Friends of ours are going through a challenging situation right now. One of their kids was diagnosed with leukemia this week and has begun what might be a long treatment plan. I didn’t ask them for permission to share identifying information, but God knows who they are. So if you want to pray for them, God has it all under control.

Thanks.

This post is less than clever because it is pretty awkward to type right now. I’m wearing two wrist splints because I’ve got carpal tunnel syndrome. Too much blogging? I am not really sure what it is that I’ve been doing to cause this, but here it is nonetheless. Brian’s been opening jars, straining pasta, and bagging up the trash. Like he needs more work to do.

Ready for the worst?

It hurts to use my camera. *sob* That’s one job I don’t want to delegate.

This had better clear up by next week’s trip to Camp Spofford. I can’t let that go undocumented!

I am trying to keep easy, healthy snacks in the house. Isn’t that every mother’s goal, at least in theory? Anyway, I thought I’d try out Wheat Thins on them. They liked them well enough. I bought the Teddy Grahams for myself, because I was craving chocolate and they have less fat and fewer calories than a bag of Lindt Truffles. (Doesn’t everything?) But really, we all eat both kinds of crackers.

Just for kicks, I examined the Nutrition Facts of both Nabisco products. The crackers have these differences:

• Calories: 130
• Calories from fat: 40
• Total Fat: 4.5g
• Sodium: 160mg
• Potassium: 95mg
• Fiber: 2g
• Sugars: 8g
• Calcium: 10%

compared to the following:

• Calories: 150
• Calories from fat: 50
• Total fat: 6g
• Sodium: 260mg
• Potassium: 0g
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugars: 4g
• Calcium: 2%

Other facts were identical.

Can you tell which was which? The sweeter, higher-sugar crackers were the Teddy Grahams, the first that I listed. The second list belongs to the Wheat Thins package. I don’t know about you, but I would much rather enjoy a handful of Chocolate Teddy Grahams than an equal amount of Wheat Thins. I like both, but come on. Chocolate. In competition with wheat.

I suppose one could argue that sugar is bad for you, and the wheat-flavored crackers may have other benefits not listed on the package. Or that the eater could become so excited about eating the cute chocolate bears that she could accidentally eat half the package.

But arguing is wrong, so I won’t do it here.

I’m going out to play now, after I brush off these crumbs.

This made me cry. It’s a video highlighting a network of volunteers who offer to help families who have learned that their newborns will likely not survive birth. They’re photographers (including one of my favorite children’s photographers, Sugar Photography) who give their time and skills to give enduring tangibility to the memories these families are making with their beautiful children. The pictures provide evidence that these children existed and had lives that meant something. God, in His sovereign grace, makes no mistakes and is always good.

This also made me cry. The Born Alive Infants Protection Act. When President Bush signed it in August 2002, he said,

Today I sign the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. This important legislation ensures that every infant born alive — including an infant who survives an abortion procedure — is considered a person under federal law. This reform was passed with the overwhelming support of both political parties, and it is about to become the law of the land.

With this in effect, doctors are required to give medical care to a child who is “accidentally” born alive after a late-term abortion attempt. Why on earth does this even have to be discussed? In fact, although it was passed “with overwhelming support of both political parties,” Barack Obama did not support it. Logical, actually, if you set your philosophy on the flawed premise that we are all there is. So maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.

For another look at this issue, go here. This has Mr. Obama’s own words about why he did not support this legislation.

The value of life, no matter how short or how long, is a subject that is close to my heart. It’s one of the few things that can set me off (the others being depression and education). Can you tell?

“How are you guys doing?”

The answer is…we’re still alive. In fact, yesterday we emerged from our self-imposed quarantine from society, blinking, into the open air and sunshine. Brian went to work. I took the kids to McDonald’s to climb in the PlayPlace and to Wal-Mart to spend some Valentine money from their grandparents. The kids were still coughing, hacking, and sniffling, and Gannon didn’t go down the slide more than twice, but at least we were out of the house.

This morning Gannon is pooped out again, but Acadia is raring to go. Her cough is occasional, but it still sounds yucky. I’ve heard that’s the way it is with RSV, and not to worry. So I won’t. <— lie

Our household has fallen victim to an insidious illness that lasts for days. Long, long days. Nights, too. It might be the flu, says Brian’s doctor. We’ll see what the kids’ doctor says this morning when we take them in. I, so far, have remained healthy, despite the lack of sleep and the sympathy symptoms that don’t last.

I won’t disgust you with the respiratory yuckiness that pervades our home, except for this quote from the ever-effusive Acadia:

See? This is the stuff on my eye and when I woke up I couldn’t open them, so… (pause, shrug) I had to eat it! Wasn’t that silly?

Uh…that’s one word for it….

Brian was in second grade when he got glasses. I was in third grade. Now Gannon, in first grade, has his turn.

He likes them and, as he says, “They work!”

My friend Bonnie sends out this prayer request for her new little grandson:

Hey everyone, here is the news of the new grandbaby. His name is Brennon Timothy and he was born 10/13 at 1 am. He weighed 6.12 and is 19 3/4 inches tall. He was 24 days early. We want to thank God becaue he helped Brennon through some of the preemie issues he had such as low blood sugar and fluid on the lungs. However, Brennon is not yet out of the woods because he was also born with a form of spina bifida. He has a small dimple hole in his lower back and lots of bruising. His spine didn’t quite close all the way, he has a few half formed vertebrae, and is missing one rib. Monday morning Brennon will be ambulanced to [the] Hospital where they have an extensive and highly sophisticated Neonatal Center. He will undergo more tests and will get spine surgery next week. Please keep Brennon and our whole family in your prayers. We are believing for a miracle. I have to say that he is the best looking baby in the nursery. However, the poor little guy has an IV in his head and a feeding tube in his nose. I will try to update as soon as I am able.

Pray for Brennon’s health and for his family to cling to God now, as always.

So, when you’re a homeschooler, what do you do when one of the kids is sick and you have to tend to them all day?

We have run into this issue. What I plan to do is to start calling my substitute teacher pool till someone says they can come in for the morning.

Just kidding. I have no subs, of course. Since this is a family, we will act as a family and care for the one who needs it. Unless that person is Mommy needing a shower and a shampoo and (oh heaven!) a nap. But you won’t hear me complaining. And I digress.

Today is a sick day, and it is possible the kids will stay in their pajamas and their HomeschoolHair(TM) all day. Or maybe Gannon and I will do school when Acadia naps. More likely, however, is the possibility that I will use that time to clean up this house of ours, including the dismantling of the fish tank of critters (which we started to do yesterday before the sickness set in). Things tend to go downhill in the tidiness department by Thursday morning regardless, and especially when one kid is always moaning about a hurting tummy and being “firsty”.

At this exact moment, we are working on developing the children’s sense of humor by allowing them to watch Animaniacs. Yes, that is how desperate the situation is here in the Dellinger household. But we’re having fun, as [almost] always.

I close with words from Yakko Warner, of Animaniacs fame:

The answer, my friend is blowing in the wind, except in New Jersey, where what’s blowing in the wind smells funny.

Keep that in mind, people.

We’ve been busy lately. We’re currently engaged in a war on those little six-legged enemies of schoolchildren and their families: head lice. When we first discovered them, I admit that I was a little freaked out and slightly in denial. Then I was mad. Who had been so unfriendly as to share this infestation with us?

Infestation. Shudder.

Since the first sighting, we’ve learned a lot about these amazing creatures. Not enough to make me want to hang around them and share holiday recipes, but enough to once again marvel at God’s handiwork.

Yeah, God made these little things. Must have been just after Adam and Eve made their first wardrobe change. Just my opinion, people.*

Head lice are remarkably hardy and pretty cool to look at. In photos. Not so cool when I find them on my family’s heads. And they feed on human blood. The kids know this fact very well now, after we used this whole experience as a homeschool teaching moment. Acadia will ask you if you know what they eat. Then she’ll lean in close and say spookily, “Wuuhhd.”

Some helpful information about this common infestation (there’s that word again) can be found at the website of the National Pediculosis Foundation. I like how this site makes lice very un-scary, which they should be. It’s actually the traditional treatments that are kind of scary. The shampoos are pesticides, and they kill things. That’s what you want them to do. Just not to kill the kids. There is evidence that shampoos such as RID (which we used) can cause bad things to happen to your children, like leukemia and liver issues. But please don’t take my word for this; I only read it on the intarweb.

So anyway, if your kid brings home head lice, you don’t need to panic or hide away for weeks (although you will want to). What we did was shave Gannon’s head to make it easier to see the bugs, then give the kids RID shampoo treatment and picked their heads clean with a lice comb. We also put their washable stuff through the washer and dryer on HOT and bagged their non-washable things for a couple of weeks, till the critters would have died off.

We also informed our friends and family with whom we’d had close contact of the possibility of their kids having bugs on their head. Guess how much fun that was.

It’s been a while now, sufficient time for me to be able to say that we are nit-free. Woo-hoo!

That’s my story of getting rid of unwelcome guests.