Ethiopia Day 3 and 4

Day 3
We went over to Layla after breakfast and again got to see the kids in their classes. I sat with China during Math. He still has difficulty writing with his cast on. He is in the oldest class, but has never been to school before this. We’ll probably put them in the same grade. Later he started feeling badly and had to see the doctor—not sure what was wrong, but something to do with his stomach. From there we went to lunch at a nice restaurant right next to the national museum. Ana and I shared a pizza and Matt ate at least two pieces! Then people went shopping some more. We were just looking although we did see some pretty nice crosses. We need to make a list of all the things we want to buy. I’m hoping to get a lot of the shopping done this trip, so we can do more important things the next trip. We had a nice dinner of rice, vegetables, bread and French fries then all went to bed early. This was so important for the next day.

Day 4
Today we went to court. It was a crowded room with very little seating. There were a lot of Caucasians—some were French. One group when they went in had another group praying for them which was sweet. Our group went in all together. One couple already knew that were going to pass. The judge didn’t have one couples file and at first only said Mitike’s name. The lawyer reminded her that China was also part of our case. We didn’t have our letter, neither did the other two couples. (Out of nine court cases this week, only three passed.) It was disappointing. You fly half way around the world to answer two minutes worth of questions and be told that your MOWA letter wasn’t there. Oh well. We have had a great time meeting, playing with, and watching our kids in class. We’ve learned a lot about them already.
We ran back to the guest house to quickly to change and give Ana some medicine. Then the driver took us back to Layla. We didn’t have lunch because Matt and Ana weren’t feeling well, but we did eat with China and Mitike. She eats a lot very quickly! I then went to a computer class. They were doing lots of tricky things with Word. This will be helpful for them at school.
Suddenly, kids came running for Tukura and China. Both of their uncles had come from very far away to see them. After a disappointing court date this really amazed me. These two men could have come at any time on any day. I don’t think it’s a coincidence we skipped lunch and shopping and were there. We went down to the social workers office and through a translator we asked questions. We got the father’s and mother’s name, the place where they lived, and many other details. China has been an orphan for about four years. We found out which tribe he's from and some about his uncle. At the end of our time I asked him if there was anything else he wanted to say to us. He said, “He is your son now. I hope that you will do your best for him and help him rise to a good position.” Although we didn’t hear these words in court, it meant much more to me to hear them from him! We took lots of pictures of them together as well as with Tukura and his uncle. I’m really thankful to God for giving us this experience. It was a true blessing. We made sure to find out where the uncle is so that hopefully we can take China to visit in the future. It was obvious that China had an attachment to him. As China has so few relatives living we feel it very important to keep in touch with this uncle.