Someone asked the following question on my last post:

How was Mercy able to eat pie? A previous post said she could only have liquids.

THAT is a very good question and one I am asking myself. We did the barium swallow and nothing went further than her collar bone level. So, it makes me wonder if it was willful defience to swallow, too thick to swallow, or is it actually closed off? If it is closed off, where is all the food going she is eating? We have a scope set up for Jan 8th where she will be asleep. We will get a better understanding of the extent of the damage.
Please pray for us as we deal with the adjustment of it all. They came when it was nearly Christmas and we did not have a routine going. The first week we hung out. The second was full of doctor visits. This week was Christmas and today we had "A Talk". I explained that we have rules and I expected her to help around the house and that when we get a routine going we get up at 7 get dressed and fed and start school by 8. I made her start some school today so I could get a better feel for her grade level as I need to order curiculum for January. She was struggling with even 6th grade material though she told me she was in 9th grade in Liberia. I'm sure our standards are different so I wanted to test her a little. She seemed shocked that I was going to make her do school. When she is not pleased about something she does the typical Liberian, stare past you and not respond. I explained how disrespectful that was and how much it hurt my feelings for her not to respond or let me know what she is thinking. I also told her that it is the law that she attend school. I finally got Mercy to admit why she seemed upset. She said "I go to hospital". I realized she thinks she is just going to go to the hospital and be all better. I had to explain that she needed to get healthy and strong to withstand such a surgery and that it probably wouldn't happen until spring or summer and she had alot of school to do between then and now. The scope next month would determine if that was even going to happen or if she would have to have dilatations the rest of her life. Tears came to her eyes but I let her go to her school work to see if she could read it and do a few pages. She came to me about 30 minutes later and said she did not understand. She had tried but it was clear she had not read the story to answer the questions and the true and false ones were all wrong (do they think in the negative)So I had her read to me and it was also clear that she was not reading at a 6th or 7th grade level which she would be in for her age. So I will test some more and get a better feel for her level. She was also better about being thankful and kinder the rest of the afternoon.
I'm not very good at confontation and dealing with dishonesty and I know the Lord is using all this to have me grow, but I was weepy all day dealing with her attitude.
Please, Just Pray!