Some financial advice:

Buy stock in disinfectant products!

Okay, maybe it just seems that we are using that much.

In order to curb the outbreak of giardiasis, we are disinfecting the entire house. Namely anything that might go into a child's mouth. And also anything that a child might touch, since that child might then put their hands in their mouth. So, in a word, everything.

For those of you coming to the party, you really don't have to worry about catching this parasite. Just follow these rules:

1. D0 not put random objects into your mouth.
2. Do not share food or drink with the children.
3. Avoid handling dirty diapers (as if you needed a rule for this).
4. Wash hands well and often.

Really, if proper hygiene is used, this infectious protozoa is not very contagious. It's just that children tend not to use proper hygiene and tend to put things in their mouths a lot. It can only be contracted by direct ingestion of Giardia Lamblia cysts (well, there's one other way, but I really don't want to think about it), the important thing is that it is not an airborne pathogen.

More info later.

Thankfully...

God does not call the equipped, He equips the called!

UGH!

I was going to write a really long post about my day.

Instead here's a summary.

Power struggle with Abigail
Find out Sammy has strange intestinal parasite
Find out I have same parasite
Call Nana to babysit
Go to appointment, spend an extra half-hour driving because of road construction
Go to Walgreens only to discover nowhere in Fort Wayne has Sammy's prescription
Buy chocolate ice cream
Watch children terrorize house
Put children to bed early
Eat chocolate ice cream

In Memory of Jonathan Carbaugh

When I was growing up, a very nice lady named Lucy Carbaugh lived in the house two doors down from us. (Do all neighborhoods have a nice little old lady, or is that just a stereotype?) Anyway, we liked to go and visit Lucy from time to time. She would feed us cookies or other snacks. Especially, she was known for her zucchini bread, which we all loved, until you told us it had zucchini in it.

Sometimes when we would go to visit Lucy, she would be babysitting her grandsons Jason and Jonathan. Jason was one year older than me. He seemed like a nice kid, and as far as I can remember he was pretty much normal. Sometimes we played together.

But Jonathan was not a "normal" little boy. He suffered from Cerebral Palsy. He mostly seemed to be a sweet little boy. But he couldn't physically do much, and he couldn't really communicate well. When he got a little older, he was able to use a computer, and that helped. The adults around us always said that Jonathan was smart. I never believed them. I guess because he seemed like such a little kid, I never thought it was possible that he could be intelligent. I believe them now.

I wish I could say that I had played with Jonathan, and that I had spent time getting to know him. I wish that I could be counted as one of his friends. What a blessed opportunity it would have been for me to have the chance to know someone who was trapped in their own body like that.

But no, mostly we avoided or ignored him. We didn't make fun of him, we just didn't bother him.

I hadn't thought about Jonathan Carbaugh in years, probably since I graduated from high school. He didn't cross my mind at all... Until I heard that he had passed away.

He passed away Sunday, after suffering from ill health. And I am filled with a sort of regret. I am wishing that I could feel that I had lost a friend. I am wishing that he would have been my childhood playmate.

At least, this realization will help me to encourage my children to befriend those who are handicapped. I can't go back.

But with God's help we will all go forward, and maybe somehow we can make a difference in someone's life.

Random Updates

Last night youth group went relatively well. Attendance was low. Only two kids ( a brother and sister) came, but they had a lot of fun. We played Apples to Apples, had a short discussion about popularity (it seemed like a good start of the year topic), and then we played DDR and Ping-Pong. We used the ping-pong rule that as long as you can hit the ball it's still in play, which made for some interesting games.

Our visit from Grandma and Cheryl went well too. We took the kids to Science Central on Saturday. They all learned a lot about science, especially Isaac who slept the entire time. Sammy's favorite part was the Mastodon adventure game, which he won. And Abigail's favorite part was the moonwalk exhibit. I think they also enjoyed making "edible clouds" at least they liked the part that involved eating marshmallows.

Friday night I got a phone call from an ecstatic Anne. She now has a job in the Library at Summit Middle School (where I went). She starts Wednesday. This is not quite a teaching job, but it is a step closer. It will also be a much better environment than the school she worked in last year (as an assistant in an emotionally disturbed classroom).

I think I need to go shopping this week. I need to look through my clothes to see if I have stuff that is suitable to wear for camping. Currently not much fits, but I won't be this precise size for very long. I also need new blue jeans because the ones I have are starting to fall apart. I am thinking that I am better off sticking with regular jeans that are low-waisted since maternity jeans never seem to fit right.

I guess that's enough randomness for now. Two of three children are now up from their naps.

Treasure Hunting

This morning, while Abigail was at day camp learning about one monkey (according to her), I took the boys shopping at Salvation Army. It was difficult to know which things to buy without Abigail there to help (she usually tells me to buy everything). But we did make a way with quite a few treasures.

We found:

2 T-shirts for Sammy (after searching three entire racks of children's t-shirts, most were not the right size, and some were already stained/worn out)

1 pair of pajamas for Isaac

2 Leotards for Abigail (knowing how much money I saved by not having to buy these new, made the whole trip worthwhile)

1 pair of Thomas the Tank Engine sneakers (size 10, so they are currently too big for any of my children, but I couldn't tell Sam no. Isaac spent the rest of the shopping trip yanking them away from Sam and throwing them on the floor. )

1 bathrobe with Smiley Faces (Too big for Isaac, so I need to try and convince Sam to wear it, so Isaac can take his old one. Sam gets really attached to everything though)

Things I almost bought but didn't include: infant-sized superman suit, roller-blades adult size six, cabbage patch doll, two size five velvety dresses.

Things I was looking for but did not find: one child size sleeping bag, appropriate for a little boy (The Little Mermaid didn't seem quite right for Isaac), one small backpack for Isaac (The only one that was the right size in good shape had "Peter" embroidered on it), Size 7 boys shoes.

Not my most successful thrifting experience, but all in all we had fun. Someday my children may want to own things that were not pre-owned, but in the meantime we can all be happy.

The dentist

This morning after dropping Abigail off at day camp, I took the boys to the Food Coop to kill about an hour until I had to be at a dentist appointment. Sammy insisted on pushing the cart (with Isaac riding), and since the point of the trip was to kill time I let him. The boys tested the samples, and amazingly loved the raw green beans dipped in Honey-Dijon mustard. I refused since I didn't want to get any crud in my teeth. Then a store employee with a roll of stickers came by and put on one Sammy that said "Organic". He was delighted. We purchased a few "necessities" like Virgil's root beer for Paul. Then I let the boys select a baked treat. If it had been me, I probably would have wanted the chocolate coconut bar or the toffee brownie. But they wanted a carrot, raisin muffin.

I waited until we arrived at the Dentist's office to give the boys the muffin. I figured it would help pacify them while I was being tortured. I was right. I was not at all pleased to see that I had my least favorite dental hygienist. She tends to be rather brutal, and my mouth still hurts five hours later. Then the dentist came in, and I'm pretty sure he didn't actually talk to me about my teeth at all. He did ask about Sam's hair. Since this is the same dentist I have gone to for years, he must have forgotten that I am an O'Neil. Then he talked with the hygienist about my teeth. Then he looked at my teeth while ranting about the new smoking ban. He then discussed the condition of the enamel on my front teeth with the hygienist. The condition of the enamel on my teeth has not changed in over ten years. And yet, at every appointment it is discussed. He figures that as long as it doesn't get worse he won't do anything about it. Unless I want to, for cosmetic reasons.

Finally, my teeth cleaning was done. By this time, Isaac had successfully unhooked the suctioning straw at least three times. Plus, both boys were covered in muffin crumbs.

Since we still had an hour and a half until it was time to pick up Abigail, I took the boys to Jefferson Pointe Mall. There is a really neat play area in the food court. The still somewhat muffin covered boys were hungry, so we went to Auntie Anne's and got pretzels. The first batch of pretzels for the day was just coming out of the oven. Yum!

Finally, we retrieved Abigail and came home. The boys were both too full from their snacks to want lunch.

Not me, I'm always hungry. (Of course, I didn't get a muffin)