Over the last two weeks we have been pretty busy.  We had a OBGYN come from Canada for 36 hours.. he was going to Egypt and stopped off to see the project. Since we are not ready for big gyne cases at the hospital I got him to come to Korah with us and see a bunch of the ladies there.  He did a home visit and saw 7 ladies in the clinic. 

 These poor goats are on there way to somewhere...

 Past week infection control and waste management have been my projects... Writing policy for it, figuring out what supplies are available, sourcing them and doing education to nurses, docs and housekeeping about it all. 

 Nicole hard at work in our office surrounded by my waste management supplies

 In Korah last week we had our first children's souk-  Rather then just handing out donations and toys to the kids they can earn points by doing things like coming to tutoring, good sportsmanship in soccer ect and then they can buy things in the souk with their points.

 Girls Day in the Youth Complex

 We went to a cultural restaurant for a friends birthday.  It was a ton of fun- at first we thought.. oh might be abit touristy but the majority of the patrons were middle class Ethiopians out for a fun night to.

 Good Friends Megan and Larry had me over last Sunday for dinner- spending some time with their kids... our tree climbing selfie didn't work so well so Josh took the phone in the tree and took his own selfie

 What do you wear when you need to quick grab something from the OR and there are no gowns.... a drape shawl of course..

 This past week definetly had some very hard days and some times of wondering exactly if what we are doing is making a difference at all. I was so encouraged by two things- one a good friend sent me a message encouraging me to read Joshua 1- the phrase- be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, no be dismayed, for the LOrd your God is with you wherever you go is repeated often and is such a comfort. Second- this is M. one of the ladies from Hope for Korah- we were able to get a surgery for her related to some complications from her HIV meds. She was so happy and so grateful even though I know she was in pain and has so much suffering in her life 

A super awesome part of this week was that lauren, a friend of Nicole who is working as a midwife in the south of Ethiopia was in Addis for a weeks vacation. She stayed with us and we laughed, chatted, prayed, cooked and played games together- (I won Catan two nights running- never happens at home)

 We also visited the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Addis this past week. This is an internationally recognized hospital which does life changing surgeries for thousands of women each year who are suffering from the complications of obstructive labor. The story of the founders who came to Ethiopia in the 1950's to train midwives is super inspiring.  We were also able to form some connections with them as occasionally the ladies need other surgeries and we hope to be able to partner with them in the future.

As Lauren was heading back to the south on Monday, on Saturday we rented a van with a bunch of friends from church and set out about two hours north of the city to the Portuguese Bridge- a bridge allegedly built in the 1600's to cross a stream that turns into a waterfall into a huge gorge.  The stream right now was pretty little but in rainy season is a roaring river. The drive was gorgeous going through the countryside dotted with grass homes and fields of cows and goats.  We also saw some baboons!!

 Cactus!!! everywhere!!!

 The river that runs at the base of this canyon is 700meters from the top

 Locals crossing the bridge like they have for 100's of years

As we start the new week I am so thankful for the rest of the weekend- excursions to the countryside side and encouraging worship at church.  Pray for us this week as we try to get the final piece of our work visas approved.. this week there are three options- we will have our work permits and be good for the next year, only get our visas renewed for another month, or have to leave the country by Sunday.