Day 10
This morning we went to church with our Ethiopian
friends. He is one of the leaders of the
church and she sings for worship. It’s a
small church. There were around 50
people there that morning at Emmanuel Baptist Church. The preaching was based on 1 Thessalonians. Even though we couldn’t understand what our
friend was preaching on we definitely felt the Holy Spirit moving in that place. I was able to bring greetings from our
congregation, Emmanuel Lutheran Church.
I let them know that we would be praying for them. I also asked for them to pray for us. It was very special for me to be able to
address their congregation. Another
friend from church sent socks and underwear for the children. All of the children received at least one
item of clothing and they were all so grateful.
Such beautiful smiling faces!
We at lunch at a hotel and then had to head back to Wolliso. It was time to take “M^” back to the
orphanage where she is staying. She
wanted to be there verses our agency’s transition house because she could
attend school at the orphanage. We know
that education is extremely important to her!
It was very sad for us to leave her there. We miss her so much already. We’re hoping that we’ll return no later than
April/May to bring her home to the US.
Please pray for our sweet girl!
The drive back was quiet and “T” slept most of the
time. There wasn’t anything nearly as
exciting this time . . . no hitchhikers or large bovines! We were able to talk with the friend that
accompanied us there. He told us about
some conversations that he had with “M^” . . . what kind of music she likes,
etc. We came up with some ideas of
activities to do with her next time we come to Ethiopia. It was also nice that “T” voluntarily sat by
Kevin on the way back to Addis. She hasn’t
been too warm toward him, but it’s improving.
I think the M&Ms helped significantly!
On the way back from Wolliso
It was rather late when we returned to the city. Our driver and Ethiopian friend asked us what
we wanted to eat for dinner. Usually
they take us to the super nice hotel restaurants. Those are nice and all, but we’d rather eat
where the locals eat. They took us to a
great burger place. Ca’De Burgers. It was basically the Ethiopian version of “5
Guys”. Good food, messy, but very good!
And last, but not least
. . . here’s your Amharic lesson for the day!
Lemon – why?
Sayamawee – blue
Day 11
Before
breakfast. Notice the crayons in a line
. . .
she may be more like her sister “M*” than we previously thought!
This morning we met another family that is here for court
for their 3 adopted kiddos! Such a nice
family and their children are so very sweet!
This is another day where we don’t have much planned. Kevin, “T” and I decided to be adventurous
and take a walk all on our own. We went
to the pharmacy then to ALL MART!!! Yup,
as close as we could come to Wal-Mart in Ethiopia!!! It was nice looking around at the different
things they had. We purchased a few
snack items for “T” and to share with others.
On the way home we decided to walk past the shops of some locals. We found some nice dishes from one man’s
shop. He was so kind. We looked and looked. We wanted to buy a traditional coffee pot
from him. However, he told us that they
had been dropped and were broken. We’ll
visit this man’s shop again because we highly respect him. So many times the local shop owners hike up
the price on foreigners. He also could
have sold us the dropped coffee pots and we would have never known. We walked a little further down and saw
coffee pots that a women was selling. We
bought one of hers. She spoke no English
and we don’t speak any Amharic. We were
able to communicate enough to make the purchase. AND she even offered us some injera that she
made. We feel very honored. We’ll visit her shop again as well! A VERY successful outing for us!
We ate lunch at the guest house. Then it was an afternoon of culture and
shopping for us and 2 others families!
We first went to the Ethiopian National Museum. It is where the famous “Lucy” is housed. The museum was awesome. So many extremely old artifacts and some wonderful
art. I wish our other girls could have
been with us! “K”, “S”, and “M*” really
like looking at art museums with their daddy!
"Lucy"
Musical Instruments
Religious Artifacts . . . notice that there is a coffee pot!!! It's part of a religious ceremony!!!!
Afterwards it was onto shopping at Church Hill Road. It’s a very touristy spot. There are lots of different shops. Many of them sell similar items. It’s very different than shopping in the
US. You’re expected to haggle the
price. I’m not very good at that, but
getting better. I would like to announce
that I am FINISHED with my Christmas shopping!!!! Yup, that’s right . . . I’m done! They might not get wrapped until the last
minute, but at least I’m not shopping at the last minute!!!
The hard part about shopping in this area is the fact
that there are so many people begging.
It is painful to know that we’re making purchases when there are people
in that immediate area who don’t have enough to eat or adequate housing or
clothing. It’s also hard to choose the
best way to help those individuals. We
plan on looking into more organizations that work in that area to help those in
need. I know that there is poverty in
most parts of the world. But, the
poverty in places like this is so different than in the US. It is difficult to even explain.
And last, but not least
. . . here’s your Amharic lesson for the day!
Macawful - share
Buna – coffee (“T” already knows that this is one of my
favorite things!!!)
Masticka – gum
This pic is for
the girls' dance teacher! She’s almost
ready for class at 5-6-7-8 Dance!
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