So here we are...roughly a week out from when courts are "scheduled" to open back up. I will say that I remember last year that courts did not open the week they planned to open so I'm not holding my breath and am trying to prepare and guard my heart in case that is the case this year. However, courts should be opening soon!! So in preparation of our first trip over to see our girl we have begun preparing to travel. I have gone to get 3 out of our 5 recommended travel vaccinations. I was only going to get 3 thinking that we were going to be staying in Addis. However we are now hoping we have the chance to travel 2 hours outside of the capital city to see our sponsor child through Children's Hopechest at Trees of Glory care point. We would love to get outside the city and see the country side and be able to hug our little boy that we sponsor in person and pray with him. So that means a few more vaccinations just to be on the safe side. If you are thinking about or could be persuaded to let go of $34 a month to help feed, clothe, and provide school for a precious child of God in Ethiopia then I would encourage you to go here or visit this blog here! We can't wait to hug on and play with some very lovely little kiddos.
One other part of preparing to travel will hopefully involve your help! We are hoping to fill as many suitcases as we can manage with donations for the various places we will be visiting in Ethiopia. This will largely include our agency's transition homes where they care for the children they have brought in from surrounding orphanages to match with their forever families. We also hope to travel to the Trees of Glory care point to meet our little boy and the other 85 children that meet here for food, clothing, basic needs, and schooling. We would love to gather little trinkets (matchbox cars, pencils, stickers, chap stick, neosporin, bars of soap, etc.) to fill bags to take when we go visit. There is a long list of donations needed so in hopes of making a bigger impact we were thinking we would highlight 5-8 things off of the list and concentrate on those needs when we travel. Those would be...
1. boys/girls underwear sizes 2T-8 years.
2. neosporin
3. A+D diaper rash ointment
4. Children's Benadryl and Infant/Children's Tylenol
5. Children's vitamins (Tri-vi-sol, Poly-vi-sol, chewable multi-vitamins ages 2-9)
6. non scented wipes
7. scrubs (women's sizes 6-10)
8. Baby bouncer seats, 2 bumbo seats, baby activity seats (we're hoping to take one or two of each hoping to find the slimmest ones in boxes packed up)
We'll also be throwing in baby toys (not cotton as it is hard to keep clean) that will fill in "blank" spots in our bags for the baby room.
We'd love your help in gathering these items. Also, if you'd like to help but live out of town you can make a monetary donation through our "donation" paypal link or mail us a check with "supply donation" and we'll use it to help buy needed supplies!
I have to say this is my favorite part...that we get to show up with all of these supplies!! What a blessing we get to be! Thank you abundantly in advance for helping fill our suitcases!!
