After a long 4 days of international travel, consisting of 4 airports, 2 bus rides, a 22hr layover in New York City (with essential stops at target, chick-fil-a, & Starbucks), 21 hours on airplanes, & major jet lag, we’ve made it to Ethiopia! We’ve been here for 5 weeks & life has been oh so simple.
We live at an incredible ministry base called HOPE Ethiopia, about 3 hours from the capital city. Here we live with 35 orphans & get to spend everyday loving them & the base staff that are raising them. We quite literally live in the middle of nowhere- with no cell service, no internet, & just a few tiny local stores in the small town neighboring us.
If I thought life in guatemala was simple, then calling Ethiopia simple is truly an understatement.
My friends & I still get up to see the sunrise & go for a run.
We still handwash our clothes in buckets but now we can be sure that they’ll be dry on the line by lunchtime.
We take cold showers.
We have friday movie nights with the kids.
We drink coffee with every meal.
We handcut grass around the kids’ houses.
We can be sure there’s always someone riding the skateboard out on the cement.
We play volleyball in that sunset hour before dinner.
We have bonfires & sing worship songs together.
We take the kids on runs to the store for popcorn kernels & soda.
We celebrate holidays as a big adopted family & take lots of pictures to remember them by.
We play games & do crafts with the kids.
We hung socks up as christmas stockings in our living room.
We get to experience traditional coffee ceremonies & eat injera with the cooks.
We make bowls upon bowls of popcorn.
We are always amazed by the expanse of stars in the clear night skies.
We have a book club & give eachother guitar lessons.
We can always find the kids playing literally everywhere.
We watercolor & write notes of encouragement almost everyday.
We have action movie marathons on the weekends & call them “adventure days.”
We have dishwashing dance parties in the kitchen.
We sit in awe of the african sunsets every night.
The simplicity is sweet. These relationships are genuine. Our typical distractions of the outside world are nonexistent. God’s been teaching me a lot, & He’s working in big ways in this country! Can’t wait to share more stories with y’all!
Until next time,
~mae
