Back to Dirt?

I'm sure by now you all have given me up as hopeless as a blogger, but I beg extentuating experience. We've been unable to communicate for nearly the last month (first travelling for meetings and then our email was down for over 2 weeks), so you can't JUST blame my lazy fingertips and uninspired mind. You really wouldn't believe how many blogs get written in my head on a weekly basis...well, at least the titles.

We are in the hot and dusty time of year here at Omo. You know it is bad when a two year old notices that it is dirty. A couple of weeks ago we were gone from home for about 10 days. First we travelled to a town about 13 hours from here called Awassa, attending a gathering of our SIM South Team. We left from there to go on to Addis to meet with our RCA Africa Director, who was in country, and to do some supply shopping. After travelling home another two days, we were on our last day of driving when we told Elsa, "You finally get to go home today!" And she replied, "to HQ (our headquarters in Addis)?" We said, "No, home!" She wasn't quite getting it, kept thinking of Awassa and Paradise (our stop in Arba Minch, the half-way town), so finally we started saying, "Back home, to Bauer and to your toys and your bed and your house..." She thought for a minute and said, "Back to dirt?"

Yes, it is extremely dusty, and hot. A few weeks ago we had 107 in the kitchen and 131 outside in the direct sun. At Omo you always trade one thing for another--right now the river is at its lowest, so is running clear out of our sinks and showers (so nice!). But with that comes the heat and dust. Come late spring, rains will fall in other parts of Ethiopia, causing our river to rise and turn muddy, flowing thick and brown from our faucets. But with that comes somewhat of a break from the intense heat and rains often settle the dust.

I've heard Caleb's grandma say that sweeping is therapeutic. My emotional health must be off the charts at this rate!