Sunday, April 1, 2007

Sunday, April 1, 2007

First off: Welcome back brother Art; I’ve missed you and am glad you have returned safe and sound. I rest easier now.

Progression and Pain:
Yesterday, Saturday, CC and I went to Penny’s (among other errands) to look for some appropriate clothing for next weekend’s wedding. We had also gone Friday late morning but Missy called from school saying she felt badly, so our visit to the store was short-lived; plus our moods weren’t compatible with effective shopping. So, we set out yesterday with a mission; to find at least one outfit each, matching color-wise, for the wedding. We were very successful, even in spite of and in the midst of the mall weekend shoppers. When we take pics at the wedding, I’ll be sure to post them on here because CC found some really beautiful outfits (30% to 40% off) and I put a charcoal gray suit together with matching colors in ties and a shirt, depending on which outfit CC chooses.
We both came out satisfied with what we got, especially considering it was on significant sale. I made it through the point of finding my clothes (we looked for CC’s first so I could match her color choice), but the pain was slowly escalating from the beginning of the trip and when CC had found her and I found mine, I was nearly unable to walk on my own. A familiar sight; we arrived back home and I was nearing tears and had to be helped back to my bed to lie down and get some pain meds going. By night time I was under control, but while shopping, I had allowed myself to get behind the pain “power curve”, the apparent price to keep the shopping momentum up so that we could find what we needed and I’m very familiar with grin and bearing it until I can’t any longer. Some would argue that it was stupid of me to do that but they don’t know our lives or our history to know that we get so very few opportunities to ever go shopping together, let a lone just shopping wherein we can spend casual time looking around for and trying on pieces or outfits without multiple trips to the bathroom, snacks, escalating boredom and demanded attention by 7, 12 and 60+ year olds. If the price is me shutting up and dealing with “it” in order to have CC successfully spend time finding necessary clothing, then watch me shut up. End result? CC has a couple outfits that look beautiful on her and I have some nice clothes that actually fit me correctly. How cool.

PT and the Dog:
I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to have physical therapy now for over 3 weeks and have made some very cool progress. I have moved up in weight capacity for lifting and longevity while on the bike machine. I started out at less than 30 minutes per session and now am close to 45 - 50 minutes. More reps and more weights are building up my strength and endurance from a pathetic starting level of simple exhaustion where I began. I have since also begun walking Annie with the leader harness on so she doesn’t pull against me or run away on me, especially since I am still walking with a cane most every day. This leader harness, called the “Gentle Leader”, is more than impressive on controlling larger dogs and making them submissive and obedient to a 85% to 95% success rate. Even Joshua can walk Annie without her running off on him or pulling away from him; he weighs in at 45 lbs and Annie at 92 lbs. She’s been great, especially since I’ve begun walking her routinely and I too, have felt much better and stronger getting out and walking, even with the cane. The harness is specially designed to temper the canine aggression and give them subconscious comfort messages simultaneously by placing one harness strap over their nose/snout (tempering the aggression as a dominant dog would do in a pack situation by applying light pressure to the upper portion of the nose and under jaw, like a dominant dog would do with its mouth over the submissive dog’s mouth) and placing another strap up behind the ears on the back of the neck where a dominant female would grab her cubs/puppies by while carrying them by the scruff of the neck. It doesn’t hurt them, but in contrast, gives them confidence and a secure feeling, more or less. All I can attest to is that it works.

I’ve gained back about 10 pounds, which I truly don’t need, so I am tightening the diet again, back to proteins and salads with very, very few carbs. I’ll feel better once that weight is gone again. No more ice cream at night before going to bed; a not-so-new routine of ours. Tasty, convenient and a difficult habit to stop. *sigh*

Today & church:
Church this morning was back to Capital Christian Center for their 11:15 service again, but this time we took Joshy into the classroom/gymnasium area where his age-range meets. We walked into this very large, very high ceiling auditorium/multiuse room and noted not one, but two huge bounce house slides at the far end of the room, a stage with props, backdrop and appropriate stage lighting and we were amazed. Long story short, we met the pastor of youth and children and liked him and both Missy and Joshy said that really enjoyed their time in there (we left Missy with Joshy for acclimation purposes which worked out great) and we then went into worship in the main sanctuary.
The message was on community and what can happen when someone falls out of community and identifying with others and he very effectively noted Ted Kazinski (Uni Bomber). The church is pursuing the 40 days of Community and will be starting that up in two weeks, so we signed up to participate; looks like we may have finally found a potential church home for us where each of us feels connected at they family level. While at MPPC in the Bay Area and the same at FOPC to some similar extent, it was my JOB to connect with the operations of the services and their planning and equipping, but not my opportunity to connect on a family level or sit with my wife or kids during a service, let alone actually having a few Sunday’s off without being in the hospital or home because of an HKPP issue. At Cap Christian I have been sitting with my wife and family, hearing the Word in a way that hits me where I am and worship, though louder than comfortable (actually today was better than the past has been), has been right up my alley musically. Yay for us.
It brings feeling of conflict within me because of the level of church we have now been exposed to at FOPC, a level we haven’t seen since I’ve worked there, which we feel indebted to for their love ad caring and concern which we’ll never be able to repay, even if the opportunity was presented to us. We have been seeking God’s direction for church and teaching and we feel and believe at this point that He has led us to Capital Christian Center. We have visited a number of other churches, all without any feeling of connection or direction, so our unified feeling of agreement with this church is a welcomed thing and we’ll simply have no choice but to hope and pray that we will continue to be loved by those at FOPC even though we won’t been on campus with much consistency. What matters above all else is that we are where God wants us to be, end of story. We think we have found that place.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes (ala David Bowie):
I’m beginning to go through my musical play lists and change them over to Christian choices rather than the secular I have been absorbing. Within reason; garbage in, garbage out. One of my good friends strongly encouraged me to be very selective about what I focus on and dwell on and in a sense, what I use for an environment (musically in my case) and his (Ray’s) words are solid and true. Thanks bro, for the push. Greatly loved and appreciated are you braddah.

Pain is setting back in after a longer day of being up, so I’m going to call it for today. I’m sorry I don’t get to writing daily. For what it's worth, it annoys me too.

Peace-