Awasa and Back...

Well, this year we have traveled and spent many more days on the road and in the air then last year. Since we got here in Addis, we have already been to Awasa and Sodo which are two cities in the southern part of Ethiopia. Awasa is by far our favorite city with amazing fruit and a quaint hotel. We visited an orphange with 24 babies and other older children and it was a precious time holding and loving on these babies. This is an orphanage our agency is looking at working with, so all of the adoptive moms think and very much hope that they will be able to adopt the children they have fallen in love with. Heidi, my precious friend and adoptive mom from Nashville who is only 29 and has 3 under the age of 10 and she is now thinking of adopting a sibling group of 3 all under the age of 12! I fell in love myself with the youngest of the group. Another mom has decided to adopt 2 instead of just one now, so it's been so wonderful to witness the expanding of their borders in this way. The orphanage in Sodo was another orphanage we are thinking about working with...This orphanage by far was so much more gut wrenching then the one at Awasa as the children looked as though they were the "throw aways" of society. There was no hope in their eyes and they all had this skin condition from some type of fly that attacks their skin after midnight. Also many infections and just poor hygiene. This orphanage kept me awake last night. How people do not seem to value the dirty and unkept and honestly, in the adoptive community, the older children. They are so precious in His sight. One in particular reminded me of my neice Ellie. They all would barely look you in the eyes. There was Moses and David, two boys who were older than their years from being in that orpahange for so many years. They wanted me to paint their faces as zebras and tigers. But, they barely smiled and didn't play, just washed it off again. I wonder if they feel disposable..I'm sure they do..just like that face paint. The little girl that reminded me of Ellie had an infection on her foot that someone stepped on and opened up. She cried and I picked her up and took her to the sink to clean it. The caregivers think it is worms. But, to me it looked like a very very bad infection and it GRIEVED me that I had not brought neosporin to leave with them to teach them, etc. I want to make a difference at this orphanage. I want our agency to help...I want our church to help and over all that I want God to help.
We are all in great unity and Spirit. Pray for our last week. We work with the homeless kids tomorrow and visit an orphanage called Kids Kare. Then we head to Lalibela and Axum and back again. We have cried out to God and asked Him for more opportunities to make a difference.
Pray for the orphanage in Sodo. We are getting them mosquito nets in the hopes of preventing more of these fly bites in the night...I can't help but wonder though why they didn't have these already with malaria being such a high risk...again, whose truly loving and caring for these orphans? The picture here is Bebe (one of our interpreters and I trying to doctor the little girl's foot.