Sea Lice and Sand Fleas?

A while ago, our aunt and uncle asked me, Gabriel, to find some more information on a couple of bugs that they have in Florida but that we do not have in Illinois. Mama and I decided to do the study together. It was kind of like a treasure hunt because their names hide what they really are.

Sand Fleas - are really more like tiny mosquitos. It is hard to believe an insect only 1/10th of an inch in size is capable of such an annoying bite. The bite of a sand flea is actually a sting and the effects can be felt for hours. A small reddish or whitish welt, about the size of a freckle is a sure sign you have become a sand fleas feast. Often, one encounters hundreds of sand fleas at one time and will receive many bites...as the sand flea loves to share its meal with all its many hungry friends. Sand flea dinner time is most of the time, especially around the morning and evening hours. Sand flea encounters are most often around marsh and sandy areas. If you have many tiny insects swarming around you, and can hardly see them... you are about to become dinner for the sand flea.

When magnified, the sand flea somewhat resembles a midget mosquito, only with a shorter mouth stinger, more like a horse flies stinger in appearance. The sand flea has a dark body, brown colored legs and its wings are translucent with gray and brown splotches, appearing whitish brown when flying. Large groups are most often seen, buzzing around in tight circles, around the head and arms. Sounds awful and we are sure that Aunt Darla and Uncle David would tell us that the results of sand "flea" season is very uncomfortable.

Sea Lice - When people first showed signs of having run into Sea Lice, they thought it was some sort of rash from the water. They had tiny welts that were angry red and there were so many they were sure it was a rash. Another mystery that led to this assumption was the fact the rash was usually located in places where clothing was the tightest on the skin, like the elastic at the top of a sock. Well, it is so interesting, because Sea Lice are not even a bug! That's right! They are the larva form of the Thimble Jellyfish! These larva travel together by the thousands on the ocean currents. When a swimmer or wader gets in their way, it disturbs the group catching many of these tiny creatures between clothing and skin. In an effort to escape they sting. Since there are so many that are caught, these tiny stings can also resemble a rash. Even tho' they are larva - their sting is nasty and most folks who have a run in with them are driven to seek the comfort of some sort of remedy.

This was a very interesting study! While we hope we never run into either one, we are glad we learned about them. Now we should be able to avoid them should we ever go to Florida. The authorities do post warnings when these creatures are active, we are sure everyone appreciates that! Since each of these is only active for a season, folks can still enjoy walking on the beach, wading and swimming the rest of the year.

Gabriel and Mama

Here's to . . . . .

. . . 21 years of wedded bliss.



















Thank you, my hero, my love ~

I am continually blessed to be your bride.

A Prayer of Praise

"Lord,

No eye has seen and no ear has heard
And no mind has ever conceived
The glorious things that You have prepared
For everyone who has believed
You brought us near and You called us Your own
And made us joint heirs with Your son.

Objects of mercy who should have known wrath
We're filled with unspeakable joy
Riches of wisdom, unsearchable wealth
and the wonder of knowing Your voice
You are our treasure and our great reward
Our hope and our glorious King!

How high and how wide
How deep and how long
How sweet and how strong is Your love
How lavish Your grace
How faithful Your ways
How great is Your love, O Lord!"

written by: Mark Altrogge

Learning to Sew

Such focus!

Nana's Story

Nana in 1948 - 26 years old.



When we went to lunch with Nana the other day, she told us about her younger years. I have written it down here for you to enjoy. She is my papa’s mother.

When Nana was born in 1922 she was not breathing so they poured whiskey down her throat. Now, can you imagine a doctor doing that today? It probably would not even enter his mind to do such a thing!

When she was younger, before the age of seven, her father made all the children a full size carousal. It had six horses on it and it was powered by goats. Yes, you read that right powered by goats, no motor, or anything of that kind, just a few goats. He also made them a covered wagon. I can just imagine the hours of fun they had with that.

Around the age of seven, she got thirteen guinea eggs. The neighbor said he would not make her pay for them if she broke one against her forehead. Guinea eggs are real hard and will give you quit the headache if you do that. Well, she did it and got all thirteen eggs and every one of them hatched. “My father hated those guineas” she said.

At the age of eight, she got diphtheria and they used kerosene to open her throat up. My, how that did burn! But it did save her life.

When she was ten, she got malaria. This time she made it through without the help of any strange “remedies”.

When Nana was twelve and Uncle Carl was ten, Uncle Carl got made at Nana for some reason and he ripped her widow's peak out! That is a good sized section of hair! It never grew back. Nana, in return, decided to light him on fire. She did and boy did she get in trouble for that one!

At the age of fifteen, she was bitten by a black widow spider. They took care of it the old fashioned way. The doctor lanced it and sucked the poison out.

During the Great Depression their family shared their land and their crops with their neighbors who were mostly very poor folks. Their neighbors were very grateful for the help.

When Nana was nine, her Mother was sickly and the doctor said her mother could not get up every morning to milk the cow. It was too early, she needed her sleep. So, Nana offered to milk the cow every morning. Her mother was grateful and told her she could have the cow and all the white - faced jerseys the cow birthed. Nana named the cow Mayflower and by the age of seventeen she had a herd of ten white - faced jerseys. By this time her parents had both passed away. At nineteen, she sold the herd and brought Uncle Billy, then sixteen, to Chicago with her. Uncle Billy thought if he went to Chicago with her he would not have to get an education. But that was not Nana’s plan. When they got settled in, she sent him right off to school.

Well, that is the just the beginning of the story of Nana’s life. But the beginning seems to be a story in itself. I hope you enjoyed the story of Nana’s younger years.

Moriah

Christ, So Lovely!

"I see grace groweth best in winter."

Thanks be
to God
for the
times that
seem cold
and barren
for groweth
is the goal.

"I find that our wants qualify us for Christ."

How sweet to know the glory of our
neediness is that it brings us ever closer
to the object of our greatest devotion,
our blessed Saviour.

"O, what I owe to the file,
to the hammer,
to the furnace
of my Lord Jesus!"

I desire the changed life -
but to what depth -
will I embrace the process?

"How sweet a thing it were for us
to learn to make our burdens light
by framing our hearts to the burden,
making our Lord's will a law."

Burden, friend or foe?
I think it is neither, but just
another tool in the Master's hand.
The question is not one of the position
taken by the burden, but by the heart.
I must ask myself, is my heart my
friend or foe as my soul seeks to
humbly conform to the perfect will of the Lord?

Quotes of Samuel Rutherford
"The Loveliness of Christ"

Personal reflections

Art Lessons

I had been studying drawing for a while and had just about decided that maybe it wasn't my thing when Mama found a book of lessons on how to draw horses. I am very interested in horses, hoping to have one of my own some day. That got me interested enough to give art another chance. This book helps you work at getting a realistic look. Here is one of my first attempts:















Josiah

Tears in a Bottle

Let us introduce you to . . .














. . . . our sister in Pakistan. She has been making bricks as a slave since she was seven years old (making bricks as a slave . . . wait a minute, that rings a bell . . . sounds like Israel). Her father died when she was very young and she joined her mother in brick making at seven. Her mother was grateful for the help as it was necessary for their survival.

Over time, it became evident to everyone else, including the slave master, that they were believers - this caused many difficulties for them and yet they were faithful. One day, the hatred against them reach the boiling point. A group of women severely beat Azra and her mother. Then they were seized and taken to the slave master. He was furious and locked them both in a room. A few hours later, the kiln owner called for Azra's mother. Azra was left alone to wonder and pray. It was a long wait. The kiln owner allowed a friend of her mother to bring her food. She was locked in that room for ten days. Then her mother's friend told her the unfathomable truth that the day her mother had been taken from her she had been horribly abused and murdered in a way that only one controlled by the sickness of hate could think of. Azra cried out to God, her only hope.


"You have kept
count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?"

Psalm 56:8












Two days after receiving the news of her mother's death, the kiln owner had her moved to his house where he could more easily abuse her. She threw herself before the Lord. The kiln owner tried many tactics to convert her to Islam. She replied, "My God is an alive God. How can I leave the alive God and accept your faith?" He then decided to force her to marry him (at 70 years of age) and set a day seven months away. Azra continued to throw herself before the Lord, "I prayed day and night asking my Jesus, 'Please send me an angel who can release me from this bondage."

After long months of praying, the day before her wedding someone came asking for her. It was the pastor of a neighboring village church with a couple of people from the congregation. Somehow they heard of her situation and had come to help. After a long conversation, the kiln owner agreed to release her if they paid her debt amount, $1,100 (US) - which is an unheard of accomplishment for a people so poor. Here I will continue the story in Azra's own words.

"The next day, May 26, the day my marriage was supposed to take place, the pastor came with the money. They paid the money to the kiln owner, but he was very angry. He beat and injured the pastor, but I was still set free.

"Wow, what a moment! I cried before my Lord, 'I am released! I am free! I can go where I want to go. Oh Jesus, I thank You. Oh my beautiful Lord, You heard my prayers.' I also wept at that time, because I miss my mother.

"One of the Christian brothers (with VOM) brought me to his home. His wife was very happy to see me. She is just like a mother. God provided me with a father, mother, brothers and sisters. This brother told me about the people who paid my debt."

Voice of the Martrys assisted in paying Azra's debt; in placing her in a new family; and in providing her with a sewing machine and teaching her to sew as a new vocation. She is now enjoying the love, joy and belonging of her new family.














Azra with one of her new brothers.

(information gathered from VOM newsletter)