My Experience with SCAD: The Busyness of Life

I have had a lot of distraction from writing this blog. We spent March 1st to 9th in Kalona, Iowa for Youth Bible School. Our two oldest were students and Edward was part of the staff, so our whole family went. Since all the houses were filled with the 138 youth, we camped out at the church. A larger church had been rented for the event. We took our bedding and food along and it worked out very well. That is, till Michael got sick. Tuesday forenoon he threw up over the carpeted steps going down to the basement. He threw up seven times. That ended all our plans for the day. Since we didn't want to start an epidemic at Bible school the children and I stayed "home" all day. By the next day he seemed to be OK except for diarrhea, so we went over for lunch and chorus practice. Thursday evening I started to feel sick. During the night Rhoda started throwing up. Thankfully I had a bowl handy and was able to catch it all. By that time I was so sick I was almost fainting. I made it back to bed and the faint feeling soon was better. By morning I was feeling pretty good, but Edward, Joel and Simon were sick! Edward wasn't able to do his duties at Bible school. We stayed at "home" at the church all day. Simon did not not get very sick. In the afternoon Jonathan started feeling sick. He then fell asleep on the chairs and I thought, "I wonder if that's a good idea..." Well, I should have done something about it, but I didn't. He woke up vomiting managing to hit 3 cushioned chairs and getting some on the carpet. :( Thankfully I was able to get a shampooer and wash it all up right away. Saturday I was feeling fine, so I went over to Fairview where Bible school was. Edward and Joel felt well enough to babysit Rhoda and Ruth Anna. I had really wanted to be there for the singing and testimonies. We got our supper there then stopped at the grocery store in Kalona and got chicken and rice to cook for the others' supper. They were all feeling better. Marian and Ruth Anna completely slipped out of it. We were so thankful because when Marian starts she usually ends up needing IV to stop vomiting, so we thank God for keeping her from getting this stomach flu. Meanwhile Irene and Annetta were also not feeling well. They were not sick enough to miss any of the days, but had several days of stomach ache. They stayed at Larry Zooks with 17 other students. Sunday we were all feeling pretty good and able to take in all the activities. Monday morning we packed up all our stuff and cleaned the church then went to pick up the girls at Larrys. When we got there they were SICK. one had a temp of 103 and the other 102.5. It was a good thing Bible school was over and we were going home!

This past week now ALL nine of the children were very sick. Two of them ended up seeing a doctor. Tests were positive for influenza B. Thankfully Edward and I didn't get it. So guess what I was doing all week! :) We came home Monday afternoon with almost no clean clothes, so I had to do lots of laundry besides caring for sick children. Last evening I just sank down on my recliner and didn't feel like moving anymore. Most of them were getting better. A few were still very sick. Ruth Anna was saying all the time she feels fine, she's just tired. Even with a temp of 102 she insisted she's not sick. Yesterday afternoon she said she's so tired. She curled up on the couch with a blanket and fell asleep. When she woke up she was very hot. Her temp was now 104.8! She finally admitted that she was sick! Jonathan got tight all of a sudden Thursday evening so Edward took him to the ER. Chest ex-rays were clear, so after a nebulizer treatment they sent him home with an inhaler in case he gets tight again.

Once everyone is well and things are back to normal I want to get my thoughts together and finish writing my experience with SCAD.

Here are some pictures from the week of Bible school...