¹Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Prayers for wisdom in my teaching please to deal with hurting children. I have been praying for several hours and God is beginning to give me a plan for tomorrow.
Just before school let out today someone came to pick up the twins as older brother was being medevac’d to Australia with Mom. They made it out just before dark. Dad is in charge of a multi language project and is still in the village so the other 4 children are with friends. Dad will try to get to an airstrip in the morning to return.
We also still have the little girl whose mom died, a boy whose mom is in his home country for a month (first time he has been away from her), another girl whose mom and brother are in Australia while brother has surgery.
I think we will begin just playing some math games that are fun and then, after the opening, have a special time of prayer.
I lift up my Sister, Jo, to You for the needs and struggles she has before her. Please help her to keep a balance in her ways of showing care and to not be too heavily weighed in focusing on the hurts or in making a lightness of distraction to try and cover over the hurts. You are our God of perfect balance. You hold the sun, moon and earth in balance and have not let go all these years. I pray that Jo will be lifted by knowing she can totally rely on You to keep her in balance to as she goes through these troubling days. She has a heart of compassion that beats with Your heart in sync with Your care for children. May she also turn all cares over to You about the evaluation. You are the real boss, and she is pleasing in Your sight. Help her to feel ease, peace, and competence at the time of evaluation. I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen
Jo, maybe you could do a giant group gratitude mural to show words and pictures of what the children are thankful for since we are suppose to give praise during good and bad times. It would be a nice reminder to have in the room to focus on during this season of loss.
We used large pieces of unrolled brown craft paper to do group projects like that when I worked with children’s Sunday School. The backside of gift wrap could work, too, or even fabric
Jo, when I taught 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade math it was hard to decorate my room. I found a book that had math art in it that I used. The other thing I remember was to have a number line in the class room so that early on students became familiar with numbers going both ways into infinity. I will look and see if I can find something fun for you to do. Perhaps just a time of nurturing is what these babies need….
I like Janice’s idea of a gratitude wall.
kbells, I am not sure what happened to your shoulder but several years ago I did something to my right shoulder stretching that caused my right arm to tingle/be numb and I couldn’t turn my head to the left. I saw a reputable chiropractor (I was in BNI with him and he told me he wasn’t a quack chiropractor and he also had a degree in sports medicine). He told me he could fix it in about 3 adjustments and then he had me see a massage therapist , She did special pressure point massage on the “hinge” to my shoulders and arms.
I am not one to discount a medical degree by any means but ask your orthopedic if massage therapy will help. To me anything beats taking meds and/or surgery.
Disclaimer: I do not hold any kind of degree that would allow me to be called doctor 😉
I had frozen shoulder. I had therapist. My therapist had it at the same time, but never told me until the end of my therapy. She then related to me the difference in the therapy for her mother, her and me. I did what was the standard, which was using a variety of heat, cold, exercise etc. The therapist tried the newer idea, which was given to her by an orthopedist. That consisted of doing nothing. A year later, she was just fine and could raise her arm in a normal manner.
I did have a cortisone shot in that shoulder before I started the therapy. Forgot about that.
KBells, I had frozen shoulder last year and went to physical therapy about eight times over a two-month period, and did special exercises every day in between appointments. My at-home routine involved heat-exercise-ice, in that order, one to three times a day (more in the beginning, and tapering off as my range of motion increased over the weeks).
Full recovery (or near-full recovery — my PT said my shoulder will probably never be 100% again, more like 90-95% recovery, and I would say it’s about 95% now) has taken about a year now.
A couple years before that, I had what I suspect was also frozen shoulder, but I never sought treatment for that. It also took me about a year to get over it, but it wasn’t as severe a case as the one I had last year. When I first sought therapy this time, I couldn’t move my left arm even one foot to the side of my body, or reach into my back pocket with the arm, or reach to the top of my head to shampoo my hair, reach in front of me to pull something out of the oven, etc. PT helped me regain a fair range of motion pretty quickly — I suspect it would have taken a lot longer if I had not done therapy, as this second case of frozen shoulder was more severe than the first.
I stopped by the PT office last week to pay the final installment of my therapy bill, and I see they have now hired a massage therapist. So perhaps, as Kim mentioned, checking out the possibility of massage therapy may be beneficial, as well, for your shoulder. Though I say that without also being any sort of healthcare professional. 😉
Praying for those dear children and their families, Jo, and for you as you minister during this difficult time. Praying for your evaluation, too. Blessings.
I don’t think KBells mentioned frozen shoulder, I was just asking so I could ask if frozen shoulder included pain. I don’t think it did. KBells has lots of pain with her shoulder problem.
Sorry, I wasn’t real clear. I don’t know if she has it, either, but I know KBells is in a lot of pain, and frozen shoulder does cause a lot of pain when trying to move it, and even sometimes while it’s at rest. So my listing some of my symptoms and what I did was also intended to help — to see if there were any similarities between what she’s experiencing and what I was.
Ok, I could not remember if pain was involved. I knew cousin could not move her arm and it lasted quite some time. I don’t remember what she did for it either as it was quite some time ago. More than two hours ago.
God just gave me a song, which we will sing and perhaps act out today.
I will cast all of my cares on You
I will lay all of my burdens down at His feet
and every time I don’t know what to do
I will cast all of my cares upon You
Sounds like you had similar therapy to mine, 6arrows. It was very painful. I was told that the brain freezes the shoulder, because there IS pain over and over. Pretty soon, the brain tells your muscles, “Don’t do that again!” Eventually, you cannot move it past a certain point.
I do some exercises to try to keep it from happening again, since I do have issues with the shoulder.
That’s good you’re continuing to do some of those exercises, Kathaleena. My PT encouraged me to continue doing a couple, three of them over the long term, as I think of it. They help, and I can lie pretty comfortably on my left side again, which I couldn’t do for the better part of a year.
Jo, beautiful song. Thanks for sharing that with us.
Wandering Views 
Prayers for wisdom in my teaching please to deal with hurting children. I have been praying for several hours and God is beginning to give me a plan for tomorrow.
Just before school let out today someone came to pick up the twins as older brother was being medevac’d to Australia with Mom. They made it out just before dark. Dad is in charge of a multi language project and is still in the village so the other 4 children are with friends. Dad will try to get to an airstrip in the morning to return.
We also still have the little girl whose mom died, a boy whose mom is in his home country for a month (first time he has been away from her), another girl whose mom and brother are in Australia while brother has surgery.
I think we will begin just playing some math games that are fun and then, after the opening, have a special time of prayer.
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oh, and then I got notice that it is time for my performance appraisal. That put me over the top.
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Heavenly Father,
I lift up my Sister, Jo, to You for the needs and struggles she has before her. Please help her to keep a balance in her ways of showing care and to not be too heavily weighed in focusing on the hurts or in making a lightness of distraction to try and cover over the hurts. You are our God of perfect balance. You hold the sun, moon and earth in balance and have not let go all these years. I pray that Jo will be lifted by knowing she can totally rely on You to keep her in balance to as she goes through these troubling days. She has a heart of compassion that beats with Your heart in sync with Your care for children. May she also turn all cares over to You about the evaluation. You are the real boss, and she is pleasing in Your sight. Help her to feel ease, peace, and competence at the time of evaluation. I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen
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Jo, maybe you could do a giant group gratitude mural to show words and pictures of what the children are thankful for since we are suppose to give praise during good and bad times. It would be a nice reminder to have in the room to focus on during this season of loss.
LikeLiked by 5 people
We used large pieces of unrolled brown craft paper to do group projects like that when I worked with children’s Sunday School. The backside of gift wrap could work, too, or even fabric
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Jo, when I taught 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade math it was hard to decorate my room. I found a book that had math art in it that I used. The other thing I remember was to have a number line in the class room so that early on students became familiar with numbers going both ways into infinity. I will look and see if I can find something fun for you to do. Perhaps just a time of nurturing is what these babies need….
I like Janice’s idea of a gratitude wall.
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Back to the orthopedic doctor. Hoping she can fix my shoulder.
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kbells, I am not sure what happened to your shoulder but several years ago I did something to my right shoulder stretching that caused my right arm to tingle/be numb and I couldn’t turn my head to the left. I saw a reputable chiropractor (I was in BNI with him and he told me he wasn’t a quack chiropractor and he also had a degree in sports medicine). He told me he could fix it in about 3 adjustments and then he had me see a massage therapist , She did special pressure point massage on the “hinge” to my shoulders and arms.
I am not one to discount a medical degree by any means but ask your orthopedic if massage therapy will help. To me anything beats taking meds and/or surgery.
Disclaimer: I do not hold any kind of degree that would allow me to be called doctor 😉
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Somebody on here had frozen shoulder a few years ago, who was that? I remember cousin had it and she is good as new now.
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I had frozen shoulder. I had therapist. My therapist had it at the same time, but never told me until the end of my therapy. She then related to me the difference in the therapy for her mother, her and me. I did what was the standard, which was using a variety of heat, cold, exercise etc. The therapist tried the newer idea, which was given to her by an orthopedist. That consisted of doing nothing. A year later, she was just fine and could raise her arm in a normal manner.
I did have a cortisone shot in that shoulder before I started the therapy. Forgot about that.
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KBells, I had frozen shoulder last year and went to physical therapy about eight times over a two-month period, and did special exercises every day in between appointments. My at-home routine involved heat-exercise-ice, in that order, one to three times a day (more in the beginning, and tapering off as my range of motion increased over the weeks).
Full recovery (or near-full recovery — my PT said my shoulder will probably never be 100% again, more like 90-95% recovery, and I would say it’s about 95% now) has taken about a year now.
A couple years before that, I had what I suspect was also frozen shoulder, but I never sought treatment for that. It also took me about a year to get over it, but it wasn’t as severe a case as the one I had last year. When I first sought therapy this time, I couldn’t move my left arm even one foot to the side of my body, or reach into my back pocket with the arm, or reach to the top of my head to shampoo my hair, reach in front of me to pull something out of the oven, etc. PT helped me regain a fair range of motion pretty quickly — I suspect it would have taken a lot longer if I had not done therapy, as this second case of frozen shoulder was more severe than the first.
I stopped by the PT office last week to pay the final installment of my therapy bill, and I see they have now hired a massage therapist. So perhaps, as Kim mentioned, checking out the possibility of massage therapy may be beneficial, as well, for your shoulder. Though I say that without also being any sort of healthcare professional. 😉
Praying for you.
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Praying for those dear children and their families, Jo, and for you as you minister during this difficult time. Praying for your evaluation, too. Blessings.
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I don’t think KBells mentioned frozen shoulder, I was just asking so I could ask if frozen shoulder included pain. I don’t think it did. KBells has lots of pain with her shoulder problem.
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Sorry, I wasn’t real clear. I don’t know if she has it, either, but I know KBells is in a lot of pain, and frozen shoulder does cause a lot of pain when trying to move it, and even sometimes while it’s at rest. So my listing some of my symptoms and what I did was also intended to help — to see if there were any similarities between what she’s experiencing and what I was.
Hope that helps, but maybe it doesn’t.
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Ok, I could not remember if pain was involved. I knew cousin could not move her arm and it lasted quite some time. I don’t remember what she did for it either as it was quite some time ago. More than two hours ago.
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God just gave me a song, which we will sing and perhaps act out today.
I will cast all of my cares on You
I will lay all of my burdens down at His feet
and every time I don’t know what to do
I will cast all of my cares upon You
LikeLiked by 3 people
Sounds like you had similar therapy to mine, 6arrows. It was very painful. I was told that the brain freezes the shoulder, because there IS pain over and over. Pretty soon, the brain tells your muscles, “Don’t do that again!” Eventually, you cannot move it past a certain point.
I do some exercises to try to keep it from happening again, since I do have issues with the shoulder.
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That’s good you’re continuing to do some of those exercises, Kathaleena. My PT encouraged me to continue doing a couple, three of them over the long term, as I think of it. They help, and I can lie pretty comfortably on my left side again, which I couldn’t do for the better part of a year.
Jo, beautiful song. Thanks for sharing that with us.
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You’re welcome
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