On Alternative Medicine and Raptiva

The first time I've heard about Alternative Medicine was during the time when my father had cancer. I've read testimonies and stories about patients who were stricken with cancer and got cured by following the procedures of alternative medicine. It's basic principle is 'curing' the cancer cells by natural means.

I think that natural healing is better that taking all the prescriptive drugs. I'm sure that a lot of negative side effects will truly be avoided if we don't put in those chemicals in our bodies. Like for example the drug called Raptiva, this drug is used to cure psoriasis. But then, there have been a lot of complains and reported side effects of this drug. This is an excerpt of what I found.

Use of the psoriasis drug Raptiva has been associated with the development of PML, a viral disease of the brain which is rare, but most often fatal. The disease may occur in people who have undergone organ transplants, who are on chronic corticosteroid or immunosuppressive therapy, or have cancers including Hodgkin's disease, lymphoma, and sarcoidosis. However, PML is most common in people with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Up to five percent of AIDS patients will eventually develop PML.

So, if you or a loved one has taken the psoriasis drug Raptiva and suffered an injury or death, you may have legal rights. You and your family may be eligible to receive financial compensation for your medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, and other damages paid by the drug company or other responsible parties. You better check out: http://www.youhaverights.com/dangerous-drugs/raptiva .

Questions From a Soon to be 5 Year Old

As I've mentioned in one of my posts, my 5 year old has been asking me a lot of profound questions lately.

The other night, she asked me another question (almost similar to the one before where I didn't have time to answer her) but this time, I finally took the time to explain to her the answer.

She was already going to sleep. After she prayed by herself, she was just staring blankly on the ceiling. That means she's thinking deeply. Then she thoughtfully asked, " Amma, when people die, will they be alive again?". This is her nth question about 'death'. I think this is because we've been to a 2 funerals in this month alone and maybe the thought of death has really been bothering her.

So, I gently laid down beside her and started to explain in simple terms how man consist of body , soul and spirit and the body dies and the soul either goes to heaven with God or hell. I didn't pass up the opportunity anymore but decided to share and explain to her in illustrations about God holiness, Man's sinfulness, how God sent Jesus as man to die for our sins and live again and is now in heaven with God and all the other things. I was not so sure how much things can sink in her but all the same I asked her if she believe in Jesus and wanted to receive Jesus in her heart. Still thinking deeply and thoughtfully, as if digesting what she has just heard, she excitedly said, "Yes!". So, I let her pray by herself to see if she has understood what she has just heard. I was just so touched and teary eyed with her prayer. She asked God to forgive her for doing bad things, thanked that Jesus is God and said she wants to go to heaven with God. Then after her prayer I also led her into prayer.

After the prayer I was surprised by what she said , " Amma, I will be a good girl now Amma " and then, "Amma, I must tell Z boy ( her cousin)!" " What is that you want to tell Z boy?" I asked, "Everything you told me... I must tell Z boy tomorrow and also Kuya Renzee and Ate Renyel and Kuya Rehum and Ate Honey !" I can't help but be more teary eyed because as little as she is, she already knows the great importance of what was shared to her and she too wants to tell others. Praise the Lord!

And indeed, when she saw her cousin Z the next morning, she told him about everything that I shared to her.

Thank you Lord for my sweet Li'l girl. May her relationship with you grow deeper and deeper as she experiences you in her life. Amen!

Lyle's Story

I remember posting my 1st pregnancy (Tricia) story here last year but I think I haven't posted my 2nd pregnancy story ( Lyle) here yet. Here it is, the post that I created on May 29, 2007 when we learned that we have a baby boy.

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Yes, it's going to be a boy and indeed our ATe Tricia will be having a baby brother!

We just came from the Hospital today and officially, I'm 18 months pregnant. The Doctor asked us if we want to have our baby scanned and immediately, Jesu and I exclaimed, "YES!". Never mind if it's already going to be lunch time. Lunch can wait till later.

Then we went to the ultrasound room. One frustrating thing about being in a foreign land is that all the Doctors ad Nurses refuse to talk to us because they're afraid to speak English. We also don’t want to start talking to them in Thai because then they’ll be telling us all the Thai medical terms and jargon in which we have zero knowledge. So, the Dr. (not my OBGyne) did the scan and HE DID NOT SAY A WORD at all! Jesu and I just kept on guessing while he was doing the ultrasound, ' That must be the head', ‘Oh, that looks like the arms and it's waving at us!', ‘ Is that the body or what?’... then finally I saw something thin and long sticking out...I didn't say anything because I was afraid I might be wrong but I was already suspecting something. ;)

Then all of the sudden the Dr. stopped and said, “ It is finished.” ( hahaha! sounds familiar huh?). Jesu couldn’t help but asked, “ Dr. what’s the gender of our baby?” The Dr. didn’t say anything at all but just pointed at the long, thin thing at the screen in front of us. Jesu had to ask and confirm excitedly, “ Is it a boy, Dr.?” Then finally, the Dr. said, “Yes, it’s a boy.” whew!

Hahahaha! All of us including Tricia (who was there with us and quietly observing everything) shouted, “ Yehey!!” God has indeed answered our prayer and now we don’t have to think of a baby girl’s name anymore because it’s going to be a baby boy, Jedaiah Lyle after all. Thank you Lord!

* Jedaiah derived from the Hebrew name, Jedidiah meaning God's Friend.
* Lyle derived from the Hebrew name, Lael meaning of God.

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And by the way, for those women who are currently pregnant or planning to get pregnant, there's a new beauty product that's safe for you and your baby. It's called Beaute de Maman . It's a health and beauty product that will surely let you bloom during your pregnancy days. This product is also a famous product since it's been trusted by a number of celebrity moms. Why don't you place you order now !

Lunch Date

Yes, we Hubby and I can go out on dates again. We didn't have someone to help us in the house and take care of kids for almost a week now. The girls who were with us went back home. But just yesterday, someone from the neighborhood came and offered to come everyday and help us. Thank God!

So, today is her first day and I immediately took this opportunity to go out and have lunch with Hubby while she can take care of the kids. It's been quite awhile now since Hubby and I had some time together.

I'm excited for this lunch date. It'll feel like valentine's day yeah?

The Gate

At the end of last year, we finally decided to put up a big gate at the entrance of our compound. Since it was too costly to fence up the whole compound with hollow blocks, we planned to just fence it up simply. So, the gate was built. But after the flood, we were not able to continue with the work like fencing the area and making the road.

You could imagine now, that we have a gate but on the sides will be an opening. So, the gate remains closed and since the fence is not yet existing, the car or motorbike just uses the side opening to go in or out of the compound. We've been doing this for weeks until one day our Li'l girl with her eyebrows crossing each other seriously asked, " Amma, why is it that we have a gate but we don't use it?" Hahaha! She must be really wondering why we just pass through the side opening when we're supposed to have a gate. Good thing my cousin was there and she was quick to answer that 'it's not finished yet'. Then later, my bro in law jokingly said, 'Because no one wants to go down to open the gate."

Anyways, work is going on now to finish up the road leading to our house. Hopefully, next we will be able to put up the fence so that we can be secure and finally use the gate :). Only a few more things are needed for our house now. If there are more funds, it would be nicer to improve more things like ideal standard bathrooms complete with kudos showers and bathroom accessories. But as for now, I'm already so thankful with the 'restoration' of our house after the flood.

A Purpose for Everything

Last year, even before we were preparing for our 1 year break, we had an invitation to go to US. We were excited and prayed about it. We even planned to go there from April-June 2009. But then, things didn't turn out well as our funds were barely sufficient for the trip. We were a bit sad but we know God has a greater purpose and plan. It must not be the perfect time for us to go there yet.

And then, we had another invitation to go to Myanmar. My Hubby and I just prayed and thought about this about a month back. We even had a long deliberation whether to go by ourselves or to bring our kids along. And finally, we didnt have the heart to leave them behind thus we decided to go as a family. And guess what, right after that decision, we didn't have to think about funds as it immediately came and there were even cheaper flights on sale. Everything just fell into place and we believe it's God's will.

So, our flight to Yangoon, Myanmar is going to be on April 29, 2009. We could have missed this trip if we pushed through with US. What's so special with this trip? We still don't know but all I know is that God has a greater purpose for us in Myanmar than in the US. Please do pray with us for this trip.

Blogging- Web Designing and Building

I have posted a series about Blogging Basics in my other blog. I surely hope that post was helpful to some of my newbie blogger friends. However, there are still some questions and areas in the www and the blogworld that I understand but still can't fully explain in simple terms.

But I guess the problem ends here as I found another helpful site that is 'newbie' friendly and can explain seemingly difficult blogger terms in simple and plain English without the computer and techie jargon. I've just been through her site and read about the simple explanation about SEO and backlinks. I wished I could have read about this kind of explanation earlier and it could have saved me a lot of confusion and time of research. There are also other "How To" portions in the site which could be of great help to you in the future. This site is very friendly, honest and doesn't pretend to be a 'know it all' but shares her experiences along the way which could be of help to others.

Anyways, if you're a newbie on blogging or a web designer wanna-be who wants better check out web design for idiots main page website tutorials and then learn new things.

More Than Enough

I can't help but write this testimony of God's faithfulness in our lives. Indeed, God knows our every need and desires of our hearts.

Just the other morning, my Hubby and I woke up and had our prayer. My hubby had that urge to pray for our finances but he didn't pray it out loud. Then, when we were having breakfast, we found out that Lyle's milk was already finishing. We were just smiling at each other because we know that the only cash we had was 60 pesos and a can of milk would cost up to 700 pesos. We had a bit of savings for our flight tickets back to Malaysia and Hubby already gave me some signal to go to the bank and shave off that savings to buy our supplies.

But a little later, our cousin told us that the Barangay was giving away funds to all those houses which were affected by the flood. We really didn't take it so seriously because, knowing that it's from the Barangay, maybe they will just give us 200 Pesos and 1 kilo of rice. But then, our cousin was really encouraging us to go and even fetched us to go to the barangay hall. And when we went there, there were already several people waiting for their name to be called. When it was my turn, I was asked to sign and my eyes widened when I saw 3,500 Pesos beside my name. I then went to the cashier and indeed, she gave me 3,500 Pesos. WOw! God's provision just came unexpectedly through the Barangay..and as usual, it came just right on time! Thank God that He has indeed blessed us and we could say that we have more than enough.

The Painter in Me

I feel very accomplished today as I did something that I like to do but never had the chance to do so for a long time. That's PAINTING. I like to paint. May it be painting a picture by using a water color or oil paint or painting our house.

So, when I saw our rattan dining chairs so worn out and a bit moldy, I thought that it's about time for them to be painted. Good thing that there were still a lot of leftover paints from the cabinet work they did last week.

I really enjoyed painting our dining chair this afternoon and it seemed to have relaxed me as I painted them outside the house with the fresh wind blowing on my face. It was also timely that the kids were asleep so, I really just took my time. After the 2 chairs were done ( 2 more to go!), I have to admit they looked lovely and like new. Though they may not look like a New York Furniture ( An online furniture store with affordable furniture) but they turned out really well. I'll have to take pictures of them tomorrow and show you. :)

With my 'painting' activity today, I'm inspired to continue with it tomorrow. I'll have to finish the other dining chairs first and then I'll proceed to do some painting effects with our very 'yellow' wall in the dining area.



Before After

Voices of the Faithful

A few weeks ago, while we were looking at some children's books for Tricia at BookSale, we were so surprised to see a shelf in the shop that was filled with Christian books. I got excited and decided to buy a Devotional for me since our Couple's devotional book ( with our bibles and all our other books) got destroyed by the flood.

That's when I found the hard bound version of Voices of the Faithful by Beth Moore for only 248 pesos. I immediately took it and never let it go.

This devotional book contains 366 inspiring stories of courage from Christians serving around the world. It's like meeting real servants and missionaries everyday and urges you to pray for them and the different peoples around the world. It's truly encouraging as you read through it everyday with that realization that the world does not revolve around us because it's never about us but it's all about the One who died for us.

Lost and Found

One of the things that we thought that was lost during the flood was the files from our CD and thumbdrives. Those files which included videos, powerpoint presentations, photos, teaching among others were the files that he has copied from the laptop he was using back in Thailand. Those were worth months and years of information and compilation.

But a few days after the flood, we were so happy to recover our cds and some of our usb thumbdrives. But our question was, would they still work even after 'swimming' in the water and with mud all over? With some help from others, they just washed all our cds and cleaned up our thumbdrives and guess what, everything worked perfectly fine. And so we happily recovered all our lost files! Yipee!! Thank God!

So, this is my Date Loss story worth telling at blog.sumobackup.com. I guess from now on, we will have to always create copies of whatever important files that we have so that we will have an extra copy or Online Backups in case something happens to the original file.

Why, Oh Why

For the past two weeks, we know of two people who passed away, my friend's father and my mom's sister. So, our Li'l girl has already seen a dead body, witnessed a burial and a wake. With her very inquisitive mind, these events led her to a lot of questions concerning death and eternal life.

Oh, explaining these things to a going-to-be 5 year old kid is not and easy task because I don't know until how much truth or information she can take in and understand. One question led to another until she asked me the last question that made me stammer and didn't know where to start answering her : Why does God let people die first before going to heaven?, she asked. Tsk..tsk.. such a profound question coming from a small child huh? I think she saw that sickness/death is a sad event and just wanted people go to heaven immediately without the pain of it. But before I could gather my thoughts and start my 'preaching' on the fall of man and end on Man having body,soul and spirit we have already arrived at the Funeral parlor and had to get down the car. Whew! But I will have to answer that question sooner or later knowing that she never forgets to ask again anything that was left unanswered .

I Got to Wear Shades!

Thank God for the sunshine! It has been quite sometime since the sun has come out and I'm glad it did. The road to our house has been very soft and muddy for quite sometime already and I hope it'll harden now with the sun out.

But when it's too sunny, then it's time to take out our sunglasses but Lyle just broke my sunglasses and so its time to buy a new one. There are cheap stylish sunglasses at the night cafe and I hope I can remember to get one this weekend. My Hubby on the other hand can't get those very cheap ones because he needs the prescription glasses.

And speaking of prescription glasses, have you heard about Zenni Optical in the New York Times?! I guess one reason for them being feature there is because they've got cheap glasses. Imagine, Prescription eyeglasses for only $8! That's indeed great because of the economic crisis now, people are still Seeing Straight Without Breaking Bank .

Thank You Samaritan's Purse!

Last Saturday was indeed an joyous day for the children in Balulang as many of them received the boxful of treats from the Samaritan's purse. We have gathered around 70 children from the area and some of them were victims of the flood that happened last month.

The church was filled with so much of excitement as the program was done. There were some presentations and the Best Gift ( Salvation through Jesus) that they could also receive was also presented by Bogie. And after that, they all fall in line as their names were called to receive their box of treats. Then they all prayed together to bless the people who have the gifts and thanked God for it too. And counted 1-2-3 and opened the gifts! And wow!! There was so much of excitement and joy as they opened their boxes. The kids eyes widened as they have received gifts that they only dreamed of. All we could hear was " Wow!!" Wow!! Wow! both from the kids and from the parents. Everyone was indeed happy!

One of the parents told me that the boy has been pointing the Hot Wheels toy at the supermarket and asked the mom to buy it for him. But of course, the Mom didn't buy because it was so expensive. And guess what, inside the boy's box are 5 Hot wheels cars plus sweets, school supplies and other toys!! I can't believe that so many treats and toys can be put in a small shoe box.

Of course my Tricia received her box too and she got a My Little Pony and 2 Polly World dolls 'doll'. I remember she has been asking me to buy a Pony doll for her even when we were still in Thailand, but I never got to buy for her. Indeed, God knows every child's desire and is that loving to meet even their desires. Such a loving God we have.

I indeed thank God for the Samaritan's Purse ( Operation Christmas Child) and the thousands of American families who took part of this very special ministry. I pray that more and more children will indeed come to know the Saviour through this outreach.

Home Sweet Home

We are back now in Balulang and slowly getting settled. After 1 month and 9 days, I thought it would be so easy settling back in. But then, I guess I'm still experiencing some post traumatic symptoms because I couldn't sleep well last night.

When we came in the afternoon, we saw the the river water was not on its normal level. It was a bit high. Then the evening came and it rained quite hard. I asked my Hubby to check the water level so many times. Am I too paranoid or what? I didn't like how I felt and I just prayed to God to take away this 'fear' in me and put me to sleep. So, I did but admittedly I woke up a few times, tempted to go out and take a peek at the water level..but then was too sleepy to get up and I proceeded to sleep.

I just hope summer will soon come so we don't need to worry about the river anymore. I'm not sure if it's still rainy season here in the Philippines but then, we are regularly experiencing rain which makes the roads so muddy. That's why once we're out in the motorbike, we have to be fully geared with our jackets, North Face backpack and umbrella. It would be nice to wear a Marmot jacket too, I've heard they've got amazing Outdoor Gear .

Change Of Plans

Time indeed flies so fast, we didn't realize that it's almost time for us to go back.. not home ( in Thailand) since our 1 year leave is not yet finished.

Earlier we have planned to be back to Malaysia at the end of March because we were supposed to go to a different country by April. But because that plan has been canceled, we are now free to stay longer here in the Philippines! Yippee! So, we are going to stay longer.. perhaps a until December maybe? hahaah! Just kidding!

So, instead of staying until end of March, we are now going to stay until the end April. :) We would really like to stay until May and celebrate Tricia's 5th birthday here but then, my Malaysian visa is expiring on the 1st week of May so that's not really possible. But maybe then we can celebrate Tricia's birthday earlier in April.

The change of plans gives us 2 more months stay here in the Philippines. I guess it's just good because there are still a lot of places in our "to go" list that hasn't been checked off yet. Yeah, our travels and 'suruy suruy' has been put on hold for awhile because of our Flood experience where it took us sometime to get settled.

But Praise God that everything quite settled now and we will try to continue with our plans. :)

The Brilliant Horse

My Hubby has this joke called the Halelujah - Amen Horse. It goes like this:

There was a man who had a very brilliant horse. Whenever the owner says, " Hallelujah!" , the horse will start to run and then he would run so fast! And whenever the owner says, "Amen!" the horse will completely stop running.

Then, the king got to hear about that brilliant horse. So, he asked the man and his horse to come to his castle for him to see it for himself. The man demonstrated to the king how the horse runs with " Hallelujah" and then stop with "Amen!". The king couldn't help it but asked the man if he could try it for himself. So, the man reminded him of the 'magic words' and off the king went.

So, the king shouted, " Hallelujah!" And the horse ran... " Wow! This is great! ", the king thought to himself. So, the horse ran so fast and only later did the king realized that they were going up the mountain with a crevice. The king panicked because they will surely fall if the horse doesn't go to a complete stop. Then the king remembered and shouted, "AMEN!" The horse stopped but they were already at the edge and the king could already see the valley. The king was so relieved and he couldn't help but say " Hallelujah!"

Well, that's the joke I heard from my Hubby and I couldn't help but remember this joke when I found out about the Amen clinics. But seriously, this clinic is one prestigious clinics. Understanding the issues related to treatments for symptoms and other health concerns becomes easier with the help of Dr Daniel Amen the founder of The Amen Clinics. Know more about this important health issue through Daniel Amen's profile.

Free at Last!

Finally, we have found someone to help us in our house and at the same time take care of the kids when we're not around. That means, my Hubby and I can finally go out to date or take some time out. Thank you, Lord! We have actually been longing to have some time outs or go out by ourselves as it gets more difficult for us to handle two very active kids whenever we are out in the supermarket or anywhere. Our Li'l boy has already discovered the joy or walking or rather running (!), so you can imagine the struggle of letting him sit still in the trolley while he forces his way to get down from it. He has also become so big and strong while our Li'l girl still chats incessantly from sunrise to dawn ( I'm just exaggerating..heheh!). But I'm sure you got my point, we are one of the hundreds of parents who want to have some peace and quiet at some parts of the day.

So, now we can take a deep breath, relax and enjoy a bit while someone is taking care of kids.

Home Based Business

I've already talked to many of my friends and cousins who are very interested in doing paid blogging. When I'm free I'll write a step by step guide to all the soon to be bloggers and pro bloggers. I'm not really the so-called expert because I'm stil learning and exploring until this time. But then, I hope the step by step guide would be a helpful tool to those who are interested.

Some people are really amazed as to how we can earn just by writing posts. And for those who have a lot of free time, there are still a lot of treasures and 'businesses' that can be found through the internet and at the very comforts of your home. All you just need is TIME and INTERNET connection. Interested? Then search through the web for more info and better yet, learn more about home-based franchise opportunities by checking the tips from Stone Evans. Head over to Stone Evans' profile for more information.

Opsss... I forgot..

I've been running after writing tasks lately but then I completely forgot that I have some tasks that have been pending and are already past its due date. It's a good thing though that the company wrote and reminded me of my pending tasks. Thank God that they haven't cancelled my assignments but instead gave me another 2 days to submit. Thank God for the great favor. I hope that they will still give me writing assignments after this blunder of mine.

Oh, I'm so forgetful these days.. I already bought an organizer but I think I've only written my name on it and nothing else. I better get organized or else be forgetting a lot more things.

Of Passbooks and Taxes

My FICCO passbook is one of the many things that has been lost in the flood. I still haven't done my transaction for this month and I'm quite hesitant to do it this week because I'm sure there will be some paperwork to be done for my passbook to be replaced like get an 'affidavit of loss' from the lawyer and etc. I hope that I will really spare some time to go to their office next week as we are now quite free because we already have someone to help us at home and at the same time take care of the kids while we are gone.

It's good that I was also able to retrieve my SS Id with my number on it. If not, then I'll have to file a report of loss and etc to our Social Security office. It's not quite easy if you lose some things. I wish there will be some firms who can help us do these paperworks and stuff just like there are firms who can make strategy for international taxes.

Flood of Blessings

It's almost a month now since the 'great' flood that we have experienced. We are still staying in our cousin's house but hopefully we could go back to our house next week as the repairs will be finished by then.

The 3rd of January was indeed a shakening experience for us. It is a day that we will never forget. But, just as how our house got flooded with the 2 meters river water, God's blessings after that was also flooding in our lives. We have seen God's love and care through the people who have helped us in many ways. We have also been blessed materially and financially.

Through these blessings, we were able to replace the things that we have lost with NEw things; new shoes, clothes, bags and etc. We were able to clean and repair the houses ( my moms house, and two sisters' houses). Not only that, but a bit of house improvement was also done in my two sisters' houses. Once we are all settled in our home, we are also planning to have a thanksgiving with all our neighbors ( especially those who have also been affected by the flood) and at the same time give them some gifts too. God has indeed blessed us and that is to be a blessing to everyone.

God is indeed faithful in our lives. We have seen God's miracles of provision and meeting our every need. Glory to God!