I haven't wanted to make a big deal out of this, and still don't want to, but as some of you may see us out and about I thought I'd put the word out that we are now officially licensed as a foster family. I've often thought of fostering, but with two little girls at home and then with adopting M we were busy enough. However, now that M has settled in so well into our family (it's been 2.5 years already) we thought we'd explore the idea of fostering.
Thanks to family and friends who watched our girls (you know who you are - thank you!) we were able to attend 24 hours of fostering training in the fall. Since then we've been tackling the other items - home inspections, meetings with social workers, getting medicals, providing various documentation, and baby-proofing our home for the first time. This house has never been so secure - we have latches and things in place that we never did for our own children...but it is a requirement to be a licensed foster home, and I understand that.
Before you go thinking that we're amazing people...please know that we're not. We aren't even signing up for full time fostering...we are starting small and just offering respite care. Respite care is temporary care of foster children - usually to help out foster families when they need a break or need to travel. I'm not sure exactly how often we will get children in our home or if we will do this a lot...right now we are a bit apprehensive about it and aren't making any plans other than to say that we will try it out.
Why are we doing respite (short term fostering)? Well...there are a number of reasons. We are incredibly blessed to be able to live off of Arvid's salary. Although I am never at a shortage of things to do, we know that we have been blessed with a great home, great kids, and as a stay at home mom I am able to devote some extra time and love to these kids. Although neither of us would consider ourselves huge kid people (somewhat ironic, I know), we realize the impact we can have on kids who aren't exposed to things like a healthy, two parent family, with positive role models like our girls or a healthy marriage. The whole idea of bringing new kids into our home is a bit stressful and out there for us, which is why we are starting small and just offering short term fostering.
Ultimately, we are not only financially blessed, but blessed spiritually (God is our rock!), emotionally (great friends and family), physically (we are all healthy and "young"), and want to extend some of those blessings to others. The foster children in the system have not chosen that life, and if their parents had the same blessings that we did, they likely wouldn't be making the choices they had which caused their children to be entered into the system in the first place! My family fostered a number of children when I was small, and although I remember some to be quite difficult and I couldn't wait for them to leave, I also remember some of them very fondly. We aren't sure how this will look for our family, but are stepping out in faith and giving it a try and would appreciate any prayers on our behalf.
Obviously I won't be able to post any details (nor pictures) of these kids, but if you see us out and about with another child, you'll know we haven't adopted again but are just opening our home on a short term basis. Thanks for reading - and if you have any questions about fostering or respite, I would love to talk to you. I'm really hoping that more people (especially at our church!!!) will open their homes to some of these kids in our city who need a healthy home to live in.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Monday, January 27, 2014
London, Day 2
Wow, it feels so long ago now I can barely remember our last day. :-)
We woke up early again and had another amazing breakfast at our hotel. This time they even had little individual containers of nutella, which absolutely excited, G. She has been leaving nutella ads cut out from magazines around the house for a few months, in an effort for me to change my "health nut" ways.
Anyway, we again took the hoppa bus back to the airport and then took the tube to London. It is sooo much easier the second time! We even got off the tube, transferred to another tube line like true experts. Their tube system is unbelievable - we have one line in our city...from SW to NE, and London has such an amazing transit system with tons of different tube lines...they even are multi-layered underground.
Our plan for the day was to go to the Tower of London as we had heard good things about it. Thankfully there was a Starbucks right in front of the entrance (yah!) so I was able to start my day off right. :-) We were able to join a tour that had just started, and were entertained by a beefeater tourguide for about 30 minutes. It was a bit chilly out, and part of it was outside and a bit hard to hear (not to mention trying to concentrate on what he was saying through a thick accent) so it could have been a bit better, but was pretty enjoyable. The Tower of London was founded in 1066, was a medieval fortress palace and there were an amazing number of crazy beheadings there (including Anne Boleyn). I would have been interested in exploring the history a bit more as I don't know a lot about this period of time, but it was a bit difficult to do with the kids. Anyway, we then explored the area on foot and were able to see the crown jewels on display. The two largest diamonds in the crown Jewels are 530 carats and 317 carats - absolutely huge!
Anyway, after our tour we just had to stop for some authentic fish and chips nearby. It wasn't bad...but sure is greasy! Good thing we walked and walked and walked after this. My mom and Arvid decided to go into the art gallery and the girls and I did some touristy souvenir shopping. We just had to find some "mind the gap" merchandise. (For those who don't know, at every single stop on the tube you hear a "Mind the gap" warning about the space between the tube and the station. With nearly 20 stops each way, we heard this warning close to 100 times. As well as mind the gap, we also heard "Mind the door" in the elevator and "Mind the cow" on a game we played at the Tower. It is now a family joke to "Mind the ....".)
After some shopping we thought it would be fun to go to Marks and Spencer...which sounded like a good idea but after walking for about 30 minutes we came to Marks and Spencer only to find out it was the grocery store! So we ended up taking the tube to Oxford Street and walked some more to the real Marks and Spencer. Oh, Oxford Street...if only I had more time. It is such an amazing street...filled with every store imaginable. I wish we would have had a few more days in London just to shop. Anyway, we did a bit of shopping, a ton of walking and were absolutely beat by the end after being on our feet all day. We ate some crepes for supper from a street vendor (ham and cheese and egg crepe, followed by a nutella and banana one...YUM!), took the tube home, packed up and went to bed.
The next day was fairly uneventful...we flew to Toronto, had a small stopover and flew home. It was nice to fly through the day and not worry about not sleeping, and it was fun to use our phones again on Canadian soil! We were very happy to see our home again, stayed up for a few more hours and then all slept through the night!
Here are some pics...
We woke up early again and had another amazing breakfast at our hotel. This time they even had little individual containers of nutella, which absolutely excited, G. She has been leaving nutella ads cut out from magazines around the house for a few months, in an effort for me to change my "health nut" ways.
Anyway, we again took the hoppa bus back to the airport and then took the tube to London. It is sooo much easier the second time! We even got off the tube, transferred to another tube line like true experts. Their tube system is unbelievable - we have one line in our city...from SW to NE, and London has such an amazing transit system with tons of different tube lines...they even are multi-layered underground.
Our plan for the day was to go to the Tower of London as we had heard good things about it. Thankfully there was a Starbucks right in front of the entrance (yah!) so I was able to start my day off right. :-) We were able to join a tour that had just started, and were entertained by a beefeater tourguide for about 30 minutes. It was a bit chilly out, and part of it was outside and a bit hard to hear (not to mention trying to concentrate on what he was saying through a thick accent) so it could have been a bit better, but was pretty enjoyable. The Tower of London was founded in 1066, was a medieval fortress palace and there were an amazing number of crazy beheadings there (including Anne Boleyn). I would have been interested in exploring the history a bit more as I don't know a lot about this period of time, but it was a bit difficult to do with the kids. Anyway, we then explored the area on foot and were able to see the crown jewels on display. The two largest diamonds in the crown Jewels are 530 carats and 317 carats - absolutely huge!
Anyway, after our tour we just had to stop for some authentic fish and chips nearby. It wasn't bad...but sure is greasy! Good thing we walked and walked and walked after this. My mom and Arvid decided to go into the art gallery and the girls and I did some touristy souvenir shopping. We just had to find some "mind the gap" merchandise. (For those who don't know, at every single stop on the tube you hear a "Mind the gap" warning about the space between the tube and the station. With nearly 20 stops each way, we heard this warning close to 100 times. As well as mind the gap, we also heard "Mind the door" in the elevator and "Mind the cow" on a game we played at the Tower. It is now a family joke to "Mind the ....".)
After some shopping we thought it would be fun to go to Marks and Spencer...which sounded like a good idea but after walking for about 30 minutes we came to Marks and Spencer only to find out it was the grocery store! So we ended up taking the tube to Oxford Street and walked some more to the real Marks and Spencer. Oh, Oxford Street...if only I had more time. It is such an amazing street...filled with every store imaginable. I wish we would have had a few more days in London just to shop. Anyway, we did a bit of shopping, a ton of walking and were absolutely beat by the end after being on our feet all day. We ate some crepes for supper from a street vendor (ham and cheese and egg crepe, followed by a nutella and banana one...YUM!), took the tube home, packed up and went to bed.
The next day was fairly uneventful...we flew to Toronto, had a small stopover and flew home. It was nice to fly through the day and not worry about not sleeping, and it was fun to use our phones again on Canadian soil! We were very happy to see our home again, stayed up for a few more hours and then all slept through the night!
Here are some pics...
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| This is the tube map...quite extensive and intimidating at first but so impressive! |
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| Tower of London |
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| More Tower of London |
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| Cool passageways and hallways |
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| Family pic |
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| Tower bridge |
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| Trafalgar square |
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| Trafalgar square |
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| Shopping - so fun! |
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| Love the streets and buses |
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| G, with her beloved nutella |
Sunday, January 12, 2014
London - wow! Planes, Trains and Double-Decker Buses!
I've lived in Germany twice in my life (when I was in Kindergarten and for a year after high school when I attended Bible School there) and have traveled around Europe a number of times. I haven't been a tourist in London since I was five, though, and was mostly looking at stopping there as a place to sleep and help us adjust with the time change on the way there and back. On the way there, that's exactly what it was - we slept and swam and flew on to Ethiopia. On the way back, though it was only a 3 hour time change and half of us had slept up to 5 hours on our night flight from Addis so we had some time to explore and it was a huge highlight of our trip!
We arrived at Heathrow at around 6:30 am (9:30 Addis time), uneventfully gathered our luggage and went through customs and took the Hoppa bus to our hotel. I had booked all of our hotels back in the summer - they were non-refundable, good deals with breakfast and wifi and other than that I didn't have high expectations. The hotel in London (Marriott) on the way down was quite nice, but I was even more impressed with the Novotel Heathrow London. It was very close to the airport (10-15 minutes including a stop), and was very modern, new looking and clean. We were hoping to get an early check-in (at 8:30 am...fat chance, but we tried) but as the hotel had been fully booked the night before they weren't able to help us. They stored our luggage for us and we had a bit of down time on the couches in the lobby.
Thankfully, the hotel let us use one of our breakfast vouchers even though we hadn't checked in yet and we enjoyed a deluxe breakfast - croissants, buns, bread, two egg dishes, lots of fresh fruit, waffles, pancakes, cheeses, deli meat, 5 different kinds of juice, coffee, yogurt, cereal, etc. etc. The food thoroughly hit the spot and it gave us the boost we needed. Instead of waiting around in the lobby we decided to head to London. We elected to take the bus back to the airport and take the tube from there. I have to admit that this was a bit intimidating to figure out where to go, which tickets to buy (kids are free under 11 but the machines were quite confusing at figuring out who actually needed a ticket, for which zone, for which hours, etc.)
Anyway, we made it on the tube and had a good laugh about the "mind the gap" warning at each stop. The kids liked listening to the accents and looking around when we were above ground. The tube took about 45 minutes to get to the Piccadilly Circus stop. We took two very long escalators up to ground level and emerged into a whole new world. The buildings were so amazing, and there were interesting things to look at in every direction. I LOVED every minute of London. I'm not sure if it was because of the extreme difference from Ethiopia (in Ethiopia the buildings are not the nicest - you see so much sheet metal and wooden scaffolding everywhere, and London has so many ornate, beautiful buildings) but in any case, I soaked up every minute in London.
We had a quick bite to eat at McDonald's, much to my mom's dismay. We just all craved a taste from home, even thought we don't eat there often at home anymore, at least we knew that it would taste good. :-) We then jumped on our double-decker bus (Original Tour) for a tour of London. The tour was very interesting and the sights were just amazing. E was excited to see Buckingham Palace but by the time we made it there both she and M were so fast asleep I couldn't wake them.
My mom wanted to stop at St Paul's cathedral and I was overjoyed to see a Starbucks right across the street. I think I was more excited about seeing the Starbucks than I was about the cathedral - sorry to those of you cringing at that, but it had been such a long day already and although I did sleep about 5 hours on the plane that's half of what I usually like to get, and plane sleep isn't exactly the most restful. I thoroughly enjoyed my mocha and we looked inside the cathedral although we didn't pay to go further in - we just didn't think the kids would make it.
Anyway, we jumped back on the bus, continued our tour and then walked for a few hours around the Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. The kids really wanted to go to Hamley's, a 7 storey toy store, so we walked there as well. The kids had lots of fun looking around but it was super expensive. I just couldn't believe how well everyone was doing - it was already getting to be bedtime in Addis time and G had barely slept on the plane. But London was so interesting that we just kept going. We really craved salad (and I love TGIFridays) so we walked there for supper - I know, I know, we should have had something more authentic but we were exhausted by this time and just wanted to go somewhere we knew.
By the time we took the tube, then the bus back to the hotel, checked in and got to our hotel it was about 8:30 or 9 (nearly midnight in Addis). It was a full, exhausting, but absolutely fun day!
We arrived at Heathrow at around 6:30 am (9:30 Addis time), uneventfully gathered our luggage and went through customs and took the Hoppa bus to our hotel. I had booked all of our hotels back in the summer - they were non-refundable, good deals with breakfast and wifi and other than that I didn't have high expectations. The hotel in London (Marriott) on the way down was quite nice, but I was even more impressed with the Novotel Heathrow London. It was very close to the airport (10-15 minutes including a stop), and was very modern, new looking and clean. We were hoping to get an early check-in (at 8:30 am...fat chance, but we tried) but as the hotel had been fully booked the night before they weren't able to help us. They stored our luggage for us and we had a bit of down time on the couches in the lobby.
Thankfully, the hotel let us use one of our breakfast vouchers even though we hadn't checked in yet and we enjoyed a deluxe breakfast - croissants, buns, bread, two egg dishes, lots of fresh fruit, waffles, pancakes, cheeses, deli meat, 5 different kinds of juice, coffee, yogurt, cereal, etc. etc. The food thoroughly hit the spot and it gave us the boost we needed. Instead of waiting around in the lobby we decided to head to London. We elected to take the bus back to the airport and take the tube from there. I have to admit that this was a bit intimidating to figure out where to go, which tickets to buy (kids are free under 11 but the machines were quite confusing at figuring out who actually needed a ticket, for which zone, for which hours, etc.)
Anyway, we made it on the tube and had a good laugh about the "mind the gap" warning at each stop. The kids liked listening to the accents and looking around when we were above ground. The tube took about 45 minutes to get to the Piccadilly Circus stop. We took two very long escalators up to ground level and emerged into a whole new world. The buildings were so amazing, and there were interesting things to look at in every direction. I LOVED every minute of London. I'm not sure if it was because of the extreme difference from Ethiopia (in Ethiopia the buildings are not the nicest - you see so much sheet metal and wooden scaffolding everywhere, and London has so many ornate, beautiful buildings) but in any case, I soaked up every minute in London.
We had a quick bite to eat at McDonald's, much to my mom's dismay. We just all craved a taste from home, even thought we don't eat there often at home anymore, at least we knew that it would taste good. :-) We then jumped on our double-decker bus (Original Tour) for a tour of London. The tour was very interesting and the sights were just amazing. E was excited to see Buckingham Palace but by the time we made it there both she and M were so fast asleep I couldn't wake them.
My mom wanted to stop at St Paul's cathedral and I was overjoyed to see a Starbucks right across the street. I think I was more excited about seeing the Starbucks than I was about the cathedral - sorry to those of you cringing at that, but it had been such a long day already and although I did sleep about 5 hours on the plane that's half of what I usually like to get, and plane sleep isn't exactly the most restful. I thoroughly enjoyed my mocha and we looked inside the cathedral although we didn't pay to go further in - we just didn't think the kids would make it.
Anyway, we jumped back on the bus, continued our tour and then walked for a few hours around the Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. The kids really wanted to go to Hamley's, a 7 storey toy store, so we walked there as well. The kids had lots of fun looking around but it was super expensive. I just couldn't believe how well everyone was doing - it was already getting to be bedtime in Addis time and G had barely slept on the plane. But London was so interesting that we just kept going. We really craved salad (and I love TGIFridays) so we walked there for supper - I know, I know, we should have had something more authentic but we were exhausted by this time and just wanted to go somewhere we knew.
By the time we took the tube, then the bus back to the hotel, checked in and got to our hotel it was about 8:30 or 9 (nearly midnight in Addis). It was a full, exhausting, but absolutely fun day!
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| We had the whole train, but somehow mom is the coziest spot. That's OK, I love it! |
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| A view from inside the tube station |
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| From on top of our double decker bus. Arvid stayed in the back in the open to take better pictures but my mom, the girls and I stayed in the covered portion for warmth. The views were amazing all around. |
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| Isn't it just so awesome here? |
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| It was surprisingly so green in London - I wasn't expecting that in January |
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| Houses of Parliament |
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| We were really hoping to go on the London Eye but it was closed for repairs. |
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| Yah! Starbucks!! Thanks, B, so happy the gift card worked here. |
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| In front of St. Paul's cathedral |
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| The road up to the cathedral - I could have just sat and watched people and buses go by all day. |
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| Inside the cathedral - beautiful |
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| I couldn't believe how many Starbucks there were - almost on every block |
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| The underground is amazing - such a fast way to get around. I would love to never have to drive again! |
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| Tower Bridge |
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| This is where we got off and started to walk...and walk...and walk |
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| Who could resist a phone booth picture in London? I've never seen anyone use one, and there is a phone inside, but I can't imagine that they serve much purpose anymore other than looking good. |
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| What a great experience as a family! |
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| Westiminster Abbey |
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| In front of Buckingham Palace |
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| I can't imagine a more boring job in the whole wide world |
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| Elizabeth, in front of her castle. |
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| Loved this walk through Green Park |
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| The Ritz. My mom tried unsuccessfully to make a bathroom pit stop here. :-) |
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| The buildings and streets are so awesome. |
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| At the toystore |
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| 7 Storeys of bliss |
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| This was as close as we got to royalty...lego style |
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| The buildings got even more interesting at night when they were lit up |
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| Supper stop. Yum! |
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| Checking in...what a long, but good day!! |
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Merry Christmas??
January 7th was Christmas in Ethiopia. I am such a Christmas girl - I was thrilled to celebrate it twice this year.
(For those of you not familiar with it, Ethiopia works by a different calendar. We are based on the Gregorian calendar, but Ethiopia is based on the Ge'ez calendar. Ethiopia has 12 months of 30 days, and one month of 5 or 6 days. Currently it is 2006-05-01 in Ethiopia so we were all 7 years younger! :-) Incidentally, Ethiopia also works by a different clock. They say that 7 am is actually 1 o'clock...essentially 6 am when the sun comes up is the start of the day. If you're trying to figure out the date or time in Ethiopia you have to be careful to make sure you're using the same reference point. Good thing I knew this, as we were told once this trip that we would be picked up at 1 am...which I knew was 7 am)
I'm not sure what I was expecting for Christmas in Ethiopia, but it was definitely different than I thought it would be. I was surprised to hear that Ethiopians get fake Christmas trees and decorate them. The trees were quite small (about 3-4 feet tall?) and the decorations were very glitzy - mostly strings of foil tinsel. As I mentioned before, I found most decorations to be extremely tacky. Businesses would display a big poster of Santa Claus with "Merry Christmas" on it. Some stores displayed trees with cotton balls on it or on the walls to symbolize snow. In some cases it came across more like a spooky Halloween decoration than Christmas. One decoration that was different than home is that Ethiopians put long grass on the floor. This is used for festive occasions as well as Christmas, and many stores and businesses had this grass on the floor and were offering coffee ceremonies.
Christmas, January 7, was our last day in Ethiopia and we spent the day packing and just enjoying not rushing anywhere. We spent a few hours out in the courtyard and enjoyed the sun and played games - it was a perfect, sunny day. We went for a last walk to Kaldi's and enjoyed coffee, fries and fresh squeezed juice. The streets were eerily quiet - there were barely any cars on the roads and even less people on the sidewalks. Normally the road by the guesthouse was so busy with traffic and so many people walk around. It was so different on this day - it actually felt a lot more like home.
After we were fully packed up we went to Habesha 2000 for a traditional supper. I was looking forward to ordering a few things I knew and being served on the large basket, or mesob, for the true experience. It ended up being a buffet so we had no idea what we were eating, but it all tasted good. They even had some rice and noodles at the end of the buffet for those in our group who weren't quite as adventurous. It was our first time at Habesha (we had been to Hebir a few times in the past) and we enjoyed it a lot. The room was divided up into various themes from cities around Ethiopia, the food was good and the live music and live dancing was very entertaining. I would have enjoyed staying longer, but it was time to head back and do final packing before leaving for the airport at 10 pm.
I don't think we ever stayed up until 10 pm on this trip until this day...and E and M actually fell asleep on the couch at the guesthouse before leaving for the airport. Once we passed through a zillion checkpoints (they scan all belongings through an x-ray machine before even entering the airport, and make you take your shoes off - the only place we were required to do so on this trip) we were able to sit down and rest a bit. This airport is actually a really nice building - the best part was that they have now added some lounge type chairs so that you can lie down before going to your gate. That was a huge treat!
We were pretty exhausted by the time we were required to go to our gate, and in true African fashion they changed gates at the last minute and had mad chaos trying to fight the people from the China flight who looked like they would form a mob at any second. Thankfully, one of the airline attendants saw that the kids were nearly dropping, ushered us to the front of the line and we were able to get on the plane. I sat with my mom and E on this part of the journey. E and I were asleep by the time the fasten seatbelt light went off, and we both slept about 5 hours.
(For those of you not familiar with it, Ethiopia works by a different calendar. We are based on the Gregorian calendar, but Ethiopia is based on the Ge'ez calendar. Ethiopia has 12 months of 30 days, and one month of 5 or 6 days. Currently it is 2006-05-01 in Ethiopia so we were all 7 years younger! :-) Incidentally, Ethiopia also works by a different clock. They say that 7 am is actually 1 o'clock...essentially 6 am when the sun comes up is the start of the day. If you're trying to figure out the date or time in Ethiopia you have to be careful to make sure you're using the same reference point. Good thing I knew this, as we were told once this trip that we would be picked up at 1 am...which I knew was 7 am)
I'm not sure what I was expecting for Christmas in Ethiopia, but it was definitely different than I thought it would be. I was surprised to hear that Ethiopians get fake Christmas trees and decorate them. The trees were quite small (about 3-4 feet tall?) and the decorations were very glitzy - mostly strings of foil tinsel. As I mentioned before, I found most decorations to be extremely tacky. Businesses would display a big poster of Santa Claus with "Merry Christmas" on it. Some stores displayed trees with cotton balls on it or on the walls to symbolize snow. In some cases it came across more like a spooky Halloween decoration than Christmas. One decoration that was different than home is that Ethiopians put long grass on the floor. This is used for festive occasions as well as Christmas, and many stores and businesses had this grass on the floor and were offering coffee ceremonies.
Christmas, January 7, was our last day in Ethiopia and we spent the day packing and just enjoying not rushing anywhere. We spent a few hours out in the courtyard and enjoyed the sun and played games - it was a perfect, sunny day. We went for a last walk to Kaldi's and enjoyed coffee, fries and fresh squeezed juice. The streets were eerily quiet - there were barely any cars on the roads and even less people on the sidewalks. Normally the road by the guesthouse was so busy with traffic and so many people walk around. It was so different on this day - it actually felt a lot more like home.
After we were fully packed up we went to Habesha 2000 for a traditional supper. I was looking forward to ordering a few things I knew and being served on the large basket, or mesob, for the true experience. It ended up being a buffet so we had no idea what we were eating, but it all tasted good. They even had some rice and noodles at the end of the buffet for those in our group who weren't quite as adventurous. It was our first time at Habesha (we had been to Hebir a few times in the past) and we enjoyed it a lot. The room was divided up into various themes from cities around Ethiopia, the food was good and the live music and live dancing was very entertaining. I would have enjoyed staying longer, but it was time to head back and do final packing before leaving for the airport at 10 pm.
I don't think we ever stayed up until 10 pm on this trip until this day...and E and M actually fell asleep on the couch at the guesthouse before leaving for the airport. Once we passed through a zillion checkpoints (they scan all belongings through an x-ray machine before even entering the airport, and make you take your shoes off - the only place we were required to do so on this trip) we were able to sit down and rest a bit. This airport is actually a really nice building - the best part was that they have now added some lounge type chairs so that you can lie down before going to your gate. That was a huge treat!
We were pretty exhausted by the time we were required to go to our gate, and in true African fashion they changed gates at the last minute and had mad chaos trying to fight the people from the China flight who looked like they would form a mob at any second. Thankfully, one of the airline attendants saw that the kids were nearly dropping, ushered us to the front of the line and we were able to get on the plane. I sat with my mom and E on this part of the journey. E and I were asleep by the time the fasten seatbelt light went off, and we both slept about 5 hours.
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| Enjoying a rare morning of relaxation |
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| My mom and the kids made journals before they left home - the kids did a great job of updating their journals on our trip. |
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| E managed to lose a tooth around Christmas at home, and another one at Christmas in Ethiopia! |
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| E, at Kaldi's. This girl is so photogenic! |
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| A previous trip to Kaldi's - love it here! |
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| Kaldi's coffee, drinks and fries. Yum! |
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| Enjoying the quiet streets and sidewalks |
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| On one of our sponsor visits we bought some sugar cane. It was really interesting to try it - you cut the outside off, suck the juice out of the inside and discard the pulp. Yum! I also loved that Coke in Ethiopia was made with actual sugar instead of HFCS. Yes, it's still evil but not as evil as at home! |
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| At Habesha |
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| We were one of the first to arrive |
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| The buffet at Habesha |
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| Yum! |
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| Live music |
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| Snuggle time - love my girls! And love that M didn't seem to skip a beat on this trip and attachment still seems to be going really well. |
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| Live dancers |
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| Coffee ceremony as you arrive - you can see the grass that is on the ground |
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| Getting full now |
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| Asleep on the couch before leaving...long night ahead! |
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| Example of Christmas decorations at the market |
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