We truly fell in love with the people. So, so many we met were beautiful inside and out. They exuded this joy that typically had nothing to do with their immediate circumstances. They are a strong and proud people, always hard-working, but with smiles that light up a room.
I've had the great pleasure of meeting Ethiopians that live in my own city here in the U.S. and again, it is always a lovely experience. To me Ethiopians are very distinctive looking and I can spot them from a mile away. I haven't been wrong yet.
We eat Ethiopian food fairly often. We have two restaurants we frequent and then this past weekend we went to a new one that opened up even closer to our house. This time as something special, we let the kids wear some of their traditional Ethiopian clothes. We walked in the door, Ethiopian music was playing, the incense was burning, and it was crowded with Ethiopians (which we haven't experienced at the other places, typically it's more of a mixture of people, some Ethiopian and some not). We were the only white people there and I was so happy, this feeling of contentment, of being surrounded by family, and being home washed over me and all I could do was smile at everyone. Especially the precious little Ethiopian boy sitting near us in a highchair. He was the cutest little boy and he reminded me so much of the precious little boys some of my fellow adoptive parents brought home from Ethiopia!
We visited with one man who had ties to the same region of Ethiopia that our daughter is originally from, and we traveled there last August. Talking about it with him made the world seem very, very small.
Adopting a child from a different culture than your own is not all hardship (although there are hard things), there is great blessing, too. Because as you allow God to redefine your immediate family and what the people look like who live under your roof, there is a whole new culture of people that become your family, too!
We took pics at the new restaurant for the classroom mascot journals (long story, turn back a couple posts if you're confused):
Find more Thankful Thursday here.
What a wonderful story and I am so happy with you. I personally love Ethiopian food but have to travel hundreds of miles to find it - like to Denver! Your children are all so adorable. God Bless!
ReplyDeleteOur daughter is adopted from Liberia, and we love having Liberia a part of our family! Amazingly our adopted son who we adopted dometically - his birthfather is from Liberia too!
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