FYI: Since this could be an extremely long post....I will try to keep my words to a minimum and let the pictures speak for themselves.:)
"Nothing in this life will ever matter unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made."
This has recently become one of my favorite quotes!! Actually, my mom & I just painted this saying on the wall in my bathroom at work. It is a really good reminder for me why I do what I do. This work can be really stressful and overwhelming and times. So when I lose sight of my why, it becomes really easy to want to simply through in the towel and give up. However, I do what I do because I love God and I want to love the people He has created in His own image! As hard as it is to be used up, I want to slide across the finish line at the end of up life completely used up. To know that I gave my all to God and loved others in a very real way.
WEDDING
June 4th weekend was Kevin & Nikki's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding!! I am so excited to have Nikki as a sister! She was a stunning and beautiful bride! I love how she brings out the best in Kevin!! I am so happy for both of them! It was also great to be able to see so many friends & family again!! Here are some of the pictures, courtesy of Timeless Moments. They did a excellent job!
ETHIOPIA
A week after Kevin's wedding, I climbed aboard a flight for Ethiopia. As many of you might remember, I went there last year in July. I went with part of the same group this year and then some more.:) Chris & Erica Manz headed up the team again and they brought their 2nd daughter, Malia, and their youngest, Quintin. The rest of the team consisted of Larisa Maibach and her son Yikealo, Jill Wordekemper and her son Carson, Rachel Manz, Phillip Huette, and Richard Manz. We arrived in Addis Sunday morning and spent the day organizing donations, went out for coffee, and sleeping. Then Monday we flew to Mekele, which is in the northern part of Ethiopia. There we spent all week helping build the second floor on the Metekle school. Originally the plan was that we would be painting, however there were some delays and so they were building the concrete walls still. So we spent all week doing a lot more manual labor. The biggest task was carrying these concrete cinder blocks up this eucalyptus tree ramp. Needless to say it was a workout! Not only are you climbing up a steep tree ramp, but it is also really high elevation....so you are out of breath to begin with!:) I was quite proud of myself on Wednesday, because I carried 200 blocks up the ramp!! (180 before noon!!)
Friday we drove out to Samre which is way out in the country. We did a Child Sponsorship distribution and update day. I think this was one of my favorites from the trip, because the drive out there was so beautiful!!! It was very mountainous and grand canyon like in places!! The huts were all made out of stone. Saturday we flew back to Addis. Then Sunday we toured a museum and old palace of one of the emperors....which is nothing like you would like of a palace. Then did some gift shopping. We also went to eat at Lucy's (which is were we ate all the time last year) so that I could get one of my favorite dishes! Which was just like I remembered. :)
The worst part of the trip was that Philip got really sick Sunday afternoon before we were suppose to fly out. They ended up taking him to the hospital and for awhile were hoping that he would still be able to get on our flight. However, he wasn't anywhere near healthy enough to travel because he wasn't able to keep anything down. So Richard & him ended up staying another day in Ethiopia. The rest of our group got on our flight and took off. Then our original 17 hour flight turned into 24 hours.....yah....on the same plane.....never getting off!!!! Talk about long! We took off from Addis at 10 pm Sunday night, then had to circle back to Addis because the water heater wasn't working...therefore the water pipes were freezing up. So we landed back in Addis a little after 1 am and sat on the plan until 5 pm when we were finally able to take off again. Then our refuel in Dublin ended up taking almost two hours rather than the scheduled one. Needless to say the entire plane missed their connecting flights which led to complete chaos when we landed in America...along with some very unhappy people. They were able to get us home that same day though by rerouting us through Chicago to Indy.
The view from my room at Ordinary Hero Guesthouse in Addis Ababa
Carson and Yikealo enjoyed the luxury seating in the airport...
Scaffolding in the school....all eucalyptus trees
Building the walls!
The famous ramp...
The contractor wanted a picture with his youngest workers. :)
Some of the delicious food!!!!
Ethiopian coffee is the absolute best!!!!
Another favorite, was that I got to experience a traditional coffee ceremony!!! Here the ladies are roasting the coffee beans and making popcorn.
One day after work we did some sightseeing in Mekelle
Yikealo showed me the face that nobody can deny....I have to admit, it is pretty good. :)
Yikealo got some traditional clothes from some of his family there!!
Drive out to Samre
