Lovin' on as many as we can...

This last trip was a special one for me.

Obviously, being able to have my

family all under one roof,

on one Continent was huge,

but the great part about bringing

3 extra family members

is that you can bring

300 extra pounds of luggage.

That meant that THESE

(click for the story)

great jerseys donated by

JCPENNY

finally made it into our bags.

Soccer is HUGE for these boys,

so they flip at the idea of

a soccer shirt!

(The other kiddos are wearing

their "new" clothing too!

We filled our suitcases with as

much as we could.)

Happy boys!

I loved seeing them wearing their

new clothes all week.

That's when you know they were a hit...

when they get worn

DAY after DAY, after DAY!

These were 15 of the newest boys,

showing off their new shirts,

and pants/shorts.

Their needs were a tad greater,

because they had missed

 the once a year govt hand out

of 1 outfit for the year.

The older boys asked us to buy

the 15 new tennis shoes for school.

Same as last trip,

each boy got shoes, socks and undies.

Leaving Ethiopia, you can only carry

200 birr of their money with you.

(less than $12)

On her way out, our sweet friend Linda,

handed us her leftover birr.

What a blessing!

The next day after lunch,

we stopped by a "shop"

on the side of the road.

We handed a group of our boys

a handful of Linda's cash

with some extra...

and told them to go nuts

buying flip flops for the boys.

The chaos that ensued reminded me of

pillow day a few days before.

Armload after armload, the

boys brought back shoes to the van.

Those of us still in the van

rushed to find the "matches"

and bind them together

 with green bands

I had planned to hand out that day,

before the next load arrived.

The end result was over 70 pair.

Sadly, not enough for everyone,

but it made a small dent.

Yordanos, our driver, reminded us that

we were helping not only the boys,

but the merchants.

In particular, a crippled woman,

who, unable to stand upright,

moves around on all fours.

The purchase of 40 or more pairs of shoes

from her alone, was a huge blessing.

THAT is why buying in country

 is so important!!!

Showing off their new shoes...

We started with those same 15

who were new to Kolfe,

and then got as far as we could with

the other boys.

These shoes will be a top priority again

next trip.  Cheap to replace... they

cost less than $1.50 in country.