We are Blessed to be a Blessing...

Thursday, September 30

A quick post with some of my favorite kids...

This post is for the Kolfe Moms...

here's a head start on a cheat sheet.

Some of my favorite Kolfe boys...

Emnatu

Mezgebu

Professor Fendisha.. aka Ephrem

back to just being Ephrem.

Sintayehu

Gizachew

and his baby.
The boys were great about carrying my "stuff"
If you look real close at the 11x14 hanging up
in my front hallway of our 3 boys...
you will see that Emnatu is holding my purse. :o)
- - - -
Gizachew wanted me to snap this photo to
send to two of the moms back home who are
sporting their own baby, although, neither of their
babies is in the form of a removable backpack.

Behaylu...

aka "Crazy Boy." He and Abraham

(below) always had me laughing.
He would just randomly run through Kolfe
kicking up his legs behind him, and shouting.
Why? Because he's Behaylu...
There's nothing that can be done,
except to laugh and love this crazy boy!

Abraham, so silly...

I was going to wait on the next photo,

but I can't resist... You will see it twice.

We were having trouble taking photos

that included Ephrem.

He and the flash did not agree.

Abraham grabbed a roll of tape to

tape open Ephrem's eyes.

Obviously, this only worked on Abraham.

Melkamu

Biniyam...

"Keeper of the cards."

Birhanu, I call him "Singer".

This sweet little guy is the only one at

Kolfe who speaks his language.

A tribal language.

The boys are so good with him,

and he is learning... Amharic.

Video was a rarity, because I didn't

have much space on my camera.

We were deleting things every

few hours to make space.

This is just a glimpse of his singing,

and gives you a taste of the sounds

that Ethiopians make in approval...

listen and you will understand.

Roberto

Sisay

"Guwugu"

Genanaw

Daniel
Someone asked me to tell the
story behind this photo.
It actually looks more touching than it was.
He was being silly,
he had just lost at the game of Pit,
and was crying on my shoulder.
Such a goofball...

Ibrahim (in the overalls)

I had been avoiding eating all week.

I really didn't want tummy trouble.

The last day, Ibrahim called me into the

room where he was eating with the nannies.

He sweet talked me into letting him feed

me two bites of VERY spicy injera.

I joked with Ibrahim, once I was home, that

I remembered him the whole way home.

He laughed, but just two bites...

gave me tummy trouble on the way home.

Gashaw

Such a sweet kid...

He is deaf, and very smart.

Top honors for his grades.

His face would light up when Fekadu or I

would acknowledge that we recognized him

(remember there were 160+ boys)

by signing our names in the way he taught us.

I haven't figured out yet if he truly has

been taught "American Sign" or if some of

it overlaps into Ethiopian Sign....
- - - -

I just know my sign alphabet I used in
2nd grade to avoid getting in trouble
for talking in class is a little rusty.

Good thing Gashaw is so sweet
and forgiving of my rustiness!

Tuesday, September 28

2nd Share Night...

There is something really cool about being able to share

the memories of my time at Kolfe with friends...

Thank you!!!

Monday, September 27

Graduation Ceremony... Part 2

Dancing...

it's was a big part of the graduation ceremony

So much so, that shy Emnatu got into the act.

...and later, drug me up on stage with him.

I don't use the word "drug" lightly.

I am not a dancer, and I really didn't like

dancing up on stage at the ceremony.

Thankfully, the camera was out of batteries!

I'm not sure you could call what I did dancing.

It was more like an awkward foot shuffle,

than it was the traditional

Ethiopian shoulder shrug dancing,

but I am know I gave everyone a good laugh.

Fekadu (my friend and translator)

and Kibret (Fekadu's church friend and my driver)

They spent most of the week in the car,

talking, napping, and waiting,

but they joined in on the fun for the ceremony.

A traditional Coffee Ceremony.

(Notice the grass on the floor, it's

a traditional Ethiopian decoration.)

A couple of the older Kolfe boys MC'ed

the program and lead a few crazy games.

In this one Merhawi, Biniyam,

and 2 girls from Ketchene Orphanage

had to grab objects with their teeth.

First in a bowl full of water...

Then, in a bowl full of...

flour. :o)

Love this photo of Biniyam!

The second game was the

human musical chairs game.

Lots of laughs on this one.

Surprisingly the boys were actually

quite shy about girls sitting on their laps!

As if the dancing wasn't torturous enough,

I was asked to speak.

Not sure how Leslie got out of it,

or why Fekadu didn't give me a heads up...

Four of the graduates...

Sisay, Tamirat, Emnatu and Solomon

Two huge loaves of bread,

cut by the graduates,

and served for lunch.

Each of the graduates and honorees were

called up for a round of congratulations,

and presentation of a gift.

A sweet little message from my graduate...

(The hand heart we have seen so often on Skype.)

Everyone did a collective, "Awww",

but I laughed later that he did this in

front of the Govt official gal

who wasn't a member of my fan club.

That was priceless!

Sisay

The boys' elected leader,
Dereje, aka "Guwugu"...

The boys all love Dereje.

It was awesome to hear them cheer,

"Gu-wu-gu, Gu-wu-gu..."

as he crutched his way to the front.

The boys told me that Ayal was a great dancer,

so after a bit of persuasion, I managed to get

both of the Tamiru-John brothers

to show us their stuff.

Somehow, I managed to avoid both of them trying

to cart me up there with them! Whew!!

How awesome to see them dancing together!

All the boys were in high spirits.

Following the ceremony, lunch was served.

A rare treat, the boys were able to have what

looked like a "normal" Ethiopian meal.

Lots of meat, vegetables, injera, bread, soda.

Gizachew and Surafel

Saturday, September 25

Graduation Ceremony... Part 1

For the record... I didn't take these photos.

Gizachew and Biniyam were the photographers

for Saturday's events.

...felt like that needed to be said, since the Gov't official

was very specific about photos Saturday.

Saturday was a extra fun.

I had wanted to travel to ET in July to see Emnatu

graduate from Selam Technical College,

but God had other plans.

He replaced that special day with this one.

Saturday, Graduation Ceremony Day at Kolfe.

(This ceremony celebrated the accomplishments of

many of the Kolfe boys and Ketchene Girls both

graduating and those studying with special honors.

The program was sponsored by the Ethiopian Gov't

and Glad*ney Adoption Agency.)

The kids were all very excited

about the special events of the day.

The day before, a few had cleaned up the

multipurpose room, while 30+ others had joined me

in a project of cleaning up the campus grounds.

Thanks to my flight attendant...

they were rewarded for their hard work.

Boxes for raisins for all those who worked.

Gizachew and Emnatu

Abraham, Joesph, Sisay, Mezgebu, Emnatu, - - - - , and Biniyam

Sweet little Mezgebu

Wearing his traditional Ethiopian vest

for the special occasion.

How cool to be here on Graduation Day!

My two favorite Graduates

Emnatu and Sisay (both graduated from Selam)

This was photo 1 of 6.

The boys love photos, watch what happens

when they saw this one being snapped.

Photo #2

Johannes, the former Kolfe director came running over to be in the next photo. The boys LOVE this man, I had a meeting with him at his office downtown a few days later. I told him I would pray that God brings him back to Kolfe. He was all for that idea. He misses all of them so much! One of the boys later looked at this photo, and said, "She (me) is our mom, and she (we all laughed, he meant, "he") is our dad." It was an honor to be lumped in there with Johannes, I respect this man very much.