Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Highlights of 2014 

February - Brian traveled to Africa to the country of Ethiopia for 3 weeks where God confirmed the call for our family to move there indefinitely in the Fall of 2016 to work at Soddo Christian Hospital.  God has been stirring in our hearts for the last several years, and we are excited to be preparing to serve there!  

Abigail celebrated her 4th birthday this month too!

March & April - We temporarily moved to Visalia, California for 8 weeks to be with Brian while he did his sports medicine rotation.  It was also a wonderful bonding experience for 5 people in a very small apartment! We had so much fun!  

Elisabeth also turned 7 while we were there, and Brian and Autumn celebrated 9 years of marriage!

June - We got to be in Texas for the birth of our nephew/cousin!  It was definitely a highlight of our year! 

July - Brian started his 5th and LAST year of residency!!  We are so proud of his hard work and dedication since beginning medical school almost 9 years ago!!  It has been a long road, but we know it is God’s calling placed on his life and we love to hear how God uses him in so many people’s lives on a daily basis.  And we are excited for God to use his skill as we move to Ethiopia to help the people there who are so in need of physicians.

September - Brian and Autumn traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina to interview with Samaritan’s Purse and their World Medical Mission ministry’s two year Post-Residency Program, and we were accepted!!  It is a program for physicians just completing residency to serve at a mission hospital with other experienced missionary physicians.  They are such a great organization! Ethiopia requires that he work in the states for one year after residency before he can obtain a medical license there, so we will be heading to the mission field once he has completed that task in the Fall of 2016.  We have more information about serving in Ethiopia on our family blog at apeaceofourlife.blogspot.com.  

Elisabeth started 2nd grade this month (we are still homeschooling and LOVE it!) and Abigail and John are having a lot of fun with preschool!

October - John turned 3!  

Brian and Autumn got to go back to North Carolina to Asheville to the Prescription for Renewal medical missions conference.  We were very encouraged to meet with so many experienced missionary physicians and their spouses.  It was our second time attending this conference, and it has been a pivotal experience for us both times.  

We also traveled to Texas and got to meet two of our nephews/cousins home from Uganda!  Such a sweet and FUN time to be with them after the long wait to join their family!  We are blessed to be an extended part of that family!   

We also found out that we are expecting Baby #4!!!  We are so anxious to welcome him or her in mid-June!  Such a sweet gift to our family!! 

November - We had a fun homeschool month of learning all about the Pilgrims and the first settlers of our country as we led up to Thanksgiving.  We celebrated by hosting Thanksgiving with old   friends and new here in Oregon!  It has become one of our favorite traditions while living here!

December - This month has been full of Christmas music, a freshly cut tree, lights, decorations, and yummy treats!  It is one of our favorite times of year as celebrate the hope we have because Christ came for us!  We are looking forward to spending a cold, sunny Christmas with family in Texas for the first time since 2009! 

We hope and pray you are well!  We are so blessed that you are part of our life!

Love, The Hodges 

Brian, Autumn, Elisabeth, Abigail, John, and Baby

Walk for Water Ethiopia

Today we were able to participate in a 5k event called Walk for Water Ethiopia.  The event was an effort to support drilling wells for clean water in our town's sister city of Gondar, Ethiopia.  We walked about the same distance that the people of Gondar walk each day to find water and haul it back to their homes.  We are humbled by the new perspective we've been given, and so thankful for the ability to help in some small way.

We were also able to learn more about water through different experiments, taste injera (an Ethiopian flatbread) for the first time, listen to Ethiopian music, meet new friends, and learn more about Ethiopia.  We had a great morning learning more about the country we will soon call home.  

Moving Forward

Brian and I received an email last week that we have been chosen to move forward and take the next steps in the application process for World Medical Mission's Post Residency Program!  

We will be flying to North Carolina to do two 50 minute interviews on September 5th, and we pray that that will lead to acceptance into the program! 

As always, we would be most grateful for your prayers as we pursue what God is leading us to do.  

We are so excited to go and serve Him by serving the people in Soddo, Ethiopia, 

and pray that we will be able to do that through being a part of the Post Residency Program! 

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July!!

Ethiopia

Brian has been home from Ethiopia for just over a month now.  About four days after he got home we left for California, where he will be working until May.  Blogging about Ethiopia was put on the back burner as we packed up for our two month trip here and have tried our best to adjust and figure out a good routine here.  Although we've been so busy and haven't yet blogged about his trip, his time in Ethiopia has been on the forefront of our hearts and minds.  

Brian's time in Ethiopia was amazing and it did confirm for us that the Lord wants us there.  His time at the hospital was eye opening and tugged at his heart.  He enjoyed everyone he worked with, as well as all of the patients.  Everyone was so friendly and kind.  The spiritual environment is something he has longed for as a doctor.  To have Christ in the center of everything that was done at the hospital was like finding an oasis in the desert.  His job in the States can be incredibly spiritually dry, so to have the freedom to practice medicine the way he desires was amazing.  

Below are pictures (LOTS of them!!) from his trip.  Most of the ones he took were surgery pictures, but I have spared you those!  The pictures below give a great idea of what it was like there.  He cannot wait to go back.  We are all anxious to go.  In fact, we have officially applied for the Samaritan's Purse World Medical Mission Post-Residency Program.  We will be hearing back from them in the next few months as to whether or not we have been accepted.  We have complete peace about God leading us to Ethiopia and how and when He will get us there.  We are excited about the Post-Residency Program though and can't wait to hear back from them!

In about a year and a half the kids and I will be able to see all these places with Brian first hand.  We can't wait!!

On the way through Addis Ababa from the airport, heading to Soddo.

Scenery from Addis Ababa to Soddo.

Taxis...called a "bajaj"

A traditional Ethiopian home.

A young girl driving a cart with fresh water.

Getting closer to Soddo.  It is very green there.

More traditional homes.

Front gate of the hospital.

Entering the hospital gates.

The hospital grounds on the way to his housing.

Some of the housing for the Soddo missionaries and their families.

Dr. and Mrs. Anderson.  Dr. Anderson is Soddo's only Orthopaedic Surgeon.

Lots of banana trees!

Brian with some of the residents from the hospital in Addis Ababa, and another man visiting from Norway.

The view from the missionary homes on the hospital grounds. 

Brian had a great time connecting with this little boy that he took care of!

Feisty and fun!

One of the hospital hallways.

Patients waiting to be treated.

Patient rooms.

Missionary housing within the hospital gates.

The playground shared by the missionary families.

Playground

View from the missionary homes.

Wednesday morning Chapel attended by all hospital staff.

Nurses posing for a picture with one of their patients.

Thursday morning Bible Study with operating room and clinic staff.

Brian with the operating room nurses and scrub techs.

The ER waiting room.

View from the hospital grounds.

Brian's ride to the airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital city.

I Belong to JESUS!

Brian's driver to Addis Ababa.

Marketplace on the way to Addis Ababa.

 

 

Herds of animals were all over the roadsides, and not uncommonly in the road.  The vans just swerve around them and keep going!

Horse or donkey cart taxis were a popular mode of transportation.

Night lights in Addis Ababa.

Brian operating with a headlight...he loved his time working in Soddo!!