Getting settled

"Dad I like school, but sometimes it is hard because there are so many kids and they distract me from talking"  -Eli

"Mom at school they make me write my name and my name is longer than Eli's and it is not fair so I asked a teacher to help me and he would only help me for the first day.  The next day he wouldn't help me so I asked another teacher and she wrote it for me.  There are lots of teachers at camp".
-Caleb

I thought these quotes that the boys shared after their first week of summer camp at the international school, sum up their personalities pretty well.  Eli's worst punishment is to not talk and Caleb is in constant competition with everyone.  They have one more week of camp in the mornings which is nice as I get settled into our new home.  Luke is often enjoying playing outside in the mornings with the guard and the owner's worker Salam who has not yet moved out of the back of the house.  

There are students from 61 countries at the boys' school and we are close enough to walk from our house.  They love passing by chickens, donkeys and goats on the way.  There are fruit and vegetable stands and little stores that sell drinks along the way too so we pick those up on the way home if needed.  It will be easier once my double bob comes but from now I travel the same way as everyone else, Luke is making the walk and Kezie's on by back (the Ethiopians love my ergo, they say we got the idea of carrying babies on our backs from them).  

We have also hired a lovely lady, Mestewt to help us keep up our house, mostly doing dishes and laundry and cleaning the bathrooms.  I love her.  She is a wonderful Christian lady and works very hard.  She says we are an answer to her prayer and she is so happy that we know the Lord.  We also made an offer on a car and our things from Arlington are on the ship somewhere in the Atlantic so things continue to progress.  

Prayer requests: 

-Pray for friendships and that I don't get too isolated here without a car.  We can only afford one car here and Sean will need it to get to work.

-Everyone has been a bit sick, I think mostly just getting use to the new foods and bacteria but poor Mestewt  may have more laundry than she bargained for as the kids are having a hard time getting to the bathroom in time...

-Luke's things still haven't arrived. Trying to let this go but there are several things that make me a bit sick that we may have lost...Not just of Luke's but things that are in that box.

-Things take a lot longer, the electricity and water come and go, people say what you want to hear more than what is actually going to happen...pray for patience for us!

A little bit of Texas in Ethiopia (thanks Aunt Gail for the boots)! Kezie in our new house.

The boys helping staff at the hotel sweep up the grass

Week One in Addis Ababa

"I use to think I could shape the circumstances around me, but now I know that God uses circumstances to shape me" 

Bob Goff,  Love Does 2012

The past month has been filled with fun for us!  We left Seattle on May 17th and spent the next week with two of Sean's brother's families, and his parents on a white sand beach in Alabama.  Thanks to Kyle and Elyssa's planning, our family got a much needed break and vacation before we started our new life in Addis. Looking back this was SO wonderful because we got Sean all to ourselves without any distractions from work, or the time it takes to do the necessary tasks of moving internationally.  Also we really didn't think about all the stresses of moving, what to pack, what to bring, what to leave, etc.  All of this had been decided so we just got to play at the beach and the pool for a week and watch our kids enjoy their cousins.  We then spent a few more days at our friend's the Dixons in Atlanta who were nice enough to let us stay at their house.  They entertained our kids while we did last minute errands, as I remembered all the things I had forgotten.  There is always one more thing you can squeeze in your luggage when you are moving internationally and know that it will be a long time until you see a target or a safeway again!

Our 36 hour layover in Amsterdam

A week ago we arrived here, jet legged, tired and probably feeling a bit unsure of what we were getting ourselves into, we were greeted by World Vision staff who helped us collect our 11 of 14 bags that arrived.  Sean's diplomatic ID, allowed us to enter the country without even going through customs.  I was glad not to have to explain why I was bringing in 15 lbs of cheddar cheese:)  We were greeted by the warm smiles of the beautiful Ethiopian people and words of praise, recognizing God's faithfulness in getting us here safely.  I played redlight greenlight with the boys while Sean spoke to the airlines about our lost bags.  The boys were exhausted after not sleeping much the past three days.  We have since received two of the three bags back.  Luke's action packer has not arrived, with his favorite animals and toys, many that he's slept with since he was a baby. Also all his new toys from the birthday party we had for him before we left.  I am still praying it arrives as he is my one child who loves playing inside with his toys!

We are currently staying at a hotel where we eat most meals out as we do not have a kitchen.  There is only one twin bed but they all fight over who gets to sleep on the floor so they don't seem to mind:)  There is a ton of space for the kids to run and a playground for them to play  at outside though which is wonderful.  We haven't unpacked any toys except a football, but the kids are having just as much fun collecting rocks, bugs and pine cones, trying to catch butterflies and moths in their water bottles, and playing jump rope with vines. It has been very adequate but not something we would want to stay in for long so we knew we needed to either move into a place that had a kitchen or find a home very quickly.

Teaching Keziah the intricacies of outdoor play 

As typical of my husband he hit the ground running and with the help of the faithful World Vision staff he has already gotten his license and we have a temporary car to use from WV until we purchase one of our own.  He has gotten a new iPhone and I have 3G internet and a local number on my phone.  We loved the first house that we looked at and did not find the other 4 we looked at suitable at all for our needs so we jumped on the first house and we move in late next week!  Yesterday I went shopping for temporary basic furniture to use until our things arrive.  God is faithful and I am learning to trust him more each day.  The less I strive to control, it seems, the more peace I experience.  Things take longer than expected here and usually don't happen on the day we think they will, but we just have to trust they will happen, and eventually they do...

Caleb and Eli have noticed that there are not many people with peach skin here.  In fact the first thing Caleb (who is more sensitive to this subject) said when we arrived in Nairobi  was "Mom, that man has brown skin like me", I think he meant, all the people here have brown skin like me:)   I think they really like it, they seem somehow more confident already.  I like it too.  It feels like it is about time that they are not the only brown boys in the room.  Now Luke and Keziah are the only ones with white skin at church and most other places.  But they get lots of positive attention.  One man told me this week, "I am sorry for the stares of my children, we have never seen a baby with white skin before".

So we have a long way to go; A language to learn, relationships to build, staff to hire, learn from and love on, ministry opportunities to seek out.  But our adventure has begun well and it feels like the foundations are being set in place for us to settle here.