letusgive!

Czesc!!! Wow...hard to believe I only have three days of work left at Pacific Coast!  This company has been so good to me...started in September 1986 and now it is October 2013 so 27 years!  A great company and amazing people to have worked with for that period of time.  Still surreal to me but I'm very excited and ready to head into this next 'season' of life. The last blog entry I said there were decisions to be made...well - it has been a decision making month!  Let me tell you...it has been awesome to see things work out and come together.  Ethiopia has not come together as previously thought or hoped for but that is still in process.  In the meantime my 'accountability team'  has affirmed and encouraged my desire to go work with my brother and sister-in-law in Poland!  Actually they live in Hungary but also work in Poland.  So that is the meaning of the greeting above... Czesc is 'hello' in Polish (pronounced tesh-ch) .  So on ...

10/1/13 One month left until I am done at Pacific Coast Supply!  Crazy to think that I've been there for 27 years and a month from now - just gone!  Excited? - definitely!  A little nervous? - defintely!  But ready for this next part of my life - definitely! So my official last month at work was great but I did end up in tears when I bought a paper.  It was 'Shriner Hospital' Day for our local paper so there were people selling the Sacramento Bee at various intersections around town.  Wait...backup.  I went to get gas (at Arco of course) and put in my first bill...no problem; the machine took it.  Second bill - rejected it like 3 times - yes, of course I kept trying.  Finally gave in and just got what gas I could with the first bill.  See where this is going?....yes!  Then I drove through an intersection that was selling those Shriner papers and I was able to buy one since I had some cash! I am a Shriner kid...was in the Shrine...

A little messed up time wise---3:30 a.m. here and I'm awake. 1:30 p.m. in Ethiopia right now. Oh well-it will take a while to adjust back.  But what a great day and country!!!   I had my In-N-Out about 3 hours after landing,  I washed my clothes twice just for good measure---the sound of the washing machine was music to my ears!  And I drove into Sacramento at rush hour--traffic with no cows, goats, people on the road!  All three in a matter of hours...AMAZING.  Great flights home---watched a few movies, napped and got VERY excited when the flight attendant handed me a toblerone chocolate bar!  I asked if I could have a diet coke with it and he said yes...would you like ice?  I got tears in my eyes I was so happy.   Joyful to be picked up by Michael...and my parents are at my Aunts house so family time too:).  Book club last night-- fun to tell some stories and catch up with a few dear friends!   All in all-'re-entry' is go...

Re-entry is a weird deal... 1.  Traffic/roads---so, so different.  And will I really be the one driving again soon?!  I do enjoy driving:) 2. Food---this is talked about by many, not just me. We all agree In-N-Out is the first stop. Ahhhh...a diet coke and cheeseburger with fries!  #2 with no onions please! 3.  Shopping---supermarkets!  One stop shopping like Wal-Mart or Target. Just the thought is a tad overwhelming. I remember my nephews coming to America from Ukraine and there was some concern when I immediately wanted to take them to Toys-R-Us...such excess! 4.  The speed of life. I do enjoy the quickness of my life and doing/getting things done quickly. But there is something to be said for this different, slower, pace of life as well. Lazinrss is not good but pace is an interesting dilemma really.  5.  Cleanliness---rainy season brings mud and I'm a mess!  I truly cannot wait to put in a load of clothes...I may wash them twi...

Showers...such a simple pleasure. But go a while without one and boy howdy!  I let the water wash over me and said 'sweet Georgia brown'---yes, I really did:). Thank The Lord for whoever invented them.  Not too common in the villages of Western Ethiopia:) Having said that---I was torn in leaving Masha. Such a good time with people but Addis does have a few more amenities readily available! Leaving---some people ask for things as we are leaving-not a lot but some. And...it would be so easy to give 1,800 birr (approx $100) and they would do what they want and we would just leave. But that has proven to not help---in fact---it hurts!  Thankfully the church is very 'complete' here and they care for the mind, body and spirit. So various funds (medical, educational, small business) funds have been set up and people can go through those avenues to receive assistance.  In fact, if there is family etc that SHOULD be caring for that person...they will be approached to assi...

We had a party!  All the Presbytery and translation families were invited...hosted by the forenjis:). Good times---Ethiopian ladies did the cooking which of course is better than my cooking!  Karen cooks well...but forenji food and this was traditional Ethiopian. It was excellent and I had talked of some games with kids so we were able to do that too. Three legged race---funny!  Of course we got adults involved---fairly competitive folks I must say. Our driver probably the most--he wanted to win!  We did a word match deal too...an English word and a Shekka ( local language) word. Each person had a word taped to them and they had to find their match...now I was shocked on this one.  Ethiopians are pretty quiet spoken for the most part but this group of 40-50 got pretty loud and chaotic!  It was awesome---Andualem (high school director) was with us as well and he did not like the chaos:)...forever a teacher I guess.  We were all outside and the rain st...

Blog by candlelight today (July 16). The power was on and off the last few hours so here I am! One of my students from 2007, Amanuel Haile, came to see us the other day.  He is working for the beer distributor here in Maasha and taking distance learning (online courses) for Accounting thru the University in Tepi. Yaaaay!   That is great news!  He gifted me today with a bottle of some kind of honey.  It is like a liquid and he said they use it to treat colds etc.  Hmmm...I will ask some more questions to other people to see if I can understand:).  While we were in Tepi we saw the University and they are building a lot. I didn't see any of the students wearing jerseys or sweatshirts with 'TU' on them....and I wonder what the mascot is?!!!  That area is lower elevation and is known for their pineapple, warm weather and bugs (yes-I got mosquito bites!). So I think they should be named the Tepi Pinebugs! Ok...not sure when I can post this...all is wel...