Grandma Nea Nea...she's not finished with us. We just gave her four more little girls to teach and love!

On teaching middle and high school students:

After being involved in teaching 10 or more classes (mostly English) to students ranging from 6^th grade through adults, I found one very common factor.  That is, “all the students wanted to learn”.  This is a big difference from the United States where, in general, “students just want to get by”.  Learning is a privilege and a desire in other countries, but not a big priority in the U.S.

On leading discussions on parenting:

As I facilitated four parenting discussions for a group of ten young mothers, consisting mainly of Ethiopian women, (with a sprinkling of Rwandan, American and Dutch), I found these women to be very hungry for more information concerning the raising and nurturing of their children. As I listened to their explanations of various parenting traditions and techniques, they acknowledged that they didn’t know why they did specific things other than to reply with, “This is what our mothers did and we know no other way”.  I also learned that they chose specific practices purely for the safety of their children. One such practice is carrying their children on their backs until the child is 2 years old.  The main safety factor involved is so the children do not fall into cooking fires.  Knowing this helped me to guide them in understanding the developmental importance of children learning to roll over, sit, crawl, stand and walk beginning at the ages of 6 – 8 months old.  When combining their traditions with the importance of the “new techniques” I shared with them, they understood how the lack in development could take place and the delay in other areas of development in children.

Their biggest concerns in the order of importance were:  1) the effects of television and watching movies/DVDs on their children’s lives and intellectual development, 2) eating patterns and habits and 3) sleeping schedules and patterns.  Many other topics came up through questions.  However, already knowing that there are more ways than one to handle situations, they wanted more ideas and suggestions that would benefit their children.  These women had excellent questions and wanted information for the benefit of their children and not the convenience for themselves.  This was very refreshing to me.

Through all the experiences I had (even beyond teaching), relationships were created and a common bond established with other Christian brothers and sisters. May God grant the blessing of love and friendship to continue to grow, even across the world.  Praise be to God.

Grandma Nea Nea brought the book "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More" so we had a "Paint No More Party."

Our snow party - It's January but hardly the weather for snow so we had to make it ourselves.

Since we basically live in a construction site right now, the sand piles afford many other opportunities for silliness.

Grace and Hannah followed a "treasure map" to find gold coins with Grandma Nea Nea and Papa when they read the parable of the hidden treasure.

Helping Papa with the playground.

And, now that they had to go back home, what will we do now?  We will wait for the next visit…Nannie and Pops!

Mom is a family life/child development specialist and has been involved in preschool and parenting education for many years.  She has a love of kids and families and a passion for strengthening them.  So, while Dad has been busy building a playground for the kids, Mom has been excited to lead a series of parenting discussion groups.

The desire to better care for, teach, and love their kids seems to be one of those universal things and we had 10-15 women gather for three weeks to discuss child development and parenting questions and concerns.  Don’t be fooled, though, as there are still many differences in the way we approach parenting.  And this makes sense since we are preparing children to enter different societies as adults, where they will need different communication and life skills.

The discussion groups were fun…a combination of  principles presented and cultural variations discussed.  I think we heard the hearts of the ladies present in their concern for the healthy development of their children, desire for them to feel loved and cared for, and the questions and concerns they feel within their context.

The frames for the swings arrived and were promptly unloaded.

Meanwhile, while we were gone, there was progress on the playground!

Not so sure at first...

And then pure joy.

My dad has been working hard figuring out how to build a playground in another country.  This is no small task, as very few things work the same way he’s used to in the U.S.  From communicating with workers to finding supplies in town, pretty much nothing goes as expected and takes longer than we would like or expect.  But in spite of challenges, it’s coming along and we’re expecting more pieces to arrive soon.

The site of the future playground!

With the arrival of my parents, we spent this past week getting ready for our next big project…a playground for the 20+ kids who will soon live at Soddo Christian Hospital!  It doesn’t look like much right now; indeed, it’s really just an empty field, but if things go according to plan (with a few interruptions, I’m sure) it will soon be, not just a backyard swing set, but a full playground and playing field.

First they have to dig up the weeds and make a sloping field more level.

Although our kids are important, we’re hoping it will be more than just something to keep our kids busy, active, and developing on schedule.  We’re hoping it will provide a gathering place for children and parents and opportunities for deepening relationships that we are forming.  This is one way we believe we can continue to seek God’s glory here.

Christmas PJ's from Nannie and Pops in front of our "fireplace."

You may wonder what Christmas looks like in Ethiopia.  While it’s not at all a “white winter wonderland,” we still observed advent by marveling at God’s faithfulness in his promise and fulfillment of sending Jesus.

Grandma Nea Nea enjoyed reading the same story she read to me when I was little.

We also read the story of the baby born in a humble stable whose birth was announced by angels and who was visited by shepherds and wise men alike.

The girls opened a few present from their friends, grandparents, and cousins.

And we reflected and worshiped as a team outside in the lapa.

We celebrated New Year’s Eve with good food, a fire and s’mores (from a package from the U.S.),  bowling and golf on the Wii, sparklers and a singing candle that wouldn’t be allowed in stores in the U.S., a white elephant gift exchange in which the hot commodities were coffee (go figure, it’s Ethiopia) and chocolates, and a hunt for glow-in-the-dark sticks for the kids.

The winning presentation!

Jon recently had the opportunity to attend the annual meeting of the Ethiopian Surgical Society in Addis with teammates Paul Gray and Duane and Jackie Anderson and three of the surgery residents.  There were several exciting aspects of the meeting.  Jon won the award for the best presentation and the PAACS program at Soddo received more positive attention and acceptance than it has in the past.

The most exciting part of the meetings for them was to meet with two previous surgery residents who have graduated from the surgery residency at Soddo and are now practicing at government hospitals in other parts of Ethiopia.  They were encouraged and excited to hear about how they are serving and influencing their communities by demonstrating Christ’s love to their patients.  It was a much needed boost for Jon, but especially Paul and Duane who have been working here for longer, to see the results of their work.

For more reflections and comments from PAACS Ethiopia alumni, see Paul and Becca Gray’s blog.

We praise the Lord for this and pray that he will be glorified as PAACS receives more attention and acceptance and as graduates spread out over the country and beyond.

Our pre-Thanksgiving meal activities.

In the U.S. we buy sand tables and sand boxes so that our kids can play and fulfill development goals.  Here in Ethiopia we play in sand piles that have been hauled in during the construction of houses.

As for the argument that we have to buy or build sandboxes with covers on them in order to keep out cat urine and other dirty things, I can guarantee you that this sand pile now has human child urine in it since Hannah took off her pants while playing and brought them to me, saying, “dirty, Mommy.”

Of course we gave them baths so that they would be nice and clean for our team Thanksgiving meal and during the meal they decided to play on the sand pile again, completely undoing the bath experience.  Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

We visited our friend, Wongel, at her family's home.

We were honored with the coffee ceremony…

And really good coffee!

Jon’s attempt at trying out the neighbor kids’ toys.

Grace had, of course, to get a tour of the house. This is the kitchen.

Hmmmm. This is actually a pretty regular occurrence. Even when the bajaj is moving.

Having the two boys around next door has allowed the girls to begin to get used to some of our neighbors.

About 2 months ago, Jon operated on a three-year-old girl who came in with problems breathing because she had swallowed a coin a year ago.  It was still stuck in her throat after various attempts by the parents to get help getting it out.  We all went to the hospital to visit her and bring her a present.