Chapter Four continued briefly! (Silly Me!)

I was having a mental lapse last night when I typed the last blog entry. When I talked about the second crater, I said we didn't stay as long there...not as pretty, blah blah blah...Well, that is because I honestly couldn't remember it being that great. BUT SILLY ME! I don't know why I forgot about the fruit juice!

When we went to the second crater, we sat at a restaurant and had the MOST wonderful fresh juice. The kids and I had mango guava, and Andy and Wendi had mango pineapple. Very fresh, very safe to drink. YUM~YUM!

Drubek

Chapter Four (finally! =)

Life is certainly busy with two little ones, so close together. Plus, having a 13 and 10 year old with their own busy itinerary, I haven't had a lot of time to blog. But here I am...

Where did I leave off last?

Oh yes...We were indeed able to make two day trips outside of Addis. The next day, after Elliot's eucalyptus forest event (the cipro worked wonders!!!) we went out of town to see two craters. The drive was very bumpy, a lot of road construction that never seems to get finished. The route we took involved a lot of heavy trucks, apparently the main road to Sudan, I believe...my memory being fuzzy now. But anyway, it was a main thoroughfare into other parts of Africa. And I think I've mentioned it before, but with very heavy, black exhaust emitting from each vehicle, it was hard to breathe at times. Wendi, our driver, was fantastic about passing these other trucks, cars and buses. Often times at the cost of our being fearful for our lives! These Ethiopians!!! They drive like maniacs! But we love them!

The first crater we stopped at was deserted except for us. There were two young men, early 20's I'd guess, who came over to take our entrance fee and write a receipt...good thing we had pens =). I was surprised we had to pay to see the crater since things like this are free in America. It was very beautiful, though. Across the lake was a couple of large resort looking buildings which Wendi said was the compound for the Protestants. This lake had very leaky looking boats that we could pay extra to be taken out in. The crater looked deep and the boats looked too rickety so we decided not to this time. We posed for a few pictures and then headed back up to the Range Rover.

The next crater was not as pretty and we stayed an even shorter time there. It truly was more exciting to be driving along, taking in all the sights on the way. Seeing the people, the countryside and how everyone lived outside of Addis was so fascinating! Plus, I just loved handing out the pens and paper to the students and children we would encounter. That was a highlight. Not because I felt like such a grand person for 'doing that' but because we got to interact with these joyful people. Have I said how beautiful in spirit they all are? They are amazing.

The next day we finally got to head back up the eucalyptus forest hillside and experience that trip. And my, what beauty. I fell in love with that drive. One I will never forget. Lovely. The air smells fresh and minty...eucalyptussy...ok, not a real word, but you get the whiff...=) The donkeys heading into town with their heavy burdens, the women and men who chase after them, the women carrying their own heavy loads to sell in town. As I mentioned before, the athletes training up and down the hillside, so full of energy and vitality. People always on the go to somewhere...town, home, chasing goats and sheep. They are always busy but not too much to look the way of a Range Rover coming down the road...big waves and huge smiles welcomed us wherever we went. SO wish our camera had not run out of batteries. We did get much more video footage and some day will upload some of it to here.

We drove to the largest christian orthodox monastery there, with it's huge domed ceiling. First, we had to read a sign and attest that we had not had sexual intercourse with each other for 48 hours and I also had to attest that I was not on my period...that being said, we were then able to take the monastery tour. Our guide, a very knowledgeable and delightful priest, started the tour by having us remove our shoes before entering. It was built in the 1960's, and not being that old, I was quite surprised by how musty it smelled inside. It was fairly dark, no lighting except for the sunshine in through the beautiful stained glass windows. We were not able to photograph using flash, so we just got video inside. There were murals depicting the last supper, the trinity and Mary and Jesus. Jesus on the cross and other disciples. The stained glass was spectacular. Each one showing different Bible characters. Daniel in the lions den, Abraham, Noah and the ark, Jonah and the whale, and many others. The opposite set of glass had the disciples. After the tour, our guide/priest gave us a miniature sermon...which was really, really awesome!!! He told of the importance of bringing up the children in the church, teaching them to love their Lord and Savior. Teaching them stories straight from the Bible, God's word. To show the example of what we would like them to be and being consistent. It was really neat. My family talked later about how our denomination, Seventh Day Adventists, was so much like what this priest was talking about.

After the tour, we were invited to go on the hike up the mountain side to the sacred cave. Where the holy water flows from the ceiling of the rocky crevices, healing all Orthodox Christians of their ailments. This was a lovely hike. At one point, the trail opens up to this plateau that could be taken straight out of a Robin Hood movie or like a forbidden forest. I can't even explain it...except mysterious and lovely.

At the cave opening, we went through a small gate. Priests were sweeping the entrance, even though it was a dirt and rock floor. We took our shoes off and went inside. It was damp and musty. The interior was about 20X20. The priest told of how the founder of this cave prayed for over 20 years and walked with the Lord. At the end of his meditating and communing with the Lord, this saint lost one of his legs from being on his knees so long in prayer. Again, some of my recollection may be off as there has been a lot happened since hearing the story and visiting the cave...But, it was very interesting.

Well, my 13 year old is home from visiting a friends for almost two days and I'm going to hear about her time there. I will try to write more soon!

Drubek

Chapter Three

Chapter Three: When I last left off (If I can type for very long before Ruby wakes up from her nap!) I was going to tell about how Andrew and Chloe were on the mend. They had been sick for about three days and I was feeling like a woman without a country! Elliot and I had been caring for the babies each day (what a trooper that ten year old of mine! He was my right arm!!). I think I mentioned this already. He would hold Ruby in the back seat and I would have Roman and we would transport them back and forth from the orphanage to the guesthouse each day.

Well, when the sickies in our family were up to it, we finally were able to consider a day trip out of the city. (We had already given up on the idea of our trip to Awassa...a two day trip). We headed towards this lovely mountain filled with eucalyptus trees. About 5 minutes into our drive, Elliot suddenly says he doesn't feel well. He initially thinks it's because he didn't eat enough breakfast. So I gave him a fruit leather. Almost immediately upon eating that, he asks for a bag! Producing a gallon size zip lock, he empties his stomach into it. Wendi, our courageous driver pulls over and without a question, takes the barf bag to a dumpster...which I have to say is kinda funny considering there is garbage all over the streets anyway, yet the dumpsters are always full, too!
We continue our drive. Wendi points out that the athletes train on this mountain, which is about 8000 feet. Which is why they come to America and whup our butts!! We see numerous runners training, having no problem breathing at all and running full speed up or down the mountain! On the side of the hill, there are beautiful carvings of the Lion of Judah, a church in Lalibela (known for their amazing stone churches), other animals and Haile Selassie, the king of Ethiopia.
Elliot suddenly clutches his side and basically screams in pain...apparently Montezuma's Revenge was in full force. Wendi pulled over along the road, about a 1/4 of the way up the mountain and I dug out some TP for my anguished son. Andrew and Elliot were quite the site, running into the eucalyptus forest! Twenty minutes later (and seeing numerous donkeys and women with bundles of eucalyptus branches on their backs coming down into town w/ their loads), Elliot emerged, glad to be rid of his load!! (Ok, that was bad...) Apparently, it was pretty bad!! The great thing is we had a prescription for Cipro which helped him tremendously.
Needless to say, we turned around and headed back to the guesthouse so Elliot could recover fully. We actually made the trip the next day and it was a great success...more on that in Chap. Four...

Ru just woke up so I need to continue this again later. Hopefully sooner than later, anyway. I'll also try to get Andrew to upload a video of this beautiful eucalyptus mountain side. It was so lovely. One of my highlights of the trip (minus the sick kid!)...

Drubek

Video of us meeting the babies for the first time.

New pics before we get too far along! =)

Ok, I promise to finish the saga of our trip, but here are a few pics for you to enjoy! Everything is beautiful and going well in our family. We couldn't ask for a smoother process in bonding!

Chapter Two

Chapter Two: First of all, I should mention that Yes, I did change my page to a prettier design thanks to Aqua Poppy Designs (free blog designs!! Yay!) and another blog I follow "Life in the Bend" who pointed me in their direction. I love this design, but it was difficult to choose because the designer has so many pretty choices!

So, on to chapter two of our Ethiopian trip! In chapter one, I noticed a lot of typo's (which I deplore!) but since I am typing this usually in the middle of the night, I will excuse myself a bit and realize that sometime grammatical errors will occur! (Esp. for mama's of virtual twins!)

Day two arrived in Addis and our 13 year old daughter started having a sore throat and muscle aches. Her head started hurting and then came the deep chesty coughing. By that evening she was bed bound with a temp. of 103.5 and refusing any solids. With the lethargy and no interest in food, we tried to keep as many liquids in her system as possible. Wendi, the guesthouse chef (not to be confused with Wendi our driver) concocted wonderful soups each evening, but this turned Chloe's stomach as well. Thank goodness they had fresh squeezed OJ and bottled water. I think we pretty much used up their entire water ration for the week. We were constantly asking for more. I'm pretty sure it was a little joke with the staff about how much water the Ferguson's drank as we each had probably two or three bottles of Highland each day!

Day three arrived and Andrew started feeling low. A sore throat, fever, aches, headache...coughing...Sound familiar? By that evening, his temperature had soared to 104! He too went to bed. At this point I HAVE to mention that a few weeks before leaving on our trip, Andrew got into one of his fatherly tirades about "staying well" and making sure to "take our vitamins"..."load up on zinc, Vit. C, magnesium, etc. etc. etc."...by the time we actually left town, we all had heard enough about supplemental intake!

So now with two down...Elliot and I were holding down the fort. I must say that my 10 year old was such a great help to me. He would go to the orphanage each day and hold Ruby on his lap while we drove back to the orphanage. They became great buddies! Very few people can make Ruby laugh like her big brother! I know at this point therapists will say that Ruby should only have bonded in this way (the way that she bonded with Elliot) with her daddy and mama, but we had to do what we had to do. I held Roman on my lap and off we went. In Ethiopia, seatbelts are optional and there are no child car seats. A crazy notion if you were to see how people drive there! Yikes! A car horn in Ethiopia is not only for letting people know you are irritated with them but also to let pedestrians & other drivers know you are within inches of running their heels over!

Saturday evening comes around and I've still got two very sick family members. I felt like I'd been carrying a family of six on my shoulders in a third world country. With Elliot and I the only two visible Ferguson's, I'm sure the guesthouse staff thought Andrew and Chloe were dead. That night Andrew took Nyquil. He also requested the sleeping pill, Ambien. I told him "No!!" because you're not supposed to take it with alcohol. We all went to bed. At some point a few hours later, Andrew awoke, feeling terrible, and found his coveted Ambien. The next morning, I realized that Andrew was sleeping much deeper than normal. He also was incoherent. He mumbled and slurred his speech. He usually wouldn't answer when I asked him questions or he would babble strange things. For instance, he started saying things about "there are flying batteries in the room! Get them down, get them down!" and "Catch the big fish! The big fish are the meanest, so get them first!!!" At one point he made mention to our Ethiopian attorney, Sintayehu and one of the drivers, Solomon. "Sinty called Solomon and said to come get us! Solomon, Solomon, where are you? Come get us!!!"...Although a little funny at first, I soon realized that my husband was not being his normal self. Then, he continued to ask for more Ambien!! At one point he attempted to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. As he was crashing into the walls and door jams, I knew I needed to help him. There is nothing scarier than taking your 200 lb., incoherent, babbling, hallucinating husband to go potty!!!
Elliot and I had to go and get the babies again so I woke Chloe up. I told her she needed to go in and sleep next to Daddy and babysit him. Since she wasn't hallucinating, she was clearly more capable of monitoring her father than he was of himself! But her temperature was still near 104 for the third day. I also told her that I had hidden all meds from her dad and if she had any problems with him acting weird than she would need to get up and go tell Muli or Wendi in the kitchen. The staff were wonderful and we are indebted to them for their hospitality. They cared for us so well.
We were quickly using up any meds we had taken with us, and with the only antibiotics on hand being the Malaria meds, I was trying to think rationally about what to do...as well as doing A LOT of praying!
By Monday midmorning, Andrew was starting to feel slightly better. The hallucinations had stopped (although I did resort to asking him who our President was, the names of our children as well as what day of the week it was, to which he was able to answer correctly the names, but got the date wrong.) He still slept most of that day and emerged a better feeling man on Tuesday. During this time, Chloe still was sleeping a minimum of 10 hours per day and still not eating a thing. She ended up losing enough weight (not sure of the poundage) for it to be noticeable. And this is a girl who can't afford to lose any in the first place!
Well, I guess I should stop there...for those of you who are still hanging in there and reading...please know how grateful I am!!! forget! This blog is not only to share our experiences but also to serve as a journal for us so we can remember our trip and all the interesting things surrounding it! We are blessed to have our health...to live in the USA where medicine is easily accessible!
In my next chapter, people get well...well, at least Andrew does. Chloe starts feeling better for a few days anyway & Elliot has a jaunt into the Eucalyptus Forest he will never forget!
Drubek