Medical Practice on our Daughter

Jeff bought Katy's four month vaccinations when he was in Bamako recently. So we had them in our fridge for when she turned four months old.

The people at the clinic don't use alcohol swabs before they give injections. So we thought about doing it ourselves. But our pediatrician (several hours away) wrote us an e-mail encouraging us to do it as part of a pediatric check-up.

So on Katy's four month birthday I gave her her oral vaccine, tied her on my back, and took her and her shots to the clinic.

I brought my own alcohol and asked them to clean the site of the injection before giving her her shots, and I told them that they would need an extra syringe because one of the medicines didn't come with a syringe. I turned my back to get my camera, and when I turned back, I realized they had only given her two shots. Instead of getting a new syringe they mixed two medicines in one syringe and gave her one shot.

She seems to be fine, but we feel so helpless in those moments. It is very much outside of our culture to think that you know more about health than the medical professionals you trust.

A friend of ours has a call in to the CDC, and we should hear from her soon what we need to do.

These moments can be very hard. I had just shared with Jeff about how overwhelmed I am sometimes to be the one holding the responsibility to make sure our kids get all their shots at the right ages. No one is calling us to remind us to do it. Then we prayed together and put it in God's hands once again, and I went off to the clinic. Pray for me to handle these types of situations well, and for God to protect our children.

Nous avons tué un cochon aujourd'hui!!!

DISCLAIMER: An animal was killed in the making of this blog. Not for the faint of heart!

Parce que je parle en français toute la journée, j'ai pensé que je devrais écrire mon blog en français aussi.

Aujourd'hui, les enfants et Jeff sortit à la terrain de Jonas et tué un cochon.

Ils ont l'apporté à la maison dans le wagon de notre moto.

Ce projet était très intéressant pour nos enfants.

Nous avons bouillie l'eau dans la cuisine à l'échaudure le porc afin qu'ils puissent décoller les cheveux.

Drew a gardé les ongles comme les cadeaux pour nos chiens

Puis ils ont le suspendu dans notre manguier.
Puis ils lui coupé en deux et sorti son intestins.

Après cela, ils lui couper en morceaux pour moi.
Je les ai mis dans les sac pour congeler.

Apres tous ca, on a bien mange l' atcheke ensemble.

Goodbye Jeff

I kissed Jeff goodbye this morning as he left our house to go find his bus. He is going to Bamako to try and convince our company to release our container with our bikes from France. They really want us to come get it as the longer it sits in Bamako, the more we owe in holding fees. But they need proof of our wire transfer which is somehow caught up in France, so we have been stuck, unable to move forward or backward. So... he is going there to talk with them in person. Pray that they release it to him. And that he can find a good form of transportation to bring it down here to Kadiolo. Jeff will also be doing some shopping for us in Bamako. Things we cannot get here but are available up in Bamako...

Paint,

Cheese,

Toilet Paper,

Shampoo,

Soap,

Chocolate,

Nems,

Strawberry Jam,

Pickles,

Butter...

Oh my list is much longer, but you get the idea... hopefully he can manage this on his own. It takes one day to travel each way... and I imagine his Bamako errands will take him 4 days or so. So we are on our own for a week. So far so good. Except for the power outs. I don't know the system for getting the generator started and switched over to run the house power. So I am really hoping it just stays on! Pray for us this week!

Movie of our Journey to Mali

Jeff has tried to get a video done to show everyone how our journey to Mali has happened. He started this soon after our arrival in Mali. He met with so many obstacles. Then, when it was finally done, it would not upload... he tried for three days. Finally after it was uploaded, he worked on the email to send out letting people know about it. As it was ready to go, the power went out. It really felt like the enemy did not want this video to go out as an encouragement to believers around the world. The power came back on, and the first batch of emails sent, then the power went off again... finally we received power again and were able to send out the rest of the emails. I am putting the video up here also so more people can find it that may not receive our emails... Thanks for checking it out...

Diaper blow outs

Jethro modeling his cloth diapers!

Jeff changing a Zach diaper over a year ago.

Our daily diaper wash...

The diaper crisis has begun... We arrived in Mali with a weeks worth of disposable diapers and 14 cloth diapers that I used when Zach was a baby. Once we got settled in Kadiolo I started using the cloth diapers. We are working on potty training Zach, but we put a cloth diaper on him for naps and bedtime. About half the diapers have stretched out elastic in the legs. Between that and Zach and Jethro having diarrhea... I realize diapering is going to be a big challenge in Mali! We also finished our last package of wipes that came with us from France. You can find diapers and wipes in large cities in Mali, but they are expensive! So we are using washcloths for wipes and washing them along with our diapers! If I didn't feel like a pioneer woman before now, this will do it. Although those pioneer women didn't have nice cloth diapers like we do... Thank goodness for Fuzzibunz and bumgenius! I did order some replacement diapers and applied for a diaper grant so I hope those come soon!

An amazing weekend...

Jeff and I went to a marriage enrichment conference this weekend. He did not think it was a good conference, I thought it was good. How's that for a united front? :) I do totally see his point and agree they could have challenged us more, but I really appreciated the time to reflect and learn some new ways to approach and support Jeff. I was actually able to confess something to Jeff that I was not sure how to do before this weekend. Scared out of my wits would be a better description. It gave a good opportunity to discus things that would not have come up without the structure. So I am thankful for the time with Jeff, thankful for his understanding and forgiveness, and thankful for the passionate and unconditional love he offers me. (Even though he drove me crazy with his constant dialogue about how the conference could be better, I came away from it with a better and renewed understanding of who he is.) Two of the things I took away were...

1. The perfect wife does not expect the perfect husband.
2. Strengths pushed to extremes can become a weakness.

There was a whole lot more, but I'll leave it for now.

bragin on my hubby

OK I just have to brag on Jeff sometimes... he is so sweet and good to me. He is an awesome dad, husband, lover... you get the idea. He has been so good at helping out around the house lately and being an encouragement to me. I have been working real hard at loosing weight the last couple months. So he said to me this morning... 'I didn't think I would like you as much if you lost weight, but you are looking really good. ' (He is so good at loving me just the way I am. I have told him that is part of the reason I had no real motivation to work at losing weight! Ha!)

Fathers Day

This is Janessa, Zach's teacher for the last three weeks. He will have a new teacher for the next two, and he will miss her. She was such a sweetie!




We went to the air force chapel for Church this morning. It was an interesting experience. It was mostly tourists as far as I could tell that were there. Today was fathers day and they did have a nice message. Communion was taken up front in two long lines with the choice of wine or grape juice. I went with Drew and he chose grape juice.








The chapel has stain glass windows that go up all sides so when the sun hits them, it really shines through so beautifully on the inside.





We were sad to see most of our friends go on Friday. We are still at MTI, but our SPLICE program is finished and our PILAT program is begining on Monday night. New people have started to arrive and it is strange already to see new faces here. It is amazing how close you can get to people in three weeks.


The kids all went up to the train tracks with Jeff today and played in a huge dirt pile. They were all so filthy. After their baths I took this photo of Harley. Jeff got some good footage of the train. I'm sure he'll be making a great video of this place after we get home to share with you all.

I'm In Love!!!

I am so in love with this kid. We are having so much fun with him. You would think you would get tired of all the new things a baby does by baby number four. But on the contrary, Jeff is convinced Zach is happier and has more smiles than all our other kids. He is just SO Cute! He is also very ticklish. :)




That is just a sock on his hand, his feet are not up by his face!

A Sprinkler???

MaryLou heard what sounded like a sprinkler left on as she headed upstairs, so she began looking in the bushes. After seeing no water, an Erie feeling crept over her and she called for Jeff to come quickly. After confirming that it was in fact a Rattle Snake, they called Harley and began the hunt to get it out of the bushes and kill it. (Sorry animal lovers...) The kids all watched from a high perch on the porch, and MaryLou actually swung the fatal blow.






I swung a few more blows just to make sure. I have children nearby after all. Many thanks to our cat who sniffed it out and got it's rattler going. And to the vultures who made off with it! I hope that's the last one around here, but I doubt it!

the BOW

OK... MaryLou found this bow when we had Harley so I just had to pass it on to my niece. I think she looks adorable in that bow. I can't wait to hold her...



Eliana Grace



Jeff and Eliana



Angela and Harley

Eliana Grace Kunkle

I have a lot to praise God for this week. My brother Jeff and his wife Angela have been on a long road to have a baby. Many of you, my dear friends and readers have prayed for them with me over the years. Well yesterday they gave birth to a little girl. (Or I should say a big girl!) Eliana Grace Kunkle. (It means God has answered our Prayers.) She was born in Zeeland Michigan at 2:52 AM and was 21 inches and 9 Pounds. I am a very proud Auntie!!

In Memory Of...

When we were dorm parents at ICA, we had the most beautiful and amazing young girl in our dorm. Lori Morrison. She was a southern belle in the most innocent way. I loved the way she would say 'Uuuncle Jeefff' with her cute southern accent. She was always smiling and laughing and sincere. We just found out yesterday that she did not wake up in the morning. I don't know yet why she died. She was in the emergency room and they did not find anything wrong so they sent her home. And the next morning she was gone. I know she is with our father in Heaven. She knew Him, trusted in Him, hoped in Him, and had a person relationship with Him. She was an amazing girl and I just pray for her parents who are on their way back from Africa and her three older siblings who are suffering from the loss of Lori. Here is a link to a page in memory of her on facebook.

Sleep...

I have been wanting to blog... but I type so slowly one handed and I'm usually only in front of the computer when I'm nursing. So... things are going well. Zach did get a cold so pray he gets better soon. We are still up once or twice a night. I could relate to this cartoon. Although Jeff said he would take a night feeding sometime soon, so I'll let you know if that works out. We are excited to see Jeff's brother Jim, his wife Becca, and our new nephew Caleb tomorrow. Yea!!! I'll put up some photos of the little cousins after the weekend.