Foot in Mouth Disease! =)

Have you ever had to wash your mouth out with soap for saying something mean or bad or gossiping? I don't think I ever actually had to wash out my mouth but the threat of it was real! As a mom of a boy who loves to EAT soap I might have to change my strategy on that one. I am one of those people that on occasion... more then I would like to admit I speak before I think and put my foot in my mouth. I know many of us do that. I guess that is why the Bible has many verses about the tongue being sharp sword, or a deadly arrow and impossible to control. In James chapter 3, it talks about people put bridles in horses mouths to control the whole body, and ships being controlled by a small rudder, much like our bodies being controlled by our tongues. It continues on saying "See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire. And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that defiles the entire body, and sets fire to the course of our life, and is set fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, and reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by humans. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison."(James 3:5-8) There is more to that verse that I love about out of our mouth comes blessings to God and curses to man. Using the same mouth we bless and curse.  I know personally I need to learn to think and then speak, to eliminate hurtful things coming out of my mouth.

But on our trip, I got a kick out of the Botswana border. It is the only country that I know of that are eliminating that problem!!=) hahahaha Let me explain. There is a really bad disease throughout Africa called Foot and Mouth Disease. No it is not the kind that we suffer from sticking our foot in our mouth!=)  It is very bad for livestock and deadly. To keep it from entering Botswana, they have chemical baths at the border that you have to drive your cars through and dip your shoes in. This is so hopefully it will kill the disease and keep it out of the country. But with the name Foot and Mouth disease, there were a LOT of jokes going on between my mom, Keith and I at the border crossing. Normally at border crossings, you are not encouraged to joke around and you NEVER take pictures but with the signs here in front of the chemical bath, I could not resist asking the official if I could take a picture. Once again, I am such a tourist! Actually, Keith took the picture so if something happened he would have been arrested. =) Sorry love I would have bailed you out.... eventually =) Anyways, I am going to call these pictures the Gossip Eliminator! Sounds ferocious doesn't it? Kind of like a big, scary wrestler, but in reality it is just a puddle! I still get a laugh out of it.

Here is the GOSSIP ELIMINATOR!!!

 A sign clarifying what you can not bring into the country to eliminate Foot and Mouth Disease

Kaden not to sure about walking through a puddle!