The older I have gotten the more I have a desire for things to be in their place. It is difficult sometimes with three children, a fantastic husband, and of course, myself.  I love the way order looks and feels.  So why do I forget to close the cabinet doors?  Or clean out the car? Life gets messy. We had an amazing opportunity yesterday at church to talk about Ethiopia and our experiences there. God revealed himself in so many ways. He showed me that I am a mess.  I forget daily to accept His grace. In my refusal to accept that grace I often struggle with giving it. It was a tug of war in my heart. I begged God to change me then I did not want to see what needed to be changed. It got messy.  Now that we are back I can start the process of putting everything we own in its place. We use to live out of 9 rubber maid containers. Now we have more space than we have had in years. We have been blessed with clothes to wear, couches to sit on, dishes to eat off of, and a house to put all those things in. As I work at finding a place for everything, there is one thing that I need to deal with daily. My heart everyday needs to be put in the hands of our loving father, because that is where my life belongs.  Living is messy but if I intentionally place my life in God’s hands, everything else will find its right place. While things are still messy, and my life is still unpredictable, I am thankful to know that I can put one thing in its place and that one thing will make all the difference.

Messy girl loving a Perfect God,

Christina

We have been stateside for a little over twenty-four hours
now. It is still surreal I feel like I am happily dreaming and I feel like
something is wrong at the same time. We shouldn’t be here, my brain says, but
it is so wonderful to be here my heart says. The truth is that we should be
here because that is what God has planned. I should do all things without
grumbling and questioning it says in Philippians. I can honestly say there is
not much grumbling going on but I struggle with questioning. I do not
understand why we were only there for only four months. I do not understand why
just when I felt like we had transitioned and our family had been the most
rooted that we had been in a year, we were again uprooted. On our last day we
drove to Dukem, Ethiopia and looked at the property. We saw the building, the
wall going up, and the bananas growing on the tree. There is such a peace on
the property, a beautiful building surrounded by majestic mountains. As I
walked through the building and started questioning, I came across a scripture
which was written on the bare wall. It was also from the book of Philippians:

And I am sure of this; he who began a good work in you will
bring to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6

Immediately tears came to my eyes and I was assured of God’s
provision once again. I don’t know what our next twenty-four hours will hold,
none of us do. However, I know who holds them and that makes all the
difference.

Thanksgiving morning we went to the Lion Zoo in Addis Ababa. It was amazing to see those huge creatures so close up. At times we were only two fences and five feet away from the great lions. It’s hard to describe their majesty. It was like looking at Aslan from Narnia in the eyes. The fear and wonder that I experienced reminded me of the fear and wonder that we have towards God. The beauty and power of the lions is obvious and to be respected. God’s power, majesty and beauty exceed that of any animal and person we have ever seen. Since He is for us, nothing can be against us. I am truly thankful for that experience on a day when we are reminded to be thankful for all of our many gifts.

We had the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving at Haile and Tsedale’s house and some men from America. The men were with Source of Light Ministries in Monroe, Georgia. They were in Ethiopia for a couple of weeks doing training classes for leaders in Ethiopia. The men were Ben Watson, Les Fox and Pastor Musphil (who is an Ethiopian pastor whose congregation is in Atlanta,Georgia). We had a traditional Ethiopian meal including shiro, greens, injera and beef. After that wonderful lunch we had dinner which was a bbq. It was meat. Haile cooked meat on the grill and we sat around their yard enjoying kolo, bunna, and yummy meat. The conversation was so wonderful. The guys from Source of Light were so inspiring. God is doing such great things in Ethiopia, for that and many other reasons I am thankful.

November 28, 2011

Jack’s Blog

We went to the Lion Zoo. They were scary. They were eating meat. The lion zoo had a lot of lot of monkeys and a monkey had a mustache. We saw a deer and we think it would jump around and run over to us. I could hop on the deer and say “whoo!!” then we would run to Amber and I would say “Hi Amber” then we run all the way to Kandi and I say “Hello Kandi”. We ride on the cars thing. I ride on a batman car the super hero and I said “look I’m the greatest super hero of all!!”Izabella rode a motorcycle. Caleb rode a teeny tiny fun car. I said “When I grow up I want to marry you Anna” (Anna is the daughter of Amen’s teacher. We spent the day with them on Sunday. She is in 7th grade!!)

Mama’s words about Jack: This morning our boy turns 4 years old! It’s hard to believe he has been a part of our family for that long and It’s hard to imagine life without him. He woke up this morning wearing his spider man shirt as cute as can be. Lying on the couch as I type this he says “Mama, I still want to marry Anna” The boy that God has given us is an amazing boy, he is our shepherd who is so concerned about the safety of his flock/family. He loves the bible and eagerly awaits bed time when he listens to the audio bible. He has long eyelashes and a cute little dimple when he smiles that melt hearts. How thankful we are for Jackson Howard Sabo.

November 23, 2011

Mercato-Today Team Ethiopia Ladies and Tsedale went to the Mercato. This is the place where you could buy anything that you could ever need. Tires, necklaces’, knives, wooden crosses, clothing, shoes, scarves, mops, artificial flowers, soccer ball shaped tea pots; anything you could want is available here. There are several large buildings with flea market style booths throughout. When you walk through all the vendors are trying to get you to spend time looking at their goods. It is amazing how many items that they can fit into such a small space. They hold out their goods and assure us that we can look for free! The general rule of thumb that Tsedale taught us about bartering is to offer the vendor half of what they ask and work from there. Izabella was a pro and she made our first purchase of the morning. A cute ring with a giraffe print painted on it. When purchasing other items Izabella would whisper our offer into my ear and once I approved it, she would tell the vendor our price. The vendors were amazed by her ability to barter and she on two occasions received items for free because of her clever cuteness. I had a great time watching Izabella become part of the Ethiopian culture. The experiences that she has had are priceless.

“Emos” Jack is such a character. Jackson used a plastic crayon box and called it his lap top. He lodges a broken crayon into the side and calls it his zip drive. On this lap top he types “emos” to his cousin Trey. He also makes people “watch” movies like planet earth and veggie tales. He asked me this morning if we could go to the “Internet store” so that he can send his “emos”. So tomorrow I will have a date with my little man and take the walk to the internet store to send his emos out.

Compost- Caleb has become such a great helper. We have a container next to our trash can that holds food trash. We take that compost and add it to a pile of trash near our apartment. During meal prep we can count on Caleb to take banana peels and tomato bits and add it to the compost bin. On laundry day when I need to hang clothes out to dry Caleb again is a huge help. He first hands me the clothes pins, then one by one hands me a piece of wet laundry so I can put them on the clothes line. He smiles his huge goonchy (cheeky) smile and is so proud of his accomplishments.

Mercato, Emos, Compost, OH MY has God given us so many blessings with the children attached to these stories. We are entertained, challenged and unconditionally loved by them. On the Eve of Thankgiving I am reminded of how thankful I am for them.

Adults and Friends

I decided to take an idea from my fantastic Izabella and type up a blog about the friends that I have met and grown to love while here in Ethiopia.

Yina Grand Guys- The first couple of weeks in Ethiopia we stayed in a hotel inDukem. This is where we met Eto, Zet, and Fishoop. Eto was the concierge of the hotel and made sure that things were good and helped entertain us by bringing birds into the building for us to watch/be scared of. Zet and Fishoop were our waiters daily. They started our language study and fed us yummy food. Fishoop was also the waiter that Michael and I had on our first date night in Ethiopia. The team watched our kids and Michael and I sat at a table alone.  Fishoop brought us our Ambo waha (carbonated water) like it was a fine wine. He also brought us a special meal. It was a fun night to remember.

BSF friends- These women welcomed me into their class, bless, and challenge me week after week.

Florah- she is from Kenya and is my BSF group leader. She is the sweetest soft spoken lady.

Blene- She was the first friend I made while here. She is also in my BSF group and is full of wonderful knowledge and great bible insight.

Abigail- She is has a transparency that I love. She speaks the truth and is not afraid to tell of her weaknesses. She also has several children. Jack and one of her sons are in the same English Sunday School class, and we both have babies named Caleb that stay in the church nursery. We hope to have a play date sometime this week.

Aya Supermarket- This is the place where we get our water and the bulk of our items. The employees there are: Raheema, Fateya, Zertoomb, Zeekayee, Dino, and Huhmet. These precious people struggle daily with our Amharic language attempts. They graciously repeated their names till I could remember them. They rejoice with us when we understand how much our tomatoes, carrots, and bananas cost. They are truly a bright spot in our quest for groceries.

Shoa Bakery- The family that owns it is beautiful inside and out. They are in an area of town that is congested and a big traffic area so we really don’t like to go there. Their friendly faces and helpfulness makes it worth the trip.

The Internet Store- We have to walk less than five minutes to get to the internet café’. It is a place about the size of a large master bathroom that has eight computers lined up against the wall and shelves of office supplies. This was one of the first places that we tried to learn peoples names and create relationships. There is a girl there named YellemBrahan, her sister Senate and Samahar. When we first went there we were calling YellemBrahan the wrong name, her name means “Light of the World” but the way we pronounced it meant “No Light” OOPS!! She was too sweet to correct us; thankfully our language school nurturers corrected our mistake.

Vivian- She is a 22 year old girl from Germany who lives on the same compound that we do. She is working at the special needs school that also meets on the compound. Her courage astounds me. She moved to a country alone and doesn’t know the language. She has thrived and now we need to schedule time with her because she has become so independent.

The cleaning ladies- Roman, Tyalich, and Bekalich are the ladies that collect our trash, clean, and occasionally wash our laundry. They love the kids and kiss and make a fuss over them daily. Roman has even become a super hero and chased Jack around the room.

Zerehon, Sha’ta, Mente, Barook- This is the family that lives upstairs. Zerehon and Sha’ta are married, Barookis their son and Mente is Sha’ta’s sister who stays there every once in a while. Of all the people we have encountered, they deserve a metal for having to hear our horrible attempt at language. But every day they go through the same greetings with us over and over. The morning greeting, day time greeting, and evening greeting are all different in Amharic. This family has painfully listened to them all and encouraged us to continue speaking.
As we begin to think about our departure in the next couple of weeks, it makes us very sad to think about how much we will miss our new friends.  Not long ago, we were focusing on making sure that we said good byes to our family and friends in America.  Now, we are doing the same with our family and friends in Ethiopia.  I am thankful for all of these relationships and that we will get to meet many more dear friends along this journey that He has put us on.

November 20, 2011

Kids and Friends Dear Everyone, Children are so cute and nice. Abby and Amen are generous and kind and share their stuff. Limpho, Ruth,Fiker, Naomi, and Divine are my friends from BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) They are really nice. They helped me when I was new and needed help. On our way home we pass the Shoe Shiners family. They are two families who are poor, in the family there are two babies. Whenever we pass they clap and cheer and shake our hand. I will try to post pictures soon.

Love your friend, Izabella Sabo

November 14, 2011
“Just take the next step” has been a key quote in our lives. In our marriage, familyand careers Michael and I have tried to be intentional about doing the next thing that God is calling us to do. When Michael left his dream job to teach at Providence, when I quit my teaching job to stay home, when we committed to moving to Ethiopia, when we chose to have Caleb knowing that we would be bringing a young child to Africa are some examples. Those are all some steps that God has asked us to take as well as countless others. Every sacrifice that we have made has always been followed by extreme blessings.
I have been reading the Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. It is an amazing book about grace and how we often live our lives not experiencing that grace to the fullest. In the book Manning quotes the following prayer by Charles Foucauld:
Abba, I abandon myself into your hands. Do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you. I am ready for all, I accept all. Let your will be done in me and all your creatures. I wish no more than this Lord. Into your hands I commend my spirit. I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you Lord and I give myself, surrender myself into your hands without reserve, with boundless confidence, for you are my father.
God’s providential timing brought me to this prayer weeks ago. He knew what our next steps would be and our Abba was preparing me for those steps. How strong is my faith? Do I walk by faith and not by sight like it says in 2 Corinthians 5:7? Will I take the next step with full confidence in the God who has called me to take them?
Thankfully God doesn’t show us the full picture before we take a step. I know I would have been too scared to take a step if I knew the full plan before we started this journey. Our next steps will be back onto a plane. Our current season here in Ethiopia will come to an end in less than a month. We will load the plane with our many Rubbermaid containers and head back to America with full hearts. God has been so wonderful to us, He always is.
Because of visa issues we have to come home. We leave with great memories and heavy hearts for the people of Ethiopia. We can see the work that God is doing here and know that this work will continue. My family intends to return and continue pressing on towards this goal. Right now, we abandon ourselves into his hands as we wait on our next step.

bbbb

November 12, 2011

Stuff you can buy from a vendor on the road There are many vendors on the roads, young and old. This is how many Ethiopians earn money. You can find some of the most random things to purchase from these vendors here is a short list: 1. Gum 2. Soft (which is what they call toilet paper) 3. A variety of small sticks trimmed down and used as toothbrush 4. Shoes and socks 5. Cigarettes 6. Cookies 7. Pens, scissors 8. Lottery tickets 9. Perfume 10. Mardi gras beads 11. Pictures of actors from the t.v. show Vampire Diaries (this one made me super happy because they film that show in Covington.) 12. Posters of the world, Ethiopia, alphabet, and body parts 13. Wallets, head band, plastic tupper ware containers. 14. Movies (recent ones that are still in the theaters in the United States) 15. Fishnet stockings 16. Shoe inserts like Dr. Shoals but cut from carpet. Traveling in the city always offers new adventures. I will keep you posted on the exciting things we can find and can buy every day. Love yall-Christina

On Sunday Michael and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary. When we nervously stood in front of Dr. Alan Posey, our family, and friends we never imagined this. We never thought that we would celebrate an anniversary in Ethiopia. What would I have thought if I had known then? I don’t know. But I do know that I wasn’t spiritually mature enough to handle the task that God has before us now. I am thankful for the joys and struggles that God has put into our lives that have brought us to this point. I want to continue to be molded and changed into His image. Who knows where we will be in another 12 years. I just know that I want to continue serving the Lord with my best friend and children… I don’t need to know the location right now!- Christina