CHINESE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE

We brought Jonathan to the Eu Yen Sang Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) clinic today. Finally decided to do this after a long period of procrastination.

Went well. She checked Jonathan, asked alot of questions, took his pulse and then prescribed a 5-day course of herbal medicine ground into powder. After these 5 days we are to go back to her for review.

She said Jonathan looks pale. Upon checking pulse she said he's heartbeat is a little weak which is what caused his hands and feet to be chilly cold on certain times because the blood circulation is not so good. Sounds familiar in all the diagnosis I hear on television...haha.

But better to have this treated than leaving it alone. Jonathan's hands do turn purplish (as I mentioned from my previous journal post). Giving him vitamin C to boost his immunity also doesn't help because he gets unwell after consuming it.

Although TCM is quite costly, we hope that going this way will help Jonathan to build up his body and immune system. Will start the treatment tomorrow since it's already late afternoon. I always prefer to try new things during the day, preferably morning, (as advised by my sister) because if there's any side effects, we are able to observe clearly and go to the doctor's if necessary.

HEALTH ISSUES

I'm really edgy about Jonathan's health lately. Not that he's been sick. Just that I think he needs more than what he's taking now ie goat milk. Ever since the last few days of puffy eyes, he seems to be tired. Maybe it's the allergy medication ... I just don't know.

I'm thinking of getting him another leave of absence from school. Don't know if this will help but at least it will help me sort this out without having to worry about him missing school or "what should I tell teacher now?".

And I'm really thankful for his teacher LK. She's been really encouraging and I get boosted up each time I talk to her. But then after I leave school, it's back to square one for me and I'm lost as to what I should do. Where should I start?

I'm thinking ... I need to cook nutritious food for Jonathan. But then again ... I don't know how. I need to take his nutrition seriously. I better make another appointment with his nutritionist at KK hospital. It's been almost a year or more since we last saw her. He needs a review.

Jonathan is growing and he needs more than what he's taking now.

I need your wisdom Lord...

PUFFY EYES

Jonathan's eyes are itchy. First it was the left but this morning he started scratching the right. The rubbing has made his eye puffy and the surrounding skin wrinkly. He looks like he's got not enough sleep. Doctor has prescribed eye medication to keep off the infection, which thankfully, has not set in. This is just a prevention.

Harith didn't want him to go school so as not to aggravate the eye situation.

So today, since I had to give Jing Ying her gift of the pair of pillow cases I printed for her and also pass Lee Choo her tshirt, I also brought back his math workbook so that we can do something while we are at home.

For Jing Ying's printed pillow cases~

They will have the reveal party tomorrow at Jing Ying's home. I hope they have a great time and take loads of photos! Wish we could go but the journey to Jurong will be too far for Jonathan.

Made this gift box. I traced it out from a gift box I got but that gift box had happy birthday printed on it so unuseable. I used DCWV glitter cardstock to make this.

And this is the tshirt I designed and printed for Lee Choo. Hope her friend likes it.

PILLOW CASES FOR JING YING

Printed these pillow cases for Jonathan's classmate who had her bedroom make-over by Make A Wish Foundation. they will be having a party this week at her home. But because of distance (she stays in Jurong), we won't be able to go.

I wanted to give her a whole bed linen set but wasn't sure if she is using a single size bed or a queen size like Jonathan. So a pair of pillow cases will do. One is pink and one is shaded maroon. Hope she likes them.

THIS AFTERNOON ... A STROLL AND SOUR KANNA

Went down to the void deck to sit and enjoy the strong wind. Jonathan didn't feel well last night and I thought this afternoon's walk will do both of us some good since we didn't' sleep well during the night. It helped. He said he felt good. The sun was not out, even though we could feel the heat. But the wind made up to it. We had a good stroll and he had 2 lift rides up our friend's block at 338.

Indulged in a bottle of lemon tea and sour kanna (plum). Once in a while, I treat myself to these cos I just need that sour taste in my mouth .. LOL! No harm to my health ... not to worry!


A couple of close-ups. Love to capture the eyes of Jonathan.

I'M REMINDED ...

My family is ...
blessed with a big extended family, with mums and siblings giving us tremendous support;
blessed that H has a job even though his work contract was not renewed;
blessed that I could do what I enjoy and still get a little extra income for the family;
blessed that we have friends;
blessed that Jonathan is progressing well, despite that we do fall sick sometimes;
blessed to be blessed by Abba Father!

Today I was reminded of these blessings:
We were at Tampines Mall cos I needed to check on some baby tshirts. Near the side entrance of the Tampines Train station, there are usually buskers who perform there. The usual group is this malay visually handicap man singing with his guitar. Today, as we exit Tampines Mall, I heard a lady's voice and I was so taken in by her voice. Even Harith agreed that she sang so beautifully cos he's heard her before.

And yes...she was visually impaired. She sat on a small stool with a microphone in one hand and a tambourine in the other. There was a visually impaired man behind her playing a guitar even though it sounded like she was singing with a minus-one {accompaniment track}.

The 2nd song she sang was by Alicia Keys. I can't remember the title but her voice was so like Alicia Keys that I couldn't help but be attracted to it. Gave a couple of dollars and while doing it, I whispered to her: "You have a lovely voice."

For us, it's easy to find jobs with our capabilities. For her and her partner, their vision has been handicapped and it's hard to secure jobs and one of the best ways is to busk.

I hope she collected lots of money with her beautiful singing voice. I hope that my compliment was one of the many compliments she got today and for days she performs anywhere.

Then tonight on Channel U, there was an infotainment about celebrities doing charity/volunteer work. This Taiwanese infotainment host volunteered to go to China into the remote villages only accessible by foot deep into the dry mountains. Children there have never brushed their teeth before, washed their hands, basic hygiene necessities and never seen pictorial books. They were so happy to get gifts like hand-me-down shoes, clothes and stationery.

This reminded me of my friend Nicole Wong who travelled in China last year and the wool caps I crocheted for her to bring to China.

She's going there to work come September. I hope in the near future, I will be able to do this again, take out the yarns of wool my mum passed me and start crocheting for the underprivileged kids in China. This time, I will have Nicole there to receive them. And hopefully make this my yearly project if time permits and as long as she's there.

Thank you Abba Father for your blessings that we can share these blessings with many others.

SOMETIMES I NEED TO BE WISE

Frustrations ... I need to be wise in what I can or cannot do in the printing business.

I Cannot : do wonders to images that are low in pixel, when it is insisted that the image is totally ok when looked from the computer's point of view. Probably it's because I have lack of skills in the editing department, with software like photoshop and illustrator.

But then again it's my fault to say "yes" when I had an inkling that "this cannot be done". The image size was only 3cm wide.

Trying too hard to please the customer in the end, making myself frustrated not because I cannot do what the customer wishes but more that I cannot make the customer happy.

It's not about money. To me ... printing a nice tshirt for somebody is to make someone happy, that their design is imprinted on a tshirt they can wear.

I guess I need to have wisdom in this area. Saying "yes" only when I can do it and "no" when I think I cannot achieve the desired results that the customer wants.

There's no law to say that I have to accept every single work that comes my way. But then again ... I'm like that ... I like to help people as much as I can.

In this instance, I spent more than a week trying to source for the right thing, working on the image, googling for answers and techniques. So it also boils down to my lack of knowledge of editing software.

Finally I asked myself ... is this all worth the time? Sure ... I learned something in the end ... more techniques that I've never known ... but still I could not adjust the image what was given to me.

This is certainly a lesson that tells me ... be wise when you know you cannot do it. No need to feel afraid to tell people you cannot do it.

After all, my brother did tell me ... "enjoy what you are doing, don't be pressured."
He's right ... so help me God by reminding me about this all the time.

PREPARING FOR NATIONAL DAY 09

Jonathan school has been roped in to help pack the goody bags that are given out to Singaporeans who go for the National Day Parade at Marina Square. Today the kids were preparing tags to be attached to each bag.

Teacher JS helping Jing Ying.

Each kid were asked to write on 6 cards to tell the person that they were the ones who helped pack the bag.

The cards were inserted into this rubber bag tag holder.

Next Monday morning we will be assembled in the school hall to help put all the goodies into bags and these tags will be in each bag.

More picture then!

A BEGINNING, A MUDDLE AND AN END

I chanced upon this book near the children's section of the Pasir Ris library. When I first saw it, the title struck me and I flipped open the book and enjoyed reading just one page.

And so I borrowed it.

And thoroughly enjoyed it.

"Avon, the snail, wants to write a book but he doesn't know where to start. Edward, the ant, gives advice, sometimes helpful, sometimes not, sometimes thinks he's smart, to help Avon through his writing struggles."

The writer, AVI, used words to make the story interesting. Words that made sense when they talked about cents. When you thought Avon used a word, Edward the ant will use it the other way around.

Simple yet intriguing.

Get it from the library and read it. It's a book for all ages, although it's stated for young teens.



An excerpt from the book:

"Edward, I think I've got a title for my book. I'm going to call it The Little Rock That Didn't Like to Breath."

"What would happen in the story?"

"The rock would hold its breath."

"For how long?"

"Until it changed its mind."

"Forgive me, Avon, but rocks don't have minds. They are thoughtless."

"Really?"

"No question about it."

"That explains it."

"Explains what?"

"For years I've talked to rocks. When they didn't answer, I always thought they just didn't want to speak to me. Now you say they are thoughtless. I certainly don't want to write about rude rocks!"

And he scratched out his title.

A VISIT TO THE DENTIST

Jonathan had his half-yearly dental appointment today. It's not actually half year cos we have been postponing his appointment. First it was the doctor then it was us. But I'm glad we finally got to do it today.

When we got there, we had to go through the thermal scanner and were given a mask each. Yes ... Jonathan had to wear one too. He was a little uncomfortable for the first few seconds but after explaining why he had to wear it, he was very co-operative.

Took this using my mobile phone. We waited for about 15 minutes before our number was called and he stayed like this throughout, even after we finished our appointment! So proud of him!

Appointment went well. I wrote earlier about his 3 baby molars that came off during April and May 09. Today, the doctor checked and told me 4 instead of 3 have come off and new molars are growing. They are all in the lower jaw.

Now ... where did the 4th one go? haha. It didn't matter so long as he was safe when it came off and thank God he didn't choke on that loose tooth.

She proceeded to count and check the other teeth and said his set of teeth are in good condition and that we can expect the next 4 molars on the upper jaw to drop off any time during pre-teen.

She was pleased that Jonathan could open his mouth a little more and not so rigid. She hopes that slowly she will be able to clean and polish his teeth soon so we don't have to go the general anesthesia way.

I requested his next appointment to be in January 2010 because we don't like to go during the school holidays. Too crowded. Today ... it was pretty quiet and we only waited 15 minutes for our turn.

After that we went to Marina Square for lunch, the library @ the Esplanade and headed home.

This time around ... he didn't have motion sickness. Thank you Jesus!

LOVE YA AWARD

I've been awarded the "Love Your Friends" Award by Rachel Clarke. A very witty and funny lady whom I got to know through Scrap-n-Crop.com

Thanks Rachel for this friendship award. I'm happy to have known you and hope our friendship will grow stronger each day.

The Love My Friends Award is given to those bloggers who aspire, inspire and share the most beautiful of human attributes: art, wisdom and friendship. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more.

Now I have to choose eight other bloggers. Will facebook friends count? haha...it so hard!

1. Valerie of Scrap-n-Crop.com. She's the one who gave me a chance to work and learn website stuff and love Jonathan so much.
2. Penny ... Val's sister. Who's always so straight to the point that sometimes makes me laugh...haha!
3. May of Love and and a Leap of Faith. Her blog journals are very inspiring and cute (especially when she writes about her daughter Vera). Though we've only known each other just recently through or blogs, I feel like we are "old" friends.
   
4. Sharmaine Kruijver ... her friendship although we are far apart, her love for the Lord and I love her journals about everyday, her daughters and of course her scrapbooking.
5. and of course Rachel Clarke (back to you dearie!) as described above.
   

Gosh! I really don't have many friends who blog. Most of them are on facebook! haha. Hope half is just as good and I'm not breaking the rule!

Thanks again Rachel!

ALL FOR CHARITY

About 2 weeks ago, Nicole came over to our place and I took this picture before she left. She still had her crown of hair then.
On Sunday, she took the bold step and shaved her hair in support for the Children Cancer Foundation Hair for Hope 2009. Way to go Nicole!

PRINCESS VERA of LOVE and a LEAP of FAITH

I printed a tshirt for Princess Vera and her mummy May let her wear it.

Mummy is trying to adjust to being a full-time stay at home mom. I totally understand where she's coming from. I've been down that road 12 years ago. Took a long time for me to adjust to being at home almost 24/7 until Jonathan was old enough to exit the house and explore the outside world. The tshirt was also give encouragement to May.

See Vera with the tshirt HERE.

and ...

thanks May for letting Vera model for me! Keep on keeping up and you'll get to be one of the most dedicated and experienced mum ever!