It's That Time Again

The signs are everywhere:

Boxes are piling up in the spare room.

The dehydrator is running nearly 24-7.

currently drying:  strawberry-apple fruit leather

 The grocery bills are outrageous.

And everyone in the family is getting sick.  Yep.  It must be almost time to head out to the village again.  (In fact, we have just 3 more weeks until we go)  In the past three weeks we've had a violent stomach and intestinal flu go through our family (with everyone but Kaitlyn getting it), and then this last week, both Kaitlyn and Nathan had some fevers and headaches sort of sickness which kept them both not feeling well for several days.  Then today (our 13th Anniversary, no less) Nathan has come down with something that has our clinic doctors flummoxed.  He started out with small itchy spots on his feet that quickly swelled to huge itchy bumps.  Then it started on his hands.  And moved up to his knees.  We kept him home from school this morning and took him to the clinic, and the doctors had no idea what it could be.  Allergic reaction to something?  A strange residual from the headache and fever virus he's had the past 4-5 days?  So he's hanging out at home today where we can keep an eye on him.

It's always stressful getting ready for the village.  I have to plan ahead and prepare for 7-8 weeks of food at a time, plus arranging for all the schoolwork to be readied, and this time we will be celebrating 3 birthdays while in the village (Matt's 38th, Justin's 6th and Elijah's 1st-- all in October), so I'm trying to come up with some foods and special events to make those days more special.

It's easy to get stressed out and discouraged in the weeks leading up to going to the village.  There is just so much that has to be done.  And we often feel like we are being attacked, especially when all the sickness hits.  Please pray that these next 3 weeks will be productive and that we can leave for the village healthy (probably on Sept. 12).