Thanks to essential oils???

          13/3/2014
          Ermm.... why the question marks? Well, I am not prepared to be so convinced that every little changes or development in my daughter is due to the oils. But, I am almost 80% believer. It does seem to have it's efficiency in mild sicknesses around the house. At least my itchy throat and 3 months wheezing cough just disappeared when I wasn't noticing. It was like one day, hey, I am not coughing anymore. I have not taken any medicine after a few rounds of those in the first 2 months. I decided to let it decide when it wanted to go - while using the oils.
         The second experience with the oils was when the son suddenly vomited twice in one night, and was rather listless the second day. He lacked appetite and we did not dare to feed him too much in case he vomit again. The doctor asked me to look down his throat and it was reddish, and he's starting with fever. We opted not to take the antibiotic. I gave him a dose of the doctor's medicine before he goes to sleep. I also wiped his whole body with warm water added with a drop of Peppermint essential oil. The whole night, I got up several times to apply Frankincense and Peppermint on his throat. His fever did not go up at all. The next day, he didn't take any medicine since his temperature is okay. But he is still having difficulty eating, due to his throat inflamation. I applied Frankincense and Peppermint on him every 10-15 mins after I got home from work. I also applied Peppermint on his stomach, due to the wind. (according to the doctor, there's wind that causes him to vomit). I am so glad that he is back to his usual self the 3rd day. He's eating and as naughty as before. And he told me that the 'bacteria' is scared of the oils.... hihihi
         
          As for the girl, I was rather reluctant to attribute everything to the oils so soon, since I know she is and will keep on improving as she grows. What I noticed was that a few weeks after using the oils, especially DDR and vetiver, my daughter's few attempts in pronunciation were quite clear. She still has very limited vocabulary. But the words are clearer. A very recent example was on Wednesday, when I woke her up in the morning, I called out to her ' Good Morning, XXX!'. I do this every morning, without expecting her to answer. The most she would do is to smile at me, or to wave her hand, indicating her acknowledgement. But on Wednesday, she replied clearly 'Good Morning' (Zhao / pause / An). I was shocked, and quickly praised her. She just smiled at me. The same thing happened on the next day but Hubby was skeptical. So, this morning, after getting her to say good morning to me, I almost kicked hubby to wake him up. in his sleepy state, I asked my daughter to say 'good morning' again. With a little prompt, she did. And this time, hubby acknowledged that it's very clear. I hope this will continue.

          I decided to write some sort of chronological account of any differences we noticed in her, so that it may be referred to in future, with as little 'imagination' from me as possible. I wanted this to be something I can depend on.

17/3/2014

         I am so happy today. My mother in law just told me today that my dear daughter has been wiping herself clean after a biggie in the toilet, for the past week. I was rather busy last week, and arrived home only in time for dinner. My daughter has a rather regular bowel movement, and always goes to the toilet in the afternoon. MIL told me she would just fold the toilet paper and handed it to my daughter. My daughter would then step down from the toilet bowl and wipe herself. She would even check and turn it the other side to wipe the second time! I was really surprised to hear this. In fact, MIL said it was not only one time, but several times over the week, including today!
         I was trying to keep my excitement in check, and asked if there were other improvements. She told me that my daughter has been playing hide and seek more often with her brother. The brother would hide, and she would search for him (after a prompt from grandmother).
          Praying for more to come! Amen!

I am blessed....

          Yes, I am blessed. I feel blessed. I am very thankful to God for all that He has made possible in  my life. 

        I am saying this though I am not feeling well myself, my children have not fully recovered from flu, and hubby is overworked. Why this sudden burst of faith?

             Well, God has opened my eyes and taught me to be grateful with what we have. I was waiting outside my daughter's occupational therapist office when an old grandfather started chatting with me. His grandson is having speech therapy and later to go for occupational therapy as well. He told me that he and his wife is solely responsible for this grandson of 5 years old, since his parents divorced. The father has since gotten married again and had 2 more children. And he never gave his parents money for taking care of his son. As for the mother, the grandparents were not willing to part with the grandson though she is willing to care for him herself.... but she works full time with no one else to look after her son while she is at work, unless of course she gets a nanny. Well, the background aside, the grandfather is worried about his grandson who has been diagnosed with autism. 

             When the grandson came out of the Speech Therapist office, he had to wait for his appointment for Occupational Therapy. And I get to observe him.... He can talk very clearly, though his grandfather said that he tend to repeat words by himself. And he can write and read. I am impressed as he wrote numbers, the alphabets and Chinese characters on a piece of paper another lady gave him. And as he wrote, he would read them out loud. AND he is only 5 years old! The grandparents never taught him all these at home. He learnt them in school. I told the grandfather that this boy has a bright future. But further explanation from the grandfather dampened my spirit. This boy, who has been drinking sweetened water his whole life, is hyperactive, has the tendency to hurt himself due to his hyperactive condition, slept only a few hours at night (that the grandparents even resorted to sleeping pills) AND the thing that saddened me most is that the grandparents cannot afford more therapies for him other than the monthly occupational therapy and speech therapy (I am not sure how often is the Speech therapy) provided by the government. Yet I strongly feel that this boy could be much better if he had more interventions. 

          As I was driving home after the therapies, I kept thinking about this boy. Though it's not nice to compare. And even worse for me to find comfort in another person's pain, I began to feel Grateful. 

          My soon to be 6 years old daughter, does not talk as fluently as this boy. She can't write nor 'read'. Yet. (I am not sure if she can read in her mind - just not out loud). She had to be taught certain things over and over again (we are still doing basics, which we have been doing in the past 3 years). 

       BUT... 

1. I am blessed that she has mild temper which makes it easier for us to cope with her.

2. I am blessed that she has improved so much in these few years, because we were able to afford her early intervention programs. I even believed the early interventions helped with her sleep at night and now I am grateful that we do not have to resort to sleeping pills.

3. I am blessed that those days of sleepless nights plus shrill screaming at night for me is now over. (she will have some sleepless nights but very far in between).

4. I am blessed with a supportive and loving husband, who has been my pillar of strength.

5. I am blessed with parents in law who are supportive and rejoices in every little achievements.

6. I feel blessed for my education, with which I am able to understand and explore the infinite possibilities to help my daughter.

7. I feel blessed for my occupation, with which I can still contribute financially, and at the same time still able to spend time with my children in the afternoons, weekends, and school holidays.

8. I am grateful that, financially we could still afford her extra therapies and learning materials. Though we are not rich, and still have to be careful with our expenses, God has truly been generous to us, by providing when we needed most.

9. I am grateful for all that she has achieved. It is through hard work and resilience both from us as parents and in herself. I can sense in her, that she is very happy with her own achievements. Whenever she was praised for doing a certain thing right, the chances of her repeating the action is quite high. She is improving in her speech, imitation and self help skills too. 

I believe there will be more to come.....  Amen.

AND....

Please keep this boy in your prayers too. May the good Lord open his father's heart to care for his own son and contribute to his emotional and financial needs. May the grandparents find ways and means to provide for his extra therapies which they know of, but unable to afford. And finally, may this boy continue to improve and be blessed. Amen.

Praying....

I am praying for both my kids to be well as soon as possible. The boy has just recovered from fever and flu while the girl gets the fever bug after he's better. At the same time, she also has stomach ache. Only this morning she went potty with watery poop 3 times. It's the dreadful weather these days. It has been raining everyday... and lots of people gets sick. I pray that everyone will get well as soon as possible - for a healthy and happy reunion dinner this Saturday.

Just for the record, I need to describe some of the things my girl did yesterday. My instinct told me that she was unwell when she woke up up so early in the morning. But both hubby and I just can't figure out what is wrong. She seemed a little heaty, but no fever, and her running nose has stopped after a dose of medicine the night before. Anyway, her teacher had an experience of her life.

The first incident was when she smeared her face, hair and uniform with the icing from the bread her daddy prepared for her snack in school. Gosh... the teacher learnt the hard way, not to trust her too much. (usually the teacher can trust my girl to get her snack box, open it and eat whatever she brings - all by herself (except for noodles) - but she was shocked to see her when she finally had time to take notice of her. (by the way, I think it is important to remind myself that my girl is in the 5 year olds class instead of her same age (6 year old) - some of the other students also need the teacher's help to feed and clean up.

The next thing she did was to play with the stamp pad they were using for art lessons. She saw a friend playing with it, (the teacher punished the student and puts it on her table) and the cheeky part is, she went to the teacher's table to play with the stamp pad when the teachers were busy getting the students ready for the 'train' to the toilet. When she was discovered, she had smeared her uniform with the colours from the stamp pad. The teacher tried to wash the colours off her hands and arms - perhaps she scrubbed too hard, my girl told her 'thong, thong' (pain, pain) - of course the teacher told her, she should feel the pain, since she needs to scrub hard to get the colours off. (imagine the grandmother's response when she saw the smeared school uniform)

To make things worse, my girl peed while the teacher is trying to clean her hands. Gosh - I would have lost my temper. And it happened at the busiest time - going home time.... Phew... just listening to the teacher relating all these to me make me feel tired. But deep in my heart, I think I have an answer to her behaviour. - She is not feeling well. And amist the class' busy and noisy movements to pack their bags, finishing their water bottle, and amidst the teacher's 'nagging' while trying to clean her - she just lost it - and does not know how to inform the teacher that she needs to go to the toilet. hmmmm..... Am really praying for her to get well soon.

Let go... and let the Spirit flow into you

It has been a long time since I experienced the workings of The Holy Spirit - first hand. Today, at the church service, I was blessed to experience Peace when I was guided to relax and put my trust in The Almighty One. I have seen many such 'events' where people are prayed over, and they collapsed. Some wailed, and literally made the atmosphere felt like the place is full of the Holy Spirit. Whenever I am in such situation, I would cry. Even though I am not the one being prayed over, I still cry. It's as if something touched me, deep within. and I would cry.

Today, I asked for a praying over for my daughter, and myself. As I closed my eyes and listened to God's message - assuring me that I have such love for my family and my children, especially my daughter. Asking me to not worry, that God will take care of her. That great things will happen, things that I would never even imagined. That I will eventually find joy, as my daughter progresses. That there is no need to compare with other typical children. She is God's daughter, and God will provide for her. God will take care of her. - and as the Spirit flows, I can feel myself struggling to remain standing. My body weakened and I finally collapsed. I was crying, but unable to cry out loud, yet I can feel myself, almost smiling. My face felt numbed, my muscles are twitched as if wanting to smile. As I slowly gained consciousness, I got up and felt Peace. Yes, there were still tears. I think those are happy tears, mixed with sadness of the past. God is by my side, helping me to face the day to day challenges in life. Sure, there are and will always be struggles and challenges, but it seems that life is more bearable.


I have learnt a great lesson today. To trust in God, and let Him show the way. Many a times, I try to take things into my own hands, worrying too much, and never satisfied with all that has been done. It is time to let go. To let God do it His way. Amen.

Learning about God

Ever since I could remember, I have been trying to interest my children in saying the night prayer together. Joy, would remain quiet, and Jay has slowly followed my words and later could independently say prayers of Thanksgiving in Chinese. When he was almost 3 years old, I would say my version of prayer in English, after his prayer. He would listen and responded with Amen.

A few months before, he has started asking about God, as I told him to pray to God when he is not feeling well, and God will heal him. He was a bit confused, and I found out that he thought God is only for his big sister, as I was always praying for deliverance from powers that binds and limiting her from reaching her milestones. As he slowly learns that God will take care of everyone, I can see that he is eager to learn more. Just the other day, he asked me, "Where is God?". And he is very interested in listening to Bible stories. He has also learnt to love me singing The Lord's Prayer. He would sometimes request me to sing the hymn again and again as he sleeps. (previously, he would tell me to stop). 

Joy, on the other hand seems more accepting to the hymn now. (she would usually cry when I sang it when she was much younger) Though I could not expect to hear her saying Amen now, I am confident that she would one day be able to say her prayers independently. She is always around when I read aloud, stories from the Bible and I am confident that she is absorbing in her own way.

All these warms my heart. When I got married, my greatest hope was to raise a family with Love, Faith and Hope in God. Hubby and I prayed the Rosary everyday, from the day we knew I was pregnant with my eldest, right to the moment I gave birth. I held my Rosary while going through the contractions, and left it beside my bed when it's time to push. Hubby actually went down on his knees outside the door, with the Rosary. Everyday after her birth, I read the Bible to her, and said my prayers aloud, for her. Hubby and I say our morning and night prayers aloud, and we responded with Amen, (in our determination to set an example for them)

As I mentioned before, I have not been an avid church goer, but I do believe in the saying "A family that prays together, stays together." This was taught by my catechism teachers when I was in school. See, I did not forget. Anyway, our faith wavered for a period of time as we encountered difficulties in handling Joy. That was pre-diagnosis days. When we got her diagnosis, hubby and I held closer together, as we are determined to face the diagnosis as an united front. The roller coaster year is also a year where we found our place and slowly build our faith back from scratches. We picked up the bits and pieces of faith and hope and love in God and I am grateful the God has not left us during those times. All these reminded me of the poem "Footprints in the sand", which I have loved since school days.

There will always be so much to learn about the Almighty God. I am praying for wisdom to be able to teach my children to grow in His ways, as I too, continue to learn about His greatness.