Sickness

I'm sad to report that we've got a few men down here.  Doug's got flu-like symptoms which have been absolutely no fun throughout the entire day.  We went to school in the morning and came home at lunch where I saw him for a total of 10 minutes before he disappeared into the bedroom and did not come out at all except to go to the restroom.  Poor guy is miserable but getting tons of rest. 

Seth came home today with a fever when his only complaint this morning was a sore throat.  After gargling with salt water and receiving many hugs, he left for school at 8:00 seeming not his best but certainly far from ill.  When he got home this afternoon, he laid on the couch and fell fast asleep within minutes.  This medical issue is in addition to the swollen thumb on his right hand from a hangnail that he pulled out and got infected about 10 days ago.  One round of antibiotics did not cut it so tonight we began round two.  Though he's now not his normal self, he was still easily appeased when allowed to spend the remainder of his evening watching Despicable Me II.  As a matter of fact, the rest of the kids were thrilled that someone was sick and 'needed something to watch while Seth laid down.'

Selah too saw our doctor neighbor because she has about seven little scabs on her right leg that are surrounded by infected, red skin.  When I went to the pharmacy earlier today I asked for some Neosporin, which they tell me is the same in English and in Spanish; however, when I asked for it they didn't have any and wondered what I needed.  When we showed the pharmacist the cause for medicine, she reported that we needed oral antibiotics.  I bought the $3 bottle but knew that I should consult my trusty neighbor for a second option before putting any of it down the hatch.  Thank goodness I did, because when I showed it to them across the street, they told me that we should hold off on antibiotics.  I then wondered aloud what we were doing wrong that three of our four kids were fighting puss and infections in their bug bites and skinned knees.  (Did I mention that over the weekend Doug and I had spent a good deal of time cleaning up Jacobey's enormously swollen arm which had been bitten by some pesky bug?  I'll leave out the gory details but will suffice it to say that even tough old Cobey wanted to vomit at the sight of what came out of his arm.) 

Back to the question...What am I doing wrong?  Much to my relief, my precious neighbor replied, 'You're missionaries."  Ahhhh.  That's becoming one of those phrases that I hear many times.  Often when things go wrong, it's apparent that it's because of that.  Praise God it's not because I'm being a careless mom or because we have dirty, accident prone kids.  Well,.......our kids are pretty dirty......

You know, not to be left out, Darius pulled me aside right before bed to show me this black dot he has on the bottom of his foot.  Probably a splinter that he's left and not worried with till now.  Cute. 

So, as you read this, please pray a quick prayer for healing for my brood and for protection for me.  (Especially since we all shared desert last night and tried each others' food.  No telling what's ahead!)

Blessings, kim