We may just become a "bush family" after all!!

Before Zeke was born, Arnett and I visited "M-village". Arnett's been back since we got back from Dakar but I haven't made it out there, and not for lack of trying! We've been trying for weeks now to go out there but every week something came up to prevent us from going. Well, we finally made the two hour trip yesterday. We currently have a couple that are in from the states doing some work out in "M-village", so last night they had bought 75 kilos (yes, that's 165 pounds) of rice and invited everyone in the village and surrounding villages to come eat. Well, the villagers then invited some guys to come who play drums so it turned into a HUGE party!! I wish I had pics of the party but it was dark. The party didn't start until 10:30 pm (possibly later!) and went until after 2:00 am!! It was great fun!! They played the drums, the villagers danced - they even got Arnett to dance with them (so, wish I had a picture of that cause it was hilarious!!), and then the villagers put on these skits with costumes and props. It was quite an event!!

Zeke did amazing out there!! He let everyone hold him and didn't mind being passed around like a football. The villagers were so excited to see us again! The women put me to work helping with the cooking and cleaning. This morning after breakfast, we sat around and chatted and then "asked for the road". Anytime you leave a place you have to ask for permission first. The women of the village were not going to let me leave. They told me I had to stay and help them cook, pound millet, and clean. I did get a chance to pound a little bit of millet, which they got a huge kick out of!! I finally told them that I would come back next week and help them do a lot of work. Only after that, did they agree to let us leave!!

For those of you know me really well, know that I am in no shape or form a "bush girl". However, God is changing my heart little by little. PRAISE HIM for this!! I am actually excited about going out again next week. I'm even planning on spending not one, but two nights out there next week!! And I even told Arnett, that I think I'd be okay if we built a bush house!! I know, total shocker!! Another first, spending time out there with those ladies gave me such a desire to learn Bambara!! Thank you God for such an amazing trip!! Another plus...I'm surrounded by Bambara speakers and it's great language practice!!

So, here's what I know you've all been waiting for - assuming you didn't scroll down here first :~), the pictures...

Where Zeke & I slept! Not too bad!! Even though the sheep cried all night long!

Zeke and I hanging out in the village.

 

 

 

 

Zeke loved  this bucket. He kept lifting the handle up!! 

 

 

  The village chief loving on Zeke. A rare sight in African culture. It was too sweet.

Zeke hanging out with the village chief. He must have sat with him for     30 minutes. He's playing with an empty package of candy.

Me getting lessons on how to pound millet. The women loved the fact that I even tried it!! It was really hard work!!

So, the last time I visited "M-village" I met "Ava". She was also pregnant, which created an instant bond between us. Here's the pic of us from that first trip...

 

 

 

 

 

 

         And here we are now with our precious babies!! Her little girl is 6 months old. As you can see, Zeke is way bigger than she is. He was way bigger than all the kids in the village around his age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you all for your prayers!! God is listening and answering!! Please continue praying for language. Also, we'll be making another trip out to "M-village" this week. Ask the Father for safe travels and the ability to speak and hear Bambara. Until next time...

Testing our Faith...

WOW!! That's really all I can say about this past week!!

I know a lot of you have heard that last Saturday (9/26) Arnett came down with malaria. First, Praise God, he's over it!! Things were pretty scary there for a little while. His fever was up to 104.5ish. Malaria is a disease that is carried by mosquitos. We take an anti-malarial drug daily but 1) it's not a 100% guarantee that you won't get malaria and 2) Arnett occasionally forgets to take his!! Something, he swears he'll never do again! On top of getting malaria, he came down with some stomach thing. At first, we thought it was due to the malaria but after the malaria treatment ended the stomach issues were still there and getting worse. He had a round of lab work done. The blood work came back normal, no bacterial infection...Praise God! We're still waiting on the second round of lab work, they had to grow some stuff in it, so it takes a few days, and then a few days longer because we are in Africa!! We're hoping to have the results on Tuesday. We've been in contact with a doctor in the states that works for our company. He's thinking Arnett got an amoeba, which you get by drinking unclean water (we do have filtered water in our home, so not really sure how he got the amoeba, if that's really what it is). He went ahead and took some medicine to get rid of  the amoeba. Praise the Father, that it seems to have gotten rid of all the stomach issues!! So, hopefully, Tuesday's lab results will show an amoeba and we're ahead of the game. Arnett feels lots better, just really tired! He went about 3 nights in a row of not sleeping! It wore us both out. As, I was up off and on with him. And then taking care of a 4 month old by myself for almost a week! Needless to say, after the rough week I had the week before last and the fact that I was ready to get on the next plane outta here, this week sure didn't help! However, despite all the struggles we face we know several things:

1. God is in control!! Praise Him for that!
2. God has never and will never leave us!
3. We know all these trials are only being used to make us grow stronger in our walk with Him! Another PRAISE!!
4. Despite it all, God has called us to Africa and we rejoice in the fact that we are where He wants us!

So, here's our verse of the week (really for the rest of our lives!!) James 1:2-4

"²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Despite the rough week...our precious little boy turned 4 months old this past week!! He's getting so big, so fast!! I just wish I could slow down the hands of time!! He had his 4 month old check-up this week. He's up to 16 pounds!! Here's a few shots we took of him.

We can't say THANK YOU! enough for all your prayers concerning us!! God is listening!! Until next time...