Today, while being a Saturday, is a busy one for our family. Saneit is so good to provide us each a bucket of warm water to bathe; their water heater is broken. So we each took a "bucket bath" and headed down to breakfast with some instant oatmeal. Saneit has prepared tea and omelet for us and I surprise her by preparing the instant oatmeal with just hot water. "So easy!" she says.
Anbessu has already left for a meeting today, and will be back late. Saneit says she will go to a prayer service this morning, then be back to fix lunch. Most of the children seem to have cleaning chores, so we are encouraged to watch a little BBC News. We've actually spent most of our day on our computers, catching up on e-mail and spreadsheets. Lunch included spaghetti with sauce (tomato, potato, onion and oil; I asked for the recipe!), salad, and bread. The children ate earlier - "common food." We asked about that - it's injerra (a limp, thin, brownish bread, their version of a tortilla); pieces are torn off and used to pick up bites of any number of things like salad, meat chunks, rice. We know that special meals are being fixed because we are here; we will ask for common food for lunch very soon, so as to experience real Ethiopian food and not be a burden. Saneit wrote out for us, at our request, a list of family members, so we could learn them better.
After an afternoon of wrestling with the payroll tax table formulas - it took both of us -- I decided to ask if I could help with dinner. Saneit was starting to prepare something, so I offered a couple of different ways, and was told she would call us for dinner. But a few minutes later, she came up to the office saying, "Janet, please help." She didn't have to ask me twice! My assignment was to mix meat that she had finely chopped, along with an egg and some flour, into burgers. It was great to talk with her and help in her small kitchen with a tiny 2-burner range. There was a really special moment for me when she said, "You are guest, but you are like family." Wow! She called Anbessu on the phone and told him about "Janet Burger" for dinner! He came home later and ate a burger that had been saved for him and said, "Janet! Very good burger! Now I have more reasons to keep you here." I'm feeling pretty warm inside! On top of that - an in-line water heater was installed this afternoon in the bathroom we use! Quite a number of special things today! God is so good!
If you saw these words on a sign, it might appear to represent an established street or pathway. Our desire, however, is to share the path of our lives as we respond to God’s direction in these days, to present a work-in-progress to our family and friends (known and yet unknown). Our lives have been shaped and molded separately and then together by God’s hand. Here, however, we will specifically address our steps through this time of life called “retirement.”
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