You Guys! He's Almost One!

We leave tomorrow for the North. Our family is so thankful/happy/sad/nervous/peaceful/uptight. Can you pray with us for safe and smooth travels tomorrow? Best case scenario, we arrive right at sunset (without time to stop for any dinner). Can you pray with us that we have a joyful reunion and also have power to be able to reacclimate, make dinner and settle in? I know we won’t get entirely unpacked for awhile, but we do need to be functional. :) Tomorrow sounds like a challenge. 

Because I don’t know what kind of internet we return to but I am not expecting great, here’s our recent photos. 

Such a funny picture and not the best but this is A, euphoric that we were served chocolate donuts at the guesthouse. 

Here are the babes and Eliza, who is unphased at having two babies. Yay! Tiger calls her A-ya. So sweet.

Jon and I had a chance to share at chapel and I think she was glad to see us come back as Miss T isn’t a great sleeper and was overtired and decided to scream the whole time. She had four kids, one screaming. 

A daddy-daughter date, (while Tiger napped).

Moving brings out the minimalist in me. I know this doesn’t look like it, Ha! Except for I am stocking up for a family of 6+1 and I vacillate between wanting nothing and wanting to set up a cozy home. Pictured here is our generator and then stuff for our Bahir Dar teammates. Moving isn’t my thing but I am grateful for the continual purging we do as we clean out and pack up. 

A last hurrah at a burger joint, we think the best ones in Addis Ababa. 

Packing empty barrels that will be part of an irrigation test at the 5 F’s project.

And then today, we started celebrating this guy and his upcoming birthday. HOW IS HE ALMOST ONE?! How is it possible he has four teeth and takes a few steps, repeats so many words, uses sign, crawls and cruises everywhere? His favorite food is breastmilk, his favorite game is peek-a-boo and he loves to dance! He can’t stop his body from responding to a beat. He brings us indescribable joy. 

We met friends after church for lunch somewhere we hoped we could get a cupcake, “Cupcake Delight”. On the way, I prepped the kiddos and myself we may not actually find cupcakes, but we did…and fajitas. :)

Tiger didn’t quite know what to think about getting to dig into a cupcake. Miss T, on the other hand, wanted the whole thing in her mouth. She hasn’t started solid foods yet but thinks she needs it.

Once he started, he was very serious and ate as quickly as he could for about 1/3 of it and then started smooshing it in his hands.

So stinkin’ cute. He was trying to sneakily drop it off his tray. We also noticed that the American cultural tradition of letting a one-year old destroy a cake and eat as much of it as they want and make a giant mess wasn’t super connecting with the culture around us. We apologized and tipped well. :)

And then he was a sugared-up life of the party. 

And Miss T just wanted some coffee!

Prayer Points:

-Safe and joyful travel

-A warm welcome (especially for the girls) in Injibara. That we can give and receive. J and A feel so much love and acceptance in the USA and we saw here them go into an old community in Addis where we had a strange interactions. We were later invited back and all was peaceful but we witnessed J and A really feel crushed. 

 -We can all reacclimatize quickly, feel “at home” and have the language and opportunity to express God’s miracles and glory. 

Love To All!

-