Christmas Day 2011

I have to say that this Christmas was one of my favorites. I felt like in some ways we got to participate in the story of Christmas as we traveled to a village outside of Koutiala.

On the way we saw the wise men, though Dawson said it wasn't them since there were four, not three. Regardless, it was pretty cool to see these camels walking down the road.

Just so you can see how tall they are- here's the view from inside the car.

Inside the church building

Dawson started taking pictures so the next few are his. For some reason the kids started making this motion.

This is the church.

I like the artistic look to this one. Don't think D was trying to do this, but regardless, it's cool.

The only time the kids left us alone was when the camels passed by the church.

Our car was used to get people to and from the baptism after church. It was packed inside and out.

Best shot of a family picture.

Dawson wanted to take the whole family picture so here we are minus D.

21 people were baptized. How neat to have it done on Christmas. What a great way to celebrate!

Lily pads in the water. D had actually talked about wanting to be baptized. When we got to the "pond" D was less excited about it. He asked, "do you have to be baptized in that kind of water?" I told him no. He said, "maybe I'll just wait and do it at the pool one day." :)

This is the chief's son of the second village we went to that day. His son had swallowed a caustic substance that burned his esophagus which then scarred. He couldn't even swallow his own saliva when he came to our hospital. We were able to dilate his esophagus and now he is doing really well.

In Soun, we found this baby sheep that had no fear of people. It walked up to me as I was sitting talking with a family we treat at the hospital (not the chief's family) and I was easily able to pick it up. Dawson wanted to hold him. So here is our shepherd!

D with one of the kids we treat at the hospital.

One of the neatest things of the day was seeing Dawson in the village. He did so well. Since we were visiting several people, our car was at one house and we often were in another place. He would run back and forth as needed. He seemed genuinely happy. I was proud of how well they all did. I want them to be happy and comfortable with life here so it is encouraging to see them feel at ease. Another proud moment for me was hearing Dawson run out of the church full of excitement to tell Kenan that they had yellow rice for our lunch (which we ate at 4pm). Kenan wasn't overwhelmingly excited about the rice because he had just fallen out of the car and landed mouth first into the dirt. oops. Once his mouth was clean, though, he enjoyed his "favorite snack" as he said of the rice. (The rice is a special Malian meal served for weddings, holidays and other special occasions).

After our visits we went to pick up grain for our neighbor who has fields in the village where we were. They loaded three 100 kilo bags onto our car. Brett said they should add more, thankfully they didn't because as we drove away and hit our first bump, the roof rack broke. Apparently our car can support 660 lbs extra but the roof rack can't. Thankfully we made it to the church again before it damaged a lot of the roof. We moved them to the back of the car and finally headed for home.

It really was a fun day. The kids did really well and it was fun visiting patients in their homes. My parents being there really made a difference as well so that it was four adults on three kids. More hands always make life easier, as long as though hands are adults hands and not more kids. :)

Christmas Eve

Since we spend a lot of Christmas day at church or visiting others, we usually celebrate our family Christmas the day before. We had a wonderful day with family and friends (the Gilillands joined us for the morning). We enjoyed an awesome breakfast- eggs, grits, biscuits and BACON (a special, special treat thanks to precooked bacon bought by Margy and Chip). John brought his espresso machine so we also had cappuccinos for breakfast. The boys loved all their toys and spent all day playing. This allowed the adults to play some games as well. It was a nice, restful day. So much fun to spend it with family.

As I watched the kids open their presents I kept thinking about how fun it was just to watch them. I needed nothing but just enjoyed seeing their joy. It reminded me of how the Lord delights in us and wants to give good gifts to His children.

Working with Grandpa to put together one of the lego sets that they got.

Kenan showing off his Green Lantern game that he had been asking for.

Caroline enjoyed Christmas as well, at least when the house was quiet again.

Thanks to New Hope Alliance Church in Angier, NC for the rocket set; First Alliance, Raleigh for the Wii game; and Friendship Alliance Church in Moultrie, GA for the Wii controller!

Christmas Eve's Eve fireworks

We got sparklers and other fireworks at the white elephant party so we decided to use them the night before our Christmas (which was really on Christmas Eve).

The boys enjoyed themselves (as did the adults).

Brett liked the bottle poppers.

The boys didn't.

But they provided a cool picture. :)

Our closest attempt at getting a heart made. We didn't know how to change the shutter speed.

Even though fireworks for Christmas is out of the ordinary, it was quite fun and I kind of hope we do it again next year.

A lesson from Advent

Since I am behind on my posting, I can now post our finished Jesse tree Advent pictures while also recounting one day in particular.

Our finished product. Maybe not the prettiest looking thing but I enjoyed seeing the boys' pictures each day. There are mostly two of each story as both Dawson and Kenan drew something each day.

Up close of the first few days. 1-Creation 2-Adam and Eve 3-Noah 4-Tower of Babel 5-Promise to Abraham 6-Sodom and Gomorrah (will not include this next year) 7-Abraham and Isaac

8-Jacob's ladder 9-Joseph 10- Moses and the burning bush 11-Passover 12-Ten Commandments 13- David 14- Elijah and prophets of Baal 15-Isaiah 16- Wise and Just King 17-Exile 18-Jonah 19- Waiting on the Lord 20-Son of Righteousness 21-Baptism 22-Mary and the angel 23- Joseph

24- Journey to Bethlehem 25- Birth of Jesus!

so my lesson came from the day on David. That week I had been told through a long conversation with Malian nurses as I was sitting in the Labor and Delivery room with my friend, Sabi, who was about to give birth to my "netoma" (the baby's name is Sheri), that Brett could REALLY speak Bambara and they asked if I had studied Bambara. Ouch. Now I get this often because the truth is Brett has the gift of languages. I don't. This is something I have had to come to terms with. God made my mouth. He knew I'd be overseas. If he had wanted me to speak well, He could have given me that gift but He didn't. So I trust in His wisdom and (most of the time) rest in the truth that His glory is made perfect in weakness. For some reason, however, this conversation really bothered me. Maybe it was because I was having a moment with my friend and they were ruining it by telling me how poorly I spoke. Or maybe it was because instead of being just a passing statement they made it a conversation with examples and questions as to why I couldn't speak like Brett. Or that I was going to Sikasso that week for an HIV conference which always make me feel insecure and over my head. Or maybe it was also that I knew the next week I was having to give the morning devotion at the hospital which I would be doing in Bambara. Regardless the reason, the statements got me down. As I drove to Sikasso later that week I was praying through all this and discussing my discouragement. I stopped at the toll to pay and waited for the guy who was talking to the truck in front of me. I realized I knew him as he was the husband of one of the ladies I follow. He came to greet me and told me that he would be bringing his newborn for his vaccinations the next day and wanted to make sure I'd be there. I didn't pay the toll any of the four times I passed through that week because the guys knew I was friends with the boss there. I'm not saying I advocate not paying but this whole situation encouraged me. So I may not be able to speak like Brett or others here. I may be most of the time over my head in HIV treatment and cancer treatment. I can still love on people and show them that I value them and care for them. That can speak more than any words could. So 30 minutes outside of Koutiala I was encouraged by simply knowing the guy at the toll. It truly changed my whole attitude.

How does this relate Advent you may ask? Well, that night was the story of David. He was chosen not because he was the first son or second or third but because he was the last. 1 Samuel 16:17 "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart." As I recapped the story with Dawson I asked him why God had chosen David to be king. "Because he fought Goliath," he said. I told him no, that the Lord had chosen David before he had done anything, whether good or bad. He chose him because of the heart He knew he had, not because he would be able to defeat Goliath. God didn't send me to Africa because I could speak well and I understood medicine well. Nope, not at all. He sent me simply because I was willing and because I was a weak vessel through which His glory could shine.

From "Jesus Calling" December 17th-

Come to me with your gaping emptiness, knowing that in Me you are complete. As you rest quietly in My Presence, My Light withing you grows brighter and brighter. Facing the emptiness inside you is simply the prelude to being filled withe My fullness. Therefore, rejoice on those days when you drag yourself out of bed, feeling sluggish and inadequate. Tell yourself that this is a perfect day to depend on Me in childlike trust. If you persevere in this dependence as you go through the day, you will discover at bedtime that Joy and Peace have become your companions. You may not realize at what point they joined you on your journey, but you will feel the beneficial effects of their presence. The perfect end to such a day is a doxology of gratitude. I am He from whom all blessings flow!

Christmas Cantata

I'm a bit behind in blogging so here's hoping that today I can catch up.

The Christmas celebrations began last week with the long awaited arrival of my parents (YEAH!!) and our team Christmas party which included the kids' cantata. The kids worked on it at school with Ms. Anna and Silas and Kenan were able to join in as wise men for the actual play. I know I am partial but I haven't seen wise men any cuter than the three I saw that day. They were adorable.

Here they are being funny which they like to do more often than not for pictures these days.
Dawson had several lines in the play and he did a great job. After his meltdown at his end of the year play at the french school last year I was a bit nervous that he would fall apart for the performance. He didn't and remembered each line while also keeping watch over his brothers. Here he was as the clapper boy, telling the crowd when to clap or groan.

The three wise men.

The silly wise men.

More silliness...

Coming to worship baby Jesus. (The pictures were taken during the dress rehearsal so I could walk around and take any angle I wanted which is why there is no audience.)

He directed his brothers throughout the play.

Showing Kenan baby Jesus.

The curtain call at the end of the real performance.

We had a wonderful night after the play. The kids did secret Santa and each received a gift and the adults did white elephant gifts.

The next day we also enjoyed our hospital Christmas party that I unfortunately got no pictures of. This year we had more of a carnival type game system that worked really well to help with crowd control. A fun day was had by all, even my parents who had hit the ground running by attending one party after another as they also tried to get over jet lag.