Ethiopian Dining

I am falling in love with this culture!  This week Gavin and I enjoyed learning a little bit more about dining in Ethiopia.  We wanted to be prepared for whatever kind of food we might run into while in our children's country.  At first I was a little concerned that cats and ants would be our main course.  I was very pleased to discover that I was very wrong.

Dining in Ethiopia is characterized by the breaking of "injera" and sharing food from a common plate,  signifying the bonds of loyalty and friendship.  The traditional way is to eat with your fingers!  I can not wait!  A large piece of injera, which is a flat bread made of a protein rich grain that is unique to Ethiopia is placed directly on the table.  We may have to bring our own table cleaning supplies!  The table will then receive a bowl of
"wot"  which is a spicy Ethiopian dipping sauce.  Ethiopians add heat to everything!  Multiple dishes made of meats, beans, fish, and vegetables are then placed directly on the injera.  We will then tear a peace of injera off and wrap one of the meat mixtures up in it and eat it!

I love this simple way of eating!  Even more interesting is that their is not a huge menu. There are about fifteen dishes that get places of our injera and that is all of the diversity we will see at the restaurants.  We have been told that the only way to get meat in Ethiopia is to go to a nice restaurant.  Meat is scarce and common people hardly ever eat it.  On the other hand all of the meat will be range fed and organic...yum!   When walking around town we will have so many fresh fruits and vegetables to choose from that are sold on street side carts. I think we are most exited about eating the freshly prepared foods that come straight from the people.  Can't wait!

We are getting more exited everyday to bring our kids home.  We can not wait to learn more about them and where they come from.  We are only weeks away from being able to look at the waiting children's list which means we could be only weeks away from getting a referral.  On the other hand, it could still be six months away as well.  God is so good and so powerful!  His plan will be perfect!

I want to update you guys on how we are doing financially every time I post.  Gavin and I have decided to do a television fast until we have the money we need for the next step.  We are looking forward to spending the hour we spend in front of the tv at night with God.  The reason I am letting you guys know this is because we would love for some of our brothers and sisters to join us.  Let us know if God puts this on your heart and we can all be praying together.  We have gotten much closer to our goal in the last few day.  Today we are $11,095 short.  Praise God!