Shirt tail relatives.  Not a common term where I grew up.  But we used it all the time.  We had a number of shirt tail relatives.  We knew them, knew their history, knew how they fit in the family.  But a lot of my friends growing up didn't know what they were.  We always had to explain "This is my mother's sister's husband's niece on the other side of the house."  I went to school with one of my shirt tail cousins.  We finally gave up and just called ourselves cousins.

For the uninformed, a shirt tail relative is not a blood relative.  They do not fit on the family tree.  But they are related through a relative.  Like my cousins cousins on the other side of the family.  Or my son's brother-in-law.  Or my brother-in-law's wife's parents.  And on an on it goes.   One can actually enlarge the family circle significantly through shirt tails.  

It was a shirt tail relative that changed everything for me.  I've been struggling through each day for two months now.  Barely out of bed for any time at all.  Hardly out of the house.  Went to Mbingo to see the doctor.  He couldn't find any cause for my extreme fatigue. Consulted with a doctor who was staying here at Shiloh when I came back to Yaounde.  Had more blood work done.  Nothing showed up.  In desperation I turned to one of our shirt tail relatives.  She's become quite the expert on a certain aspect of medicine.  Very well read.  We trust her judgment.  Sent her my lab results.  Received an immediate suggestion to tweak my medication.  Followed this advice.  Within two days the results started showing up.  

Day four (today) I was out of bed at six to let the guard out.  It's been a long time since I had the strength to do that.  Then I went to the kitchen to begin making bread for our guests.  Wow!  When did I last have the ability to do that?  Back upstairs for a shower.  Then it was time to make a luscious potato soup.  The bread was formed into eight round balls and set out for the final raising.  When they came out of the oven, golden and smelling so yummy, I cut the tops off each little round loaf.  Next I scooped out some of the bread, making a bread bowl for the soup.  Our guests went wild over their little soup bowls with the yummy soup.  They liked the rest of the meal, too.  

I am so grateful that our family stretches out to include the shirt tail relatives.