Happy Birthday Mercy!

Mercy is five today. We were so hoping to be with her to celebrate by now.

If she were here this is what we would be doing...

Kylie's fifth birthday a few years ago.

Dear Mercy,

I bet with the time change by now you are in bed. I hope you had a wonderful day celebrating your special day. I wish we could have been with you. I am so sorry everything is taking so long. I never expected this delay and my birthday wish to you is that you will be able to come to America very soon. I know how much you want a mommy and daddy who love you. We do love you very much! Hoping it's not much longer now that we get to hold you in our arms. Happy birthday sweet Mercy.

Love,

Mommy

No news. I bugged the lawyer tonight with yet another email.

I saw this quote today on Facebook, made me think....

Every morning you are handed 24 golden hours. They are one of the few things in this world that you get free of charge. If you had all the money in the world, you couldn't buy an extra hour. What will you do with this priceless treasure? Remember, you must use it, as it is given only once. Once wasted you cannot get it back

Beat down

Wow, I can tell that something big is about to happen. Because already satan is at work trying to tear me apart. Today I got an email from a close friend basically telling me all the things I have done to let her down the last few years. That she can't rely on me. That I am not a good friend. I have spent the last few hours in tears. I didn't know how to respond since it totally came out of the blue like a slap in the face. I wanted to defend myself and come up with all the things she's done to let me down but I prayed. I didn't say anything other than "I'm sorry, I had no idea" Then I just cried. My kids were very concerned about me. Elijah keeped asking if I am hurt. Try explaining what feelings are to a three year old! Not only does this hurt because the things she wrote were hurtful but because it came on top of other comments made to me by close family and friends as well. I feel torn apart and worthless. Add to the mix the cold/flu circling around and around our family. My body is weak and weary. Is this the enemy at work? I hope so, because if it is, I know who will win at the end!

An online friend/fellow adoptive mom warned me that adopting Mercy was going to be hard, to put on the full armor of God. I had no idea there would be personal attacks on me as well.

I read this excellent excerpt from a devotional on spiritual warfare:

While we don’t necessarily ignore thoughts and feelings from the past, it is vital that we don’t allow them to control our souls and emotions, but that we take them captive through prayers and declarations inspired by our spiritual mind. For example, is the enemy speaking rejection to me causing me to feel unwanted and unloved? I will respond that I am ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED and that the Lord has shown His love to me in many ways by His spirit and through His Body.

And this verse has been calling out to me as well:

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (New International Version)

⁸We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Patience

In a blog post from www.myownprivatehaiti.com, Katia Ulysse wrote about a recent half marathon where she met a more experienced runner.

"What’s your secret?” I asked her.

“Patience,” the lady said matter-of-factly. “I don’t have to finish the race in five seconds. Patience allows me to keep going while 90 percent of the runners leave me behind. With patience, I can run from here to the end of the world.”

I thought about the Haitian proverb: “Avèk pasyans, wa wè lonbrit foumi.” It takes patience to find an ant’s navel.

“Anyone can complete the distance,” the lady offered. “You need a big enough reason to start the race. But it takes patience to finish it.”

I am taking a little break from my fast to ask for more prayer. Please pray that things in Uganda will be resolved quickly so we can continue moving forward. Pray for our patience, and for Mercy. I am sure she is wondering what is taking us SO LONG!

Pierced

My little girl got her ears pierced last weekend. I so wish I could have been there to hold her hand. I heard she did really well and loves her earrings. Then I read about why the girls in Mercy's home all got their ears pierced. As I was reading the email I let out an "oh my gosh"...ready?

S. wrote:

On Saturday we gave all the girls holes in there ears and earrings. Mercy did very good and she loves them.
It was important to do so because there is a lot of sacrifice going on. They steal children, take some parts from them and then kill them.It is all withcraft!! it is happening a lot but last weekend it happened to a girl in our Neighbourhood. (a family member of one of our workers) They believe that the children need to be complete and virgins otherwise they don't take them that fast. So when they have earrings they are not complete.

I guess I was a bit ignorant about the culture/lifestyle in Uganda. I knew that there was some voodoo/witchcraft but I thought Haiti was far worse.

I also read this, from a facebook friend..
I just recently spent 6 weeks in Jinja. It is a very dark place. There is alot of withcraft and child sacrifice. They pierce their ears right away and even stick a kind of fishing line or stick/twig in there if they don't have earrings. This piercing renders them "damaged" and they are not pure anymore for sacrifice. One mama said they have to be soooo careful because even FAMILY members will come during the day if the children are alone or whatever and take the kids off to be sacrificed.

I wrote:
do they do something for the boys or they not at as great of a risk of being taken?

her reply:
not sure...read something about circumcision, but I can't remember the context...girls are overall considered "more valuable" in Ugandan culture because they work. That is why there are always more boys available for adoption. "http://www.layscience.net/node/884" this article speaks to circumcision and ear piercing although I don't know if this is a reputable source..just came across it one day...

Please pray for the protection of the children at Mercy's home, and in her village.

Mercy story

Mercy is always playing somewhere. She can keep herself busy very well. So mostly she is playing somewhere on the compound. She can not really concentrate, so she is just doing her own thing when we do more difficult games with the other kids. So when we go eating I always need to call her very loud so she will hear that we are going to eat. I'm so used that she is not around that I called her very loud yesterday. But she was just very quite at the table and said very cute: Wangi mama? That means: What mama? And she was looking with her cute brown eyes to me. too cute!!