Ethiopia Court Trip...Day 4

It's hard to believe that it's only been about a week since we came home from Ethiopia.  The past several days have felt a blur to me as I got off the plane, was thrown the most amazing baby shower (which I will blog about next), jumped into work, hosted a graduate banquet for our youth ministry, battled serious jet lag, all while trying to process the fact that...WE HAVE A SON!  I realized tonight that I skipped out on sharing the last few days of our journey in Ethiopia, so without further ado...here is what I can remember!

Tuesday, we woke up and it was difficult to think about the fact that our "son-to-be" was three hours away from us and there was nothing we could do it about it.  That is one of the "not-so-fun" parts of the adoption process.  Nevertheless, we wanted to see and experience as much of Ethiopia as possible, so we ventured on a day long excursion to the Northern part of Ethiopia with an incredible family we met at the guest house. They had hired a driver for the day and we graciously invited ourselves along for the ride!  Thankfully, they were gracious back and allowed us to travel with them.  Secretly, I think they knew we would be pure entertainment based off of what they observed about us the previous 3 days.  We didn't disappoint.

It took us about 2.5 hours to arrive to the location where we would be hiking.  I will pause in the story to say that my Mom doesn't normally hike!  She has had a knee replacement, and she isn't really that big into hiking, but she also didn't want to be left behind either.  Secretly, I think she was afraid of the baboons eating her alive, and we didn't want her to be praying for a second time that week, "Sweet Jesus...take me home now!"  When we saw where we were going to hike, and I thought about my mom hiking down what looked like a cliff to me, I started praying, "Sweet Jesus...please don't let my mom die right here and right now.  We haven't even gotten Biruk home!"

We arrived at a small hut where there were several "guides" who took our $1 entrance fee.  My mom wound up with her own personal guide, and if he knew the responsibility he was going to have getting my mom down the path and up the path in one piece, I am sure he would have charged more than a $1.  In the end, he charged her double the price for two necklaces (which she thought she was 1...getting a deal, and 2...helping him to get to become a doctor), so it all worked out!


The view was not only breathtaking, but exhilarating.  When we looked over the ledge, down at the path that we would hike, the whole area was covered with Baboons!  It was crazy.  There were probably like 50 baboons all milling around.  I asked the guide if they were friendly to which he replied, "Yes!"  I am pretty sure he was lying, but at least we made it out alive and it was an unbelievable sight.  And...my mom not only survived, but she was a champ.  She had a blast, she exceeded her own expectations of herself, and her own personal guide became a friend for life!

At the end of the hike we all hat to sit and catch our breath.  At first I felt like the most out of shape girl in the world, but when I saw the teenagers we were with were also out of breath, I chalked it up to the elevation.  Thank goodness...I don't have to give up donuts!  We grabbed some .50 bottles of soda (seriously the greatest thing in the world and so much better outside of the US), and headed back home.

Before leaving for Ethiopia, my friend had told me that we had to get coffee from a place called Tomoca.  So, our first day there, Nate said to Mulu, our driver, who didn't speak English, "Mulu...Tomoca???"  And then he pretended to drink a cup of coffee.  Mulu seemed as though he understood and drove for about 10 minutes and then pulled over at this shop.  It was not Tomoca!  We thanked him anyway, got out, went inside and discovered ice cream and pastries to die for.  So, we got some.  The next day, Mulu was driving again and Nate said the same thing, "Mulu...Tomoca??"  We weren't even near the same place, but Mulu drove right back to the place we had gone the day before.  We had no choice but to go in and stuff ourselves with pastries and ice cream...AGAIN.

On our way back home from hiking, we had an English speaking driver and Nate asked if we could go to Tamoca.  We figured if we didn't get there...it really didn't exist!  Miracles happen...our driver took us right there!  We bought a ton of coffee, and I am telling you, it is amazing.  It was a perfect day filled with more reasons why Ethiopia has my heart.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Donut Story

Image
When I was about five years into being a Youth Pastor, I met a group of kids that changed my life.  Many of you reading this, who know me personally, have probably heard me talk about them numerous times.  Nate and I happened to live in the parsonage next door to the church I was serving at at the time, and would routinely come home to a group of boys that I would have described then as "rough around the edges."   They dressed mostly in black, had long hair, and sometimes even had black painted fingernails.  They loved to smoke, and they loved to skateboard.  After a few days of watching them through our window, Nate and I went outside and brought them some sodas.  We introduced ourselves, told them I was the Youth Pastor at the church, and invited them to come to youth group.  While they politely declined our invitation, we continued to invite them over and over again, attempted to skate with them, and fill them with snacks.  Until one day, ...
Read more

A Mother's Heart...

Image
It was the night before we were ready to leave for Ethiopia that it dawned on me. We hadn’t given the necklace to Biruk yet. When we had exchanged necklaces with his birth mom ten years prior at the orphanage, we had no idea when we would give it to him. We just knew that we wanted him to be old enough to appreciate it, as it would be the only thing he would have from her. We had no idea if we would ever see her again.  There have been several moments in our journey where I’ve had to pinch myself, because it has felt like I was dreaming. That night as we put our final things in our suitcases, took a deep breath, and came to the realization that we were not only taking our kids to Ethiopia, but that Biruk would in fact meet his birth mom…well, you had to pinch me, because it felt like I was dreaming. It also felt like the perfect moment to share this gift that we had been holding onto for 10 years. So we pulled out the necklace and gave it to Biruk. While words can be few and...
Read more

Stories Matter

Image
Yesterday, my family and I found ourselves at a local elementary school’s culture club, presenting about our trip to Ethiopia. Even as I write those words, it kind of blows my mind how God has continued to use our story in unexpected places. When the kids were old enough to understand, we began to talk about taking them back to their birth country when they turned 10. We figured at 10, they would be old enough to be pretty good travelers, but still approach the adventure with a childlike wonder. What we didn’t plan on, was that the year Biruk turned 10 would come on the heels of me taking a brand new job, our family moving to a new state, and buying our very first house, in an economy that felt as though it was tanking!  I remember talking to my counselor one day and sharing with him that while we had always promised this trip to our kids, it just didn’t seem to make financial sense. After all, last time I checked, Southwest Airlines does not travel to Africa. He said someth...
Read more