Since you asked:)

Nancy, I think you're right in your assessment. People simply don't want to face the pain and poverty. I've always been fascinated with missions and the adventure of it and would LOVE to hear about your past trips sometime.

Kathy, yes I would love to do a neighborhood ladies get together after we get back:)

Jennifer, you're a girl after my own heart for sure! And since you asked...

We arrive in Addis Ababa on Friday and leave Saturday morning for Sheshemene (a town in the countryside, south of Addis). We just so happen to be going exactly when a Visiting Orphans medical mission group is going and we will be joining up with them to assist them in any way. I am an LPN but a rusty one but the others in our little group are non-medical. There is still plenty for them to do - crowd control and other tasks will keep us all busy from dawn till dusk. We are doing health evals. on the kids who originally came from the trash dump but are now attending the boarding school in Sheshemene. There are 250 kids there so that should keep us busy for a couple days! We'll be staying overnight in a hotel in Owassa, which I'm sure will prove very interesting to say the least;)

After we're done with the clinic there, we head back to Addis on Monday (I believe) to begin the medical clinic in Korah. Here we will see, I'm sure a lot of different health problems. I think the goal is to see 150 people a day (or close to that). There will be a pharmacy in which people will be given meds to help with whatever problem they suffer from.

On Wednesday, the 6 of us (Katie, De, Kevin, Denise, Blaine and I) will leave early in the morning for Hossana, which is about a 4 hour drive south into the countryside. We have been there before as this is where Mihiretu and Misganaw are from and where we went to meet their Ethiopian mother when we were there adopting them.

Our plan is that we will meet with the 2 boys we sponsor through Compassion International and Kevin and Denise will meet with their little boy. Pretty cool that all the kids we support are from the area that our sons are from. That was by design, even with Kevin and Denise. How cool is that? We will get to tour the project (school) the boys attend and then get to visit their homes. We'll take all the boys out to lunch and get to spend time with them. They are older boys, who often get overlooked for sponsorships-ages 12, 13 and 14. We specifically asked for older boys for this reason when we began sponsoring them. Can't wait to meet them!

Then we also will be visiting with Mihiretu and Misganaw's Ethiopian mom and hopefully some of their siblings. We're really praying to have this amazing chance to meet them. This is being set up by Children's Home Society, the agency we used to adopt them. We will be thrilled to see her again and show her video of the boys, how big they've gotten, that they're healthy and happy. We'll present her with a photo album full of pictures of them. I would want this if I were her and I know it will mean the world to her. We want to bless her as she has blessed us.

We then will spend yet another night in the countryside at a hotel before heading back to Addis to complete the clinic in Korah and then help in any other way is needed.

Does that not sound like an amazing trip?? I think so, too!

Thanks for asking. It was fun getting to talk about it!

Blessings,

Laura