Big Black Cloud

We went to the orthopedic doctor on Monday and Little S was released to go back to playing gym and recess and soccer. He was so excited. The doctor assured me that unless a big black cloud was hanging over us the elbow would be fine and he would see us in 3 weeks for a final x-ray.

Tuesday at recess he was finally free and could run and play with the other kids. I mean he has been in school for almost a month and this was the first that he was allowed to play with his friends. This is a HUGE deal for a 1st grader.

He was also so excited about returning to soccer practice that evening he work his soccer shirt to school. So did several of the other kids in soccer. This turned out to be a big mistake.

See as Little S stopped for a few minutes and was standing still talking to one of his little friends another kids came up behind him full force and shoved him into a wall. He had mistaken Little S for another child he was mad. He realized his mistake a little too late.

The school called me to let me know what had happened and they assured me that Little S was more shook up about what had happened than anything and that physically he was fine.

I called the orthopedic doctor and asked what they thought as he hit the wall pretty hard and it was his left side, the one that was almost healed now. They told me that it was their early day and if I could bring him right in they could see him otherwise to bring him in the next day. There was no way that I could make it from work to the school and to the doctor before they closed and since the school wasn't too concerned I left it at that.

When I got home from work and saw Little S and his huge swollen purple thumb I knew that it was broken. Sure enough the next morning I took him back to the doctor and thanked him for the 'huge black cloud' comment after it was determined that it was indeed broken.

So we are back to square one. No gym, no recess and no soccer. He is pretty disappointed to say the least. But he is a trooper and will be fine in a few months.

As far as the other kid, he had to write a letter of apology to Little S as well as apologize in person and he is on recess restriction for 2 weeks, meaning he is allowed out but has to be with a teacher at all times. It doesn't seem like much of a punishment in comparison, but the child is only 6 and I can only imagine what his home life is like to have that much anger built up at that age.

Stacy

Reading

Little S is a great reader for his age. And on top of that he loves to read, everything.

So last Thursday my Mum came up to spend the night as we were leaving early Friday morning for Women of Faith in Cleveland. Thursday night is also Hubby's bowling night as well as it was Open House at the High School.

Teen & Tween and I went to Open House while Grandma stayed home with Little S. We all love to play board games and card games and the boys live for when we go to my Mum's for the weekend to play games.

So while we were gone Grandma and Little S decided to play Pictureka. If you have never played the game go out and buy it now. It is so much fun! Anyhow, Little S wanted to read the card that tells you what the roll of the dice means.

So he is trying to read the card to Grandma and she knows he is a good reader, but for the life of her she cannot figure out what he is trying to tell her. So she asked him for the card and when she looks at it, he is reading the Spanish card....lol

But he never gave up, he tried reading it like a champ.

Stacy

End Times

There has been a lot of talk lately about the end times. And there have been many many movies over the years about it as well.

A few years ago my Sunday school class of about 10-12 people was interested in learning more about the end times. Dr. Malak, who grew up in the middle East (Syria), offered to use his knowledge and do further research and teach our class. It was a true blessing each week, learning more and more about what God has in store for us. He was very through in his research and outline what we were learning and often included charts and such to help us better understand it all.

During the course of the class it was suggested by a fellow classmate that he should put all of his research to good use and write a book. So Michael did just that and it was recently published.

I am honored to know that this book was literally written because we were so interested in learning and he was so willing to teach us.

If you have an interest and a chance, please buy his book and read it. It will really make you think and enlighten you to many things God has in store for us.

So without further ado I introduce you to Dr. Michael Abdul-Malak and his book The Birth Pangs.

There are several reasons that Michael named his book as he did.

First of all God tells us in His word Matthew 24: 7-8 Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all this is only the first of the birth pangs, with more to come.

Second, he is an Ob/Gyn and the title just fits.

Let me know if you pick up a copy and what you think. (It is also available on Amazon and as a down loadable book for a reader).

Stacy

Kids Say

Not too long ago I wrote about how we joined the library and how much fun we have had there over the summer. I actually miss going there every week. But now with working and the kids in school we haven't been able to make it over during open hours.

The library today is quiet different from the library in my day. There is a whole room in the lower level that is just a Children's Wing. It is a great room and the staff is wonderful. And the best part is there are games there that the kids can take out and play (chess, checkers, etc) and they don't have to whisper and still fear dirty looks or being told to shhhh. It's a place where kids can truly learn and ask questions and just have fun. They even had an ice cream day this summer. The kids got to eat ice cream and read a book!

One day while we were in the children's room, there was a binder on one of the tables and on the front cover it said "If I Ruled the World" by *Mrs. Ima Teacher's 2nd Grade Class of The Local Elementary* (*Names Changed as it wasn't my children's teacher or school)

So I start flipping through the book and reading what the kids had to say. It was obvious that the teacher had written parts on the board and the kids had to fill in their answers to parts.

Some of them would have pizza served every day at school, some would ban boys. Some of the answers then turned serious, they would not allow yelling and would not allow cancer. <---That one made me sad that at 7/8 yrs their lives had already been affected by cancer. And then some were just plain funny, it required wearing pink every day.

And then there was the one who apparently had a parent in the armed services as this child was talking about wearing camouflage, however they spelled it 'CAMEL FLOSS'. Let's just say it was a good thing laughing was allowed in the children's section when I read that...lol

Stacy

Free Again

Little S went to the doctors today to get an xray and have his cast checked. And this is the result:

Look at that smile! It says it all.

I can hardly believe that he only had to have the cast on for 3 weeks. He does still have to take it easy for the next two weeks, no gym, no play ground, etc. But at least he can shower again!

Stacy

Broken Arm

Teen is 17, Tween is 14 and Little S is 6. Last year we had our first broken bone when Tween fell playing PT Alien. (It's a game the complex kids made up and is kind of like Hide 'n Seek and Tag mixed together with a few other rules).

So I think we did pretty good going 16 years of having boys without a broken bone. Then a few weeks ago Little S was playing on a retaining wall at my BIL's house. The retaining wall goes the whole length of their driveway on both sides. It is completely made out of railroad ties and one side of the drive is higher than the other. The older boys and the men were playing basketball in the driveway and Little S was jumping on and off of the short retaining wall (2 railroad ties high). One time he jumped and missed and fell right on his elbow.

He was crying and they moved his arm some by making him open and close his elbow and it moved fine and didn't hurt that much. He came up to the house and we tried to move it the other way and he screamed in pain.

Yep, he broke his elbow. It cracked from one side to the other but luckily it didn't separate.

This is the nurse getting it all in place and ready for the cast. I think he believes holding his breathe will make the pain go away.

This is after the first layer of cast is on and now his colored cast is being put on. It felt much better once it was secured in place and couldn't be moved.

And this is after we got back home and the pain meds kicked in. He was out for almost the rest of the day.

Tomorrow he goes for another x-ray and cast check to see how it is progressing and also to see if he needs the cast replaced. Hopefully he won't have it on much longer.

Stacy

Meet the Team

Tonight was 'Meet the Team" night at the high school. Basically all of the fall sports and the band go out on the football field and are introduced to the community.

We live in a small town so this is a big deal for the town. The principle stated tonight that there are about 500 kids in the high school (9-12) and that almost 300 of them are in some type of sport with many of them in more than one.

Here's a few pic from this evening:

Teen is in the middle there playing the trumpet. I know, which one. See the kid on the right in the tan shorts? Go to your left 3 people. That's him with the sun glasses on....he is so cool!

And so begins the first football season for the Tween and the last for the Teen.

Stacy