Cooking for Malians, Chicken-n-dumplings, and a baby shower

Praise the Lord for another great week!! We were busy as usual with language learning. We are very thankful that God is allowing us to hear and understand a little more each day!!

Wednesday, we had our night guard, his wife, and two children over for supper. Just a note: Everyone here has a night guard, including some of the locals. They come and sit in your courtyard between 6:30p.m.-6:30 a.m. I cooked hamburger steak and mashed potatoes. Pretty much all Malians eat with their hands. Well, I had laid forks out for them. Our night guard and his wife picked them up and used them without any problems. Well, their daughter, who is 5, went to use her hand and her mom stopped her. She told her to use the spoon I had laid out for her. She looked at it and then looked at her mom with this look that said, "What in the world am I supposed to do with that!!" I quickly reassured her it was okay to use her hand, which she did without any problems!! It was nice to be able to have some locals in our home and be able to somewhat have a conversation with them! Praise the Lord!

Friday, our house helper cooked us chicken-n-dumplings. It was like we were back home at our grandparent's house eating some good ol' southern cooking!! We Praise God for these simple things that bring us so much joy!! Another note: Another thing everyone here has is a house helper. Even some of the locals have one. It is impossible to get everything done here without someone to help you out. The dust is so bad here that you literally have to sweep and mop EVERYDAY!!! We Praise God for our house helper, Mariam. She's not only a HUGE help around the house but also with learning Bambara!! Our prayer is that we will be able to share God's love and truth with her.

Saturday, the ladies on our team threw us a baby shower! We had a great time, ate good food, and played some fun games!! We are very thankful that God has blessed us with a new family away from our family back home.

Shirley tying string around my belly to see if she guessed the right length it would take. She was the winner!!

 

Susan and I with the delicious cake she made!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Opening presents. Butterbean will love this ride on toy when he/she's older!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Praise this week:

1. Language continues to get easier each day!
2. We were able to get out and have small conversations with people.
3. Being able to have Malians in our home for supper.
4. A family away from family.

Prayer Requests:

Of course, language.

This Friday, I will leave to go to Dakar, Senegal to get ready for Butterbean's arrival. Due to airline restrictions I have to leave before I hit 36 weeks (which is this coming Monday). Arnett will not be joining me until about 5-7 days before Butterbean is due. So, we have several prayer requests:

1. Safe travels and smooth navigating through the airports I will be in.
2. That we will both have a peace about being separated for a few weeks.
3. That the timing of Arnett's arrival would work out with the timing of Butterbean's arrival. He only gets 1 month of paternity leave and I will be in Dakar for approximately 9-10 weeks. I want him to be there for the delivery (he wants to be there too) but don't want him getting there too early and wasting his paternity leave. So, we ask that you pray that it would all just fall into place.

Thank you so much for your prayers! Until next time...