We were woken at 5.30 am by a scrabbling noise next to our bed. Digger had broken out of his cage! I think he wanted to get back in though that's why he came looking for us.
Had bad, bad week. J & I been ill with virus. School just phoned to check up on him & they said they do ask parents to phone every couple of days when their children are off. It's just feeling like a re-run of last year with J being off sick & the school complaining about their attendance figures & me feeling too ill to cope with it. The trouble is when he's been unhappy at school recently they're bound to be a bit suspicious. Anyway he does seem a bit better today as he's being quite naughty at times which is a good sign. Hope he stays better.

P says his Dad's wiring doesn't date from the 1920s it dates from the 1950s!

J started coughing a lot Sunday night & said he had a pain in his chest & his ear felt funny. Took him to doctor yesterday, said it's a virus & he needs to rest so he's not back at school today. P's Dad has a chest infection & is on antibiotics. I feel a bit under the weather & just want to sleep. P & Digger are fine though.

Yesterday was lovely & sunny & we went for a drive in the afternoon & had a little walk (well, me in the wheelchair) by the river. It's a bit colder today but there is definitely that feeling that Spring is on the way. Went to church this morning, sermon on marriage & divorce. Very aware that there are several people in congregation who are divorced but it was a very sensitive sermon. Brought home a recipe for banana bread for the Fair Trade lunch next Sunday. I'm going to try & make it but all you have to do is bung everything in the food processor so I should be able to manage it. P getting on well with cupboards & they're looking good, he's pretty clever really when it comes to that sort of thing. It's going to be great to be able to put some of J's stuff away.
J's friends Tim & Adam both at church, J's got a whole gang of boys to play with now. The kids iced biscuits in the theme of the 7 plagues of Egypt this morning. Tim somehow managed to acquire a whole stack. J gone to play round Adam's now so using the computer while I can. Can't think of anything else to write.

I didn't want anyone at church to know I was having my heart monitored as I'm sure it'll be ok & I didn't want any fuss but on Wednesday at the coffee morning someone said she was going to visit an old man from church who's in hospital. As she was going to the hospital just to see him & it's 10 miles & his ward is right next to the cardiac clinic I felt I ought to say that we'd visit him after my appointment. So my cover was blown. The staff at the clinic were really nice. I was quite fascinated by the monitor & kept sitting there saying 'My pulse is 89, now it's 90, now it's 86...' 'Have you really not got anything better to do?' asked P. I had to take it back in yesterday & I go in a couple of weeks to get the result.
The old man wasn't too bad but he is just getting very frail. I find it so hard to know what to say to people in hospital. We seem to have done a lot of hospital visiting over the last few years somehow.
J seems to have spent most of half-term playing with his friends & not doing his homework. But really I think that's what he should be doing at 10 years old, playing. I'm sure we didn't get anything like that much homework when I was at school. A lot of is because of the SATs, I think. Still at least they've stopped the ones at 14 so they're the last ones he'll do. Next exams will be GCSEs (unless he decides to do some piano exams). He went to a party last night & the girl's mum phoned & said he wasn't well. He suddenly seems to have developed a cough & is lying weakly on the sofa murmuring 'Please change my DVD Mum'.
Meanwhile the kitchen has turned into a carpenter's workshop as P is making cupboards for J's room. There is dust everywhere & every few minutes we have to put on ear defenders but it'll be good to have the cupboards.
The sun has been shining a bit today & the crocuses are coming out in our containers. Spring is on the way.

What I forgot to mention earlier in the week that the lady from the council who came about the council tax was very nice. If she was thinking 'What a tip how on earth do they live like this?' she didn't show it. They've banded us as an 'F' though. We did point out it's just a 2 bedroom bungalow but she said 'It is sort of big isn't it?'Anyway because I'm disabled we only have to pay as an 'E' but it'll be kept on record as an 'F' in case we sell it. Does this mean if I'm healed we'll have to go to an 'F'? And stop getting Disability Living Allowance? And pay car tax? Like I'd care! I'd happily stop all my benefits just to be able to run & have a normal life again! I should say when I'm healed. I can say that on my blog because I can't see the look of concern pass over people's faces. The trouble is, & I can totally see where they're coming from, people are worried that if I believe I'm going to be healed I could be disappointed. But I'm never going to give up believing that & it's the hope that I will be healed that keeps me going. If I end up dying before it's happened I will still have had that hope & it will still have kept me going. And in heaven I will be totally healed. So why destroy it? Anyway God has told me He's going to heal me, He really has.

The other thing was that after just replacing a couple of bulbs & tightening the handbrake OUR CAR PASSED IT'S MOT!

I keep thinking about those poor people in Australia where the fires have been. It's such an awful situation. Makes any problems I've got seem quite trivial. I've started typing out the monthly prayer bulletin at church (one of those things I somehow volunteered for without moving my lips). I start it off with something which is happening in the wider world so we don't just focus on ourselves & every time there has been something horrendous going on. Last month one of the staff in a children's home the church supports was killed & a boy badly burned in a fire. Sometimes the suffering in the world seems so huge it's hard to know how to pray.