sammy
was able to alleviate most of their concerns. The men of Korah are
acting in the parent role.

We ate a nice lunch in a restaurant named USA (United States of
Africa.) The children ate a traditional Ethiopian meal of angira
(wrong spelling) which is an Ethiopian bread filed with spicy meats
and veggies. The contents of the meal are important as they appear
again later in the day.

After lunch, we had a hike up a mountain to see several hot springs.
The water boils out of the ground at boiling temp. it is very cool….

The drive home was long, long, long, excruciatingly long…

Some of the kids had been car sick on the way to the school, and we
had stopped on the roadside for some quick puking. Since I am married
to a master car sicker and now have car sick offspring, this was
run-of-the-mill for me.

But, the 5 hour return drive was nothing that anyone could ever
prepare for no matter what they have experienced. With Police
security checks, traffic jams, construction, unpaved roads, rain,
hoards of animals in the road – well, use your imagine and combine
that with 20 people in a 15 passenger van who have eaten spicy food.
It was Puka-Palooza 2010 (or Puka-Palooza 2002 if you are using the
altered Ethiopian calendar.)

The poor kids had likely never left Korah so a 150 mile van ride was
completely new. I am sure they had no idea why they were throwing up,
but they were throwing up. They were throwing up with a vengeance.

Ultimately, the last puke came about 10 mins from the Guesthouse. We
did not even stop to clean up on that one. It was hold-your-nose time

(By the way, I failed to mention that I was one of two people in the
front seat that did not get the brunt of the throw up fest. God is
good….all the time. ☺ )

5 AM comes early

We are off to the boarding school with 8 kiddos....3.5 hour drive, 18
people in 15 passenger van, still dark....this is how we roll. :)

Pray for us....

5 AM comes early

We are off to the boarding school with 8 kiddos....3.5 hour drive, 18
people in 15 passenger van, still dark....this is how we roll. :)

Great Hope Church Day - Korah

Today was an amazing day. We were able to worship with Great Hope
Church this morning. It was in full Amharic (Ethiopian language) so
we were able to have a completely new experience. It was incredible!

After church, we had the opportunity to take the church leaders, Sammy
and some others to lunch. It allowed us to get the full background on
the founding of the church and Great Hope Ministries. We were blessed
go to into Pastor Antenae's home for the traditional Ethiopian coffee.
(I had two…)

The director of the Baptist region of churches joined us and spoke at
church. Pastor Alem is a terrific man, and has a vision of planting
25 churches in Addis Ababa.

At 4 PM, the church showed a movie to approximately 400 children in
the church. I made a video and will share when we hit the states. It
was a LOT of people!

Eight of the children from the dump that are sponsored returned to our
guesthouse with us for the night. We have new clothes,
backpacks…everything. We ate at a nice pizza place which Sammy says
is probably their first restaurant experience – ever! They have just
taken their first showers (first time ever) and put on their new
pajamas (firsts.) They are very excited, and it is amazing to get to
watch it happen.

We have a 4 hour drive tomorrow morning at 5 AM to the boarding
school. Since we are putting too many people in our passenger van, it
will be a LONG trip!

Pray for us as we make a long drive…the kids are excited beyond belief. ☺

Time for church

We were blessed to be able to sleep in for a few mins this morning.
After a long day yesterday, it was nice. I think my body is finally
adjusted to the time change, so sleeping to 7:30 am was nice.

We are going to Great Hope Church today so no translation for us. :).
We will get the full effect of Ethiopian worship service.

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Soccer / Dump Day

We had a great second day in Ethiopia. It has been a long and tiring
one, but it was worth the sore legs.

We started the morning at the trash dump. No pictures or video do the
conditions justice. It is simply a massive, smoldering city of trash.
There are 20-30 mountains of trash that truly look like a mountain
range. Fires burn inside the mounds so there is always smoke rising
up from the hills.

We spent time in the dump and eventually walked across the dump
(probably 1/3 of a mile) to the place where we would have our soccer
day. The descent down the last trash mountain is one that no one on
our team will ever forget!

The teenagers had already registered themselves in teams, and they
LOVED the jerseys, soccer balls, etc. By the way, they took the
soccer very seriously! Sammie had an tent set-up for the bystanders.
While the kids played, we entertained the younger children - and there
were a lot of younger kids. :) It is fun to play and get to know
them better.

After soccer, we headed back to Great Hope Church around 3 or 4 PM.
As Erin, Kathleen and Kim did a great job of teaching four ladies how
to make paper necklaces, the rest of the team played with the kids
again. I think that we have finally begun to understand and remember
some of their names. (No one here is named Steve or Bob.)

We were able to walk to a neighborhood area that Sammy, the ministry
leader and our guide, is hoping that the government will give to the
ministry. (More on that opportunity for us to all give later!)
Alicia gave an "Alicia Prayer" claiming that ground for the ministry
so you can count on that happening.

We had a great dinner with Sammy and one of his childhood friends. It
is a perfect opportunity for us to hear about his view on reaching
these kids, his approach to ministry, etc. He is a very gifted man,
and his personality is amazing.

By the way...the coffee is amazing.

Korah Day

We had a great (but emotional) day in Korah. We were able to visit
several of the families in the community. Most of the homes consist
of a mud hut/frame with one room. The conditions are remarkable, and
then you learn that there are 8-10 people sleeping in that room on
dirt floor. Amazingly, every lady was a hostess and required us to
sit down to relax. :)

AIDS has impacted Korah in a huge way. Aside from being a leper
colony, many of the men/fathers have died from AIDS.

We have sorted through a few hundred soccer jerseys, inflated balls,
prepared backpacks for delivery, etc tonight. Now, it is time for a
world-famous, Ethiopian coffee at a nearby coffee shop.

PS - We also watched two goats be slaughtered from start to finish.
You need to hear that story.....

We made it!

After a long two days of flights, we are finally here! We landed at
about 9:30 pm Ethiopia time and were through customs by 11 PM. We are
at the Ethiopian Guesthouse.

Yeah!

Take off for Amsterdam

Sitting on runway...headed to Schipol and then Addis Ababa. Time to
sleep.

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To the airport!

We are headed to the airport. Time to go....

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The countdown begins....

Cue "The Final Countdown" by Europe. We leave at 11:30 AM tomorrow morning. I downloaded The Blindside to watch on the flight over. If my calculations are correct, I will have the chance to watch it 14.3 times!

Penn Jillette is an interesting guy

Happy Birthday, Chuck Norris....

This video inadequately defines Chuck Norris' abilities....

Dancing Hanks kids....must see TV!

Definitive proof that rhythm is genetic! (Spoiler alert - Ethan actually has some good moves.)