June 26, 2008

Farewell, Our Indian Daughter

Mercy will return home to India this week after spending a year enduring the warped humor and affectionate teasing of The Eide Family. Technically, we were her 'host family', but it seems strange to call it hosting - she's become one of us. Poor kid. Thankfully, Mercy is a very intelligent, fun-loving, easy going girl. She's quick to get a joke and laughs easily when teased or burped on, which is a daily occurence with a brother like Ben around. Especially when she makes her excellent Indian Curry.

We will miss her and her affectionate, bubbly personality, her positive outlook on life, and most of all - besides her cooking - we will miss her laugh. It's sort of a blended laugh/giggle, starts low and rises into a cute little chatter that reminds me of the chipmunks who laugh at Smudge, our fat bunny.


We don't know if we will get to see Mercy in India, or if we'll see her back in the States one day pursuing a career in medicine; we hope to, Lord willing. But one thing we do know: She accepted Christ as her Savior and was baptized while she was here in America, so we will see her again, if not here, then in heaven. Where the curry won't cause heartburn, and where no matter how much raw garlic Ben eats, he won't be able to burp on Mercy. He'll have to find some other way to torment her.

ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF. . . .

RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME:

I've published five novels and 2 novellas (more about those on my website.) I've been writing all my life, but decided in 2007 to get serious about being published.

I love action movies and Jane Austen. (she’s dead, I know. I found that out when I tried to get her to endorse my novel)

They let me play Bass guitar and sing in a worship band.

I can produce 4 dozen homemade cinnamon rolls in a flash for a crowd of drooling young adults. Or publishing house editors.

I used to have a Harley. Now we have seven grandkiddos. Decent trade, really.

I am a proud Grammy. Don't even think about taking candy from my babies.

I hate shopping (Yes, I'm aware that I'm a girl)

MY ROOTS:
I've lived in Oregon all my life, spent time in Eugene (Go DUCKS!), Springfield, Reedsport, and Smith River. Which is not really a town, but a river, about 70 miles long, a tributary of the Umpqua River in southwest Oregon.

Although it's not a town, it is a community with a strong sense of pioneer history. It's cool to say you've lived there, especially if you lived there during the days when you had to take a boat to school. No joke! The old farmhouse my grandfather and my mother grew up in still stands, nestled into a narrow, pasture carpeted valley, complete with a swimmin' hole and its own 'crick'. It may turn up in one of my novels.

There's a rumor that my ancestors had a connection with the Mafia back in Sicily. I used to fantasize as a kid about a big black limo with tinted windows pulling up and whisking me away from school. Ahhh. So THAT'S why I'm having so much trouble conjugating my dangling participles now.

NOT RANDOM: I am challenged by the truth and amazed by the grace of God. And it's either in spite of or because of that grace that I hold a PhD in Learning Stuff the Hard Way.