June 17

A day with Dawit. Today was a very special day. Today we got to meet
Dawit Getnah our Compassion sponsor child. We had arranged to meet
him at the compassion office today. Two days ago we found out that
another couple from our guesthouse had made the same arrangments. So
we all went to the compassion office together. Dawit (Ethiopian for
David) has been our sponsor child for two years... He is ten years old
and lives in Dire Dawa. Dire Dawa is a full days drive from addis
abba. So he took the whole day to travel yesterday and will spend a
whole day bussing back tomorrow. Dawit travelled here with a comassion
chaprone that works in his project. We spent the morning at the
Ethiopian National Museum in Addis we got the whole guided tour making
our way through ancient artifacts the tall tales of evolutionary
findings in Ethiopia (known as the cradle of humanity) and art
history. We met Lucy in the archeology exhibit. Lucy is a package of
bones belonging the earliest humanoid 3.1 million year old
"apparently". Actually we met Lucy's replica cuz Lucy is actually on
loan to an exhibit in New York... Go figure you travel to where she
was found she's actually in our neck of the woods?!?!?! If the real
thing looks like the replica I would not waste my money trying to get
a peek... Sorry evolutionists Lucy is not in my family tree...

Dawit had a great time and knew lots of things about Ethiopian culture
to his chaprone and our surprise... He is a bright young boy who stood
facinated by what he saw and heard about his country. It turns out
many ancient artifacts were found right where he lives.

Dawit has the biggest smile EVER!!! He was handsomely dressed in the
outfit he got with the birthday money we sent him brought Compassion.
He was so proud when I told him he looked "conjo" handsome.

After the museum we went to an American style retaurant where he
couldn't wait to sink his teeth into some pasta. As we learned this
moring the pizza, pasta and gelato shops are left over influences from
when those brash Italians tried to colonize Ethiopia... To no avail...
After pasta was a big chocolate sundae. It was great to watch him eat
it. He ate it so fast that he gave himself a headache... He was
panicing About the brain freeze. We then went to buy his mom a nice
scarf and him a soccer jersey and his own brand new soccer ball. We
all had a great time together. The best memory was Dawit just playing
with Ezra in the van and begging to hold and play with him in the
restaurant. Ezra loved the time together. He cooed and giggled
continually... Dawit could not get enough of Ezra either.

It was good to see the face of the boy stuck to our refridgerator.
Money gets taken out of our account each month and we get letters from
the guy but sometimes I'll admit I wonder if the kid in the picture
gets any of it. Today was a day that I was able to see the fruit of
the Compassion organization. Not only in interacting with Dawit (who
is healthy and passionate about his oppertunities at his project) but
meeting a compassion worker who was sponsored as a child has obtained
a university degree and now works for Compassion as a ministry
coordinator... These children are real!!! If you are not already
sponsoring one or two children I can't tell you how cool it is to know
you are making an impact in one life on an ongoing basis...

Dawit knew our family situation and wanted more pics of our family...
We gave him a couple pictures of our family. I think he valued them
more than he did the soccerball his jersey and the ice cream. As Chris
and I were looking through the pictures of our girls and bragging
about our girls at home we really began to realize how much we miss
them and how much we love our three girls... We've said to eachother a
number of times today that we can not wait to get home and hug them
like crazy...

It feels like something big is missing...
WE LOVE YOU girls!!!

Koen and Chris