Monday lunch

We had a wonderful meal with service that was out of this world! People that want to serve can be recognized in similar fashions around the world I suppose. These ladies took great care of us. It is so good to have our children with us during these times. Joseph Yonatan Befkadu Long is able to help us with our language skills... he is very good at translating for us. We have learned much about him that we will share when we return. Many surprises about his life thus far!!

We are learning many interesting customs... watching the kids wash hands before and after each authentic Ethiopian meal can be quite an experience. Watching them brush their teeth at night before bed is simply amazing! They brush forever with no regard to the water soaking their clothes... or anything else nearby. It is like nothing I've ever seen. I am eating well, Kris maybe not as well as I. (Eating well has never been a problem for me in the past... to me it is good food made in a different pan!?!) Just today (two days after the actual meal) Kris discovered that she had eaten Ox. She simply stated that she had never eaten ox before, as it is too late not to eat it. (She secretly liked it very much!!!) Since I'm on food and customs... In America we eat off of our own plate while spreading out around a table. In Ethiopia, we eat off of the same plate as we sit huddled around a small stand (the name escapes me) and we occassionally feed the person next to us or across from us as a sign of love and friendship. There is much relationship in these meals; true friendship!

We have seen more rain than we care to see! Everyday we have had rain. I have never seen so much mud. Imagine a large city with many hills and many half finished roads... and many of those that are finished are made out of rocks and dirt. Since sleep has been a little difficult, we decided to stay up past 1:00AM last night/this morning and talk with the other couples staying at the guest house. As usual, Kris and I were very quiet and really listened to everyone else most of the time! Today we went to Lake Hora(sp?). There are many things happening there that I will not write about. All I will say is that it would be a good spot to locate a ministry of some sort.

Kris will write about the kids and other details. She's a great mom, and it shows with the kids already! All three of these kids will need lots of love... for two of them, most of it in the form of discipline(although we can hardly keep from laughing right now!) Hello to all of our family and friends tuning in. There will be more coming later. We love you and miss you! Got to go for now... "Where's my coffee?"