Daddy, take my hand in yours and you will plainly see How very much I need you now to love and care for me.
As my little hand grows, I will need you even more.
Everything I do in life, I have never done before.
Teach me to be kind and loving, sharing and forgiving.
Show me through your acts of love the pure joy of living.
The years will pass by quickly and one day I will be grown,
I will pass what you have taught me onto children of my own.
Hold me always in your thoughts and remember when we are apart,
The special love between a child and a daddy's heart.
Love your Malaki.
- Author Unknown
Happy Birthday Isai!! We love you.
I was recently looking at some professional photo blogs (thanks Jen Ing.!) thinking... how nice it would be to have some beautiful pictures of Malaki. So. I got the camera and got to work. I know its nothing close to what our sister Tracy will do for her nephew during our visit... but you have to give us some credit! Although, I think Malaki makes the pictures amazing, not really the lighting or positioning! Today was a "good day". A long week of competing documents for The Cries of a Child, yet today we had a pleasant surprise visit from some of our friends observing elections for the Embassy here in Muramvya. Something nice about being here in Burundi is simply enjoying all cultures of the world as we find ourselves connecting with Chinese to Germans to dutch to Belge to African etc. It's always interesting to see how much we have in common, yet how little. :o) All our love...
Today we brought Malaki to see a German doctor in the mountains of Gitega. For a few weeks, we have been hearing a clicking sound in his left leg and did alot of research on it through the Internet. There was the possibility that it was simply him growing and or another possibility that he could have hip displaysha (hip dislocation). This can happen before or during birth, generally in girls, breach births, if the womb is small having little room for the baby or if it is hereditary. So. We wanted to get him checked out just in case and figured it wouldn't hurt. The doctor did a sonogram (X-rays can't be done on babies because their bones are yet cartilage) and found that his left hip was partially dislocated. They rate it by degrees from 1 - 4 (1 being perfectly fine) and Malaki has 2a degree. The doctor isn't concerned as it is mild, although he suggested us to put Malaki on my back as pictured above :o). This spreads his legs high, as a stiff sling would be used in the US. I actually was just reading this in a great medical book we got as a gift. Isai and I always said that the Moby sling is nice... many different ways to wear it; although we weren't too interested in putting him on my back like locals do here. We tried today with the nurse... and it's actually kind of nice! The doctor said to have another consultation in 6 weeks to see the progress, but believes it will work itself out. We trust and appreciate his knowledge and experience... I think we found a new doctor for all of us! With all that said, we are at peace and ask that you all be too; as we can imagine the many, many (too many) thoughts going through your heads... Simply be at peace and also pray with us that God would align his body as he created it to be. All our love...
How I love to...
We captured these moments with Malaki yesterday... 
Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep little baby...
Malaki... officially 2 months; rounding 10 pounds these days.
Before you hold him make sure your prepared! He is known to spit up on the nicest of clothes!
Today is the day we have been waiting for... 16 months have gone by and today we officially have signed the all the documents and are registered as an NGO (Non - Governmental Organization) here on the grounds of Burundi. Wow, this sounds nice! We can officially begin working and are currently working on work permits, office location and working with the government as to the exact location we will be working in. No more waiting, now is the time to do what we have been compelled in our hearts to do... respond to the cries of the forgotten children here in Burundi. Pictured is Isai and I at the signing... Isai with the big stamp... and me feeding Malaki! We will keep you posted. All our love...
Isai chose this title of course... this is his story today! 
"Nudey Bootie" as his daddy would say. Funny thing is, he loves being naked... which is a rare occasion for him here in the mountains being so cold and all. Malaki is 8 weeks in the bottom picture... looking cute as ever and showing more and more of his personality daily. Hes approaching 10 pounds and getting so big, we can't wait until he meets all of you back in the states. :o) All our love...
We had an amazing 2 day trip to Rwanda to visit our dear friends and sponsors of the work here in Burundi. Its about a 3 hour car ride from our house in Muramvya to where they were staying in Butare. We truly cannot emphasize how nice it was to see familiar faces here in Africa... sometimes it seems as though we have our US family, friends and life and then our Burundi family, friends and life; the two of which would rarely intermingle. We spent time together walking through the town and just catching up and laughing. I was amazed at how developed a town in the mountains of Rwanda was; assuming Burundi is well over 10 years behind in development. They even had a coffee and ice cream shop; of which we were treated at!! Pastor Dave, Lonnie and Kathy... thank you from the bottom of our hearts for an amazing and relaxing weekend! Also pictured are some beautiful flowers in Rwanda courtesty of Isai... thanks my wonderful husband! All our love...
On Saturday we had a busy day first going to the annual baptism for one of the churches we have been working with; then to go to our friends wedding! Pictured is Leonce (I'm sure I spelled it wrong!) along with his beautiful wife. A Burundian wedding is an all day thing, although we only joined them for part. One of the key moments that Isai and I really enjoyed was when the fathers were going back and forth about the dowry of cows. This was nice to watch and understand in part with our simple kirundi! Also, we laughed and laughed as we have come to realize that Malaki sleeps just like Isai... with his mouth wide open! Isai had to take a picture of it as this is what Malaki did at his first wedding! We had a great weekend, busy yet nice as we enjoyed it with our German friends sleeping the weekend at our house for the wedding. May God bless the marriage of Leonce and teach them as they learn to walk in unity. All our love...
Swaddle me up and then... comes the beautiful peaceful sleep every parent longs for at the end of the day. In the picture where Malaki is in that burrito looking wrap is what we call swaddling. We got this a 2 years ago for our first son and when I went to go look at it again I forgot what it did. Just recently we were at a friends house and she was explaining how babies have light sleep and sometimes wake themselves up when they flip their arms up... then she showed me her swaddler that she had and said they are a "must". I then laughed saying that I have had one all along and didn't know what it was for. I was thinking it was for drying the baby off after a bath and thought "that's just to much work, a towel is just fine!". Needless to say Malaki hates having his arms tucked in places... and surprisingly he loves this thing. He has been sleeping in spans of 4-5 hours in the night since about 6 weeks; boy has this been a blessing to our sleep in the night and energy in the day! Also pictured is a nice one of him crying... and crying... and crying some more. Boy does he have some STRONG lungs! How we would love to say that he is a great baby who doesn't cry much... sure, he is a great baby; but he also has his moments. Enjoy this amazing child of God with us as we take life day by day. All our love...
