I will never complain about the deer crossings I experience in Montana again.  Here in Ethiopia you can be racing down the road at a comfortable 60 to 70 miles per hour, when your driver will SLAM on the brakes because, a goat, donkey, horse, Brahma Bull type cow ( which they call an Ox), or even a camel will decide to cross the road.  If the animal is hit, injured, or
killed the drive will have to pay twice the value of the animal to the owner.  People, on the other hand just have to get out of the way if they know what is good for them, because no one slows down for pedestrians of any size or shape.

Saturday the 7th of Jan. was Christmas Day here.  So Kate and I traveled with a team from a church in Tennessee to Shashamene boarding school, which is bout 4 hours away from Addis Abba.  However, because it was the Sabbath, Christmas would be celebrated the next day.  So we just hung out with the kids, which proved to be delightful. Two little guys, Yirgemachew 10, and Sami, 11 attached themselves to Kate and me. We spent the afternoon hugging, holding hands, and trying to learn their language, which posed a much bigger challenge for me than for Kate, she actually does a pretty
good job with Amharic.

The next day the entire school put on a program for us with singing, multiple readings, and a coffee ceremony. Being a non coffee drinker I was surprised that I liked the coffee taste, however when it reached my stomach, there was the sensation of FIRE, I quickly drank some water to put out the fire. After the program we did crafts with the kids, their favorite part of the crafts was the GLITTER !!!!! They had glitter everywhere, in their hair, on their faces, on their clothes, and skin.  They couldn’t have been more delighted, and we could have used about 10 more pounds of GLITTER. The children were served a lunch, with meat which they only get once a year, and then given gifts from their sponsors.

The afternoon brought a carnival of games and prizes.  I don’t know who had more fun the kids or those of us putting it on.
It was a joy to see the all of the kids laughing, playing and eating candy.   Praise God for this school those who support it and those who work there being the hands and feet of Jesus by taking these kids out of the dump, and giving them LOVE, Shelter, Food, an Education, and introducing them to Jesus Christ, who gives them a hope and a future.