Down from the Mountain

After buying a few souvenirs from the local people of Lalibela, we journeyed back over the mountains and boarded the plane back to Addis. We arrived around 2 o clock and drove to the guest house where we picked up our diaper bag of toys and headed to the Thomas Center . On arrival, we found Sifan sleeping sweetly once again.
She looked like a little cherub. She had only been sleeping about 20 minutes. I stroked her arm and she woke up. She was a little fussy as she had not napped but we had some very sweet moments with her. She was easily comforted by her mommy today when I held her close to my chest.
She did not want to be held by daddy today but he got her to smile by playing with a ball.
I got to feed her some cereal with a spoon and she took several bites. We are again so thankful for these visits to bond with her even more.
She once again cried when I had to give her back to the Nanny.

Also during our visit, we were able to give a soccer ball which we had purchased for one of the older boys who was waiting for his family. And we were able to visit with two of the children who are waiting for their YWAM family to come and bring them home. They were so very precious! We told them their mommy and daddy were coming soon!

We discussed details for our trip to Gimbie tomorrow. Abebe’s brother and Tezerra, the director of the YWAM orphan and widows home will pick us up around 6 in the morn and we will make our trek to Gimbie.

**I'm assuming that this is Battle and Shannon pictured with Abebe's brother?**

We are told it is a 12 hour drive across the country. We actually may stop in Nemkete, which is an hour and a half outside Gimbie and stay the night there . We will spend Thursday in Gimbie . When we leave Gimbie , we will be bringing back 4 abandoned infants with us to take to Adama on Saturday. 2 of the babies will stay the night with Battle and I on Friday before we pick up Sifan and head to Adama on Saturday. We will have our work cut out for us!! I guess we took care of twins so we should be old hats at this!!

Abebe may try to help us with sending pictures, so hopefully soon we can add pictures to our blog posts. **Note from Kristi ~ obviously pictures finally have come through!** Be patient with us, I know that is what everyone is waiting for!!

We appreciate all your prayers for this journey ahead of us! We feel God’s very real presence and His strength sustaining us!

We love you all and can’t wait to be able to share pictures and then be able to celebrate our journey with you in person once home!

Ciao!