Herbal Treatment

Well I pulled my back out about 2 weeks ago and was laid out. I couldn't even hold the baby. Thankfully I had a lot of people praying for me and Dad answered, so I'm all better now. I did try to get some relief from a few Chinese remedies which led to some interesting experiences.

First of all I had a massage which started out like any massage, but gradually became more and more like some kind of ancient torture. After rubbing vigorously on my lower back the doctor pushed his thumb into a pressure point in my hip (well I think it was more like my hiney...) That just about shot me off the bed. Then he pushed in on a few more spots down my leg... oh and then he did the other side. He also did this thing where he pushed down on my back and held my leg up and kind of bounced it??? Then to top it all off and he pushed down really hard on my lower spine and released quickly. It definitely loosened all the muscles up, but the next day I was so sore. It felt like my back was bruised and I could hardly stand to lay on it. It didn't really do the trick... so I laid on the floor for the next few days.

Last week my best friend Dora said she wanted to come and give me a treatment. Dora is a traditional Chinese medical doctor and has taught me a lot about what they do. She has also whipped up some really interesting things for me to take including mule skin cooked with other herbs and sticks. A lot of the medicine is cooked in water and then you just drink the "soup". When she called she knew that I would not be willing to take anything like that because I am still nursing Grace... and she also knew that I would not be willing to have acupuncture because I am so afraid of needles. So she came bearing Moxa.

Moxa is a herb that is widely used. As she began to tell me about it I wondered if it was safe, and she assured me it was since it is used on pregnant women all the time. I check WebMD and sure enough it is even used in the States from time to time to help breach babies turn around. So the adventure began. She had these 2 sticks that resembled cigars, only they were wrapped in white paper with green writing on the outside. She said she needed to light them, but we didn't have a lighter so she lit them on the stove. The not so wonderful aroma of moxa proceeded to fill our home as we walked back to the office.

Dora showed me how to find the points myself and then she held the burning sticks about 2 inches from my skin. The first point was on my abdomen just below my belly button. It did exactly what she said it would do... it felt very warm, but not only at the point but also inside. It moved to an area near my side. I could feel the warmth on the inside but my skin was still cool. It was really interesting. Then she held the sticks near a point just above my ankle, then on my back. I was amazed! It was really great but I think next time I want to go outside because the smell of the smoke almost overtook me.

When I lived near the Chinese medical hospital we used to always smell the moxa, but we didn't know what it was. We thought someone was smoking mariguana. I couldn't believe how it filled the air and noone ever seemed to notice. Now I know why... it was just someone getting a treatment.

Thank you Dora for always loving on me! You're the best!!!!

Scrabble War...

Future Scrabble Champion!!!

Matt and I have an ongoing battle to see who will win at Scrabble... usually he does. This week we have played almost everyday and I have had some of the best tiles in Scrabble history. All week I have been kicking his tail and then right at the last moment he hits some triple word score with a tile worth 8 or 10 points and wins... and by 3 or 4 points which makes it even worse. I must admit that I am a pretty bad sport about it too. I just hate it... he always wins and he can always think of Q words that don't need a "u"... who does that?
Well today I waged war once again. Immediately I started drawing great tiles and I won the draw which meant I got to place the first word (very strategic in this game)! It was a beautiful sight as the board began to fill up. Once, Matt spelled some word and got 38 points or something and I thought I was through, but I came back, and YES I whooped him! Final score 247 to 236. Have a look at that board! For today, I am queen of the hill.

Oh, the Bakery

Check out those cakes! I am always amazed at the detail, I mean look at those horses and that is all icing! The wedding cake below is the eyecatcher in the front window - I'm sure it's pretty stale by now. Oh yeah, I also give this bakery extra kudos because the owner has given me dough several times so that I could make pizza, bread sticks, etc. Friendly, talented people : )

Mania!

We are currently in the midst of the National Day Holiday which officially lasts 3 days; however most schools and businesses take 7. Matt has no class this week, but we decided to stay put in lieu of traveling along side 1.3 billion others. Tonight we thought it would be fun to join some friends at a local food festival, so we loaded the baby up in her Kelty Kidpack and headed across town. We were supposed to meet our friends at a busstop, but we arrived first and had to wait a while. There were so many people! It was like an antbed that some little kid stirred with a stick. Unfortuneately it was too much for me and we never made it past the entrance of the alley that led to the food :( There were people all over Gracie, some were coughing and others were just prodding her with their finger. The worst part was that she as eye level with most of them so I was really having to work hard to keep her from being inspected. It was a bummer!

My teacher offered to let me have class this week, so I took her up on it. I plan to take off a day or two at Thanksgiving and Christmas instead. Yes, Matt will be in class dreaming of turkey while I am at home hopefully cooking some. Even if the school did allow a holiday for the foreign students they would have to make up the days on the weekend. That's how it works. If you want a week off then you'll have to go to school Saturday and Sunday. For the current holiday Matt made up a class this past Saturday and is expected to have another make up class next Sunday, but that's our Sabbath, so he's going to opt out of that one.

Yesterday I decided to write out my daily goals in hopes of getting myself back into a routine. I haven't been very disciplined this past month, but now that class has started back I have to get it together in order to get everything done. One thing Matt and I both want to do is spend more time listening to inspirational radio broadcasts each day. For the past few days we have enjoyed listening to Tony Evans over lunch and I even caught up with James Dobson this afternoon while I was folding clothes. It's good to hear familiar voices and listening to meaningful broadcasts way outweighs watching King of the Hill (which we finally ran out of) and Monk. We do love to watch Survivor though, so we download and watch it weekly!

Oh well, not much else is going on at present. Send us a line or two if you get the chance.
Blessings, Jenny