It lives among us.

We've been hit by the plague. Not we, as in my family, but we, as in the folks at my church and its K-12 school.

Most Wednesdays, one other lady and I cook dinner for 30 or so teenagers who get together after school to work around the building, go on visitation, or whatever else the youth pastor comes up with for them to do. Yesterday, she called to tell me she wouldn't be there because her 15-year-old son has swine flu, and she didn't think it would be a good idea for her to be handling food. I thanked her profusely for staying home and said we'd get a few teens to help with dinner.

Then I talked to the lady who buys the food and she said we were canceling dinner because the youth pastor and his wife were in the ER. YP's wife is about 3-4 months pregnant and was having severe pain in her right side. They thought appendicitis.

Then I talked to the lady who always makes dessert for us (Every church has one of these. She makes the most incredible cakes, mouth-watering cookies, even apple pie for 50 people—like it's just another day at the office. On top of running the preschool.), and she said seven teachers had gone home that day—three with the pukey virus, four with the flu—and a lot of kids were out too.

Elijah was considering staying home. But I armed us each with a bottle of hand sanitizer and may have beleaguered the point that you have to keep your hands away from your face.

Did you know that 98% of the germs that cause influenza get inside your body through your face (eyes, nose, mouth) via your hands? Have you ever seen kids rub their eyes? Chew their fingernails? Scratch their noses? Put their pencils in their mouths? It makes my skin crawl.

And did you know that you have to wash your hands for a full 20 seconds with soap? Sing the Happy Birthday song. Or the ABC song. Or you could even sing Pop! Goes the Weasel four times in a row. Just sing. And stay healthy.

Be thankful ~

Karen

PS. YP's wife did not have appendicitis. She had ligaments stretching. If you've ever had a baby, you know what this feels like. This is her first, so she didn't know what it was.