P faves

I'm kinda glad it's Friday but......

in looking at the calender I realize that in just 5 weeks from today I will be back at work with a whole new class and many new team members. I will be at the same elementary school (one of 6) in our district.  My youngest will be going into 8th grade...her last year at the Junior High. And my oldest will be leaving for her 2nd year of college soon!

I couldn't think of a catchy title for this week's faves and realized that they all start with the same letter so.......come join in on finding 5 fave things from the past week that God blessed you with and link up at Susanne's, our gracious hostess.

FIVE FAVES

• PLANTS!  My morning glories have opened and really begun to climb up the trellis...they are a little late this year which is odd since everything else was so early.  I'm enjoying breakfast on the deck in the sun...by afternoon they are tightly closed up and the leaves offer some nice shade..they are HUGE this year!  Also, my basil plant is FINALLY getting fuller and taller.....not sure why it's been a struggle this summer!

• PAIN KILLERS!  I finally got to see my regular doctor about this sciatica pain and she prescribed a steroid and this pain killer. Although I am believing that God can help my back and help me deal with the pain while I am healing up, it is nice to have these in case it gets excruciating like it did last weekend. I have a high threshold for pain (gave birth twice with NO DRUGS..totally natural labor) but you know I am in pain when it brings me to tears.  My doctor ordered a back xray and found degenerative vertebrae in lower back exacerbated by the painting, lifting, moving I did 3 weeks ago.  Therefore........

image taken from fordham.edu

• PHYSICAL THERAPY!  I had 2 sessions before leaving for Cape Cod which didn't really do much for me other than she gave me a good back stretch to do if the pain in my leg became unbearable. Which it did. I had one last week upon returning home. It seemed to make the sciatica worse.  Little did I know, until I did research and talked to my regular doctor who was finally in from HER vacation, that this is common...sciatica often starts out with NO back symptoms and then wham-o.  I just had my 6th session yesterday and I am seeing some improvement.  This also might be because the doc put me on a steroid to begin to reduce the inflammation in my back. This PT I have, has her Masters, and is very good.....I like my time there. I am just praying that I won't need too many more sessions!

Courtney (age 19), Mady(age 4), Emma(age 9) and Claire(age 13)
August 2012

•  PARTY!  Each August, my sister Hope (her blog is here), hosts a family BBQ at her little house in the woods of central NY.  This year all the cousins were there.  Here are my mother's grand-daughters all together (my sister, Joy, has a 19 yr old son, Luke, but they had already left at this point).  The little girls are my youngest sister's children (Jill and her hubby Mike).  My sister Hope and her husband Donny had excellent food, great conversation and laughs and all of our children had fun seeing their mini farm of goats, turkeys, chickens, dogs, and even a pig!  Hope and Donny have no children but they sure are busy with those animals and vegetables!! And they love seeing their nieces and nephew! It was a fun Saturday!

• PRAYER!!  From texting a friend who has had sciatica in the past (thanks for the texts, Erin!) to the laying on of hands during our last summer small group session.....prayer is effective in stilling the anxiousness in us.  It meant alot to me to have friends to text about this pain, and to have my small group pray for each other by the laying on of hands.  Normally in our small group, there are 8 of us but last evening only 3 of us could gather at my home.  We anointed each other with oil and prayed for my back, another member's back, another member's knee and a housing situation, and then we prayed some specific prayers regarding our absent members' requests.  From the physical to marital to sending college kids back off to the spiritual.....we prayed!!  There is healing in prayer and there is PEACE in prayer.  And that is always a fave!!

That wraps it up for me. I don't have another PT session until late next week so I am totally relying on God (and the last days of my steroid!) to heal up this back issue and get back to more of my normal activities. For now...no biking, yoga, kayaking or hiking!  I can only take gentle walks.....but hey...I'll take em!

HAPPY WEEKEND!