I just read an interesting book called, Out of Islam. It’s an amazing peek into the real life difficulties of a Muslim becoming Christian. I am so accustomed to the freedom of religion in the United States (such as it is) that it is alien to me to read about the death knell that sounds for a converted Muslim.

The main character, Christopher Alam, grew up in a well-known Muslim family in Pakistan, his father was a general in the Pakistani Army. His step-mother was abusive and his father was distant and never pleased with anything Alam did, but when Alam chose Christ, his father eventually ordered his son’s murder. Alam managed to escape, through many miracles, and is now living in the USA preaching of his conversion with a family of his own.

Alam tried to explain how hugely it hurts the reputation of a whole family to have a converted child, and how in his culture family reputation is paramount. Still, I can’t fathom how a son can become worthy of murder. How a father can bring himself to order it and be willing to do it himself? To break the natural bond between father and son twists the very foundation of what it means to be human.

The man who baptized Alam was murdered for baptizing a Muslim. Murdered. And his murderers unprosecuted. Unfathomable.

Part of what made this book interesting to me is that I know of a man (a friend of my sister's) in Egypt who converted in his homeland, an African country, and had to flee the country before being murdered by his own family too. In this man's case, he was put in prison in Egypt for 14 years on a technicality (lots of Muslims don't like converted Christians) and had to find friends willing to put together $14,000.00 in order to be released even after 14 years of jail time.

The Muslim-Christian tension is a very real problem for many people. A problem that I don't ever consider--I am so out of that world. Thankfully, I am not part of that world. The freedom of religion I enjoy is a blessing that I don't appreciate enough.

This book was a good reminder for me.

The American Plague--Book Review

I am in my early 30’s and I hadn’t heard about the Influenza Plague of 1918 until I read a Quilter’s Legacy, by Jennifer Chiaverini. I know, an epidemic that killed so many people world-wide, and I know more about Madonna or Marilyn Monroe than I do about an earth-wide tragedy that tore so many families apart. But I know something about it now, and so it was very interesting to discover yet another plague that I had no idea existed: the yellow jack fever plague of the 1878, it’s huge re-appearance in 1898 during the Spanish-American War in Cuba and the saga of tragedy that followed the various scientists who gave their lives to discover the carrier--mosquitoes.

Reading about the history of yellow fever may sound absolutely boring, but I was riveted almost the whole time to the story in The American Plague, by Molly Caldwell Crosby. Her writing and the personal stories she told brought the history alive. What also made it fascinating, is the historical effect the disease had on governments, sewage systems and the Panama Canal. This was one disease that changed history.

I warn you, stop here if you're not interested in reading excerpts of the book. I went overboard as I kept finding the paragraphs that struck me. As it was, I had to stop part way through the book, it was getting so long. But I want to post this for myself, so I can remember the parts I enjoyed.

I liked reading Crosby’s description of the virus—“A virus is one of the smallest beings in evolution’s survival of the fittest, mutating and coalescing in order to thrive, its ultimate goal being epidemic” (8). It’s marvelous writing—and I was a Humanities not pre-Medical student. “As a virus, yellow fever is not one of the stronger ones. It cannot live outside of the body for more than a few hours. It does not spread through the air or by touch. It does not mutate as easily as some viruses…what makes yellow fever unique is its choice of vector. What the virus lacks in evolutionary prowess, the mosquito makes up for” (9).

“In the blood, yellow fever looks something like a fuzzy snowflake, but it is actually round with twenty smooth sides that protect the virus’s single strand of RNA at the center. The coating of the virus is made up of proteins, and human cells are attracted to those proteins—the virus doesn’t need to look for the healthy cells; they look for it…The healthy cell eventually enfolds the virus, taking it in and closing the door behind it…That is why a virus cannot be treated by antibiotics; human cells give it refuge, and anything that could destroy the virus might also destroy the cell” (10). I never understood viruses as well as I do now with her description.

“Yellow fever, more than any other disease, would seem conjured by God and divinely directed. When the slave trade first began, every European country that profited from the purchase and sale of Africans would soon see a yellow fever epidemic: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal. Though Asia had the ideal climate and the right mosquito, it has never had an epidemic of yellow fever. It also never participated in the African slave trade” (11). It’s connections like these that make the history come alive for me. “During its tenure in this country [United States], yellow fever would inflict 500,000 casualties and 100,000 deaths…The U.S. capital would move from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. after a devastating yellow fever epidemic in 1793. Alexander Hamilton suffered the fever, while George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson fled the city; the united States government was paralyzed…Napoleon would abandon his conquests in North American after losing 23,000 of his troops to yellow fever in the colony of Haiti. He made a hasty and fearful retreat from this pestilent hemisphere, selling his large Louisiana holdings for cheap to Thomas Jefferson” (12). Fascinating! The history made by a swath of suffering from a fever---our U.S. capital changing location, Napoleon selling the Louisiana Purchase to Thomas Jefferson—I actually can’t believe I never heard of it for over 3 decades of life. This fever shaped history.

Crosby goes on to explain that the mosquitoes from Africa, carrying the fever, would come on the slave ships, and the Emily B. Souder slave ship brought the fever to Memphis at the 1978 Mardi Gras, when 40,000 people revelers congregated, were bit by mosquitoes, and carried them to their homes all over. And until quarantine was declared in August, many ships floated the Mississippi carrying the mosquitoes and yellow jack.

In mid-August, an epidemic was finally acknowledged by the Memphis Board of Health. In five days 25,000 people fled Memphis. By the next month, 19,000 people remained and 17,000 were suffering yellow fever (47). Over 5,000 died (77).

The next year, with the weather looking like the previous year (they knew warm weather had something to do with the plague, but they didn’t realize that their sitting water + warm weather = lots of mosquito eggs hatching) Memphis decided to get a sewer system. Now this gets interesting—this sewer system was the first to use separate pipes for sewage and fresh water. Incredible that this is the first use. The engineer and inventor was named George Waring and “his idea was relatively simple, involving earthenware pipes sixteen inches beneath the ground, which would carry foul sewage only and exclude all rainwater. The straightforward plan to use separate pipes for sewage and fresh water would become known as the “Waring System”…The system proved so successful that cities all over the country soon adopted the design…The sewer system was created to clean up the foul, disease-ridden city, but it had another benefit that would not be appreciated for years to come. In eliminating cisterns and providing an efficient means for drainage, Memphis destroyed a large number of breeding places for the striped house mosquito” (88-89). Again, history is made as a consequence of this disease—a two pipe sewage system. Not glamorous, but I’m thankful for that development.

Yellow fever influenced history in the building of the Panama Canal. This path started in 1901, the mosquito having been (finally) established as the carrier of yellow fever, Major and Doctor William C. Gorgas fought to destroy all mosquito breeding grounds in Havana (flower vase, puddle of water, cisterns or barrels used for water storage). Gorgas had to send his men into every home in Havana for inspection and he made mosquito control a personal responsibility, sending out inspectors and fining citizens when mosquito larvae were found on their property and that practice is still used in Havana (204). Jim Writer wrote, “Yellow fever had been constantly present in Havana for 150 years and was nearly wiped out in less than 150 days” (204). It seems so invasive, to have my vases and puddles checked by an inspector, but I wouldn’t be able to argue with Gorgas’s results. And yellow jack fever is a horrible way to die. His results in Havana got him assigned as the medical officer to American’s Panama Canal project.

In 1881 the attempt to build the Panama canal had been disastrous—as many as 1/3 the men were lost to yellow fever and malaria (the project had been headed up by the French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps who had built the Suez Canal). So in 1904 Gorgas was assigned to the project. He used his aggressive techniques to destroy the mosquito and its breeding grounds (amid lots of criticism) and the cases of yellow fever and malaria dropped off the charts and he was the officer on duty when the first ships sailed through the Panama Canal in 1914 (205). I vaguely remember from my History lessons that the Panama Canal had lots of obstacles to surmount, including sickness, but I would have thought it malaria alone. Now I know better and am amazed at the history made by yellow fever.

I hope you enjoyed the summary of the book. If you found this at all interesting, know that the book is packed with much more.

I love history, when it’s interesting. How about you?

Great Christmas Gift idea-Musing

This is a photo of my five children. I had this great idea for Christmas presents to the Grandparents on both sides that needed a photo. I took ten and this was the best one. And yet two are sticking out their tongues!

The great gift idea is a picture frame ornament.

In previous years we would gift our Grandparents (my children's great-grandparents) with a family photo. But the truth is, they have loads of grandchildren--they can't hang pictures of all of them. Or if they did, it would take a whole wall. And perhaps they don't want a whole wall of those photos.

So I thought instead of sending them a photo that perhaps they don't know what to do with--what if we started a tradition of sending them a picture frame ornament with the year engraved on the bottom. They'd see us growing up over the years, they'd take it out every year and hang us on their tree, and we wouldn't be assuming that a family picture of us fits their decor.

I still think it is a great idea, but since our family photos we had taken professionally are horribly late (they will be worth it, once we get them!) I realized I'd have to take the photos myself.

With all the preparations of eight siblings and their families coming into town, this photo session just didn't happen until the last minute. And you see the results. None of the photos are perfect!

The down side of a picture frame ornament is that the photograph space is small. That means the children's heads must be close together. I tried to have them lay on the floor like spokes of a wheel, and this is the best shot from that. Alas, I am very much an amateur picture taker. And my new computer with all the latest software that could help it out is at the computer hospital. So, this is as good as it gets.

But family is very forgiving and they'll love it anyway. And they'll only see it once a year. So it is still a great idea, I just need to get the hang of shooting it right. Any advice?

Bridal Bouquets--musing

I just came home from a wedding reception. The second in a week. It must be after Christmas, but before school starts again, because college students are getting married in between semesters. I did it that way myself.

As I watched the bride throw her bouquet to a small crowd of girls that included my eleven year old daughter, I remembered how excited and hopeful I felt to catch the bouquet when I was a pre-teen. I would fight just a bit for it. Like at a pinata. I could tell the pre-teen girls there felt the same way.

Things changed as I got older. I still wanted to catch the bouquet, but I didn't want to appear too aggressive for it. Like I wanted to reach out and casually grab it, but not jump or push for it because that would show I wanted it too much. So the pre-teen girls would snag it first. Because they didn't care how they looked, they just wanted to win.

As an older teen I remember feeling a bit of consternation towards the pre-teens, and I think it is common to the age. The females who are of marriageable age (or close to it) feel like they deserve to catch the bouquet because they're closest to using the "luck" that comes from catching it. The pre-teen females treat it like a competition, like its the tip off of a basketball game. It's probably a common statistic now--the younger the female who waits to catch, the more likely she is to catch a bouquet, because she'll push for it.

But I think brides have noticed the trend--have you seen them try and fix it? I've seen brides try to rig the throw so they can get the bouquet to their eligible friends. The older females stand in the rear of the group (and then they don't appear too eager either) and the bride hucks the bouquet as hard as she can over her shoulder so that it reaches her friends in the back. I've even seen brides pretend to throw it the first time, look over her shoulder so she can see where her friends are, and then throw it.

I don't know what older females do with the bouquet after they get their photo with the bride. I never caught it as an eligible maiden. I know what pre-teens do though. They're so excited to win the toss, and get a picture with the bride (who's always a princess to a romantic pre-teen) that they hang the flowers up in their room. Even after they are long dead and dusty. I know, because that's what I did when I was a pre-teen who caught the bouquet.

My daughter missed today's bouquet toss. She was up at the front with all her friends, and the bouquet went to the bride's new sister-in-law in the back. An eligible maiden. And she didn't even have to jump to catch it.

It was rigged.

Dinosaur Birthday cake-how to

One of my sons had his fifth birthday party. All he wanted was to eat a dinosaur cake and open presents. He didn't even care about inviting any friends over, until he heard they bring more presents. Ha.

This picture to the left is of a dinosaur birthday party in 2006 for a son turning six. My husband did the cake and I thought it turned out well. I would've made it a flat cake in dino shape. But he created a cake sculpture and my son was thrilled.

So, fast forward almost two years later and another son wants a dinosaur cake. My husband couldn't come home from work early enough to do the design. But I'd seen it done. I felt confident I could repeat the work of art.

I forgot, for a moment, that my creatively lies elsewhere. That when it comes to creating with my hands, I am all thumbs. That I can see a picture in my head, but when I try to create it, it has never worked out unless it was a kit and I just put together the pieces. My twin sister is amazingly creative with her hands (see http://www.jenvranes.com/) and a beautiful artist. I should have called her in to help! The photo at the left is what I was able to put together.

The irony is, until I put the nerd "dragon scales" on, I thought it was going to turn out. I kept having kids walk by (I had some nieces and nephews visiting early for the party) and saying, "That doesn't look like a dinosaur." "It will," I reassured them. Hmmm, it does, if you have a great imagination. I laugh every time I look at the photo. I think it looks hilarious.

My birthday boy loved the cake (see photo left). What a reaction. I will make him a funny looking cake anyday!

I did learn something while making this cake. A tip that I want to pass on to those of you who make creative cakes (I wish you success!).

When I covered the cookie sheet with wax paper, I laid one sheet of foil on top of it, down the middle, on which I built the cake "sculpture."

When I frosted the cake and added the candies, it make quite a mess. But I was able to tear the foil around the cake (see photo below left) and it cleaned up really quick. The cake was ready to display in seconds.

Enjoy your cake making and remember, it's all about how the child feels about the cake, not the cake artist. At least that is now my philosphy.

Two More Blogs

I've started two more blogs. This blog, http://www.todaysmama.blogspot.com/ is turning into my musing blog. It's a peek into whatever I'm thinking of at this time. The other two blogs are more specific.

http://www.sotourist.blogspot.com/ is about family-friendly things to do in Southern Oregon. I love the area I live in, and can't find personal recommendations about the things to do around here. So I'm starting my own. My first post is about a "secret" place to pick blackberries--the best place!

http://www.valerie-harmon.blogspot.com/ is a place for sharing my parenting ideas. I have some parenting ideas that I want to write down so I can remember what I've learned before I forget it. Plus, I'm a better parent when I'm consciously thinking of ways to be better, and blogging helps that. My latest post is about the dilemma of controlling Halloween candy.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to add your comments, I'm no expert and I'm always wanting to learn.

Miracle for Morning Sickness

I've birthed five children, and my sixth is on the way. Since I'm sick the whole nine months (normally), I have spent 3.75 years of my life fighting morning sickness. I know something about nausea. So when I tell you I have found a miracle for my morning sickness, you'll know it's a significant event in my life and I won't need to apologize for my enthusiasm!

It's called EmergenC and you can buy it at almost any grocery store. It's a Vitamin C powder

(with minerals and ascorbates) that fizzes when you add water.

I've used it before to help with jet lag and boost our family's immune system, so when I started to feel nauseated in the morning, I happened to have it on hand. Today I'm three months along in my pregnancy--and I've been off the couch for most of it!

I say most of it, because last week we ran out of it for four days. Four awful days! Several times during the previous 2 1/2 months I had wondered if I really was pregnant. Running out of EmergenC reminded me what my pregnancy normally feels like. One of those mornings I got out of bed, read scriptures, made breakfast, dressed my two youngest, and then --I went back to bed. I was ready to throw up and exhausted. We bought some more and after 3 days recovering, I'm back to feeling almost un-pregnant.

It's possible that I've found a remedy that only works for me. But I will tell you, that I have helped another pregnant friend with her nausea.

With her last pregnancy she was in and out of the hospital getting IVs for her dehydration--she was throwing up that much. She vowed never to be pregnant again, and then got surprised a couple months ago. I saw her at a field trip with a white face and moving in that delicate "I'm doing to throw up" mode, and told her about EmergenC. The next week she ran up to me and said "That stuff is a miracle! This is day FOUR without throwing up." Her face had more color in it and she was walking with vigor. So I started to think that my discovery might help more than just me.

My favorite flavors are LemonLime and Tangerine. I'm not fond of the Raspberry. I've tried a cheaper brand (sorry, I forget the name) and it didn't taste as good or work as well (for me). I tried Airbourne (another fizzy Vitamin C drink) when I was out of EmergenC and it got me off the couch enough to dress the kids for church, but I still walked delicately and had to keep eating every 1/2 hour to hold off the nausea.

In Southern Oregon, the cheapest place (not online) is Wal-Mart. I love Winco and normally shop there, but it charges three dollars more for EmergenC, and the local health food store adds two more dollars to Winco's price. So shop around, the price is not standard.

If you are pregnant, or know someone who is, please let them know that EmergenC worked for me. It would have saved me several years of nausea and that is no small thing.

Any of you ever tried EmergenC or have another remedy you use for nausea?