Sat/Sun 7 & 8-Nov-09
Following on from the previous blog entry, I spent the entire weekend at the Hillsong Men's Conference (link is to the promo for this year) with around 5,000 other guys. I stayed with my brother Mark and his family on the Friday night. I planned to return on Saturday evening, but after the conference I attended a night service, hung out with a few people and ended up sharing a hotel room with a guy I met at the conference (cheers Gary). This allowed me some rest before the drive home on Sunday.
Here are a few photos I took over the weekend.
The worship was awesome and the teaching solid and powerful. I was inspired at a time when I really need it. My challenge now is to move forward with it while I work myself out of a small personal rut.
I arrived home before lunch on Sunday. I missed Maria, Ben and Gabi immensely. It was the longest we had been apart since Maria's diagnosis. There were some challenges for Maria surrounding some behavioural issues (i.e. on the part of the kids). Praise God, everyone was in one piece!
By late afternoon Ben was not himself, complaining of a sore throat and chest when he coughed (same as Gabi's symptoms).
Mon/Tue 9 & 10-Nov-09
Ben was off sick from school on both days. It was diagnosed as just a virus. We are thankful that Maria was unaffected through both Ben and Gabi's illnesses.
Wed 11-Nov-09
Ben returned to school. He has clarinet lessons on Wednesdays at school. He only started 3-4 weeks ago, but seems to be naturally gifted (trying to minimise my bias). He has skipped quite a few pages ahead of his lessons and seems to have no problems reading music. He also seems to have an ear for it as well. I am also quite impressed that he plays with less than frequent squeaks (also appreciated by Maria).
Thu 12-Nov-09
In the evening Maria mentioned that she had increasing problems with her balance and that there was numbness and warmth (she described as stepping on under-floor heating) in her left foot and lower leg. Fortunately there was a doctor's visit already in place for the morning.
Fri 13-Nov-09
It was Maria's third visit to her doctor in a week. On this occasion we addressed her leg/foot issue. In the 'pin' test Maria was unable to really feel anything in her foot and leg up to under the knee. We had some discussion about what may be the cause. At this stage it is a matter of monitoring it while working out some strategies.
Sat 14-Nov-09
We reduced Maria's dexamethasone (steroid) down another half mg to 1.0mg. The further tapering off from here will be slow. It is a huge praise point that at such a low dose she is not experiencing any headaches beyond the 'norm'.
Sun 15-Nov-09
We gathered the strength to do our first church visit since returning to Australia. This will be on our Sunday agenda over the coming weeks/months as we visit a number of congregations to see where we feel the most comfortable (both individually and collectively). One of our interests is what each church offers in the way of their Sunday School ministry. As we discovered from this first visit, our timing isn't great as they were rehearsing for their upcoming Christmas concert. This probably means that we may not get a full feel for a place until some time into next year. That said, now that Maria is somewhat "stable and able" it is the time for us to get out there.Grateful for your prayer over this issue.
Today (Mon 16-Nov-09)
The weather continues to be very hot (36C/97F today), especially when our cooling remains out of order. We are hopeful it is repaired on Friday as planned, as we are expecting hotter temps on Fri and Sat.
Maria has felt a little more unbalanced and some numbness in her other (right) leg. We may be back at the doctor sooner than planned.
