A long rambling post!

Had a great time at our Ladies Retreat. Went through a book called Discover the Life by Neal and Judy Brower(don't even know if it is available in bookstores). The whole premise of the book is to refocus us on God and not ourselves. Some of the prayer practices were giving God glory with statements that recognize who He is (God, You are complete, everyone else is needy**God, You are unchanging in nature, yet unpredictable in what You do**God You can't be threatened, overwhelmed, thwarted, intimidated, manipulated, predicted, controlled, or overcome by anyone or anything**God, You are self sufficient, You need nothing from anyone to be complete**God, You are in control, You always get what You choose). We can also give God honor by choosing Him over everything else (You are God and can do whatever you want to with my life**No matter what happens I'll be okay because I have YOU and You are enough**I don't have ot be happy now, this isn't my life. My real life is in heaven). A third practice was giving God thanks by celebrating all that He means to our hearts (Thanks that I don't have to perform for You because Jesus made me good**There is nothing I can do to make You love me more**There is nothing I can do to make You love me less).
Just a great weekend away and hanging out with other women! All the boys survived without me, which I knew they would.

Monday morning about 5am B woke up crying and said he could not walk - seems his hip was hurting. He fell back asleep in our bed and even when he was sleeping I would go to move his leg and he would flinch. We proceeded with our morning, hoping that getting into our 'let's go to school' mode would help. Not much. So, ran him down to the Urgent Care for an x-ray (could not imagine what was wrong). Nothing showed up. The doctor did not have much to say except that if it was still hurting in a week, to call an orthopedist. I decided trying to take him to school (he has lots of stairs to climb). The pain became less and less but there was still a very noticable limp/catch in his walk 2 days later. During our weekly chiropractic appointment Tuesday, B got checked out again. I was telling the chiropractor about what the other Dr said. He was not totally on board with some of the stuff. He asked about the x-ray and I told him it was taken lying down and he said something about a lying down x-ray is not the best because it won't show any bi-lateral movement issues so they should have been taken standing up. (Just always interesting to hear different opinions in the medical community.) I do think our chiropractor is more in touch with the situation and if it does not alleviate itself by the end of the week, will probably get one more x-ray standing up. The slightly ackward gait is still there but it does not seem to hurt much. When he runs, his stride appears normal, which the chiropractor said that it is a slightly different movement. He also said that sometimes growing pains can be very painful and wonders if that is what it was. Supposedly kids have a very strong sense of altering behavior when something hurts so maybe that is why he still (consistently) limps.
The chiropractor has been working with me because my hands tend to fall asleep when I am sleeping. We started talking about sleeping positions and he told me that a lot of carpal tunnel is caused from sleeping on your stomach. He also told me that over time you can hurt your rotator cuff from sleeping on your side (that is why it is recommended to alternate which side you sleep on). I did a little bit of research and appears that there is some truth in it all. Amazing how God created the body and put it all together.

It is fun listening to B read. I can see improvements weekly. It use to take him 15minutes to read something that should only take 2 minutes, but as he gains more confidence, he is more eager to read. His reading teacher, who is not his homeroom teacher, seems like a great teacher. This past Tuesday B brought home a note about Chile-dog. Seems they have a dog every Tuesday that comes into the classroom so the kids can read to him and B loves it. I am going to be in the classroom every other Friday for a few hours. Will line up play dates for Jbird and throw JB into the backpack.

JB's newest tricks....opening up the toilet lid and throwing things inside - he gets so excited. He is also tall enough to see in to the kitchen trash can so he loves seeing what food he can find - gross! He has started chewing on his tongue, so half the time he looks like he has a huge wad of dip in his mouth. He is voluntarily walking more on his own and can now stand unassisted for 10-15 seconds.

Jbird is really enjoying Awana and hanging out with his friend John. When you ask him his verse for the day, it is always...and everything He made was very good. I don't think he grasps the concept yet of changing verses. At least that one is ingrained in his head. Whenever he asks me a question and I give him a 'I don't know' or 'I am not sure' or 'we will see' answer, he always comes back with 'mom, I just need to know, say yes or no".

JR brought home another rabbit. B calls it Fluffy and Jbird insists the perfect name is Pooh Bear. This one is darker and more social. I was watching it today and it sure was scoping out the fence, probably looking for another get away. He just does not get it how good he has it here, food and safety from all kinds of predators. I guess that is how it is with our lives and God sometimes. The grass seems greener on the other side, but oh, so not true.

Another quiet weekend in store. JR has a few side jobs and then will do some hunting. The weather has been so warm lately, hard to hunt. Seems like the meat will spoil within hours, definately before you could drag it out. We have been having record highs in the high 80s, low 90s. Can't complain though, the snow is coming!