Terry's 3M's

What a month February was! Of course, February has normally been a strange month for me. Sometimes good--more often, not so good.

This February was not so good. Oh, it started out okay. After my last entry here, I decided that I really ought to get busy at the maintainence of a page that I have volunteered to check links on. I did that for a couple of days.

Then stuff started happening. Stephanie got sent home from school with an earache and was out of school for a couple of days. Faye traded one weekend with another person and was off work for 4 days straight and I seldom got to the computer--and when I did, it was to read the mail.

The school had sent out notices a while back about head lice making the rounds. Well, Stephanie got them. The special shampoo, stripping and laundering everything from the bed, disinfecting combs and brushes. What fun!

Then Faye and Delton both got the flu and so did Johnny and Stephanie.

The computer decided one morning not to recognize the modem. This always sends Faye into a panic. I spend a few hours trying to get the ports to recognize it-- unsuccessfully. Eventually I reconfigure the machine to read a standard modem (we have a 33.6). So, now we can connect--but at half the normal speed.

I finally find my favorite brush while cleaning my room one morning. Because I hadn't brushed my hair since I washed it the night before, I use it to brush my hair. I have a dry scalp and my hair often itches the day after shampooing. It is sometimes allieviated by brushing my hair more often to distribute what little oil I have left in my hair. I've been considering hot oil treatments, but, dread the mess. I spent a couple of sleepless nights with the itchiness driving me crazy. Oh, dear...apparently the last one to use my brush before me was Stephanie. Yes, I now have head lice. I strip my bed and start the laundry. I soak all my brushes and combs in hot water and bleach while I have Delton cut my hair short. The pink rattail comb he uses while cutting my hair I toss into the dishpan on the back of the dryer. I'll tend to that later...I have to use the special stuff on my hair. I get rid of the head lice.

Carrie gets sent home from school because she's throwing up and has a temp of 101.4.

Carrie loves to hug and she always has her face so close that her hair rests right on mine. Oh, No!!! Stephanie found the pink comb, used it, then used my hairbrush again. Now, all three of us have head lice again. Well, this time, I hope we have it licked. We used the special shampoo, we've washed all the combs and brushes, we've sprayed the mattresses, pillows, and floor with insecticide, I've rewashed all the bed linens and anything that was cloth and on the floor beside the beds, I've washed all the towels and washcloths. I hope that everything is going to be okay now. I'm tired of the whole mess.

Since the boys have crewcuts, seldom put a brush to their hair, and aren't much in the hugging department (at least not as often as the girls), they didn't get the head lice. (I'm getting itchy just thinking about it again.)

In between all this, Johnny and Stephanie got the flu again.

Bryan had stomach cramps and nausea and has been out of school for most of last week. Considering that he made a miraculous recovery Friday afternoon, I told him that if he was dying, he was still going to go to school on Monday.

And I've had the flu for about a week now.

Nope. February was not a good month this year.

I have finished reading The Wastelands and am waiting for my sister to get me Wizards and Glass. (The line to get into Walmarts was two blocks long on Christmas Eve, so Faye gave me a homemade coupon good for one Stephen King book in my stocking.)

I read a book by a man who goes by the name of Brother David, written over a decade ago, called God's Smuggler into China. It is about how he, with the help of a large network of volunteers and supporters, managed to smuggle thousands of Bibles written in Chinese into Communist China. It also told the story of the tortures Chinese individuals have gone through for their faith. And while the doors opened up for a little while, it is my understanding from other sources, that these tortures and imprisonments of Christians are once more in effect. I pray for the Lord to give these people His strength. I also reiterate that those who think that Christianity is a religion for weak people couldn't be more wrong.

We Americans take so much for granted. We just find it almost incomprehensible that there are still societies that behave so atrociously towards a group of people because of their religious beliefs.

Lord, Thank You for the privilege of being born American. Thank You for placing me in a country where I am free to walk down the street and sing hymns out loud if I want to. (And You know that I have done that on more than one occasion.) Thank You for the United States of America. Let us never forget that we are supposed to be--"One nation, under God". Thank you, Lord.

Thanks to for the border background set.