Emily continues to have a "trip of a lifetime" experience! Praise God. Hurts not getting to experience it with her but know she is exactly where the Lords wants her. A great surprise is that "going dark" (as much as she wanted to be like Sydney Bristow) never really happened. We have been in fairly consistent contact via text and skype.

They left Awassa and drove to Tercha (not whatever I called it last time), which became their home base. Sparse hotel, complete with mosquito nets, cocoon sleeping deal and no shower. What troopers these strong ladies are! Sunday morning they drove to Dali to see Glimmer's village restoration project. She said the views were some of the most beautiful she had ever seen. Gorgeous mountains and valleys with huts scattered throughout the hills. She said when they arrived in the village, literally 1000s of people "just appeared"; singing, dancing, welcoming them to Dali. This village is the first village selected in the Southern region for this large of a project. They saw several smaller water projects, saw the newly built schools and health clinics. She was impressed beyond words of the high quality of work being done. Of course, a beautiful coffee ceremony followed.

Another night in Tercha, followed by another day of visiting still more areas and villages where Glimmer has or has begun projects. Emily was in awe of the work and how lives were being changed because of it.

As we speak, she is waking up in a hotel in Soddo, and planning to drive back to Addis (and hot water and skype!) Simply through her texts, it is obvious that her heart is gripped more than ever for this beautiful country, especially now that she has seen another side of it.

Not to bore you, but after 4 trips in the last 2 years you would think we would figure out how the country is broken up...I think we may have it figured out now...

Ethiopia is broken into 5 regions

The Southern region is where Em has been. Awassa is the capital of the Southern region. It has 13 zones. They have mainly been in the Dawro zone. Abe is from the Wolayita zone.

The Dawro zone has many districts. Dali and Tercha are in the Dawro zone.

So for those adopted families, when your case worker tells you your child is from _____, it may take some investigating to find out exactly what and where they are referring to. Hopefully that explanation is close to being accurate!

Home update:

All is good. Cousin Annie is here with us adding to the mix. Enjoying spending time with the kids, hitting Sonic happy hour, Yo-berry and late night swims! Em, know that our moms and many of our sweet friends are filling in the gaps and keeping food on the table :-)