Peace

That is what I have felt this week. I can't explain it. But ever since we found the bed bug on the boys bunk bed I have felt peace. It was like God was saying to me "You have made it. I have carried you through and you are almost at the end." Does that sound crazy? I have only experienced that type of "God talk" a handful of times, but each time it has been an incredible experience. It is this "God talk" that helps me through each trial I face. I KNOW He is there and will take me through any valley I face. Thank you Father for loving me so much!

The exterminator, John, came by yesterday to see how we were doing. He seemed concerned that we still found 25 in the last month. But the majority of them were found before construction began. He is concerned that maybe eggs have been laid in the pile of the carpet, though I am not. We don't have a deep piled carpet and from talking with other bed bug experts the likelihood of bed bugs doing that are slim. They want to be close to a host and the carpet is not close. Plus, with all the inspections we have been doing and the constant vacuuming, I think we would see something. He is going to talk with COMHAR and ask to give one more treatment. We'll see what they say. I am not hopeful that that will actually happen. I think COMHAR is tired of dealing with us and just want to be done with us. Please continue to pray for us as we continue to figure out how to handle COMHAR and our expectations of them for the future.

Last night was our first official "family movie night" since October! With the stress of bed bugs, the hunting and worrying about where they were, we wouldn't even let the kids play or sit on the floor as we were finding a number of them in the living room. We started off our evening by going to IKEA to think about what we need to save up for to put our house back together. It was fun to dream about it all going back to where it belongs. We hadn't let ourselves do it before last night. We are planning on putting the rooms back together in June. That will be more than seven months since the bed bug problem began. (It will be four months tomorrow since we were overrun with the dreadful little creatures.) It was fun to eat pizza and relax with the kids. We laughed and had a good time together. I pray that we have many more times like this and that the bed bugs are truly gone from our house FOREVER!!!!

More Good News

For the past eight months we have been without our car. Last July it started giving us grief and had been in and out of the shop until September when the mechanic had it for all of September until the end of November. When we did finally get it back in November, thinking it had been healed, it lasted five days before it was broken down again. Our mechanic had no clue as to what it could be and he had given it to the Chrysler dealer he works with and he, too, had no clue as to what it's problem was. So we gave it to our friend Chris who does amazing work with anything. He thought he figured it out, but didn't in the end. He then gave it to a guy in Quakertown who is a professional with Chrysler's. He called Andy and asked him several questions, thinking he knew what it was - but his hunch was wrong as well. So we waited. Our car is fickle and only does it's bad behavior on occasion - for me on more occasions than anyone else! (It doesn't like me!) It FINALLY did it's think, not starting, for this man and he was able to diagnose it's problem!!!!! YEAH!!!!! I can't believe it!!!! It is a short in the dashboard. It took EIGHT months and at least four men, but hopefully it is solved and we can get our van back soon. Our friend Chris is on the lookout for a dashboard so pray he finds one soon and that it doesn't cost a fortune! It seems things are starting to turn around. I continue to pray that that is indeed the case!

We found it!!!!

For the past week I have suspected that there was a bed bug on the boys bunk bed. Last Monday (a week ago tonight), I was bathing Daniel and found he had been bitten. Matt also had a bite on his finger. Last Tuesday we tore the bed apart and searched to no avail. Yesterday, in church, Matt showed me his earlobe and sure enough there was a bite. We looked over the bed again, and still found nothing. Andy was doing a major search tonight before heading off to God Squad. While doing his search on the bunk bed he found it!!!! The suspected bed bug! It is now DEAD!!!!! It was the one biting as it was elongated instead of round. They get longer after a feeding. The good news is I believe it was a young one morphing into an adult. It still had a bit of white on it. (They are white when they are born.) If it was a young one then it couldn't have laid eggs. Also, if it is a female, it needs a mate to lay eggs. I believe there was only one on the bed as there were very few bites. I know I am sounding ridiculous at being happy over finding a bed bug. But it was driving me crazy believing there was one on the bed and not being able to find it! It's a pretty sad commentary on where our lives are at this point when we get excited about finding one particular bed bug!!!! I feel as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Please pray that this is THE LAST BED BUG I will ever see in this house again!!!!

Wrong again!

Not 30 minutes after hitting the enter button on the computer to upload the last post, I found one of the little devils on the stairs. This morning Matt complained that his earlobe itched and I believe it is a bite. It seems God has more lessons for me to learn - I think the top one is to stop saying I haven't found any until 55 days is up - even then I am unsure I will write about it because I will likely find one that very day!!!!! This is so frustrating!!!!!! Please continue to pray that this trial will be over SOON!!!!!

God's Amazing Grace!

The past 3 1/2 months have been some of the most difficult I have ever encountered in my walk with God. Who would have thought that a 1/8 inch bed bug (well a few hundred) could have reeked so much havoc in my personal life. Never have so many tears been shed, my faith tested, or my physical and mental abilities been stretched than in these past few months. But God, in His amazing way, has been faithful. Even in my doubt. He has cared for me and my family, loved me when I questioned Him in anger, and brought about many blessings that I never would have dreamed of. One example is our finances. I am humbled by His constant way of taking care of the smallest details. This past week I have been praying about our finances. In this month alone Andy has had to charge a little over $1200 on the credit card to put our house back together. Our savings have dwindled, from previous bed bug expenses, and I was beginning to wonder how I could pay off the credit card. (We pay the credit card off every month and do not carry a balance). I have never had a credit card balance but was beginning to think that this would be the first time we would have to. I began to pray. In one week I received to letters and a phone call. The first letter contained a check for $200 from a woman we have only met a couple of times but heard of our need and wanted to help. The phone call was from a small church that has a huge heart and also heard about our need and wanted to let us know they were sending a check for $500 to be used toward our expenses. The second letter was from our dear aunt who heard we were incurring a lot of expenses and wanted to help offset them and sent a check for $500. AMAZING!!!!! $1200 in one week - almost the exact amount needed to pay off the extra expenses on the credit card! Is God cool, or what? I am humbled that He loves me the way he does and provides for even the smallest of needs.

I have been asked by some if I would trade having bed bugs with never having learned the lessons I have these past three months. With the difficulty still fresh in my mind, I am eager to say "Yes. I would rather have NOT had bed bugs than learned the great lessons and given the blessings I have been." But since I did have to go through this and as each day goes by without finding one of the little devils I thank God for the lessons learned. I am also incredibly thankful for his provision in the financial department. I am extremely humbled that people would think to love us in that way during these times. I am also thankful for the blessings God has chosen to bestow upon me - like having my washer and dryer moved up to the second floor from the basement! It has always been a dream of mine and it would have NEVER happened if our bedroom and upstairs hallway wouldn't have had to have been torn out. I know, for sure and for certain, that God is faithful and loving and that I CAN DO ALL THINGS through Him because of His strength. Please continue to pray that we do not find anymore of the dreadful creatures. We haven't found any since Monday, February 16th and there have been no more bites since that day as well. Please pray that they are gone FOREVER and never to return. Thank you!

Back to Tot School!

With the whole bed bug thingy, poor Daniel has suffered the most with the lack of individual school attention. I decided that today we were going to change that....and BOY was he excited! He loved everything and begged to do more. I need to increase our activities and start doing more purposeful planning. He's ready to do things and is learning his letters amazingly fast!

Today we did a bead activity. I got the idea from my friend, Carisa (who ALWAYS has such amazing ideas!). He LOVED this activity and sat for more than 30 minutes doing it! Who knew a pipe cleaner and letter beads could last so long! He really got into it. He had to put every bead onto a pipe cleaner. We counted the beads on each pipe cleaner, looked at the letters, and hung them on the chair. Towards the end we added a little flare and talked about warm colors and cool colors. It was a lot of fun!

He then wanted to do his Kumon Coloring Book. I really like this book for discussing colors and the fact that there is only a small space for coloring - not too much he will get overwhelmed. He likes the maze on the back of each page - though his reason for liking it isn't necessary a good thing! He likes to torcher me with it. He can do this activity very well - surprised me the first time he ever did it! He is supposed to draw a path from the circle at the top of the page to the star at the bottom of the page without touching the object on the page. He LOVES to pretend he is going to hit the objects. The little booger!!!!

After coloring we played "Who Lives Where?". This is a great game! He's pretty good at it too!! It has so many things that it teaches while playing, shape, memory, puzzle skills, order, etc. It is a lot of fun.

Our final activity of the day was a great tool Carisa gave to him a couple months ago called "Bottle Top Names". He loves this activity. He is really learning his letters with this activity. But to show you all how so in trouble I am this was a conversation we had while doing this activity:

Daniel: (Looking at bottle cap letters) "There is no circle letter."

Me: "Yes, there is an O. It's at this end" (pointing to the right side of lined up letters)

Daniel: "No, there isn't." (He points to the letter printed on the card and says) "This is a circle." (Now picking up the O bottle cap) "And this is an oval!"

He is an amazing kid - specific - but amazing! I just love spending time with this kid!

I tried to be brave.....

Though Matt and Sarah would NOT consider our trip to PopPop and Grammy's a vacation (they still had to do school everyday), I definitely counted it as a vacation. I slept, relaxed, enjoyed my in-laws company, and slept....you get the picture! I really miss it. Especially tonight. I really tried to be brave, but in the end failed and desperately tried NOT to have a panic attack. Monday night is God Squad and it is Andy's job to teach and lead it. When it started up the end of January he got people to cover for him so he could stay home with me as I was just not up to dealing with the bed bugs on my own. While I was gone, he attended the different evening clubs and I was fine with that as I wasn't home. Tonight was the first night I was home and he asked if he should stay home or go. I thought about it and was feeling good about things so I told him to go with the knowledge he wouldn't be staying late and would get someone to drive the kids home. Well, bath time did me. I was bathing Daniel and found he had a suspicious mark on his shin. It looks to be a bed bug bite. UGH!!!! Matt said he also has a suspicious mark on his finger (yeah, they bite ANYWHERE!). It looks as though there may be one on the boys bed. Tomorrow we will be taking the bed apart, spraying it, and praying that the little devil is a male and can't lay eggs. It looks like Andy will stay home a few more weeks. I hate what this is doing to me. I hate feeling so completely wimpy. I just mentally am having a terrible time handling even looking at a bed bug. The idea of searching for them starts my heart beating incredibly fast and I feel like I'm going to get sick to my stomach. It's insane. I really need this to be over soon. Please, Lord, release us from these bed bugs!