A Mercy-ful Christmas

We not only have God's mercy this holiday, we have the Busby's Mercy for Christmas.



















Isn't she beautiful.

Hopefully the 7 hour journey to Arua will be the hardest thing she has to endure.



















We attended a Christmas Eve service/party last night.




















There were close to 100 people there in Sherry's yard (the same lady who hosted our Thanksgiving dinner).















We sang "Silent Night" in all the languages represented. These people are the leaders for: Dutch, Lugbara, German, English, Kiswahili, and Italian.
















We were so thankful to be invited. Sherry has been working for the past month making ice cream for last tonight, and she did not disappoint. She had 24 different flavors to choose from, and it was magnificent!!!

We also appreciated being able to enjoy her beautiful tree in her yard.
























Our watchman cut a branch out of one of our trees for us as a welcome home gift. I just like the fact that we actually have a tree. I'm not sure what we would have done if Patrick hadn't left that branch on our front porch.



















I wouldn't be me if I didn't mention something silly.

I took this picture through our dirty front windshield on the way to the party, but I wanted to show you all the car washing going on in the river for Christmas Eve.

Remember: It's always important to have a clean car for Christmas.















On a more serious note: If any ex-pats feel nostalgic (and a bit sad) like I do today for Christmas, please pray for them today when you think about it. It's hard to be away from family. Skype and email are nice, but it doesn't measure up to the real thing.

Mercy leaving

It's the middle of December and I never said anything about Melissa and Mercy leaving after Thanksgiving. Oops.

We had a good time

despite what Mercy's face might be revealing.

Here is a look at the plane that comes in and out of Arua every day except Sunday.

Notice the nice dirt runway.

This is our fancy airport building.

Your prayers are really appreciated for Mercy, her mother, Melissa, and the rest of her family in Kansas. Melissa was supposed to see the judge today to finalize a visa for Mercy, but this morning "they"called and cancelled her appointment.

She will try again on Monday. if nothing happens, it looks like Melissa will be returning to Kansas to have Christmas with her husband and two of her daughters.

Mercy will be spending Christmas in Arua with us.

Please pray for this family to be able to spend Christmas ALL together in Kansas!

Grasshoppers

I went to see Florence one day this week for language, and she was telling me how excited she was that it was "grasshopper" season.

She had just bought a bag.

There was vendor after vendor walking down the street selling little bags of live grasshoppers.

Things like that make me smile.

One the way home from picking up Melissa and Mercy at the airport the other day, I saw a field of children catching grasshoppers to take home. Who needs school, when you can be out catching insects, right?

I think I might see teachers out there, too…

Well, I got to see Florences' grasshoppers come full circle.

On Saturday, my family, Melissa, and Mercy went to help her harvest her ground nut field.

After all the hard work was done, Florence wanted to show me the grasshoppers.

She had cooked them in a little bit of water to "preserve" them. She said now they needed to sit in the sun for a few days so they could dry out, she could store them, and then she could eat them when she wanted.

Here they are in the sun.

Can't you see their beady little eyes?

THEN, Florence found out that Mercy likes grasshoppers, so she started pulling off the legs and wings of a few

Then she quickly put them in a frying pan with salt over some hot coals.

Grasshoppers, anyone?

Melissa tried to make them cool enough for Mercy to eat.

Mercy immediately started eating.

Melissa doesn't think they are very appetizing.

But Mercy surely gave us a good show.