Moments with Mercy

Just a few laughs for you about my girl. To say she is an active two-year old may be an understatement.  She seriously keeps me on my toes.  She's fast.  Like really fast.  And as soon as your are the least bit distracted she is gone... climbing up the stairs to the neighbor's house, heading to the guard's room to visit, going next door to play with her friend, or climbing (maybe scaling is a better word) anything around. 

Yes, that's my daughter running around the compound with no pants or diaper on.  Oops!

The other day I filled a basin with water, put her in her swimsuit, and then gave her some toy cups and things to play with.  This is her heaven.  Pouring and splashing are her specialty.  The trouble, when I brought her inside I forgot to empty the basin.  Hours later, she escaped and where should I find her... sitting in the basin with all of her clothes on.  Thank goodness we didn't need to go anywhere.

Last night I told her that in a few minutes she was going to take a shower.  Then I was finishing up talking to Billy about some Oasis business when we heard the water and Mercy saying, "hot, hot".  She'd gone into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and was standing there soaking wet with her clothes on.  Oh my!  And don't worry, she says anything above lukewarm is hot, so she wasn't burned or anything. 

She showed off her smarts the other day for the "Libraries of Love" team.  I mentioned in my last post that they brought treats for Oasis, but they also brought things for me and Mercy.   They brought all kinds of goodies.  Mercy loved it and quickly gobbled up several of them, including mini-Oreos.   With no demonstration, she instinctively knew to pull the cookies apart and lick out the middle.  That's my girl!

While visiting with the ladies, Mercy refused to talk.  She acts shy around new people.  They finally got her giggling, but not talking.  I knew what I was in for on the way home... she talked the whole way.  It was like she'd bottled it all up from the past two hours and she let it loose.  The boda driver finally said, "She sure does make a lot of noise."  ha!!

And remember a couple of weeks ago when the first "Libraries of Love" team was here.  My friend, Debbie, on that team is a child development specialist and works for a program called "Parents as Teachers" in our school district.  Debbie knows that I always want to know about development things, so she brought all of the evaluations, fact sheets, and enrollment forms for me.  Mercy may be the only child internationally registered for PAT in the Mulvane District.  I love that Debbie knows me well enough to know I would want to know these things.  We laughed a few times while answering some of the questions.   I refused to answer questions like, "Does your child always ride in a proper car seat?", "Does your child wear a helmet and pads while riding a bicycle? (they don't mean motorcycles, right??), "Does your child receive regular medical checkups?".  Oh my, I don't have to answer these questions while in Africa.  I'll be happy to answer them later.  But the good news... Mercy is doing great and is right on track developmentally, which is amazing considering the baby I found last August when I came.

For the 4th of July, we went to a celebration hosted by the US Embassy and the American Club in Kampala.  It was a lot of fun.  They had hamburgers and hot dogs, entertainment of all kinds, little games for the kids, and face painting.  Mercy and I have seen face painting several other places, but she's always been to scared to get it done. Not this time.  When I asked her is she wanted her face painted, she confidently said, "Yes" (sounds like yesh).  There was quite the line so I told the guy to do a fast butterfly, which meant a half of one, but it sure was cute and she was very proud.  The evening ended with a fireworks show.  Mercy was petrified and refused to even look at them.  But I thought they were beautiful and they made me feel like I was back in the good ol' USA... for a brief moment.

Please continue to pray for us.  We are waiting for progress and praying for more patience.

"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." Psalm 20:7
"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Psalm 17:14