Sunday, 20 February 2011

in their words...

Kenan: calls mosquitoes "bo-squitoes"
vanilla "ba-nilla" (as does dawson actually)

One day riding in the car: : What planet does Grandma live on?

I then tried to explain we lived on the same planet, but different countries. Apparently he still doesn't get it because the other day he said, "We live in one world. Grandma lives in another world."

He poked Brett in the eye by accident and Brett told him he wasn't hurt. K said, "good thing you don't have to go to the doctor...cause you IS a doctor!"

We have a lot of burn patients currently at the hospital so I am often telling the boys to stay away from the stove because they could be burned. Dawson still remembers one of the burn girls that is still getting dressing changes after a year and two months. They would play with her at the hospital. Anyway, so they know not to touch hot things. So now if they are around anything hot Kenan pipes up, "don't touch that or you'll get hurt and have to stay in the hospital for a really LONG time!"

I was trying to teach the boys a new verse today, Proverbs 15:1 "A soft answer turns away wrath." I explained that a soft answer meant kind and gentle words and that wrath meant anger. We discussed this several times. However, they didn't get it. Tonight as they were going to bed they quoted it like this...

Kenan "a soft answer turns away a rat"

Dawson "a soft turns away nice"




Tuesday, 1 February 2011

A day to rejoice

The last time I posted about our cancer patients, it was quite sad. We had lost two kids in one week. Now we have three cancer patients. Kadi, who has been around for several months and had a Burkitt's lymphoma. We also have two ALL leukemia patients, Alou and Kadia, who came in only 3 days apart. Today is a happy day because Kadi has finished her treatment. Kadi is all done! No more pokes! No more lumbar punctures! No more screams (at least directed toward us). I couldn't help but think how neat it was to be a part of her treatment and to be able to say, "this is your last! I mean really, your last treatment!" I just felt like dancing.

I found it interesting as well that as Kadi has spent the last few months battling her Burkitt's lymphoma, I've been battling my fears and feelings of inadequacy. But here we were at the end of the journey, having accomplished something together. I started doing chemotherapy treatments with another American nurse, Jake. Really, at first, I was just present and he did it all. Then I had to try to place their IVs (yes, I am a nurse, but hadn't placed IVs in years). Then, the dreaded lumbar punctures...he and Brett made me do it. Those things weirded me out. I was not looking forward to doing these. But I did. And I now I do them without a problem. For Alou and Kadia, we had to do bone marrow aspirations. I watched Brett do their first ones and last week I did both of theirs for the end of the induction period. I am amazed at what I've learned in a short time. I'm doing things I never thought I would. And though I'm not surprised, the Lord has once again placed me in a role that scares me to death. Someone told me the other day that they didn't think I was a fearful person because I didn't act like it. Brett will be the first to attest, and did at the time, that I am in fact an incredibly fearful person (as anyone who reads this blog knows) but I try to fight it. Faith isn't doing living without fear, it is doing what you believe you are called to do despite the fear.The Lord has worked wonders in my fears and teaching me to not worry about things I cannot change or what may happen. But I am full of fears. Working with HIV patients and children with cancer only spur on my fears. It's something I have to pray through every single day. I have to choose to not let my mind dwell on the what ifs. I'm thankful to have been placed out of my comfort zone and be forced to rely on the Lord. Working in these areas has also pushed me in the medical realm. I am doing much more than I ever planned to or thought possible. But there I was, the one who two months ago wasn't even pulling up meds without Jake or Brett around for fear I would do something wrong, putting in Kadi's last IV, giving her her last chemo meds all by myself. The Lord surely does use the weak things and I'm thankful.

I'm often amazed at how these families deal with the cancer. They act like it's not really a big deal. I've often wondered why and discussed it with other nurses. Jake made a good point the other day. In the States, we fear cancer. Cancer kills. Many other illnesses we have learned to treat and prevent but very often, cancer kills. And it kills our kids. It is something to be feared. Here, though, it's different. One in four kids are dying regularly in Mali. Malaria kills in Mali. Diarrhea kills. Pneumonia kills. The families here fear malaria. When a kid gets vomiting and diarrhea, they are scared to death. The first time Kenan got diarrhea here our nanny started bawling thinking that one she would lose her job over it and two that he might not make it. We just laughed. It's just vomiting and diarrhea. Nothing too serious. But that is what kills here. Cancer, however, is rarely known. Even if it takes a life, it takes far less than malaria. It's just not as big of a deal. It's just interesting. We hurt for these families, we shower the kids with treats and toys and whatever because we feel they are suffering so much. In our culture, cancer changes your life forever. It changes your family. Our friends are walking through cancer in their little 4 year old. It has turned their life upside down. And rightfully so. To me, that's how these families should be, but in general, they aren't. Not saying either way is right or wrong (though of course, I understand my culture and our response more) but just saying it is an interesting observation.

But this blog post was really supposed to be about the celebration of Kadi being done with treatment....so back to that. Yeah Kadi! Here are some pictures of her along with Alou and Kadia. Just in the last week or so both Alou and Kadia started losing their hair (Kadi already had since she is further along). Not that they care so much about losing the hair, but I wanted to get them something. So I bought Alou a hat and the girls cloth to use as a head wrap. I must say that they are stinkin' cute...and I guess I will admit that's why I bought them things in the first place...because I knew they'd be cute and I wanted to see them wearing it. So it was in part a selfish act to see these kiddos in hats and wraps. Enough talking, here are the pictures...


I love this picture because this is how they look most of the time. Kadia frowning and Alou looking on happily. They've been sharing a room since they started chemo over a month ago. And by "they" I mean these two, their mothers and their little siblings. It's kind of neat that they came in together so they get to go through all of this together.



Sweet Alou

I asked her to look at me. This is what she did. typical.

at least she smiled at me afterwards.

Kadi, who finished her chemo, and Kadia. You can see how Kadi's face is still a little distorted. It's from the changes the cancer made, not remaining cancer.

I told them to "yele" which means smile but also means open so they were opening their mouth. Not surprised esp for Kadi since we were always telling her to open her mouth so we could look at the tumor and then she how it was improving.

Believe it or not, both Kadia and Alou are 4! We never believed Alou's age until we saw the birth certificate. Major growth stunting.

The siblings. Standing up is Mariam, the sister of Kadi. The one sitting who is in the front is Amosi, Kadia's brother and the one in the back is Rokia, Alou's sister.

The pretty girls

And another of Kadia. I love this picture. One, because her wrap is as tall as her head. Two, because she is smiling. This girl is something. It's hard enough to get Malian kids to like the white people, even more so when I'm always inflicting pain. So basically, she hates me. I try all the time, but she wants nothing to do with me. Really, I don't blame her but it sure makes me try harder to get her to like me. So this morning when she waved at me as I was driving up, I felt like something huge had happened. I was so happy. She actually acknowledged me and decided to be nice! I was so happy. When I went to get a picture, she actually smiled! And she shook my hand! I was in heaven. Now it didn't last long, but hey, we had a little moment for which I'll always be grateful. And if I have to buy her a new head wrap each week to get another smile and hand shake, I'll do it. It's worth it.



Monday, 31 January 2011

Sara Donaldson Photography

We had the pleasure of a professional photographer being on a visiting team. One day at church she took some pictures of the boys. We had forgotten cars that we always take to church for the boys to play with since there is no Sunday school or anything. We saw these cars made out of trash on the side of the road on the way there and decided to pick them up. It ended up making for a great photo shoot! :)

















I realize these are all the same but instead of trying to figure out which is best, I just decided to post them all.



















Thank you Sara for taking pictures! you can check out her website saradonaldson.com

Sunday, 30 January 2011

The updated tree house!

We had a Togolese guy finish up the tree house and put up walls so all the boys could play there. He just finished Thursday and they have played in it a ton. We've played duck,duck, goose several times. They've played Memory and Trouble up there. They've taken their snacks up there. They love it!


Dawson and Brett were playing Trouble the first night the man cave was finished. They've also already added a bucket and string so all the items can be lifted up there. More fun times lie ahead!

Saturday, 29 January 2011

Things that make me smile.

The boys are always saying the funniest thing or doing something that just makes me laugh. So in the midst of the chaos that often exists in our house, I want to take a moment and remember the times that just make me smile.

Silas: he’s into saying “Humongasaur!” (from Ben 10) and proceeds to fight some evil. He’s also really big into turns. he is always saying “my turn!”

He loves taking his medicine. Begs for it. If you leave some on the table, he’ll eat it. He always runs up expectantly in the morning, “med-cine?” Whether it’s a vitamin or a bitter malaria pill or antibiotics- he loves them all.

He’s now in a big boy bed. The transition was basically flawless. He just comes out in the morning without waking his brothers. He walks up to us with arms wide open and a huge smile and gives the best hug, with a little pat on the back. It makes my morning. I love it.

Kenan:

This boy has become a talker. He lives in his own world and moves to his own beat. Even at school they say he just does his own thing. Not in a bad way, but just in a he thinks life should move about the speed of a turtle kind of way. He talks to everyone. He’s a sweetie.

Kenan has really started eating a lot. Even though he is smaller in build, his belly is quite round. The other day after eating two quesadillas and a glass of carnation instant breakfast (with whole milk), he sat up and said, “my belly’s full…I think I can roll on it.” He proceeds to lay down and roll back and forth on his basketball belly. Quite funny.

The great conversations in the car to school have continued this year and now Kenan joins in. The other day he said, “I know why God made finger nais. He made finger nails for opening presents”.

Tuesdays the school has PE. They have to wear blue and have tennis shoes. Most kids in his class don’t have tennis shoes, but just wear sandals. This isn’t out of the ordinary, even grown men play soccer in essentially a shoe that’s like jellies. So as he was headed to school with his shoes on he said, “Black girls and black boys don’t have tennis shoes. I think they have ‘em …they just can’t find them….they just can’t find them.”

Dawson went through a stage where he was saying things like black kids are dirty or various things like that. I would always tell him that wasn’t nice and wasn’t acceptable to say. He has done much better and I haven’t heard him say things in a long time. So the other day they were talking about whether “this country” had STOP signs. Dawson said that we did. Kenan thought that they were only at “grandma’s house” which is how they refer to America. Then Kenan said, “STOP signs at grandma’s house are clean but STOP signs here are dirty.” Dawson quickly chimed in and said, “Kenan, don’t say that, that’s not nice.” At least he is learning! J


Dawson:

We’ve started a new rule in order to help the boys have motivation to learn French. If they can tell me four new words from school that day then they can have ice cream from this little stand on the way home (it’s not great ice cream, but they love it). So they were trying to say their words yesterday. Dawson came up with “Adam et Eve” even though he said they were the same but just different. They came up with numbers zero through 6. Not realizing, this was technically more than 4 words, I asked them what washing their hands was because I knew they knew this. Dawson says, “oh yeah, laver les mains…because she says “Laver les mains. Va à la classe. Poser le tete sur la table.” (wash your hands, go to the classroom, put your head on the table). I was shocked. He really is learning French and doesn’t even realize it.

The other night we were talking about how the Bible is God’s word. I said that God told men what to write and they wrote it down. He looks at me and says, “did He draw the pictures, too?”

Friday, 28 January 2011

Their artwork

Now that Dawson is in school, he brings home a lot of artwork. I'm keeping it all for the moment but I'm sure as the boys get older and are all bringing things home it will be too much, so I thought I'd take some pictures of their work and keep it here...

Silas, 2 years 4 months:

"Wowo" He started out making Batman like Kenan (see below) but as he drew it turned into a wowo, a dog. He still looks at it and points out the dog. I guess he can see it. :)


Kenan, age 4
"Batman"

He says, " you know what's in his hand? A batarang. and those on the top are those things on his head (the batman ears)...and those are his feet... he has two eyes and you know why his mouth is like that?" with a furrowed brow, "it's because he's mad!"

Dawson, 5 years 10 months

"Night and Day" He says, "This is night and day..."


"And this is what you do in the night and in the day...at night, you sleep. at the daytime, you play"

Dawson

"Mommy and Daddy"



Thursday, 27 January 2011

more pictures...

I found more pictures from Anne's visit.

There was a picture of the pediatric dinner. From left to right: Jake, Lazar, Eclé, Brett, Héré, Esai with his baby Olivi (named for a former midwife here, Olive), Kanufen, and Joseph.


Some from the school. Anne spent the day with them at L'ecole Samuel.

playing in the sand to do something for class...

Kenan with friends

The "cafeteria"

Dawson buying da juice from the juice lady.