Crafts, mangoes, & hang out time {Ethiopia Day 2}

After a fitful first night of sleep, we were up bright and (very) early ready to start the day on Saturday. The guest house had a restaurant on the first floor and it came in handy each morning for breakfast. Randy and I each had an omelet and Jensen chose the French toast everyday. It was good and as close to tasting like home as we could get. And of course it wouldn’t have been complete without a macchiato! Have I mentioned how much I love those?!

Before we knew it, our hosts were picking us up and we were heading out towards Kolfe Boy’s Home- an orphanage of all boys.



We stopped along the way to buy some mangoes to bring with us for the boys and we decided to go ahead and get enough for all the children in Sululta as well.






We had to taste-test one first.

Then Fikre had to do the math and figure out the cost for what seemed like a hundred pounds of mangoes!

Your hand can double as a calculator you know.

When we pulled up to Kolfe, there was actually a team from the U.S. there and getting ready to leave. We knew we weren’t going to stay long, so passed put the mangoes, got the quick tour of the grounds from B- one of the sweet boys who lives there (but not for much longer-yay!), and met a few of the other boys who lived there.





And then we were back in the van and on our way back to the country-side.



We were so excited to be seeing the kids again and this time we would be with them all day!

We drove into the compound and could see our M running out to meet us. She was putting on her necklace, looking all pretty as she stuck her hand through the open window to reach in and touch mine. She was ready for us!

We had a few letters for some of the kids from their sponsor families, so we gave those to them and took a few pictures while Fikre translated.






Nathan had sent several of the kids pictures that he had drawn and I was happy to give them to them for him!

 Our boys had heard us talk about these kids so much for the past half a year and here was Jensen getting to actually meet them in person and hear from them himself. He was feeling the same way we were… not wanting to be anywhere else in the world but right there.

The children were ready for us to do something, so we busted out the crafty stuff and got to work painting with watercolors and making decorations for Easter. They worked very hard and had a great time. 

Every creation was just beautiful




After craft time, we were able to just hang out with everyone. This is my favorite part of getting to visit the kids in Ethiopia.






Just letting the children show us what they'd like to do was so much fun. Many of them wanted to take mine or Randy's camera and run off to take silly pictures of their friends. At times I followed my camera and other times I didn't care. We have a lot of fun videos from this day as well!







I love this girl. L is one of the older girls and is a complete joy and delight to be around.

We had brought some photo collages for our kids and they were pretty excited about them.

They both promptly hung them up right next to their beds! So sweet!


This little girl ran to her room to show me the picture of her sponsor family... and then kissed it to show me how much she loves them! Awww! :)


Hanging out with W our driver on the left and F the orphanage director on the right



We were able to give the kids some of the donations that we had brought with us. Underwear, socks, toothbrushes, snacks, etc.




And then can you guess what it was time for?


We had coffee while the kids snacked on the mangoes we had brought. Mmmm!




Can you see us in the backround sipping our coffee on the bench? They kept offering it to Jensen, but he very politely denied. :)

Here he is with our buddy, K. This boy is very sweet and really latched on to me on our first trip and Jensen on this trip.



Me and my sweet boy eating a mango. Oh my goodness I love him so much.


All of a sudden it was beginning to get dark and it was once again time to leave.

Even though we had been disappointed that we weren't able to tell our kids just yet about the adoption, it really didn't put a damper on the day at all. We had a ton of fun just hanging out and playing with everyone. Of course we would have loved to have a little bit of special time with N and M, but in a lot of ways it was really neat just to be able to see them interacting with their friends and bond with them in a different way. We prayed that we would be able to tell them soon.

Each hour that went by was just more of a confirmation to us that we were meant to be together. And after this 2nd day, Jensen was convinced of it as well. He now loved them and could imagine them being his brother and sister. I have many pictures of them together. When we came back to the guest house that night for dinner, he commented on how sweet all of the kids were, but how he knew that there was something special about N and M. He was ready for them to join our family and we couldn't agree more!