ethiopia-bound

(edited: I’m now in Ethiopia but this was my first chance to post). I am currently sitting on a plane bound for Atlanta, where I will meet up with the rest of my blogging team.   From there, we catch a 10-hour flight to Amsterdam, followed by a 10-hour flight to Addis Ababa.  I’m feeling pretty excited right now.  I suspect I might be feeling pretty tired and crabby come 3am.  I love travelling, but man . . . the “getting there” part is not my favorite.  (Is it anyone’s favorite part??)  My lucky husband is one of those people who falls asleep during take-off and wakes up blissfully upon landing in our new destination.  Unfortunately I am the kind of person who, hour by hour, grows deeper in despair at how I can be SO TIRED and still not sleep.  I’m not much fun on long plane rides. Yesterday I had a leisurely day with the kids.  Usually when I travel I spend the day before I leave in a state of angsty panic, wherein I ignore the children while I’m packing and prepping and then promptly settle into a prolonged state of guilt that lasts the entire trip about the fact that I didn’t have quality time with them before I left.  This time, I managed to plan ahead and had everything squared away well in advance, so I got to spend yesterday taking the kids on little “dates” of their choosing  India and I got our nails done. The boys and I went for Chinese food.  Karis just wanted candy. So that’s what we did. Last night, we went to dinner as a family to a local Ethiopian restaurant, so the kids could get an idea of the kind of food I might be eating.  In typical Howerton fashion, the girls turned up their nose at every single item, while Jafta enthusiastically ate everything in sight.  Jafta was SO EXCITED, but a large part of it was because he was able to eat with his hands.  Part foodie, part cave man. I am so excited about this trip, but leaving this morning was hard.  I will be gone a full week, and this is the longest I’ve ever been away from my family. I’ve gotten accustomed to short little weekend trips, but a week feels like a long time. There were a lot of tears on the way to the airport.  Still, the kids are excited for what I’m doing, and they even seem proud of me. Which makes me proud of them. I’ll be writing more once we are in Ethiopia – I’m really looking forward to seeing what Food for the Hungry is doing, and sharing it with you. If you are on twitter, you can follow our team with #fhbloggers.