What we are Doing Now...

As you read through this blog, you will see that the information has not been updated for awhile.  The main reason for this is that while we still are a family living in Ethiopia, much of our focus for the past year has been on starting a Not for Profit that is working among the poorest of the poor families living in a slum area of Addis Ababa.   Please come over to our website for this project and see what's happening there.  You can reach the website at www.EmbracingHopeEthiopia.com .   Thank you for visiting us!

Christmas in Dahley, Ethiopia

We got to spend some time getting ready for Ethiopian Christmas with our good friends at Six Baer Essentials.  We handed out Christmas cards and pencils at local schools and to people in the community, gave out the Christmas presents to the kids in the after school program that 6BE runs, played soccer with the kids, and helped prepare a meal for the community.  It was an awesome day with lots of beautiful people. 

Here are a few photos from the day:  click here

Jesus...is...HERE!

People have asked about Christmas here.  It's very different celebrating here because it's not Christmas in Ethiopia!  (Because of the huge Orthodox influence here, Christmas is celebrated on January 7, but with no glitz or lights or tinsel.)  So December 25 is just a regular day here.  This actually has a good effect on our celebration, because there isn't the hustle and bustle and pressures and craziness of a US Christmas.

Friday night, we headed to our church's Christmas concert.  It was a fabulous time of celebrating and worshiping.  There was an African choir and band leading us in worship, a French-African choir singing worship songs in various African languages, and a visiting team from the US who did a drama.  All in all, it was anything but traditional (ok, so I still miss the candlelight singing of "Silent Night"), but was an amazing worship service.

 

 

They LOVE matching! Did this on their own.

With a bit of apprehension (ok, on my part, not on the kids' part...they were totally into it and enthusiastic!) we decided to celebrate a little differently this year.  We were challenged by a devotional we read as a family, and decided to give gifts to Jesus this year instead of giving gifts to each other.  Joshua knew we could do that by giving to the poor, since Jesus says, "Whatever you've done to the least of these, you've done to me."  So, each day of the week leading up to Christmas, we did some online shopping through places like World Vision gift catalog.  We were able to renew a family tradition from the States and fill a shoe box for Operation Christmas Child (Samaritan's Purse) online.  They even let us pick what went in the box!  And the kids did some amazingly thoughtful shopping, and had a blast doing in.

My Greatest Treasure Is Jesus

So, what does Christmas look like without packages to open?  Well, the kids got up and played a bit while we made cinnamon rolls.  While we were eating, we finished off our Advent calendar

and we looked back over each story in our Jesse Tree devotional and reminded ourselves of the Story of God from the beginning to the birth of Jesus by hanging each story's ornament.

While Jerry & I prepared brunch, the kids worked together to create a way to tell us the Christmas story.  They got totally into it!  We had to put on the breaks when they came to the kitchen and asked if they could use some wood and the saw to create scenery!

At brunch, we had our family tradition of a baked oatmeal birthday cake plus an egg casserole.  The kids also went searching for their gifts (stars with photos of the gifts they chose hidden in the house) and then brought them to Jesus' birthday party.  They picked out: an Operation Christmas Child shoe box for a girl, schooling for a child in Ethiopia, mosquito nets in honor of Hanna's birth mom, a care giver medical kit for people caring for those with HIV/AIDS in honor of our little friend, and rabbits, because in Caia's words, "The kids can play with them when they're little, then they can eat them when they're big!"

our gifts

 


Between the grand production and brunch, a large part of the day was full.  Duringnap time, Joshua and Micah watched the video of their performance.  Eventually, they were laughing so hard, they woke up some of the nappers!  What a great sound to wake up to. :) 

 

 

 

Joseph

Mary visited by the angel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joseph & Mary going to Bethlehem

 

 

 

 

Caesar Agustus

The "Holy Family"

A very serious shepherd

Narrorator/King Herod

Wise man on his camel searching for Jesus

We all sat down to watch "A Muppet's Christmas Carol" while dinner cooked, when Jerry went to the kitchen to check on stuff and found that the oven had gone out and we were out of cooking gas.  Our house help graciously found someone to carry the tank to the taxi, took the taxi to the gas shop, had another guy carry the tank from the taxi to the shop, bought a new tank, found someone to carry it to a taxi, brought the taxi back, and found someone else to carry it to the house.   In less than an hour, we were back in business, and finally ended up with chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce, applesauce (our first in 13 months!), and gingerbread and dream whip to finish the feast.  What a truly blessed day it turned out to be!!! (And I don't think one person missed having gifts to open!)

December Birthdays

We have 2 December birthdays in our family - Jerry's & Hanna's.  Here's some photos:  (sorry - having a hard time uploading photos to the blog, so you'll have to click this link)

December Birthdays 2010

Hanna's birthday - all she cared about was her cake.  She's been asking for her cake since our 2 summer birthdays!  "Is it time for my birthday cake yet?!?!?"  So she was thrilled to finally get her cake.  And, to sing Happy Birthday to herself...all...day...long.  :)  Now, if you ask her how old she is, she gets a huge smile and says, "SIX!"  Yeah, we thought that's what she thought.

Introducing.....Vincent Walter Shannon!

Here is the newest, long-awaited member of the Shannon family!

Thanks to a very generous friend, we are now the proud owners of a 1986 VW Vanagan!  He comfortably seats 9, but we are pretty sure that we could comfortably hold 13, and with kids, could easily seat 23+.  And, there's enough trunk space to haul...well, limitless possibilities.  We look forward to the ways God will fill this van! :)

There was a great debate to name this vehicle.  It started out as "The Beast" due to it's shear size and noise level when it's running.  But that was vetoed by several friends.  So, we went on a name search.  As we were talking about the possibilities with the kids, Micah said, "How about Vincent Walter" - to match the "initials" VW on the front of the van.  Somehow, the discussion lead to how names have meanings, and the kids wanted to look up what Vincent Walter meant.  Imagine our surprise when we found it meant "Conquering Ruler".  The kids had us look up some other names, and then we looked up what Shannon meant.  It means "Ancient".  We thought there couldn't be a more perfect name.

So, without further adieu, let me introduce Vincent Walter Shannon - the Ancient Conquering Ruler!

Nairobi, Kenya

Last week, we found ourselves flying to Nairobi to clear up some visa issues that just came up.  Nairobi is much more modern/Western than Addis is, so it was quite a treat.  We ate subs, went swimming, had soft-serve ice cream, enjoyed fast internet, and basked in a really hot shower that had...get this...water pressure! (all things you can't get in Addis)  2 1/2 days in the lap of luxury! :)

We went to the Giraffe Center - a place working with an endangered species of giraffes, doing education, breeding, and preservation.  We got to hand feed and pet the giraffes!  They are amazing creatures!

We also got to go to a water park, which was a huge treat since there are very few pools here, and they are quite expensive.  The kids had a blast as it was the first time they had been swimming in over a year.

You can see some photos by clicking here.

We had a great time in Nairobi, but are really glad to be back home!

New Website is up...a new video & an unveiling!

I didn't get my posts up the past 2 Mondays, because we've been planning for a special release of a new website.  Today, we officially launched www.embracinghopeethiopia.com  as our home for the ministry among the poor, children and orphans here in Ethiopia.  This also marks the release of a new name for our activities here.  We'll be working in under the name Embracing Hope Ethiopia.  We are incorporated in PA, beginning the 501c3 process in the States and working on legal organization here all at the same time!

We announced all of this via our newsletter.  You can read it at http://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=f390e4675de74e94c4c3f98b6&id=b2412fd409&e=

We also have a new video posted to celebrate the launch of all of this news.  You can watch it at http://vimeo.com/16405766 .  And, while you're at it, go to our Facebook page for Embracing Hope Ethiopia and mark a big fat "Like" there.

We will continue to post things about our family here on this website and keep you up to speed, but most of the ministry stuff and spiritual formation stuff will be posted at www.embracinghopeethiopia.com .  

Thank you for joining us on this journey - we look forward to keeping in touch at both locations.