More on Alan's trip

We had a great time with Alan here. He was a wonderful guest and also so valuable at the hospital. We are so thankful that he came out here.

Boys showing Alan their turtles.

And the neighbor's turtle. Just a wee bit bigger.

On a car ride with Alan and Balla.

Brett and the peds guys.

Eating dinner with Jeremie and his family.

I've posted before but I wanted to write a separate blog to mention how grateful we are that he came. He has helped a ton through emails but there is nothing like seeing things first hand and him being able to lay his hands on the kids and give advice. Simple things like kids who are given Vincristine, a chemo med, often have foot drop as a symptom. I didn't think the kids had this (didn't know it was a side effect until he came) but he saw Francois and said, "that's foot drop." Oh. ok. Just some of the things that can't be conveyed on email.
Also, there was a lymphoma kid that showed up while he was here. Moments like these make it abundantly clear to me that God is with us. Mamadou had a growing mass since November but "chose" this week to come into the hospital again while Alan was here. Alan took one look and said it was lymphoma. This is significant because we were not aware that lymphoma presents as a cluster of swollen lymph nodes. We thought it was just one enlarged node. I can't honestly say what we would have done. I would like to think that we would have consulted Alan and found the diagnosis but I don't know. It was incredible that he was here at just the right time to diagnose this cancer and teach Brett and Ed (our lab guy) how to look on the bone marrow slides. It just amazes me. It's not like this growth showed up in a day. It had been growing for months and they decided to come the week Alan was with us. God is surely in control.
I feel overwhelmingly blessed that Alan came and a bit more assured that we are doing on ok job with this whole cancer thing.
Alan also brought a sickle cell machine and 5,000 cards to test newborn babies or those we suspect may have sickle cell so that we can provide them with preventative care. What a great blessing this will be.
Alan has a blog about his trip called Footprints in Mali. I love his title. What I find fascinating is that he was already making footprints here and saving kids lives before he even stepped foot in Mali. Now with more cancer care and the sickle cell program his footsteps will become even more numerous here. Thank you Alan for helping us and saving lives here in Mali!
While Alan was here we also decided I should start another blog of the long term patients at the hospital. So it is up and running. koutialakids.blogspot.com For those of you who will read both, there will at times be overlap and some kids are such a part of my own life that I will want to include them on this blog as well.

Don't let us paint at your house

What started as a nice morning of painting turned into unsurprisingly into body painting.

Kenan's picture of me and the sun with a cloud over me and rain coming down.

Dawson's abstract work.

Through a mishap Silas got paint on his face and in his eyes. As I wiped it off, the boys commented that it looked like a mask. That led to...

more face painting.

Dawson's first mask

Silas wanted a bigger mask

Kenan came up with the idea all by himself to paint on his belt as well.

D didn't like his first attempt so he washed it off...

The next mask.

The finished product for Dawson, or has he said Blue Black Man or Black Blue Man.

I'll spare you the middle parts...

This is his being scary face

lots of pics of him but I think they are cool

They captured Silas here.

So of course after playing the boys hit the bath. I had washed Silas off partly and he said, "me clean now?" and was ready to get out. This is what he looked like when he asked if he was clean.

always loves his older brother

As they were in the bath Brett told them that not all mommies let their kids get this dirty and made them say thank you. I don't mind dirt as long as it comes off. What's the point of a bath anyway if the water is clear when you get out?

This definitely was a bath worth taking. :)

I do hope the boys have fond memories of painting, getting dirty, and just having fun.

Francois goes home

After 7 long months Francois has gone back to his village of Zamblala. Since Alan was here we decided to all go along and take him back home.

Before we left, Francois rode one last time on Dawson's bike.

His grandfather learned to play corn hole. :)

The bridge we had to cross. It felt like we were driving on water as we passed in the car because all you could see on both sides was water but in dry season there is no water. amazing.

Francois ran to see his grandmother when we first arrived.

We went to the church service where they introduced us and talked about Francois and his healing.

This was the second church of Zamblala as they had grown out of the first and then this one as well.

On the way to Zamblala we asked the grandfather why there were so many Christians in this town as it is not the predominant religion in Mali. He told us that the town used to be quite large. They were animists. Francois' grandfather's father was actually the priest of the main, most powerful fetish god in the town. One day the spirit came out of the fetish and entered a man, as was the common way for the god to speak. The spirit itself said that a man was coming who was going to bring news of another spirit that was more powerful than him. Soon after a man came bringing news of Jesus and His power. How neat that the evil spirit itself spoke of the one more powerful than him! Makes me think of James 2:19, "You believe that there is one God. Good. Even the demons believe that - and shudder."

Me with Francois' mom and siblings

We had a wonderful time in the village aside from Silas having diarrhea. A two year old with diarrhea in a village using a nyege (just a hole potty) is not fun. But we made it. :) Even though the boys played a lot of DS games or watched the iPod, I am still thankful that they came along and at least get more used to visiting others.

My first grader

It is unreal to me that Dawson is old enough to be a 1st grader. He has really grown up and is more like a boy instead of a little kid. He is inquisitive and always thinking. I am so proud of him.

Here he is heading out to school.

He wanted to do a walking picture...

In the newly painted classroom with his main teacher this year, Ms. Anna.

With Ms. Anna and Ms. Kelly who does the teaching for the older students.

At his desk. Yes, that is a computer. We had to buy him a small computer since all his schooling is a computer program. It stays at school, though.

Their mascot that was found in a village a few weeks ago.

The whole school.

Saying goodbye before his first day.

Here's to a wonderful year of lots of learning!

More reasons I love Mali

After I wrote the post the other day of three reasons I love Mali, I kept seeing more things that I loved about being here. So here are a few more...

Pure joy with just being thrown in the air. This is Kadia with Alan, the peds oncologist who has been giving us all the protocols and information on how to treat the cancer kids. I just love this little girl. She has spunk. I love her. Today I had to take Kadia, her mom and Amos to someone who was heading to Bamako who was going to drop them at home on the way. I had to leave the house at 5:45 AM to do so. When I picked her up to put her in the car, she wrapped her arms around me so tight and wouldn't let go. I drove across town with her in my lap and her arms around my neck. It was wonderful. Special moments.

Amos, in the center, just makes me smile. He is so fun. Loves having his picture taken. A camera can always provide lots of entertainment.

Suturing baby Elmo during rounds one morning. Yes, these are the important moments in life.

All four of these kids (and the two men behind them) make me smile. Thankful for Alan and his willingness to help us with these kids despite his full time job and his 4 kids at home. Thankful for my best friend who walks through life with me and helps correct all my mistakes. And for the four kids- I've learned a lot because of them. Not only about cancer treatment, but about myself and finding peace with being weak and unwise so that God's glory may be displayed more fully.

Djara, one of the type 1 diabetics, went home yesterday. They were teaching Kristen how to carry things on her head.

Jeremie agreed to take Djara in out of the kindness of his heart. He will have many crowns in heaven. You can't get much better than him. This is Djara with Jeremie's two older kids and his mother.

It was an event to take Djara home. Kadia, Amos, Balla, and Francois all jumped in the car for the ride and the adventure of a car ride. I love not only that they want to come along but that we can just take them away from the hospital. No checking out. No asking parents. We just take them and go. (Maybe that's not always a good thing if the wrong person is taking them, but I do enjoy it!)

Thankful tonight for the opportunity to live here and be a part of the kids' lives.

A post for the animals

Sometime at the end of July or beginning of August was Caroline's birthday. Feeling a great urge one day for cupcakes, I told the boys it was her birthday. Though for some reason the cupcakes never got made, the boys wanted to make pictures for her and put them "in the place where she is the most." Don't know that that place was ever chosen as the pictures stayed on the kitchen table. They did show these to her and gave her some love. I'm sure she appreciated it. :)

Kenan's drawing. Really his version of what he saw Dawson draw.

All the lines around the limbs are the sign of fast movement. So this is Dawson running with Caroline.

And to not forget the annoying- I mean sweet- cat... here he is sleeping peacefully with Kenan's doggies. To bad he can't be this calm around Caroline. She still tries to eat Purr every time he comes near her.