Read Mark 9 with my son this morning. It's a remarkable chapter of faith--something I really needed today, particularly after yesterday's discovery. I am encouraged to cry out to Jesus with my desires, to believe in His promises and recognize and confess my tendency toward unbelief (in my case, my tendency to be frantic and grasp for control, forgetting that bed bugs too are part of His design for my life right now) (see Mark 9:24). Can I claim Mark 9:25 ("I command you, come out . . .and never enter . . again") for my problem?! I am emboldened to increase my faith by taking my burdens to God in prayer and fasting (9:29). And I am determined not to let my peace be distracted by my schemes and efforts, but to look only to Jesus for my peace (9:7-8).
Last night I vacuumed the entire downstairs area, getting into baseboard cracks and going over the couches and chairs really well with the knife edge of my vacuum cleaner. I couldn't scour the study as well as I wanted since I have trouble moving the large bookshelf and desk in there. I'm a total lifting wimp.
A friend of mine lent me an ozone generator, a machine that takes the oxygen in a room and turns it into ozone, to try to suffocate any remaining bed bugs. So that went into the study to do its magic for an hour. I don't know if it will work since I can't make the room completely airtight, but I'm trying everything within reason these days. "Within reason" is a pretty broad category. It includes everything except burning my house down. And who knows when that will become reasonable.
May 1, 2012, I began reading on the internet various horror stories and non-solutions to bed bugs. I spent a lot of time crying and calling my husband Peter while he was at work. May 3, 2012, Peter and I agreed that I would not read about bed bugs on the internet. This has been a difficult promise to keep, but I have done it thus far and am glad because the fodder I got for panic within the first three days of May has been well enough to keep my mind swirling for years. I read (sometime between May 1 and May 3) that New York City is the most bed bug infested city in America. No more visiting that fine city for me--at least until the government lifts its ban on DDT or some amazing scientist discovers an instant cure for bed bugs! Who would ever want to live there? I wonder if Tim Tebow's place is infested. Easy solution for Tim Tebow: burn your house down.
OK. Time for me to do something with my son. (My three oldest are working at our church's camp this week--yes! we cooked their backpacks and high-heated their clothes before they left). I am committed not to allow bed bugs to rule my life. I take an hour or so each day to do what I can to get rid of them. But then I must give myself to what is much more important than a sterile house.
Last night I vacuumed the entire downstairs area, getting into baseboard cracks and going over the couches and chairs really well with the knife edge of my vacuum cleaner. I couldn't scour the study as well as I wanted since I have trouble moving the large bookshelf and desk in there. I'm a total lifting wimp.
A friend of mine lent me an ozone generator, a machine that takes the oxygen in a room and turns it into ozone, to try to suffocate any remaining bed bugs. So that went into the study to do its magic for an hour. I don't know if it will work since I can't make the room completely airtight, but I'm trying everything within reason these days. "Within reason" is a pretty broad category. It includes everything except burning my house down. And who knows when that will become reasonable.
May 1, 2012, I began reading on the internet various horror stories and non-solutions to bed bugs. I spent a lot of time crying and calling my husband Peter while he was at work. May 3, 2012, Peter and I agreed that I would not read about bed bugs on the internet. This has been a difficult promise to keep, but I have done it thus far and am glad because the fodder I got for panic within the first three days of May has been well enough to keep my mind swirling for years. I read (sometime between May 1 and May 3) that New York City is the most bed bug infested city in America. No more visiting that fine city for me--at least until the government lifts its ban on DDT or some amazing scientist discovers an instant cure for bed bugs! Who would ever want to live there? I wonder if Tim Tebow's place is infested. Easy solution for Tim Tebow: burn your house down.
OK. Time for me to do something with my son. (My three oldest are working at our church's camp this week--yes! we cooked their backpacks and high-heated their clothes before they left). I am committed not to allow bed bugs to rule my life. I take an hour or so each day to do what I can to get rid of them. But then I must give myself to what is much more important than a sterile house.
