selam-neow.

it appears that the rainy season is over! we have had a gorgeous week of sunshine. everything is green & life in addis is beautiful. what a great week this has been. definitely my best week here so far. :) how sweet is the Lord, that each week just seems to get better and better. lots of fun with my kids, our class is really growing together and it is such a blessing to see the growth in each of them.
my tennis and basketball teams are both going great. the kids seem to be having lots of fun & are really making improvements.

my language tutoring is going really well. its hard only having a couple of lessons a week and trying to balance practicing and studying with school and preparation, but i am learning some & doing pretty well. i've learned a good foundation of basics for speaking and have learned 3 forms of fidel (which is the amharic writing) i've had several people tell me that i sound like an habasha (an ethiopian) when i speak amharic. watch out. i do realize however, they were probably just being nice. but i'll let it boost my confidence anyway.

this weekend was great. played softball on saturday with some families that live on compound, it was a really nice taste of home. and it was a lot of fun to teach our british and australian friends the concept of the game.
saturday afternoon i went over to my dear friend Lidya's and spent the rest of the day with her family, learning to cook traditional ethiopian food and of course eating lots of it. it was so lovely to spend the day with them, they have made me part of their family and i am so blessed to know such beautiful people. & its quite nice to have a family here in Addis :)

another great morning of worship at Beza. & lunch with some new friends from church. what a beautiful way to start the week, filled with excitement, thanking the Lord for another great week and praising him for the blessing of each day to come. & challenged to seek Him even more.

the Lord continues to amaze me each day. and my heart continues to overflow. i'm definitely receiving far more than i am giving here and pray that the Lord is working in each of your lives and blessing ya'll as much as he is me. pray for my kids, that each day the Lord would become more and more real to them and that they wouldn't see me, but ONLY Him and his great love. pray for my language learning. that i would have time and opportunities to study and practice. pray for continued peace, rest & joy. and that when the hard days come, i will be reminded of the great blessing that it is to be here.

much peace & lots of ethiopian love.
lb

his joy comes with the morning.

i wish there was a way to truly capture how beautiful it has been in addis this weekend and share it with you all. the sun has been shining so brilliantly, the skies so blue, & the colorful birds are singing such beautiful songs. this week has been so much fun. with the gorgeous weather, comes lots of fun outside during the school day. me & my kids have had a blast this week and have really grown together as a class. i am continually building relationships within the community and feel so blessed to be able to share in the lives of these people. tomorrow we have the day off of school so a group of us are going up to the mountains for a picnic & a hike :)

this morning at church, we talked about what it means to be in the presence of God and in 2 Samuel, when David was carrying the Arc of the Covenant into the city, and he stopped and just began to worship because it really hit him how very blessed he was, and he became undignified before the Lord... so this morning, we had an awesome celebration, it was incredible. i am so very blessed to be here. my heart is bursting with joy. i have the silliest grin on my face. what a mighty God we serve.

things you can pray for...
-today marked the end of Ramadan, join me in praying over the muslim community here in Addis, that their eyes would be opened to the truth & love of Christ.
-pray over my tutoring as i am learning amharic, so that i can better communicate here in Addis
-pray for my 30 beautiful children, & our bible time each day, that it would be a time where the love of God & the truth of his word become real to them.

igzee-abhair yimesgen.
(praise God!)

lb

langano. & the year 2002.

back from langano & officially living in the year 2002. the weekend was absolutely incredible. it was one of the most beautiful places i've ever been. and it was the most peaceful i've ever felt. just before God in all of his beauty and absolutely amazed by the complexity of his creation. ((i put up pictures be sure to look at them!))
people dream their whole lives of doing and experiencing the things that i am doing and for whatever reason, God is allowing me to live this incredible life. i don't understand why, but i am SO THANKFUL. we camped along the edge of the lake, with a gorgeous view of the lake & the mountains and at night laid underneath the most gorgeous sky, bursting with stars... we were able to go to house of hope, a home that takes care of babies whose mothers have died in child birth.. we just got to love on the babies all afternoon and it was wonderful.
it was so nice to get out of addis & away from school and relax. and it made coming back to addis so great and now addis feels like home. gah, i'm so blessed to be here. i love it here so much, and i walk around with this goofy smile on my face because i'm so overwhelmed by how happy i am to be here and how much i love addis.
missing you all, as always.
lots of ethiopian love,
lb.

this is my life. (9/6)

seriously? i get to live this beautiful life? i live in africa. get to spend my days with 30 wonderful kids. in community with some incredible people from all over the world. pinch me please. can you tell i love it here?

i have been living in addis for a month already! its so hard to believe because it has absolutely flown by.
this week has been quite a roller coaster. had lots of great time with friends. had a blast with my kids. passed my drivers test, which is a huge accomplishment. driving in addis is ridiculous. wednesday, i had a rough day, feeling really homesick and overwhelmed. but received so much encouragement and reminders of how blessed i am to be here. this weekend i've been a little sick, with sinus junk. so hopefully i'll be feeling better before school tomorrow.

we only have a four day week at school this week. friday is the ethiopian new year. so this weekend a bunch of us are going to Langano for the weekend, which is a down-country mission station, so we can see some more of this beautiful country and ring in the new year. (which will be 2002, here in Ethiopia, a little behind...)

i wish i could really explain the incredible things God is doing in my heart. he reveals himself to me in a new way each day. its amazing how stepping away from the distractions of the everyday can allow you to see Him so much more clearly. my heart is so full. and the exciting thing is you don't have to come to ethiopia for Him to do that, He meets us exactly where we are. even though i have so much junk and even though i don't deserve it, He loves me with a love that i can't even fathom. and even in this city, where my heart is broken everyday over the poverty and the sickness and the filth, GOD IS SO PRESENT HERE. and the same God who is here doing such incredible things in my heart, is working in the hearts of people all across this city and in all of your hearts back at home. seriously? what an AWESOME GOD.

i am missing you guys BIG TIME. thanks for all of your sweet messages.. it means more than you know. & makes being so far away so much easier. keep it coming ;)

pray for me, that i will continue to be stretched and challenged. for health and for energy. pray for my kids. pray for Bingham and the staff. & pray for this beautiful city, that the people would give their needs to the Lord, that they would hunger & thirst for Him. and that they would find satisfaction, peace, and joy in Him.

so... i've got this room full of kids... (8/28)

let me just start by saying, today was one of the most gorgeous days i've ever seen. the sky is here is so blue its unreal. i took my kids to read outside today and i looked around and thanked God for bringing me to this gorgeous place... seriously? i get to do this everyday?... ridiculous.

so, week one of school. done. check.

and i have fallen head over heels for 30 gorgeous nine-year olds.
we have had a blast this week getting to know each other. i have kids from zimbabwe, finland, us, australia, maritious, germany, ireland, and ethiopia. talk about diversity. the lives these children lead and the things they've been able to experience at just 9 years old is incredible.
i just can't wipe the smile off my face. i get to spend everyday with a room full of children who are eager to learn and are absolutely hilarious and i get to share the love that i have been so blessed to receive and i actually get to get in the Word with them, and tell them about this amazing God who has been so faithful to me. i'm overwhelmed.

i miss you all so very much. but i am so full of joy. i have fallen in love with this city and this school and these people. i am so blessed. seriously.
pray that the kids will not see or hear me, but that I would overflow the love and wisdom of Christ alone and that he would be glorified in our classroom.

i've posted pictures of our room in my most recent album on facebook. check it out.

peace & love.
lb

first day of school. (8/24)

hello sweet family & friends.

all is well in ethiopia. i am loving it here more everyday. we have had gorgeous weather the past couple of days and almost four days straight with water! i've spent most of the past several days getting ready for school.. which starts TOMORROW. i am so excited to meet those precious children i've been praying for!
so starting tomorrow, things are going to get busy and hectic but lots of fun. i'm also going to be coaching the tennis team here at Bingham and maybe a basketball team.. which will be a lot of fun.

just wanted to give a quick update and ask for your prayers over tomorrow. pray for me, in my first day of teaching. pray for those 32 4th graders i have the privilege of spending everyday with. pray that God will open their hearts and minds to learn. that our classroom will be a beautiful community that seeks to honor and glorify God. love ya'll & miss you very much.

peace & love all the way from ethiopia.
lb