In the Wake of Irene

We weathered the storm of our lifetime. Being a westerner, hurricanes are new to me, so when we heard Irene was on it's way, I didn't know what to expect. I know Irene was paltry compared to other storms, but it was quite enough for me.

Friday came and the morning was clear. Everything was so calm it was eerily deceptive of what would later happen. I wondered at that time about the passage in Luke (Luke 17:26-29). Will it be like this in the winding up scenes before the second coming, where the kids are playing, the sun is shining and all is right until the rain and winds start falling? This time, however, we knew when the disaster would hit.

Of course the beautiful day flipped on its head. In the afternoon, the rains picked up and just kept coming. The wind kept coming too. We slept with the kids that night. One of us in each bedroom.

Digestive Support for Celiac or Gluten Intolerance

I haven't written on gluten-free issues lately, but today I ran across a product called CeliaAct that spurred my interest. It's a multivitamin formulated especially for people with gluten issues. Now, I'm usually a skeptic on items like this, so I haven't and may not ever try it, but it's worth blogging about in case someone out there finds the product useful.

One product I have tried is Dr. Miller's Holy Tea. It's an herbal tea formulated for digestive issues. It's also supposed to be used by some for weight reduction, but unfortunately, I haven't noticed that.

The Scoop on Poop for Emergency Preparedness

Okay tacky title, but really this product is so cool, I couldn't resist. Have you heard of "Poo Powder." Me neither until about three days ago on Modern Marvels. I'm a bit of an emergency-prep junky since we actually had to use our 72 hour kit after a nearby bombing made for a hasty evacuation from our overseas home.

And now here I sit while Virginia gets hit with a 5.9 magnitude earthquake and as we wait to see what Hurricane Irene brings. So now I remember "Poo Powder"...

...The Unspoken Word

Children seem connected to music. My children start moving to the rhythm before they could walk.  My son seems particularly keen on music. In fact he’s started writing his own…umm versions of popular primary hits. His favorite is Follow the Prophet and he decided to sing the verse of Daniel for me and his baby sister. It went something like this:

            “Daniel was a prophet, first one that we kno-oh. In a place called Egypt he helped things to gro-oh. Adam (It seems he forgot all about Daniel) served the Lord by sinning every day. He wished he had listened when he saw the rain…”

I hope Adam has a sense of humor. Revisionist primary songs aside, music is a language of its own that speaks directly to the human soul. My favorite hymn is number 124, Be Still my Soul.

Ear Infection Blues

Well…obviously I’ve not written for a week. Suffice it to say it has been busy, not the least of which was waiting yet another long hour in the urgent care to check out my baby’s ears again. Diagnosis: second ear infection in two weeks.

We knew it already. One of the smartest buys we’ve ever made was an otoscope. You can buy them at some drug stores, but I got ours on Amazon. I got Dr. Mom’s Otoscope and it’s worked well for us. It looks like some newer versions are on the market though.

Watch Out for the Goat's Rope

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Goat rope (slang) A confusing, disorganized situation often attributed to or marked by human error. A convoluted issue that is contested by many parties. (Wiktionary)

Working for and with government organizations, my husband and I have used the term “goat rope” many times. One day while driving home from a trip to northern Uganda, a goat with at a broken tether trailing behind it ran across the road. The goat made it to the other side, but the tether was still dragging over the road just a few yards in front of us. I frantically yelled, “watch out for the goat’s rope!”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I started laughing. As many times as I’ve used that phrase, never did I think I’d see its literal fulfillment!

“You Never Was an Old Maid Was You…”

Martha Spence Heywood (1812-1873)

Each day I struggle to be a homemaker. I was an “old maid” when I got married, so my skills simply developed elsewhere. You can imagine my joy at reading my great-great grandmother’s journal and hearing her lamentations at her own inadequacies in this area. 

My great-great grandmother is Martha Spence Heywood. Her journal from 1850-1856, along with some other writings, was found and published by the Utah State Historical Society. Juanita Brooks compiled and edited the book.

The history behind the discovery of her journal is equally interesting. In 1933, with the depression in full swing, the federal government introduced the ERA (Emergency Relief Administration) and began paying people roughly a dollar a day to work on different projects.

Confessions of a Fear Monger

I am great at worry. It’s a gift really—a family heirloom you might say. If there were a university that taught the subject, I’d be a shoo-in for an honorary doctorate. Having children really honed and refined this gift to grandmaster status. Granted, raising three kids in Africa gave me an edge that many in my peer group haven’t had, so I’m not sure it’s fair to gloat too much.

After all, we had armed men try to break into our house while we were sleeping, a suicide bomber blow himself up a few hundred meters from our house, and a whole slew of potential illnesses, that people were dying from, literally at our fingertips.