In the first picture, I am wearing this "
Moby Sling" my sister gave me... there is literally enough fabric to make a curtain or two and it took me a long time to read the directions and figure it out! Many of the Burundian woman ask me if I will carry
Malaki on my back how they do it; we will see! Usually they would do this from a week or two after the baby is born. Many of you have been wondering how big my belly really got this time around (the night before birth is the next picture).
Isai was going picture crazy getting all types of poses! Finally,
Malaki's first friend. This is
Isreal, the pastors newborn son; born just 2 weeks to the day before
Malaki. His wife and I enjoyed being pregnant together... and now are enjoying our beautiful sons together. I must say "How different the cultures can be". As time goes on, we daily are reminded of the
sacrifice we chose to make in coming to Burundi. It by far is the most challenging thing we have come
across here. Having
Malaki and being so far from family and friends, knowing the precious moments you can all just hear about being absent from us. However, the Lord knows... and He is faithful with His calling and cause for us being here. We can only be reminded at the same time the desperate needs that lie here in the midst of all the scared and hopeless children that are longing to be loved and comforted in the midst of their unbelievable stories of despair. To look into the eyes of a young child, and to see things that would cause even adults to loose all hope. Surely they have lived and seen much beyond their years, and this is why we are here... yet being really, really hard at times. There is a purpose. Enjoy the pictures, we love and miss you all. All our love...
We are proud grandparents today of little chicks! Our chickens have been sitting on the eggs for weeks now, and we finally have babies! We also have 3 baby rabbits born about 3 weeks ago! Here are some pictures of Malaki in the last days... first: this was taken hours after his birth (how beautiful he is). Second: yes, Malaki has a huge smile on his face... (they told him Isai was his daddy, and there came the smile). Third: He is holding his own bottle, and so strong. Fourth: the cutest unforgettable streeetch in the whole world. We will be putting some pictures of the baby animals soon! He is almost 2 weeks old now and how time flies! We are doing all the paperwork right now for his birth certificate abroad and also his US Passport. Today was a busy day, as we continue to have more and more visitors... we got gifts like tomatoes, cabbage (5 I think), peas and juice! As we look at Malaki, we are reminding always of how precious life is. Being in the midst of so many broken woman that have lost one to many children at such young ages. Sometimes life is the best remedy for death. I guess sometimes when you loose a child, you loose part of yourself; but also when you birth a new child you find that you get a part of yourself back. Finally, your sorrow can turn to joy and the emptiness be filled with love of the new memories that you get. What can we say, except what a blessing our son is. Enjoy the pictures and look forward to those moments to come. All our love...
The joys of having a child... simply inexpressible.
Here is a glimpse of Malaki on days 6 and 7... he is gaining weight now, strong and healthy. Today we had many... many... yes, many visitors. Here in Burundi, it is in their culture when a woman has a baby, everyone comes by to bring a gift and see the baby. Usually the woman would stay in bed all day for a few weeks; while people come to visit. I unfortunately have a problem to just sit back and relax to the point that even the day after birth I was walking around and doing things... just can't help myself! We received as gifts fanta's (soda's), bread, green bananas and peas among other things. Boy is it nice to receive gifts! Its day 7, and little by little we are getting used to this wonderful new schedule with our son. Challenging at times, yet worth it! On top, you will find day 7 and below day 6! We just wanted to say thanks to all who are reading our blog and who want to be a part of our lives and Malaki's (some of you have no choice!), it is an honor to share with everyone this journey we are on... called life. Enjoy, and more pictures to come! All our love...
Precious moments given to us by God day by day... We are trying to take a picture everyday for all of you, that it would be as though you were with us and Malaki through this journey. It is hard to imagine these first few months of Malaki's life of him being absent of all of his family in the states... how we wish there was a way. We hope in the coming months we are able to take a trip for you to meet, love on and be blessed by Malaki. He is a strong little man, with the looks of his daddy and the personality to go with it. Pictured above are his first days; starting with day 5, day 4, day 3, day 2 and day 1. Enjoy them! All our love...
Here are a few firsts that we wanted to share with all of you... especially our families (as we know you wouldn't of missed these moments for the world).
Here are a few moments of Malaki's birth! We will keep our words few, knowing the pictures speak for themselves! Enjoy our little man of God with us and more pics are sure to come! All our love... 
We came to the city a few days early, to prepare for Malaki's arrival! We were threatened by some of our family, that we needed to put a picture of Isai's buz cut I gave him a few days ago... so here it is! Today, we came to a nice place on the beach of Lake Tanganika to relax and eat some pizza! Yes, I will be eating a whole pizza all to myself, and Isai too! There is a special today where you get pizza's half off for only $5.00; what a great way to spend our last day together before we go to the hospital tomorrow to be induced for Malaki's birth! Please keep us in your prayers, and we will keep you posted as best as possible. We love you all and can't wait to show you a picture of our little man! All our love...
Here is a glimpse of Malaki Daniel's room. We have some pretty interesting stories for the blanket and for the painting of his name! With the blanket, we had it made for him and were specific on the colors we wanted... (so we thought)! The first one they made had a peach color in it, and understanding we are in Burundi I patiently told them... these are not colors for a boy (in my broken Kirundi). We then went over for a long period of time again the colors we wanted, emphasizing we are having a boy and don't want any girly colors. They shook their heads as though they fully understood... of course. I went days later to pick up the new one, and to my surprise, it had pink all over it. I laughed it off, smiled and took it with joy simply remembering "We are in Burundi". With the painting of his name... it was written Malaki Daniel Torres; somehow they must of thought it looked better the other way around. Laughs we will carry with us throughout time. Sometimes Isai and I sit in room just imagining what it will be like when he is here... just days from now. It almost seems unreal at times as we have been through all this before Isai Lazarus passed away. We are continually amazed at the faithfulness of God through all of this, and know that our son will be a warrior for the Lord and love Him with all his heart. I have been having light contractions here and there and know the time is soon... only God knows. We will keep you all posted, hope you enjoy the glimpse of seeing our baby boy's room. We miss you all greatly; it will be so hard to go through this time without you. Truely this is our cross we must bear. All our love... 
The place where these pictures are taken is at the top of a beautiful mountain... Isai's and my picnic location. Usually, if you can make it to the top of the mountain without anyone seeing you, your chances of being "alone" are good. Now, if any one sees you at any point... no hope. You will for sure have a crowd within minutes. The children in these photos were some of the "spectators"; laughing and giggling at every pose. We figured... you want to watch us take photos, you mise well be in one or two! The interesting thing here, or should I say "culturaly different" is that many woman don't talk much about being pregnant, and they are much more emotionally detatched during pregnacy and birth. I beleive it may have something to do with the amount of deaths both inside and outside the womb, although thats just an opinion. Some families don't name there child until within 10 after the baby is born; while for us... we usually have names picked out months before, if not even before conception! I would have to say that is what made taking pregnacy pictures out in public a little akward. As many people watched, I wondered "what was going through their head" as they saw Isai and I being affectionate and loving towards eachother and our son to come. Even among most husbands and wives here, outward affection is rare - so rare that they often ask Iasi & I are you brother and sister? Of course, we naturally are affectionate always with one another (we can't help it!). Well, enjoy these pics and expect more to come! All our love...
