family portraits

While Amanda was here, she took some family portraits for us. You can see more on Isabelle's blog. Thank you so much Amanda for being our photographer. We LOVE the pics!

amanda

Who has a friend that would pay over $2000 to come to a foreign country, by themselves mind you, during one of the hottest times of the year all to hang out & help you with your newborn baby? I DO!!! And her name is Amanda Borders (or Aunt Badanda as we like to call her around our house). It's true - one of my bestest friends in all the world came for 3 weeks with the sole purpose to give this new mom a helping hand. We had a great time of hanging out & catching up face to face (Skype is great but sometimes you just need to see a familiar face live and in person). She loved on Izzy, helped in the kitchen, went out with me as I sat with my African ladies, loved on the neighborhood kids & did whatever else we needed. She is a natural with babies & has such a servant's heart. Amanda, words cannot nearly come close to truly thanking you for coming! (and please don't hate me for posting some of these pics!)

Hanging out with giraffes


Photo shoot at the sand dunes


Izzy & Badanda


Amanda coloring with the kiddos while holding Izzy ... talented!


Hilema thought this would be the coolest picture. I'm not sure Amanda and Isabelle agree!

dust storm 2008

I think I posted some pictures last year of one of the dust storms. When we were coming into the capital the other day, we went through one & a rain storm, too. What's funny is that Mark asked if we should put the luggage inside the car during the drive in case of a storm. I said, "No. If it does rain, it won't last more than a few minutes." Ha ha ha! After the dust storm, it rained on us for over an hour. Woops!


The rain storm produced quite a flood. It was a little scary going over this "bridge" because there were no railings on either side.


Nothing was done to this picture. This is what it actually looked like as we were driving through the dust storm.


The wall of dust heading our way.

party on

We decided to have a little party to welcome home Isabelle to Ayorou. We invited a few friends & our neighbors over on the 4th of July for some African cooking & American dessert. Amanda & I spent 2 days baking 8 dozen cookies and my African friends cooked 15 kilos of rice & sauce. We had a great time of hanging out with our friends, watching the kids play cornhole & eating some yummy food. It was also fun to watch everyone "ooh" and "ahh" over Isabelle.


When I came out with Isabelle, it was a little crazy. The kids almost mobbed us!


Hamsatou really loves Nadia! She just can't get enough of her!


Isabelle holding hands with her new friend, Mariama.


Kiddos playing cornhole while waiting for the food.


Mark & the men have their turn holding & passing around Isabelle.


Look at all that food! YUMMM!



Isabelle was exhausted after her party! Good thing Aunt Badanda was here to hold her during her detox!