On Retreat

So this weekend I'm on a retreat held by the women of our denomation.

We're are trying and hoping to revilalize women's ministry on a denominational level within the body.

In the past, that's meant two conferences a year with a social time and a speaker.
In the past two years they've changed the conference so that in the fall there is a social time with a speaker and then in the spring they have a work day with a speaker. People go and do community projects and basically learn new ways of doing things in reaching out the community and in the afternoon they have a speaker and a time of sharing what all happened. They pick a community to go to. This year it's in Welland.

ANYWAYS.. enough of the history. There's about 6 of spending the weekend, a bunch more came during the day yesterday. We're having a decent time talking and laughing. We're getting ideas...many of them centering around the idea of mentoring, and using the classis as a resource tool for being able to connect with other churches and denominations who may be tackling the same issues. Perhaps we can work together to bring about situations where God can work in the lives of those around us. :)

Came to an epiphany this morning. I've struggled with the fact that I have only one child. Was talking with a lady this morning who notices that I'm never right in the middle of the crowd...that I'm often on the edges. I replied that it's because I'm not real fond of being right in the middle of a crowd...I'd rather be on the periphery. I like listening to people talking, but I find too much talking confusing at times and I don't know who to focus on. And that sometimes I struggle with that at home when both son and hubby are talking and I don't know who to listen to first. I told her that I REALLY like one on one conversations. Then I left for my walk. On my walk I realized that it was indeed a blessing from God that I have but one child. Means less stress overall in my life. Means that I can focus on him. And means that I can focus on my hubby at times as well. Hmm....guess that God really did know what he was doing eh? Despite the heartache of miscarriages he does know me best of all and really does care for me in the big picture. Kinda cool huh? :)

Anyways, today we have a worship service and some more conversation I think and then time to head home. It's been a good weekend overall. I'm rather tired because I didn't sleep well last night, but overall....it's been good. :) The leader threatens to put pics of me up on Facebook...not sure what I think of that. :)

Bifocals....okay....

Went to the eye doctor yesterday as I've been having some problems with my eyes. There are times when I simply cannot see, everything goes blurry on me.

Discovered that my eyes have deteriorated a lot over the past year... more so than my original family doctor anticipated.

So I'm going to be needing new glasses and a new prescription. Looking into getting digital progressive bifocals made. Just in the process now of getting quotes and what not.

Trying things in a new way

Trying to Do things a new way.

Being more organized with homeschooling the lad. Working on it, not there yet, but feeling overall better about things.

Adding some exercise everyday. Usually mom and son, but sometimes Dad joins in. Will do 1/2 daily if not longer, regardless of the weather. Will sometimes mean exercising in the basement, or sometimes running the stairs at church, but mostly will be outside...playing in the snow, skiing, snowshoeing, walking around the block or whatever we happen to find.

Eating better and hopefully more regularly. :) right now that seems to be 1000, 130, 5/530 and then snack. I know...odd timing, but so far that's what is suiting us. Eating less and hopefully healthier overall. Added lots of fruit to my diet which is better than munching on this that and whatever. :)

Going to bed ON TIME. No more late nights. Means I can get up in the morning and have time for devotions AND to set up Justin's computer games for him.

Trying to realize I don't have to do it all. Doing what I can and just stopping is not a bad thing. (yeah, right)... still working on this one. :)

it seems to be working!!!!

So the acid blocker that I am taking seems to be working.

I'm still feeling sore in my upper GI, but it's not as intense as it was. I expect I have some healing to do. :)

not having that constant ache in the middle of my chest is a boon.

Still fighting some exhaustion, but today I feel sorta perky! :)

Jim slept well.
Today I go to pick up Justin from oma and papa's. we're meeting half way for lunch.

Another health update

Jim is frustrated.
He is chomping at the bit to go back to work and the doctor has said "No".
He is to take another month off.
He doesn't want to.

I expect he'll not preach for the month of February, but that he will start doing some work related things, such as the picky stuff of orders of worship. He might try to get starts on sermons done and what not. He will also, I'm thinking, do some phone visits, write emails/letters to people, and such like. He still needs to be alert to catching illness from people until he's all better so I imagine he'll be limiting his visits in person for a bit yet.

I'm not surprised that she said no work yet, when I see how easily tired he gets at this point, I think he needs more time to get back into things. I wasn't expecting a month, I was expecting two weeks, but hey...I'm not the doc. I don't get paid the big bucks. It's just a difficult thing for him right now.

Justin is at Oma and Papa's today. Jim has a funeral today, I have work, and I couldn't find a way around either for providing child care for him. He wasn't happy about it, but I know that he is safe and he is loved where he is. I HATE leaving a crying boy behind.

Me... I have an appointment at the hospital for a barium swallow. The doc wants to see if we can figure out why my wonky valve is being wonkier lately. Who knows... maybe it's turned into acid reflux disease (with it's issues), maybe I've gotten myself an ulcer or ???? I don't know. I know that since getting the acid blocker that I'm feeling that my pain levels are a lessened a bit though my tiredness continues all day until about 9 p.m. when suddenly I feel perky! I am hopeful that eventually I can eat fruit, drink hot lemonade and such like again. Would be nice. Time will tell.

Health Update

I am definitely sick.

She says I have some sort of brochitis type thing going on. She doesn't rule out a-typical pneumonia, but like the ER doctor can't definitively say that this is what is going on.

She wants to see me in a month. She'll redo my ECG at that point as any abnormalities might just be sickness related.

We're to keep an eagle eye on our son. Any coughing or fever and we're get him into the doctor ASAP for treatment. We are not to mess around with this at all. So we'll be doing regular temp checks on him for the next bit.

The joy continues.....

So it would appear that I too am ill.

With what exactly the doctor at ER wasn't sure. BUT she thinks I have atypical pneumonia. Which apparently is fairly normal for people who had H1N1.

They also did an ECG...and there's something a bit off with that. It's apparently not normal for a person of my age.

I have an appointment with Dr. Naylor on Thursday afternoon. We'll learn more then I hope.

Impavid

Did you know that the word impavid means fearless?
I didn't know either...until I looked up a scrabble word that I played. Funny how sometimes you through letters together and go hmm... looks like a word, wonder if it is. And.. IT WAS!!!
rather cool that. :)

anyways... I'm not normally impavid, but sometimes I am. When it concerns my boy...by all means. :) When it comes to preserving the integrity of our household...indeed. But scary things on tv, spiders ON ME, intimidating people, sharing my faith with scoffers and other such things...nope, not impavid. With the last...should be cause it's not by my own strength, but none the less I am.

Update on Jim. He has up and down days. up days he tries to do stuff, down days he simply can't. Did the dishes for me last Saturday as J and I were away all day, it totally tuckered him out and there was only one sink full (not a big sink full either).

He coughed up some blood again the other day, that concerned me.
He went to church on Sunday and half way through the service he just wilted. You could just see it on him.

Sent our boy away to my parents for a couple of days (Saturday afternoon to Wednesday morning) to give everyone some quiet....we are a houseful of people who NEED quiet and alone time and this forced to be together all the time is not good for us. Jim normally runs a pretty busy life with lots of time away and he hasn't been able to get away (justifiably sick!) and I haven't been able to just be home by myself so stress factors were abundant. He's going over to the church this afternoon for a couple hours to work on a disfunctional computer, and I'm going to just putter (or possibly take a long bath which I very rarely do). Ah...I am SO looking forward to it. :)

Our boy didn't really want to go, but I know there that he is safe, that he will have fun, and he get some quiet time too. Here...he was just getting loud and angry, which wasn't working well for two parents who were feeling loud and angry inside of themselves too. My mom says he's doing better there which is good for a momma's heart to hear. Means I made a good decision. :)

Anyways, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, but I'm feeling somewhat functional. Best get on with the day then eh? :)

Cheers!

The beach on Tuesday

I had promised Justin that if it didn't rain today I'd bring him to the beach for a swim.

Sunny this afternoon, Jim heading off for the evening, and I was fed up with working around the house and dealing with a boy demanding that I only do stuff with him. :) So off to the beach.

Boy oh boy were the waves high. When swimming I love waves like this. I love diving over them.

Couldn't do that AND watch a boy child so I spent 45 minutes with Justin in the water teach him to jump high when the waves come. He did pretty good and when he didn't he'd get a face full of water. Which he didn't like....helps with the learning curve. :)

Then 45 minutes of playing in the sand. We had supper at the beach, played some more and then headed home. Tired lad, started to put himself to bed at 8 p.m. (He NEVER puts himself to bed). Good to see a tired lad. :)

today we crafted

Today we crafted because we're two tired people dealing with each other....and this makes it easier. :)

So we made Marble racers.
take one marble:
place it inside a mouse:
then race them across the floor. We could not get a good picture of them racing, because, well...Milo Cheats!

DO NOT let Milo touch his...he CHEATS! He will grab said mouse by tail and carry it across the finish line!


and we made a kitty house (so that mice would have friends to chase them). :)
and then since we were at it, we did the farm as well.



wonderful to have things on line that one can do with one's boy child. :)

Update from Doctor

So the doc called last week and I just didn't get here to update.

All my blood work has come back and I'm fine that way.

A few more tests to run.

I'm getting more convinced that I've got a bad bug that just has to finish making it's way out of my system. And that will just take some time.

Means watching what I eat for a while yet. No tomatoes or anything spicy.

Bit of a pain overall though. :)

Been to Doctor

So was at the doctor today.

She's a bit stumped as to what all has been plaguing me for most of the month of December.

So she's running a bunch of tests to see if she can figure things out.

I figure I picked up a bug of some sort or other than I just can't shake off. But she wants to rule other things out as she says some of the stuff I've told her is a bit odd so she wants to do a bit of search and discovery. Who knows...maybe she'll surprise me with some real information!

ON a good news though...I can reduce the amount of Iron I am taking. I can go from 2 down to one! :) YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

well.. that was a job

That certainly got my heart pumping and my muscles working...

digging out a path through wet snow to get to the rabbit tent.

ha...I should take a pic!! :)

took me about 20 minutes with some back stretches included.
snow was deep and rather heavy.

Then I got the snow off the roof of the tent and needed to clear spots for it to slide off.

Fun fun! NOT! One aspect of winter that I could do without...shovelling HEAVY snow!

The Things You Learn

First a child needs to decide what shapes we can use: rabbits, cats, fish, butterflies, dog bone shapes and trees NOTHING ELSE!!!! (results in screaming IF and only IF the boy child is actively helping you)...see I snuck in a star! :)
Then one builds cookies
Then one lets cookies bake and cool:
Then watches rabbitry and child enjoyment....


And then one discovers the folly of making "boy" that the boy child didn't approve of....

We had fun. It did prove to be an interesting and learning experience for all concerned. :)

My day has been slowed down

slowing down the day....

Okay... so last night I even more appreciated the fact that this is done. Made doing this job painful, but easier. :)

While caring for such critters though I tripped. Landed on my bad knee, bashing it against a concrete block holding up on outside rabbit hutch. It got rather swollen. It doesn't like to bend. Painful is a bit of an understatement.

BUT I managed to get some sleep. :)
AND I had a boy who didn't wake me up last night to go pee. :)

So today has slowed down a bit. No cleaning up the yard, doing pears up, doing laundry and so on and forth.

BUT I have a happy boy and a willing hubby to help. Jim even brought down the laundry. :)

I'm still hoping to get laundry done and to do the pears.... it will just take....longer. :)

Parenting Question - You Not Going to Leave Mom?

Okay...it's been almost two weeks.

Our buggy freaks when I'm not home when he wakes up. Okay....maybe freaks is the wrong word but he's not a happy camper if I'm not in the house when he wakes up.

He doesn't want to go to bed at night 'cause I might leave when he's sleeping.

When I get up in the morning he'll be up within the half hour wanting to walk the dog with me so I'm not leaving him when he's sleeping.

It's a bit of a struggle because I want to just go and walk the dog by myself. No child. Just me and my dog chillin' first thing in the morning. No pleas to go the park. No Why questions. Just me and my dog alone in the morning, getting ready for the day.

I've tried slipping out but that means leaving my night owl hubby to deal with child when he's ill-prepared to do so...he needs his morning sleep like I need my night sleep. Differing schedules don'tcha know.

I've given up my alone times in the morning...but I miss them terribly...AH!!!!!
Tell me this is just a stage and it'll pass. I can live with this for now then.....
OR give me some hints...how do I help this boy of mine to stop being so terribly worried about me leaving the house without him.

How do I deal with this?

Whining, the dentist, whining, gardening, Long nap

Justin wet the bed during this unexpectedly LONG afternoon on Tuesday. So Tuesday night (since Tuesday evening was so busy) he slept with me. He woke up at 4 a.m. but we dozed off and on until 7 a.m. Then up to walk Sassy, followed by whining about this that and the other thing (him NOT me).

RUSHED to go to the dentist...me whining at Jim that I had no time to shower and being a bit grumpy about it all. Got to the dentist 10 minutes late...and then sat for 10 minutes until they could see us. Justin was GOOD at the dentist. So we went thrift shopping. Justin got one more pair of pants and three shirts AND a train. That boy just LOVES trains. :)

Home again.
Where life again proved challenging to Justin and myself. Justin forgetting to talk properly instead of whining his way through the world of communication. Sometimes it's a challenge.

But things picked up again later. Jim came home with two young guinea pigs. One healthy, and one sick...rather badly sick. That one died later in the day. BUT the distraction of BINNIE!!!! arriving was enough to turn things around for Justin. We rearranged a few thing in his bedroom and then played in the house for a bit. Justin was encouraged to nap but that proved a challenge for him (BUT IT'S LIGHT OUT MOM!!!!) So he played and helped me work outside, and then at 430 ish, after munching on tomatoes and ground cherries, he disappeared into the house, and since he'd been acting hungry I followed him and got him to eat a bit of supper. Left him and then checked on him at 5 and he was snoozing on the couch.

Ah...silence! :)

He slept until 8.
yes, I know...did I set myself up for a late night? NOPE! Told the lad when I go to bed...so is he. That will be eleven so I'm not too worried. and he does play quietly in his room if he's awake. (at least I hope he follows that same routine tonight).

BUT today I got
1. 5 rabbits medicated.
2. one garden emptied and turned over
3. one section of the composter repaired AND all the not-all-composted stuff scooped into that section.
4. listed my compost on kijiji to see if I can sell any of it (have two half sections that can go).
5. Justin's room organized a bit better again WITH a train track set up in the room too. :)
6. Supper made for hubby (yes, it was a cheater supper but hey...I turned on the oven!) :) I ate some leftovers as that was quick and easy.
7. ALL the laundry done...took me three days but it's done for this week! extra bed sheet loads and everything. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How to see God in All?

So as you know, I've decided to study the Sunday's sermons passage before church. Wow...certainly helped me listen better since I knew the basic gist of what he was going to talk about. Even missing the first five minutes due to Justin having to get some crayons which were SUPPOSED to be in my church bag but somehow weren't I still followed the sermon fairly well.

ANYWAYS>>>>>
One of the things Jim mentioned was that we need to focus on God ALL the time. To look for him in things. To make it a point of doing so. It helps us to know God better and therefore to boast in him and our knowledge of him. (I am paraphrasing).

That got me thinking.
As some of you know, we plan to homeschool Justin. A part of Jim's sermon was that folks in school need to think about how God fits in with their schooling. When taking a college course...how do you see God in your art class?

I'm thinking it would behoove me to figure out how to get Justin NOW and throughout his schooling to think about how God figures into it all. I really want to help Justin develop a solidly Christian world-view, so that means helping him figure out how God fits into his world in every way that I can think of, help him shape his thinking.

So now I have to figure out, how can I do that?
It's more I think than using scripture in study - whether that be copywork, or memorization or whatever. Though that's part of it, because the more Justin knows the word of God, the more hopefully he'll learn of it and become drawn to God more as I pray that God will draw Justin to himself. (I probably said that poorly).

But how do I teach him to really think about how God fits in with it all? That's my query. I am NOT a hugely critical thinker. Jim is WAY more discerning about things than I am. I can get the thought that something isn't right, but Jim tends to pinpoint it really quickly. :) I'm quicker at saying where I see God in something, but I don't know..... I feel somewhat unprepared for this aspect of things and want to figure out how to feel more "prepared" to help my boy in this important aspect of knowing and loving God.

Making Progress

Yesterday was a good productive day around here.

Got laundry done, got the cold storage cleaned out and I got the garage cleaned out. Three big jobs....assisted by a boy who had a nap in the afternoon.

I even had time to podge a cat box with Justin. :) Justin kept saying 'podging fun' 'painting mom?' and when we were done "these painting (the sticks) need be kept safe" "i put them here mom for little while". He happily went to bed not even having ice cream! :) A pudding cup was good tonight.

Jim went to the dentist, and then did some visiting, did some good research for sermons, and mostly fixed the muffler on my car. A gasket decided to break so Jim took the opportunity to take it all off, fix the gasket and then re-weld the previously broken part so it will hold better.

I was beat so went up to bed at 1030, only to be kept awake by banging in the kitchen. Came down this morning to a cleaned up kitchen. Wow...isn't my hubby helpful?

Today my plans are to clean out the walk in closet, and tackle the book room. If I have time I'll put up a couple shelves in the walk in closet so we have more places to put things up off the floor. Might even toss out some old shoes. :) One never knows what one finds when closets are tidied. Maybe I'll vacuum the whole main floor too, but not until the closet is cleaned, no point doing it twice! :)

Anyways, off to take the dog for a short walk, she bunged up her leg again yesterday and wasn't weight-bearing on it at all yesterday and hobbling throughout the night. So just a potty walk for her. Then to medicate the bunnies and get on with the day. Oh...first I'll finish off Philemon though. :)

Birthday and other such things

Justin is now three years old. We celebrated his birthday on Sunday, family came up, seemed like folks had an enjoyable time. I even made a cake AND decorated it. Wasn't the worlds best decorating job but hey...he's three, he was happy and he got to help! :) I'll need to post a pic but right now my camera is somewhere in this house where I can't see it. :) Being three has meant some changes in Justin's life.1. No more bottles during the day except at nap times and bedtime. All other times nada. he's not happy. But he can do the other, so I want to encourage the other. I haven't forced a complete separation, but I am helping him give them up a bit more. (I'm getting sick of bottles)
2. No more car seat. He is now in a booster seat. Wow...what a change for a boy who likes things to stay the same. Yeah for Uncle Fred bringing us their old booster seat. :)
3. A bit more is expected from him in helping to clean things up around here. He's a big boy now don'tcha' know! :)

What else.....plants are growing well in the garden. I'm a bit unimpressed that my "bush" squashes aren't bush squashes and seem to be taking over the world at this point. They are vining everywhere it seems. I don't like. No I don't!

Next week we are on holidays. Had a bit of a panic yesterday. The girls who were going to care for our bunnies canceled on us. I called the CRC church to see if they knew anyone in town with youngsters who might like to make some cash and a family came through for us. BUT WOW...what a bit of a panic.

Jim managed for the most part to fix the muffler on my car. Welding and everything. :) He's my man!

Going to the market tomorrow. Bringing some bunnies with me to sell to folks who requested delivery to Kitchener. Four bunnies to find new homes. Yeah! :) $40 bucks in my pocket--- double yeah! :) Update: brought four with me, came back home with two of them. Fellow backed out at the last minute. Hadn't spoken with all affected parties first.

Anyways, got to go walk Sassy and care for the bunnies. talk at yah later.