THE AYER TRIBE and ZOO.

THE AYER TRIBE and ZOO.

Some things that are brewing around here in the Ayer Tribe…

There are some things here that just feel like a dream to me (they may be silly and very small, but I feel like God is just giving me sweet gifts that maybe I’ve always longed for…he’s allowing childhood dreams and things I’ve always loved to be a part of our lives but in a way that I am finally able to manage it all—because I have HELP HERE!!)  SO….

We are expecting J !!!! HAHAHAHA…PUPPIES, that is!! Praise the Lord!! This is like a life long dream for me, and normally having six children and then expecting puppies would overwhelm me…but as I see it, I have no where else to go.  I have the most help around my house I’ve ever had, so why not have puppies!! Our Ethiopian friends and workers all know so much about animals and what to do!! Ella could NOT be more excited that HER DOG is having babies…and I am living vicariously through her!   I ALWAYS wanted to have puppies…what an amazing experience this will be!! It was a surprise that our barely one year old pup is pregnant, but hey, let’s celebrate and embrace it…we’re in ETHIOPIA!! She’s an outside dog, who is slowly moving into our front sunroom J..but we love her.   It could be any day now!! We’ll post pictures soon!!

We also have some other really cool pets and creatures. We sort of are like our own little zoo around here! I really love it!!

We have a small, cracked-shell tortoise…Mr. T!! He is so funny.  He just makes us all happy.

And while our neighbors are away, somehow their giant tortoise has moved into our yard…he is really hilarious.  His name is Leopard.

These two are such social little creatures…they like to be by each other, and also near the dog…and us J!! They just make us laugh and I’m really thankful for these amazing parts of God’s creation that we can just delight in.

AND…we have about 150 silk worms at the moment!! How? You may ask. Well, in Addis we met this awesome woman who has started a silk worm farm and a silk factory. She has taught the art of weaving to many women and men here in Ethiopia and really brought silk here for the first time. Well, while living in Addis this became one of Evie’s most favorite places to visit because the butterflies are SO VERY BIG!!  When we lived in Addis, we lived just a short walk from Sabahar, the silk factory, so we were able to bring cocoons, butterflies and worms home at different stages, but without too much success.  A couple weeks ago, Dave went to Addis and brought home three silk cocoons that were to hatch very soon! We had two hatch the next day and large butterflies emerged…we even watched one crawling right out and spreading it’s wings for the first time!!! Can you tell Evie’s delight?!?!  So, it just so happened that the two were a male and female, they mated and the female layed close to 200 eggs!! We had nearly 150 caterpillars hatch and they are eating and growing like crazy!! They eat Castor leaves…they eat, poop, eat, poop…eat some more. So, they are proving to be very easy pets. It’s amazing to watch them change every day…soon we many have many cocoons and a house FULL of butterflies. I’m not quite sure how we’re going to manage this, but we’ll get creative.  I told you we have a zoo!!

I also have a beautiful GARDEN…and flower beds…and they are staying alive and producing!! All thanks to Marvelous Markos, our gardener!! He is great and keeps it all weeded and alive!

Keep posted to see the news about the Ayer Puppies J!! We are too excited!

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!”