Busy Days

Well, we hit the ground running when we arrived home on June 9th and we haven't stopped since. Hence the reason for a lack of the blogging these days. :) We have bounced around between Kansas, Arkansas, and Illinois for the past two weeks and won't stop moving until we relocate our family the beginning of July to our new home in Peoria, Illinois. The kids have readjusted really well, and I think Marc and I have just been so busy that we really haven't had much time to process all that is different about our lives these days. I have moments where it hits me hard and the tears come out of no where. Sometime they are tears of gratitude for the many blessings we have that we previously overlooked, and sometimes they are tears of sadness when I think of all the despair we left behind. Maybe when the pace slows a bit I will write out some more about all that I have learned.

We certainly have found some new appreciations in our day to day life here. The best part by far has been soaking in the beauty of the green landscape everywhere we go. We have spent so much time outside these past few weeks. We have gone for walks, frequently visited parks, and let the cool grass rub between our toes. Everyone around us seems to think it is too hot to sit outside for very long in the heat of the day, but we are simply loving it.

Here are some recent pics since we have been home...

Marc was working on Father's Day so we celebrated a few days early with a dinner to Abuelo's. With all the eating out we have done in the past two weeks we shouldn't have any problem regaining the weight that we lost. Between eating out and visiting family, I haven't cooked a meal yet since we have been home. :)

 Pool time in Arkansas!

Papa D protecting Eli from Uncle Brandon :)

Nana made snow cones

 Feeling grass beneath their toes was so exciting to them

 Some fun in the sprinkler

 Enjoying some time with the cousins in Illinois

Eli is a good big brother on most days ;)

 Where did Eli go???

 Hailey found him!

Oh, these two keep life fun. Never a dull moment.

So, tomorrow we leave Illinois to briefly head back to Arkansas to meet our new niece. Then, we head to Wichita for Marc's graduation and to pack up our apartment. After that, we are driving back to Arkansas to see family for a few days before we head up to Illinois for Marc's sister's wedding. Then, a few days after the wedding we are moving to Peoria which will become our new home. Marc starts the second week of July with his new job. Whew! It is going to be a whirlwind. I will post a few updates when I'm not napping. ;)

Sweet Friendships

As we are starting to pack and mentally prepare ourselves to leave this place, we are also forced to begin thinking about some of the friendships that we have made over the past five months that we will soon be leaving behind. There are many missionary women and moms here that I have grown quite fond of over the past few months. Not only have they helped me survive what has undoubtedly been the most challenging thing I have ever undertaken as a wife and mom, but they have also continually inspired me by the way they live their lives here year after year. I know we will stay connected to these families and their stories, so I am refusing to say any permanent goodbyes when our plane arrives in a few days. :)

Marc is also starting to process leaving behind some of the sweet friendships he has made with the other physicians he works with as well as with the nurses and translators that he has spent so much time with over the past few months. From the beginning, Marc formed a really special bond with one of his translators, Mamane. We have had Mamane in our house more than anyone else who works with Marc. He coaches the little kids on the soccer field which is in close proximity to us so he occasionally stops in to say hello or eat a meal with us. His English is very good so our conversations are always enjoyable. Our kids really like Mamane and Hailey has even learned how to call him by name. He is very kind, humble, and has a bold desire to share his faith with those around him. Marc is really going to miss this friend.

We hosted one of the nurses from the hospital and his family a few weeks ago. Rufai is from a different people group in Niger called the Tuareg. The Tuareg live mostly in northern Niger and have a lighter skin color than the local Hausa people here in Galmi. There has been some violence among his people in recent years so he left and came here for some temporary refuge and discipleship. He does hope to return at some point to share more with his people about the love God has for them.

Rufai, his wife, and his seven year old daughter from his first marriage, came to eat pizza with us. He told Marc that he really wanted to try pizza since he had heard so much about it. I don't think they were too crazy about it when it was all said and done. :) His daughter was really enthralled with our nicely painted concrete walls. They are painted with a very slick and shiny white paint and she was running her hand over the surface during dinner. Her dad apologized and said that she had never been in a house like ours before. I forget that our humble house with concrete floors and walls is still so very nice compared to what most people here live in. 

We really enjoyed getting to know this family. Their daughter was very sweet. I thought she would make the perfect new mommy to one of Hailey's baby dolls that we had brought with us from home. She was beyond excited to take this doll home with her after dinner.

Rufai is only 34 but his first wife passed away shortly after giving birth to his youngest son (he has two children, ages 7 and 3). He has been married to his new wife for two years now. They are of different religions which is not out of the ordinary for this culture where one religion is so dominant. They were married when she was 17. Rufai told us at dinner that she suffered a miscarriage last year and is still very sad about losing that child. They are hoping to have another child soon.

There is a social pressure placed on women here to be able to have many children for their husbands. Sadly, some husbands will divorce their wives for someone new if their wife becomes infertile or goes through menopause. What is really heartbreaking to me is that when the husband leaves her, he can take any of their children with him. The woman is then left with nothing. I can only imagine that many women feel devalued and without worth if they struggle to have children.

Have I mentioned anything yet about the sweet woman who has been helping me keep house over the past five months? Hasira comes in the mornings on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to wash our clothes and help clean the house. Even though we don't speak the same language, she has been such a wonderful presence in our home during our time here. She loves on our children and has really eased the burden of the housework here for me. I could not have done it without her. 

I really wanted to show how much I have appreciated her by having her whole family over for a meal. I didn't know when I extended the invitation how many were actually in her family, but she was so grateful when I told her she could bring everyone that lives in her house (which I found out would be 4 children, 1 grandchild, and a husband). We also invited a translator from the hospital to come and help navigate us through our conversations. We did not know before our meal that Hasira's husband is actually one of the anesthetists who works at the hospital. He and Marc have been in surgery together nearly every day for the past month! Her husband speaks some English as well so we had a great time. They have 9 children together, and 4 of them plus a grandson still live at home. I think the ages of the children who ate with us were 15, 13,11, and 8 though all of the kids looked smaller than a typical eight year old from home. Their grandson was two. The kids had so much fun playing with Eli and Hailey's toys. And for the most part, our kids did a good job with sharing. I think they were just excited to have so many new kids to play with.

I put all the kids (minus Hailey who sat with us) at a table together. They giggled through the entire meal! I served black beans and rice with cornbread and we had an assortment of fresh fruit for dessert. I think it went over a little better than some of the other things I have served people here. :)

At the end of the night Eli put several cars in a bucket for his new friends to take home. It was really sweet.

This picture below really gets me tickled. All the kids were busy playing with Eli's Thomas the Train toys when Eli ran into the kitchen to get one of our empty powdered milk tins and a plastic spoon. He put it on our table and started beating on it like a toy drum. Hasira and her husband were laughing so hard at him. I'm sure they thought his choice of a toy was quite funny when he had many fancier things to play with.

Sweet, sweet, friends. Thank you Lord for bringing these people into our lives.

An Hour Away

One of the moms here graciously offered to watch Eli and Hailey for me one morning last week so that I could take a few last pictures to document our time here. I have really enjoyed my new opportunity to stay home all day with our kids, but I have also learned that I am a better mom when I get some kid free time periodically. It has been hard to work that time in here, so it was refreshing to have an hour away from the kids with Marc (we are due for a few date nights when we get home!) and to see all that he has been doing here at Galmi Hospital. I had a great time as he took me around and introduced me to all the nurses, translators, and surgery techs that he has worked with since January.

A group of midwives and nurses

We peeked in on these newborns that were just born.

One of the midwives and her 6 month baby girl

Another group of nurses

Checking in on a few kids while we visited the peds ward

We stopped in to check on Dianna in the peds clinic...

And then our last stop was to the malnutrition unit, the CREN. This little boy is 4 years old and only weighs around 17 pounds. He is severely malnoursished. He has a blue plastic bag in his ear that the nurse told us would help with his otitis externa??? I think both of our kids weighed around 17 pounds at 6-8 months of age.

He was so weak he couldn't stand very well. I am left without words.

This mom was busy preparing food and her baby was really ready to get down. :)

These little twins were so cute.

Thank you Tara for watching the kids so I could spend this time with Marc. It was really special for me to see it all one last time and a wonderful way for us to remember Galmi Hospital after we leave. 

A few thoughts....

If any of you who have followed our journey over the past few months are curious about coming to Galmi or somewhere else in Niger to serve, please email us and we can give you more information about SIM Niger. There are people serving here in Niger in so many capacities: teachers, construction workers, electricians, farmers/agriculturists, pharmacists, nurses, doctors, occupational therapists, IT or administration people, and so on and so on. If you have a gift and a desire to use it for God's glory in this place then we would love to help assist you in that process. 

God does powerful things in our lives when we respond to Him and His calling... and it does not mean you have to get on a plane to travel across the world. :) Just ask God to show you what He is calling you to do wherever you are right now. Maybe He is asking you to intentionally read the bible for the first time, maybe He is asking you to take a widow or an orphan into your home, maybe He is asking you to mend a very broken relationship, maybe He is asking you to live off less and give away more, maybe He is asking you to repent and fall on your knees before him, or maybe He is asking you to come here and serve. I don't know what it is for you, but I really believe that when we are willing to respond, He will show us what it is He would have us do with our lives. The invitation to be a part of God's plan is there.... read Isaiah 55. Will you respond?