Ethiopia

In a very beautiful part of the country, community transformation is taking place through training as Food for the Hungry, Ethiopia staff build relationships and work with the people teaching them how to grow trees for reforestaion, grow coffee, compost to regenerate the soil, personal hygene and much more.
It is a land of hard work, but hope abounds.
Recently Muslims have been relocated to this part of the country and they live side by side to Christian farmers. There is a great opportunity to develop relationships through child sponsorship programs. I hope to share more about that later.

The community selects individuals who most need the help and these people become 'model farmers' as they put into practice the things that FH Ethiopia staff shows them. It is interesting to observe neighbours copying the things the model farmers are doing and it is encouraging to see the pride that each person has in their accompishments. We have a 2011 Rice Raiser Campaign project in this area to help families become more food secure through growing coffee. From a seedling to a 3 yrs. old plant it can begin to bear coffee beans!

We tasted the BEST coffee ever as it was roasted right in front of us! Everyone drinks coffee there, from the small children to adults and a plant can mature from a seedling to bearing fruit in three to four years.

mmmmm....it was so good! Did you know that it is believed that coffee originated in Ethiopia?

I have a lot of pictures and lots of stories that I hope to share on this blog or on our website a bit at a time.

Ethiopia was beautiful now, but we're told that within 2 - 3 months the whole area will be brown and dried up as the rainy season ends. Stay tuned for more info about this country and stories from our visit to Burundi.

Its a Good Day When...

Having arrived home from Africa to a winter's blast, I called Papa Mike who lives in Boston Bar to check in and see how he was doing. Thankfully, he is doing well and he's keeping warm, he says.

We chatted and I shared a few highlights from our trip. He told me that he had a good day that day and the day before had been good too. I asked him what qualified as a 'good day' and his reply is something that I think can speak to all of us... He said that he had the opportunity to give a ride to someone living there in Boston Bar to the hospital in Hope. This person had trouble breathing...turns out that she has phenomenia. So he stuck around the entire day and he made sure she got her medication and gave her a ride back home.

"So" I said, "Doing something for someone else makes it a good day?"

"Yes." was his simple reply.

I thought, wow...if this was our attitude all the time, if we would but seek opportunities how we can help others and have that our measuring stick for a 'good day', how much better we and the rest of the world would be.

Thanks, Papa, for a life lesson worth sharing. My new challenge is to be more intentional in seeking opportunities to do some good deed for someone else each day. I don't expect to succeed all the time, but every time I remember this and do it, I know I can look forward to having a really good day.

Something else that happened when we came home that made me say WoW! was our home. Not only was it freezing, blowing, cold as the dickens, but we came into Christmas the moment we stepped through the door. Frankie has gone all out and has decorated the house so beautifully! I can't wait till you all see it. I had trouble going to sleep that night in spite of the fact that I'd only had 4 or 5 hours of broken sleep over the past two - three days from all the travel. I just sat there and soaked in the beauty and an idea came to me...
As I gazed on the Christmas tree I thougth that I would like to start a new family tradition for anyone who cares to participate. Under that tree, I would like to have a rustic small cradle built (Randy and/or Frankie, I hope you're reading this and will build it) and I would like to invite all who wish to do so, to place inside the cradle their 'gift' for Jesus. You know, we're always giving gifts to one another, but this one would be for Jesus. It is by giving and doing for others that we gift Jesus because he said that whenever we do something for someone else, we're doing it for him. After all, Jesus is what Christmas is all about. Jesus is God's gift to humankind.

So, this would be something you would like to do for someone else, some loving act of service you intend to do. Write it out on a piece of paper. Then we can share with one another what our gifts are. It doesn't have to be anything extravagent or large or costly. It just has to be a loving act of service.

How about it? Would you like to take part? If so, please write out something that you intend to do and get ready to share it. For myself, I look forward to sharing about a little girl we met in Ethiopia. I'm going to even include a picture.

I am really looking forward to this time and I hope you are too. Maybe some of you aren't there...no worries...this isn't to put pressure on anyone. It's just something I feel would encourage us all to look for opportunities to care for others and in turn, experience what Papa Mike calls 'a good day'!

October 31 - Family Fun

Halloween - I really don't like this celebration. I haven't for years...because of the dark side. Plus, I always am fearful about the stories that follow this day of children who burnt or injured themselves on fireworks. But I do appreciate that many people love it and I do admit it does promote some great fun family times.
Dressing up is always fun and to see the excitment in young and old alike as they plan for and prepare their costumes.And of course the children get so excited over the candy and I enjoy doling it out to them and being rewarded with smiles!

But what I came to realize ever more this year is the opportunity to be creative that this occasion brings out of us.
In the past, I have always enjoyed carving pumpkins and makeing the friendliest, most cheerful big smiled face that I could on a pumpkin. Each year, it would look slightly different depending on the shape and size of the pumpkin and the thickness of the shell compared to the sharpness of my knife. But now a days....wow, the carvings are incredible and much more complex and the pumpkins are so diverse. My family LOVES pumpkins and not only because they make the most wonderful pies!!
I saw Sean strain himself over the BIGGEST pumpkin that he just had to have!


And Frank, (and yes, Randy too), spend their hard earned money to buy pumpkins to carve...and just when I thought they had way too many pumpkins and couldn't possibly use all of them, Frank goes out and buys more enlisting the help of Angela and Christine to spend their entire Saturday afternoon carving!! 23 pumpkins in all!!! What a parade! Our hillside driveway was a beacon to trick-or-treaters in our neighbourhood!
Hope you enjoy the smile boxes below. It was a fun time!!

Ecard personalized with Smilebox

Greeting card generated with Smilebox