Young Life in Ethiopia

What a trip we had to Ethiopia! It was eye opening and we will all never be the same. One of the privileges we had while we were in Ethiopia was to spend time with some of the Young Life staff and leaders. Here are a few pictures we took with the Young Life crew. You see Peter (who is 1 of 4 Area Directors) with me and one of his leaders Henok. Also a picture of YL kids.

They are having an incredible impact on so many kids lives. Most clubs are between 150 and 300 kids. They are hoping to take about 800 kids to camp this summer. There are so many kids that they are training to be future leaders. We also got to go to one of the Young Life clubs, and a leadership meeting. I felt blessed to worship with them all, even though I didn't understand very much.

We are hoping to go back and help with a summer camp. There are many needs and I hope to bring others with me to help serve.

It will be fun to see what God has in store for the future. Please pray for all of the leaders and staff in Ethiopia, you can read more about their ministry in Africa here.

http://sites.younglife.org/sites/Africa/Open%20Content%20Pages/Young%20Life%20Ethiopia.aspx

Grossology

We went on field trip last week to the Pacific Science Center. There are no words describe this exhibit except for GROSS! There are certain things to stay away from, if you go, you will know what I mean! http://www.pacsci.org/grossology/

Luckily, we had our appetite back before we arrived at a yummy Ethiopian restaurant on East Cherry in Seattle called Lalibela. We had a great dinner, and Sami and Tsion had their first Injera in America.

Happy 8th Birthday Josh!

This morning as we were on our way to the Eye Dr, Lance heard our cat growling...in the house. Luckily I was already locked in my bedroom. I heard many excited screams about a mouse, a squirrel, or something loose. Lance said "I need some help out here, " I said "No thanks, I am not opening the door!" All the boys preceded to make a "pathway" for the chipmunk to leave thru the front door. The pathway was constructed from some boxes, and my SOFA CUSHIONS. Lovely. Sami got his shoes on in case he needed to kick it outside......We were only 5 minutes late to our appt, but had a great excuse! That was Blackies gift to Josh on his b-day. We celebrated later with Taco Del Mar and the Drive-in, watching Happy Feet and Night at the Museum.

Soccer.....

Soccer is our life. Zach has made the select team for the upcoming season, which means lots of summer practices, tournaments and travel. Sami and Josh will be playing in the Fall, and Tsion will probably want to as well. I wonder how many teams Lance can coach?!

This is a pix of Zach, after his team won 4 medals for the 2006 season. They won 2nd place in their division, and two medals for team sportsmanship.

You can see Zach's team here Explosion 96 BU11
http://home.comcast.net/~NKSelect/

Here is the team website:
http://eteamz.active.com/nkscexplosion96/index.cfm?

Go Explosion!

The Ethiopian National Anthem

Tonight we were looking thru Sami's Royal Ranger handbook, he was commenting on how he had to learn the Pledge of Allegiance. He was going to show me how well he could sing the Ethiopian National Anthem, and when he went to say it he could not remember! This was something he said every day at school. It was 10pm and pure panic. He wanted to call his friend Ashenafi (who I said had been asleep for two hours) when I thought about finding it on the Internet. Here is the link http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Ethiopia.html as well as the facts about Ethiopia.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Respect for citizenship is strong in our Ethiopia;
National pride is seen, shining from one side to another.
For peace, for justice, for the freedom of peoples,
In equality and in love we stand united.
Firm of foundation, we do not dismiss humanness;
We are peoples who live through work.
Wonderful is the stage of tradition, mistress of proud heritage,
Mother of natural virtue, mother of a valorous people.
We shall protect you - we have a duty;
Our Ethiopia, live! And let us be proud of you!

He proudly sang it, with Tsion reading the page and trying to sing as well. Then he showed me how you pump your fist at the end. :)

A Week of Firsts......

This week Sami was messing around with a bike in the driveway. Of course this was after I said, no more "practicing how to ride a bike". So technically he was obeying by pushing it down the driveway. It fell, tripped him up, and he fell on the only exposed part of metal on the handlebars, and made a perfect circle that was cut onto his face. Zach came in white as a sheet saying, "no, mom...he is really hurt." I had to find a ride for Zach to basketball, (of course it is Monday and Lance has to work) and we went in for 6 stitches and a tetanus shot. Sami was so tough and didn't make a peep or budge the entire time. The nurse even gave us the 6 stitches to save on a popsicle stick!

The other first for our family was pulling a tick out of Zach's thigh (Mom, it really is a bug, it has legs)......Tsion's first "real" haircut, (not my hacking the dry ends off), and the first time I have ever heard of a 5 year old opening the fridge and begging me to make broccoli for a snack! I just realized Josh doesn't have a first, and that makes me VERY nervous!!!

Sweet Tidbits

Sami loves to "sit and talk" about Ethiopia. We are learning new things every day as his English improves, and getting small glimpses of their life before America. In Ethiopia he didn't talk alot the first week, so it is quite a change. One cute thing he said to Lance as we were taking off from Addis. He touched his hand to his heart and said "happy".

The sight shock of the streets of Poulsbo must have been indescribable. One thing in particular he missed was the taxis. Where are they? As we were on the freeway on of the first few days, he was looking out the window, and said "there are no blue taxis in America" (blue taxis are 95% of the cars on the road in Addis).


Tsion's favorite sayings are copying what "amaya" or mom says obviously too many times per day. Her favorite the last few days are 'just a minute". She also likes to be the boss, and will put her hands on her hips and say "What did Mommy say", or "listen to Mommy/Daddy", while shaking her finger. Guess it is a girl thing!! My other favorite is "canhaveIpleasehavesomedaddy?" or whatever else is on her mind....Some home, some gameboy etc.........

My favorite quote from Zach was in the first week when he said "we have to most hilarious sister!"

A funny thing happened to Josh when we were in Ethiopia. We were in the taxi, and pulled up to a bus. There were kids on the bus, and a young teenage girl looked at Josh, and stuck her tounge out. It was so shocking, and when we all didn't know what to do, Josh impulsively did the same back. She started cracking up, and we all were laughing so hard. So, from a kid who has never stuck his tounge out in his life, now thats what they all do to each other....but it is no longer funny!