Andy's visit

Andy came back to visit this year. He was only supposed to stay three weeks but once here we were able to convince him to add on to his trip so we were blessed to have him here 5 1/2 weeks.

The boys loved having him here. They talked about his arrival for weeks. They always wanted to play with him. He was gracious and played with them a ton. I don't know that I've met another non-parent (especially a single guy) who could stand kids as long as he did. 5 1/2 weeks in a house with three little kids isn't easy, especially when they were in his room all the time. Thankful for those extraordinary people who can truly love on our kids and make them feel special. Thank you, Andy!

Having a shaving cream fight with the kids.

After an afternoon rain the boys found chalk that had been left out and was soaked. Andy showed them how you could "paint" with it and they (boys and Andy...and ok, me too) had tons of fun which included painting the wall with handprints. Dawson didn't like that Andy was taller so he had him hold him up so he could have the highest handprint.

Andy loved on the patients at the hospital as well. He will make a great pediatrician! Here he is playing in the rain with Francois.

Andy went on many village trips with us. We visited several patients whom we had sent home to die and hadn't yet passed, checked up on a TB patient who didn't come back, as well as taking one of our Type 1 diabetics back to her home village to greet family.

Walking with the kids and Kadia's father. (see post below)

Andy with Kadia's family.

Despite all the trips, Andy found time to still have fun. This is at the Malian National Park (see post below). We laughed saying if you just saw this picture you wouldn't believe this was in the middle of Mali.

Like last year, we cooked a ton while he was here. I think we all gained weight. We grilled several times (a first at the MacLean house), made blueberry scones, chocolate coconut macaroons, a pear tart, apple pie, butter pecan ice cream and many other yummy foods. Jeremie even called him the "grand cuisinier" since he was such a great cook. We enjoyed the variety of meals since I often just cook what is easiest/quickest.

We all enjoyed having Andy here and do hope that he comes back again. He is a blessing to have around. I also learn a lot when he is here since he has a wealth of knowledge on what seems like every subject. I truly appreciate his servant's heart and his willingness to do whatever we ask, whether that be at the hospital or here at the house. We are thankful for the time we got to spend together. Thanks for coming, Andy!

Mali National Park

Whenever we are in Bamako, we love to go to the new Malian National Park. You walk through the gates and it feels like you are in a different country. There is beautiful grass, nice playgrounds, a coffee shop, restaurants, and I must mention again GRASS! It's so nice. It is worth having to pay $3 a person to get in (though Maliens pay 60 cents).

of course all good days include playing super heroes.

they were really into picture taking

we got this one when we said we would go to the pool if they smiled. :)

decent family picture...

what they more normally look like. :)

We love time in Bamako and thoroughly enjoyed the good (by Malian standards) food. We had ice cream three times that day! :) We also enjoyed pizza, fries (twice) and hamburgers. Glad we live in Koutiala, though, so we don't eat like pigs all the time.

Kadia goes home

One of my leukemia patients, Kadia, went home last week. She has been here since December 23. She went home only once for less than 2 weeks during the entire 6 months. She has become part of the hospital. I looked forward to our dance parties each morning and laughing and giggling together. I'm glad she is able to go home because that means she is in remission and doing better but it is sad that we don't get to see her everyday.

Before she left I had her over and let her have henna put on her feet as a special treat for her and her mom.

Tired of the long process

But very happy with the outcome.

Giving some love on one of her last days

Her last ride around the hospital with fellow leukemia patient, Francois.

The gang. L to R: Djara (type 1 diabetic), Francois (leukemia), Balla (colon cancer), Kadia, her mom and brother Amos.

One last ride on the golf cart.

We passed by her town on Saturday on our way to Bamako so we stopped in to say hello.

It was fun to see her.

Brett and Amosi.

In front of their {little} house. Dawson took the picture so the end of the house is cut off but it does end right where the picture is cut off.

Unfortunately, they called us while in Bamako that she was throwing up and had fever. So on our way back to Koutiala we stopped by and picked her up to take her back to the hospital. Poor girl was not happy. Hopefully it will be a short stay and she'll be able to stay at home for more than 6 days.

Playing in the river

There are many things that I think our kids will treasure from growing up in Mali. One of those things, most likely, will be rain. It only rains during the months of May through October (with an occasional rain in April). Rainy days are like snow days. Everything stops. No one goes out except the crazy white people. We run outside, sit on our porch and the boys take turns running out in the rain. And of course, there are always cups of hot chocolate.

When our gate blew open from a rain, Dawson ran out to close it and saw our street had turned into a flowing river. So of course he wanted to play in it. Being the "great" mother I am, I of course let my son play in the middle of the street, trying not to think of all the body fluids and various other unclean things floating down the street.

The other two soon came out and played as well. Kenan lost his shoe and it started floating down the street so then they enjoyed playing with the "boat." After the shoe went further than Kenan thought safe, he refused to put his shoe at risk of floating away anymore. We decided to use leaves as our boats which were quite faster than the shoe. Finally Dawson caught his leaf a good distance down the street and said, "I'm glad there's trash on the roads. The trash caught my leaf. Without the trash my leaf would have been gone." So I guess the trash is good for something. :)

New Hairdo

The other week I spent 4 painful hours to have my hair braided (with fake hair added in). Once the process started I remembered why I hadn't done it in several years. Though it was fun at first to sit with the ladies and talk, it gets old quick. But I enjoyed the different look for a week. Couldn't stand it much longer because my hair had been pulled so tight that I had folliculitis on my scalp. It was fun while it lasted, though. Here are a few pictures for those interested...

The way I wore it most days...

When it was down (which was not a great look in my opinion)...

When it got too hot...

When I felt like being crazy.

Mamine

This sweet, beautiful girl is Mamine. She has osteosarcoma of the hip and there is nothing we can do to help her. We sent her home about two months ago to die as there was no treatment we could do for her. I started visiting her two weeks after she left our hospital, expecting actually that I would find she had already died. However she is going strong, aside from the cancer. She is such a beautiful girl and it is simply heartbreaking to visit her each week and have her family ask us if we can do anything. We (Carol goes with me) have looked into many possibilities, even sending her to the States for treatment. Even in the US her chance of survival is 25% and that's with removing her hip and having at least a year of chemo and radiation. Carol has talked to her son who is an orthopedist and gotten his thoughts on the case as well as another surgeon who visited here and met Mamine. As much as we wish there was something we could do, we just simply can't. We brought her to the hospital last week for an x-ray as we still clung to hope that we could do something. You couldn't even see the bones of her right hip as the mass just covered the whole area. The cancer has enlarged her hip area and now has grown into the left side as well. I often feel hopeless. I am reminded though that we serve a God of hope who can heal her even if she doesn't receive physical healing. I shared the gospel with her and her family in Bambara (if you count reading it off the sheet of paper I used to study with for my last Bambara test where we had to share the gospel. I've kept it in my wallet ever since). We've talked about God and had a Pastor come with us. I pray that she will know God's hope and peace and find the spiritual healing she truly needs.

Pig Farm yet again

The other weekend we went to the pig farm, our favorite place right outside of Koutiala. We took Andy who is back again this summer (YEAH!), the Gilillands, and the two Wenger boys. It was a lot of fun despite getting lost on the way there. We took a wrong turn and ended up way off the path we were to go but we eventually got there.

Silas and his buddy Carol.

Usually it is Dawson who hikes with Brett but this time it was Kenan. They did their own thing for quite a long time.

The gang minus John who was taking the picture.

When I stood to take the picture above I felt very outnumbered so we decided to take a man shot. So here are all the guys.

Rainy season has begun!

The rains have started and we love it! It's so fun to go sit on the porch and watch the pouring rain. The boys think every rain deserves a cup of hot chocolate...I don't mind that either. It's a fun time for the family since we all run outside and then huddle together. I love these times.

Daddy and his boys

Kenan being silly as always

Silas always wants his picture taken when the camera is out

Being silly again

Last day of L'ecole Samuel

June 22nd was the last day of school for the boys at their french school. It was supposed to be July 1st but then they just changed it. Fine with me. It's just funny how they give out in the end and don't do much at all- including the teachers. Just a different mindset.

Here are the boys that morning. They matched on their first day of school so I decided they should end that way as well.

TCIS, the school my sister works at and where Julie and Brian taught, sent boxes of school supplies, toys and clothes for the school. Here the kids and teachers waving for a thank you picture.

The boys and their teachers. Top Row: Tanti Rachelle (K's teacher), Tonton Noel (K's assitant and best buddy) and Tanti Nathalie (D's assitant)

Bottom: Tanti Louise (D's teacher), D, K, Tonton Moise (D's assistant)

Kenan and his best bud Jean-Marc at the end of the year celebration.

Dawson and Amadou Tidian

Each class put on a little performance for the parents. Dawson was in the skit of the Tower of Babel because he can speak English. :) His line was "Give me the block!" which he said several times. He knew his line and was fine with doing this play until it came time to walk to where they were performing. He began to cry and couldn't stop for probably 15 minutes or more. We prayed and asked God to give him strength. When it was time to perform, he got up cautiously and did as he was supposed to.

Passing the blocks to build the tower

Dawson meticulously placed the block pieces

Give me the block! Give me the block!

I was proud of him for doing it even though he was scared. He walked off stage and proceeded to cry some more, even though he was supposed to join the class in the songs. He just couldn't do it. Since he had done his part in the skit, I let him stay down.

Kenan had no problem going up though he had fallen asleep as he waited for the class to sing so he was a bit dazed on stage.

They practice french by saying a little exercise of open your hands, close your hands, hide them, rub your arm, scratch your arm, make your hands dance, make sleeping hands.

Mains Dormir (sleeping hands)

The teachers got into the singing and dancing as well. :)

They so kindly put us on the front row so the speakers were blaring. Also, added to the crying child, the sleepy child, we had a sleepy crying child named Silas who was terrible. After the boys finished their part we actually left instead of staying for the rest of the classes to perform which would have been a couple more hours. Thankful sometimes for our white skin that "allows" us to get away with bad things we shouldn't do.

Despite the kids having a hard time, it was a lot of fun and neat to see the kids perform. I'm thankful for what they have learned and hope it continues!