At peace in the midst of China scare

I am now at peace for the longest time. The irony is I owe this peacefulness to products made in China that is scaring the whole world! What I can say is we are now faced with the challenge to listen to one another, especially to people close to our hearts, and the bigger challenge is when two people closest to us have different opinions. Now is the time for each one of us to have an open mind and heart, because each one of us has his or her own story, just like the children who were victims of the melamine found in milk.

Here goes my own story. Before the China scare, I’ve accepted the fact that I can no longer be employed in any company because of my age. I also stopped waiting to be hired by a network marketing company supposedly as their HR Manager in their Philippine branch, and the reason is a long story. I decided that I was free to be seen in the offices of other network marketing companies, which included Tianshi Phils., where I bought a comb massage gadget months ago. This gadget made me curious because the doctor who introduced to me this comb gadget was able to save a stroke patient inside the plane by just combing the scalp of the patient for 5 minutes. This gadget is technically called Hypotension Apparatus, but also relieves arthritic pain or any pain in any part of the body.

I started to attend the trainings in Tianshi Phils., which is only one of the branches of the company also known as Tiens, and which has offices in 110 countries. It has 9 factories worldwide which include one in Spain, one in Russia, one in U.S. and another one in Malaysia or Indonesia. The biggest factories are of course within the 1,000,000 sqm. area owned by Tianjin Tianshi Engineering Co. in China. The company received several awards for its modern biotechnology, from different organizations like United Nations, and has all the certifications for high quality, food safety and pharmaceutical safety like HACCP in 2007, updated ISO 2000-2005 only last September 7, 2008, Halal, Kosher,etc. It has partnerships with American Pfizer and French L’oreal to maintain products at high quality and world-leading level. Tiens has introduced leading manufacturing equipments from Germany, U.S., France and Japan.

So much can be said about the company, but people who have used their products have much, much more to say. In the Philippines, probably the most amusing anecdote can be heard from Tianshi Davao who treated a girl with brain tumor and the brain tumor was gone after 3 months, just by using supplements like High Calcium Brain Tonic and Cordyceps but I guess they also used the third generation of acupuncture gadget (no needles). Yesterday, we gave Kuya Danny, my brother-in-law, the High Calcium Brain Tonic as a birthday gift. My training in Tiens include modern acupuncture and my husband and I intend to attend a more intensive training next month, where we can be licensed therapists afterwards, if we pass the written and practical examinations.

I see to it that my learnings from Tiens are supported by my researches for reliable materials from the internet. I found a very nice research material which included scientific studies about Cordyceps and which I also sent to most of my friends and relatives. I am now taking Cordyceps so it will inhibit the growth of the benign cysts found on my breasts during my last scheduled sonogram. I no longer fear the possible onset of breast cancer later. If ever there is a gift I’d like to give my mother who is now in Las Vegas, I’d like to give Tiens Cordyceps, because it will also give me peace of mind about her health.

By the way, I’m not yet perfectly well as of this writing. Almost two weeks ago, I was exposed to the rains and changes in weather and almost caught a flu. But I followed the testimonies of others who have tried halting a flu or colds with Tiens Cordyceps, so I took 5 capsules between 9-11 in the morning and another 5 capsules from 7-9 in the evening, with an almost empty stomach, and with warm water. I knew that the Zinc of Tiens can be a big help in my battle with the bacteria, but I wanted to try Tiens Cordyceps alone. It seemed like a long battle, but only a few thick threads of colored mucus came out, I couldn’t even call them phlegm, and my cough was caused by the occasional itchiness of my throat, as if bacteria were trying to pass through my lungs but could not. The itchiness is gone after I finally sought the help of Tiens Zinc but only for one day. I now have reduced the number of Tiens Cordyceps capsules to just two each time. I have to always include the brand “Tiens” just to be fair to all brands available which might have varying effectiveness.

Two weeks of battle with the bacteria and I’m glad that just through natural means I emerged as the winner, my throat the only “injury” as manifested by the short-lived itchiness and some mucus. Why am I doing this battle anyway, if four days of taking antibiotics can also halt the cough? I’m doing this for my liver. I’ve learned in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) that the root cause of cysts or breast cancer is imbalance of energy in the liver. It is a known fact that drugs can damage the liver. In TCM, just an imbalance in energy can cause damage.

It is not just me who can be affected by the negative effects of drugs but my own special child Lyca, who really is very much exposed to drugs to alleviate the symptoms of her Cerebral Palsy. She now has a lump on her left breast though it could be an early maturation of her breast, but I just cannot remain complacent. Too bad, I cannot try Tiens Cordyceps on her yet. Maybe when she’s older. My only alternative now is to try the modern acupuncture on her, but using only the third generation gadget, the Tiens Acupoint Treasure which is a gadget with a magnetic point to be pressed and rubbed on acupoints that will disintegrate breast lumps. The fourth generation gadget uses electronic methods and is not advisable on her or any patient with tumors.

Now that you’ve read my story, I know you’ll understand why I am now more at peace than ever. It is just too bad that all of us cannot be at peace at the same time. Maybe that is the real essence of heaven. It is the only place where everyone can find everlasting happiness and peacefulness at the same time.

Whatever happened to the rest of my problems? I gave them all to God, of course not forgetting to thank Him everyday for willingly accepting them.

Only the rich can adopt a child

I am expecting a reaction to the title of this post because I did not add the word "legally" which will fit as the last word of the title. This word connotes "money" and I hope another person will also react to this statement.

In my case the word legally if included in the title does not involve our lawyer who was very generous because he hasn't charged us a single cent yet. The reason why I've said only the rich can adopt a child is because I feel that we have given away more than enough cash to the court in charge of the adoption case and it so happened at that time that I had just retired and really had more than enough money to give away. More than two years had passed and it's a different situation now. I prefer to reserve the money for the medicines, diagnostic tests which include occasional EEG and even MRI of this child who has cerebral palsy.

We've released 1,500 pesos to the court's office when we went there to get the "decision" we were told about through the phone, only to learn that it will be released a week after. When we got the "Decision", I asked the Civil Registrar about the requirements for registration and I learned that there's still a "Final" document that should be released by the court office. I verified with this office and was told that we need to give cash again to get this document. In the past I've already given 2,000 pesos for the birth registration and now I learned there are several documents needed before the registration process. It has come to this point now that I feel this giving away of money is against my principles or values. Or is it because I knew there's already a decision, or because I really don't have money to give away, I really don't know.

I pity the child who has gone through several difficulties to survive an abnormal birth and now will still have to undergo more hardships to get a name. If this is a normal process, whether here in the Philippines or other countries, please enlighten me.

The lamps that I love

My son's work schedule has changed to graveyard shift so we're letting him take a nap inside our bedroom before going to work. In that case I cannot watch TV in our bedroom like tonight, so I had to transfer to our dining area where there's another TV with local channels. My dining area is always lighted by a hanging lamp and even at daytime, I prefer it to be lighted because of the cozy effect it creates.

I prefer using lamps and pin lights instead of just the ordinarily housed lights. If there is one thing I had really appreciated when I was studying Interior Design, it was learning about the different kinds of lamps. Because of my love for lamps, I need not worry about the color of the paints I should use because a lamp can give varied effects even to the palest color.


I'd like to include here photos of beautiful lamps, the kind of lamps that I love, so that when the time comes our family can build a new house or renovate our current house, I can easily refer to this post. I will need to spotlight my paintings with halogen lamps, an arm lamp which can be a task lamp, and wall or night lamps that will give the rooms that needed warmth and feeling of security at night.

Child adoption is a process

Today I wish to share a lesson I learned from a seminar on child adoption. This blog will not be complete without this and I should have shared this a long time ago, but since my own adoption case was still pending, I didn't think I was credible enough to share it.

You guessed it right, the favorable decision for our special child's adoption by our family was finally released! What is left for us to do now is the registration of her new name to the Civil Registrar. Our special child's new name will be Lyca Louisa Taa Venida.

Child adoption is a process that is ideally accomplished within 9 months, depending on the case. The adoptive parents are evaluated based on home studies conducted by a Social Worker. In our case, we had no intention to adopt a child at first, since we are a complete family with a daughter and a son. The special child was born inside our house so the best support we could give was to be a foster family for the child who cannot be supported by her mother who was our house helper. The child was already 3 years old when my husband and I decided to be registered as foster parents of the child, at "Kaisahang Buhay Foundation". In this organization, we learned that fostering a specific child should last only for a year. After that period, we should decide if we'd like to adopt the child, or foster another child. That was how we decided to adopt Lyca, to give her the identity of a family because we learned to love her dearly.

The subject child of the adoption process is the adopted child, so when the process is completed the child becomes your child. So from now on, I will no longer say that Lyca is my adopted child because the adoption process is over. She is now my child, my special child.

The process of adoption should be explained to the adopted child when he is around 6 to 8 years old, the age when he or she will be old enough to understand. It should be emphasized to the child that adoption is just a process just like a mother having a baby, and when the process is over, he or she becomes your child.

I must admit that when I was younger I never appreciated adopting a child. When God gave us Lyca, I could not differentiate my love for her and my own children. I realized how the love of a mother can be so great. An unconditional love will not discriminate, and it can be offered to any child who is not from your own flesh and blood.

Christmas is near!

I'm excited that Christmas is near! Not only because it is the happiest season of the year but because our house looks best during this season. I stick to the red and green motif because this is my only opportunity to use this color combination which I consider the most attractive combination. Among all color combinations, only these two colors can be used with a 50-50 ratio. I learned that in my Interior Design class.

I hope I can have the time to prepare the decors this month so I can install them by the end of this month. That has been my practice even when I was still working at the office. I would use the non-working days before and after All Saints Day to install our Christmas decors. That gives me two months to enjoy the new look of the house as well as that Christmas feeling of happiness and sharing.