You Gotta Smile
August 12, 2010
Deanne’s Top Ten – You Gotta Smile!
#10 This entry could have been entitled You Gotta Smile or You’ll Cry. On my first night in Addis, I took pictures of my room to share with Ryan and the kids. See if you notice the difference between the pictures.
TDS Hotel bathroom
TDS Hotel bathroom Take 2
If I had paid closer attention, I would have taken a hot shower versus a rather chilly one. I neglected to plug in my hot water heater!
#9 Do you think Vidal knows these are still being used?
the Professional 1600
#8 Being in Ethiopia, where they speak Amharic, and the girls turning on the television to see and hear this in ARABIC!
#7 That no matter where in the world you are, a child can figure out electronics long before an adult!
Flip
iPhone
#6 Knowing that your daughters’ Ethiopian friends are just a Skype or a summer vacation trip away.
Bereket, Konjit, Tenaye, Fikirte & Meheret (Illinois & Pennsylvania)
2 of the Mott 4 & 5 of the Sweeney 9 (Illinois & North Dakota)
#5 The inability to speak one another’s language doesn’t dictate your newest friendship!
Uno with Fikirte, Mason & Reagan
Konjit & Ellie
a scoop of strawberry ice cream in a cone
#3 A boy turns into a young man waiting for a family, but God’s perfect timing gives him and his new family exactly what they had prayed for.
the Raymer Family minus a few state-side members
#2 A daughter’s reaction to hearing that she is leaving the transition home to be united with you forever!
#1 When a father is able to hold his daughters for the first time…
Look What I Did Tonight…
August 3, 2010
…I tucked in my girls!
Ryan and I decided it was time to bring the girls with me to the Guest House. So, today Fikirte and Konjit left the Transition Home and will now be with me for the rest of our time in Ethiopia!
AHHHH!! It is wonderful!
The first thing they did upon entering our room was take off their shoes so they could lay on the bed.
first things first
I hadn’t been up to the roof yet, so we took the opportunity to check it out. It has some beautiful views!
a rooftop view of Addis Ababa
We sat down to a wonderful meal with wonderful families!
Chef Dawit making his Lasagna Noodles
Homemade Lasagna for ALL these Families
The girls finished dinner before me, so I gave them our room key. I found them like this when I came up about 10 minutes later. They have such a great time! I cannot wait until these two are united with our entire family!
Snug as a Bug
Once again, my heart is full! Our paperwork will be submitted to the US Embassy tomorrow. That will give us a possible Embassy date of August 18th. Praying that we will be on a plane arriving in the states on August 21st!
What’s for Dinner?
August 1, 2010
A highlight of my trip thus far was attending a traditional Ethiopian Dinner. The ‘spongy bread’ underneath all the vegetables, sauces, and meat is injera. You tear off pieces of injera and use it to envelope/grasp the veggies/meat and sauces. The injera has a sour taste that took me a little bit to get used to, but I have really come to enjoy it (and yes, I even eat the vegetables). You can visit a previous post to find Ryan’s thoughts on injera, etc.
We won’t be able to afford this type of ‘smorgasbord’ back in the states, so it will be a lot of fun to take the girls before we leave Ethiopia.
