14 DAYS!!!!/Mitad

Just in case anybody missed my happy little ticker at the top of my blog, we're now down to 14 DAYS UNTIL WE LEAVE TO GO TO ETHIOPIA TO VISIT OUR YOSEF AND MIHRET!!!!!! I've had so many thoughtful personal emails sent to me that have used the phrase "bitter-sweet" in regard to our trip. True, I wish this was the trip to bring our kids home, as we've waited a very long time. But as of yet, it doesn't feel bitter. Just sweet. The wait and separation from my children has felt bitterly painful at times. But this visit is only sweet. I love a song that says, "You turn the bitter into sweet..." Indeed, God is turning the bitter pain into only sweetness. And He is so good to me. Knowing how painful it will be to leave Ethiopia without my children in my arms, it looks like He has opened a door for us to escort a baby back to his new family in America. It already brings me such a measure of comfort to know that my arms will at least have somebody else's baby to love on that long plane ride home. God knows my heart so well. He knows how much comfort it brings me to have a baby in my arms.

Now, I have learned a most valuable and well kept Ethiopian secret about injera! I just can't seem to get the right consistency. So, last week I traveled an hour and bought some injera from an Ethiopian restaraunt. When I got home, I discovered that the local woman who made it had a sticker on the bag with her name and phone number! So, I decided to call this wonderful injera maker named Tenu. I explained to Tenu who I was and that I had tried for over a year to make injera, but just couldn't get it quite right. I asked her if I could pay her to give me a cooking lesson. She thought this was quite funny and agreed to help me free of charge. Then, she asked me if I had a pan. I told her that I have a frying pan. She said, "Oh no. You need a special pan." She said she'd find out what it's called and where to buy it and call me back. She hasn't yet.

So, on Saturday we had lunch with our new friends Tedros and Abeba. Abeba knows exactly how to make injera and said that she will teach me. She said that the name of the special pan is a "mitad" and that it is what they call the clay fire pit in Ethiopia. In America, you can buy an electric mitad. Who knew?????? In all of my research on injera, I have never come across the word mitad before! BUT, if you do research on the word mitad, you will find all kinds of nice sociological and anthropological articles discussing the use of the mitad to make injera in Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djbouti, and Somalia. Also, the mitad is used in Congo, but I'm not sure what they cook on it. I just can't believe this special stove/pan wasn't mentioned in anything I've found about injera! It's expensive though. I only found one place to buy it online and it was $190. Tenu said she thought you could get it in DC for $90. So, I am going to use all of the money I get for Christmas, which will hopefully be enough, and try to find myself a mitad when we go to DC to catch our plane in 14 DAYS- THAT'S RIGHT- JUST 2 WEEKS!!!!!!