This is a post from our new website, The Great Brain Saga, as we try to help our daughter recover from a brain injury, or is it a brain tumor?? We are focusing all of our efforts on raising enough money to take her for some expensive testing, not covered by insurance. We welcome your ideas, help, prayers, and every small donation, should the Lord lead you to!

We headed out to Dick’s Sporting Goods yesterday, with a coupon and a need to buy heaver weights. We have been lifting weights at home since February, when Phyllis N, a personal trainer in our Sunday school class, generously taught us how to do it! Phyllis had us start slow, with smaller weights, and begin to learn form and gain strength. Quietly, over the last few months, we have all been steadily increasing weights. Slow and steady wins the race! Each time we up our weights - it is a huge triumph! Our whole family does it - we are absolutely WILD about strength training and wish we would have known how fantastic and STRONG it made us feel, a long time ago! Just thankful we are doing it now, and highly encourage all of YOU to try it!

Emily and I had been looking at a Bosu Ball, which retails for $109. The Bosu Ball is fantastic for developing core strength and BALANCE. Since Emily is struggling with balance, we were interested. We had also seen a segment with Bob Harper (from the Biggest Loser) where he stood on a Bosu Ball, on one leg and tossed a ball back and forth, answering questions for someone. He said not only does this develop core strength, but it keeps the brain fit. As we watched, it hit us like a ton of bricks that what he was doing was involving all of these muscle groups, while throwing a ball from right to left, crossing the midline, and answering questions - that is a DYNAMIC brain exercise! We wanted a Bosu Ball, but it was out of budget and HUGE (we have a small house).

While we were poking around the back section of the store, we saw a CLEARANCE table. Who doesn’t like a bargain? We are rank amateurs in the fitness department, but learning constantly and love experimenting with new things. We tend to research and try to use a few criteria when we evaluate stuff: Will we use it? Is it useful and practical for our fitness goals now, in the future or when we travel? Can we store it easily in LIMITED space? Can the whole family use it? Is it junk? Will it end up in a garage sale?

Well, at the top of the red tags, we saw two items that might take the place of the Bosu Ball, and slide under the couch, for only $9.99 each! SCORE! The first was a GoFit Core Stability Disk, which helps with balance, core strength and exercises glutes, legs and abdominals - what is not to love there? One of the disks was out of the package, so we stood on it. Perfect - this is a low tech, easily storable substitution for the Bosu Ball, at 1/11th of the price! Emily could learn to balance, then balance on one leg, then add tossing the ball from hand to hand while balancing, then questions! Ideal! All GoFit items come with a DVD that teaches you how to safely exercise for maximum effectiveness on each one, generally with beginner to advanced tips. We will pay attention to the form/technique, and add brain exercises in as they are mastered!

Below the Stability Disks, we saw another intriguing product, a Core Wobble and Balance Board. It reminded me of an old wooden surf board, cut into a round circle - it just seemed ideal for surfers! This board will work the same core muscles, help with balance, strength, stress (we are supposed to cut stress out of Emily’s life) and more. A second, slightly different tool, that we can work brain exercises into as well! This will be phase two, after she gets the easier Stability Disk mastered! Best of all, both GoFit pieces help reduce pain! Great solutions for The Great Brain Saga!

When you have nowhere else to turn, you design your own rehabilitative program! Read more at The Great Brain Saga! We are NOT giving up! End of story!

Praising the Lord for great deals, a fantastic coupon, cash from a great used book sale, and for showing us these tools and lighting up my brain with possibilities!

Is your sunscreen doing the job you want it to do, or something else? A recent study is telling us that many of the sunscreens we slather on so keenly all summer, are actually accelerating cancer rates, rather than protecting us.

Caveat emptor - buyer beware - what is supposed to be keeping you safe, might just be making it worse!

We love the Amen Clinics and find Dr. Amen to be one of the preimminent brain researchers in the world! When Dr. Amen speaks, we listen!

Here is a fantastic “Brain Healthy Shopping List” culled from his many years of research! Great stuff - load your family up with these items, instead of the fake food alternatives!  Benefit your brain by what you eat!

Can probably wait….forever!

Yeah!

Especially good news for the one who would really like to get to the end of her life, without having had surgery!

Thank you so much for your prayers. It was a tough week.

Developing….

Well. Life felt so good for 9 simple days.

At an appointment with a specialist yesterday, I was given the stunning news that I am exhibiting neurological symptoms consistent with “spinal cord compression.” Cure. Neurosurgeon and brain/neck surgery.

MRI scheduled for Friday at 8am (a 2 hour drive to get there).

This really violates my #1 health principle, to never have surgery! I will report later…for  now….prayer….more appointments….waiting for answers….then more appointments, tests and 2nd, 3rd and 4th opinions.

Please pray that the MRI shows all clear, or that a non surgical alternative will open up, or that the Lord will heal me! I truly appreciate your prayers.

This is a terrific natural antibiotic recipe that I just got from a loop I am on! This is similar to what another American missionary to Poland uses each winter!

GARLIC WHITE SALSA RECIPE_/ //by// Valorie /__

 Nature’s Anti-biotic Food

•  1/3 cup raw Garlic cloves
•  1/3 cup raw White Onion
•  1/3 cup raw Horseradish
•  1/3 cup raw Ginger Root
•  1/4 to 1 Habanero Hot Pepper* *(more if you like)
•  1/2+ cup raw Apple Cider Vinegar (use an organic one)

Peel garlic cloves and put them in a blender. Peel and cut onion in half and then into quarters and toss into blender. Wash horseradish and ginger root and cut 1/4 inch circles and place in blender. Toss in the hot habenero pepper and pour the apple cider vinegar over the blender contents and blend to a thick applesauce consistency. Add more apple cider vinegar if needed to blend. Should your Salsa end up too watery, then strain off some of the vinegar and use it on a salad. Again: *_Do not allow this mixture to contact Silver or it will be  green._* Store in a pint or quart jar. Refrigeration is not required but you can keep it in the fridge if you prefer it cold.

Eat as a condiment or dip. A number of people have told me they really like to use it as a salad dressing, or instead of using horseradish with their roasts.

While I have been waiting on results for my thyroid scan, I have been researching natural cancer treatments. I am not a chemotherapy, radiation, surgery kind of girl. I know several people who have had their thyroids removed, and that just did not seem like something exciting to me.

A friend sent this today, Inexpensive Cancer Treatments. What a great website, well worth reading and praying through if you or a loved one are facing cancer. I have read the work of many of these people, and it is great to have them all in one place! And the Iodoral is in there, which helps with cancer treatment. Hmmm!

Thyroid scan results - NO CANCER! Woo hooo! Instead, I have a good old fashioned goiter. Doesn’t that sound awful? After doing some research, decided to go back on Iodoral. Iodoral is High Potency Iodine/Potassium Iodide Supplement.

• Total 12.5 mgs of Iodine/Iodide
• Provides 5mgs of Iodine.
• Contains 7.5 mgs of Iodide (as potassium salt)
• Provides thyroid support.
• To prevent gastric irritation, the iodine/iodide preparation was absorbed unto a colloidal silica excipient.

I had taken Iodoral for about a year, and found it a miracle pill. It gave me energy, I felt alive again, fog lifted, and it literally made me feel like I could accomplish anything! But, with all of the financial difficulties, it was too pricey ($50 a week for food, supplements were tough in that budget) and I just never got more.

I have a few Iodoral pills left, so took one today. I feel so much less CHOKED. Since the thyroid scan I have literally felt like someone was choking me to death, especially when I drive (and the seatbelt is 5-8 inches below my thyroid).

Have ordered it here and been impressed with the customer service!

Well. I simply CANNOT go to bed without brushing my teeth. It is not a possibility. Ever.

We are staying in the world’s most gorgeous bed and breakfast (a blessing from the Lord, really!) an unbelievable mansion in Chattanooga, and we are literally being spoiled rotten. Until I realize I have no toothpaste, and desperately begin calling downstairs to try and get some. But the evening gentleman has left, and the overnight house person is not answering the phone.

I would even be willing to use toxic toothpaste - this is an emergency.

So I put my very elegant B&B robe on that was on my enormous turned down bed (wasn’t going to make them wash it) and I quietly glided down the 120 year old lushly carpeted steps down to the check in lobby, to beg for toothpaste. Not a soul in sight.

But some really, really good banana blueberry cake. But I digress!

So I came back up and ravaged my overnight bag. Three brand new tubes of Jason’s toothpaste are tucked under my sink RIGHT NOW. None are in my bag. Or Emily’s.

So - what does any self respecting, creative, prudent woman do???? Makes her own! I have tea tree oil and coconut oil - that will work. So I put a few drops of tea tree oil on my toothbrush. Then some coconut oil, then more tea tree and scrubbed away.

Not necessarily the flavor I was looking for - but it worked! Sleep! At last!

The moral of the story. If you bring VCO and tea tree oil, you can fix just about anything on the road!

As summer goes on, I have really been wanting to work out - but am just not in the mood after another ‘thyroid episode’ where I packed more weight on, lost a bunch of hair, cut 4 inches off what was left and have not been able to control body temps, I just gave up. This is 100% not me - a total anomaly.

After 5 years of working on this whole thyroid thing, after 5 or 6 of these thyroid episodes, I gave up!

So, have been asking the Lord to help me. How do I fix this and get on with life, have energy and get this site launched? While doing some research, I keep coming across the idea of short bursts of super intensive training - like sprinters do. Today, came across a link to a 4 minute workout, billed as The World’s Fastest Workout Video!!! Wow!

We also watched this video on a Tabata workout and Emily and I grabbed cans and did it with her. WOW! It is a tremendous workout, and it says it will burn for 24 to 36 hours.

I am going to go research Tabata.