Back home...

You gotta hate bedbugs.

Coming home after a week or more away usually means a total recovery assault of our house. Other creatures note its beauty and desired ammenties and move in many times, in great numbers. This time was no different. Several weeks ago we moved Nate and Savannah into Joe and Louisa's room. We had another set of bunk beds made at the local workshop and everyone was delighted. Sure it looks a bit like a sleeping compartment on a train, there is only 2 feet of open space running the length of the bunk beds with a large window at the end. The room is SMALL, about the size of an average American bathroom. The kids love it, however and feel very cozy and safe, all in the same room but each in their own bed. The problem has been that while at the workshop the newest bed's wooden frame was infested with bedbugs, which we then moved right into our house. Strangely enough the bugs are drawn to the bottom bunk only. Poor Savannah! She has been covered with tiny bites as we tried to figure out what was going on. Finally, using a flashlight in the middle of the night we found them. I won't go into it, it is pretty gross, but we used several cans of Doom and have been airing out and washing bedding for awhile now. We thought we had solved the problem, but alas, our little vacation allowed multiple eggs to hatch and the night we came back she was attacked again. So we're back to spraying and washing. Benedryl gel is amazing stuff for itchy bites.
A large sized rat decided to move into our stove. Sigh. I can only imagine how nasty that sounds, but our stove seems to be like the Ramada Inn for rodents. We are constantly playing rat hockey, and our first morning back was no different. Kev made a spectactular move and well, no more rat. Of course, last night I heard another one chewing on the wood in the playroom... a favorite location since the kids have all kinds of little plastic glittery bits and pieces that attract. So a full scale search will have to happen after breakfast. Our frig has all the usual artwork and pictures that you might expect with four kids. Unfortunately, these beautiful fun foam magnetic picture frames were taken over by cockroach "squatters." I kept squashing these tiny cockroaches, okay in the course of a morning probably 20 or so, which is odd since we normally have monster size roaches (as long as your little finger, at least they don't fly!) So the tiny version was both interesting and concerning. Big roaches mean they are coming in fully grown from the outside, while babies mean that your house has attracted a breeding clan and will shortly be totally infested. Urgh. Then I cleaned the outside of the frig and moved the foam frames to wipe behind them and out came 100 or so little roaches. AHHHHHHH! At least I found the nests. As always, Kev is ever vigilent on the ant front and seems to walk right back into the house already spraying from two cans of Doom at his hip. A good strategy since we had both big black ants hanging out en masse in the kitchen and tiny little black ants swarming over the sofa. Between dismantling multiple active spider webs (in the house), destroying tons of cotton candly like egg sacs, and crushing the random scorpion or two we are slowly reclaiming our living space. The food we bought for the next 6-8 weeks has all been put away in safe tupperware containers or parboiled and frozen. The kids are happily re-organizing their toys and playing with their friends. I'm taking a deep breath and diving back into the daily ins and outs of making our home a safe and inviting place.
We've been challenged to try to carve out some time each day for further reflection on our time here and our relationship with God. Is this possible within the chaos of life? Sigh. Pray for us.