My 12th Birthday - August 4th

I had a great birthday in Gesses. My mom made pancakes for breakfast which is our tradition on birthdays. She had saved some blackberry sauce for the occasion. After breakfast, my dad took me to the chicken coop and showed me my hen. I named her Blackberry (after the sauce we had for breakfast). 


 She is speckled black and white. At first, Blackberry and Butterscotch (Joel's hen) were not happy to see each other but they have now become friends.


 After breakfast, one of our teammates, who is a vet, spayed our neighbour's dog. Charlotte spends half of her time at our house so most of the time she seems like she is our dog. This is the second surgery I have been able to watch. It took a long time for Charlotte to wake up and she slept most of the day. I used to want to be a vet but I prefer spending time with animals to operating on them. 


 
In the afternoon, my dad took all of us kids to a nearby river. We went tubing with motorcycle tire tubes and had a great time floating down the river. It was an unusually sunny afternoon for rainy season so we had a great time. My dad almost lost our car keys since he put them in a plastic bag in his pocket. He thought it was a good idea to put some air in the plastic bag so that if the bag fell out of his pants pocket, the bag would float. But BECAUSE he put air in the bag, it floated out of his pocket when he was wading through deep water. When he realized it was gone, it had already floated down the river but he found it stuck in a branch of leaves hanging in the water. Meanwhile my mom made one of my favourite meals - taco soup with cornbread and she baked an angel food cake for dessert topped with chocolate mousse and homemade ice-cream.








We had some guests over and played frisbee and badminton, then we had supper and ended the evening by playing a couple of rounds of Cludo. Someone acts out a person, a weapon and a place and then two other people (who are in another room) have to take their turn at acting out the three things. The last person has to guess the three things. It can be pretty crazy. Since our guests brought treats from the States, I gave all the kids treat bags to take home. (This is pretty special and we all try and stretch out the treats for as long as possible.) Even though I couldn't invite any of my (peer) friends over this year, I had a really special birthday.  Kalia





Kalia, you are full of love and laughter. You are a great communicator and love to share about your animals and adventures with others. Even though you don't particularly love the kitchen, you are a willing and competent snack maker and tortilla baker. Music is a great way of helping make mundane tasks enjoyable and you always know when that is a necessary addition! I love working together with you! You know when you need to get away and immerse yourself in a good book. Your knitting has already blessed many people in our family! Your creativity and generosity is a gift to both our family and the Gumuz that come to our door. We love you. Happy 12th Birthday

Double Digit Best Birthday Ever by Joel Kruse

On Wednesday, July 23rd, I had the best birthday ever. I turned 10 and I woke up really early. My dad was up and he took me behind our house and gave me my birthday present. It was a live chicken. My favorite color is orange and this hen had orange eyes and orange feathers. 

 We had pancakes with butterscotch pudding for breakfast so I named her Butterscotch. I spent the morning fixing the old coop which is off the ground on bamboo stilts so that predators can't get her. My sister and I made a bamboo ladder so she can climb up into her house.

Our garden is not growing all that well since a herd of cows came through and ate all our corn but our okra is doing great! It is my favourite vegetable and so my mom and I picked large handfuls of okra so she could make okra stew with rice for lunch. My sisters all made me things and my grandparents gave me a baseball, glove and badminton racket. We don't have any stores near us so gifts are pretty special and unexpected.

 I really wanted to have an angel food cake for my birthday but my mom tried making it from scratch once and it didn't work well. It also needs a lot of eggs (which are hard to get) so I didn't think I was going to have that kind of cake. My mom kept it a surprise but she asked some visitors from Canada to bring a cake mix a month ago and so I got an angel food cake with blue whipping cream for my cake. It was awesome! We also had tortillas for supper and another missionary family joined us. We played some games and got treat bags with candy from America.

 Two teams racing to collect 2 L water bottles from all over our large yard.  We had to follow clues.

 Shooting at 2 L water bottles with slingshots.

 My mom didn't think it was going to be the best birthday ever because I couldn't invite my friends over but I think it was special because there were so many surprises. I think when you can't get stuff easily, it is even more special when you do get something special. I am 10 now and even though I don't look different, I feel a little older. It was a great birthday.  By Joel

From mom - We are so proud to call you our son. You received a card on your birthday that said you are Jovial/Joyful/Joker, Optimistic, Enthusiastic/Energetic, Likeable/Loving. 
It's true (though your sisters may not always agree).  You are growing up without all the privileges that so many boys your age have and yet you are thankful, creative and serve those around you cheerfully.  You are a blessing to our home. Happy Birthday Joel! We love you.

Kalia's 10th birthday

During our time in Addis, I have discovered that our oldest daughter is probably best described as a shy extrovert.  She thoroughly enjoyed our 7 weeks living at the Press compound.  I lost count of the number of sleepovers she had and the hours and hours of playing with the other girls who live here.  It was a joy to see her overcome her initial shyness and dive into relationships. 

For her birthday, she invited the neighbour girls and several girls that are also homeschooled.  She was so pleased that everyone could come.  She has a great love for horses and so she once again chose a horse theme for her birthday. 

 

As usual, I baked the cake and made the icing and her dad decorated it.  Since there are few resources available to assist in decorating a cake, Rolf decided to construct the fence using local breadsticks.  They are extremely hard and large but using his handy pocket knife, he managed to cut them to the length and width that he wanted, notches and all.  Kalia then placed her horses on the cake which simplified the decorating procedure.

 Some of the neighbour girls helped decorate and they drew a picture of Kalia to hang on the wall.

 I enjoyed being the behind the scenes mom as all I had to do was facilitate the activities by providing the materials.  The girls enjoyed some cardmaking, sidewalk chalk, and pin the tail on the horse and of course some gifts and cake.

 

At the end of the party, I rolled out the dough for one large pizza and each of the girls added the toppings they wanted to their large piece.  

Several girls stayed for a sleepover and Kalia's still had lots of energy for the next day.  Impressive.

We will spend the entire day driving this year on her birthday but it will end with a potluck in Injebara with several missionaries there.

We thank the Lord for our dear daughter who brings much laughter, creativity and joy to our home.  I pray that she will grow in her love for the Lord and the people around her and that she will shine brightly wherever she goes.

Joel's 8th Birthday

We had a very special weekend at Redfox Nursery with the Hamilton family.  We decided to spend an extra evening there and drive back to Addis this morning in time for Rolf to get to his Amharic language class at 8:30.  This meant we had to leave at 6am and hope for clear roads.

Unfortunately 3 of the 5 kids were carsick so there was some dry heaving in the car as we arrived in Addis.   1/2 hour in traffic with truck fumes did not make the nausea any better.  Despite the tough start to Joel's birthday, he enjoyed his day thoroughly!

He decided he wanted to just celebrate with his family but I went ahead and made cupcakes with him in case the neighbour kids dropped by.  Then we baked a cake together and when Rolf came home from school, he decorated it.  Joel knew he wanted a lego cake but I wasn't really inspired by what I found online.

When Joel opened presents he received a firetruck and that is what inspired his cake.  I just baked an 8x 11 size cake and Rolf cut and stacked it.  I made the icing and Rolf did the decorating and in the end the kids get a cake that puts a smile on their face.  It may not be fancy but it will be remembered:)

On our children's birthdays, they get to choose the meal (as long as it is something that is actually available).  Well Joel asked yesterday if he could have macaroni and cheese (from the box) and hotdogs.  Both of these items are extremely difficult to find in Addis but we said we would see.

Rolf stopped by a grocery store on the way home from language school and checked the shelves.  No M&C.  Well he happened to pass a man who was just stocking shelves and in the box was M & C.  Yeah!  It basically tastes like Kraft M & C but the name made us all laugh.

To end our evening together as a family, we all told Joel what we really loved about him.  Ariana said:  Joel you are so good at sharing. You even shared your gifts with us today.  Nadia said:  Joel plays with me and shares with me.  Kalia said:  Joel plays with us girls and doesn't complain about it.  I said:  Joel is always ready to help and brings lots of laughter to our family.  Rolf said:  Joel is cheerful and kind.

We are so thankful for our son Joel and we pray that he will bless many more people as he has blessed us.