Trip 3, Day 7: The Conclusion

We are grateful for those friends and family who have been so supportive already. It seems like everyone and their dogs are praying for us. Whether they were joking or not, I have been encouraged by some of our dearest friends who have offered to buy us a cow. Keith goes through 2 gallons of milk per week. Oh, Ethiopia has milk, but it's either powdered or $5 per quart. A few other helpful, loving, maybe bizarre offers: Simon has been claimed. There is actually a line of families waiting on us to get out of here so they can have him. Everyone adores him, obviously. A friend asked how she could send me cases of tampons. (She asked me this with neither of us knowing the official tampon situation there, only that products in general are usually of a lower quality. Ahh, the luxury of finely crafted toiletries. Something I will miss.) Many individuals have expressed interest / desire to come for a visit. FYI: I have taken down names and will be contacting you to set up a trip once we move. A family we had nearly lost contact with said they had been praying about moving and now want to come with us. A few friends have already committed to support us financially. Um, we will need many more.

Now, to those of you who are supportive but also secretly praying that God will change our hearts and close all doors, we have sad news. The move to Ethiopia is looking more and more like a done deal with each encounter, experience, conversation, contact, etc. We have said this move is solely the result of where we feel God is leading us. (And, the entire story of how we arrived at that decision will unfold at another time.) We will continue on that path until He leads us elsewhere.

We’ll go ahead and start answering some of the questions you have:

Q. When are you moving?

A. Our goal is to be back here before the end of the first quarter of 2013. That gives us about a year to get things in order.

Q. How will Jessica survive on Ethiopian cuisine?

A. Ah, great question. That was actually my first question as well. We sent a list of questions to the first couple we found living in Ethiopia. The only one I added to the list was, “Can someone live in Ethiopia and not eat injera?” Their reply: “Yes, but with difficulty.” God never promised an easy road. This will just be the price I pay for putting all previous wait staff, dinner guests, hostesses, friends, family, my husband, etc. through hell because of a lifetime of picky eating habits. On that note, I have eaten a surprisingly large selection and amount of food here. Yesterday at a non-tourist-catering restaurant, I finished 80% of my meal. I was told there were no substitutions, withholdings of sauce (Gasp!), or changes to menu items, but the cappuccino came with about a cup of cocoa powder dumped right on top of the tiny porcelain cup. Delectable!