Conversation and Cooking

It was another normal day at Amani. 

Playing on the floor with my babies, feeding, washing, changing nappies, wiping noses, singing songs, dancing, disciplining, and teaching them how to walk, talk and play games. 

Bernie visited the nursery again today and Florence, Bernie and I had a long conversation which began with Australians, travelling and languages then somehow led to women's rights. It was interesting to hear the opinions of someone who was born in Uganda and has traveled a little bit too. He has a slightly confusing mix of Ugandan tradition and sensitivity to western thinking. Florence and I seem to agree on most things but Bernie has some funny ideas. Our conversation led to Bernie giving Florence relationship advice which didn't contain much wisdom so our 2 against 1 debate continued all morning as we played with and fed babies. By the time lunch came around, we still had not reached a conclusion so Florence invited him to eat with us upstairs so we could continue our conversation. With the addition of Londa and Elena it now came to a 4 against 1 conversation. Most of what we talked about was what kind of person you should date. Bernie seemed to think it didn't really matter how many people you dated, what you did with them or who they were, so long as you're attracted to them. Us four girls stood firm on our Bibles and defended our high standards with God's Word. He left saying that we were very tough girls and that he was not as strong as we were. I believe it's not me though that gives a good defense but the Word of God which cannot be refuted. You can't argue with God's standards. I hope we gave him something to think about anyway. 

After lunch Kaity popped in to visit and we all headed out for outings with the kids. Katelyn and I had Lydia and Mercy and so we took them to the grocery store with us before heading over to our usual spot at The Keep. Mercy has only just been added to the list of kids we take on outings and has probably never been on a boda or maybe even into town. She kept quiet the entire time just taking everything in.

Mercy all dressed up in rainbow colours. Half the fun of taking kids out is dressing them up all nice. 

At The Keep they had a cartoon playing on the tv and Mercy was glued to the screen having never seen one before. I got a plate of fries to share and handed one to Mercy to try. She daintily nibbled at the first one but when she decided it was good she shoveled them in. At one point I hadn't given her one for a little while and she simply put her hand on my arm and stared at me still not saying a word. Then another time she just opened both hands and stared down at them, as if to say "my hands are empty Aunty!"  

Lydia, also glued to the tv screen.

Lydia, Katelyn and Mercy

I love getting the chance to spoil the kids like this. 

It was my turn to cook dinner tonight and I was supposed to make burgers for everyone. I often finish up earlier than the other girls and so I planned on having it almost ready by the time the other girls came up. When I got upstairs though I discovered we had no meat! How was I going to make burgers with no meat? I stared at the fridge for a while, hoping something would appear and then looked up a few recipes on the internet. I eventually decided to make veggie fritters instead. I've never made them before so I wasn't sure how they would taste and I was already running late and everyone was getting hungry. It took me forever to get all the vegetables done as I only had a very blunt grater to use. They turned out really well though and made plenty for everyone even if we did eat a little later than usual. Typical Africa! My plans never quite go the way I want but I'm learning to be flexible. 

The power went out after dinner and so we all headed to bed early. The rain came at about 2am and I enjoyed laying in bed listening to the thunder and watching the lightning flash across my room. 

"For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

Isaiah 54:10