A year has passed

Well, it's official ...

Gracie is one!

We celebrated with a trip to the zoo.



Gracie liked to stand in the stroller as we looked at the animals.



Some animals she got to touch,

other animals got to touch her.



We thought she would enjoy feeding the giraffe, but as you can see she preferred to feed herself!



We were excited that the hippos put on such a show for us.

After the zoo, and a much needed nap, we tried birthday cake again.  She was still skeptical a first.

But with a little help she tasted the icing...

and it was all over...

Yum Yum!  That is good stuff!

Gracie has enjoyed her gifts.  Thanks to everyone who joined us in celebrating her special day!

Gracie continues to crawl, stand, and cruise...we anticipate her first steps will surprise us soon.

Sorry it took so long to post this.  We were having problems loading the pictures -- which we think were definitely worth the wait.

Our house remains on the market.  We are learning valuable lessons during this time of waiting.  God has used this time to remind us of the importance of daily prayer and praise.  We realize how much room we have to grow and mature in our walk with Him.  We have been convicted of our own complacency and encouraged to makes changes in our daily routine.  He is gracious to us, and we know He will provide in His timing.

Leaning on Him,

DD&G

Hip-Hippo-Rah!

Gracie turns 1!  Well, almost...

We were in South Carolina for a dear friend's wedding this past weekend, so we went ahead and celebrated Little Miss Gracie's first birthday.  What a fun party!


The theme:  Hippos.

As we discussed possible party themes, safari and jungle animals kept coming to mind since we recently returned from Africa.  While in Koutiala we learned that Mali means "Hippo."  So, a safari themed hippo party it was!

Nana and Papa worked hard to make this day extra special:

   
A friendly hippo and tall giraffe along with a tree full of monkeys greeted guests as they arrived.



Gracie and her cousin Dylan enjoyed their safari hats...



as well as the inflatables.



We all sang happy birthday...



while Gracie watched.



She wasn't sure about the cake.



She played with the icing but never really tasted the yummy carrot cake (we figured since it is one of our favorites she would like it too).



She did like the chocolate covered banana pops that Nanny made!  They were hit with all the guests.

Many friends and family came to this special event.



Aunt Susan and Uncle David helped Gracie play with bubbles.

Gracie monkey-ed around with Aunt Beth & Uncle Ralph (aka: Nana 2 & Papa 2).

Mary & Martha snuck in a few hugs, too!


Gracie enjoyed playing with the wrapping paper while we helped her open her gifts.



We have several new books to read, new outfits to wear,

                                                   new toys to play with,











and a new bookbag to keep our things together!



What an amazing year it has been!  We are so thankful that God blessed us with this sweet little girl.



It has been quite a while since our last post -- we have been busy working in the hospital, traveling to SC weddings, listing our house, and trying to keep up with our mobile little girl.



Gracie is crawling, cruising, standing ... we await some first steps and walking soon!

Excitedly entering year two,

DD&G

Dernier Jour

Today was our last day at the hospital.  Our weeks here flew by so quickly.  It is surprising how familiar the layout of buildings and rooms feels when just 4 weeks ago it all seemed a maze of activity.

Now, I look at Salle 1 (Room 1) and images of the many children who have stayed in the pediatric "ICU" come to mind.  It is considered the ICU because it is the room closest (literally adjacent) to the nurses' station.  The sickest patients stay here so they can receive quick attention if they begin to decline.

As my gaze continues around the quad which forms the inpatient pediatric unit, I remember the patients and families who have lived in these rooms, hoping and praying for healing.  We took time yesterday and today to visit each Salle and give a small gift to every patient.  For the older kids we gave toy cars or stuffed animals and for the younger kids (especially the babies) we gave clothing (mostly items Gracie has out grown which we brought along for this specific purpose).  Our words were few as we handed these items to either the child or the child's mother:  Alla ka du biya (God bless you).

      

In the midst of our goodbyes to patients and hospital staff, we continued to work.  More interesting cases present on a daily basis.  We have seen a couple of toddlers come in unable to swallow after ingesting lye (which is caustic to the esophagus and can cause scarring).  In both cases we were able to dilate the esophagus and the children began drinking again.  A young boy came in with intusseption (intestines "telescope" inside itself) -- the classic sausage shaped mass in the abdomen was readily apparent on exam.  Dean assisted Dan with surgery; a segment of dead bowel had to be removed and then the healthy sections of bowel were rejoined (right hemicolectomy with illeocolic anastomosis).

There are more stories to tell.  Each involves a precious child, designed by God.  We hope to share more of these with you upon our return.

Today was also Gracie's last day with Marte, the nanny who has kept her every morning (and many afternoons) while Dean and I worked at the hospital.  Gracie enjoyed her time with this sweet Christian young woman.  We were very thankful to have her help.

A couple days ago we toured a place nearby where they make mud-cloth.  This is a traditional method of using mud to dye cloth -- you can see an couple examples of the patterns they make.  Sometimes they use stensils to create repetitive designs.

Our departure is bittersweet.  We have come to love the people here, and we truly enjoy working at the hospital.  God has confirmed that He has designed us for practicing medicine in an international setting. We look forward to God showing us the specifics of with whom and where over the next months.  Thank you for joining us on our journey.  Your prayers and support are greatly appreciated.

DD&G

P.S.  An unexpected power outage prevented us from posting this Friday post until Saturday morning.  Ah, but God is gracious and the power did return in time for fans to help us sleep!

Take a look

Tonight we thought we would share some photos.   Hope you enjoy!

Sunday afternoon we took a walk with Brian (school teacher) and his son (Caleb).  This picture depicts the general landscape here rather well -- dust, dry, hot with a few splashes of green and shade.

We stumbled upon as swimming hole (more like big mud puddle) where local boys were cooling off.  A few of the boys showed off by doing back flips into the water.  Looks like fun!

Dean saw this little boy walking along yesterday.  Can you tell what he was carrying?  Nope, not a little lamb...a little goat head with goat feet!  Eeekkk!

Here is the "cloth" from Journee de La Femme -- guess it is actually green, purple and cream.  We saw more ladies wearing the cloth today (March 9th) than yesterday, not sure why.

Set of premature twins who have been "growing" at the hospital since we arrived last month.  Currently the are up to just over 1800 grams.  They need to be over 2000 grams before they will be discharged home.  Yesterday, however, they graduated out of the incubator they had been sharing since birth and moved into the bed with their mom.  Aren't they cute?

Amanda has been reading daily with Fatumata (girl diagnosed with diabetes).  It's interesting since Amanda doesn't know Bambara and the little girl doesn't know English.  Mainly they are working on recognizing letters and learning the sound each letter makes.

Here is the book they are using to guide their studies.

Today, Gracie and I watched while they practiced the letters "b" and "a."  As you can tell Gracie was quite interested in this game ... and "babababa" is definitely a word she likes to say!

Seytou (young girl with severe burn) standing outside the pediatrics building looking out onto the courtyard.  The iron work on the windows is quite pretty.  There is no glass, just open air.  Some windows have crosses worked into the design.

Seytou had her skin graft done today.  Please pray that the graft will take.

Gracie captures another heart!

With Love from Mali,

DD&G