Taste of Ethiopia: June 10

Wednesday was a very full day. We visited Yezelalem Minch, Nesibu and Birtukan's amazing ministry that includes an orphanage, a child sponsorship program, a women's income-generating program, community meals and so much more. YM's dedicated staff truly touched our hearts. Later that morning we visited some of the women in the YM income-generating program. Through personal loans, YM makes it possible for women to start businesses of their own to support their families. This group of women sorts, roasts and packages coffee beans for sale. We bought 15 kilos of coffee to take home! They also make a variety of Ethiopia spices. We also bought some berbere, shiro and lentils for when I get ambitious enough to make some Ethiopian dishes at home. (If you've wondered how you could help Ethiopian women and children but don't feel ready to make the ongoing commitment of sponsoring a child, you can make a one-time donation of $100 to YM's IGA program and help one woman start her own business. Let me know if you'd like me to send you a brochure with more information.) The women held a coffee ceremony for us in their chapel. We've been home for two months and we're truly enjoying the Ethiopian coffee, but it's not even close to being as wonderful as it was there. There is obviously something in the preparation that we're missing.

Later we visited Gelgela, one of the larger orphanages that Bethany works with. The children were sweet and curious, and we took about 300 pictures. They enjoyed seeing the pictures of themselves, and Spence kept them entertained for about an hour.

In the afternoon, Birtukan gave the girls a cooking lesson. We made lentils and shiro and something else I forget. Somewhere I wrote down the recipes, and I will share them here when I remember where I put them.

Later in the evening we went to an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner and traditional dance. Dawit was not happy about us leaving and I felt guilty, but Birtukan insisted that he would be just fine in 5 minutes. Later, she said he did just fine and fell asleep easily, but I had lingering guilt over leaving him. The music and dancing was amazing and the food was to die for, but Spence and I were sharing with three guys who didn't mess around: Mekonnen, Milkiyas and Tendaye, so we had to dig in to get our share. Oh, how I miss the food!

We got back to the guest house pretty late, and Dawit was snoozing on his tummy. Birtukan said most Ethiopian babies sleep on their tummies, so hey, who are we to change traditions?

Here are the pictures in a bit of random order. Can I just say that putting pics in Blogger is a pain, and resorting them is even worse.


Hanging out at Gelgela:

Ladies at Gelgela making injera:

Roasting coffee beans:

Emane and Lindsay in deep conversation in the chapel:

Yezelalem Minch staff:

Getting a cooking lesson:

Nesibu helping:

Does this look hot or what?

Milkiyas, Tendaye and Mekonnen:

Home two months...

...and couldn't be more in love!

Flood damage

Can I complete a timely post? I think not!

Two weekends ago I took the canoe upriver about 3 miles to survey the damage the valley sustained in the rare July flash flood.

This is Stock Gap Road bridge that we cross on our 10-mile bike loop. A number of families used this bridge to get out of the valley. I've heard the county has applied for disaster funds so they can rebuild it, but it will be a while. In the meantime we won't be doing the loop.

This is where the bridge used to be.

Maybe we can ride across this tree.

This is my view 15 minutes later from underneath my canoe. A big electrical storm pushed through and forced me to think like Survivorwoman. I inverted my boat against a short ledge and sat until it ended.

Wonder who took this pic? Survivorwoman!

Caroline's first fishing trip

Spence's email to Nana: Our canoe trip yesterday was really great. She loved it and behaved well. We stopped at several gravel bars so she could play and throw rocks. She also likes to play in the sand and rub mud on her arms and legs. She calls it “sunscreen.” We had a tea party, too. With rocks I made a tiny table, plates, tea cups, and a tea pot. We used little mussel shells as bowls for our imaginary yogurt and sticks for spoons. I jokingly warned her that if she smeared her yogurt on herself, I’d take it away. She smiled. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, cheese sticks, and lemonade. Then later we got a treat, Little Debbie oatmeal pies. She told Mama Norma that we had pie for our treat. I’m excited about going with her again. I was concerned that she’d fuss about wearing her life jacket, but she didn’t object at all. And she never got bored or whiny. I think we could go for an entire day and she’d do fine. I’ll bet she’d even nap in the boat. I’ll try that soon.

Spence didn't mention that they caught a mess of fish, which he fried up for dinner.

First word!

I've got so much to post and so little time -- the rest of our Ethiopia trip journal, flood damage, etc. -- but this one trumps everything else:

Dawit said his first word this weekend: Da-da!

For a couple of days he'd been saying da-da-da-da-da, so we capitalized on the opportunity and worked on focusing it down to two syllables. Yesterday, we think he said it. But today I'm 100% sure. I said, "Da-da." He said, "Da-da." Daddy wasn't here to witness it though. He's off on a canoe-fishing day-trip with Caroline.

My little sister Jesi's first word was Da-da. It took months to get her to say anything else, so I was hesitant to push it with Dawit. But later this morning he dropped his toy. I said, "Uh-oh." And he said, "Uh-uh." Then he proceeded to say uh-uh whenever he couldn't reach a toy.

Caroline's first three words were kitty, Mama and tractor.

Flood!

Two weeks ago, Overton County, a few miles north of us, had flash floods. Although we got a fair amount of rain in Jackson County, it was really not enough to be concerned about. But because our house sits on the banks of Roaring River (a river that doesn't do much roaring in July), which flows out of Overton County, we got seriously flooded. Levels we've never seen before. This pic looking off our front porch gives a little perspective:

That is Roaring River flowing through our fields. The flood took out about 2/3 of our fence, which encloses two fields totalling nearly 20 acres.

The waters came within 6 feet of Caroline's swing set and covered half of my would-be garden, except I didn't plant anything this year.

This is actually dropped several feet. It is also where we had planned to put the horses for the summer to give the upper field a rest. If we had, they'd have flushed down to the Johnson's farm.

Tomorrow I'll post some of the damage and possibly a video.

Boy, oh boy!

Just a few things we've learned about Dawit in the nearly 7 weeks he's been home:

He's all boy. He likes to make noise and bang things together. He rocks his exersaucer almost on its edge. And he loves to crinkle an empty plastic water bottle. (Yeah I know, not very green.)

He likes traditional toys, like rattles and keys. Caroline always preferred the cardboard box it came in, but Dawit shakes and rattles his toys like the kids in commercials.

He's not afraid of water in his face, and he rarely cries much when he falls and hits his head or nose. Or when Caroline hits him, but that's another story.

His feet sweat. A lot! This should be fun when he's a teenager.

He loves Oprah. How weird is that! When he hears her voice, he whips his head around to find her. That's so much better than Barney.

Our first almost-7 weeks home have been so good. He's mastered sitting, reaching for toys, flipping from his tummy to his back, transferring toys from one hand to the other. He's not yet interested in crawling and he rarely rolls to his tummy. He can't get a puff to his mouth himself, but he loves us to feed them to him. He can make a gooey mess out of a biter biscuit, and he still loves anything you give him to eat. He weighs nearly 20 whopping pounds and is very healthy according to his pediatrician. He's outgrown everything smaller than 12 months. He nearly always sleeps 8 hours before waking and sometimes as much as 10.5. He usually does 10 or 11 hours, with one wake-up for about 3 oz. of milk.

He loves his sister -- she's lukewarm on him. I wish I could say they're getting along great, but truthfully she's not taking this well at all. At all! She takes his toys, bops him on the head, bends his fingers and last night she bit me. We do have good moments, but I know this is incredibly hard on her. We try to give her lots of time and praise and involve her in his care. But the truth is, this is just going to take some time.

I am truly overwhelmed by my love for Little D. He is such a delight, happy and easygoing. I could just sit and cuddle him for hours...but only when Caroline's not around. She's not much of a cuddler, but you know!