Saturday and some improvements

After going to S*m's Club for a number of years I finally got wise and
made a master list of all the things we usually buy there and little
bubbles to put my check marks. I even have the items in the same general
order as we normally move through that huge store. How long does it take
for some people to learn?

Also decided to make my bread into rolls this time, hopefully, we will
have fewer bread crusts left in the bag that need to be tossed. I
know...if I would be paying attention I could have all the bread crumbs
we ever need. But...

Then we made 2 apple pies

Cut up about one basket of apples and made applesauce...if you want good
applesauce - use Ginger Gold apples Yumm!!
Then we even managed to go to a wedding all in the same day!

Progress!

Today we did a run to Philadelphia...to see the Doctors....not sure how
many we saw today...but anyway first the good news. The fixator will be
history in about 2-3 weeks....well as soon as the appointment can get
squeezed in there. Oh and the plastic surgeon said he does not think we
need to graft YAAY!
This-a mama is ready to get rid of that thing...there might be a
certain 11 y.o. boy that thinks the same thing.
The other half of the visit was good, but we aren't quite as far along
as I'd hoped....the incision looks great...the swelling is down...but
not quite far enough...the prothesist (the people that make the
prosthesis) was just not sure that his swelling was down as good as it
could be and rather than make legs that are too big...we are wearing
compression socks/tubes for about 2 weeks then see how he looks.
The let down came this evening...we were talking about touching his legs
and getting them ready for legs...the skin can't be too sensitive and he
was groaning and moaning...didn't want to wear the compression socks to
bed ( I can understand) He also decided that he could not walk today
because his calf muscle was "hurting" the proper adjective never did get
decided upon. Was it achey because he walked too much yesterday
(probable)...or was the muscle torn from the tendon (not
likely)....really could not get a finger on exactly what was going
on...but it was BAD!
Anyway, daddy had a little chat about trying not to let pain rule you
and helping us figure out how to help him....
along the way I asked if he ever had someone that pushed him to move
ahead to work hard at a goal...
"yes a teacher (ayi) in the orphanage"
I asked him what he thinks she would say if today she could see the
choices ahead of him....
on one side...don't try...keep crawling...stay in wheelchair...because
it hurts to work
OR
work with mom and dad and doctors...do the exercises...toughen the
skin....move the muscles so that he can play basketball with his
brother...walk and run with his classmates.
That upset him...I do it a lot these days....
but he got me back he said...
"that is why I didn't want to come to America...all the surgeries"
I bit my tongue for awhile...then asked him who the kid was that crawled
by me the other day and lifted his fixator arm and said..."even though
this was hard, I would tell other kids it was worth it."
"Not me" was his answer.

What Kind of Wood!?

Last night it was Joseph's turn to pick a book for bedtime reading. He
picked Genesis 6 KJV...I decided whatever! see if he understands.
So I read it with great expression (it's the beginning of the story of
Noah) After I finished I asked Joseph what happened in the story..."I
don't know"
So I read it again....stopping every few verses to ask
questions....after one of the verses I asked Faith..."What kind of wood
did Noah use to build the ark?" (It's gopher wood in KJV, not exactly
sure what kind of tree that was)

Faith's answer...."Ummm...chipmunk?"

Very close....

Amazing Sights II

The reason we took a wheel chair ride to the end of the drive....
Ezekiel came in and told us about an amazing spider web.... it was at
least 12 feet off the ground and was suspended between two trees that
are about 15 ft apart. If you zoom in on the one picture you can see
the black spider surrounded by unfortunate bugs that were snagged way up
there.

The other spider was busy making another web close to the first...I hope
we have a bit of dew tomorrow before Irene hits. I want a better picture

Amazing Sights

The first one was this... It took him a few tries to get to the end of
the walk...then we took a wheelchair ride to the end of the drive. On
the way back he stopped for the walker and made it from the drive the
whole way into the house and to the sofa....something tells me that he
will be tired/ achey tomorrow.

First Day of School 2011

Yesterday 2 out of 5 kids were coming down with colds...this morning 3
out of 5. Mr Joseph was up at least 3 times last night and the times he
came to wake me, HE was wide awake.
Wonder how much he actually slept. He told us that when he was with his
foster family, he would wake at 4:30 AM and go over to his friends house
and wake him so they could get ready for school. He would then eat
breakfast at their house. I asked if friend's parents minded if he
showed up at that hour...."sometimes his mama didn't like it, but his
daddy was away a lot"
I left him know that 4:30 AM is not the time to wake up at this house.
They were a bunch of tired kids tonite.

The New Shoes

Play Area

This summer the girls played and played with the strangest assortment of
toys.
The barn...devoid of animals
The little cars
The chairs are part of a stacking game
The animals were given as part of a learning tool
The J*nga blocks are used in different variations
The dominoes...somedays they are a road, the next day risers for the
bears to stand on to rehearse the Christmas program...the next they are
desks for the bears.
The wooden blocks get arranged as a stage.
The barn is a parking garage.
The whole room is a mess, but we left it there sometimes 2 weeks in a row.
Finally today I told them the floor must be cleaned up because.........
(wait for it.....)
SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW!!!!!
I'm as excited as they are. But I better be the first one up...my alarm
is set for 5AM...there are extra steps this year
pin care...wrap the legs...cart the wheel chair....and I'm sure he will
want to take his new walker....but I think he should practice a bit more
with it...using a walker one handed takes a bit of practice. Oh and you
should see his new crocs...daddy cut an old pair down to cushion the
walking surface and since they were sisters old ones...they are sporting
a fine new coat of blue paint.
--
Chris
http://shallrunandnotbeweary.blogspot.com/

The Pictures Speak for Themselves

True happiness is being able to stand up by yourself...well not
really, but you get the idea.
The casts came off on Monday...now he wants to walk
--
Chris
http://shallrunandnotbeweary.blogspot.com/

Safety or Bling?

In the interest of keeping all eyes safe, we added some pieces to
Joseph's new rods on his fixator.