Home Economics Day

Apart from Homeschooling Gina in the usual academic subjects, we also engage her in activities that will make her into a more rounded child. We included Home Economics --specifically, cooking (or baking, sewing, etc.), in our subjects.

Here she is making breakfast -- Opening eggs and scrambling them to make Spanish Omelette...



And then (with our help of course), she tries to open a can of Sausage to go with our eggs. She says the can is hard and the can opener is tight...



After a late breakfast, Dancing Queen is seen here mashing boiled potatoes. Hmmmm... I wonder what is for lunch today...?
(Note that we've just taken off her Facemask here. These are the very few times that she is seen not wearing it, so we want to show off her cheerful, sweet face a lot!)


Those are Japanese bread crumbs...



The breaded stuff look good...



I think by now you already know what they are -- even in their uncooked state!



And here is our little cook, frying them (with our help again of course) in canola oil. She didn't stay too long in doing this step as the hot oil was splattering everywhere...



...And minutes later... Presto! We'll have Gina's Beefy Potato Croquettes for lunch! Yummy!



Tell me and I'll forget;
show me and I may remember;
involve me and I'll understand.
Chinese Proverb

More About Gina's Facemask Days

Dancing Queen slept in our room again. Eversince wearing her Facemask to treat her Class III Malocclusia, she has been under a lot of pain as the appliance pulls out her upper jawbone, and pushes in her lower jaw area...



As she lies down beside me, I try to put her back to sleep by rubbing any part of her body, as in massaging it to distract her from the pain she is feeling and to comfort her from what she is experiencing... Until she falls asleep...



This morning, DH bought me this orthodontic tool to help me put the Facemask's bands in place. It is indeed a great help when I insert the two tiny bands in Gina's fixed mouth appliance, also to hold the Facemask in place.



But before all that, I apply Burt's Bees to help moisturize her lips too. This is just her 2nd day, but so many developments are happening, and they are not easy. I guess the good news will be evident in a month after our doctor makes another assessment of her upper and lower jawbone. Only a trained eye and x-ray can see it...



This afternoon we brought her back to her doctor because after only one day of wearing the Facemask, Gina developed mouth sores. Her mouth had lacerations -- from the bands that are pulling out her upper jawbone. The doctor told us to put this kind of mouth drops to heal the wounds. We try to humor out our daughter by calling it the "20-second Magic Drops" -- but despite that, she cries whenever we apply it because of the terrible sting it gives. 20 seconds is all that is needed to soak the wounds in the solution, but it is painful. Effective, but painful.



We are praying things will improve in the next days. This week has been painful for us physically and emotionally. Especially for our little Dancing Queen. God is our guide in everything, and we are hanging on to Him as our Anchor in the storm.



I would like to write about good days again, and make things easier and happier for our daughter. But despite all this, we glorify our God for we know He will never leave us. He loves our daughter very much, and we know we will all come out of this wiser and stronger.



We have this hope
as an anchor for the soul,
firm and secure.
Hebrews 6:19

Gina's Facemask And Palatal Expansion Therapy

Finally, at 1 o'clock this afternoon, we went to our Orthodontist's appointment for Gina's Facemask installation.



We praise God because He helped Gina endure.



And we worship Him for a daughter like her, who, despite quietly shedding tears while on the Orthodontist's chair, can already smile now with her Facemask Therapy and Palatal Expansion appliance.



Most of our friends think Gina's condition is dental. It is NOT. There is nothing wrong with her teeth. Hers is a genetic, maxillary deficiency (jawbone problem), which needs to be corrected while she is still young, and before pubertal growth spurts happen.



More or less a total of 3-4 years are needed to complete the entire intervention process. This Facemask therapy is only the 1st of a series of treatment phases our daughter needs to undergo...



I am proud of my Dancing Queen... I thank God for giving us the wisdom to choose which Orthodontist to go. And I am grateful to family, friends, and co-workers who prayed with us, and for those who helped make things easier and less of a burden -- emotionally, and even financially. God knows who you are...



This evening after supper, Gina and I prepared for our first night of a detailed process of re-installing the Facemask. Before every meal, the appliance has to be removed. And since supper has ended, it had to be back on...



First, I Superflossed (a special kind of orthodontic floss with a dental floss threader) her fixed palate appliance (cemented in her upper). There are 3 wires underneath her upper jaw that need to be flossed well. Our Orthodontist taught me, but I wish my fingers and hands were smaller because I only reached 2 wires... So I asked Gina to brush really extra well. I know however, that in the next days, skill and ease of using my hands will set in. I requested DH to buy me an orthodontic plier-type of tool to help me engage the bands in her fixed mouth appliance. It helped a lot that she was lying down with her head lower than her body.



Next was putting on a fresh pair of tiny orthodontic bands on both sides of her mouth. The fixed appliance inside her mouth had 2 "band holders", but again, my fingers are too stubby for her little mouth. It helped that Gina held her upper lip out of the way. I think the plier-type of orthodontic tool am wishing for cannot wait until Christmas, I reminded DH.



After that, I comforted myself with the truth that all will be well with God's mighty help. He has helped us get through this after months of asking, searching, and waiting for what our steps should be. And He has directed everything from day one... With this we continue to ask for prayers, for patience, for strength, as we give back our gratefulness for His generous blessings from above. He has provided, and His provisions are timely and never-ending. We also pray that DH and I would consistently become good stewards to the children He has entrusted us with.

And for our little Dancing Queen, we pray good, sunshiny days, and sweet, comforting dreams...



"...But I will restore you to health
and heal your wounds,"
declares the LORD...
Jeremiah 30:17

Homeschooling Is In The House

Yes, it is!

I took photos of the materials Gina and I were working with everyday. The regular school that Gina attends has blessed us by allowing her to bring home the books she uses in school; plus, they added some more to it by sending home several exercise drills in Math and English on a weekly basis.

Although these may not really be classified as homeschooling books or materials, they are a great, big help in our learning. It is a blessing too that I am a teacher by profession, but I always have to make sure that Gina's learning is experiential.

This is a summary of how our day goes on a daily basis. Note that Gina is in 2nd grade, but her academic books, except the one in Filipino, are for 3rd graders --

To start, these are what Gina uses for Devotions everyday. I am happy that she has developed a love for reading, studying (and yes, applying) of God's Word everyday...



And then we do English first because it is the easiest subject for Gina...



Then Math goes next because Gina is good in it. So good too, that she didn't take after me!



This is Gina's Filipino worktext. Filipino is the subject I teach in freshman highschool. Though many Filipinos dislike this subject due to the complexities of its grammatical and literary style, I nevertheless love it, and adore this subject. I hope my kids will do too, even if I must admit, they are also having a rather difficult time understanding some words. Gina is improving everyday, and because DH and I agreed we should talk to our children in Filipino during certain times of the day so that they will have a better grasp of it as they mature...



This Science book was also used by Migs when he was in Grade 3. It's a very good one published by Pearson. Gina is enjoying Science as much as I do, but I have to do advance readings everyday to explain many concepts to her. The Science book is presented as a worktext too, but since the answers require a lot of space, Gina puts her answers in a notebook she designed herself.



And of course, here is the girl of the moment in serious action -- studying and answering, and learning at home ...



My heart is singing for joy this morning.
A miracle has happened!
The light of understanding
has shone upon my little pupil's mind,
and behold, all things are changed.
Anne Sullivan

* * * *

I thank God for this blessed opportunity to be able to homeschool Gina while she needs to complete more than 14 hours a day in three months of wearing a Facemask and Palatal Expansion appliance to correct a jawbone problem. God is a never-changing, gracious God; He allowed no obstacle to cross our way in the plans we laid-out regarding our daughter's health concerns. Even if this first crucial three months is just a part of a four-year intervention/treatment, we are hopeful that by His grace and mercy, He will speed up Gina's healing and recovery.

Again, all we ask for are prayers from you. Aside from praying for a successful homeschooling experience, please pray for God's merciful hands to be on Gina as we prepare her for this orthopaedic appliance. In the next few days, treatment will begin, and she will be wearing the appliance on her face already. Please pray for comfort and patience, and for our Orthodontist's hands to be accurate and precise, so that Gina will not have a difficult moment while the appliance is being installed.

An Update About My Dancing Queen

Last month, as DH and I brought our children to the dental clinic for routine prophylaxis procedure, our Orthodontist requested that our eight year-old Dancing Queen, Gina undergoes what is called a Lateral Cephalometric X-ray. She wanted to rule out something which she saw in Gina's facial structure, because she noticed that Gina had an under bite and the x-ray would see if it was caused by her teeth or by the bone structure of her jaw.



As we feared, the x-ray showed that it is caused by a genetic condition called Class III Malocclusion. In lay man's explanation, her jaw bone is growing with a serious under bite, causing her chin/jaw bone to protrude and point downwards, thus also causing her upper mouth/upper teeth area to move backwards as well. Our Orthodontist explained that there are three classes or levels to measure severity, and Gina falls under the Class III level, which is the most difficult and longest to treat.



To correct the misalignment, Gina will have to wear an appliance called a Face Mask and Palatal Expansion for a minimum of 14 hours a day for three consecutive months, after which she will be assessed via x-ray again. With this intervention and God's merciful help, and if her jaw should show improvement, she will just have to wear the appliance, only in the evenings for nine months more.



After a year and another assessment following the first phase of intervention mentioned above, Gina will wear another new appliance for the next two years or so (total of three to four years intervention). This new appliance, thankfully, will be worn inside her mouth, and would give her less discomfort and more flexibility to go out and move around.

DH and I prefer to do this intervention now as the doctor highly advised -- before Gina reaches menstrual age, and because according to our specialist, rapid growth spurts in bone structure would occur and it will be more difficult to treat Gina's condition by then, which may eventually even require surgery when she is older.

I need to closely supervise and care for our daughter properly. We were advised that the bands that would pull Gina's jaw/teeth will have to be removed while eating, and be worn back again after meals, and will have to be replaced everyday with a fresh new one. Gina will definitely need my assistance to do this.

Since we have the blessing of Gina's regular school to temporarily homeschool her starting the 2nd semester, we are doing just that since the month of November started. We are using her school books in our homeschooling time, and I divided the topics she would be learning everyday of the week. We are both enjoying our school time together, and are able to bond more while doing so. I also want to thank Gina's school for understanding our decision to homeschool her for a while. With God's help, and we are claiming it -- Gina will be back by next year or as soon as she completes the first crucial three months of intervention.

I attached the two photos above from Scribd.Com to help you understand better. I also encourage you to click on the pink highlights to better understand what we are going through. From hereon, I will be making updates about Gina, and post photos of her progress once she starts wearing the appliance.

God is good and we thank Him for His never-ending provisions. We know that He has seen this long before we all did, and trust that He will never leave us in this journey with Gina. Please stand with us in prayer as we continue to ask for our heavenly Father's healing, guidance and protection, especially for our dear daughter.

...and by his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:7

A 'Bookish' Afternoon

This morning I received two full crates of old books from my mother-in-law when she cleaned a room in her home full of various kinds of pocket books. She really knows the things I like.

As usual, when Yani brought the two crates here, my eyes not only feasted on what I saw, but my senses started to work their way into checking all the titles I like. The saying, "One man's trash is another's treasure" works well for me when it comes to books...

I naturally kept the classics that I don't have -- classical authors (like English poets, for instance) whose works I studied as an English Creative Writing student in the academe, and because I know that books like so would help my children love the literary classics too, when they are ready for bigger words someday...



I pulled aside some detective or super sleuth books of Agatha Christie, Alfred Hitchcock and Perry Mason. I like reading them, and get a thrill as I try to solve mysteries alongside the heroes in their stories...



There were several spiritual and inspirational books also, like the life of the apostle Luke, and works of Og Mandino and others...



Lastly, I pulled out some love stories, which I would find time to read one of these days. I would like to venture into some light reading in my spare time when I am not teaching in school...



Now this picture shows Gina and DH reading a book they've gotten their hands on while I was busy inspecting my loot. Notice what each one is holding, and where one's hand is into while reading along... :D



What we become depends on what we read
after all of the professors have finished with us.
The greatest university of all is a collection of books.
Thomas Carlyle

Nutracker In The Malls

Gina's Ballet school is coming out with a mall show/tour this November and December. The more advanced and senior ballerinas from Steps Dance Studio will be dancing in this event. Excerpts from the famous Tchaikovsky ballet “The Nutcracker,” and “Pinoy Christmas,” a song-and-dance depiction of my country’s most loved holiday traditions, will be showcased.

On the way to her Ballet school this week, I took a shot of the huge billboard poster on the road...



We are excited to watch. And praying that one day, our little Dancing Queen will dance this beautiful Ballet classic too.

It is of course possible to dance a prayer.
Terri Guillemets

Milkshake Turns 1 Year Old!

Woohoo! Our little lovable Maltese puppy is now a DOG. Today she turns 1 year old. Here she is with our rolling red gift ---



Yep, we gave her a red ball that can hold little treats inside for her to let out and eat. But first she has to learn how to solve the puzzle of being able to roll the ball to get them out!

Her name is Milkshake, and she is the youngest member of our family. My kids and DH loooove her to bits. So do I. She makes our lives less stressful and funnier everyday. If you want to read and see more of Milkshake, hop on to the blog site of my daughter, Dancing Queen. I thank God for allowing a dog like Milkshake to come into our lives. :)

A house is not a home until it has a dog.
Gerald Durrell