This trip to Ethiopia has been so great for my heart.  As I have processed and mourned the loss of Ethiopia over the past year in Austin I have felt like part of me is missing, that I have not been quite whole since my return to the States.  I loved my job at the Cherokee House more than any job I have ever had and I felt this incredible sense of purpose in my life.  I am realizing now that I may have put Ethiopia on a pedestal that it was never meant to be on.  To me this country is the place that changed my life.  During my summer in 2007, I saw Jesus so clearly through the boys with special needs at Mother Teresa that I worked with (see a photo at the bottom from my visit to Mother Teresa’s a few days ago!) In 2009, my heart fell in love with adoption as I had the opportunity to introduce Ethiopian children to their adoptive families. 

And then in 2010, I packed up all of my belongings, sold my car, and took one of the largest leaps of faith I have ever taken, surrendering to God fully and leaving my family, friends, and comforts for life in Ethiopia.  Little did I know that I would also meet my husband in this beautiful country and then life changed forever.  No longer am I able to act only on my desires or interests but now I am apart of a team and we make decisions together.  I have seen God moving in our lives in Austin: we love our church, we are eager to invest in a small group upon our return, we are about to move into a house on the East side of Austin where we feel called to move and yet I have been hanging on to our trip to Ethiopia. 

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I am thankful to be sitting here on this quiet cool morning in Ethiopia with the time and space to come back to my blog.  It has been way too long and I am not sure exactly why it has taken me so long to return but regardless, it is sweet to be back.

Most of you know that Geoff and I just left for a month long trip to Ethiopia.  Many people have asked us why we were going?  I think most were expecting some grand answer that sounded something like, saving the world, feeding the poor, holding orphans, etc.  Most people gave a slightly disappointed “oh” when we told them that we were merely going to Ethiopia to return to the place that we fell in love in September 2010, to rest, to reconnect with our sweet friends, and just to be.  We have had a pretty crazy year so we are blessed to be able to take this time to step back, disconnect a little bit, and just be together in this beautiful country.  I have spent my first few mornings here asking God what he has for Geoff and I during this time.  Is there some new direction He wants to show us?  Is there some major life change that will be revealed?  Instead this morning during my sweet time with Jesus I found out that I am here again in Ethiopia to simply refocus on hearing God’s voice.  It is no coincidence I think that I write this blog post the morning of one of Ethiopia’s biggest holidays celebrating Epiphany: the day that Jesus was baptized and when everyone heard God’s voice say, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).  I also got an email from our friend Melissa Kohne (the one that gets all the credit for introducing Geoff and I in the first place!) that said, “I’m excited you have the opportunity to REST in such a beautiful country were you can hear the Lord’s voice so very clear and loud. Remember, his voice is a constant, but many times a whisper.”

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Rather than apologizing for my recent absence I will just suffice it to say October has been crazy.  I’m ready for November!  We spent our first October weekend in Dallas, second in Arkansas, third in Chicago, and then this past week Geoff went to Dallas again.  Basically, we leave our suitcases packed, do laundry, re-pack, repeat.  One afternoon last week Geoff asked me to watch a TED talk he had recently watched.  If you haven’t ever seen or heard of TED talks I highly recommend them!  Basically, they are short talks given by some really smart people on the latest and greatest: thoughts, innovations, etc.  They have become one of Geoff’s hobbies.  This one in particular was by a guy named Graham Hill called, Less Stuff, More Happiness.  

You can watch it here: Less stuff, More Happiness Video.  

I highly recommend that you watch it, it’s only 5:50 minutes long.  But in case you don’t, his main point is this, if we simplify our lives, reduce clutter, and “edit ruthlessly”  we are actually more happy.  I definitely have experienced this first hand in Ethiopia.  It’s amazing how not having a television, having limited internet access, no personal car, limited options for clothing, spotty electricity, cold showers etc. actually lead to a certain happiness that I think we are all created for.  We get overwhelmed by all of the distractions, all of the noise, by our choice from 20 pairs of shoes (or more—eek!), 100 boxes of cereal at the grocery store, 10 ways to custom order your Starbucks latte.  We live in a society that preaches that we need the newest, the best, more, designer etc. leaving us with a nagging feeling of never being fully content.  There is always something else that we think we need or want or that we saw a friend have that we think would maybe just make us a little happier.

I got inspired.  Geoff went to Dallas for the weekend and I stayed home and I cleaned, a lot.  I started looking at my apartment with new eyes.  I realized I had clothes that I hadn’t worn in years, jeans that were a little too snug, 5 extra spatulas, birthday cards, all sorts of cords that I couldn’t tell you what they went to, old magazines, really the list goes on and on.  As I went through all of my “stuff” I realized how much of it I really had no connection to, or really even use for. I think a lot of times I keep clothes or spoons or cords because I think, “one day I may need that.”  The problem is, the day I really might need that, I probably won’t be able to find it, or know what it is, or fit into it and truly, if I were just to get rid of it, there is a very good chance I will never miss it or realize it was even gone.

So Geoff and I have talked about it, we like our little apartment right now because it is really all we “need” and we know that as soon as we get a bigger space, we will just expand to fit that space.  We are going to try to maintain this lifestyle of having “less stuff” and more time together, more happiness with simplicity.  Now don’t hear me that we don’t really like some of our stuff.  We believe that it is probably a good idea to invest in some nice stuff even, but only for the stuff we really need and use regularly, not for that one occasion that we might use it if we are lucky.  I encourage you to take a look around your room, apartment, house, think, is there stuff just taking up space, cluttering my life that is serving no purpose?  By the end of the weekend I had two trash bags full of clothes, a laundry basket of stuff, and two more boxes.  Geoff contributed a few things to the pile when he got back in town as well and then I loaded it all up in the car and drove it to the Goodwill donation drop off.  I must say, I drove away from all of that stuff feeling lighter, and more free.  Free to enjoy a less cluttered apartment, content with what we have.  

The start of the pile! It doubled in size after I took this!