Would you like a little head lice with that turkey and gravy?

Warning: gross post ahead. So, we all start scratching our heads on Sunday and I'm thinking "Oh, no...perhaps it's dry scalp? Oh, please God, let it be dry scalp - really dry!" as I'm seeing Leanne scratch and scratch and Chloe and me and Elena scratch, itch, itch....Are you feeling itchy yet? By Monday afternoon Elena says again "Mom, I'm really itching!" I had already checked their necks at the base of their scalp to see if I could identify any critters, but I didn't. I checked the top of her head, the crown, and sure enough this nasty, ugly little louse was crawling around. So, I put in a second call to my friend who's dealt with several bouts of it. As we're talking I'm realizing that yes, we all have head lice. I say to her "Hold on a sec" as I breathe in deeply and try not to scream. I'm totally grossed out and horrified at the prospect. I inform Tim and thus begins loads and loads and loads of laundry, special lice killer shampoo, and combs (a flea comb works the best). In fact, I've spent hours and hours combing out everyone's hair, including my own. So, Thanksgiving is approaching and my family asked me and my lice-infested brood not to join them. I cry and am upset, but I quickly alter our plans and thanks to Trader Joe's, we have a slightly altered Thanksgiving. It was just us 8 and we had a good time. While eating all the yummy food, Camille notices an egg on Elena's head and picks it out - right during dinner at the table. I'm very happy that she had such keen eyesight and that one of those little buggers has gone down - one less to comb out! We all start laughing about how this will go down as "The grossest Thanksgiving ever." If ever there was a contest on "Your grossest Thanksgiving memory" you would win, I tell my sweet little children. We laughed and had fun. But, the loads continue, the combing continues, and the quarantining continues. On a positive note, my good friend Holly brought some pies and wassail over and my friend Lisa (the lice expert) invited us over for dessert that night. We went (Tim stayed home to do, guess what - laundry) and we had fun. We weren't so rejectable after all!

Thanksgiving thoughts

I can't believe it's been several weeks since I've written on my blog. My computer was down for a week or so and I've been fasting and keeping a "fast journal." This outlet for writing has satisfied my need to express myself, but I would like to update my blog with other things that could be made more public. However, now that I'm sitting here I can't think of anything to write about. Thanksgiving is this week and I'm actually looking forward to it. I'll be with my Dad and Stepmom and sisters and one stepsister, Camie. Our kids get along very well together and Camie is just as sweet and funny as can be.
I like Thanksgiving. It's always been one of our favorite family holidays growing up. I remember the Thanksgiving when my brother, an older teenager at the time, came in to the dining room from the kitchen and sat down with the rest of us to finish eating. We said: "Michael, you've been picking at the chocolate cake." To which he responded: "No, I haven't." We then proceeded to point the chocolate crumbs on the side of his mouth that he hadn't totally wiped off his face before returning from the scene of the crime. Caught! Chocolate handed!
I also remember waking up late in the morning on Thursday one year when I was in high school to the smells of dinner cooking and seeing my mom working hard to put it all together. It was so nice to sleep in, to see my mom in the kitchen, and to smell the yummy smells of Thanksgiving dinner coming together. I miss my Mom.
Although 2008 has been one of the hardest years I can remember enduring in a long time, there are an overwhelming amount of things I can be thankful for. The sheer number of blessings God has graciously granted me are staggering. How could I complain about ANYTHING or focus on negative things? Even the negatives will in turn be blessings in time. He will turn my ashes into beauty....Everything in its time.

Sweet Honeybees

It's Monday and Daisy and I just returned from Target. I have nothing interesting to write about. I saw a movie yesterday afternoon: The Secret Life of Bees. It was good. I like Queen Latifah and she did a good job in this movie. Dakota Fanning's performance was excellent, too. I read the book about a year ago and it was good. I thought the movie did a great job of captivating the look and feel of the book and I recall the book events were closely followed. They didn't captivate the sweltering, suffocating, humidity of the South like the book did. Also, most of the women seemed younger in the movie than they were in the book. It was still excellent but it didn't really grab at my emotions like I was hoping for. I was hoping to really escape for the afternoon. I didn't. The thoughts and feelings I was hoping to take a break from never really left me thoughout the whole movie. Oh well....back to reality.
One thing I realized this morning is that when I'm tempted to focus on something that I shouldn't, I should actively praise God. I have in mind to meditate and memorize Psalm 103. There are a couple of other scriptures I'd like to look up in various versions to memorize and focus on throughout the day to bring comfort, truth, hope. I realize that this is a very valuable discipline that will help me dig myself out of the emotional hole I find myself in sometimes. It really is a conscious decision of my will and that shovel by little shovel I will dig myself out and come up for air. I will walk away from this season and into a brighter field, so to speak. Of course, I love the field behind my house and I love bees. I love that they drink nectar out of flowers and make sweet, sticky honey. I love the flowers they drink from and how productive they are. I love that their whole life is about getting something for others to benefit from. Do they think about themselves and their short life? Do they care that they are one of thousands in a hive, a colony and that they are not unique? Do they care that they contribute only a small amount to the overall honey crop? No - they are just busy, busy, busy. So, I think I will need to get busy, busy, busy in this business of committing God's word to my thinking and letting it affect my emotions as only God's living, breathing, true word can. I am not that important, but the little I contribute to the world in the big picture adds up to a small taste of sweet honey. I hope to be sweet and affect those around me accordingly. Let me drink from those sweet flowers of God's word and let them work themselves into my heart, thoughts, and words.