I had a farm in Africa

Ok, so I don't HAVE a farm but we did visit a farm in Africa for the last two weeks in beautiful Kenya. Man oh man. Rolling green hills, blue skies, perfect temperature, flowers, wild animals running free in contained areas. It's lovely. If only we could get a job there. :)

When I picture heaven, I picture the front yard of the tea farm. It is simply one of the most beautiful places on all the earth.

We walked these hills each day as we went back and forth to our medical conference. This kind of beauty mixed with the perfect temperatures make me well up with joy. I can't help but think all is well with the world.

Only a bit different than what it looks like in Mali right now.

There were tons of beautiful flowers to look at and enjoy.

Almost everyday Fiona, the owner of the tea farm, had a tea tour for people with a 3 course meal on the lawn.

The kids, however, ditched the tea and instead enjoyed the beauty of the various creatures that were around. Bush babies, monkeys (only seen twice but we looked for them daily), cows, dogs, ducks, and chameleons.
We had this guy for a day. Unfortunately, thinking I was being a pretty snazzy mom, I tied a rope to the chameleon so we could keep him but he could also sit in the bushes and catch bugs. Didn't work. He was gone within a few minutes. Thankfully the boys didn't hold it against me. We enjoyed him while we had him. (and yes we were considering trying to bring him back to Mali. African airlines are pretty lax.)

I am already looking forward to returning even though that is two years (or more) away.

Next up will be the safari pictures...

My first netoma

I am happy to present my first netoma ("my name") in Mali! There is now another Sheri! People often name children after someone who means a lot to them or has helped them in some way. There are many Daniels walking around because of the OB here named Dan. Our house guy has a little boy named Brett. Most anyone who has been here for awhile has a child named after them. I never have. I know this sounds silly to even be talking about but such is reality. I've joked with many patients that their baby would be named Sheri and it has never worked. :) My friend Sabi came to deliver here at the hospital. I joked with her as well about naming the baby Sheri since we knew it was a girl. I really didn't think much of it because though they like to name a child after someone, it is usually the grandparents or the father who chose the name so I didn't think it would happen. But it did. And as silly as it is, I'm happy. :)

An up close shot of little Sheri. I feel slightly embarrassed to say this but also can't resist that the headband she is wearing on her head actually was a decorative piece that came on a Christmas present that someone sent us. So it's supposed to be on a box, but I thought it just looked so cute on her! This is the same day I pierced her ears. I've done adults before but piercing a baby's ear was a first for me. She didn't even cry!

She is a precious little baby. She smiles almost every time her eyes actually focus on my face. I know she smiles at others but I think it is special. She's my little girl!

My parents' visit

We thoroughly enjoyed my parents' visit though it came and went too quickly. I posted a long time ago pictures of the Christmas play the boys were in. My parents had just come in so they got to enjoy that. We kept them going while they were here. They got to meet several of the ladies I treat so that was fun. They also got to meet a lot of the cancer kids and diabetics that I talk about so often. Now they can really put a face to a name.

They enjoyed going to Kenan's school. Here they are drinking juice with him. This is his favorite thing about school, I believe. If only he could learn to actually drink it instead of pouring it on himself.

My friend, Sabi, had a baby just days before my parents came. We have pictures of my mom with Wassa, one of Sabi's twins (the other died) a few years ago and now here she is with the new baby.
We went to Baramba where Elizabethi, a diabetic that we treat at the hospital, goes to school. She became a Christian while at the hospital but didn't really like the "big" city of Koutiala so we sent her to an all girls' school where she will learn to read and write as well as study the Bible. The boys draw a crowd wherever they go. All the kids are watching them draw in the dirt and my mom is keeping them back with a stick (JUST KIDDING- but it does look like that).

Kenan being Kenan as he plays with the kids in Baramba.

We pulled out this 10-in-1 game table that we had bought from missionaries several years ago. There is pool, foosball, checkers, backgammon (which I believe they are playing here, or at least D is learning how to play) and various other games.

My mom brought real face paint so of course the boys enjoyed putting it on.

D was the artist for everyone.

He even did himself.

At the end of their trip we enjoyed a day in Bamako. This is at the national park. I got them to smile by telling them we would only get ice cream if they did. :) We enjoyed several visits to the new (wonderful!) ice cream store.

It was sad to see my parents go but glad that it will only be for a few months and we will see them again in March!

Kenan's 5th birthday

In our house we sing, "We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy birthday to Kenan!" I personally love that his birthday is January 1. The world celebrates with him. :)

It is hard for me to believe that Kenan is 5-a whole hand! In many ways it feels like just yesterday I was in the hospital in France giving birth.

Kenan is a joy. There's no other way to put it. He is so sweet. He loves everyone. He shares so well- not just with his brothers- but I've learned from his teachers that he shares his snack everyday. The other day he wouldn't leave school as he had some fruit loops and he went around handing them out to parents and kids who were leaving. Totally unprompted he loves giving to others. He is a hugger and kisser. He loves his family. He loves his animals. Whenever we leave he always talks about how he misses Caroline and Purr. He is a special kid. He marches to the beat of his {very slow} drum. He loves to tell jokes. He'll talk to whomever, even if they aren't listening or can't understand English.

His favorite things are macaroni and cheese, empanadas, strawberry smoothies, his brothers, his doggies, legos, and Wii, not necessarily in that order.

We had his Diego party on New Years Eve as his birthday was a Sunday this year. Games were provided by my mom. (Thank you!) Among the games were pin Click on Diego...

Rescuing animals with those sticky hands...

Bean bag toss where you had to land on the animals and not in the hole.

I love watching Kenan open gifts. It is just so him. He looks at each thing and is so happy about it. He opens things slowly and enjoys each item. This was his response to the card Dawson made for him. He loves his brother.

I love how opening gifts is a communal thing at this age. Everyone "helps"out.

Getting ready to blow out his 5 candles.

He blew a lot since they were trick candles. We probably have 10 shots of him blowing and blowing.

His special cupcake with strawberries in it.

He enjoyed it. There was strawberry ice cream to go with the cake.

His brothers liked it too.

This is just a picture of his drawing skills. I was impressed that he did this all on his own. (Obviously he didn't write the Baby Jesus part but he drew the rest alone). He loves artistic things. He loves coloring and painting and singing.
Quotes from Kenan in the recent past:

-See me dancing? That's what I do when I'm excited.

-As he was putting on his shoes to play in the mud, he sees Caroline pick Purr by the neck (a regular occurrence). He jumps up and says, "I don't care about shoes! I care about Purr!"

We love you, Kenan! So thankful that the Lord gave you to us! You are a blessing, truly one of a kind!

Wanna eat?

This is what Brett found at the END of his bowl of cereal this morning. Those six big, dark "grains" aren't grains at all but bugs. When we went to look at the box of cereal there were tons crawling around. So I guess these lost their life in the milk. It's better to eat fresh bugs, right?

There is a saying that the first year you are overseas when you see bugs in your drink or food that you throw out the whole thing. Then eventually you take the bugs out of drink but keep drinking. The last stage is that you see you the bugs but go ahead and eat them. I am definitely at stage two. Does Brett get to say he is at stage 3 since he ate his whole breakfast - for sure bugs included- but he just didn't know about it?

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!