Ethiopia Trip #2- Day 2

We had decided to go to Ethiopia several days early to spend a little time exploring Biruk's country.  We had no idea what we were going to do, who we were going to hang out with, or where we would explore.  The first day we spend resting at the guest house.  In case you didn't catch the description of the guest house our last trip, I have decided it's like teen camp for adults!  Seriously...it is the greatest place on earth!!!  The guest house is literally a house run by Birtukan, an Ethiopian woman who is absolutely amazing.  Birtukan was sponsored as a child through World Vision and decided when she grew older, she was going to make a difference in one child's life.  She now has an amazing ministry you can check out here:  http://yezelalemminch.org/.  She is one of the most inspiring women I have ever met.  Birtukan and her husband not only run this ministry, but they also run the guest house, which primarily houses families who are in the middle of the adoption process.

I say it's like teen camp for adults because...IT IS!  We met so many amazing people at that house.  The first day we were there, we reconnected with friends from Michigan whom we had met on our first trip.  As soon as they left, several other families began to arrive.  Every night we would stay up late playing cards, laughing so hard that we cried, sharing our hearts for orphans, crying at times together, sharing our struggles of the adoption process, etc.  Nate called it "intense relationship building."  Every time a family left the house, we would gather to pray for them, and cry AGAIN.  At the end of the 10 days, I felt like God had placed the exact right people at the right time in our life...people to encourage us, people to love on us, people to support us, and people who understood the journey we were walking.  Forever grateful for that.

One of the coolest things about being in a house full of families is that you never run out of people to do things with.  We woke up Friday morning and decided that we, along with a father and his daughter who were visiting Ethiopia, would spend the day with our friend Abel (one of our Bethany workers who turned out to be like a best friend...so much fun).  Abel decided to take us to his home town for the day.  We told him we were up for anything, so he said, "How about hiking?"  We were game and excited to experience as much of Ethiopia as we possibly could.

We were about 15 minutes away from the mountain we would hike when Abel says, "Hey!  Do you guys like yogurt?"  We were like, "Yeah!"  Abel says, "Would you like some?  They make it homemade in our town.  It's the best."  Since it was 10:30 am and we were all ready for a snack, we said yes and were super excited.  We got to the market and the "yogurt" was a little different.  For starters, it was no 8oz cup.  It was more like pint size.  And...there were no flavors to choose from.  And...you drank it.  Yup...you literally drank it.  And...it tasted like buttermilk.  It's not exactly "power food" for hiking!

After attempting to share a pint, we headed on our way to the mountain.  When we got there, there wasn't exactly a trail.  Abel said, "We'll just find our own path!"  And we did.  We had to stop a few times, partly because we had just downed a pint of liquid yogurt, partly because we were at a high altitude, and partly because we were out of shape), but we finally made it to the top.  Oh...I probably should include this in the story.  At one point I saw a small bird (or at least I thought it was a bird) come flying toward my head.  It then proceeded to land on my shoulder.  I panicked, screamed, panicked some more, flicked the "bird" onto Autumn, the teenager with us, and we both about had a melt down, almost toppling down the mountain.  In the end it was a very LARGE grasshopper.  And when I say LARGE...I mean about the size of a small bird.

We finally arrived at the top and the view was breathtaking.  You could see the lakes from the top and later that afternoon we had lunch and coffee at the base of one of the lakes.  It was an amazing first day back in Ethiopia.  While I could end the blog for the day here, I have to post about our coffee obsession....

If you know Nate and I, you know we LOVE coffee.  We are pretty much obsessed with it.  Some might say we are addicted.  That's up for debate and if we are, I blame the 3 years I worked at Starbucks for that. Anyway, the macchiatos in  Ethiopia are absolutely to die for.  AND they are only like .50 to $1 a piece.  They give Starbucks a run for their money.  There is a place in Ethiopia called Kaldi's.  It is essentially the Starbucks of Ethiopia.  Similar logo, similar menu, similar taste, but way cheaper.  For the entire 10 days, anytime Nate mentioned Kaldi's to Abel or our driver, we were quickly driven there, no questions asked.  So after our hiking day...we stopped twice for macchiatos.  It was a perfect day!