Happy Birthday A....and Happy 2007!

The weekend was a little bittersweet for us.  Mostly sweet, thanks to our trust in the Lord and in HIS timing.  It is amazing the peace he has given us through this time of waiting.  We are trusting that all things are working together for good (Romans 8:28), and He has generously allowed us to have a few glimpses of why His timing is better than ours (which maybe I will write about another day).  

We had a lot to celebrate over the past several days - Ethiopian New Year, A's birthday, and the one year anniversary of some wonderful friends arriving in the US.  Carly and I made some cookies to celebrate these special events.....you may be able to tell who was on sprinkle duty.  :)

Our local Ethiopian restaurant had a special running for New Years, so Jon and I had a little date and stuffed our bellies full of delicious Ethiopian food, coffee, tea, and honey drink.  We chatted with the sweet Ethiopian owner, who confirmed that we are pronouncing A's name correctly :)  We are so blessed to have an Ethiopian community, restaurant, and grocery that are relatively local.  I was able to stock up on my berbere (common spice in Ethiopia) and it was exciting to realize that most likely the next time I buy it, we will be in Ethiopia!  If you are local and an adventurous eater, try Addisu Ethiopian!  Better yet, invite us to go with you :)

A few days ago, our A turned 7.  Seven seems so old.  Especially when we thought he was 5 just a few months ago!  It was difficult to miss his birthday, but birthdays aren't really celebrated in Ethiopia, and he doesn't even know his birthday, so to him it was probably just another day.  We wanted to do something special to celebrate, so we bought a couple blue balloons (his favorite color) and the kids wrote messages on them and then we took them to a field and released them.  As much as I told the kids they won't make it to Ethiopia, I think they still have in their minds that it's a possibility! 

I was hoping for a sweet, magical time.  Carly did not share my sentiments, and sobbed over having to let "her" balloon go.  Since the best field we could find without too many nearby trees and no other people happened to be a cemetery, we didn't feel it was best to hang around with a sobbing child.  We prayed for A, released the balloons, and hightailed it out of there! 

We love you A, and we hope we don't miss another of your birthdays for a long, long time.