Forgive us Father as we have forgiven those...

I know all Christians are familiar with that verse. In case you have forgotten, its in the Lord's Prayer: ...and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us...

I have been struggling with that verse since Easter Sunday, when my house was robbed by four armed young men. I look back at that day and wonder where we had gone wrong. Everything was the same careful routine we had cultivated for over five years - we closed the gate early, ready for lock up any time. We were all in before 6p.m. so that there would be no case of latecoming, and we were having supper.

Then four guys burst into our compound and hold a gun to my mother's head. After almost two hours, they left, but not empty - handed. They went with four laptops, and six phones (everyone seemed to have two - my mum had three, but they dropped the last one at the gate). They locked us up in the library, but quick - thinking made me insist that my brother remove the key to the second door, and hide it, so they would think we were helpless. They carted away about twelve thousand naira, too small by their standards, but they believed there was more in the house - dollars, pounds, even euros, but there was nothing. It pissed them off - they beat my mum mercilessly.

Right now, I do not think I can forgive those men, who walked into my house, without masks and expect us not to remember their faces from that night.

I cannot talk of forgiving them for beating my mum so hard, for money she didn't have.

I cannot forgive them for taking my official laptop and putting me in a compromising situation - I don't know if the company will retain me now that I owe them more than my annual salary times three.

I cannot forgive them for taking from us when we actually were trying to save money.But i expect that everyone that has been robbed feels like I do.

Now everytime I pray in the morning, and I get to that part, the words die in my mouth - how am I supposed to overcome the anger? I had to take my mum to the hospital, and even till now, everytime we hear a noise, she jumps. Its so sad, I really do not know how to get out of this glitch.
ANYONE OUT THERE? HOW DO YOU LEARN TO FORGIVE THESE KIND OF PEOPLE? I really need help.

CANCER UPDATE FROM JOHN HOPKINS HOSPITAL , U S - PLEASE READ

1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave. Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well. Dioxin chemicals causes cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic.
Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital , was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin.
So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.
Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.
This is an article that should be sent to anyone important in your life.

Updates from Johns Hopkins Medical Center

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

3. When the person's immune syste m is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspar tame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soya milk cancer cells are being starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines becomes putrified and leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Florssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

Work! Work! Work!

Everyday, I wake up tired...
I sleepwalk through my morning routine - brush my teeth, bath, dress up, grab my laptop bag, and go out on the road. Most times the day hasn't even begun to dawn yet. I grab an okada, to the major busstop, then enter a danfo bus, or most times, an 'agege bread' bus - those ones that have raised roofs inside, that make you think that they were constructed only for tall, long people.

I finally 'wake up' around 8.00 am, and its a good thing because work starts at 9.00. I leave by 6.00pm, and take another okada to another major bus park to board the convenient means of transport that our governor has so kindly disrupted our lives to provide - BRT. I play sudoku on my phone throughout the bus ride (I admit, sometimes I doze off, but I always try to get a window seat so I can at least lean on the sill). Then I take another okada to my home. Most times I get home by 8.30pm, but I could be early and arrive at 7.45pm.

After two months of this, I just keep wondering, How am I supposed to combine this with motherhood and wifehood?

My friends don't even know I'm back in Lagos. And don't get me started on the fact that Wednesday is the most hectic for me. Even when I got typhoid, and malaria, I still struggled to go to work. Then last week I got 'bruised inner thighs' - that is the best that I can translate 'ibotan' o! Y'all please help me out.

I was off everything - I couldn't even walk properly. It turned to wounds and was really serious, had to get medication, and bear my brother's teasing that I'd gotten fat. We both knew it wasn't true - the scale is in his room, and he's the one that reads the dial when I'm standing on it.

But through it all - I still went to work. I don't need to think too far - I enjoy the job, but I'm going to need help balancing everything. Got any therapy in mind, anyone? IT will be sorely appreciated!

So, here I am, updating my blog at 4.00 am in the morning.
There has to be a crack in the wall somewhere!