Quarantined at Christmas

It was a most unusual Christmas holiday for our family...all two weeks of it!  It's a good thing we 7 enjoy each other, since we've been "alone" together for this time...except for a few brave visitors who came to hang out with us.

Shaylee broke out with the chicken pox on Wednesday, December 19th, the day of her preschool Christmas program.  Fortunately we noticed that she had a fever on Tuesday evening and through the night, so didn't send her to school that day.  Throughout the day on Wednesday the spots appeared, so we were thankful she was home and not singing in her program.

We had already planned a quiet Christmas together with just our family, how we normally celebrate over here, but had planned some outings and visits to friends during the week after.  However, on Christmas Day, while playing a fun new game (thanks, Juchems!!!), we discovered that our second round of quarantine had started with some unwanted critters on some unsuspecting heads...yes, head lice. :-(  We had been warned by the kids' teachers right before break to check the kids' heads as lice was going around their school.  Never having dealt with this before, we were a bit creeped out, and immediately everyone started feeling itchy.  We performed thorough searches on all seven of our heads, and were happy that we found the culprits on only two heads...and were so thankful that those heads belonged to two boys, who must be much easier to treat than girls!

I looked in our bathroom box that we still had never completely unpacked since our move from the states, and "happened" to have a bottle of lice killing shampoo!!  Who just has that??  So, we treated both boys and then buzzed all the boys in the family, just in case.  Plus, I read and read and read about those things online, and now feel very educated about the life cycle of the louse and how to get rid of them.

So, throughout the rest of our break, we've been "alone" together:  reading books, playing games, watching movies, doing school projects, baking/decorating cookies, and playing LEGOS.  We had to cancel the rest of our social plans and stay at home.  I believe that we are now lice-free...having done a second treatment of the two boys and still continuing to give thorough head checks more often than anyone wishes!   I did have a dream just last night that I pulled about 40 of the creatures from my own head...UGH!!!  Go ahead and scratch your head now...I KNOW it's itching!

It has been a blessed Christmas, and we have been truly thankful for our family as we've enjoyed such times together.  I guess I shouldn't classify our time as quiet, since quite often the house is noisy and chaotic, and we're solving sibling troubles, and the hockey sticks are constantly swinging in the foyer, and it seems that someone is always calling out for help with something...but we KNOW we are blessed.  We are blessed with our health, our family bond, our love for each other.  We are blessed by our people back home (YOU) who encourage us, and continue to support us.  And most of all we are blessed by our Saviour, blessed with the opportunity to celebrate His birth, blessed by the chance to know Him personally!  All glory to Him no matter the circumstances!!