Last Post from Ethiopia

I just spent ten minutes with my son, jumping on the trampoline in the dark. We will be leaving to go to the airport in about an hour. Before the trampoline I was lying in the hammock, crying. Just this evening it hit me that I'm leaving and the emotions that I expected when I arrived came out after all. It's hard to leave something that feels so comfortably right! Not that I want to live here especially, it's more the sense of feeling at home that I'm going to miss. Everything seems so familiar here, even though things really have changed a lot. But the smells and the sounds and the looks of the place make it feel right in a way that Holland may never feel. It's not a people thing, it's a place thing.

However, Holland is my home and I will make it as home-like as possible. We have bought enough souvenirs to transform the house into a kind of mini ethiopian tukul I think! We may feel quite disgusted with ourselves once we arrive because it will look so out of place :-). And there is so much to do once we get back! One night in our old house and then the weekend spent moving into our new house. And on monday school starts and things will get up and running and our new life will begin.

It's been a gift to be here, to be able to share some of who I am with my lovely little family. The husband and kids I love so much. My growing appreciation of them is an added gift that I didn't expect.

My next post will be from my new home. I will post lots of pictures to compensate for the lack of them the last couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to looking them over and treasuring the good memories that come with them.