Dinner Guests (by Amanda)

I have never been one for cooking and having a lot of people over. It always makes me nervous. Will the house be clean enough? Will I have enough food fixed? Will it be any good? Will I burn the vegetables, under cook the meat, dry out the cake and the list goes on… Africa, though, has made me reevaluate what is important. Yes I still have all those questions when anyone is coming but now I am willing to risk it.
So today I took a trip over to our friends Jeannee and Pastor Christophe’s house. I was intent on speaking to Jeannee about Bible camp. You see, Pastor Christophe has asked me to find a craft for the 6 and 7 year olds to work on during the week of camp so I wanted to talk to Jeanne who will actually be doing the craft with them while I help. While I was there I finally did the daring thing that I have been struggling with for the past year by inviting them over for dinner. Now it may not seem like much, but for some reason I am daunted by the task of having them over. This time it is just an introductory course as I only invited them and not their (five) kids. So this coming Tuesday we will be having them over. I am excited and still trying to figure out a menu. You see Jeanee is a great cook who makes these wonderful Malian dishes I just love, but for now the important thing is I am overcoming my fears.
So if you have any great food ideas and recipes (make sure they do not have a lot of meat as Malians get sick if they eat too much) let me know - I am always open to suggestions.

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Splat! Lessons in Walking (by Thom)

Splat! That’s the sound we’re hearing around the McMurray household a lot these days. It’s a joyous noise, contrary to what you might think. We keep hearing that sound after Miriam takes a few steps and loses her balance. Miri is learning to walk which, of course, comes with many spills, splats, and stumbles. Last night, Amanda and I were sitting on the floor about 3 feet apart and letting Miri walk back and forth between us. Most of the time she’d get most of the way and then lose her balance, falling to the floor. Honestly, I expected her to get tired of falling down. Sad to say, but if I failed over and over like she did I’d postpone the task or give up entirely. Still, she was excited. After many, many tries she finally made it from one point to the other still upright! Watching the girls learn to walk is definitely a joy. At the same time as I watch the girls try and learn to walk I am also aware that they are watching me walk. Amanda and I are examples for our girls.
We’re also examples to other people. Living here in Africa it’s always obvious that we stand out. As I ride my bike to and from the office kids will point at me and yell “tu babu” (white person). People know that we’re Christian and they’re looking to see what we do and how we react. Now, obviously we stand out more in Africa than we would in the US, but watching my girls watch us is a good reminder that no matter where we are, other people are watching us (Christians) to see what we do. How are we walking today? Are we display love, joy and peace to others or are we clumsily charging forward?

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 - For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another, for indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more; and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we instructed you; that you may walk properly…

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Happy Birthday, Hannah and Miriam!

Today's the big day! Hannah and Miriam are one year old. It's been an interesting year that started with a lot of desperate prayers and has ended with a lot of resounding praises to the Lord for His mighty works in their lives. I'd like to save a Bible verse for them today but I'm having trouble choosing one. If you have any ideas, please leave a comment here and we'll later post our decision.
Finally, we've been posting pictures of their first year this week and today we'd like to share a special video Thom made chronicling Year One of Miriam and Hannah's lives. Enjoy!


(If you've never watched a YouTube video before, we suggest you click on the 'play' button and then pause the video while it loads. You can see the progress of the video loading by the red bar at the bottom. Once it loads or is nearly finished you can start it again and watch it all the way through.)

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Birthdays - Part 4 (by Thom)

Tomorrow is the big day! Miriam and Hannah's first birthday is just hours away! This week we've been highlighting a few of our favorite pictures of the girls from their first year. (As always, you can see these and many others at our picture pages: (http://www.mcmali.com/photos/) These pictures all came from March through July 2007:


Miriam in July.


Hannah in July


We've definitely had our hands full since they learned to climb stairs!


Miriam, in May.


This picture appeared in an aLife article and we got tons of great comments about it! (the picture and the article)


This is probably my favorite picture of Hannah I have. This is what she's normally like: full of joy!

Oh, and stop back tomorrow! We'll have a special post here for their birthday including a video treat!

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Birthdays - Part 3 (by Thom)

Miriam and Hannah's first birthday is just 2 days away! This week we've been highlighting a few of our favorite pictures of the girls from their first year. (As always, you can see these and many others at our picture pages: (http://www.mcmali.com/photos/) These pictures all came from November 2006 through February

Miriam & Hannah in the US.

Miriam & Hannah on their 6 month birthday.

Is that not a beautiful face?

The girls looked very patriotic for Thanksgiving Day.

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Birthdays - Part 2 (by Thom)

Miriam and Hannah's first birthday is just days away! They were born July 10th, 2006 and this week we're going to highlight a few of our favorite pictures of the girls from their first year. (As always, you can see these and many others at our picture pages: (http://www.mcmali.com/photos/) These pictures all came from September and October 2006:

A family picture taken Oct 8, 2006

It started getting harder to tell them apart about this time!

Hannah has always loved cats!

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Birthdays! (by Thom)

In just a few short days we will celebrate Miriam and Hannah's first birthday! They were born July 10th, 2006 in a remote area in the Segou Region of Mali. In honor of the occasion, we're going to highlight a few of our favorite pictures of the girls from their first year over the next few days. (As always, you can see these and many others at our picture pages: http://www.mcmali.com/photos/) These pictures all came from July and August 2006:

Daddy and Miriam

July 31st, 2006 - The day we first met our daughters!

The first moment we saw the girls. Here Amanda is holding Miriam

Our first picture of the girls, which was emailed to us before we even met them.

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Sunday Morning (by Thom)

This past Sunday we had a fun opportunity. We visited a church near Bamako. This was actually the third time we've been there but the first in over a year. In that time the church has bought some property and build a new building. The church was able to raise funds for the land and it was a gift from the US that allowed them to build the building.
Our first times there we loved this group of worshipers. The spirit was definitely alive in this small group of people. When we arrived in Mali their pastor had just died. A seminary student was temporarily leading the services and by our second visit he had graduated and been appointed as their full-time pastor. It was so neat to see that even though they're now meeting in a new place and after all the changes of the last year and a half the spirit of the church remained.
It was also our first time to visit the church since adopting Miriam and Hannah and the reception we got from them was overwhelming. After the service the pastor and his core group of 'prayer warriors' asked if they could pray for us and for the girls.
I see a great future for this church and after the service Amanda told me, "They're going to fill that new building really soon." As I was praying for this growing church I found this guide to praying for new churches, which I modified slightly.

Praying for New Churches
From A-to-Z

Anointing—ask for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to start new churches in Mali.
Boldness—pray for boldness to start new churches.
Conviction—pray for conviction to start new churches.
Direction—pray for direction in how, when and where to start new churches.
Encouragement—pray that current new church planters will be encouraged.
Faith—pray for faith to start new churches.
Glory—pray that God will get all the glory in every new church started.
Hunger—pray that a great hunger to start new churches in Mali will prevail.
Insight—ask for the ability to see what God sees in starting new churches.
Jesus—pray that salvation through Jesus will be taught in new churches throughout Mali.
Knowledge—pray for the knowledge in starting new churches.
Love—ask for the ability to love those without Christ.
Motivation—pray for leaders to be motivated to start new churches.
Needs—ask that the needs of new church planters will be met.
Openness—pray for an openness of attitude for new church starts.
Pray—pray and pray and pray and pray and pray for new churches in Mali.
Quiet—pray for new church leaders to be alone and quiet before God.
Revival—pray for revival that results in many new churches being started.
Salvation—ask the Lord for many to be saved in new churches.
Thanks—pray with a thankful heart for the new churches God will start.
Unsaved—lift those without Christ up to the Lord.
Vision—pray for the vision to start new churches.
Witness—ask God to lead you to someone today so you can share Jesus.
X-men—pray for all the unknown Mr. and Mrs. “X’s” in Mali.
Yes—pray “yes” I will be available to start a new church.
Zeal—ask God to fill workers with a great zeal to start churches.

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