Well it is now Friday, we leave late tomorrow night. On Tuesday we went shopping prior to picking Eyob up. Bridget picked up a few things for the kids and freinds. We also ran into Robel’s Street kids that he helps out. To make money to bring home and eat, they shine shoes, sell gum, tissue, or chap stick etc.. There were the women dressed in green with sticks that the shop owners apparently pay to keep the kids away, there were a couple of close calls, some of the kids seemed to treat it as a game though.

I met Samuel, bought some gum from him, he kept asking me about America. He told me he was 14, and was proud that he as in school. He showed me his school ID and showed me that it said he was in 6th grade. I paid him to take his picture. He later gave me a cross necklace as a gift. I really like Samuel.

We picked up Eyob later that day. He did pretty good, he started off real closed, quiet. He did not make a sound. He slept all night.

Wednesday we went to the Embassy to and had to be interviewed, about 5 questions or so, to get Eyob’s travel visa, he even got a little passport. Everything went fine there. We wen to lunch and Lucy’s. After lunch Eyob finally started playing, walking around and visiting others, then playing with another boy from our group, the other boy even had Eyob laughing as they would stick their head out in the rain drops under the canopy.

We then came back had dinner and played for awhile. He was starting to open up a little more. We went to bed around 9pm. 2am I awoke to the sounds of loud crying. I picked up Eyob and he quieted down. I tried to put him back down and he started screaming. The only thing that calmed him at this point was me walking in circles with him, every time I sat down he would scream “like a light switch”. This went on till about 5:30 am. He was tugging at his ear so we started with Tylenol, to no avail, then 2 hours in we gave him motron, I think that’s what helped in the end.

Thursday Bridget and I both were very tired. The plans for the day were to visit Kids Care ( The orphanage where Eyob was originally dropped off at when he was one), then Lunch, then Kingdom vision orphanage. Bridget was not feeling well and they both were tired so she and Eyob stayed back and slept while I went with the group to the 1st orphanage.

I had a good time at Kids Care. The kids could not wait to play with us, we brought donations, suckers, chalk, and even some “Jesus” hacky sacks! The kids were laughing and playing with us, it was awesome. They then made coffee for us and then we left.

I decided to skip lunch and go back to the room. There I found Bridget with Eyob still sleeping. We then all went to Kingdom vision, walking distance, but we had a lot of donations so we drove. Kingdom vision was really nice, most of the kids were sleeping though. One of the families in our group met the birth parents of their son there. We checked out the facility, then played with some of the older boys who were awake, and then left. As we were leaving all of the young kids and girls were coming out, we left the suckers and toys so they could all play.

That afternoon, we had the Dr. come see us about Eyob, concerned for an ear infection, he subscribe a low dosage anti-biotic. We called a driver and went to pick up the prescription and some pizza for dinner. Our driver was really nice and spoke really good english. He told me all about his country while Eyob and I waited for Bridget to come down with the pizzas. I learned so much from him.

Today is Friday, and I awoke with the Roosters crow this morning, about 6am. We all 3 slept through the night. I am sitting in the empty dark lobby drinking last nights coffee ( it was in a thermos, so still warm). We are going to not go with the rest of the group to the coffee tour, instead we called the driver from last night and asked if he would take us out into the country so we could see and take pictures of the Africa that we are familiar with. Have an awesome day, Love the Lord with all your heart mind and soul, and love your neighbor as your self.. -JC

Mark-