We weren’t sure how it would feel to go back. This summer was amazing and a blur, full of adrenaline, new experiences and vibrant culture.
As city dwellers for about 5 months now and our honeymoon phase in Ethiopia gone, we didn’t know what to brace ourselves for. I told Jon, “What if no one invites us anywhere and we just sit in the house for four days?!”
Praise the Lord, we were warmly welcomed again. On Ethiopian Christmas, the day started about 9:00 with a baseball game (funny story on this blooper later) and by 10:00, we were invited over to the cow butchering. 14 families contributed money to buy a cow for Christmas. From our understanding, many from our community eat meat about three times a year and Christmas is one of those times.
We were humbled and blessed to share a meal.
And in no time, The Littles were scooped up and carted around. They kind of love/hate this but generally favorable after a few minutes.
And these sweet faces, they changed a lot in five months! The little one in stripes, she was one of the children I blogged about this summer, who cowered in fear of me, to the point of physically trembling if I greeted her. Guess who jumped into my arms and held on for about an hour? Yes, this sweetie, definitely warmed my heart. :)
More Christmas day adventures to come...
6 comments:
SO thankful you were welcomed back so warmly!! Love seeing God provide even in the details for you. :)
Wow what a welcoming!
I don't know why, but this post made me really emotional! Thankful that you were wrapped into the community right away, and humbled by the story of the community pitching in for the cow.
You sharing your experiences in Ethiopia greatly enrich my life and give me focus. I feel so selfish saying that, but know that you taking time to blog is greatly appreciated!
Tait & I are wondering more about the meat on the leaves...did it get cooked in leaves, or is that divied up for eating? M
Britni, So glad it's a blessing to you! It makes it all seem worth it. We really do feel like we have an incredible opportunity to share and are so thankful for our home church that cares enough to read it!
Mandy, the meat was only divided on the leaves. Immediately some was cooked over a fire. It was held with a stick and then just lightly seared on the outside, still pretty raw. Jon ate more than I did and the girls didn't have any. It was still warm because of being freshly butchered. Two days later, a family served us meat from this cow. It wasn't refrigerated but was cooked through. Also, I thought it was interesting and Tait might like this fact, the fat and cartilage is cut and served as well, chopped up and served with the meat.
What an answer to prayer! So thankful you were welcomed back so warmly!
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