The Ninth Day

Sundays are my favorite!  Its a great day to spend at church and a great day to wear a DRESS!

So I'm loving this outfit!  It is probably my best DRESSember so far this year.

Mustard yellow dress, magenta tights, boots, and my Ethiopian scarf.

I know a lot of my outfits so far have had stories from Ethiopia and so I'm sorry about the redundancy, but this was a huge experience for me.  The moment my eyes landed on this scarf, I knew I had to get it.  I loved all the intricate colors and details.  Every time I wear this scarf I'm reminded to pray for the women of Ethiopia.  

While Margie and I were in Ethiopia at the conference, we experienced one of the most difficult days I've ever experienced.  It was absolutely emotionally and spiritually draining.  On this Tuesday we learned about some cultural traditions which are harmful to women, specifically female circumcision.  At the conference, they wanted to expose this social ill as it is practiced today-50% of Ethiopian women have had this procedure preformed.  Before this day, I knew little about this topic and by the mornings end I was well versed.  My heart broke. My spirit mourned.  It was devastating.  To see the evil and sick reality of this practice was more than I could take.  What was more, I was surrounded by 8,000 Ethiopian women who were mourning and weeping too.  Many of these women had this done to them and many of them allowed it to be done to their daughters.  This morning they saw, maybe for the first time, how evil it was and that Satan's hand was in it.   Together as women we mourned and we prayed.  During this experience one of the women, Chipoo, comforted me as I wept.  She too was weeping, but she turned to me and clearly said, "Kaitlin it is hard to be a woman in Africa.  You need to pray for the women of Africa!"  So I started to pray.  I'm still praying.  When I wear my Ethiopian scarf, I pray. 

 I'd like to invite you to join me in prayer for the women of Ethiopia and the women of Africa.