Oh the smell...

As I sit and type this out I am soaking in the aroma of homemade chocolate chip cookies coming from my kitchen! Yes folks my sister Mary is hear and I ordered her to make me some! No way was she going to leave my house without whipping some up! I had tried many times to make grand, chewy soft c.chip cookies but to no avail! Awwww, I have just tasted one! So good...melting in my mouth!
Another mini update on Ben! It was a short few days with him due to my own doctors appointments and needing to get back home to take care of things here. I will try not to repeat myself from the last blog!

A few things that Ben did on Thurs and Fri was that they put his right arm in a sling type hoist to lift his arm up so that he could move it more easily. He was able to follow some commands, comb his hair and when asked to grab a pen. Right when he grabbed the pen he automatically found the clicker at the end of the pen and continually pushed it to open and close it! No one had to help him with that pen! If I had a piece of paper at the time I would have put it in front of him and seen if he would jot anything down! I guess it will be homework for both of this next week! He also got his cast changed on his right foot which will hopefully be his last one! Before they put his new cast on the put him on his stomach for "tummy time." This helps him to relax his back, shoulders and arms and force his strong muscles to relax. He was able to show off his A,E,I,O,U mouthing abilities that we had been working on to his speech therapist and she was very happy with what he did. Then she had Ben show off to me some of the things that she and Ben had been working on! We had quite the competition going on and it was fun!
I had a meeting with his therapists on Thursday and here are a few things that they would like to see in Ben in the next few weeks:

1. Consistancy in commands 85% of the time

2. Yes/No questions answered within 10 sec with 80% accuracy

3. One step commands (ex. Ben, pick up the brush, Ben raise your right arm) within 10 seconds with 80% accuracy

4. Distinguish between 3 functional objects and use them (brush, toothbrush, razor, pencil, etc.) Needs 80% accuracy

5. Assessing to see if he can tolerate 3 hours of intense therapy a day.

(he is about 50% in all of these things right now.....he is so close!!)

These are for sure prayer requests and things that will help his therapists and doctors evaluate his progress and what to do next! He is on the right path but don't want him to get stuck in a certain spot....need him to continue moving forward like he has been!

A few more prayer requests....
~ He would get more function in his body. His torso is weak and they want him to start supporting himself more. His right side is stronger then his left so pray that his left side will catch up!

~ Talking!! He is mouthing some things minimally but not to where it can be clearly understood or heard.

~My broken arm! It is still stiff and sore...it is slowly loosening up.

~ 100% HEALING for Ben! We are trusting our healer Jesus for that!!

PRAISE REPORT....hopefully taking place tomorrow! Hopefully tomorrow Ben will be trach free!! They should be taking it out and stitching up his opening!! After this takes place I can take him outside! He has not been outside (besides being transfered) in almost 8 weeks! Ben is an outdoors person so I am sure that getting a breath of fresh air will do him some good!!

We head back up tomorrow and will be staying until Friday so I should be blogging some good things! Please continue to pray for Ben! Your prayers are working and it is so amzing to see Jesus working miracles right in front of me!!