Our Trip to Shashemene (sp?)!!

 Ashli and Shanna showed up early that morn with Sesay, and a boy from the post office district named Sammy, to make the three or four hour journey out to Shashemene. Sesay had the biggest grin on his face and was so excited to be going to school.  He is so sweet and cute. We gave him a new backpack and some clothes and a little santa hat. He never took it off. He fell asleep on the way so I snagged a cute pic of him.

 These pics kind of uploaded in a random order so I will comment as I go. Here is a peek at one of the girl's dorm rooms at Shashemene.

 This was inside the church that is on the campus.

 We stopped at an amazing resort to eat. I have never seen a body of water like this in ET before. Sesay and Sammy hadn't either. I caught them standing and just watching it in amazement. I walked up and Sesay said " It is very beautiful." Well, it's a long way from the trash dump. I do know that.

 It is the most beautiful African countryside on the way there.

 Well, we arrived and guess who was one of the first kids we saw?......WINKER!! He is so stinkin cute!

 We saw so many kids and I know that several of you are interested in catching a glimpse of your sponsored child. I am posting lots of pics on this post so hopefully you will see your child :) Leave me a comment if you see them so I can be happy that I was able to grab that pic for you. You can scroll through the rest of the pics to see if you spot them.

 Lauren is now a Kappa Delta in college so she was teaching the girls how to the official KD hand symbol. It was so cute!

 We ran into so many familiar faces from our July trip. This little one below was the girl who Jody sponsored who had lost her mother just days before we met her. She was full of smiles this time.

The campus is very beautiful with rows of weeping willows lined with flowers and beautiful walk ways. We even saw monkeys up in the trees.

 They cook everything on site. They grow all their own food and it takes many many women to cook for that many children.

 Below is their library.

 As we walked through the campus, we ran into one of Sesay's buddies. Little Muluken ran up and was so excited to see his buddy. He hugged him and then walked with his arm around him.  Sesay was the star of the day. Kids kept coming up to him as they were surprised to see him.

 We brought a package for Winker with a photo album of him in some pics from our July trip. All his buddies got a kick out of seeing it as well.

I then spot two boys walking up the beautiful pathway. I grabbed the shot and then realized.......

 It's ROBEL!!! That is Sesay's best friend who he couldn't wait to see! They hugged and I think Robel was shocked to see him.

 Robel was equally excited to see Lauren, my daughter, who is his sponsor. They formed a special bond on our last trip and she was sooo excited to get to see him again. We gave him a package with a special photo album as well.

 The two boys were together again, and they couldn't be happier.

 We ate lunch with them in their cafeteria and Robel insisted on feeding Lauren....which is a sign of honor in their culture.

 He took us and showed us his room.

 We all felt like we were in school again as we ate with them in the cafeteria.

 We got to hang with Summer for a bit before we left. I can't imagine being in charge of that many kids.

 This is the beautiful scenery that I mentioned above. Sesay and Sammy just LOVED it.

 This was also the coolest restaurant of the whole trip. GREAT food. Sesay and Sammy had never experienced anything like this. Sesay kept getting up saying he needed to use the bathroom and everytime he walked in we would immediately hear the hand blower start running. We would just crack up! He had never seen one of those things before :)

 Also when we asked them if they wanted ice cream.......we discovered that they had never had ice cream before. Unbelievable!! So we treated them to their first experience of ice cream and they loved it. I have to say that Sammy was the sweetest teenager I had ever met. He is a street boy who does not go to school. We brought him along for him to just look at Shashemene to see if he would like to go there in January. He said he would. So we will find him a sponsor next. Ashli is sooo great with him. She has started taking him places with her and letting him see things other than the streets.  He is so grateful for everything. He is so polite. He speaks GREAT english. He carried our backpacks for us and was just the greatest kid! I can't wait to see what God does in his life.

 Well we left the restaurant and headed down the beaten path. We saw the strangest sites. For some reason the kids loved to stand on their heads as we drove by. Ha!! It was the funniest thing. We were all like "What is that?" as we approached. Then we realized..."Oh, it's a kid on his head." Hmmm??

 To top the day off we ended it with seeing a herd of camels.....yes, CAMELS!! Very cool!

I do hope you saw your sponsored child in one of my pics. I have more I will make an album out of if you didn't. I have another day to post. More tomorrow. Be blessed!