Sue & Debbie & Jerry go to Mali (photos #4)

Dance party at our house...yes we danced all three nights in village...line dancing, traditional dancing and a hip hop dance.

Keep on dancin...

Keepin the beat for the dance partay.

Ambaybem & Fatamatah

Parents Visit (pics # 3)

Debbie and Ashley in front of the Mosque in the village of Ende.

Always a good view in Dogon Country.

Visiting the ruins of the Tellum near the village of Ende.

Hiking up to the cliffs of Bandiagara.

Our friends in the courtyard of Chez Ali

This guy tried to attack Debbie but she got away.

Puzzle time...Ashley didn't finish.

Snack time...Sue brought seven pounds of cheese...

Our village threw a big dance for Debbie, Sue and Jerry.

Debbie teaching line dancing to the kids in village (Ashley and Sue are helping)

Kaja gave Sue and Debbie a bowl of peanuts as a gift.

Kalibombo at sunset.

Painting a world map on the wall of the school in our village so the children can learn geography with a nice visual aid.

Gotta love that smile.

We visited the guys in our village who are making dogon cloth.

Fascinating to watch these guys work with these hand made looms.

Umar pumping some water to help with the cloths washing process.

The Malian clothes dryer.

Sue learning how much she likes a washing machine.

A few more pictures of washing clothes in village.

Celebrating Jerry's birthday at the "Cheyennes" of Bamako (The Relax)

I forgot to put pictures of Jerry's 62nd Birthday party, his first in Africa.

Having fun with the parents (a few photos)

We got off the bus for a few minutes for a bathroom break.

The vent in our bus was a little broken but I fixed it with a coke can.

The empty bus during a short break.

We finally got to the Hotel Falais in Bandiagara after traveling for 12 hours.

Waiting to be picked up by a SUV we hired to take us to village.

We made it to village and we needed to go do laundry so we headed to the pump.

A brother and sister washing near the pump while we washed clothes.

Meet the Parents!!

So Debbie, Sue, and Jerry have arrived on the continent of Africa. Ashley and I had not seen them for 18 months...which is far too long. Today we have just relaxed...ate one pound of the seven pounds of cheese that my mom (Sue) brought and are headed off to try and find a restaurant with some live Malian music.

We will spend one more day in Bamako (the capital city) and then head deep into the interior of Mali for a real adventure.

We wish everyone back home a Merry Christmas...we feel so blessed to be spending ours with family.

Sending our love.

Enjoying cheese and crackers in the court yard of our hotel.
Relaxing the night Debbie, Sue and Jerry arrived.
Relaxing at 3 a.m. after a long flight for our parents.
Debbie and Sue holding up the African outfits that Ashley had made for them.

My baby brother is ENGAGED!!!!!

Aaron, or most of you know him as Bubba, just got engaged. I am so excited for him and his new adventure with Becky. Unfortunately, we have never been able to meet Becky, because we have been in Mali, but Aaron speaks very highly of her, as does the rest of my family. Welcome to the Martin family, Becky, hold on tight, it may be a crazy ride! We love you both.

Joe and Ashley

Right after the proposal.

Love it!

A few memories from Tabaski and some other photos

These are a few photos and a video from the Muslim festival of Tabaski which took place on November 28th in our village. This is the most important celebration of the year for our friends in village so Ashley and I made sure that we put on our nicest outfits and joined in the celebration.

Me sitting with Baba Gouno who is one of my host dads in Mali...he is one of the nicest men and continually supplies us with fresh guavas, limes, and other delicious local fruits from his garden.

Elders in our village gathered for a prayer on the morning of Tabaski.

The Chief of our village (the man to the right of the gentleman in the green), we eat with him every evening...he might be the coolest man in Mali.

Ashley lookin Malian as we walk around village and greet everyone for the Tabaski festival.

Ashley is wearing a traditional Dogon outfit (in our village the woman hand spin the cotton and the men weave the cotton into strips of cloth, then the strips are dyed indigo with a pattern and you get a beautiful fabric to make outfits).

WARNING: video is a bit gross

The killing of a sheep for the Tabaski meal.

Ashley and I ran out of gas for our stove top so we had to heat water over some hot coals.

Ami sitting in our door after fetching us some water from the pump also a little baby sheep that wondered up to our door.

Ashley and I biking to village had to make sure we stayed out of the way of the cows.

Fatimata and Ambaybem over at our house goofing around.