Negative Five Star Hotel

Why did we not have a blogpost yesterday? Well, we were in a town called Ambo and the Germans overtook the good (and apparently only decent) hotel in town. Germans have a history of overtaking things.... but in the case I wish they could have waited one more day.

Tonight's our last night in Ethiopia and some people have already left. Tomorrow we have church with the students from the youth development program and then some time for shopping before our 11:30pm flight. We will be picking out our gift for one commenter. The name will be drawn from a hat on the way home:)

Currently, the young girls are upstairs crafting it up and eating melty chocolate. We can hear their laughter and it is wonderful that they have bonded so well. Halley and Anna are already planning their return to Ethiopia.

We had some wonderful visits at the orphanages yesterday. Today we went to one place expecting 140 kids and there were 300 kids along with their mothers and siblings! We had to get creative fast with some fancy footwork and only half the supplies! I will post more fully about that later as it is already midnight here. We have some great pictures and stories.

For now. Here are some photos of our scary hotel. Where would one even start on the trip advisor review!

Thanks for prayers. Our Wisconsin team is currently good. Sadly one mother and daughter missed the last two days due to illness but we were very thankful they weren't on the bus!

 I need to add a few additional details to complete the picture.
The water in the hotel tub didn't work (but not like we were really thinking of going in there.) We now have a whole new appreciation for what can be accomplished with wet wipes and all vowed never to travel without LOTS of them!
When we woke up and saw our view of the concrete brick wall out our window.We pressed our noses closer to see outside we noticed a door to a house down the long alley and right before us was what appeared to be designated "bathroom." Obvious because it was "in use."

Oh Happy Day!

Coffee! Oh, how I have missed you. But it is clear this morning we are not in Wisconsin anymore.

Breakfast. Then off we go.

Contest! Interested in a gift from Ethiopia? I will be selecting something special for one lucky follower . I will see to delivery if you are in the continental USA. If you are elsewhere i will hold it until we see each other next! Just comment! We will have a drawing at the end of the trip. Each comment gets your name in the hat !

Packing It In!

I'm packing it in.   I am a terrible packer.  I travel often and one would think I would be getting pretty good at packing but I'm not.  Really, really not.  I've even watched Youtube videos on packing thinking I just need a system ....but they haven't helped.  I just find myself hating those packing "know-it-alls."  They are not only good packers with a system but then they went and made a video about it too!  When it comes to packing, what I am is a good Packer fan!  Yeah! That is what I am.  Go Green BayPackers!   

A few years ago I was at a friends house where I was going to watch their kids for a bit when they went to Romania and India for a few weeks.  My friend was living with stage 4 cancer, but was feeling pretty good and really wanted to go to India to see her husband receive his honorary doctorate.  We spent the day I arrived visiting and going over the routines and routes I was going to need to keep the balls juggled while they were gone.  When it was getting late and we had been visiting for a long time she announced to me she had better go upstairs.  I said, "sure it's late, you have an early start tomorrow." I was thinking she was heading up to go to bed.  But no.  She was going up to PACK!  For a two week trip she was starting at bedtime.  The craziest part of all was she came downstairs about ten minutes later all packed!  Not only was she packed but it was in a little duffle and she left room inside of that duffle for gifts!  I had her show me what she packed.  Yup.  She did it.  I have pretty much resigned myself to defeat ever since that experience.  

Anyway, here I am five hours from the time I need to wake up to start this long journey and I am still packing.  Things are more interesting when packing a hundred pounds of supplies to bring to another country. My friend Cathy who travels to Columbia once a year to do medical work sent me these awesome bags.  You have probably seen infomercials on them.  I did and ignored them. I thought it was just one more thing to pass by in the impulse aisle at Walgreens.  But they really work.  Fill the bag, attach the vacuum and wallah!  Shrink wrapped stuff.  Once in the suitcase I discovered everything took up much less room....but it still weighed a ton.  So then I got to unpack, weigh, repack, weigh, pack again.  You get the picture.

Well.  I'm calling it "almost" done.  And I will sort the rest out in the car as we start the six hour drive to the airport to begin our travels.  Africa and Ethiopia here we go!  

All these photos are of things I am bringing to give away.  My clothes are in a small carryon :) and I probably have more than I need in there. But  my backpack looks like a small college dorm fridge with about as many snacks.....but no liquids....how the airline frowns on those liquids.  

                                Tomorrow begins a long day of travel........and will end sometime here.......

                                                   

Date Night at the Dollar Store

Paul and I have been married 33 years....so far. ....so good....

Over the years we have had many date nights. In the early years when we had three kids ages five and under we sometimes would find ourselves at the grocery store wasting time after our dinner date....just so we wouldn't have to do the lengthy nightly bedtime ritual and have a "real" night off. When you live in a small town there aren't many options. We were glad to have the grocery store. It's really grand central station in our town most of the year. Although, the hockey rink usually has a good share of locals too especially in the winter. But the grocery store is definitely more romantic. Especially when you hang out in the card aisle and hand each other beautiful hallmark verse that you are too cheap to actually buy. But I digress.....

Last week we went to the dollar store for our date. We loaded up on gifts for our new kids. It was fun. I took the girl because I know girls ! Paul took the boys. First time he ever had to think about what a seven and an eight year old might like. It was fun.

Here's some of our goodies. We added our own family photos and we will write a letter to go in each goodie bag! I can't believe next week I get to meet these special little people!

You KNOW its big when a blog starts with a woman (me..yikes) admitting her AGE!!!!

Well there is a first time for everything.  And this is one of them.

In June of this year I will turn 55.  That's a lot of years. In my twenties I thought that 50 was ancient! Approaching this milestone has made me realize that I need to look ahead and make conscious choices about what I do and how I spend my time. I decided this year I will try to say "yes" to as much as is possible.  Even if what I am saying "yes" to is way outside my comfort zone.  It's now or never with many things. At my age, I know that life can change in an instant. So it's now!

What have I said "yes" to so far this year? Well, it's only February, but I've already said yes to two big things. First, last week I participated in a half marathon. Don't be impressed, I only ran a little bit of it. But I made it the whole 13.1 miles, in honor of a friend who died of a mitochondrial disease at age 43. I ran with her sisters and friends to raise money for research on the disease, and it was a difficult and wonderful and memory-making experience. My blisters have blisters, but I'm glad I said "yes!"

 The second thing I said "yes" to is an even greater leap into the unknown for me. On March 9 I will be traveling to Ethiopia on a Mission Trip with a group of women from our community. It will be challenging in many ways. The flight itself takes over 24 hours, I've had to get lots of shots and will be on Malaria medication during the trip (where the instructions say "if you throw up the first pill be sure to take a second within the hour" yeah. I think this explains why I recently found a half bottle of unused Marlaria meds from Caitlyns trip...whats a mother to do? Glad I didn't know that then), food and water will be questionable, and there is significant land travel to outlying areas once we are there. We have to bring all our own supplies from the states. Rumor has it we will even be bringing live goats with us for a meal in a remote area. Yes, this is well out of my comfort zone.

I hemmed and hawed about whether to go (I've never done anything like this trip before!) but finally, after a lot of prayer and discussion, said "yes." The very next day Paul and I got word that the pipes froze in our house while we were away.  Imagine that timing!  Had I known that a day earlier I would not have made the decision to go.    

 What We'll Be DoingIn Ethiopia, the team and I will be visiting orphanages and care points to provide aid. We will also have the privilege of teaching and playing with these precious children. We are going to serve and give special attention to the children and women.  We will spend time a site of "at risk" girls who are too old for the orphanage and need skills to be able to support themselves so they don't end up on the streets. We will go to the city of Korah, a leper colony which is a trash dump that has 100,000 people and children living with HIV and aids. No one goes there because they think these people are cursed and unimportant. A great four minute video on Korah ishttp://youtu.be/f4pgQvgdNqs.  We will also  visit the Princess Tsehai Hospital that provides surgery for women suffering from fistulas.  A fistula is a condition caused by childbirth in developing nations that makes women into outcasts. Women suffering from fistulas are ostracized by their families, divorced by their husbands and forced to live alone where others won't have to smell them.  The hospital we will visit has provided corrective surgeries since 1962 (usually costing around $300) that give women their lives back. It is documented in a wonderful PBS special, called "A Walk to Beautiful." You can find here if you are interested. http://video.pbs.org/video/980049841 The New York Times calls Dr. Catherine Hamlin,  and author of "The Hospital by the River, a Story of Hope"  "the new Mother Teresa of our age" for what she has done through  her and her husbands life work performing surgery and spending her life helping the Ethiopian women.

Ethiopia has been of interest to me since 2006 when my daughter Caitlyn spent a summer working in an orphanage in Addis Ababa. Her experiences from that trip touched my heart. I look forward to meeting some of the people and experiencing what she saw during her time there (except for the part about ringworm.) 

In addition, our family has also been supporting a child in Ethiopia through Compassion International for many years. I have been getting letters and pictures from our daughter there for a long time. It has been a wonderful exchange and we so enjoyed it we are now adopting several more children that I look forward to meeting on this trip! Paul finally gets some boys in the family!!

How You Can HelpPlease pray for us! We will need every prayer. As I said earlier, this is far out of my comfort zone, but I felt God's tug, so I am going. Pray for safety for us; pray that the work we do would encourage the children and the workers; pray that through us these orphanages would be blessed. Pray that we would be able to listen to God's leading and participate in his work throughout the trip and remain healthy.

In addition to your prayers, you can support the team in the following ways:

1) Support a child. (this little cutie pie is still available for adoption :))

The organization we are traveling with is called Childrens Hope Chest and they provide opportunities to sponsor orphans in many countries.  The monthly commitment to sponsor a child is $34.00. You and your child can exchange letters and photos. The really cool thing about CHC is that since we are personally visiting these sites we can meet your child and establish a connection for you. If you are interested in "adopting" a son or daughter for your family, I would gladly make that connection for you, if possible, deliver whatever you would like, and photograph the meeting.  You can choose your child from the Chapa care point yourself by going here: http://www.hopechest.org/sponsor-a-child/<http://www.hopechest.org/sponsor-a-child/> Here are a few pictures of my grand daughter Aleah and her mommy choosing her new big sister.  I am bringing her their "heart" and a headband we made for her.

2) Support our trip financially. If you'd like (and really, no pressure at all!), you can support us with a tax deductible gift through the Children's Hope Chest at www.hopechest.org <http://www.hopechest.org/> . Here you can select "GIVE" and complete the form with Reference #ET130302T and "Barb Belcher" in the "Notes" section.
I will be blogging about the trip while I am there. If you want to follow our travels, check out http://northbynorthwoodz.blogspot.com<http://northbynorthwoodz.blogspot.com/> . I hope to post as often as I can.
Thank you for your love, prayers, and support. I'm nervous, but excited, too.

Love from the northwoods (and soon from eastern Africa!),Barb"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. " James 1:27