Mercy 0..... Cactus 1

So, some of you have asked us what we do on our Saturdays off. I am here to tell you that we like to spend them at the local hospital. Not volunteering, but giving them more work to do (and some of our money :) ). Today started out like most Saturdays. And after a short trip to town this morning, Anita and I decided that a nice family hike up a local mountain would be nice. Anita packed the lunch stuff and water. After parking near the local chief's house, we proceeded up the mountain. The first part was only moderately steep and the kids did a great job. So, Anita and I decided to keep going to see if we all could make it to the top. About 90% of the way to the top of the mountain, I had to help the kids go over a large rock. Mercy decided to start leading the way up from there (which was okay by me, as it started to level off again). Then Anita and I heard a blood curdling scream from Mercy. About 20 feet up from us, she had slipped and put her hands out in front of her to catch her fall. Unfortunately there was a cactus where her left hand had landed to stop her fall (she properly fell face forward toward the mountain to stop her slide).
When Anita and I arrived at the scene, we noticed blood on Mercy's hands and some thorn-like objects coming from her hand. So, I started picking out some of the easy ones. And that was when Anita and I noticed that there were two very deep thorns in Mercy's palms and one that went all the way through Mercy's ring finger! It was at that moment that I knew we were in for a long day. So, I gave my backpack to Elijah and picked up Mercy in my arms. The family then had a long decent down the mountain (remember, we were 90% to the top). I hurried as fast as I could (without falling myself with Mercy in my arms) to get back to the truck. Once there, we headed straight for the private hospital near Beautiful Gate. Mercy proceeded to get x-rays and then had minor surgery to take the thorns out of her left hand. All went well at the hospital and we are now back home at Beautiful Gate. Mercy is still a little groggy from the anesthetic (they had to put her out for the surgery). The first thing that Mercy said when she woke up was, "I feel weird!" She immediately went back to sleep.
Please pray that Mercy does not get any infections in her hand from the deep thorns. We did receive antibiotics for that and also some pain medicine. She is such a trooper and now I owe her a large candy bar for being so brave. The cute part is that she is intent on sharing her candy bar with friends and family.
So there you have it. Just another Saturday in Lesotho! :)