Minneapolis 9-29-06 CHSFS VISIT

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I am blogging from Jaimee Jo's (Tanya's Sister) apartment in Minneapolis. We came up here on Thursday evening and are staying through Sunday.
Yesterday we met with Kristina from Children's Home here in Minneapolis. We had such a wonderful conversation! It was so good to meet and put faces with the voices we've been hearing on the phone. It was also so encouraging to hear their stories and as you can guess, give hugs! We are so happy that God has put us with Children's Home. They are so good at what they are doing, and they really care about families. Kaylee and Isaac went into the agency went with us. They were really good and they also got to watch the video that they made from the orphanage in Addis Ababa (Capital City of Ethiopia). The video was a very good depiction of life there. It was amazing to see how well the kids there are cared for. The video showed how they sun the kids, how they bathe them, feed them and sing, dance and play with them. Kaylee and Isaac didn't really like to see how they had to give them the shots and take blood samples for tests. Erin stayed with Lea and played with Malachi and Claira.
We also got to meet Jan who actually started the program for Ethiopia. She came into work on her day off because they had a referral for a family and they were going to call someone and tell them. They were so excited and it was really neat to see that.
The pictures above are as follows: The map picture shows how many kids have been placed by CHSFS from in homes. However, that was last year. It is now over 300!! The picture with the Ethiopian woman is from the Restaurant called Fasika here in St. Paul. It is an Ethiopian restaurant and the food was SOOOOOOO GOOD! We had Injera bread and Chicken Tibs. Injera bread is like this pizza crust sized bread that is a little spongy/moist like a pancake. By itself it really doesn't have much flavor, but it was so good with the chicken and vegetables. We all shared it, Tanya, Me, Lea, and Jaimee. Then we talked to the customers and they were all from Addis! they were so friendly and willing to answer our questions. Our waitress just came to America 11 mos. ago. We also went to a small Ethiopian market across the street, we are learning a great deal about the Ethiopian Culture. There is so much to tell but the morning is heating up here at Jaimee's apt. so I better go!

L