This is the Addiskidan Baptist Guest house - a view from the gate- the porch is great to sit on- but after Maren came we had to hide the key- because it’s probably not the safest for a curious toddler! They were fine with locking it while he was up and about and hiding the key! :)

This is the driveway area- this is where we played a lot of soccer, blew many bubbles, and played with our little cars. Mark got a soccer ball from the guy at the end of the street- he has this little hole in the wall store- Mark said it was like their version of a 7-11. He bought Maren the soccer ball for 1.50, and one day a candy bar, and mostly they went and hung out with the guy and became friends. Dagne thought it was funny that when he would pick us up we would be saying "hi" to all of the local neighborhood folks. When you first see this little "shop" you are wondering what on earth he is selling, and then you realize how practical it is.


This is Ray Lindholm who has been a missionary in Ethiopia and a few other countries in Africa for - well- ever. He and his wife come and stay for two months and then return to the US for two months on and off throughout the year. Ray was there while we were and he was wonderful- entertaining, a real raconteur, and so wonderful with our children- completely understood Maren's meltdown's and often was the one who could bring a smile to his face by playing with him and being really silly with him. It was also great that he is fluent in Amharic and could tell us what he was saying. He actually felt that Maren might be older than what they have said based on his language skills- this is something we would never have been able to figure out on our own or in the US- only while still in Ethiopia when he is still using mostly Amharic and hasn't lost any of it could this be assessed.

They do this cool weaving and he completed this rug while we were there.




This is Maren in the Garden playing with the hose - its no swimming pool at the Hilton- but he had a lot of fun plying with it.




This is the Living Room

This is the Kitchen

This is the Dining room, which is really part of the big living room

This is one of the guest rooms

This is our room--yes its pretty messy! :) We had a big bed and then a bunk bed- which was key because we could stash stuff we did not want Maren to get into on the top bunk- there is also a wardrobe and nice windows which open for fresh air. Maren liked playing in the big wardrobe. The room was a good size for us. There is another really big room - but Ray was in there That one has a bathroom in it. There were 4 or 5 rooms in the main house and then these little rooms out back. You would want to be in the actual guest house with your kids I would think.



This is the main bathroom. It was really clean and has a hot water heater- which we did not know how to use the first two days (brrrr...) its easy- you need to switch it on a little bit before you want the hot water. We were able to bathe the kids in the tub and I also gave Yabsera a traditional Ethiopian Bath with Hana's help!



This is Kidist the Manager and Hana who keeps the house and does much of the cooking and cleaning. They adored our children and treated them like their own. Hana walked me to AHOPE a few times and stayed with me their while I visited. Her English is not wonderful- but she really wants to talk and so we spent a lot of time talking and sharing stories.


These are from when we are leaving and saying goodbye- it was really sweet. Eliyu is Kidist's husband and speaks English pretty well - he is in school and studies hard. If you call and Ray or Lauralee are not there you may want to ask for eliyu or "Al" because he is the next best English speaker of the bunch. Al wants to help- he took Mark to buy coffee and Beri beri and a few times helped us get a cab.


There is a taxi stand about a block away- a 5 minute walk and you get a cheap cab to the Hilton or Churchill road- 30 birr- but when you come back the cabs at the Hilton, ghion, Churchill road will always charge you 70 birr and you can sometimes talk them down to 60 and if you are lucky 50 birr. If you can get the same cab driver or ask him to wait for you- it will be cheaper. This photo is of the taxi stand - there are always about 6 blue taxis at this corner near the house so you can go anywhere at any time.


This is Kidist doing a coffee ceremony- she did this several times while I was there including our first night. While she did it Ray explained all of the origins and history around it. She seems to really like doing this and did them almost daily and the coffee was incredible!