Kids POV

 Hello and Happy Monday!

I thought it would be fun to do a post from the kids point of view! I asked Margaret to write a little blurb and she was a bit nervous, and then fell off her bike and got a concussion and was told no screen time or reading for a few days so she is officially off the hook 😂. So instead I decided to interview the kids and just ask them a few questions about our experience so far. This was a great experience for me as well, to get to know how they're feeling and some of their fears. Here's what they said!

Jill: Hi Margaret! Why don't you start by telling everyone how old you are and what grade you're going in to.

Margaret: I'm 9 and will be going into 5th grade.

J: Ok, now where have you been sleeping this week?

M: On the Mercy Ships Campus where people stay before going on the ship

J: What are the accommodations like?

M: We're in a house near a lake

J: Are there any other kids here?

M: Yes, and I've made a couple friends!

J: Where are your new friends from?

M: The Netherlands and France

J: What have you been doing there?

M: There is a scavenger hunt where we find little toy figurines of Jesus, it reminds us to look for Jesus in the details and to share His Gospel with others, when we find the Jesus figurines we get to trade them in for a prize!

J: What is different about life now?

M: We don't have any pets

J: What is the same?

M: We live in a house, but soon we'll live on a ship!

J: What are you most excited about happening next?

M: Flying to Spain!

J: What are you most apprehensive about?

M: Leaving my friends.

Margaret fell off her bike and hit her head. She has a concussion and has been ordered to "take it easy" much easier said than done with an active 9 year old!

Finding "Jesus" in the details, a scavenger hunt type activity for Onboarding

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J: Samuel go ahead and tell everyone how old you are and what grade you will be going into

Samuel: I am 7 and going into 2nd grade.

J: Samuel what is the most exciting thing to happen since moving to the Mercy Ships Campus?

S: Making new friends with the other families here getting ready to go to the ship with us!

J: What is the worst thing that has happened?

S: I was running and tripped and fell off a step so hard I slid on the concrete, it hurt so bad!

J: What is the best part about our new routine?

S: Going to the pool almost every day!

J: All of our meals are provided by the Mercy Ships cafeteria chefs, how has that been?

S: Delicious!

J: What are you most excited about happening in the future?

S: Going to school on the ship!

J: What are you most apprehensive about?

S: Leaving my friends, and not having as much time with you since I'll be going to school and not being homeschooled.

Some of the delicious food we've been served here!

Sam caught a firefly! We don't see these at home because we're in the city and it's too bright so we were very excited to see them here until...

We saw this guy, who was also hunting for fireflies 😖

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J: Hi Bridgett! How old are you?

Bridgett: I'm 4! (Holds up 4 fingers to show)

J: Yes! So you will be going to preschool on the ship, just in the morning! Now tell me, what is the best part about living on the Mercy Ships Campus?

B: Sleeping in my new bed

J: What are you most excited about for living on the ship?

B: Sleeping in my bed in a room with Margaret, but if Margaret takes all the beds and there's not room for me I get to sleep in your bed with you!

J: 😕 I think there will be plenty of beds to go around... So are you nervous about anything?

B: That the ship will bonk into a rock and get a hole and sink.

I didn't realize sleeping in this bed ranked so high in her experiences so I had to share a photo 😍

Warming up after an evening swim

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So as you can see the kids have some fears, and confusion, and definitely some sadness at the changes. We have met with chaplaincy and family care to talk through the transitions and have definitely received a lot of wonderful advice and resources to navigate this transition. We start Onboarding as a family next week, the kids have their own Kids Onboarding and the staff is amazing! They have all sorts of fun activities planned to not just entertain them while the parents are in classes but also to help them express fears and grief and to develop coping mechanisms.  There are 2 other families with 3 kids each who are joining us in Onboarding and are also going to the Global Mercy so it's been wonderful to start bonding with them knowing that we won't have to say goodbye when this is all over!

 Here are some photos of our time here at Mercy Ships so far. Let me know some ideas for our next post, questions you may have or anything you want to know more about!

There are beautiful trails for bike riding

A beautiful rainbow behind the cafeteria

Walking to dinner!