Pictures!!!

Here are some pictures for you to see!!!! Our first family picture!!!! Taken at the hospital.

William LOVES his new sisiter!!

Daddy and Pape and Mariama

Pape giving her kisses, he does this ALL THE TIME!!!

"...This little piggy stayed home..."
He was actually playing this with her, with our help, but he started it.

My time with my son

I now want to tell you about what this weekend was like for me without Lisa. This was not an overly fun weekend for me. Let me start by saying that any time in the past that Lisa and I were apart, I have been pretty pathetic!! While I have used those times to watch some of the movies that Lisa is not interested in (horror flicks and stupid comedies), the night times were ALWAYS the worst time for me as that was when I settled down with nothing else to occupy my mind. All that to say this I love my wife and miss her when we are away from each other for a long length of time. This weekend was only made slightly worse with a son who had a fever and was also missing his mother. He missed Lisa almost as much as I did. Then he had a fever, and here, one of the first things most people do, and we were encouraged to do so, is to treat for malaria. Well, William did not want to take his medicine for malaria, and actually threw it up..ALL OVER THE BED AND HIMSELF!! Then while trying to calm him down and clean him up, the phone started to ring. After getting everything somewhat restored, we tried to eat and I tried to get William to take his medicine again, which he refused, and almost threw-up again. I was at the end of my rope and was ready to lose it do to the frustration of it all. Fortunately, God settled me down and my son woke up from his nap and ran to me and loved on me, as if nothing happened.

We were then able to go see Lisa and that helped us both A LOT!!! We had a fun time that night with bath time and going to bed. He and I prayed and I helped him ask God to bless Mommy, Daddy, Sister and himself ( the next night I added Gamma, Gampa and others), and he went to sleep after taking something for a fever. Sunday was a LITTLE easier as his "missy" grandparents took him for the morning and I went to see Lisa. She though was running a fever and the night nurses seemed oblivious to it. After making Lisa ask about it, they gave her some medicine for fever and started malaria tests (they were negative!!). William and I saw Lisa that afternoon and played some that evening back at home.

Monday, I had Odett, our houshelper!!! That was a BIG blessing!!!!! She took care of Pape that day while I visited Lisa. Fortunately I was able to bring Lisa home on Tue. I also had William checked out on Tue. and the doctor said that he was fine and he probably had the virus that was going around coupled with missing his mother.

Birth of my daughter!!

WOW!!!! I have a daughter!!! Lyle Sasser's prayers worked, and as he says "Let the finger wrapping begin." Don't get me wrong...I LOVE MY SON! But there is something about a daughter that I know will touch my heart in a different way. She is a true blessing from God and I know that I will treasure her forever. Here are some of the ways that our/your prayers have been answered in her birth.

1. Quick conception: It took Lisa and I almost 2 years to get pregnant with William, and after trying ONE month, we get pregnant.
2. We were blessed with a great doctor that speaks English and was trained in France. Also, we were blessed with a good hospital as well. A very modern hospital with well trained staff (FYI: this is the hospital that all of West Africa uses for births and other medical issues if/when needed).
3. God blessed us with good language skills so that we were able to go through the entire process without any other helpers. Even though the doctor spoke English, the nurses did not and neither did Mariama's doctor. THIS IS A MAJOR THING FOR US AND OUR WOLOF!!
4. The whole birth process was fairly smooth, and the rough areas God carried us through.
1. Lisa started labor in the morning of the 22nd and was given some Pitosin to help induce. We were then sent home after about 2 hours and told to try again later as the contractions were not strong enough and she was not fare enough along. After attending a movie night that the missy school put on, we returned home and William was not feeling well and woke-up every 5 minutes crying, even in our bed. Then, about 11pm, the Pitosin starts to really kick in giving Lisa severe cramps and pain. After an hour of this, she is on the floor in the bathroom in tears and pain and William is scared in our bed. We called "grampa Johnson" and go to the hospital, thinking she may have a virus that has been going around, to find out that she was having contractions. They gave her some medicine to slow down the contractions and the waiting game begin (it is now 2am). When the big time comes, as Mariama is being born, I saw the doctor doing something with her head and he keep saying "Oh my...Oh my!" I found out after she was born why, the doctor told me the cord had wrapped around her head 5 TIMES, and had even tried to knot as well. She was quite, which scared and concerned Lisa, but soon the doctor came back from checking her and said that she was "perfect."
   

There were other things from the next couple of days, but I will write about them in another blog. Thank you for ALL your prayers and keep them coming!!

Update

Hello there

I had not realized how long it had been since I last wrote something. We have been spending the last 2 weeks teaching English in a local neighborhood. I have @ 5-6 that come everyday, most of which have at least some English. So I have been spending a lot of time going over some different parts of speech, vocabulary and will start soon on some slang and phrases. That will be fun as I will teach them some southern terms and general phrases and everyday proverbs as well. So yes, I will be teaching them to say "Howdy y'all, how ya doin' ?"

Due to teaching in the mornings, I have been working on getting things ready in the evenings and trying to spend some good time playing with Pape. As you know, he turned 2 this month and his words have really taken off lately. He also has learned SEVERAL animal sounds. Here are some of the sounds that he knows;

• Dog- goes "woof"
• cow- goes "mooooo"
• Monkey- goes "ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh" (while scratching under his arms)
  
• Gorilla- pats his chest
• crocodile- goes "snap" (while clapping hands)
• lion- goes "rrooarr" (while raising head and arching eyes)
• lamb/goat - goes "baaaa"
• snake- goes "ssssssss' (while trying to stick tongue out)
  
• elephant - goes "uuuuuu" (while raising hand into air)
• bee - goes "zzzzzzz" (although sounds a lot like snake, but without the tongue)
• rooster - goes "oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo" (has sound, but not rhythm-although knows name as chick, thanks to cards from grandma)
• Rabbit - goes "Doc!" (one of my favorites....as in "What's up Doc?" I taught him that one)

Lisa will have a list of his words on her blog site soon. I will be trying SOON to add a pictures page to our web-site and some more updated info, I just need to find the time. Well, this somewhat gives you an idea of life the last few weeks. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think.