I am becoming an expert at downloading pictures.

Yonatan the Guest House manager.

He is a lawyer who hopes to come to the US for further study.

The Italians and the German who stayed at our guest house.

Frederico, Gretta and Philippe. We all use English to talk to each other but if the guys didn't understand us Gretta would speak in French to try and make them understand. It was interesting , the one on the left would rub his hands through his hair when he was trying to come up with the right words and constantly say "I'm sorry" when he couldn't come up with what he

wanted to say. He did very well I thought. He also pretended to be Gretta's husband when she went to talk to a priest about adopting. I think he was sweet on her.

This couple were doctors and she suggested that we put rice cereal in Yohanna's formula to help her keep it down. They adopted the 2 1/2 year old Malowi that doesn't want her picture take. She was soooooo cute, running all around the compound playing hide and seek.

This is another couple at the guest house. They adopted 18 month old Nathan. He was soooo cute too. He would come up and hand you something and then 30 seconds later come back

and get it. The first afternoon wasn't very much fun but he certainly did well after that.

These 2 couples were not able to take their adopted children out of the compound except for the Embassy Date. That was a rule with the agency they went through to adopt . Other than Awassa and the Traditional Restaurant we took Yohanna everywhere. We never tried the local market, one of us stayed back at the guest house while the other two went "uptown".

Gretchen, Bill and Yohanna before the Embassy Date.

I don't think I cold count on one hand the number of times I have seen Bill in a suit.

Many, Many, Many, Many times, tooooooo many to count in a uniform.

I think he looks really nice in his dress uniform.

Bill showing off his hidden talent. Making paper roses. No, not singing Marie Osmond's song,

but creating roses out of napkins. He showed several young men how to do it to impress their girlfriends. Abel was pretty good at it. Gretchen got one each day for 12 days when they first started seeing each other. She still has them. What a lucky girl.

I haven't ever gotten roses from Speed.

The cobblestone drive inside our gates.

The gate is locked every time someone comes in or out. There is a doorbell outside.

The gate keeper lives in a little niche in the wall right inside the gate.

This is the spiral staircase that led to the upstairs of the guest house. When it rained it leaked which could be a little scary, the steps were painted and could be slick. It was a little tricky carrying Yohanna up or down them too. I took the outside stairs that opened up at the top of these, you all know what a clutz, I am.

(sp, it won't give me any other suggestions when I spell check, but it says it's wrong,

remember I said I am a Prek aide and I don't have to spell very big words)

Yes, Speed I said that.

This is looking out from the balcony of the outside stairwell. That is construction to the left. They use large sticks for scaffolding. The little tin shack looking thing is probably the covering for their water storage in a neighboring compound. As you can see there are upscale hotels right next to the common people. There are probably 3 or 4 compounds in this picture you just can't see the walls of each one. That Ivy covered most of the walls of our compound.

The vegetation is definitely beautiful, for those who can afford it.