Christmas in (H)awassa

When we moved to Awassa it was just that- “Awassa”.  But now (and by now I mean the last few years-we’re a little slow) the thing to do it change the name and/or spelling of towns and cities back to their pre-communism name.  Thus we should now be “Hawassa”.  It’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks- especially when that trick is a silent “H”.  So we vacillate between Awassa and Hawassa.  But it’s the same place.  So bear with our fickleness.

Anywhoo.  Christmas in Awassa.  It was a first.  Not my first in Ethiopia.  I think it was my 14th?  Maybe?  Something like that.  My 17th or 18th in Africa.  But my 1st in Awassa and my 2nd this far away from family.

We really celebrated on Christmas Eve.  In the morning, Ben got a call that we had packages to pick up from the post office.  A Christmas Eve miracle.  And one of the reasons it’s nice that Ethiopians celebrate on the 7th of January and not on the 25th of December- the post office was open!  So Ben went and picked them up and put them under the tree.  Two USPS red, white, and blue boxes nestled under the tree.  It was beautiful.  Really, it was.  My mom and dad had also brought us Christmas gifts when they visited so they were under the tree too.  We felt so incredibly loved…and remembered.  It was perfect.

For Christmas Eve dinner we went over to celebrate with our friends at the Helimission compound.  We had an American/ Swiss/ German/ Canadian feast.  It was delicious.

And there were plenty of kids to entertain and love on Elaine.

Can you tell her dad dressed her?  Those shoes….

We spent the afternoon relaxing with friends and the kids even got to go on a donkey ride.

The big kids got a ride too

Christmas Eve night we read Twas the Night Before Christmas to Elaine and put her to bed while we watched White Christmas (my all-time fave) and sipped on apple cider (ok, maybe it was really hot apple juice, but we pretend).

Christmas day was really low key.  We spent the morning making and eating a delicious breakfast, reading the Christmas story and opening our gifts.  It was exciting and relaxing and fun and anticlimactic all at the same time.

In the afternoon we went to a Christmas service with our fellowship group.  Elaine got all dressed up in her beautiful Christmas dress that a friend made for her.

We also got to skype with our families.  I don’t know if this technology makes it easier or harder to be so far away.  99% of the time it makes it easier, but seeing everyone together, actually touching each other- not just looking at each other through a computer screen, with a big, glowy tree in the background and blocks of cheddar cheese and turkey sandwiches in hand did make us incredibly homesick.  (Ok, they didn’t actually have turkey sandwiches and blocks of cheddar cheese- that would have just been mean.  but you get the point?)

Overall it was a great Christmas…just the three of us.  Celebrating the birth of a King that came into the world in a place that probably looked pretty similar to what most of Ethiopia looks like today.  Animals everywhere, dirt, dust, inadequate healthcare, oppression, no running water (if you’ve delivered a baby, the no running water thing is especially painful to think about).  Even I left this place to have my baby.  And as wonderful as I think Elaine is- she is no King of Kings.  And God sent His son here…for us.  The undeserving.  The depth and pain of that sacrifice was especially evident to me this year.

It’s now January 4th and Christmas is long over and I’m just now getting around to posting this.  Ethiopian Christmas is this weekend- so if you think about it, I’m actually ahead of the game.  We’re looking forward to spending the weekend with friends and celebrating Christmas all over again…this time with a lot less cookies and a lot more injera ba wat.

Merry Christmas from the Taylors!

Tis the season

This past weekend, in the absence of all things Christmas, I decided to host a Ladies Christmas tea.

It was so much fun celebrating with people from all over the world…Ethiopia, India, America, Canada, Sweden…and I’m probably forgetting a few.  It was fun to hear how each culture celebrates this holiday.  We all feel especially far from home at this time of year.

Ben helped me whip up some Christmas goodies to share.  Not so easy to do out here in the middle of a sugar shortage.  But that’s a whole ‘nother story.

It was a special time with some special people.

While we were having our little tea party, Ben and Elaine were doing their own thing…which looked a lot like this:

She’s is definitely a daddy’s girl.  And his identical twin.  I’m finally starting to see what everyone has said since the day she was born.

This week the Hawassa gang also got together to make Christmas cookies.  We went over to our friend, Gitte’s home to make all kinds of Danish treats that I can’t even try to spell or pronounce.  (I was going to make up fancy names, but then I realized my Danish cousins, Erin and Niels, would totally call my bluff.)  They were little vanilla buttery ring things and gingersnap-esque things.  Know what I’m talking about Erin?  So delicious.

 And, if we weren’t getting a Christmas cookie overload already, I decided to make and decorate gingerbread men with some of the kids we know.  Their mom, one of my good friends, has been under the weather and stuck in bed for quite a few weeks and I thought the kids could use the distraction.  And let’s be honest, gingerbread men are just fun.  A big thanks to my friends Rachel and Charlotte for actually doing most of the work:)

And that’s a little bit of what the pre-Christmas activities have looked like around here.  Ben and I have been kind of down this season.  Just missing home I guess.  Kind of ready for it to be over with and for the new year to start.  How’s that for a very un-Christmasy attitude.

And on that note…Merry Christmas!  I hope it’s a cold, snowy, white one, surrounded by all the people you love…oh man that sounds nice.

Making Christmas

It’s easy to forget that Christmas is coming up out here in Ethiopia.  There’s no chill in the air (to say the least) or Christmas parties to go to.  No holiday shopping frenzy or familiar tunes on the radio.  I’m guessing it would be entirely possible to get to January 1st out here and realize you completely missed Christmas.  It doesn’t help that Ethiopians don’t celebrate Christmas until January 7th.  And even then it’s not as big of a deal as Easter and some of the other holidays.

Growing up my mom always made the holidays special.  We had a beautiful tree.  Believed in Santa.  Made Christmas cookies out the wazoo.  Our house even smelled like Christmas during the holidays.  Now, as a wife and mom living back in Ethiopia, I’m realizing what a feat that really was.  There are no stores to run to for lights, no fun ingredients to make beautiful Christmas cookies, no pageants or Christmas concerts to go to.  It’s either a made-from-scratch Christmas or no Christmas at all.

This year Ben, Elaine, and I are celebrating our first Christmas on our own in Ethiopia.  Our first year out here we went back to the US for my sister’s wedding and celebrated Christmas on that side of the ocean.  Last year we had an epic Christmas in the Maasai Mara while on safari in Kenya with our closest friends from UNC.  This year it’s just the three of us- and it’s fun, and lonely, and exciting, and peaceful- all wrapped up in one.

I’m married to Mr. Christmas, so that takes some of the pressure off me.  He actually spent part of Saturday morning making a garland for our front porch from some shrubs from the office.  Yes.  Indeed he did.  I can’t make fun of him, because I loved it….and I also spent my morning making a wreath from those same shrubs.  We’re quite a pair.

We have our supermarket tree up.  Decked with African ornaments from our travels…and whatever else we make or find to hang on a tree.  We’ve also started Elaine’s Christmas ornament collection. Growing up, my parents got my sister and I a new ornament each year from their travels or a major event that happened or a hobby we had (like the little wooden girl with a plate full of food. yup. my favorite hobby was food. no joke).  When we moved out of the house and had our own trees, we were fully stocked with a beautiful collection to hang.  It takes ages to hang them, much to Ben’s dismay, because I have to tell the story behind every single one.  He is a very patient man.  Well we didn’t lug those across the ocean, so he lucked out this year.  Anyways…we started Elaine’s collection.  A beautiful corn husk angel that Ben picked up in Uganda.

One of my favorite parts of Christmas this year has been our Advent study.  I’ll be honest.  I wanted to do the whole Advent thing because I thought it would make it feel more like Christmas.  But in the midst of my selfishness, God decided to do something beautiful.  He’s good like that.  This is the first year that I’ve really studied what Advent means.  The anticipation has been building- not just for Christmas, like I had intended, but of the coming of Christ.  And not just the warm and fuzzy image of a little baby Jesus asleep in a manger, but the whole glorious and powerful and earth-shaking idea of Christ’s upcoming arrival.  Takes my breath away just thinking about it.

This Christmas will be different for sure.  Being this far away from family and friends leaves a very evident hole in our hearts during this time of year.  But we’re trying to embrace the empty space and turn it into something great…something that it probably was supposed to be in the first place.  Blank slates are good, right?  Remind me of all of this on Christmas day when we’re skyping with our family and watching them open presents and eat turkey and being merry together a million miles away.

What could be better than celebrating out first Christmas as a family of 3 in the motherland?  Well I can actually think of a few things, but that’s besides the point.  What I’m trying to tell myself is that it’s a good time to start new traditions and maybe focus a little more on what this whole season is really all about.

So here’s to our first Taylor family Christmas on this side of the ocean…

Melkam Genna! (Merry Christmas!)

Skype Love

This makes me so happy and so sad all in the same breath.

I love, love, love Skype and how it makes the thousands of miles between us seem not so far.  And I love seeing Elaine smile at her Aunt Kristen and little David and their voices.  But I do not love not being there in person.

Sometimes I feel especially far away.  Tonight is one of those nights.

Thank you Jesus for Skype.

49 hours later…

Exactly 49 hours after we left for the airport (the first time) in Charlotte we were FINALLY back in our home in Awassa, Ethiopia.

packing up all the essentials

ready to go

It’s now Monday evening (but who knows when I’ll post this…our internet is out of commission) and our bags are unpacked, Elaine is sleeping, dinner’s ready and I feel at peace…even if it’s just for a moment.

Getting here was rough.  I don’t think there is any way to make traveling around the world with a new little baby easy.  It didn’t help that we had a 12 hour delay right off the bat.  But it all worked out and we somehow arrived in Addis in one piece, minus our luggage.  C’est la vie.

 lots of airport hang time

so excited for her first flight

Elaine was a trooper through the whole trip.  Well besides the part when we sat down on the first 9+ hour flight and she screamed like crazy.  Maybe it was because they made her wear a seat belt, a very tiny seatbelt.   Or maybe it’s because they changed our tickets to US Air and those flight attendants are not very pleasant.  She cried enough to scare the other passengers  and then promptly fell asleep and slept the whole flight…in my arms.  That is a long flight…even longer when you’re holding a baby.  We may or may not have put her on the ground between our feet for a little bit.  Desperation.

elaine and her first passport

After a long layover in Frankfurt we boarded the final leg of the trip to Addis.  We flew Lufthansa and they were like a breath of fresh air after the first airlines.  Elaine had her own little bed and could sleep without the fear of me dropping her as I dozed (well that was my fear at least).  And the flight attendant brought her little toys and Ben some stronger drinks to make the trip more bearable:)  She slept all the way to Addis and even through immigration and customs.

Our bags didn’t arrive, but Elaine’s bag of extra diapers and clothes arrived so we were good to go.  Ben and I didn’t even mind that we had to wear the same clothes again- well maybe we minded a little.  Our rule of always packing a spare set of clothes in our carryon was overruled as we crammed in Elaine’s essentials.  But we did sneak in some clean underwear- score!  One thing that didn’t arrive was Elaine’s carseat base.  After it was ingrained in my head in the US that it was illegal to drive with a baby not in a properly installed car seat, I felt strange, and somewhat criminal, driving through Addis with her on my lap.  Welcome to Africa.

We finally arrived back at the guest house.  Took showers (they had water.  Hallelujah!) and fell into bed.  All three of us slept through the night, minus the few times I woke up to see if Elaine was still breathing- I did not expect her to sleep that well at all!

Early the next morning we hopped in the van, picked up our luggage that had arrived on another flight in record time, and started the very last leg of our trip to Awassa.

Elaine enjoyed the scenery for sure:)

We were greeted at our home in Awassa by our co-workers and friends and a beautifully prepared feast of Doro Watt (traditional Ethiopian food).   So, so good.  How many people are welcomed home with a coffee ceremony in their living room?  We are blessed for sure.

Elaine experiencing her first coffee ceremony with LemLem

So now we’re home and the reality of it all is setting in.  On Tuesday Ben leaves for Addis and begins two weeks of traveling.  I’m not too excited about being left alone here with Elaine.  I’m thankful for good friends here that I’ve been missing, but they sure can’t replace a husband.

exhausted babe

Oh, I almost forgot…Mactintosh!  He was mucho excited to have us back home.  He really isn’t that interested in Elaine.  He’s sniffed her diaper and licked her head and peaced out.   When she cried he hid under the bed.   I think it’ll be a while before I leave them alone together.  He’s now an outside dog…other than when we let him inside.  Um, ok, maybe he’s sleeping at my feet as I write this:)  I’m such a sucker when he looks at me with those puppy dog eyes.

(cute outfit courtesy of Auntie Sherri:)

Ok, I made it through a whole post without complaining about the water situation, but I just have to say….I MISS AMERICAN SHOWERS!  The four drips (yes, I counted them this morning) of lukewarm water that come out of our showerhead just don’t cut it.  We have got to get that fixed.  Ok, I’m done.

Love from the motherland,

Kelly

from across the sea…

3 years ago today I was walking down the aisle to marry the love of my life.  3 years.  In the best way possible it seems like it has been much, much longer.  In those 3 years we’ve lived in Charleston.  Started new jobs.  Moved to Ethiopia.  Started new jobs again.  Traveled the world a little bit.  And ended it with a little more excitement- finding out we were pregnant.  It’s been a big 3 years.

Unfortunately we’re celebrating this anniversary a couple of thousand miles apart.  And it stinks.  A lot.  But thanks to a pretty rough skype connection, we were able to talk and pretend we weren’t quite so far apart.  Right now his days are consumed with college kids, hyenas, orphanages, drilling, and bad restaurant food.  My days are full of family time, shopping, baby preparations…and cheesecake.  Our lives are very different right now.  But in less than a week we’ll be reunited and it will be sweet for certain.

I love you Benjamin Taylor.  How I ended up with the most patient, kind, funny, and encouraging man is beyond me.  I am so thankful that God brought you into my life 6 years ago.  Looking forward to the next 70+ years by your side.  Now just hurry up and get back over here so we can have this baby and really get this show on the road!

Leaving

It’s hard to believe that on Friday we’ll head up to Addis and on Tuesday I’ll start my journey back to the U.S.  The days are now dragging by.  so. slowly.  Ben is already packed for his trips to Kenya, Langano, and the US.  But I can’t bring myself to get going.  Packing always throws me into a funk.  So I put it off for as long as possible.

I’m in a strange wishy-washy mood about leaving.  Looking forward to so many things, but also a little melancholy about what I’ll miss about this place.  Or maybe I just don’t want to pack.

So here are a few things I’m looking forward to…

•  Electricity.  All the time.  How glorious that sounds.  (we were without it 5 out of 7 days this past week)
• Water pressure in the shower
• Hot water in the kitchen sink
• A glass of cold milk not made from powder or straight from an udder
• Family, lots of family
• Seeing my big sister’s baby bump!
• Walking in the neighborhood without a cacophony of kids (and adults) shouting “You, you, you”,  “Money, money, money” and “Ferenji!”
• Grocery stores.  Big, beautiful grocery stores.
• Smooth Roads
• Being clean.  Squeaky clean.
• Not having to deal with Skype and a slow internet connection
• Not having to plan life around shortages- diesel, butter, sugar, water, electricity (right now we can’t find butter, sugar, or eggs in town- so much for filling my eternal cake craving)
• Delicious food
• Being incognito in a crowd (surprise, surprise, we don’t blend in very well here)

And a few of the things I’ll miss…

• The smell of coffee roasting in the morning and wafting into each room of the house
• Free avocados (We have a pretty bad habit of eating them every day.  lots of them.  And they are oh so good!)
• Macchiatos for 25 cents and fresh mango juice too
• Mangos, guavas, passion fruit, and bananas growing in the backyard just sitting there ready for snack time/ middle of the afternoon cravings
• Mackers, aka: Macintosh (he’ll be on his own for a long time- hope he survives!)
• Limited choices (Did I really just say that?  But it’s true.  I’m an indecisive person.  Here I  have 1 type of soap to choose from.  Not 5 billion.  I’m fine with that)
• Injera ba watt (Traditional Ethiopian food. I could eat it every day and not get tired of it.)
• Community, both Ethiopians and Ferenjis that are always there for us (it doesn’t hurt that I am treated like royalty while I’m pregnant- I like that part of this culture:)
• Our home.  Being alone- just the 2 of us here.  Strange to think that the next time we’ll come back to this house there will be 3 of us.  Wow.

Good thing we’re coming back here after this baby is born- or this list would be a lot longer.  This country certainly holds a big part of my heart.  The other day Ben and I were calculating how long I’ve lived in Africa.  20 years.  Can you believe that?  20.  I can’t.  You’d think my skin would have turned a few shades darker after that many years.  But no.  I will forever be fair, blonde, and blue-eyed.  Your typical African.      

   

All that aside, we’re really ready to be in the US for a bit.  I have my final doctors appointment on Tuesday morning before I fly out.  Hoping I get the thumbs up to cross the atlantic.  Also hoping the ash stays away from Rome, the flight goes fast, and I get to Charlotte safe and sound.  It’s a long flight – 30 weeks pregnant or not.

Then the countdown for Ben to arrive in America will begin.  He leaves a month from now.  Hoping those weeks apart fly by!  

Birthday Love from Across the Pond

Today my dad, Mr. Joseph Brownlee Harding turns the big 60!  It’s been especially hard to be this far away for such a special day.

If you have ever met my dad, you know what a special guy he is.  If you haven’t met him, I hope you get a chance to someday.  I have been incredibly blessed to have him as a father and an example of Christ in my life.  He is the most patient man and after being surrounded by 3 women for the last twenty-something years, he’s also the most sensitive, encouraging, and complimentary man you’ll meet.  He never has a bad thing to say about anyone- and more than that, I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about him.  Ever.  (ok, I’m sure my sister and I have been a wee bit negative after a spanking or two, but that’s beside the point:).   And he loves, loves, loves people…all people.  He is equally at home in the palace of the president and in a mud hut with a friend- and you can see him switch between the two effortlessly in one day.  He’s a rare breed, my dad.  The older I get the more I realize what a rarity he is.  I wish every girl could have a father like him- this world would be a very different place.

    Happy Birthday Dad!  I love you!

Lake Victoria

We just made it back to Awassa after a looong time away from home (at least it felt like a long time).  We’re in the midst of unpacking our Uganda bags and packing up again to head up to Addis tomorrow to pick up the Taylors!  We’re so excited for them to get here for their very first taste of Africa!

Our time in Uganda came to a good close.  Can’t say we weren’t ready to hop on that plane and make the quick 2 hour flight back home.  The conference ended well in Entebbe and we celebrated by going on a fishing excursion in Lake Victoria.  Word has it that there have been some BIG nile perch caught in those waters (200+ lbs!).  Needless to say we had some pretty high hopes.

Our fishing boat.  Just kidding.  Fellow fishermen on the water.

First catch of the day!  Almost a 200 pounder;)

Ben hard at work

Our group of expert fishermen (LWI+Water is Life)

Stopped at a little island in the lake for a picnic lunch

My dream vacation bungalow

After a wonderful day at sea (felt like sea at least- that is one big lake!) we headed into Kampala for a few days with some of David’s friends.  We were able to hear a little bit about the work they are doing there with refugees and child soldiers there- incredible stuff.

We were also able to squeeze in some more shopping.  During the conference we took a day trip into town to do a little shopping with some LWI peeps, but we got hung up in the grocery store (they have Uchumi!:) So when everyone got back to the bus with their beautiful souvenirs and trinkets  all we had was a bag of apples (miss those!), Dr. Pepper, and chocolate.  Can you tell where our priorities lie?  Anyways, on Friday we were able to go the market and the do some Christmas shopping before catching our flight back to Addis.

I had visited Uganda once before, but it was fun to go with Ben and introduce him to his first African country outside of Ethiopia.  It really is a whole different ballgame.  I don’t want to go as far as to say that I wish Ethiopia had been colonized (i don’t!), but I sure do appreciate some of the infrastructure left behind by the Brits.  In general there is such a different feel to the place.  Over dinner one night we were talking about how Ugandans will refer to themselves as “Africans”.  They talk about their African culture or their African brothers and sisters or their African cuisine.  Growing up in Ethiopia “African” was almost a dirty word.  Never in my whole 17+ years in Ethiopia have I heard an Ethiopian refer to themselves as an African in casual dialog.  It’s different here.  We’re our own little universe.  I don’t live in Africa, I live in Ethiopia.  Strange, eh?  And really when you hop between the two, you realize just how different they really are.  I mean, I had a Dr. Pepper and legit sushi over there.  Now that was just plain crazy.

When we arrived back in Ethiopia we were greeted at the airport by my mom and dad.  We were able to overlap for a few precious hours before they flew out to NC last night.  Of course we were welcomed back with a dead car as well. Arg.  So we spent the day at the shop and running a few errands.  My mom and I also managed to fit in a pedicure while the men went off to their meetings.  Rough life.

Man, I miss them already!  Last night after they left I was lying in bed feeling restlessly homesick.  Home was 5 hours south in Awassa, home was somewhere in a plane over the ocean, home was several thousand miles away in North Carolina, and home was lying right next to me.

And all this restlessness makes me crave heaven just a little bit more.

A Quick Langano Weekend

Last night Ben and I got back from a weekend at Lake Langano.  Now, sitting at my desk munching on a guava from the backyard and screening through the emails in my inbox (or avoiding that obviously), it feels like a long time ago.  I don’t even know what day it is.  Someone mentioned they were on fall break and it blew my mind…is it fall already?  Besides the dying passion fruit leaves outback, there is no evidence of autumn over here.  Ooh, a pumpkin spice latte would be so nice right about now.

Ok, back to the weekend.  We were able to spend a little bit more time with David and Ryan {our house guests for the past few weeks- David’s the one who took our new pic up at the top of the page} before meeting up with the Church at Charlotte team and my momma.  I don’t know what it is about Church at Charlotte, but they somehow always manage to send really neat teams out here. We enjoyed spending time with them and showing them a little glimpse of what WiLi is doing out here.  They are always so excited to see and hear about what we’re doing that it makes our job really easy.  Their strong NC accents don’t hurt either- feels like home:).

Of course the highlight of the weekend was getting to see my mom for a few brief minutes here and there.  In true motherly form, she came laden with american goodness- like cheddar cheese and turkey (for their favorite- Ben) and shampoo and other necessities too. {Danke mom!}  Tomorrow we’ll get to spend about an hour with my dad before we head out to Uganda.  Bad timing.

We’re looking forward to a little detour from the routine {did I just say routine?  I didn’t know our lives had any of that}  but yes, we’re looking forward to a change of scenery for the next week and a half as we meet with Living Water International and talk Water for a few days.

Parting shot courtesy of David Strauss: