Mehaber 2010 - part 2

Our Great Bunch of Children

The next day was jam-packed full of fun.

In the morning, the children played soccer against the dads, while the mums sat and chatted.


And then there were some crafts set up for the kids to do. They made yarn crafts and then did plaster of paris hand prints.



After this, we had lunch and then headed to the beach for the afternoon. Now that was wonderful! It was hot and the children just played, while we mums did some more socializing. The dads were great looking after the children in the water.

Briton and his special friend, Aden.


Briton found a frog and boy, did the children get excited!



Then they found another one. We had to work to convince them it was in the frog's best interest to be put back in the water.

Kalkidan asked Raine how many brothers and sisters she had. Raine told her eight. Kalkidan said, "That means EIGHT beds!!" Then Raine decided to show her each of the names and ages of her brothers and sisters. This is her counting them off.

This is my very favourite picture!! These six girls are three sets of siblings. They were all living at the Kidslink Transition House together in Ethiopia. There are a set of Savannah (Gadisae), Addis, Semegn, Raine (Mesay), Mekfira, and Kalkidan. They are all in the same age range of about 6-8 years old. This was the first time our girls saw them since we came home two years ago. We are so very fortunate that our girls were able to reconnect with these girls! And now it appears that our camp will become a yearly event, thus enabling them to see more of each other.

That evening we had a potluck barbeque.


Nicky made authentic Ethiopian coffee with popcorn, which is traditional in Ethiopia. I couldn't have any, unfortunately, as I can't guarantee when my heart will object to coffee and start dancing like crazy!


Cassidy was a big helper with the hamburgers and then the cleanup afterwards.

Austin had a little girl crush / boy crush encounter this weekend, that included all his little friends in the picture above, minus his sister, Raine. He learned how you can't 'like' one girl cause you break the heart of all your other girl friends. It was quickly patched up and they were all good *buddies* again. (smile)


Savannah loved this guitar. Brant, a very kind dad, owned it and appreciated that Savannah enjoyed playing it. He let her take it into the woods and sit and strum it. She must have sat at various times for a couple hours! When he and his wife left the following day, he gifted it to Savannah, since he was going to upgrade his guitar and he really appreciated her interest.


Two dads were giving out rides and Savannah was quick to voluteer for the scary experience. She loved it. Of course, I knew she would! (laugh) Oh, and they took her right over the top in a full circle!


Later that evening we congregated around the fire pit again.


More drumming and even a little dancing done by my own girl, Raine! She went a little wild when she heard the drumming. (smile)


The following morning we all packed up our cabins/tents/trailers and then some of us headed out to the Hippy Hole. This is a fabulous rock formation swimming hole that is a little walk from the campsite. You have to walk down a long very narrow path that drop down a steep cliff.


When we arrived we found that our older kids were already there with two of the dads and some of the girls.


There is a really high spot and Rekor, Semagn and Addis's dad decided to jump off there. Sadly, my camera missed the shot. Then the girls decided they would climb down the ladder and swim over to a little island. They did, brave girls! Then Cooper finally worked up his nerve to try. He wasn't being shown up by a girl! It was 'au natural' with all the kids doing it in their underwear, since it was an impromptu decision. Cooper had a little struggle with that but got over it quick enough, since the girls did it. (laugh)



He headed down the ladder and got to the bottom and decided it was too cold. He came back up and sat for a while. Soon he gathered his nerve and headed out again, not one to be outdone by the girls. This time he looked up at me to tell me it was cold! But he took the plunge, after a long think. (grin). I told Cassidy to stay nearby in case he got panicked. Cooper headed out and did just fine, but then he began to panic and so Cassidy plunged into the water and guided him to shore.
The rest of the kids decided they wouldn't do it this year. Maybe next time. I do think there were some regrets that they hadn't done it, but honestly, it was kind of scary and cold, so I don't blame them!

Right as we were leaving the children found a salamander in this puddle on the rock surface.

Heading back up the long, steep trail. The trail that gave my leg muscles an incredible workout!

Another View of the Hippy Hole

About an hour later we headed out. It was hard to say goodbye to new friends, but in a way it was not so hard because so many of them will be spending all or part of the next week at Harambee with us! So it was Au Revoir, instead of Good-Bye!

Until Next Week!

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