Mission Trips and Swine Flu

What, you ask, does one have to do with the other? Everything! You go off on a mission trip, you bring home swine flu! Not me, luckily. But Kat and Banana and several of their closest friends!

Last week was our middle school mission trip. This is "my" trip, in that it is the summer event that I am solely responsible for. I get help, as needed, but I am in charge of planning and implementing it. It is my favorite trip of the year. I am usually more geared to older kids, but there is something about this week with the middle school kids that is special. You get a glimpse of what is to come. And this year was particularly special for a couple of reasons. First, this trip involved the group of friends that my girls have grown up with. I have known most of those kids since they were in preschool or before! Kat's very best friend, JMatt was on this trip. All of her girlfriends were on this trip.

The other reason it was special is related...for four years my girls have traveled with me on student ministry trips. They have been the "little kids", the "tag-alongs". They have hung in there and enjoyed themselves as much as possible. They have made older friends and lifelong memories, but they have always been on the outside. Last year was a little different for Kat, it was her 7th grade year and her age group went, but not her close friends. Her closest friends are all a year behind her in school (another story). So this year it was HER year! Banana was with us, and I am blessed to be able to say that Banana and Kat share a friend group. Now Banana's two "BFFs" weren't there, but she enjoyed the group of girls just fine. It was so special for me to see my girls fully enjoy this experience.

It was a good week. Relatively little drama. Most of the kids were very well behaved. We worked hard in the hot sun. We had the usual church van problems, including a broken van window caused by a the meeting of a rock and a weed-eater. We played hard, slept little, and ate good food (yes, good food on a mission trip). I witnessed some wonderful emotional and spiritual growth of two girls I have been praying for all year! I saw some incredible potential in some young men. I spent some special time with my high school helpers, some of whom will be leaving for college in a couple of months. It was a good week.

But all good things end....and ours ended with a bang. On Thursday, kids started "dropping like flies". First one with a sore throat and a fever...home she went. Later another (Banana, actually) feeling sick and tired and puny. And another, and another... Unbeknownst to me, two more girls arived home that night with fever. Around 4 am, Banana woke me up with a terrible cough and a temp of 102. By the time I got up the next morning I had a message to call CB (boss, aka student pastor). One of the girls had tested positive for Influenza A-possible swine flu. I needed to call parents. Ooops...let me call the doctor first! We were in his office by 2:30. Anna was positive for influenza A. Kat was positive (let me mention that Kat NEVER felt bad). I was negative. Another girl was postive too. There were a few others who felt sick but tested negative (false negative, I wonder?).

Let me insert here the girls' sleeping arangements. There were 4 positive flus, and 3 others who didn't feel well. That is 7 girls. These 7 girls slept in a little "cubby", an area of the dorm, with 3 bunk beds. How did 7 girls sleep in 3 bunk beds? Why, they pushed them together of course! 4 slept on top, 3 slept on bottom! Yes, if you ever wonder what is the best way to spread germs and cause a flu epidemic, it is by putting a bunch of girls in one bed!

In the end, we learned that the whole swine flu hoopla has been tremendously overblown! At least in our area, swine flu symptoms resemble a bad cold. The symptoms lasted no more than about 3 days. Like I said, Kat never even had symptoms. Banana was puny and feverish no more than 18 hours. Our doctor, as well as a couple of other health professionals told us that is what they have been seeing. I do know that there have been more serious cases, but compared to "regular" flu, this was nothing. We did observe the standard 5 day isolation aka go crazy in your house for 5 days. All four of us took Relenza. Everyone seems to be well now. It will give us something to talk about for years to come!

A mission trip to remember.

Recitals, Dance News, And Answers to Prayer

School is out, recitals are over, and I actually have a few days with no real schedule. It won't last long, but I am going to take advantage of it to try to catch up on this blog. I feel like I have really neglected it, but so much has been going on, I've been somewhat overwhelmed...and not quite sure where to begin. I still have some Disney news and pictures I want to share, but I'm going to start, instead, with Banana's recitals and dance news.

The dance news actually begins back in February. A discussion between Kearsdad and I about some family issues led us to begin praying about some specific things. Nothing real big, just things we felt led to pray over regarding the girls. We began praying for some particular things for Banana. I asked a couple of people to pray with me. Around this same time, rehearsals began for Beauty and the Beast, her dance company's spring performance. Within a few weeks, God began to move...

Up until this point, Banana had never complained about a dance rehearsal or schedule. She loved her classes and never complained about the heavy schedule. A few weeks after we began praying, though, that began to change. She wanted to be picked up early on Wednesdays because she was "tired of always being late for Bible Study" and she complained about the weekend rehearsals, especially on Sunday. She wasn't talking about her dance friends as often. All of this was a little subtle, but began to add up.

Then one week, as I was checking our weekly rehearsal schedule, I noticed that the director had scheduled a couple of older girls for a Sunday morning rehearsal. Bells went off. A line had been crossed. We knew that, eventually, Wednesdays were going to become more of an issue. But Sunday morning?? No way. Kearsdad said to me, "Do you think it is time we looked into moving her to "---" (a local Christian dance school). What he didn't know was that I had been looking into that very thing, checking out their website and schedules just out of curiosity. God had obviously been preparing us!

Now for the next step. How would Banana respond to that idea? She had been at her school for four years, in the company for two. She had friends, she was comfortable. Comfortable is a big deal with her. Should we wait? I though maybe so...after all, she was right in the middle of prepping for this performance. But that night, at bedtime, God nudged me. So I casually asked her, "What would you think of considering a move to "--" next year. She looked at me calmly and said, "Yeah, I think so!" What?!?!?! Yes, God, we hear you!

And so the decision was made. We completed our year, eventually telling the director we were leaving (but not where we were going). As the year wore on, we were reminded over and over what a good decision we had made. A couple of weeks ago, Banana went to the new school where we registered, and she danced for observation and placement. It was a very enjoyable experience with a result we were all very happy with. Banana is very much looking forward to next year.

So, last week she danced in her last performances with the old company. It really wasn't sad at all for any of us. Kearsdad's parents came over and got to see her dance for the first time. She also had friends accompany us two nights, and that was fun for her.


Here are Kat, LouLou and Banana after the last performance!

BMW got to go one night with us, AND spend the night in the middle of the week! Yea Summer!

On stage for the last ballet...



Sweet sisters! Kat is her sister's biggest cheerleader and defender!

She hated this dance, but I thought she was beautiful in the costume...and she danced beautifully too!

Goof off-waiting to rehearse the jazz piece.

Smiles in the Magic Kingdom

Finally, I am working on some Disney posts. One of the problems is that trying to come up with anything to say is so overwhelming. So for now...I'll just relive it with you through pictures. These are all from our first day...our magical day in the Magic Kingdom. It was and is our favorite of all the parks. We returned again and again. It is what Disney is all about for me. There are more...I'll work on them later. For now...enjoy!

Coming Soon...

I have been kindly reminded by my sweet friend DebbieB that I have not done a Disney post yet. I am aware of that fact, and I promise to take care of that as soon as possible. When I finish this ridiculously crazy week, I plan to schedule in time to do a lovely post about our wonderfully fantastic week! Until then, here's a picture in front of one of our favorite rides...

Rules for Eating Out With More Than Two Children

For future reference...

1. Upon entering restaurant, inform host/hostess that your party requires two separate tables. By separate, you do not mean two tables pushed together to resemble one. You mean TWO SEPARATE TABLES.

2. Never, ever, allow the hostess to seat you at one of those corner round tables that are intended for 8 to 19 people, but only really seat 6. And don't let them try to convince you that putting an extra chair at the table will make it more comfortable or pleasant.

3. If, after making these criteria known, the hostess still tries to seat you in one of the above mentioned manners, refuse the table. Offer to wait. Or leave and go find a restaurant that will be more accommodating to your dining needs.

4. This may be the most important rule of all. If, by previous arrangements, said children have been provided for by willing grandparents, DO NOT, under any circumstances, retrieve the children from the grandparents before proceeding to the restaurant. Leave them where they are. They will be cared for and amply fed by said grandparents. Go eat in peace.

My Easter Beauties

Happy Resurrection Day!

I love Easter! I love, mostly, what it means. It means my salvation. Easter is the remembrance of all that Jesus did for me. Without Easter, nothing else matters. I love Spring, and all the pretty flowers and colors...how everything is new again. New Life-get it?

I also love Christmas, but I think I have decided I love Easter more. I was thinking about it, and I realized why. At Easter, there are no obligatory events. No one has "Easter parties". Well, maybe a few kid parties or egg hunts, but even those are not "mandatory". There's no guilt in saying, "Sorry, but I don't think we'll be able to make the egg hunt. Y'all have fun without us." And if you do go, it's only because you want to and have the time. At least that is how it was for us when our girls were egg hunt age.

Also, other than a basket full of small goodies, there's no huge shopping effort at Easter. I do know that some people like to go all out in the Easter dress/shoes catagory, but I don't. The girls did shop for new dresses, but it was fairly low key. And they found shoes, but they were low key too. The attitude was, if we find something good, if not...oh well. I am lucky in that I sing in the choir and we have an Easter "uniform"...khaki pants or skirt and solid pastel top. Easy enough!

Lastly, Easter is all about Jesus. Christmas is supposed to be. We try hard to keep it that way. But other things always try to interfere. But Easter is just about Jesus. About church. That's it. No rushing home like on Christmas eve service to eat and read the Christmas story and hurry to bed and put out the presents. Just church and family on Easter. No wrapping paper or boxes or trees. No big clean up. At least at our house, it's a glorious morning of worship and a nice family afternoon.

So enjoy your day. Thank Jesus for all He did for you. Remember the enormity of His sacrifice. Enjoy the gift of love and mercy. Happy Easter!