where the paved road ends

kansas meets ayorou

2009-11-29T08:23:00.009-05:00

Mark's brother Jon & family came to visit Ayorou this past week. He had visited last April but his wife, Amy, and kiddos, Matthew (9) & Mollie (6) had yet to see the happenin' metropolis of Ayorou! Jon's trip was a bit different than the last time he came ... for one, Isabelle & I were not here; #2 the weather was much, much, much hotter; and #3 there were only 3 believers. This time around the weather was much nicer, the entire family was around to welcome him & his family to Niger and they were able to participate in the first church of Ayorou!

We had a blast having them in Ayorou with us! Jon can make Mark laugh like no other person & that's how we usually spend 2/3 of our time with them. We reserve at least 1/3 for serious conversation or eating or sleeping. The kiddos did great for their first international trip, in a country where they can't speak the language and 7 hours off their regular schedule. We spent Thanksgiving in Niamey with about 45 other people and feasted like nobody's business! All in all, the week was GREAT!

Isabelle loved showing her cousins around Ayorou ... donkey cart style!

The boys conquered Mt Kendaji once again! This time the hike was not so bad considering the weather was about 30 degrees cooler than when Jon was here last April. (ps - 30 degrees cooler still was around 100 degrees!)

Amy & I chillin with the kiddos. Now, where are our kiddos? Hmmm ...

Mark & his brother have a very unique relationship. There are just no words for this picture.

We had a great time with the Phillips family! Ayorou fell in love with them & they with Ayorou. Of course, who doesn't fall in love with Ayorou?!

Sadly, we waited all week to get a family picture together. This was their last night in Niger & it was almost 9 pm ... way past Isabelle's bed time (hence, the very tired look in her eyes).

pizza by the river

2009-11-20T17:39:00.002-05:00

With us getting ready to leave in January for our 6 month stateside, we realized that we did not have much time left together as a Songhai team this year. Our supervisors, Brad & Sally, are heading home for the holidays to be with their family & give their oldest daughter away in marriage to Mr Bobby Essler (a former student of ours). By the time they return, we'll already be in the States! So for our final team get-together, we packed up, headed to the river & had a wonderful evening of fellowship & brick oven pizza!

What better way to start an evening by the river than a little time in the boat trying to catch some fish?

Sally, the fabulous chef, works hard on rolling out the dough for our pizzas.

Brad has the lovely job of placing the pizzas into the burning fire. With this brick oven, the pizzas take only a few minutes to cook because the flames are so hot!

Randy got the privilege of having the first pizza out of the oven. He didn't wait on anyone to dig in!

Look at that deliciousness!

Yummy pizza, bottled cokes, great company, beautiful view, semi-cool weather, less than 10 mosquito bites ... a great evening indeed!

Ibrahim gets it

2009-11-19T17:28:00.000-05:00

The Gospel comes with consequences. We, who have been purchased by the blood of Christ, understand this. The cost of discipleship, the dying to sin, the implications of the Gospel on everything from our speech to our attitude is countless. These consequences are realized when we truly believe the Gospel is exactly what it claims to be.

I write this because of one of these consequences that Ibrahim has come to understand. We were talking about Jesus’ words at the end of Luke when a resurrected Christ explains to his disciples that from the Mosaic Law to all of the writings of the prophets, they were all writing about Him.

This is especially important for someone with an Islamic background to understand. In their faith, each prophet has a time or period. In that time, god-fearers should follow that prophet. In other words, those living in the time of Moses should follow him. This is how they explain Jesus as a prophet, a very good one in fact, whose time has nonetheless passed. Understanding that all the prophets were pointing to Christ as the Alpha and Omega is critical in understanding Christ Biblically for the Muslim background believer.

So as Ibrahim and I were talking through this he asked a very logical question. He said, “So what about people like Abraham and Moses who lived before Christ? Are they in hell?” This showed that he understood one must have salvation in Christ to be saved. I quickly flipped to Hebrews to talk about how these faithful men looked forward and believed in Christ.

As I was sitting there ready to move on, Ibrahim’s face changed. I asked him if he didn’t understand something. Quite the opposite. He was coming face to face with a consequence of the Gospel. He looked at me and said, "All of my family and friends who have died are in hell.”

Here sat this illiterate, still relatively new, believer who understood something on a personal level that remained merely on a theological level for me. Many seasoned believers have not reached this level of maturity as they rationalize an Anti-Great Commission attitude claiming God must save those who’ve never heard or He must save those who are faithful people who just have the terminology wrong.

Ibrahim REALLY believes that no other name saves but Christ. Ibrahim REALLY believes those who don’t know Christ will spend eternity in a real place called Hell. Ibrahim REALLY believes the Gospel, no matter how hard the consequences.

After a few seconds Ibrahim looked at me and said, “But that’s changing now, isn’t it? My family is changing history.”

May we all be ready and willing to face the consequences of the Gospel message.

it's a ...

2009-10-06T15:29:00.000-05:00

BOY!! That's right ladies & gents, we are having ourselves a little boy! His name will be Luke Cleveland Phillips. To give a little background on the name, we decided early on that we wanted our children to know where their names came from. So we agreed that we would give each child one Biblical name and one family name. Isabelle's name comes from my great-grandmother and Ruth, of course, comes from the Bible. For Luke, his first name obviously is the Biblical name and his middle name is from my great-grandfather. Mark likes to think that we named him Luke so he can say, "Luuuuke, I am your faaaaaather." Others may think that we are now "completing the Gospels," so to speak, in Mark's family with his brother & nephew being named Jon & Matthew. Nope, as cute as both of those are, those didn't factor in with the name at all.

People have also been asking us are we excited? scared? Yes & yes! Yes we are excited to have another child but we are also scared because this is another responsibility on our hands. Let me clarify that a little further ... another God given responsibility on our hands to make sure this little fella grows in the wisdom & stature of the Lord. That's a heavy responsibility & one we don't take lightly. So, naturally, it sometimes scares us to think of having not one, but two, children to raise!

In terms of the boy factor, we are both excited & scared, too. When we found out that we were pregnant with Isabelle, Mark was terrified! He didn't know a thing about girls or girly stuff - playing with dolls, dressing up, putting bows in hair, etc, etc. It was all new territory for him. But as soon as he held her in his arms, he was in love and he now knows the wonderful gift of a Daddy/daughter relationship. So it is with me & this boy thing. I am excited, of course, but scared too. The whole cars, trucks, mud & guns thing is all new territory for me. I don't think "blue," I think "pink." But it doesn't mean that I'm not excited, as I think some people have misunderstood me. It's just new territory for me & a new adventure, but one I'm very excited to embark upon.

My sister thinks I'm weird for thinking like this but, let me just tell you, boys & girls are VERY different! VERY. Isabelle has never shot pee across the room or my face, for one. After being in student ministry for 6 years, I know, know, know there are vast differences. Us ladies liked to go have coffee or sit inside the house & chat til 4 am. We liked to get dressed up & paint our nails and our idea of being adventurous was toilet papering someone's house, all the while giggling uncontrollably about it because we were so scared of getting caught. Mark & the fellas, on the other hand, would be outside making up games with soccer balls, throwing small balls of flame or shooting pellets at each other, having pizza eating contests at Cici's or daring each other to down an entire bowl of pico de gallo at Puerto Vallarta. Fancy coffee, inside, nails, chit chatting - that's me. Flame ball, eating contests, not much on talking - this is the new adventure I'm in for!

that's my girl

2009-10-02T16:28:00.003-05:00

I'm sure these might find their way onto Izzy's blog but they were too cute for a proud dad to pass up.

Enjoy

2009-10-02T12:53:00.002-05:00

There have been many moments in my life I've thought "oh man, if I'd just had a video camera to capture that moment for all time!" Thankfully, I don't have to say that about this moment...

Thanks Richard and Shawn for a great week of ministry! We had a blast and the people of Ayorou will remember you forever!

Richard and Shawn

2009-10-02T11:44:00.006-05:00

Living Hope has been such a unique partner with our ministry in Ayorou. They first came in 2007 and helped as we laid a foundation of prayer. A team then came in 2008 and was part of our mass seed-sowing effort. Now, in 2009 they've sent two teams to disciple our believers. Richard was part of the 2008 team and couldn't believe how much a village could change in one year!

The guys did an awesome job and our believers were faithful to attend the sessions. Living day to day means they literally left everything to come and hear these lessons about their new faith.

As the pictures will show, these guys got to experience Ayorou in all of its glory!

Richard and Shawn got to see and even work a little on Ibrahim's millet farm.

The guys taught 2 lessons each day. Our believers came anxious to learn. They then went out each afternoon alongside Richard and Shawn to distribute cassettes in their areas of town.

We had 7 people pray to receive Christ during the week. These were all fruit from our believers sharing with their families and friends.

On their last night, Hamsatou cooked a delicious meal for all of our believers.

"hmmm, there's probably no amoebas in there...right?"

What trip to Ayorou isn't complete without meeting Nadia, the queen of Ayorou.

The Songhai men hold hands as a sign of friendship, 3 years later and it still creeps me out but Shawn said this was his favorite part of the culture.

Richard and Shawn showing Ibrahim how they roll in the BG!

Richard and Shawn with Hamsatou

At the river with some of our male believers after a baptism.

Richard said something about how American donkeys were so much cooler than Ayorou donkeys. One thing led to another....

The trip ended with a giraffe visit.

farming

2009-09-17T17:25:00.003-05:00

This year I've been able to go to the farm with Ibrahim multiple times each week. Our friendship has grown so much during this time as we spend 4-5 hours working and talking. Thanks to cassettes and an amazing tool called the Proclaimer, we have listened to many books of the New Testament while we worked.
Farming here looks like it did centuries ago. It is hard and slow work during the hottest months of the year. Here's some pics from the farm.

This is the before picture. One day of work would usually clear an area 3-4 times the size of this little patch.

This is the after picture. Using a 6-8 inch spade-like blade on the end of a long stick, the entire farm is plowed 2-3 times.

These are our on-the-site job inspectors. Parker brought her friend Houray (Ibrahim's wife) and their daughter Nafisa for a surprise inspection!

Ibrahim and I received a B+ for our work. This was enough for us to strike a pose!

August Newsletter

2009-09-16T18:25:00.000-05:00

isabelle's big announcement

2009-08-09T17:15:00.002-05:00

That's right ladies & gents ... Isabelle is going to be a big sister on or around February 25, 2010. The Phillips family is going from 3 to 4. Izzy's little bro or sis is already a very active little thing. We went to have an ultrasound done yesterday and he/she was moving around so much that the doctor couldn't get a good reading to hear the heart beat. We, however, were okay with this because we saw for ourselves that we've got a healthy baby on the way ... following in his/her sister's footsteps!

living hope ... back again!

2009-08-01T16:56:00.000-05:00

We love, love, love having our home church come to visit. They have seen the entire process of what has happened in Ayorou & been a vital part of all of it. They helped us lay the groundwork of prayerwalking all the Songhai areas of Ayorou. They came back to help us evangelize those areas. And after many have come to faith since their last visit, they returned in June to help us in discipling these new believers. They were a blessing to us & our believers.

The week started off to a rocky start with Isabelle being hospitalized due to anemia. Izzy & I had to stay back in Niamey for most of their stay which meant all the cooking responsibilities were heaped on Mark plus his other duties. Luckily, I had done some prep work in cooking ahead of time and all the team had to worry about were the sides or fixin's. They were so flexible & understanding of our situation & went above & beyond to help out. The week really couldn't have gone any better.

It is always "scary" to do disciple trips with a volunteer team. With evangelism, you are hitting different houses each day & you visit whomever may be home. With discipleship, you are asking the same group of people to meet more than once a day for multiple days. In a "schedule free" culture, this has proven difficult more times than not. However, our believers were so committed to coming & studying the Word together. Again, the week could not have gone better. Thank you so much Living Hope!

Joneo, Dwan, Mary Beth & Amanda

Yeah for Living Hope!

Joneo & his African Christian brothers

The ladies helped prepare a traditional African meal for our believers during their last evening in Ayorou. They did everything from cutting the meat to chopping the veggies to cleaning the rice to pounding the spices. And if you know any of the team members, you would understand just how much out of their comfort zone this is ... especially handling the meat! Mary Beth adds the pumpkin to the sauce before ...

...Joneo gives it a taste test...

...the ladies dishing it out...

...the finished product...

...and it is gooooooood!

Of course, after eating one must dance!

baptisms

2009-07-19T17:17:00.003-05:00

We baptized 5 believers this past week. Many of you prayed for Hamstitou to come to faith in Christ and rejoiced with us when, this past February, she joined our family! However, she has a real fear of the river and was waiting for the rains to fill up this giant trash hole behind her house. Parker, however, has a real fear of that giant trash hole. So, we dug a hole in our yard, put some plastic down, and a couple of trips to the river later and viola!

It was a sweet time as Parker baptized her friend Hamstitou who then baptized her friend Houray (Ibrahim's wife) who then baptized her oldest daughter Maryama.

Houray baptizing her daughter Maryama.

Hama then baptized his friend also named Hama.

too cute

2009-07-19T17:11:00.003-05:00

I think Parker will post this pic with a similar one on Izzy's blog but i'm here posting blogs tonight and this was too cute for daddy to pass up.

FBC Ayorou

2009-07-15T16:29:00.000-05:00

Just some pics of our "first" baptist church in Ayorou.

We always have a sweet time of singing, praying, reading God's Word, and taking Communion at our church gatherings.

As good Southern Baptists, we've already incorporated food into our meetings. We meet in the evening and have a delicious bean supper afterwards.

Izzy and Hawa enjoying their beans together.

happy 4th

2009-07-10T16:59:00.002-05:00

Nothing beats celebrating America's Independence day Niger-style. We dropped the kiddos off with a babysitter and went with some of our good friends to the Ambassador's House for a 4th of July celebration (on July 3rd). We were treated to the national anthem played by the national Niger band, sparklers instead of fireworks, and all you could drink cokes! Needless to say, pictures can't capture such a magical night!

Parx and Laura wondering when Niamey got their first Wal-Mart.

Mark and Greg with the Ambassador. We're expecting an email from her any day asking for a copy of this.

Ibrahim's first baptism

2009-06-03T16:20:00.005-05:00

We've tried to instill in our believers from day one their responsibility in the work of the Gospel. We never wanted them to think it was our job (the missionaries) to do everything. When I baptized Ela I told him "this is your job now."

Most of our believers have embraced this and share their faith consistently. One day I overheard Ibrahim tell someone "I don't know a lot of the Bible but here's what I do know" and he proceeded to give one of the clearest Gospel presentations I've ever heard.

We've been trying to work ourselves out of a job from our arrival in October 2006. We were taught at our training a little acronym MAWL (Model, Assist, Watch, and Leave). When we took most of April for a vacation we were anxious to see how our believers did in our absence. They continued to meet for church and Ibrahim led two friends to Christ!

This sort of ministry philosophy can get a little interesting though as we must sort through what the Bible clearly teaches and what sorts of cultural things we (as Americans) bring to the table (our baggage). Just like when I say the word "church" most of you picture a building, people wearing nice clothes, instruments, pews, and all sorts of other things. None of these are wrong or bad but they're not all Biblical mandates. Our church meets on Tuesday mornings at Ibrahim's house. Our new believer's get grilled with questions when they enter the river to be baptized. Ela started this and our believers have all adopted this.

This point was illustrated for me a few months ago when Ibrahim baptized his first person. I had baptized Ela just like I'd baptized people in the States. He adopted this same "style" when he baptized Ibrahim but his finger slipped off his nose and Ibrahim just sort of dropped into the water.

This was the first baptism Ibrahim had ever seen and so (building in the DNA of them carrying on the work) Ibrahim was to baptize the next believer. The following video is that baptism.

My first reaction was "Did Benny Hinn just enter Ibrahim!" Actually I thought "Oh man, he did that all wrong." And then I realized, did he? It was not how I would do it or had ever seen it done for that matter, but that didn't make it wrong.

I'm sure we're in store for many, many more events like this that remind us that the church looks very different in Ayorou than it did in Bowling Green but that's what makes it so beautiful!

Meet Ibrahim

2009-06-03T15:48:00.003-05:00

At our church in Ayorou a few weeks ago we read the story of the miraculous catch and the calling of the first disciples. We always end by asking what you will remember most about this story and share with your friends and family. Ibrahim looked at me and said "to follow Jesus means we must leave everything behind."

God continues to remind us that he has plans for Ayorou that we cannot control or even see. When Isa became the first Songhai man to believe we were sure we had found the foundation of Ayorou's first church. Then, he was sent a thousand miles away to serve in the military. Then came Ela. He was so passionate about his new faith we were certain God would build His church with Ela. Then Ela moved to Mali.

And now there is Ibrahim. He is not who we would have thought God would use but that is what is happening. Ibrahim is growing in leaps and bounds and maturing fast in his new faith. He has baptized friends of his whom he has led to Christ.

He faces constant persecution from friends. The other day someone offered him a good chunk of money to convert back to Islam! But Ibrahim said "Jesus has saved me, you can't buy salvation." He is unashamedly following Christ in a Muslim culture.

Each day we are more and more convinced that God is going to build His church with Ibrahim. Here's how you can pray for him:

* Ibrahim cannot read but desires to learn. Two girls from the States are spending 5 months in Ayorou to teach literacy. Pray that Ibrahim will be able to learn to read quickly.

* Ibrahim continues to share with his wife who has not believed yet. He asked me to ask you to pray for Houray, his wife.

* Ibrahim, like most Songhai, lives on almost nothing and never knows if there will be money tomorrow. He has opened a little shop. Pray that God would bless this business as a testimony to God's blessing on Ibrahim.

* Pray for God to protect Ibrahim from Satan's attacks. Ibrahim has suffered from his faith in many ways. The other day he told me "You know, following Jesus is not easy, but it is good."

Happy Birthday Isabelle!

2009-05-30T10:01:00.004-05:00

Isabelle celebrated her first birthday. The day before she turned 1 year old she started walking! It is so much fun to walk around with her & to visit friends in Ayorou with her holding onto my hand. We don't get very far, of course, before she gets tired but it's a start. To celebrate her birthday, we had planned to be in Ayorou on her actual birthday (May 15) and then we were going to have a party with some friends on Sunday, May 17. Well, due to some unforeseen events (aka - sicknesses), we were in Niamey for both. Isabelle celebrated her birthday twice. Yes, she had 2 cakes & she loved them both! We'll put more pictures on her blog of all the festivities.

I know every parent experiences this but it's so hard to believe that she is already a year old!

Isabelle & her first cake. She was very dainty with this cake & hardly got messy at all.

Her second cake, a cupcake, was a little more messy ... much to her father's delight.

goodbye America

2009-05-29T09:52:00.000-05:00

Our time in the States was terrific. It was busy & went by too quick but we had a great time seeing all of our family and visiting with so many friends. We are looking forward to next year when we will be able to spend a little bit longer with everyone while we are home on our Stateside Assignment. A lot of people asked how Isabelle did on the flights to & from the States and with the 6 hour time difference. On the way to America, she did fantastic. A few whines on the trans-Atlantic flight but, by the end of the flight, I was whining, too. She adjusted very quickly to the time difference in America and never missed a beat. On the way back to Niger, the flights were not as easy but she never full out cried or pitched a fit on the plane. Many different passengers told us how well behaved she was & one man that sat behind us even said, "I didn't know a baby was on this flight." Way to go Belle!

Our little world traveler. What a trooper - in 25 days she traveled from Niger to Paris to America and back again, went through 7 time zones & back again, visited 3 different States, slept in 5 different locations & was introduced to a slew of people for the first time. It was a lot for a little girl but she did great!

And how did we handle it all? Starbucks baby! Oh White Chocolate Mocha, we will meet again soon! Only 11 more months!

vacation with the Phillips

2009-05-28T09:27:00.000-05:00

We sandwiched our vacation in the States with visits to Franklin, Kentucky to spend time with Mark's family. We hung out on Winston Lane while Isabelle enjoyed lots & lots of time playing with Gaga & Papa while Mark and I ran 1001 errands to Bowling Green. Isabelle was also able to meet her Uncle Jon, Aunt Amy & cousins Matthew & Mollie for the first time. They had tons of fun playing together. We were also able to worship at First Baptist Franklin where they gave Isabelle a baby shower. It was a great week of hanging out, catching up on sleep & eating some GREAT food! The highlight of the our last weekend was celebrating Don's birthday with a meal at Shogun & Big D doing the chicken dance!

Isabelle with Gaga & Papa

The crazy Phillips fam

Don't we looked relaxed & rested?

Isabelle meets Shogun ... the infatuation has been passed down from father to daughter

Isn't this a gorgeous cake?! Two fabulous ladies from FBC made this for Isabelle for her baby shower. Thanks Kathy & Wanda!

vacation in BG

2009-05-27T09:11:00.000-05:00

Didn't y'all know that Bowling Green, Kentucky is a hot vacation spot? I tell you, it is indeed. Especially if you lodge at the LH Missions House! We spent about 5 days of our vacation in BG hanging out with friends & enjoying the wonderful, fabulous accommodations of the missions house. Our friends Cory & Courtney came up from Dandridge, TN with their 2 girls (Ansley who was born right before we left for the field & Lila who was born exactly 3 months after Isabelle). They were able to stay at the house with us for 2 nights. My friend Amanda took 2 days off work to join in on the slumber party, too! We were also able to meet our friends, the Hastes, son for the first time. It was babies everywhere! When we left in October 2006 & even when we visited last November, there was just Ansley. Well we have definitely multiplied and can fill up a house!

Some of our other BG friends (the Lewises, the Wellmans, the Carwiles, Sarah Bo, Brie & the Barnes) also dropped by. Unfortunately, we only took pictures of the kiddos.

Aunt Badanda & Isabelle reunited! It's been a long 9 months since they saw each other last. But only a few more weeks & she'll be back here in the hot Niger heat once again!

Isabelle & her daddy having fun at the Chucky Cheese arcade.

Isabelle & Haddon playing together. As the older baby of the bunch, the Belle naturally had to show Haddon the ropes.

Lila & Isabelle having a little girl's tea party!

vacation with the Hills

2009-05-26T08:48:00.000-05:00

We need to do some mucho catching up on our blogs ... if you haven't noticed! We'll start way back in April with our trip to the States. For 10 days of our vacation we were with my (Parker) family. My parents met us in Kentucky and from there we traveled to South Carolina where we visited grandparents, aunts & uncles. We then spent a week in Tennessee where we met up with my sister & her family. Isabelle was able to meet her Aunt BJ, Uncle Nathan & cousins Chord & Emory for the first time. This was also the first time that Mark & I were able to meet Emory, my sister's 16 month old son. During that week, I caught up on the Food Network while Mark caught up with golfing! Of course we also reconnected with Wal-Mart and a few of our favorite restaurants.

The Hill clan & kiddos

The kiddos goofing off at mini-golf

Oh wait, was that just supposed to be for the kids? Oops!

Grilling up lots & lots of meat. Wind, rain or shine ... the Hill family will grill meat!

4 generations

Isabelle meeting her Mimi (dad's mom) for the first time

after these messages, we'll be right back

2009-05-03T06:32:00.004-05:00

You must be wondering, "Where are those Phillips people at? Have they fallen off the face of the earth?" Well, no, we haven't fallen off the face of the earth but we have traveled across it. We went to the States for vacation for 3 1/2 weeks to visit family and friends and to introduce the Belle to her home land. We'll post some pictures later on her blog of all her fun meeting her aunts, uncles & cousins for the first time and reuniting with grandparents. We also think she gained about 5 pounds after we introduced her to American food including her new favorites - BBQ Pork, Zaxby's chicken & Moe's cheese quesadillas. This girl can eat! But I digress ...

I'm sure you are all pleased that we had a fun vacation but are more curious about the state of Ayorou. We didn't even realize that we hadn't updated you on the latest happenings before we left for America let alone what's happened while we were gone. One of our friends in America said something about the 11 new believers and I said, "11? There are like 17 now!" Actually, we're not sure how many believers there are in Ayorou because people have continued to accept Christ while we were away. Mark spoke with Ibrahim twice on the phone while we were in America and he had led 3 people to the Lord & baptized them all! We are very excited to return to Ayorou today & see just what all the Lord has done in our absence.

There is so much to tell and just not enough time. Please excuse our absence in posting during our vacation or since we've been back. Please pray for our bodies to get over this jet lag ... for the last 5 nights, Isabelle has woken up WIDE awake at midnight ready to play! This will make for some interesting times tonight when we sleep outside. We'll be back in a couple of weeks with more stories & pictures & a newsletter.

Until then, here are some pictures of our new believers before we left for America. If you notice, both Hama & little Ibrahim have each led a friend to the Lord & baptized them. Young or old, these new believers are getting it. It is SO exciting to be a part of this & I hope you understand how much you a part of it, too, through your prayers!

professional pics

2009-04-07T14:39:00.000-05:00

A family friend of ours offered to give us one of the greatest gifts ever ... taking pictures of us as a family. This family friend, Cameron Powell, is a fabulous photographer & videographer. He actually did our wedding video. He was in high school then but now he's all grown up and a very talented & established photographer. We were looking at his website a few months ago and I told Mark, "I don't care how much he costs, I want him to take pics of Izzy when we're home." Well, he offered before we even asked. And we are SO glad he did! The pictures turned out fabulous!! You can see more pictures of Isabelle on her blog.

Thank you SOOOOO much Cameron! Check out this fabulous photographer at www.cameronpowell.net.

change

2009-04-06T19:41:00.004-05:00

Here's the video we shared at FBC Franklin this past Sunday. Thanks to all our prayer partners! God is changing Ayorou through your prayers!