Anointed

It is a scary (in a fear of God kind of way) feeling to watch all of God's promises unfolding before my eyes.   We know that we are walking on take your shoes off kind of Holy ground.  On Friday we went back to Holeta for a farewell party for our kids and all the kids who are leaving soon.  The children led worship.  Let me tell you that our kids, especially Nati, know how to worship the Lord.  They know the Suffering Savior, the Mighty Counselor and the Kinsman Redeemer at their young age through personal experience.  It is all over their faces. 

We brought gifts for them to give to their nannies and they were so excited to wrap them up and write cards themselves.  There were two left over and Nati asked if he could give them to the two girls that he knew didn't have a family yet.  He was so very happy to give gifts to his friends. 

It was much more sad to leave Holeta this time because we all knew they wouldn't be seeing the nannies or some of their friends again.  There are children who will be moving in and taking their place so quickly.

We went to dinner with Aster, Duni and her sister, Aster's oldest daughter.  We're always so happy to spend time with them!  The kids were exhausted, but they always love to eat Ethiopian food anytime!  Isaiah kept feeding Elle the spiciest bites that were making her eyes tear up.  It is a sign of affection to feed each other in Ethiopia.

We left early on Saturday morning to go to Pochi's orphanage in Debre Birhan.  It is a LONG bumpy trip, sometimes on roads, sometimes not.  As soon as we hit the mud and started bouncing all over the place I was reminded of David Livingstone, 19th century missionary to Africa.  When he was asked where the road to him was so men could come to help him, he replied, "If you have men who will come only if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I need men who will come where there are no roads."

It was rough on Jimmy because he is so tall he kept slamming his head on the ceiling.  The kids didn't mind at all and James loved it.  He's not going to like being in a booster seat with a seat belt at home.  Ethiopia is such a beautiful country.  There were barefooted shepherd boys all over the place, reminding me of sweet Micah Shewit!  Mercy will always point and make a sad face when she sees hungry and naked children with their mamas.  The children at the Debre Birhan orphanage are precious.  All of them are older and many of them need homes.  We had a yummy Ethiopian lunch there. We had some leftover pancakes from breakfast and Nati saved them to give to his friends there-- so precious. We went to visit Kid's Care orphanage there, too.  We ran out of time to go to the Kid's Care school that is under construction because we had to get back to Addis before the rain came.  We wouldn't have made it if the roads got too muddy.

It was another long day.  We haven't had time yet to go to AW or CCI transition homes, but we will before we leave.  Also, have to get some shopping in.  We are off to church now.  The boys look adorable in their matching outfits and Mercy is in her pink sparkly shoes.  She loves pink.  She just handed me a note with everyone's names in our family including Gigi.  Then she had used her English/Amharic dictionary to translate--- Monday going home.

Internet is SO slow and random.  I haven't been able to send any pictures.

Much love to everyone!