A little comparison

People often say that our boys look just alike. That we have the same baby mold for each kid. I mean, we get that a lot. A lot. But I don't really see it. I can tell they are brothers, for sure, but not exactly the same. Kenan definitely has his own look- more like Brett. The other two are more Ervin (my family). When Silas was born we just looked at him and said "where did he come from?" we didn't see any resemblance, though now, like I said, he is looking more like me, thus more like Dawson as well. But anyway, I wanted to compare the boys so here they are all around the same time of 7 months.

Dawson

Kenan

Silas

And then I have them all on my shoulders at the same age (I think, though, Kenan is a little younger)

At a covered bridge near Brett's grandparent's house

Thanks to a hair mishap in France, I was miss blondie then...

Back to au naturel in Mali

Living in Africa

Sometimes I can forget we live in Africa. Sometimes. But often I am keenly aware of it. Where everything takes longer and there always seem to be some problem in the way. When I have to pay $50 for 4 lbs of cheese. When I can only buy that cheese when I'm in the capitol 5 hrs away (or someone else buys it for me), thus I have to buy in bulk and then shred it all and freeze it. Skinny tiny hot dogs are a dollar a piece. And the real kicker was I actually saw frozen broccoli in the store. I told Brett I didn't care the price- I wanted it. Well, if I had known the price, I would have cared- it was $12 a bag! Oops. And a box of cereal $7. Prices aren't everything, there's the buying the pork or fish or chicken. Getting the animal, killing it and cleaning it and so forth. (No, I don't do it, but still, there is something about having chicken guts all in your sink or leftover feathers or fish scales in the yard knowing that came from what you just ate. But anyway, last night was a better example.

So we went to bed. Within a few minutes the power went out. Now, this used to be a very regular occurrence. We bought, however, this huge battery that will give us power for a couple hrs once the power goes out. It has been such a blessing. Last year, the boys were always waking up at 5 am or in the middle of a nap when the power went out. We have been spared that a lot lately. I often start to think that since we have this battery, we shouldn’t ever be without power. But that’s just silly. I mean, this is Africa. So anyway, the power goes out. It’s just our house, no one else. This also happens a lot. Our power isn’t great for some reason.  Often, it the town goes out, ours won’t come back on. Anyway, so we worked on it, and then decided to wait to make sure the battery charged. Well Brett stayed up for 45 min, checked on the battery, and then went to bed. 15 min later, it went off again. And it did this a couple more times. Finally, we got it to work and told our night guard to watch it all night and showed him what to do if needed. We went to get a glass of water before going back to bed. That’s when I heard our dear friend the mouse. I heard him a couple nights before, gnawing on wood, but couldn’t find him. Well, finally figured out where he was the next day- in our drawers with the diapers. Yup, tried eating diapers.  So Brett looked behind our pantry, where I heard him last night, and sure enough, he was there. We had the harpoon still from when Bocar had tried to help us catch him the other night. So Brett used it to get him from out behind the pantry. He went behind the fridge. Brett finally got him out from there, he went straight for me. I was supposed to be pushing him out the door with the broom. Instead, I pushed him under the stove. So the mouse ran up into the stove, yes gross. So here we are, 1 in the morning, with no lights on but just our head lamps, trying to figure out how to get this mouse to come out. We tried bug spray to “gas” him out. It didn’t work. We decided to turn on the oven and make him come out. It was on broil. The dumb mouse still wasn’t coming out. So I prayed that the Lord would bring him out. Yet, at this point, I was sitting on a stool.  But the Lord answers prayer, so the mouse ran out and right to me, hit me on the foot, so of course, I panicked and didn’t get him out the door (again). I told Brett I should have prayed instead that I’d have the courage to push the mouse out the door. So then the mouse ran onto our counters (yuck!), behind the microwave and tried to go up in the cabinets again but he couldn’t because we had fixed that. So then I went to get the new night guard, I wasn’t feeling like I could catch the mouse. Well, he didn’t do any better. Got him to run to the other side of the counters, but then he was gone and couldn’t be found. So we had been there for about an hour trying to catch that stupid thing, it was now 1:30 in the morning. I guess he isn’t stupid, though. I mean, he has escaped being caught three times. We’ve had glue traps out for a week and he refuses to go on them, despite the peanut butter in the center and now the other random leftovers put on them. It’s ridiculous. So we’re headed out of town tomorrow for a night away. While we’re gone, our house guy will put out poison. (wasn’t wanting to do that because of the boys, but this mouse is fighting to live so we have to try something else). Then today I also had to take everything out of our pantry because while we are gone, our house guy (yes, he is fantastic!) will also have to paint this special stuff on all the drawers because our pantry cabinet has wood bugs and they are destroying the drawers. Gotta love Mali. I don’t know how I’d make it without our house help! They are our saving grace.

Oh and speaking of house help- I took Bocar home from the hospital today. He is doing well. Very grateful for his healing and as he said today, even more convinced of the Lord’s power. So neat. I brought him by the house to see the boys and Brett on the way to his house. He greeted Brett and then apologized for how dirty the yard was. That’s our Bocar, a hard worker. I mean, our yard doesn’t look that bad, but it’s just not “Bocar clean.” We look forward to when he can work again, not for the cleaner yard (though that is nice) but just because he’s fun to have around. 

Update on Bocar

Just to let everyone know, Bocar is doing well. I went and saw him I guess two days ago now and he was feeling great. He said he was all healed and ready to work! He had no pain except for when he touches the incision. That's normal Bocar, full of energy and ready to work. Of course, he will not be working any time soon. He'll probably be in the hospital a week or so and then go home. 

The boys went and saw him the other day. It was quite cute. Kids aren't allowed in the buildings so they had to talk to him through the window. They were very happy to see him, though all Kenan kept saying was "nose" because he couldn't figure out what was on Bocar's nose (the nasogastric tube). I think Bocar really enjoyed seeing them. His window is right beside where the staff has devotions every morning. He said he prays with them each day as they pray.  That was neat to hear. 

Our house guy, Jeremie, has a cousin that was a guard for another place. Has official guard papers and everything. Jeremie had told us about him before, wanting to know if we knew of anyone who needed a guard. So we were able to call him the same day Bocar got hurt and he started work that night. He will fill in for Bocar until he gets back. He's a nice guy, not the same as Bocar who is just amazing, but good nonetheless. Hopefully he can get a job somewhere else when he is done. We're hoping with the mission, seeing there is a night guard for the mission property that has terrible cataracts and can't see hardly at all. He is my language partner's husband so I see him very often and know him well. Yet the other night, I was at the mission and as I left stopped to greet him. He didn't know who I was. I mean, if he couldn't see my face at night, I guess that's ok (not really for a night GUARD) but he couldn't even tell it was my car! That's pretty bad! Hopefully he'll get retired soon. (and just in case you're worried, he'll be fine financially- his son works at the hospital so he can provide for him.) 

Learning to be content

My friend, Jenny, shared these with me from a book she is reading. I thought they were so great that I needed to post them as well (hope that's ok Jenny). This was written in the diary of a missionary...

 

1.  Never allow yourself to complain about anything– not even the weather.

2.  Never picture yourself in any other circumstances or someplace else.

3.  Never compare your lot with another’s.

4.  Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise.

5.  Never dwell on tomorrow– remember that [tomorrow] is God’s, not ours.

–Mary Tileston, Daily Strength for Daily Needs

Tarheel Born and Bred

We borrowed the movie "Tarzan" from friends yesterday. Dawson started watching it this morning. At the beginning of the movie, when Tarzan is a baby, Dawson turned to Brett and said, "I think he's going to grow up and become Tarheel." I don't know what's better- when he said that or when I caught him whispering to Kenan at the end of the movie- "that's me Kenan, I'm him" (referring to Tarzan).

Sorry to those who aren't UNC fans and to those who don't even know the significance of tarheel. But for us who do know its importance, we thought it was pretty cute! 

Dawson has of late been interested in french and making sure he says things correctly. He goes in and out of phases where he is interested in Bambara and French and other times where he just wants us to say words "the right way" (in english). He now calls mac and cheese "mac and noodles." I asked him why and he said that's how you say mac and cheese in french. :) 

And not to leave out dear Kenan... I have a hard time writing things he says because it is his expressions that really make his words cute.  But a couple I'll try to write out. 

Syrup "sir pop"

Popsicle "po-kle-sul" And the funny thing with that is that our house guy repeats the way he says it, thinking it is the actual word! 

While I'm here

Seems it's easier to just post multiple times in a day than spreading it out. So while I'm writing, just thought I'd add two pictures. 

Dawson got this dry erase board from a member of our church at home this summer. I actually held off giving it to him until his birthday. He just found it the other day. This is his FIRST attempt at writing his letters. I thought he did a really good job. I'm not a school teacher like my sister and mom, so I'm not one to sit with him and practice his letters and so forth, but I was amazed at what he could do. 

And I just thought this was a sweet picture of Silas. 

Brett's month off to study

So Brett has taken a month of from the hospital to finish up his language requirements for Bambara. Or at least he is supposed to be taking off the month. So far he has gone into the hospital everyday except one, which on that day he just researched things at home and consulted via the telephone. Yesterday (Saturday) he went in about 10am and came home at 9:40pm. But I guess it was a "day off" since he actually ate lunch at home which he rarely does. He went to the hospital because a few days prior a chinese lady (who is married to an Ob here in town who works for the government hospital) gave birth to triplets. One of the triplets was having a really hard time, he's actually been close to death since about 12 hrs of life because his stomach ruptured. So they decided to do surgery on this baby (yup, Brett and Dan-our Ob. Brett did anethesia and Dan operated). Well, just as Brett was about to put the breathing tube in, I called him. Some guy had come to our gate and told me that our night guard, Bocar, whom we love dearly, had been hitting something with a hammer and a piece of the hammer flew off and hit him in the abdomen. There was a lot of blood and he was in terrible pain and he needed me to take him to the hospital. So since I had called Brett, they decided to wait on the baby's surgery until I got Bocar to the hospital. I had to borrow our neighbor's car because Brett had our car at the hospital. Thankfully, our nanny was just about to leave when the guy came to our door so she was willing to stay with the boys while I dealt with Bocar. So I took the guy that had come to let me know of Bocar's troubles with me and he showed me where Bocar was. Amazingly, this is not where the accident happened, Bocar had walked from a different neighborhood to this friend's house to ask for help. By the time I got there someone had thankfully applied pressure to the wound and even had a bandage over it. But Bocar was in obvious pain. I mean, this is a man that when we had a visiting dental hygenist here who was seeing hospital employees and missionary house workers, had 5 teeth pulled at one time and still came to work the same night! He acted like it was no big deal at all! So when I saw him, I knew it was bad, but very thankful that they had at least controlled the bleeding. We drove to the hospital which was excruciating for him. Every bump - which was many- caused more and more pain. I thought he was going to go into shock in the car. But we finally made it to the hospital and Dan and Brett were able to look him over. It was actually a small wound but his stomach was really hard. Dan was concerned his stomach was full of blood. So he went immediately to surgery. And seeing that we are in Mali, I was able to watch. Never thought I'd see so much of my night guard! But soon after Dan opened him up, he quickly found a hole in his small intestine and a small piece of iron. So to make it clear, a little piece of iron from his hammer flew off, hit his abdomen with such force that it penetrated the skin, entered his abdomen and stopped as it hit his small intestine, thus leaving a hole. It really was like a gun shot wound to his abdomen.

 

Dan searched all over to make sure there were no other problems. Thankfully there wasn't. So it could have been much worse. We are so thankful it was quickly taken care of. It was definitely the hand of God that the surgical team was ready for him when he arrived. I mean, it was a Saturday, they don't normally have surgeries planned on the weekend. But they were there and ready. From the time I picked him up to the time he was done from surgery was only 2 hrs. And aside from a hernia repair done unsterilally that he got from the ob married to the chinese woman who had scrubbed in the case, everything went well. (As Dan turned to write up the case, this malian doc just went and made another incision in his abdomen to repair a hernia despite Dan telling him not to) Talk about things that would never happen in the states- so the dad of the baby that was to be operated on just decides he wants to scrub in on Bocar's case and help, I'm watching the case and taking pictures, I have the piece of iron from his stomach at our house (I will give it to Bocar later) and then I'm telling the whole world his story...just a bit of a HIPAA violation! :) We are so thankful for how things turned out. God is good! When Bocar's friend was telling me the details of what had taken place and that there had been a lot of blood, I was really nervous that he wouldn't make it. The thought that went through my head was "thankfully he's a christian now." We couldn't have said that a year ago. Praise the Lord that Bocar is now our brother! 

But anyway, after this,, Brett still had to be there to do the anesthesia for the premie triplet. They were in surgery for hours. And then, once it was over, despite the fact that the baby had breathed on his own during the case aside from the intubation tube, once Brett removed the tube, he couldn't breathe on his own. So we were supposed to go to a birthday party last night, I thought Brett would be coming soon so I got a ride with someone else. But as the hrs passed, there was still no Brett. So finally I got someone else to take me home so I could get the boys to bed (who hadn't napped that day because of the whole Bocar incident) and at 9:40pm he finally came home. 

And as I write this, Brett is at the hospital again helping with the surgery of one of the other triplets because yesterday, HIS stomach ruptured! Hopefully this family will go home with more than one baby from the three! 

Oh the joys of a month OFF from the hospital! 

A few more mice

So we aren't done with the mice adventures here in our home. There's at least one more, I'm fearing more. We've had the glue stuff out for a couple days which hasn't helped. We've missed catching a mouse twice. This morning I went to get oatmeal for Dawson only to find that the mouse had enjoyed himself in our food cabinet. And of couse, as things go, he chose to eat only things that came from America or Bamako. And the stupid thing didn't even like the American good. He ate a few bites it seems of the oatmeal (the last pack of Quaker maple and brown sugar), a bite out of a pack of poptarts and then another bite out of a box of crackers from Bamako. Dawson was not happy to loose his last packet of oatmeal to a mouse. We told them that a mouse had gotten in the cabinet and Brett even showed them the hole where we think he got in. 

A little later in the morning we were talking about it again and Kenan kept saying "Mickey Mouse did it, Mickey Mouse did it" to which Dawson quickly replied "No, no, Kenan! Mickey Mouse didn't do it, he knows the rules not to eat someone else's food!" :) I didn't even know they knew of Mickey Mouse but I guess they do! If only it were Mickey Mouse visiting and not some Malian mice. 

Easter

We had a get together of all the missionaries here in Koutiala for Easter. We had lunch and an Easter egg hunt. Our boys had to come with their super hero capes- couldn’t leave those at home. My mom made them for Super Dawson and Super Kenan. They love them. Wear them all the time. The boys enjoyed the easter egg hunt and since they are the youngest, they got to have a little bit of a head start. The older kids were supposed to leave the eggs lower toward the ground for them. Each kid was to get 11 eggs. Well, within just a few minutes, when we finally stopped to count, Dawson already had 16! He was having fun and obviously finding more than just the easy ones. 

What are in these baskets?

That's my candy, Silas!

Here's a box (empty) of nerds...

Look, I got nerds!

Super Dawson surveying the land to make sure all is well. 

A little before Easter

The week before Easter we were up in Bamako taking my mom back. We spent a whole day with the McCabes while there. The boys loved it. We dyed easter eggs, had a easter egg hunt and swam in their pool. Dawson bawled as we left that day (I wanted to as well). It’s so fun to have kids for the boys to play with and sad that we won’t see them for awhile. But such is life and there’s not much I can do to change that situation. But we’ll enjoy them when we can. 

Brett asked Dawson the other day who his best friend was. He said “when I’m a super hero, kenan’s my best friend.” Brett asked about when he wasn’t a super hero, he said “Ella.” He loves Ella. Thanks for a day of fun, McCabes!

Grandma's visit

Here are some pictures of when my mom was here. Unfortunately, I didn’t get as many as I would have liked. But here’s what we got nonetheless.

My friend, Sali, whom we’ve talked about in our update letters, came to greet my mom while she was here. Greeting is a big thing here. Big. I mean, you greet when some family visits, for a death, for a wedding, for a baby, and even for sickness. Anyway, so Sali walked 2 hrs one way to say hello to my mom. Her daughter, Wasa, really took to my mom. I must say I was kind of glad because as I walked in from the hospital that day and saw Sali in our yard, she was trying to wipe Wasa’s bottom from the poop she had just done, yes in our yard. And Wasa didn’t have underwear. And no her bottom wasn’t cleaned really well. So yes her poop got on my mom. But at least she got to play with the pretty little girl. I have so much trouble with the holding of kids here because they don’t have diapers. When I visited before I would think- who cares if they pee on me? No big deal, I’m showing love if I let them pee on me. But now, living here, and having kids pee on you on a regular basis, I feel like there’s not much showing of love in it. I mean, the moms get peed on every day, multiple times a day. They don’t see it as a bad thing so they don’t see the “sacrifice” I’m making to let their kid pee on me. But it’s not even that really. What really got me was one day I was visiting Sali and holding Alasain (her twin boy that died one week after we took them back to their village). The chairs here aren’t great and it was one that leaned back very far. So he peed on me (every time I held him he would pee on me) but this time because of the angle of my seat , it when down my legs and right into my underwear. (can I write that on a blog?) But it was all I could do to sit there for a few more minutes and not just get up and run home. So I sat and then I did run home and jump right in the shower. Peeing on my shirt is one thing, but going to my underwear just reaches a new level. And since then, I can’t hold babies much. I know I need to get over it. But anyway, this was supposed to be about my mom.  So we had a nice little visit with Sali and Wasa…and then sanitized all the toys that Wasa had sat on…

There’s a pool on the way to Bamako, about 2 hrs from Koutiala. So often we stop there during trips to get a break. It’s nice to have a time of refreshment in between the hrs in the car, especially when the A/C goes out, like it did on our car ride.

 

We are so thankful grandma came and can’t wait for her to come back!!

Easter Reflections

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

I love Easter Sundays. I love getting up early in the morning and going to the sunrise service, reading the passage of the Resurrection and singing hymns like “He Arose.” Up from the grave He arose! And “He lives”  Because He lives I can face tomorrow. Because He lives all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future and life is worth the living just because He lives! I always got goose bumps with those songs. What beautiful words! And I always loved how my pastor always sang those songs to the top of his lungs with the deepest conviction. He knew they were true and he yearned for all of us to know it as well. I love that man and miss him in our church deeply (even though I don’t get to actually go there often). The Sunrise service is definitely my favorite part of Easter, by far. I love it. I miss it. Even though in later years it wasn’t as early as it used to be (to my pastor’s disappointment). And I’m kind of like him- I liked getting up when it was DARK. And your body ached because you were getting up so early. You could kind of picture yourself like Mary, aching as she went to look at the tomb, saddened by what she expected to find. Yet He was not there! Hallelujah! He arose! And as she cried by the tomb and asked the man whom she thought was a gardener where the Christ was…all He had to say was her name “Mary” and she knew instantly it was the Christ. Wow. How beautiful. I love Christmas and all, but man Easter really gets me. I mean, it’s wonderful and very needed that Christ came to earth. The end of the story wouldn’t be there without the beginning. But oh the end of that story. He could have come to earth and just decided it was too much, he didn’t want to go through with the plan. The Father could have just decided it was too hard and too painful to watch his son be beaten and die. He could have called ten thousand angels to take him off the cross (or as Dawson says- Bibleman could help him get down). But He didn’t. He didn’t. He CHOSE to DIE for me. And amazingly that wasn’t the whole story- He rose again! I made the boys watch the VeggieTales Easter Carol last night. There’s a song in there that I love. Dawson told me I had to stop singing it because he was tired of the song. J But one line is “He died for us to give us life, and to give us hope He rose.” Ahh-I love that. Talk about goose bumps. He could have given us just life, I suppose. I mean, death was the price for our sins and He could have paid it and been done, but He rose again. I love that line- to give us hope He rose. What glorious hope- there IS life after the grave! I feel like hope just meets me where I am this year. I need hope.   Hope that life won’t always be like this- that the boys will one day all sleep through the night- that I will sleep through the night- that the boys will have friends, that they will come to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord, that I will one day learn bambara or French for that matter, that I will one day actually work in this hospital, that Brett won’t have to kill himself at the hospital and that his days won’t always be from 7- 6 or later, that there will be enough nurses to start peds in HIS timing, not man’s. That I can make more friends than just Sali, who lives miles away in a village and I can only see her once every few months, that when she does walk two hrs one way on foot to see me that I could actually have a meaningful conversation with her, that more people would come to know Jesus, that little babies just don’t have to die simply for lack of a little oxygen or sugar water, that parents here will value life and not let their child die solely because of money. Hope that this life is not all there is. Hope that because He lives I can face tomorrow. Because He lives all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future and life is worth the living just because He lives!

I’ve been doing this Beth Moore study “Living Beyond Yourself.” It’s really great. Probably as life changing and good as “Lord, I want to know you” by Kay Arthur. These are my two favorite studies of all time. I love how this goes through the fruit of the Spirit and she makes clear that these attributes are not possible in our own being. I am incapable of agape love. But God is greater than our hearts! This week has been on kindness. She started talking of the kindness of God. As a Father, his tender love for us. I was reminded of the verses that He gave me when I struggled to come to Mali with Dawson the first time. “Can a mother forget the baby on her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you, I have engraved you on the palm of my hands.” Isaiah 49:15-16. His love is greater for my children than even I can give them. She talked of His desire to tenderly love us as His children. As I comfort my boys when they are sad or upset or hurt, so He wants to do with me. He wants me to run to him crying and just say “Hold me, Jesus” He want s me to just rest in Him. Let Him wrap his arms around me and just feel safe in His arms. As I know how best to reassure and comfort my boys, so He does for me. He knows what I need. As I know every mark on my boys, the few scars they already have and how they got them, He knows every mark on me- much more than I know my boys. As giving the breast to Silas is often the only thing that comforts him and truly consoles him and fixes his hunger or thirst, so the Lord as El Shaddai is to me. I think of the few times that the boys when in the nursing stage were so upset or in pain or something that they refused to nurse. They just screamed. The whole time I just sat their upset and my heart ached because I knew that what they needed was the breast, and if they would just relax for a second and trust me to give it to them, they’d be ok. I wonder how often He feels that way with me, a lot I’m sure. Just trust me, Sheri. Let ME comfort you. Not emails, not chocolate, not sleep. Me. Let me comfort you. I am what you need. I’m really enjoying that image of the Lord as Father. He knows every pain and struggle I feel for my boys. He has watched His son go through terrible pain, to be on earth alone, rejected by men. He knows what it is like to feel like your kids are being rejected. He knows the pain of watching your kids be in a tough situation, one that is maybe not ideal. He let His Son suffer and die for me. And not only did He allow that, He wants a relationship with us who are responsible for His son’s death. He wants to love us tenderly, to care for us, to take on our burdens and concerns, for us to lay our worries and stresses at his feet. Wow. I think it’d be really hard for me to forgive someone if they killed my child, but to go so far as to have a relationship with them- amazing. I mean, I just want to knock people out if they are just mean to my kids and I want nothing to do with them afterwards. But we are responsible for His son’s death and yet He wants a relationship with us. A sweet relationship where He cares for me. It’s really sweet. I feel like where there is a lot of stress in life, I become much more of a worrier and little things get to me and just bother me (like I can’t stop worrying that another mouse will be in the house, or run by the boys as they sleep or something). But I’m encouraged by the Lord’s fatherly love, that he just wants to take those worries away and care for me. Thank you, Father! Thank you, Jesus. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future and life is worth the living just because He lives!

How many posts can you post in one day?

Today as I've been trying to get back into the rhythm here without my mom around, I've spent too much time at the computer catching up on emails but alas, here I am again. I guess it's a little lonely without anyone to talk to, thus I'm writing on here in hopes that someone is listening (reading) and will write me back! But I guess I have to tell people I have a blog before I can get many comments, huh? :)

A couple funny kid things again....

Dawson loves my armpit hair and thanks to three kids, it doesn't get shaved everyday so he gets to see it often. He's sad when I do shave it, asks me not to cut it again and is oh so excited to rub it when it's there. I don't know what is crazier- that he loves my armpit hair or that I'm stupid enough to write a blog entry about my hair. :)

Dawson has yet to learn how to correctly say computer. It is still "concumer" along with "cate" for cape. 

Dawson had a popsicle the other day and went to wash off since he was sticky. I found him in the bathroom, wiping his head down. He said he had to look in the mirror so he could make sure he was "watering his hair" correctly. 

So these are all about Dawson, but Kenan can't put too many phrases together yet, but he is a cutie nonetheless. He copies everything his brother does and is willing to do whatever he says- even when that is disobeying me in order to please his brother. 

Silas obviously isn't speaking yet, but he's precious as well. As we speak, I mean, as I write, he is jumping vigorously in his johnny jumper. he loves it. maybe one day I can post a video...we'll see.

Speaking of posting- I am having trouble with loading pictures and the word placement. If I upload 5 at a time I then can't write words in between. Any ideas for fixing this? 

Ok, I promise not to post again today. :)

Go Heels!

Yeah to UNC for winning the National Championship!

And even a bigger yeah to the Ellenbergers, fellow missionaries in Bamako, who have satellite tv so we could watch it. Yes, it started at 1 in the morning and we didn't go to bed until 4. But hey, we got to watch a LIVE basketball game...that we could really see. (Sometimes we watch games on Skype- my parents turn their webcam toward the tv...the connection isn't great though so we hear the sound fine but only see the bodies move every once in awhile). It was awesome. We were up in Bamako because we took my mom back. (see post below) We went to watch the final four game as well, though I slept through that game aside from a few minutes here and there. But I was determined to be awake for the final. And even though it was pretty much a blowout without tons of excitement, it was a lot of fun. For awhile, we forgot we were here in Mali. It was fun.

The next day, as we were driving out of town, we stopped on the side of the road to get a phone card. One of the guys was wearing a UNC shirt (the new one for the "turn it blue" campaign to get more people to wear carolina blue to events). We pointed to him out of the crowd to buy the card...if only we could have gotten a picture. We tried to explain to him the significance of his shirt, though he didn't understand, but hey, it was neat to see it. So we've seen a kid wearing a UNC shirt in Bamako and a Duke sweatshirt in Koutiala and they have no idea what they mean. The best shirt Brett saw was a teenage girl wearing a shirt that only came to just above her belly button...it said "I'm the big brother." Ha!

NewsRadio: Episode "Rat"

Last night we sat down to watch a show of News Radio called Rat. Brett literally had just pressed play when I saw something run toward the kitchen. As I was telling Brett, “I just saw something,” a mouse comes running toward us and then turns and hides behind the kids’ toys. Thankfully the kitchen door had been closed so the mouse was forced to come out in the open. We just sat there for a moment. How ironic that we had just sat down to watch an episode called Rat, and a mouse comes out so show himself to us. I’m so glad, though, that it was a mouse and not a rat. Since I don’t do the best with mice, or bugs, we got our night guard to come in and help Brett catch the mouse. It was kind of funny. He brought in his spear.  I’m not kidding. A 6 ft spear. Brett didn’t want to use it and have mouse blood all over the house. But our night guard got all crouched down on the all the ground, ready to catch the mouse once Brett got him to get back out in the open. He ran from behind the kids’ toy containers to behind the bookshelf, to across the room behind another piece of furniture that for the life of me I can’t remember it’s correct word (but it’s beside our table, holds dishes and stuff). He got behind that piece, but not without some hits from our guard. Finally Brett got him to move again and our guard ended his life with a few blows that thankfully I didn’t see and just carried him out in his hand like there was nothing abnormal with what had just taken place. Gotta love living here.

It seems we live with nature here, or rather nature lives with us. It just comes in through the poorly closed home. I mean, we watch the bugs just crawl in from under our front door which has a rubber piece on bottom to keep them out…and doesn’t. The worst is watching the frogs just slide in under the door. And speaking of frogs, we must not fail to mention our little friends who come in our bathroom every night to say hello. I guess they come from the drain. But they hide away during the day and then come out in the night so when we go to brush our teeth to go to bed, there are the frogs to say hello. I mean, one was actually cute, he came out every night faithfully until I guess his life ended. We always said he reminded us of Kenan. But now it’s a variety of frogs, sometimes just one, sometimes up to three. Just depends on the night. And then there are the lizards that crawl on the walls. There are ones that are inside lizards, flatter and overall smaller. Then there are the outside lizards that are colorful and thicker. Only sometimes do they come inside. Don’t know if I should even open the subject of the bugs that are in our house. Bar far the worst, and believe me we have our pick, are the flying termites. When it rains, which is only during a few months each year- thankfully, they are disturbed and come out of the ground…by the thousands. Thousands. They cover our windows and then just fall in through the cracks and under the doors. We shut off all the lights because this prevents them from coming in as much…so we’re talking only a hundred or so in the house verses a couple hundred. No joke. Then as soon as they come in and move around a bit, they die and the huge ants come in and begin to eat. The frogs and lizards take part of the meal outside, thankfully. It is nasty. I only wish you could see them swarming on the windows. It is like something out of the twilight zone or something. Our guard collected a whole bucket of them after one rain. I mean, they are the size of ants and he had a bucket full of them. They love them here- they eat them. It’s really special to some, they say they taste really good.   Ok, that’s enough on that subject.

Back To Reality

 

We are back today in Koutiala. No Grandma and Uncle Louis. No McCabes. It’s a bit sad I must say. But I guess you can’t have diversions in life all the time. This was a spur of the moment (as spur as it can be to come to Africa) trip for my mom. A guy in our church, Louis, was coming to do prosthetics and work with the handicapped and wanted someone to come with him so thankfully, my dad was gracious enough to let us have mom for two weeks. My mom and dad had already planned to come in August so this was just an extra for us. And it was wonderful. So needed. I told mom her jobs were to get Silas sleeping through the night, Kenan potty trained, and Dawson wiping his own bottom and dressing himself. Silas started sleeping through the night the week before she came (though he didn’t while they were here, but he was in our room which I think was hard).  It’s just so hot that Dawson rarely wears clothes so that one wasn’t really grasped. But she did wonders for Kenan. He made a lot of headway which is awesome. I personally think she did fantastic on her jobs. She has a way with Dawson to help him become more independent and do things on his own which I don’t have. I often just do it for him because it’s quicker. But she’s really good. So I feel like I have an older boy now who can do more, a more potty trained 2 year old, and a baby well on his way to sleeping through the night again. But more than her jobs, it was just so nice to have people around and to be loved on. To have an extra hand at dinner so I didn’t have to make the meal and try to feed Silas at the same time. I didn’t even eat dinner once in the bathroom- which I often do because by the time I get to my dinner, I need Silas to be taking his bath so then he can go to sleep. We had some peaceful days. We had a great Wednesday dinner one night (usually those are the worst because we are trying to get to prayer meeting by 6:30). It was so nice. The weekend we were here in Koutiala- it was the best weekend we’ve had in town. It was just peaceful. Mom and I got our feet done with henna. It took 6 hrs. 3 hrs was just putting the tape on my feet in the design… I’ll explain that another time. But it was nice. And my mom brought me the best gift I have ever gotten that I didn’t ask for- an espresso machine! It can froth milk. She also got the Starbucks mocha powder so I can have a mocha!! It is AWESOME! It tastes great. It really takes me home for a little bit. We were drinking it all the time. (I’m having to withhold a little now because I think it was too much caffeine for Silas). It is so great!! But more than the gifts, it was just nice to have mom and Louis around. It was a breath of fresh air. Truly a blessing from the Lord. Three kids anywhere is tough, especially when they are so young. But there are really some added difficulties here with life. Nothing is easy. You can’t just pick up a meal when things are crazy. There aren’t the kid friendly foods and snacks. There’s no place to meet up with a girlfriend when the kids are bonkers and you need to get out of the house. Those things just wear on you after time. It was nice to have mom here to just rejuvenate a bit. Brett and I commented how nice it was just to have people in the home, to share life with, to not have to do everything alone. It was nice.

I truly wish we could see my family and friends more often, that it wasn’t a $2,000, 24 + hr trip to Mali. But it is. I wish the McCabes lived closer so they could play. But they don’t. As needed and wonderful as their time here was, I was reminded that I must lean on the Lord and not them. I must seek fulfillment from Him, to rest in Him as my best friend and to find my strength in Him. I also must trust that this is where He has us for now. He knew where he wanted us before time began. He chose the exact times and places that we should live. He knows where I am on this journey in life, my struggles and frustrations. He knows the heart cries as a mother for my kids to have friends to play with. I must trust that he will provide…whether that is through bringing families here with young kids, Malians, or in just their brothers. He will provide in the way that they need, even if that’s not what I think they need. I’ve been reminded lately that we parents (those of us overseas,  but I guess it’s really all parents) want our kids to have certain experiences, whether that is friends around, playing on teams, going to school events, whatever. I start to think in my head that these are necessities. But they aren’t. My kids don’t need tons of friends around to become mature adults who walk with the Lord. They don’t need to play on soccer teams. They need the Lord and they need to be where HE has them for their life. They need to walk with Him and find their contentment in Him. Their childhood doesn’t seem normal to me because it’s not like my childhood, but it’s all they will ever know. Lord willing, they’ll be fine with that, whatever happens with schooling and friends and such. I just need to lay down my wants and dreams for them and let the Lord give them what is best for them. Anyway, didn’t mean to get all serious here…just my thoughts and reflections over the last few weeks.  

So like I said, life is now back to normal. We are SO THANKFUL for the visit from grandma and Louis. It was so much fun to have them here. Can’t wait for August when Grandma AND Grandpa can come!

Dawson's 4th Birthday...Malian Style

So normally, we don’t do much for birthdays. Just our family and two ladies here who are like family have a party. Presents (sent by grandma), dinner of the kid’s choice (or when younger what I thought was their favorite), cake and ice cream. That’s it. Well, for D’s day this year, we had the awesome blessing to have grandma actually here What better gift is there really? But to add to that, our friends the McCabes were also in town. They have three kids (5, almost 3, and 4 mos) but live in the capitol, 5 hrs away. So it is a great treat whenever they are around. So since grandma AND the McCabes were here, we decided we must go all out and have a party. And go all out we did….but mind you, it was in Mali so the ability to “go all out” is limited here.Dawson is in a stage where he LOVES superheroes.  Any superhero, Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Superman, Spiderman, Mr. Incredible, WordGirl, Bibleman, you name it, he’ll love it. (But please, don’t ever tell him of a new hero, there are enough alter egos flying around here). They are always fighting someone- Joker, Penguin, Dr. Two Brains, Tobey, Slacker, Cheater, Kenan, Janybody. Dawson is most often Batman, I am Robin and Kenan is Batgirl…I’ve tried and tried to be batgirl and let Kenan be Robin, but to no avail. Thankfully, grandma brought out Superman outfits so now Kenan can be Superman and doesn’t have to be a girl. J But alas, I digress from the birthday party… so since D is in love with superheroes, there was no question to the theme of the party. We all dressed up…Dawson was Batman (as was Ella), Kenan and Silas were Superman, Aiden preferred no costume, I was Robin, Grandma a super tree (yes, a tree.  Still have NO idea where that comes from but if Dawson sees a picture he talks of grandma being a super tree…and being the great grandma that she is, she agreed and was a tree). The best costume was Brett- he was Joker…Malian style. A little lotion on the face to make the baby powder stick, lipstick, and green Easter grass taped on a plastic bag for the hair was all it took to make him the perfect (and a bit scary) Joker. The kids loved it.

Thanks to a “birthday party” put on our church when we were still home this summer (they wanted to give him a party for his birthday even though it was months away), we had Batman decorations. They played find the bats scattered around the yard, musical chairs (which when Dawson didn’t win, had to be done again so he could! J), and we had a “piñata”. I put that in quotes because it was really just a ziplock of candy and stickers, wrapped in brown paper which Dawson had colored. But hey, it worked. J It didn’t really break open, but rather the ziplock fell out of the other, but again, they got candy and they were happy.

I love Dawson's since of accomplishment here with the pinata breaking. His face says it all- "Breaking a pinata- just one of the many jobs in the life of a superhero. Mission accomplished."

On to presents…which he loved…a remote control Batman car from our church in Raleigh, some work books regifted from the party last Oct, bucket and cups for playing outside from the McCabes, other things I can’t remember, and the big big gift from grandma- a BIKE! Though Joker and Batman had made up and decided to be friends, (Joker had been taking the bat away from the kids as they tried to hit the piñata,), Joker had hidden this last gift. So the kids had to go searching…and thanks to a little redirecting Ella AWAY from the bike by her mom, Dawson found the bike and was quite excited.

Batman and Joker making up.

Then it was dinner- hamburgers. And then cake and ice cream. Dawson requested blue ice cream with chocolate chips. And hey, since I had to make it anyway, I could actually give the boy what he wanted thanks to a little food coloring.

Overall it was a great birthday party. He had a blast…and I think we all did. Thanks to grandma for all the gifts, esp the bike, to make it special. And thanks to the McCabes for coming so he actually had kids at his party. And to Brett for being a great Joker!! I think that was the highlight of the party for the kids...they are still talking about it. 

Dawson with Ella, and his bike.     

Our Superhero Family

Silas was enthralled with Ella, he never sees girls around here. :)

The best picture we could get of the kids...