Improving?

I am trying to not get my hopes up, but I did get some slightly encouraging news from the embassy today. Hopefully this means things are moving along in the right direction. I should know more by Thursday, but this is Africa, so I never hold my breath for things to happen. But I’m glad God is in charge of all of this and not me or anyone else.  I can't wait to tell you all of the wonderful ways I've seen God move through all of this when it's all said and done. 
Today’s been a good day… I met some nice new friends in the embassy. I got to enjoy a fabulous pastry and an iced mocha. I had my first boda ride in a downpour. Thanks goodness, I left Mercy at the house to nap! Then we had a wonderful dinner at Herb and Ellen Cook’s house. It was a “goodbye” dinner for Anne (student that’s been staying here with the Howards for 3 months). And then I got to have a short visit with our friends the Taylors again. They came into town to take some other missionaries to the airport and help another with her restocking. I hope to spend some more time with them tomorrow or Wednesday.

Some of Mercy’s new tricks… she’s great at waving “bye-bye” and blowing kisses, she’s walking more each day, but still is fastest at scooting, and she is becoming quite the climber. Today during her nap, she woke up and climbed out of her pack and play and onto my bed. Oh dear! She seems to be understanding more and more English and also Luganda. The primary tribal language in Kampala is Luganda, but Mercy’s language is Lugwere. The Howards are trying to learn Luganda so we use quite a few simple words around the house. The other day, I swear Mercy said, “Jangu” (not sure on spelling,) which means “come here” in Luganda. Love it!

And have I mentioned Mercy’s love of vegetables? It makes sense after Anna, her former caregiver, explained to me that they live primarily off of their huge garden. But it seems very funny to me compared to Emma and Avery and my constant nagging to please eat some vegetables. If a plate of food is in front of her, the first thing Mercy grabs are the veggies, especially if there are tomatoes. She loves tomatoes, cabbage, avocado, onions, carrots, green beans and green peppers. She also loves fruit, especially bananas, green apples, raisins, pineapple, and jackfruit. But don’t worry, we’re also turning her into an American. She loves pizza, fries, potato chips, and candy.

Back at home, Cody is holding down the fort.  He even took the girls shopping this past weekend to get a few fall clothes.  If you know Cody and his love of shopping, you'd know how much I appreciate this! My man is being SuperDad... cleaning the house, getting kids ready for school, doing basketball/cheerleading sign-ups,  parent/teacher conferences, leaving work early to pick them up each day, and staying up way too late making sure everything is done and that he can talk to me on Skype when I wake up.  What an amazing man God gave me!  And there there is our wonderful church family... each week different people have taken the girls for special outings, given them extra hugs, and cooking meals.  How could we ever do this without you all?  And both, Emma and Avery's teachers were sweet enough to send me reports on how they are doing in class this quarter.  I even got Avery's report card emailed to me so I can look it over and see if I have any questions before their conference.  What a blessing!
Thanks for your many emails and messages of love and support. I promise you I am not as strong as you all seem to think. It’s your prayers and God getting me through this whole thing. I am confident that there is an end in sight, just not sure when yet. So I am living each day and looking for ways God can use me while I am here. I’m working on some Mama Kit stuff this week, so stay tuned for updates on that project. I’m amazed at your support of this effort and wondering what God is going to do with it.