Monday

Our First Day After dropping into bed at 11 p.m. and waking throughout the night to dogs barking and the Muslim call to prayer about 5:30 a.m., Jennifer and I sluggishly got out of bed and made our way to the kitchen for our first taste of Ethiopian coffee. It did not disappoint! Ethiopia introduced coffee to the world, and the strong taste is heaven for coffee drinkers.

Promptly at 9 a.m., we headed to the Layla House. I don’t think I can properly describe in words for the orphanage: clean yet incredibly sparse, tears and lots of hugs, children running and playing and curiously looking at the brand new group of American volunteers. The first compound (through the yellow and red Pooh doors) had two mattresses on the concrete floor with about 10 babies in the sun. Flies were everywhere, and the workers tried their best to keep the flies off the babies faces. The toddlers were also in this area: crawling, kicking a lone soccer ball, and holding their arms up to us to pick them up and cuddle with them. I know (and I’m sure I can speak for Jennifer here) that I was literally biting the inside of my cheek as I witnessed and tried to take in the whole scene while not sobbing. The babies and toddlers cried often, yet they were quite happy and had good eye contact and clearly loved their caregivers.

The second compound (through the concrete playground with a basketball court and two metal goals set up for soccer) were where the older children were in school. They were precious and the manners were exceptional. They kept saying “Photo! Photo!”—wanting to see their picture in our digital cameras. The girls mostly have braids, and the boys hair is cut very short. They are so dear and sweet—and love to try out their English on us. The most amazing thing is that they just want to be touched—hand holding, sweet conversation, and many, many hugs.

Lunch was traditional Ethiopian—Jennifer was much braver than I was and ate the injera stew (way spicy for me—she didn’t break a sweat) and Ethiopian bread (very spongy and cold.) There is no silverware, so you scoop the stew with your bread. There are also no napkins, so the kids wait until the end to use the sink to wash up. Needless to say, it’s a messy process! I snuck in a Zone Bar in the corner of the compound and a quick bottle of water while no was looking (I think…)

For the afternoon, Jennifer went to visit Opportunity House (a 9 x 10 room with around 10 kids with varying degrees of handicaps); the access to healthcare is simply not available, and so these children make due with what life has handed them. Thankfully Jennifer was able to show one child some physical therapy to help stretch his muscles. The children have no stimulation (legos and stuffed animals is it…). The age range is 3-8. Pray for these children…Jennifer is going to visit daily. I stayed in the baby rooms for the majority of the day—holding, singing songs, wiping noses and trying not to be a complete basket case. One child in particular has grabbed my heart—her name is Mimi. Mimi came about 3 months ago malnourished, and has an enlarged heart and no hair (due to the lack of food and nutrition). She has blossomed and grown, but her nutrition needs special attention and I don’t know much more about her family and why they left her at Layla House. She is thought to be around 3.

Our emotions are high and the need is great here. These children LONG for a home and a family to call their own. Many older children watch their friends open up packages from their American families, and then leave. While they mourn the loss of their friendships, the need for them to have a family is greater. Thank you for all your prayers—our travel here was wonderful, our accommodations are much better than we hoped, and our group is amazing. The children of the Layla House and Opportunity House, though, need your prayers most of all. We are so grateful there is a Father in heaven who sees them, knows every hair on their head, sees every tear shed, and knows their needs.

We have arrived!

Hello from Africa!
We are finally here--after a long, yet uncomplicated flight. Addis Ababa was cool and welcoming, and the airport was an absolute sight to behold. Thousands of people welcoming family members who they haven't seen in years--children, workers, volunteers--it was amazing!
Our accommodations are better than expected. Jennifer and I are actually at the volunteer house, and we each have our own room and bathroom. Tomorrow (Monday morning) we get to meet the kids and staff and get our assignments. Please pray for us! God has already revealed some things to Jennifer and I that we find truly amazing. I hope to share them soon when we have a better electricity situation--it is very fragile right now and goes out often. We miss you all--goodbye from Ethiopia!!

Travel Day is Here

• 5 Totes
• Almost 300 pounds of supplies
• 40 pounds of medical supplies
• 2 small carry ons
• And a long travel day ahead of us!!

As the Ladybug (Mrs. Melody) said, GO WITH GOD!

Believe us, That's the only way we'd travel!

2 Days!

We've had a lot of people ask about specific prayer concerns, and here they are! Please join us in lifting up these requests!

· Able to serve through all we do
· Let our time spent with the kids bring them joy and hope for a future
· Good health, energy to serve and no altitude sickness
· That our group of women work well together (there are 12 of us in all, mostly from a church in Wisconsin)
· Travel Mercies (on Saturday, the 29th: we travel from KC to DC, board Ethiopian Air to Rome, re-fuel, then arrive in Addis Ababa-total flight time, 19 hours-arrive home the next Saturday, April 7th same schedule)
· The Layla House group (American run orphanage where we’ll stay)
· The Aids/Children’s Hospital we’ll visit: see http://www.ahopeforchildren.org
· Our travel group: http://www.heartsofhopeadoption.com
· Our families here (husband and children!!-for health, no fear, general day-to-day activities while we’re gone)
· Safe arrival home
· Most of all: the orphans, children without the hope of being adopted (those with full blown AIDS), that we would be Christ’s hands and feet to them

Please feel free to pass this along to anyone—being covered in prayer is obviously a necessity for this trip! We can’t thank you enough.

We're Getting Closer...

We just received our travel itineraries in the mail: our official travel dates are March 29-April 6. We travel from KC to Washington DC...then wait about 7 hours until we board the plane to Rome (where we'll re-fuel but not get off the plane)-and on to Addis. The whopping grand total flight time: about 18-20 hours. Anyone recommend some good books??

Our bags are getting full! And the donations have made me speechless. Thanks to all--the support has been amazing. A special thanks to the staff at St. Joseph Christian--I can feel the prayers and the donations have made my heart sing.

Keep praying! Those kiddos need every bit of them!