A Walking Scrapbook

I learned something new. There is a lot of cloth available in the market. Usually I search for something with colors I like, patterns that are not too offensive or bizarre, and something I can envision in an outfit. I end up with a lot of purple, pink, blue and green. As I started asking people about their outfits they wore, they would say, 'Oh yes, this is the tissue form someone's baptism, or this is the tissue from someones goodbye party, or this is the tissue from Christmas last year.' I began to realize, this is a form of scrap booking. As the women wear their outfits, they remember people, times, experiences and memories.

So one day I was visiting with one of my friends, Kadjatu. She is 13 and loves to come visit whenever she can. She has a new cousin and took me to visit her. I was also invited to the 'Baptem' party for her cousin. She told me there was cloth and she wanted me to buy some and come dressed for the party. I decided to do it... and when the cloth arrived she brought it to me. I realized this was going to be my first REAL Malien outfit. IT is in orange and yellow, two colors I wouldn't have chosen. And there are some random designs all over it, like chalkboards and fingers... So here are some photos of the process... I knew I wanted to scrapbook while I was here, but so far this is the closest I have come.

What will I do with this fabric?

Yes... those are fingers in my fabric!

So I took it to my tailor... notice how they finish the zipper?

He made a beautiful outfit!

Everyone really likes it here... they say I am Malien now!

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...

Testing new waters...

The day arrived more quickly than I thought it might. Two girls showed up this morning to visit earlier than is usually normal. I sat on the porch with them for awhile before I finally realized that they came with a purpose. Their dad had visited last evening telling us his daughter had a swollen hand that was causing her a lot of pain. I gave him some Ibuprofen and said she could come see us if they wanted. Well here she was. She showed me her hand... and I wondered what to do. I tried to ask some questions, but she didn't have a lot of answers. She didn't know why it started. She didn't have any sores on her hand. So I decided first of all we should make sure her hand was clean. Then a soak in hot water never hurt. So as I was preparing all that, her father showed up. He helped translate some... and explained that the yesterday a friend had tried to open up her hand with a razor blade to relieve some pressure. Then they packed it with the leaves of some tree. I suggested going to the DR. but in the meantime I consulted my handy 'Where There is no Doctor' book. Her had was hot to the touch and definitely had an infection inside. Whatever caused it we don't know. So I told them hot compresses four times a day, keep it clean, and take her to the Doctor. I don't know if she need antibiotics or not. I dried up her hand and put on some antibiotic ointment and a bandage. I gave them more bandages and my antibiotic ointment and sent them off with blessings for better health... I hope she gets better soon... Pray for wisdom for me as people come to us with health issues. We are fortunate to have a medical clinic here as well as a hospital. I don't know how good the Doctors are, but I guarantee they have more experience than I do...

My boundaries

I am struggling with my attitude. I know that I need some boundaries. And we are working on setting some up. But when kids disregard my requests to not enter our yard or to be quiet because our kids are sleeping I get frustrated. I realize they probably didn't really understand what I asked, and even if they did, they really have no framework for boundaries, or nap times. Kids nap on their moms backs, or pass out on the ground when they are too tired. Life is so different. A kid stops by convienently when we are eating lunch or dinner and Jeff with a heart twice the size of mine, invites him to join us. I just finished cleaning the house and not all these kids are even clean... After feeling protective of my time and my stuff and my house, I am reminded of Jesus.

In Matthew 25: 31-46 He talks about what we do for others, we do for Him... ³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

God help me to have a heart like yours...

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!

Bienvenue

We have arrived in Bamako. The journey was long. We changed planes once and then had another layover where you stay on the plane. Overall it went very well. This adventure seems surreal but also so completely normal. I'm not sure what to think. On one hand I have been here before, but on the other hand this is all new. I have never moved my family to Mali. When Jeff and I lived here together is was just the two of us and we had little to consider. I anticipate a lot of hard work, but today I feel ready for this new adventure.

Things that are fun...

The Maliens are awesome

There is so much to learn and discover

Bananas

Warmth

No winter coats

So many decisions to make

Things that are hard...

The Heat

Malaria Meds (the kids are getting better at swallowing pills)

Mosquito bites (Drew is covered)

We are not at home yet

So many decisions to make

The pros and cons overlap a lot at this point... but it is going well and we are ready to get 'home' and get settled for Christmas.

Jethro Isaac Frazee

Jethro Isaac

Well I need to update my blog... I had a baby on April 29th, 2010. He was 9lbs 4ozs and 21 inches long. He was born in Antony France. My experience was a good one. God was trying to teach us something... that He really is the one in control, once again did we forget? After four children, two that were early, and two that were right on time, I went two weeks overdue with my fifth child! We were quite shocked! I was scheduled for an induction at 8AM on April 29th. After realizing I could not avoid being induced, I went to bed the night before and awoke one hour later to a strong contraction. Between every contraction for one hour I told myself it would just pass as contractions had done for the last month, every other night or so. But during each one I knew for a fact this was the real thing. Finally I woke Jeff and said we needed to call someone to watch the kids, and our neighbor to give us a ride. This was around 1AM. He wanted to know if I was sure, as anyone drug from deep sleep would want to know. :) Our Tunisian neighbor Mouna drove us to the hospital at about 2AM. After getting settled at the hospital the 'sage femme' informed me I was three centimeters. This I could not believe... the pain felt more like 7-8 to me... Well 30 more minutes of that and I decided I should have the epidural. Things progressed very quickly after that and Jethro was born around 6:20AM. I was exhausted and wanted to get home quickly. I left about 30 hours after his birth. Some good friends from Church helped us get home and had a little 'fete' for us complete with strawberry tart, champagne, and chocolate. It was a beautiful ceremony to welcome Jethro home into our family.

Two other ladies at our language school were due after me. Mandy had her baby Alex two weeks later at Antony, followed by Megan having her baby Evie a month later, also at Antony.

Jethro, Evie, Alex

Mandy, Me, Megan

Field Trip!!!

So this week we experienced some misunderstandings with the Maternelle, Joe and Harley's school. We had signed permission slips for Harley and Joe to go on a field trip to the farm on Tuesday. So we prepared them for being at school all day. The school was going to provide a hot lunch at the farm so we would not be picking them up as usual. We went about our day and picked up Drew from school and had a quiet lunch with our oldest and youngest sons. Then after school as we were headed to pick up all kids, one parent stopped us on the street and asked if the school had reached us by phone? Apparently Harley did NOT have a field trip today, and was waiting to be picked up. After being unable to reach us the school had sent her to the 'cantine' for lunch with her classmates that stay over the lunch hour. We picked her up and when she got home I was all prepared to coddle her and give her treats and apologize for being such a terrible mom to leave her little girl in a school for two hours where she couldn't talk to anyone and had to eat strange food. When I asked her about it, she said she would prefer to only go to school once every day. (Since she didn't come home for lunch, she didn't HAVE to go back to school a second time!) Go figure...

So Thursday morning we woke her up and she asked if she could only go to school once that day. Sorry we said... today is a normal day. When Jeff went to pick up the kids for lunch he discovered that TODAY was Harley's field trip to the farm, and she would be having lunch there with her class... So she did get to go to school only once that day!

Well Harley has had some French experiences this week which she loved... and we have had an experience with misunderstanding the information we get from the school! Praise God for taking care of us and our children, when we don't know what is going on!!!

Consignment Sale in France

It has been hard to find used things and baby items in France... up until this past week. We found a consignment sale last Saturday and really scored. Five of us ladies piled into one car and shopped till our hearts content. We found, play mats, bouncy seats, car seats, mattresses and many clothes!!! I only wish we knew the sex of our baby because the French have some really cute girl clothes!!! :) Two and a half weeks to go and we should know! Keep praying for a safe delivery for us and the perfect timing. I wouldn't mind early, but I am due the last day of class and it would also be nice to finish up this session. Although I must admit it is getting harder and harder to concentrate on my studies... :)

Ask and you shall receive...

In so many ways… we are blessed and overblessed… I just need to share some of them wtih you. First of all, I wrote a blog while back called Love to France… it was in the midst of frustration over not knowing how to find things we wanted. Living in a foreign country is challenging. We have been so blessed by people who have showered us with packages with all sorts of goodies. Thank you for thinking of us and for sacrificing your time and money to light up our days. I cannot tell you how excited the kids are when we get a package and we all dig in with anticipation.

Another thing we have asked for, mostly from God, is for opportunities to speak french and make some friends. This last week we were blessed. We had a birthday party for Zach on Saturday. Jeff told me on Wednesday that I should go invite 3 of our neighbors to his party. I didn't want to… it is hard to approach a strangers door and use my broken french to talk… but I did. The first door I went to, a family with one little girl Harley's age invited me in. I almost said no, I need to go invite more people, but then thought better of it. We visited for about an hour after which we promised to stop by anytime and watch each others kids. She even offered to take me shopping in her car and after I have the baby, take me to a local moms group.

On Friday our Church has a ladies bible study. I have been trying to go with my friend Hilary from our school who also attends our Church. It has been canceled numerous times and this Friday she was going to be on vacation. But she asked one of the Church ladies if they could pick me up. So Friday I went to a ladies Bible Study. I did not understand a lot, but was once again blessed by their kindness to me. And enjoyed the fellowship between believers that crosses over cultural and language barriers. One Church lady had brought me two bags of toys for our kids that her daughters had outgrown. So thoughtful. And another lady told me there was a porta crib at Church for me. She knew we were looking for an extra baby bed. God just goes before us taking care of the extra things. When we left San Jose we knew our kids wouldn't miss their toys too much they couldn't bring with them, but isn't it just like God to provide for them anyway with extra!?

That night we recieved a phone call from a man we do not know from our Church. He said he had heard that we wanted to go visit the farm of another Church man, but didn't have a ride. He would be happy to pick us up and take us. So right after Zach's party Jeff, Drew, Joe and Harley went with Charles an hours ride away to a dairy farm. After an extensive tour they were able to sample the cheese made on the farm.

All three of the families we invited came to Zach's party on Saturday. (As well as many of our good friends from Les Cedres) It was a wild good time with about 20 kids.) Jeff even had one of our neighbors read a portion from Job and explained to them all why he had chosen the name Zachariah Job for him.

On Sunday we had been invited to a families home for lunch after Church. (Our Church goes till 1:30PM so this is a late affair.) After a pre appetizer of goat cheese, dried salami, pretzel sticks and juice, we were invited to a beautiful table for an appetizer salad, then a sausage and potato main course, followed by a cheese and wine, and then a delicious chocolate cake. Wow! We were impressed. Then we visited and the wife took me up to her attick and blessed me with baby clothes she had saved that were her own childrens things. I could not believe their kindness and generosity. They gave the kids books in french and let them play endlessly with toys. And fed them another snack. When we finally checked the time we saw that it was 7:20PM… He drove us home and when we got there he gave us a special cake from the south of france.

Also this last week Jeff met a couple at the park in front of our house from Tunisia. They were super friendly. They live just around the corner from us and on our second meeting with them they gave us their phone number and said to call them when we need a ride to the hospital. Day or night, they would be happy to take us. This is a blessing because Taxi's can take a long time to come, and some will refuse to take a pregnant women. If you are in the french health care system, you can call an ambulance, but we would have to pay for that!

So as you can see… when it rains, it pours… Thank God with us for all these opportunities and pray for us to have the energy to take it all in and continue to learn all we can. God is good...