Sorry for not writing the past week, things have been swirling about us and we have not had time to catch up on here. We had a school picked out for the kids but then found another one that seems to be quite a bit more suited to their specific needs so we have been working on getting them registered and ready to start in a few weeks. Thankfully we were able to find a very good school in town called Children’s Home Academy that has done a very good job of building an incredible school in a place where good schooling is hard to find. We were particularly excited to see that they have classes in both Amharic and English so the kids will be able to learn both languages as they grow up. English plays a major part in this country and will be a valuable tool for these kids to have.

We are hoping that things will calm down here in the future and we will not have to make so many trips to the hospital and back, its not been anything major lately but a lot of ear infections and small sicknesses.

The kitchen has been a project and a half! Its not easy to get things set up to cook for this many people all the time. We finally have a good countertop to cook on and are getting to where its easier for the cook to make meals.  It’s wonderful to see the place coming alive and the kids settling in more, it was a major adjustment for them to move up here and be with new nannies in a new place they had never been before, but slowly you can feel the mood changing, the kids are settling in and its starting to feel more like a home.

We have a few people heading south today and they will be spending some time out in the tribes, Lale says that there is a possibility that one of the newborn babies we have been hearing of will be born and hopefully able to come into our orphanage.  We are praying that things work out and these babies we are told we will get are able to be rescued.

Levi

First of all I need to say thank you to everyone who has been donating to help us meet this months budget, we are starting to get a lot closer to making it and so thankful that we do not have to lay off nannies to make ends meet.  Thank you all for your generous support, we are truly humbled and in awe every time someone steps up like this.

This past week we have been going all around town trying to pick out a good school, its a lot like picking school for your own kids, you know that feeling where you walk into a school and immediately start to look around for dangers or reasons why you might not trust the place… Its amazing how our feelings for these kids have grown and how providing for them has become almost a part of us, we can do nothing without thinking of how it affects the kids and what they might want, or how we can help them be able to learn and get ahead in life. We found one school that looks very good, also as a big bonus they teach english which is a very important skill to have over here and they seem to have very good teachers.  The kids are jumping out of their skin ready to go to school, they ask about it every day and are getting antsy to get out of the compound more.

Kotsa

We have this little boy who is the cutest little thing ever, his is six years old and just has a very sweet and kind heart.  He is one of the newer kids who came to us earlier this year and has adjusted well. When he first came we all though that he did not like us, he would always squint his eyes at us and wrinkle up his forehead, whenever we went to hug him he would look at our hands like they were going to attack him. At first we backed off and gave him some space, but later on we started to realize that he just has really bad eyesight, he can literally hardly see us coming for him and is scared. Its was so sad when we finally realized what was going on, he tries to play ball with the other kids but every time the ball comes at him he runs a totally different direction thinking he is going to catch the ball. Is super sad but kind of cute to watch him try and play.

This past week we took him into the eye doctor and tried to get his eyes tested for glasses, but he just sat there staring at the equipment and would not say a word to the doctor… So we are going to try this again and hopefully because he has been there before he might warm up to the doctor.  We are praying that he loosens up and helps us make this happen for him. I can not imagine how happy he is going to be when he realizes that there is so much more to see in this world than he sees now.

On another note, Abre the little boy who is living with us is doing very good, he is improving every day and seems to trust us now. And big bonus, he sleeps at night now! And now I know something I always wondered before…. 5 kids is really not that much harder than 4.

Levi