Sirakoro Trip

These pictures are from Bryon's recent trip to Sirakoro, Mali. On this trip they were delivering bookbags and school supplies to schools that were started through the US government. You can see in the pictures that they were given the grande welcome. There was a ceremony to recognize the relationship between the school and the US and it was a big celebration. It's nice seeing how we are making a positive impact in countries around the world. Education is so important and I wish everyone had the opportunities to receive an education like we have in this country.

Alaska Trip

Home From Alaska!!!

These are some of the pictures taken on my cruise to Alaska last week. I went with my MawMaw Bettis (my mom's mom). We cruised on Carnival Cruise Lines on the ship Spirit. We departed from Whittier and disembarked in Vancouver, British Columbia and had a great time! The ship stopped in Sitka, Juneau, Skagway and Ketchekan and cruised the College Fjords and Inside Passage. We also took a train into the Yukon of Canada and bussed into the middle of no where into the town of Carcross. On top of all that, we had a beautiful balcony room and the temperature was in the upper 40's-low 50's, my perfect temperatures! Molly did just fine and enjoyed a lot of excellent food and R&R.

The train from Skagway into the Yukon Territory. Without a doubt, some of the most beautiful and majestic views and landscape in the whole world. God truly is great and generous to give us such wonders to look at.

MawMaw and I at dinner on formal night. I think this night we had Alaskan Salmon and Baked Alaska for desert! Yummy!


Me on the deck of our room on the cruise ship. What a great view we had!


I took this picture on the upper deck of the ship during one of my morning walks. The air is so clean and brisk, just the way I like it!

The still waters off of our ship.

Me attempting to push a dog sled. Don't worry I didn't try really hard. Just wanted it to look like I did.

On our 1.5 mile walk through the rainforest. Fortunately for us, no bears were seen. I did learn though that the majority of the 'soil' in Alaska is rock, so trees cant grow deep roots. What happens is that trees fall over, decompose and new foliage grows out of the decomposed brush. You can see this in the trees to the right of the picture.


This is our room on the ship. Check out that view!

Me on the beach in Juneau, the capital of Alaska. On a side note, the jacket I'm wearing is Bryons. None of my will zip up anymore! Molly is poking out too much now! It was great with me wearing Bryon's jacket, like my dad said, it's like having a big hug from him every day.

Off to Alaska!

Just wanted to let you all know that I'm headed off tomorrow to the most beautiful state in the US, Alaska!! I will be going with my mawmaw, and Molly of course and we will be gone until June 18th. I'll be sure to post pictures when I get home. Please keep us in your prayers. It will be an enormous relief to get away from this heat for awhile and get to experience God's beautiful countryside that is so unique to Alaska. We will be going on Carnival Cruise lines. I will post again in a week!

Oh and happy birthday to Mary Sargent, Diane, and my mawmaw, whose birthdays will be celebrated while I'm gone and Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there reading this. Especially to my and Bryon's dads, we wouldn't be who we are without you all!

love to everyone,
Haley

Soccer Match

Bryon sent me these pictures from his soccer matches the past two Saturdays. The match last weekend was between the US Embassy (Bryon's team) and the Malian Ministry of Health and the game this week was between the US Embassy and the Foreign Service Nationals, which are the Malians who work at the embassy.

My husband who doesn't even like soccer is a starter and has really started to enjoy it. It helps being one of the biggest guys on the team. Even the ambassador plays on occasions! Who would have known soccer was such an international sport? I'm sure you can pick him out, he's the tall guy in the blue shirt (and white shirt in two photos), with blonde hair. The other picture is of the city where the matches and runs are held and the opponent team last week as they greeted each other before the game.

Armed Forces Day

Bryon's official army picture taken when he entered the army

I know this is late but May 17th, 2008 was Armed Forces Day. The day when we thank our men and women serving active duty in the military for their hardwork. I would imagine the majority of you did not even know about this day. I would have never have known it even existed had Bryon not told me. We have Veterans day which we celebrate those who have served, we have Memorial Day to commemorate those who have given their lives in service and Armed Forces Day to thank those who are currently serving. It is my hope that one day, Armed Forces Day will become equally important as the other two days. So, I want to thank you Bryon for your selfless dedication to this country. Know how much you are appreciated and how proud I am to have you as my husband. Molly will be so proud of her daddy, you truly are a hero.

Bryon leading the pack in basic training

Bald Bryon with his cool glasses during basic training

Bryon in his formal uniform

Cinco de Mayo

Bryon at the embassy's Cinco de Mayo party. And yes, he was the designated driver, this is just him being his normal goofy self.. love you sweetie!

Mali news update

Mali: UN Secretary-General Warns of Deteriorating Situation

See links below for complete story:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805230889.html


other links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7310115.stm
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=26767&Cr=west&Cr1=africa

More trip photos

Bryon sent me these other photos from his trip last week. A few of them made me chuckle because no matter where you go in Africa, you will see sights like this. People and goods piled mile high on a little dingy pick up truck and long dusty dirt roads with nothing in sight for miles. You also see the sadder pictures like rows of shacks where people live and precious food stores being carefully paid attn to and guarded. With all of that said, you see so many smiles on children's faces and children making use of whatever they have access to as toys and games.

Trip to Djenne and Mopti

Bryon sent me these pictures today from his trip this week to Djenne and Mopti, neighboring cities in Mali. The mud mosque is the largest mud structure in the world. You can also see in one picture where the team handed out bookbags to local children. And in the bottom picture, the chief was scheduled to meet with the President of Mali and told the President he would have to wait until he finished entertaining his guests, Bryon's team! Talk about rolling out the red carpet.

It's A Girl!!!

The picture you see was created by Bryon, the proudest daddy in Africa! We had our 19 week ultrasound today and we saw a beautiful little girl squirming around in there. Her heart was beating away at 140 beats per minute and all of her bones and skull measured perfectly. Her organs were each located and working well. The blood is flowing from the umbilical cord to the baby as it needs to and see was even posing for the camera! She surely didnt hide anything from us but was ready and eager to show us her little hamburger girl parts and even opened her eyes for us and sucked on the placenta. She was measuring a couple of days earlier this time that the last, but they said they wouldnt be changing the due date.

Bryon is thrilled. I sent him all of the ultrasound pictures and he was practically silent in awe looking at and studying them for a good 15 minutes. Then he said(typed), "Sweetie, we're having a little Molly!" It was precious and very Bryon. He will be a wonderful little girl daddy. I remember my dad always saying that being a daddy to a little girl isnt easy. You have to have an extra helping of patience, love and encouragment to help her be strong in herself. I know my sweet husband will be just perfect for the task.

Her name has a very special significance to us. So much has gone on in Bryon and my life in the past 6 months. Engagement, Wedding, 1 month of marriage then deployment, then Baby. We wanted to remember this time in our lives which has brought us so much happiness all at once! Bryon is currently deployed to the nation of Mali, which is pronounced Molly. We decided on that name to commemorate the unexpected blessing that she is. If Bryon hadn't been deployed, we wouldnt have her now, so we felt it was fitting to name her such. Plus we love that name :)

And Jane is after my mom, Jane Hoke. My mother is the second most important person in my life, after my husband. She has raised all three of us girls with as much love, compassion and grace as any mother could. She has cared for our every need and enstilled in us all a strong sense of who we are and who we should be. She and my dad directed me into a relationship with the Lord and showed me in their lives what a Godly couple should look like. I always felt loved by her and I cant thank her enough for the role she has played in my life. So in honor of her, we decided to name our baby girl, Molly Jane.

Thanks to everyone for your support. Most of you reading this live far away but we wanted to make sure everyone knew our good news, from our mouths (so to speak). Please pray for our little girl as she continues to grow and develop. God's grace is so huge and his love for little children is far beyond even the love of a parent. We are so thankful for this little blessing.

Love to everyone,

Bryon, Haley and Molly