Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, Brett!

You are a wonderful father! You are wise in your training of the boys. You are level headed. You treat all their illnesses. You are fun. You are a wonderful role model for them. I love you with all of me and am so incredibly thankful that I get to parent these sweet boys alongside of you.

I love this picture because it captures the silly times with the boys. The boys love being with you- getting "ready"for bed, playing tennis or soccer, or going on bike rides.

I love you and am so thankful for you!

My first (and hopefully last) wedding cake

Dawson's teacher asked me to make her wedding cake. Before I really thought about it, I said yes. Then I realized what a mess I had gotten myself into. Thankfully, I have good friends. I called up Alison and Carol and told them what I had done. Both offered to help. Carol had taken a cake decorating class years ago and was a HUGE help in knowing how to decorate it. Though I don't care to do this anytime soon, I must say it was a lot of fun and provided a lot of laughs.

Here is the final product

Here is why it provided laughs...our trial run. The cake didn't rise and the frosting was nowhere close to red.

Practicing writing. The one on the bottom was written by Carol, who actually knew how to write on cakes. :)

The day of making cakes (Thursday) I came down with a stomach bug. So I was in the kitchen baking all day while feeling terrible. Thankfully, all didn't start until after the baking was done. I did leave all the cakes on the counter, though, and Caroline took a bite out of the top. Oops. We just covered it with a lot of icing. :) (don't know why it is not horizontal, it uploaded funny)

At Carol's house finishing up decorating. Alison is on the left. Again, so thankful for friends!

The cake for the evening

All decorated

Right before taking it to the reception

With the beautiful bride

So happy for Louise and thankful for her love for my boys. She is a special lady. Glad she found a wonderful man and glad the cake decorating is over!

In their first wedding

Dawson and Kenan were in their first wedding yesterday. Dawson's teacher got married and she had all the kids in the preschool hold balloons as she walked in. They also sang a song as two of the kids brought the rings down the aisle. It was cute. Long, but cute. The wedding was supposed to start at 10. Kids were to be at the school at 8. I brought my kids to the church at 9:40, thinking we'd be late. We were the first ones there. Half the kids arrived after Tanti Louise did. Thankfully, the pastor was talking to the couple so they were late starting anyway. So it probably started around 10:20 and ended after 1 pm! Thankfully the class only had to sit in the wedding for the first hour, then they were outside and had a snack until they sang at the end.

Starting to line up

Silas got to have a balloon too and even stood in line with the preschool kids

The bride walking in. She sang and danced all the way down the aisle. It was awesome. Most people are stoic and never smile. They look like the whole ceremony is painful. She loved every moment. She worshiped and truly enjoyed herself. Fun to see.

This is all I could catch of them singing, as they were walking back.

I was matching the boys since there was extra cloth left over. Couldn't get a good picture of us together though.

Fun with the animals

The boys L.O.V.E. their pets. Most of the time, so do I, except for their crazy moments when they are into everything and chasing one another and taking the boys' food. I sometimes feel like I have another child but I remind myself that the boys love them and really enjoy having them. Even as I write Purr is sitting in my lap. Never would have thought I'd sit with a cat in my lap. She is a good cat. Actually, she isn't a she but a he. I tried not to notice the furry stub I saw because I thought we had gotten a girl. Someone came over and told me she was in fact a he. There was no denying it anymore. Poor thing still gets called she more than he, but at least now we know.

Caroline sitting in the boys blow up chair my sister gave them last year for Christmas.

Prevention

I am amazed at how certain things in our American culture are engrained in us even before we realize it. One is that of prevention. We have sidewalks, we wear helmets, our kids are in car seats, we have crossing areas, we teach our kids to stop, look and listen before they cross the road as infants, most (should be all, but that’s just my opinion after seeing the illness we are trying to prevent in children here in Mali) people get vaccines. We get gas before we are stalled on the side of the road, we have inspections so our cars shouldn’t break down, etc, etc. We use a lot of preventative measures in the US.

Here there is basically none. Vaccines are about it. No car seats, no helmets, no sidewalks, kids on motorcycles, even babies attached by only cloth to the mom’s back are on motorcycles.

One day as we drove through the market Dawson asked why there were no sidewalks like in America. I told him that sidewalks were for prevention of accidents and to keep people safe. However, this costs money. I told him Malians didn’t have money for that.

A few days later he asked why no one wore helmets. Told him the same thing.

A few days after that he said, “I wish there were sidewalks and everyone wore helmets so that they would be safe. I think they should have sidewalks for people, a road for just the motorcycles and then a road for the cars so there would be no accidents.” I was amazed at how he came up with these things all by himself.

Today made me laugh when even Kenan recognized potential danger as we dropped his friend off from playing. He said, “Oh, I can’t watch this”

- “Watch what?”

-“I don’t want to see Jean-Marc on a motorcycle. I don’t like my friends riding on them. That’s not safe.”

More paint pictures

The boys have really been into painting (themselves) lately. To me, it is worth it. Messy, sure. But 30 minutes free for me to do something is worth it. So here are a few more pictures of another paint day. This time it was yellow, though, which is not quite as impressive as blue.

He had some red and green mixed in. Representing Mali colors well!

They do at least clean up once they are done...

Season of Flies

The end of mango season brings the season of flies. They enjoy the overripe mangoes that fall on the ground. Flies are everywhere now.

In case you just wanted to see proof, here is a picture I took after I (stupidly) through a mango out on the ground because it was rotten. I took this picture within a couple of minutes when I realized the mistake I had made.

My ramblings

A while back I listened to a child’s heart stop beating. I’ve listened to kids who were already dead to make sure in fact that there was no heart beat. I’ve never, however, listened to the process of the heart stopping. But I did yesterday. It made me all hot and uncomfortable. Brett had to run home and get his computer and I ran out to the car because I didn’t want to be left there. I didn’t know the family. They had just been brought in from the government center with a typhoid perforation. He had had typhoid which often can cause a hole in the intestines, which is what had happened. Dan, Brett, Jess and Jake were there until 10 pm the night he came in for his surgery. However, the child had other problems in his lungs as well when he arrived. Brett had spent the morning bagging him thinking that he would die but he waited until the afternoon when I “got” to listen. It’s just weird being with someone as they die, especially when you don’t know them at all.

Later that night we sat down and started watching tv. There was a show on about these Great White sharks that love to attack seals by jumping out of the water in this one certain area of the shore of South Africa. As I watched it, I kept thinking, these people have way too much money. As interesting as this is shouldn't we be using our money to save human lives instead of figuring out why sharks like the jump in the air to attack here? Now, I fully recognize that I was watching the show which means a couple of things- one, it was in fact interesting. Two, I was watching it on our satellite tv. So I completely and fully admit that there is an extreme difference between us and the people we live around.

I've never been one to feel guilty for being an American or being born into a wealthy country. I believe in Acts 17 where God determined the times set for us and the exact places where we should live. He did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out and find Him. So I am in no way advocating asceticism but I think it is a shame that we (and by we I mean first world countries that have wealth) spend more time and money on studying sharks or random other things rather than on PEOPLE who are dying. I think there is enough money in the world to live comfortably while doing research on the animals of the world AND building up a continent that is so far behind the others. We still have 1 out of 4 (or 5) kids not living until they are 5 years old! The mother of the child who died didn’t even cry. She just took it. That shouldn’t be acceptable!

We need more money in research for getting a malaria vaccine. Money for educating women. How do you expect a woman who has never even gone to school and has every decision made for her to raise a child into adulthood? No wonder kids die when the mother is not educated enough to know when a child is sick or not. Or has never really learned the importance of watching her kids well enough that they don’t run out in the middle of the street or get to close to a fire. A child can’t raise a child. Women need education. In order for women to be educated, there must be a change in society. They can’t just live day to day but they need to have enough resources that they can provide for themselves without having to pound their grain everyday and spend hours cooking over a fire. That’s why girls can’t go to school. They are needed at home to work.

So though I recognize this as a HUGE problem and don’t really have answers to the problems, I just felt the need to say it. I was overwhelmed this past time in the States by the abundance of wealth. We've got way too much when I sit around a table and listen to people talk about giving their dogs anxiety medicines or having this or that surgery or whatever and people are dying over here because they can’t get that kind of treatment. Again, not saying we should live without, for heaven’s sake we just brought a dog back, but I just think there needs to be a shift in our thinking to realize that there is a world outside of the US, with people who are hurting and dying from lack of simple health care.

Friends from school

We have tried many times to find kids that the boys are willing to play with. Since most kids touch their skin and pull at their hair, the boys aren't so much into playing. Even last year at school, the only name Dawson could tell me was Hannah's. So I was quite encouraged when he asked for "Abidoujitijal" [Ah-bee-doo-ji-tea-jal] (Amadou Tidian is his name [Ah- mah- dou Tea-john]) to come and play. Kenan also has a friend, John Mark, that he wanted to come and play. A few weeks ago they came over. This was on the way home. The boys (all 4 of them) were thrilled. They ate lunch with us and played for awhile.

The boys wanted them to come again so they were over last week. They played with water balloons and loved it. Boys are boys, no matter where they are from. We hope that they can come over once a week, even in the summer, to help the boys continue to integrate into the culture and learn more of the language.

It may have taken four years, but we are thankful that they have found some Malian friends!

Snow day

If you've read this blog for any length of time you know that my boys love to cover themselves in whatever they absolutely can. Since they learned the fun of shaving cream at Grandma's house, they wanted to do it here with Hannah one day. They had a blast. The pictures are awesome but again, I'm not able to post most of them on the blog.

Alison and I said that if these two ever got married we'd have some great pictures to show at the rehearsal dinner slideshow. :)

Blue Man Group

The other week the boys were painting outside. I had a huge piece of paper that we used to trace themselves. They were painting them and having fun so I went inside to clean up some things. I got into what I was doing and was enjoying the quiet. Then I realized that they were too occupied and having too much fun with just painting on paper. Went outside and found them like this. I had mistakenly left them with a full bottle of blue paint.

So here is our own Blue Man Group.

They were covered from head to toe. The full picture is actually better but since it is being posted online, this is all I can show.

No longer a Kindergartner

Dawson has finished kindergarten. I can't believe it. I am amazed at what he has learned in a year. To think a few short months ago, he didn't know his days of the week or months of the year. He didn't count past 20. He only wrote his name. Now he can write, spell, read, add, tell time, read a calendar and do much more. It's amazing.

Here are the Koutiala kids.

To say he loves school is an understatement. Here is a year in review...

One night they have movie night and played games.

Thanksgiving

In the Christmas play.

Celebrating his birthday

Reading with Mr. Brian on his last day of school

We brought cake the last afternoon and celebrated the end of the year.

Sweet Caleb at the party

They had a little "graduation" for him. Not many kids probably have graduation parties with their brothers in bathing suits, but oh well. That's our life. :)

Silas helped "BwianJuwie," as he calls them, give Dawson his certificate.

He liked it. :)

Mr. Brian and Mrs. Julie with the graduate. :)

Brian and Julie have already left and moved back to California. We miss them terribly. They were an incredible gift to our team and more importantly to our family. I never realized how grateful a parent felt for those who taught their children. What a gift. Brian and Julie were amazing. They included Dawson, made him feel important and special, and loved him. If they had only done that I would have been happy. However, they also gave him a great education and love for learning. I am so grateful. Not to mention that we gained special friends as well. I am so thankful for the times we got to spend together. Praise the Lord that they came to Koutiala! I will be forever grateful for them and how they blessed our family. Words can't express how much they touched our lives.

I think Dawson's comment to Kenan the other day sums it up. He said, "I'm no longer a kindergartener. I'm a first grader....I wish I was still in kindergarten so Mr. Brian and Mrs. Julie were still my teachers."

We love you, BwianJuwie, Caleb, and Sierra!

Another trip to Teriya Bugu

A few weeks ago we went to our favorite place in Mali, Teriya Bugu, with Dawson's teachers Brian and Julie, and the Gilillands who have recently moved to Mali (he is a OBGYN who worked in infertility ans she is a dental assistant). As always, we had a great time there.

One of the many weird statues there. I really just love the colors and lighting in the picture.

Capturing some of our last times together before they left.

Enjoying the pool

John, the animal whisperer

One of the monkeys had had a baby only a couple months before. It was neat to watch how she hung on her mother.

So the boys wanted to be baby monkeys.

Since we were the first guests in several weeks there we had the run of the place. Instead of staying behind the gates, John just entered the gated area to get closer to the animals. Dawson enjoyed getting to see "Fast Eater" up close.

Brian, Julie and baby Caleb

on the playground...

this is what they really look like most of the time

I always enjoy the peacocks. They are so pretty.