Random Udpates

Sorry I’ve been a bit MIA this past week.  The power was out for several days, so I wasn’t able to be online much.    Nothing like no electricity for a few days to make you really appreciate the finer things in life like hot showers, fans, computers, and refrigeration.  Hard to imagine how many people in Uganda and all over the world live every single day without power. 

Cody flies out this afternoon.  He’ll have about 24 hours of travel time, so he’ll arrive in Uganda late tomorrow night.  He has some pretty quick connections times, so pray that all goes smoothly.  I dreamed last night that he missed his flight in Brussels and was stranded there for a few days.  Oh, I sure hope not!!  As you can imagine, I’m pretty excited to see him.

Later this week, Cody gets the chance to teach some local church leaders in a village several hours outside Kampala.  Cody is really looking forward to it.  He’s hoping to be able to complete a survey of the Old Testament.  These leaders have little, if any, formal training on the Bible.  Cody is really hoping he can make it through all of the material and that they will understand it all.  After he teaches we’ll then spend a day or so sight-seeing at Lake Mburo National Park.  We’ll be enjoying some “rustic” conditions, which always make for some good laughs.  Should be fun!

Mercy is learning so many new things each day.  Her language is exploding and it is so fun to watch.  The other day we walked just down the road to a little market.  On the way back, a motorcycle passed us.  She said, “boda boda”.   She said it so clearly it made me and the boda driver laugh.  Another new favorite is telling me to “come”.  She will stand there motioning for me and saying “come” over and over until I get up and see what she wants.   And then she has full conversations in what we call “Mercy language”.  She is so serious and she gets so upset when we don’t have a clue what she is talking about.  She is also getting very good at climbing things and going up stairs.  Let me tell you, this girl gets into everything.  Watching her is really a 24 hour job.  When you aren’t looking she will reprogram your phone, put on makeup, tear apart tea bags, climb up the stairs, pour water on the floor, and cover herself in body wash… just to name a few.

Here’s a good Mercy and “Lo Lo” story for you.  The other night, Lawrence, Mercy and I met some people at a very nice Italian restaurant for dinner.  The place had glass everything and white tablecloths.  So we were having a hard time containing Mercy while we were waiting for our food.  Lawrence decided to walk Mercy around for a bit while we waited.  They came back in a few minutes and Mercy was holding a cookie.  Lawrence then told me that they went to the kitchen.  He said that Mercy told him to “come” and led the way like she knew where she was going, so off they went into the kitchen.  I told him, “Lawrence, you can’t do that.”  He said, “It’s ok, they all really liked Mercy.  The cooks all held her and then they gave her the cookie.”  Oh my!  Pretty sure we should never go back there again.

I must brag on my skills and tell you that I successfully removed Mercy’s yarn braids by myself.  Ok, it’s really not that hard, but I was still proud.  All you do is cut them past where her real hair is and then untwist.  This is what it looked like afterwards. 

It’s amazing to me how much her hair is grown.  It’s hard to tell normally because it is so curly that after you wash it the hair shrinks right back up into kinks.  She’s going au natural right now and I think it’s very cute.   

She did not really want to cooperate with photos!

Another funny for you… this morning I was trying to pick out Mercy’s hair.  I was going to apply some coconut oil.  I could not get it to come out, so I squeezed the bottle a bit harder and coconut oil spewed out everywhere!  Thank goodness we were on the porch and not inside, and now Mercy and I smell very tropical.

Good news on Mama Kits.  I’ve had a couple of people contact me recently that want to raise money to buy more kits.  One woman is trying to raise enough money to buy 300 more.  Very exciting!  This afternoon I get to deliver 50 kits to another crisis pregnancy center that works with teenage mothers.  And I’m hearing good reports that the kits are making a difference.  A mission team that stayed here with us a couple of weeks ago, visited the home where we first delivered the kits.  Without knowing that the team knew me, the director told them what a blessing the kits had been.  Also, one of the missionaries that I gave kits to told me that she passed all of hers out and wants more because they’ve been so helpful to the mothers she’s ministering to.  I have leads on two more ministries that might be able to use Mama Kits.  I hope to follow up on those in the next couple of weeks. It’s so exciting to see your donations in action and making a difference in the lives of the women and babies of Uganda.

 Don’t forget to get your t-shirt orders to me by Thursday.  Thanks!!