Our Friends

I have mentioned our friends here before but have yet to make them a blog post. They just left on Thursday for a 2 month furlough in England so I thought I better get some pictures before they go.

Here they are playing on our neighbor's trampoline. Trying to get five kids on a trampoline to sit still long enough to take a picture didn't really work, but these are the best we got.

Hannah is the youngest. She is 3 years old. (She'll be 4 in Sept). Dawson will go to school with her next year at the Christian school in town where her parents work.

Joel is 7, almost 8. Abigail is 9.

They have been a wonderful gift to our family. We are so glad they are here. To give a little info on the family... Alison, their mom, is English. Her husband, Japhet, is Malian. They met years ago when Alison was spending a summer in Africa (I'm totally blanking on which country). Then Japhet went to England to study and they continued to keep in touch. A little while later, they were married here in Mali. They have been here 12 years. They work with the school L'Ecole Samuel, which is a part of Youth With a Mission. Japhet is in charge of maintenance and construction as well as the school for women who are learning how to sew. Alison currently is not officially working at the school, though she still does things there. She is a lawyer and also works for the organization of African lawyers. Their kids are as sweet as can be and like playing with our boys! It's great! I think the kids have the most fun in the dirt and mud outside. The kids speak both French and English, though they prefer to speak french to each other. (I'm hoping this french will rub off on the boys...and me!) :) We love this family!