Today is the day of the Presidential Elections... seemingly rather peaceful. It is an interesting elections because all candidates have dropped out due to allegations of fraud and corruption; meaning there is only one man running for president. We will see what tomorrow holds, we are hopeful for peace of course. Pictured above are our friends from Germany who are staying with us this week! Also, Isai in the "Moby" Sling! He was cooking and wanted to help me with the baby while I was washing clothes and wanted to wear the sling. He really had fun with it flexing his muscles and all, thanks Trey! I think it would be a complete culture shock for the locals to see Isai in a sling... let alone be caring for Malaki; although Isai never seems to care what people think. Malaki is growing and growing... and growing. He is a strong little boy with a great destiny ahead of him. We love you and miss you all. All our love...
We would like to say thank you to our family members and S.O.L Bible Study, Cecile & Maya, Mama Butch, G and family and all others who have sent us and Malaki packages... if we could only express the joys of opening a package here with things inside we usually can't get here! To know we are remembered being absent from you all for so long means the world to us. Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to send something nice and useful; we can honestly say that everything that was sent has been vital and needed... how great is God. Isai says... keep them coming! :o) A funny story was in Mama Butch's package there were 2 packs of gummies for Isai. I got the package before he got home and needed our friend to explain everything because all the items were in German. I took the gummies out to surprise Isai for Father's Day with a nice gift. As we were driving Crystal to the airport I told Isai "man, I forgot to give you your Father's Day present"! He said "Yeah, you forgot to give me the gummies!" Isai has always been prophetic and "known things..." but I told him can't you just let me surprise you just once! Then he told me... Mama Butch would never send a package and not put gummies in. When she was here in Burundi visiting her daughter, she got to know Isai pretty quickly as nicknamed "Killer". He killed the chicken we ate for dinner that night and helped with the rabbit showing no remorse! Enjoy our moments... as though you lived them with us. All our love...
Malaki was 8 pounds as of yesterday; 2 pounds gained in 3 weeks! To think that some babies are born that big... and bigger (boy does my heart go out to the mother and her recovery!). Being here in Burundi we really have to be on top of little things (like weight for instance), as we live in the mountains and don't have the option to go to our pediatrician at any moment. We have to stay on top of and have knowledge of vaccinations and other things that usually the doctors would take care of in the states. Even at times using wisdom... as Malaki was prescribed antibiotics his 2nd day of birth here in the mountains because he had a slight fever of 37.5 C. We didn't feel at peace at all and know antibiotics can come with the side effects of diarrhea etc; which is not good for children let alone anyone. We didn't give him what the doctor prescribed... and that night he was fine. Sometimes I guess you just have to use instincts and trust that God has everything under control. Life in Burundi. All our love...
Today we had to say goodbye to Crystal, who has been here with us for the last 3 months. I actually got to go all the way to the terminal with her (there is only one terminal)... as each checkpoint told me we are not able to allow you; I asked please can I help her and of course... they let me go! Good thing... when I was looking at the paper they gave her after check in, it said her destination was Khartoum, Sudan. We cleared that up pretty quickly as they realized that was someone elses name! We really appreciated having Crystal here; she was always willing to help with anything and fun to be around... always laughing at something (Isai can be funny). Things will be different around here without her and we will miss her very much but know the Lord has much in store for her in these coming years. Almost all who said goodbye to her and prayed for her made sure to mention "Maybe you will marry a Burundian". The Lord knows! One even told her she should come back and begin a school called "Crystals school of English"! We laughed as we heard different peoples ideas to get her to stay and return of course! Crystal, thank you for all you have done and poured out of your heart when you were with us, may God bless you and keep you and cause His face to shine upon you. All our love...
Happy Fathers day to my wonderful husband Isai... as I longed to see him as a daddy, I now have the chance to see his amazing heart poured out into our son Malaki. Here are a few fun pictures of us today; simply enjoying the day... and gummies! (Thanks Momma Butch!) We hope all you fathers today get the appreciation due for all the hard work you have poured into your children. All our love...
Malaki is officially 1 month today! Last night we gave him his first "real bath"; he loved it until he realized how cold it was... then came the tears! We had to use a blow dryer aimed towards him to provide heat, because it is a bit cold here in the mountains of Muramvya. His cry is truly beautiful and to be honest... sometimes we let him cry for a minute to just hear him! I guess something we longed for so bad for our first son... how amazing the feeling was to hear Malaki cry for the first time. :o) As you can see, when he was finished bathing and in mommy's arms he was content! Also pictured is him "lounging" in Buja. Truly he loves the hot weather! Yesterday we brought him to get his passport pictures for his US Passport. The funny thing is, behind his head you can see two of Isai's fingers holding his head in place! Memories to hold dear in hearts forever. We know some of you are concerned as you have seen some things on the international news concerning Burundi; we are ok and remain at peace with staying here and will keep you all posted as expected. All our love...
We took a trip to the local zoo this past weekend to share some fun places with Crystal before she leaves this week... what a fun and interesting time we had! These kind of zoo's are always unpredictable as you pay about $4.00 to get in and have freedom to just about anything! I had Malaki in the sling, as Isai and Crystal were able to have some fun experiences I caught on camera! For starters, they went into the monkey cage and had a baby monkey jumping from their head to their arms, even almost up Crystals skirt! We also saw a leopard that was about a year old as we fed him a Ginnie pig and watched him rip it to pieces... I think Isai enjoyed this more than all of us put together! There was also a chimpanzee that was there who had just lost her partner just three weeks ago and was in grieving. She seemed to be in love with Isai, something that happens very often with female animals! As for me... she kept trying to see and take Malaki! Of course I grabbed a stick to scare her away when she came near as we walked through out the park; end result: she took it. Isai stayed close, and kept an eye on her though. What interesting personalities they have. The truth is, Malaki loves the city and the heat... opposite of us of course! He was lounging in his onesee and loving it! Our little one is 4 weeks tomorrow; how quick they grow! All our love...
We took our first trip to Bujumbura with Malaki after his birth this weekend to show Crystal a good time going to the zoo and visiting some places before she leaves next Sunday. The first picture is when we went to the Ruzizi River to see the hippos... of course everyone wants to see and love on Malaki; especially the mamma's! Next is Malaki in the car, sweating so much we just stripped him naked, and he loved it! Finally, we asked him to raise his right hand and pledge allegiance. It's interesting to see how different his behavior is from the cold mountains to the hot city. He is getting so big and is almost 1 month old, how time passes! Enjoy these moments and cherish them... he will never be this age again! All our love... 
So we were reading about "tummy time" this morning and how its good for the baby to strengthen neck muscles etc... and we thought we would try it. As we put Malaki on his tummy within minutes he flipped his whole body over. We thought "he isn't even 3 weeks yet, surely this is impossible". We would like to say possible! We put him for the second time on his tummy and in under 2 minutes once again he flipped his whole body over. Usually the norm would be 2-3 months at earliest from what we read, how amazing strong is our little man! We also wanted to give a nice glimpse of the moment his cord fell off, on our anniversary June 3rd! Malaki amazes us daily by his strength, alertness and just loving personality. We go Friday to get his passport and birth certificate in the capital... how funny it will be to have a passport picture with a 3 week year old on it! Something to remember and keep as a precious moment in the end I guess! Something Malaki has been famous for recently is making sure every time we go to change his diaper and are literally moving the dirty one away and putting the clean one, he loves to pee EVERYWHERE! Isai and I have a nice technique we have been using to not get pee all over, its fun moments we share together laughing. All our love...
Here is Malaki... almost 3 weeks old and getting so big! In this photo, he is sleeping just like his daddy. Its very cold here in Muramvya; when we try to tuck his hands in the blanket to keep him warm, he throws his hands up and wiggles them out somehow every time... just like his daddy of course. Isai can't sleep all bundled up either. Its amazing to see different traits he has that are just like us! Here are also our "princess's" Maya is 1 year and Kay is about 6 months. They are always funny to be around, we thought at one point that Maya was pregnant because her nipples were so swollen; come to find out Kay had been licking and sucking on them. (We caught her in the act!) Kay is our very emotional dog... Isai says they get the word Chaos from Kay. As for us, we are doing good; getting used to our days broken in 3 hour intervals feed, burp, change, put to sleep (and have about 2 hours to get things done) until the next intervals! Enjoying our new life with our amazing little one. We have been reading the books of Malachi and Daniel to our son lately just thinking about the impact he will one day make upon this world. We love and miss you all greatly and long for the days where we can be together again. All our love...
Today was a sad day. Isai was looking in on the farm animals and right before his eyes, our big aggressive rooster pecked at one of the baby chicks and snapped its neck. As the mother saw this, she began stomping and being very protective... and accidentally stomped on another one of the baby chicks snapping its neck. There are 3 remaining... As for me, I say we eat that mean aggressive rooster. Everyone who enters the chicken house has to carry a stick, just to protect themselves from him trying to attack... I hope before the end of the week he is sitting nicely on our plates to be eaten! Also pictured above are our baby rabbits; we have 3 also, one being albino. Many of you were asking to see some of our farm animals, so here they are! All our love...
