Travels

Well today was busy. Its amazing how busy it is. I said to Aaron today, "my dad would love this. He likes to see a lot and be busy when he travels". We left this morning at 8:30am and we went to see Yesalem Minch Orphanage. I told you about Birktukan earlier this week, but she started this orphanage b/c God gave her the ability to love kids, and the be a visionary for the children of Ethiopia. She started it 9 years ago. They have different locations and there offices are very near to our guest house. They have houses all over Addis and surrounding cities with moms who care for children. 720 kids right now. It is such a huge mission. I know we did not stay here by accident. She said, "God gave me the vision, and I choose to follow him and he continues to show me more ways to support the ministry. She started a feeding program, makes jewelry to raise money, (I bought some) makes tea and coffee, spices and sell them, has this guest house and 30 % of her money she makes goes to Yasalem Minch. If fact she takes no salary at the orphanage it is all volunteer, and her husband and her run it.
Amazing- God wanted us to see this i know.
Then we went to Mt. Entoto and looked at the overlook. It is 3200 meters above sea level. Addis Ababa is 6,000 feet about sea level. Such a beautiful country.
We then went up higher and saw the first church in Addis and went through the museum.
We picked up the other families, we went everywhere with 6 families all through Bethany. We all adopted boys. Can you believe that? Ranging in age from 4 months - 3 years old.
Went to the Bethany office and picked up all the paper work, and visas to take our children home to the USA.
We went to Lunch after that. It is hard to travel and eat at restaurants with this many people. It always takes us many hours. It was late and everyone is tired and all the kids were fussy and many of the families we traveled with are sick. Praise God we are good. Please pray for us as we travel home for safety, for Tariku to do good, and for us to continue to feel good.
We then dropped off the other families and went to the guest house. It was 4:30pm by the time we got home. A long day and Tariku had only short naps. He struggles on these days. We are ready to come home. The ground is all tile and he wants to play and he only has limited space. Also when you change diapers, no changing tables, on the floor in the bathrooms. (They are not always very clean ). He also struggles b/c he is not used to being held all day. He I am sure, was on the floor or in his crib often and we have to hold all day when we are gone. He really need to be on the floor playing throughout the day. This is a hard fact to understand for us.
Tariku is such a happy baby, but he is having a hard time pooping. We don't know his schedule how often they feed him, or with what they fed him. So he is on Enfamil the formula I brought and seems to have a hard time pooping. So he was a little fuzzy. I rubbed his tummy and he calmed down. Hard to watch and we just want to be home with him. So much easier. He has only drank from a cup so bottles took some getting used to. They told us to only feel him with a cup, but this is not ideal as we are in a van on bumpy roads that are not always paved. Hard to feed out of a cup. He has transitioned well. Pray for his tummy please.
This morning he was dress and we were heading down to breakfast, and he had a blow out all the way up his back. So in the tub he went. It was in his hair and everywhere. Burtikan has a lady she pays to do some laundry if we need it, so I asked if she could get his clothes clean. So we don't bring poopy clothes home.
Packed tonight and will leave at 8:30am tomorrow and so we can shop and then go to the airport.
We are excited to come home, it was a awesome trip but ready to come home.
Pray for us as we travel and as of now our plane will land in GR at 1:40 pm. on Saturday.
Will keep you posted if anything changes.
Thank you and God bless you all