The Revolving Door

Following up on our blog from a few weeks ago, I think we have gotten over the initial sadness of saying goodbye to our friend and co-laborer we enjoyed in our summer intern, but Andrea and I are still processing how Micah and Grace are shaped by the unique life that they were born into. Living between Gesas, Addis Ababa and America, Micah is always excitedly anticipating the next move. When we went to Addis to drop Matthew at the airport, Micah very quickly started talking about what he was going to do when we went back to Gesas. He even packed his backpack with the particular toys he wanted to take with us. The exchange went something like, "Daddy, where should I put my backpack? It's ready to go to Gesas."  "Micah we aren't going for more than a week." "Oh, well, where should I put it so we don't forget it?”

 

Then when we finally came out to Gesas about two weeks ago, Micah woke up the next morning asking when we were going to go back to Addis. That same day he re-packed his backpack for the return trip. Rarely does a day go by that he doesn't ask about when we are going to Addis, and sadly the middle October won't come soon enough. Part of the problem, especially with Gesas right now, is the absence of friends for him to play with as our Canadian friends at home on furlough, thankfully returning in another month.

 

The revolving door isn't just our ever-changing physical location, it's also our friends, especially those we connect to the most. When we made the decision to come to Ethiopia, we shed tears over not going to our second choice – Uganda, where we had the opportunity to work alongside some very dear friends from our schooling time in Texas. Knowing that close friendships were important to our "success" overseas, we began praying that God would prepare in advance meaningful relationships for us in Ethiopia. And so, our first year over here, we praised God when we were blessed by the friendship of our housemates. However, they left when their work was completed later that year. Next we began seeing how God was answering our prayer through another young family from a different organization. When we first moved out to Gesas they easily topped the list of "must-see people whenever we come to Addis." However, when they went on furlough that next year, a variety of important things kept them from returning to Ethiopia. Another time around the revolving door. Around that time, our friendship with our co-workers in Gesas was growing quite special, only to have a similar furlough trip result in their redirection. Now, in returning  from our furlough in 2013, we identified two couples who have landed themselves at the top of that must-see in Addis list. Not to our surprise, one of them told us as dinner the other night that this is likely their last term in Ethiopia…

 

Hmmmm…it is us? I know that my personal hygiene has plummeted from American standards, but really? Rather I think we are simply living in a revolving door, but one thing must be acknowledged. God has repeatedly heard our prayers for friendships, and provided.