Update from Kris

Someone (Brian) once told me- in reference to housing- "Ethiopia is such a breeze compared to the states. You have no idea." I would like to emphatically disagree based on my first night in my new Ethiopian house.

So, it had been a great night. Had dinner with the landlord family, Jen called, and I was doing some reading before bed. Out of the corner of my eye, I see something run across the floor. As it turns out, it's a massive rat. Some of you will be proud to know that I didn't scream. But I could have. Very loudly.

The night turns into an effort to get him out. I almost squashed him once by slamming the door as he was crawling along the top of it, but then chickened out. At another point I thought that he was out, only to find him back in my room a few hours later. He found a hole. Or rather, many holes. I would stuff one, only to see him coming back in through another. If I didn't see him, I heard him… or imagined that he was crawling on me in my sleep. Definitely a breeze.

But don't worry! I was ready and waiting with my Amharic dictionary opened to 'mouse' when landlord mom came out at 6am this morning! She, obviously, thought this was hilarious. But the holes have been stuffed, the mosquito net hung so it can't eat me, and the cat is sleeping with me tonight. And I'm bonding with the family. We're off to a good start.

Things really are going well. The last two weeks have been awesome as far as relationships here go. And God has been pretty cool too. I had decided that my method for getting through the holidays was going to be not to acknowledge them. I was quickly reminded that it's really not about me. Some awesome Christmas music (including It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. Weird) was forced upon me and then an Advent reading guide from Mountain Brook Community circa 2006 mysteriously appeared. I have no idea how this made it to Ethiopia, but there it was. I've been reading through it and it's been awesome to focus on the prophecy and sovereignty leading to Christ's birth.

In other news… I miss you guys! You should know that the first thing I did upon moving in was hang family pictures all over my house. You are all well-represented and often laughed at by visitors. Hope you're all having Happy Holidays and enjoying wrapping up the semester/ getting a good break from work! Hopefully I'll be talking to most of you soon…? Much love!