Great news. Today I totally and completely forgot about lice. I had an amazing quiet time with my Lord: thus the post below! And after that we went to Ross, TJ Maxx, and the mall until 5:30. We ate pretzels and coke and Panda Express. Elizabeth tried on clothes, Rebecca and Blaine played with toys. And I had fun. I spent every waking moment on the kids. We did everything for them, and it was marvelous. I gave each of them $10 to spend for no reason at all, and they spent it or at least most of it. We found toys on clearance for 99 cents at the Disney Store, and we bought random things that we did not need but only something we wanted. I purchased two books on clearance that look to be excellent. One for me and one for Micah. We smelled candles at Yankee Candle Co. while it poured sheets of rain outside and scoured our favorite stores for deals. It was a glorious day!

Then we came home I did the dishes, washed r's sheets, and made dinner. Tuesday we received in the mail this wonderful natural lice remover kit. Friends of mine have raved about it as well as reviews on the Internet. It is pricey at $57, but worth it if it works.

Well they have this nit dissolver stuff that dissolves the glue that holds the nit to the hair. so I thought yesterday I'd go ahead and try it for insurance purposes. Remember, I found no nits on the comb Monday and Tuesday! Well, immediately I was pulling out nits left and right; at least 10 in all. These were not visible to my eye or the light; I was impressed. Not nervous though that another lice had laid any eggs. These were too developed, and believe me no lice has a chance of survival in this house. We have all become commando. Plus they were all over her head, not concentrated in one area. So that goes to show that the glue dissolver and the comb are amazing, and it has no harsh chemicals to top it off. The pesticide stuff freaks me out.

I just sprayed her hair again tonight with the nit glue dissolver and picked her hair again with the terminator looking comb (I've never seen the movie, but I thought it sounded like a good analogy), and I found no nits. I can't even put an exclamation mark there; I am so tired. But I am glad and relieved. I am super confidant that if we didn't get every nit this time we came pretty darn close and as close as close can get. I spent well over an hour yesterday and today combing out every strand of hair. I cut her hair the first day of lice, so it is pretty short and doesn't take as much time. What am I saying??? I've become immune. It will feel so weird to comb her hair in only 1 minute now.

So the next question...when do I give up? Should I comb her hair again with the nit comb or just leave well enough alone?

I Desire

The one thing I desire is just to know You better.

To live a life that lives and breaths just to bring You joy!

Fill me with a fire that burns away my doubts and all my fears.

Into a place where You are all I hear.

It's the one thing I desire.

To do what You require.

It has been a difficult week with many downs, too many to count, and only a few ups. Too few. Two or three to be exact. Lice has made it difficult for me to be nice or peaceful. The stress has caused me to grind my teeth at night to the point where I can no longer bit down or chew food. My teeth don't line up. After doc appt feeling some relief today. But I still feel disappointment at the core of my being. Disappointment that I couldn't live and walk by the Spirit through all of this. I know that eventually God will rid us of the lice. In a matter of time. I suppose my issue is the timing. I want them gone. NOW. Not yesterday or tomorrow. NOW. TODAY. But it just can't be. And the thought of...

I am not alone. You give me strength. You walk beside me.

....picking hair makes me sick and weak.

You're here in my heart.
You're the Light that guides me through the dark.
You walk beside me
When night seems cold
Each time I fall Your arms are there to hold
You walk beside me
Give me strength I've never known
And I am not alone

I talk to You and all my fears unwind
You make me want to do the best that I can
You walk beside.
And I am not alone.
...
I rely on Your patience when life brings the unknown.

*You'll need to click "pause" on the player on the bottom of my blog in order to only hear one song at a time.*

http://www.imeem.com/yenz/music/mAT2drJN/i_desire/

http://www.imeem.com/imyourgenie/music/nDQB_Lr-/natalie_grant_i_am_not_alone/
That says it all.

(All lyrics by Natalie Grant from her Deeper Life album)

Last night the kids and I were watching National Treasure 2. The girls were very interested in it, but Blaine was in and out. Towards the end when they are on top of Mount Rushmore and starting to sprinkle the water...he starts to pay attention.

"Why are they going hiking with the bad guy???!!!"

I rolled. Then I had to cover it up so he wouldn't think I was laughing at him. "You are so cool, Blaine, you say the best things."

He liked that, so we had to hear it again and again.

Hope is in the air

Would you believe I just combed through 1/4 of rebecca's hair, and I found no visible nits? Now it was only 1/4 of her hair, but I feel encouraged. Let's just hope their aren't any that I can't see.

Copy Cat

Okay, call me a copy cat, but I love Jenny's idea of a running log. OR at least I think I do. I've never done it before, so it'll be here or on paper. As she said I don't expect anyone to look at it, but it's a great way to keep track of whatever little progress I make. And besides I couldn't pass up the background. My main goal is a 5K, nothing big, and I just want to run the whole way. That is longer than I've ever run in my life. No comparing me to her 'cause she's already whipped my booty. And I expect it'll stay that way.

Yesterday I was in my room getting dressed, and I hear Blaine.
"Mommmmmyyyy!!!! Mommmmmyyyyyy!!!! Where are you???"
"I'm in here! In my room!" He doesn't hear me...
"Mommmmyyyy, where are you???? Oh, MOMMY, now you're lost!"

Going around

When I went to purchase 4 more bottles of lice shampoo last night there were two other moms stocking up. It must be going around. HEB and Walgreen's were almost out. I've found out that Rosemary is good to keep them away. So when you see me next time I'll have a rosemary bush in my head...

I'm pretty sure she got it from the library. I have this panicked snapshot in my mind of her sitting at a little table with two other kids, head to head. It was one of those bead mazes. I remember thinking, "You've been homeschooling too long. She's fine. There's no need to be alarmed." Must have just been a mommy radar. She says she remembers her head started itching shortly after that. That's what we get for reading!

I haven't run for 3 days. Worse than Jenny's two days. It's the first time since I've started working on the 5K that I haven't run (other than the first week of just walking). The first day after lice I thought I'd just walk. I was so tired it took me 30 minutes to walk around the block. How's that for time per mile? It normally is about a 10 minute walk. I bet not many can beat that! I got new running shoes in the mail yesterday, so maybe I will have more energy to run in the morning. This week I have been sleeping until 8 and 8:30. I have finally worked up to 10 minutes of running again. Not much compared to Jenny's 30, but I also have at least 4o more pounds to lug around than she does! I'm also trying to cover more ground in those minutes, so it's a little more slow going. And some days it is just so darn hot. I am a little sad because this week I was going to work up to 14 minutes. That would have put me to almost halfway done. Obviously that won't be happening seeing as it's Friday. Pooh!

And I absolutely don't want to buy one more thing for those blasted bugs!

More than you bargained for

As I'm vacuuming my home for the 2nd or 3rd time my eye catches the piles of large plastic bags piled in the hallways. Instantly I'm reminded of another time, just 6 years ago...
We were building our new house, and thankfully our house sold pretty quickly. Just 5 months, leaving our new home a few months leeway. We gratefully found a rental home for just $500 a month. Only needing to be there for two months we decided to store all of our belongings. Mr. Carey already had the place decked out in garage sales finest. I'll have to admit it was hard for me to even sit on the couch. I love garage sale finds, but this couches burnt orange tufts made it look as if it were from 1912. It smelled awful to top things off.

Having packed up every toy except a few baby necessities and the girls' dollhouse we moved in to our fun georgetown two bedroom. Rebecca had a birthday the day of our move so we happily brought along a few new goodies to tinker with. Shortly after moving in (I think the same week) we decided to watch Finding Nemo at a local theater. 10 days later we discovered Elizabeth had lice. It took me a while to figure it out: the lice was from the theater. I was so sad as this meant I could not see my very dear friend who lived within walking distance!

The lice stayed on for a while. We could not get rid of them, and for a while I blamed that blasted couch! But I knew it wasn't the couch. Two months went by. We stayed home. We combed hair. We cleaned. We fumigated. We vacuumed. We found things to do at home.

I've often looked back at that time at Mr. Carey's as being a very carefree time. I could easily see that less stuff, a more simple life, and no mortgage gave for a carefree attitude. If something broke, we called the landlord. With fewer toys, pick-up was easy. One bathroom made for easy chore time. But vacuuming today brought me a new perspective. Not only were we down to bare bone necessities, we packed most of those things up to get rid of the lice. Every pillow, some blankets I didn't want to wash, and every stuffed animal were put away for two months. And we learned that we could do without. It's interesting to me that 6 years later at a time in our lives when we are trying to cut back, to do without new material things the very same thing would happen. I was thrilled to vacuum a room with hardly anything in it. It was so easy! So carefree!!! Not much to worry about. So it's funny that in a time like this when getting rid of lice is really hard I'd have this funny feeling in my heart of joy. Joy that for a little while things in some ways will be simpler.

Now to get rid of the stupid lice!

For just another moment I am pretending I have nothing to do.

We still have lice. I cannot believe it. Please pray for us if you read this blog. Please. I have already treated her hair twice and combed through it for over 5 hours. I have washed everything. And I found more live lice in her hair this morning....I hate these bugers and feel like we'll never get through it. But I know we will. We just may not see anyone or go anywhere else for the rest of the summer. I feel like crying. She's had it for at least 10 days, but 10 days ago we didn't go anywhere that gives me any hint of where she picked them up. Please pray that elizabeth and I don't get them.

For just one minute I am pretending I have nothing to do.

I fell asleep on the couch last night at 9:15....I woke up this morning at 6:30 on my bed. Don't remember anything in between.

I have picked lice for 3 hours. I have washed everything in site and bagged everything else. I have vacuumed every surface. And now I get to do it again today. But I praise the Lord that so far I haven't found anything on elizabeth's head. I cannot tell you how happy that makes me. I think that alone will help me to keep going.

Rebecca has lice. UGH.