And so it begins …
Hello friends!
Welcome to my blog (posted on both the American Bride Abroad and Hesed International Missions sites)! I can’t believe that it’s been almost two months since I moved from Washington, DC to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! Let me start by saying that I love it here and I wouldn’t trade my new life for anything. That said, starting an orphanage and planning a wedding in Ethiopia has some unique (and hopefully entertaining) challenges! So, after some encouragement from friends, I decided to give this blogging thing a try and invite you all along on this journey.
- Orphans! -
Let me catch you up on the basics: Before moving to Ethiopia I practiced appellate law at two big law firms in Washington, DC. I love the law (and being in a country without basic freedoms, and where precedent is given no weight has given me a renewed respect for the admittedly less-than-perfect American legal system) but after six years of helping giant corporations fight about money I knew there had to be something more for me. Please don’t get me wrong, I am proud of the work that I did and I am honored to count some of the most talented attorneys in the U.S. as my friends (not all lawyers are evil, really!). It’s just that I knew that God had a different plan for my life.
That plan, it turns out, is orphan care. Ever since seeing the movie Annie as a child (about a million times, I wore out that VHS tape!) I have had a special place in my heart for orphans. Even as a child I wondered how children survive without parents. Sure, growing up we all knew kids who where adopted, or were being raised by family members other than their parents, but what about the kids who aren’t so lucky? What about the nearly 46 million children in the world who have no one to take care of them and will never be adopted? Can I help? I know I can’t care for, much less adopt, tens of millions of orphans, but what about five? Or 10? Or 30? What about just one? Can I provide a safe home and education for children who would otherwise have nothing? With God’s help, I have to try. (For more information about the orphanage please visit www.hesedmissions.org or send me a message; we are in serious need of funding and there are many ways in which you can help!)
- The Wedding! -
Oh, yeah, and I’m getting married! So lets get everyone’s first question out of the way: No, I didn’t decide to turn my life upside down and move to Ethiopia for a guy (not that there’s anything wrong with that)! Instead, I was blessed to meet an amazing man on my first trip to Ethiopia last Christmas. After only having had the opportunity to spend a few hours together each day for three days, Dawit and I weren’t exactly in love when I left … but we were intrigued! We spent the next few months getting to know each other over Skype, gchat and Facebook (is this a modern romance or what?!) and then when I came back to Addis in April to get the (long, difficult, challenging, you fill in the blank) process of obtaining the Ethiopian government’s permission to open the orphanage rolling, Dawit met me at the airport. We spent nearly every waking minute of the next 10 days together and started planning our wedding! After another three month separation as I wrapped up my life in the States and started the American corporation that will fund raise for the orphanage (Hesed International Missions), I moved to Ethiopia in early July. We are getting married at Kuriftu Resort & Spa in Debrezeit (on a lake about an hour and a half drive outside Addis) on November 12, 2011 and you’re all invited! Seriously, any American friends and family that can make the trip are more than welcome; it’s going to be beautiful! (Note: More pictures will follow, but the banner picture on the top of the blog is the wedding venue, just to give you an idea).
- The Blog -
So now that we’ve covered the basics, I will continue to post about my life in Addis (the orphanage, the wedding, and life generally) in greater (and hopefully more entertaining) detail over the next few weeks. Almost everything is different here (did I mention that it’s still 2003 here until Ethiopian New Years on 9/11 when it will become 2004, there are 13 months, and on top of an 7/8 hour time difference with the East Coast, “midnight” here is at 6 am?!) so feel free to post any questions and I’ll do my best to answer.
Thanks for reading!
Angela
- During my first week in Ethiopia after moving here in early July, at Aregash Lodge in Southern Ethiopia (about 5 hours south of Addis)
