No Poo On the Carport

Life on a farm is never boring to say the least.  Life on a farm while raising and homeschooling 6 children is even more exciting. Add to the mix free range chickens that aren't satisfied with 2 acres to roam and scratch in, and life becomes even more interesting!

Who doesn't love farm fresh eggs from happy healthy chickens who have all the room to roam that they need?  And who could resist throwing in a picture of the cutest little egg gathering farm hands ever?!

Recently I achieved a tiny little victory that to some may seem, well...insignificant, but to me it was like conquering Mt Everest.  Let me explain....We've worked hard to create a self - sustainable life and part of that is raising free-range chickens.  That really may not seem like a big deal but free-range chickens become very smart and they become very attached to the humans that care for them. If they can hang out with you....they're gonna!  (I know that's not proper English but hey, I'm from Arkansaw!)  

Our chickens have had unlimited access to literally hundreds of acres to forage for food and do you know where they camped out?!  Our carport!  Our front door has glass that comes all the way down and they would come right up to it and just watch us. While they were watching us, no doubt waiting for us to exit the door with the scrap bucket in tow, they would poop!  Right there!  On the concrete right outside our front door!  SERIOUSLY????!!!!!!!  (Thank you Sheba for keeping the hens chased off...NOT!)

And not only that but then they had the nerve to roost on my children's play equipment!  Too many times have I said, "no baby you can't play on that. The chickens are roosting there and it's all poopy"  :-/

Oh but the determination has hit me to conquer this giant in my land!  So I went to Walmart and purchased a $20 fish dip net and came home with a mission....to catch every single chicken and clip her wings and put her in the pen for good!  Now mind you some of these hens had never been caught and were quite wild and very fast.  I took 4 of my 6 children and we headed out to get the job done!  Dear chickie on this side of the fence....your days of freedom are over! 

In hindsight I honestly wish I had filmed the whole thing because I'm sure it was quite hysterical.  I have considered doing a full reenactment just to film it all. The first 5 minutes were terribly frustrating but I put my happy pants on and determined to have a good time. We chased and trimmed and laughed and chased some more...and we got all 50 something chickens (including the rooster) trimmed and locked up.  There were 2 that somehow managed to fly over the fence but we promptly caught them again and trimmed the other wing. 

Right after all the birds were secure in their pen we set out to clean off both the front and back porch.  For the first time in years there is NO POO ON THE CARPORT! It's been over a week now and not one bird escaped...until today.  One child (who shall remain un-named) walked out of the gate with an arm load of eggs (should have taken a bucket)... (am going to purchase a lovely little, um...not so little egg basket designated specifically for gathering eggs and will severely punish anyone who takes said basket to use it in their play!) and couldn't lock the gate but forgot to go back out and lock the gate and WHAAAAT!!!!!!!  Chickens roaming everywhere!  You see I had gone on a walk with my sweetheart....checking hay and all the critters big and small and came back to the gate wide open and chickens on the loose!  Wonderful....

Fortunately for un-named child, we were able to wrangle every single loose bird without any poo landing on the carport!  Really...don't judge. Life on a farm has brought about so many changes in my life, changes that would never have come any other way....and this, my friends, is part of life...my wonderful, beautiful, exciting, no poo on the carport life on a farm! 

Now have I ever told you about the time my hubby and I spent 6 hours one day chasing loose cows all over our neighborhood? Well...that's another story! 

***UPDATE: As of now, Dec. 24, 2014, only 1 more chicken escaped.  We quickly caught her with that awesome dip net, clipped her other wing and set her back in the pen.  The little chickies have discovered they can go in and out of the wire...but soon they will be too big for that and they will have their wings clipped as well!!!!

***UPDATE #2:  Guess what??!!  The little chickies have now discovered the carport....back to poo on the carport...lovely!

And folks say farm life is dull...

Moments With Mother Culture®: Charlotte Mason's Method of Narration

I have read Karen Andreola's work for many years now.  She has been such an outstanding advocate for the "Gentle Art of Learning" always pointing to the teachings and writings of Charlotte Mason.  

As a young mother and brand new homeschooler, I would read Karen's book, "A Charlotte Mason Companion", over and over again to get that "gentle" feel of education as a lifestyle and empty my mind of the hum drum way of "doing school" that I grew up in.  I've ebbed and flowed in the Charlotte Mason method for many years...and now with a 15 year old, 11, 9, 7, 5, and 2 year old, I am reconnecting with that gentle art of learning.

Take some time to pop over and visit Karen's blog, Moments With Mother Culture and be encouraged in your homeschooling journey.  And I couldn't recommend highly enough Karen's book, "A Charlotte Mason Companion".  It was my homeschool bible...or perhaps more appropriately my study guide to Charlotte Mason's Homeschool Series.  Those books still sit on my shelf, waiting patiently for the time when I pick them up again.   Sadly, I loaned my " C M Companion" to someone several years ago and it was never returned to me.....I'm thinking it may be time to reinvest.

This time of year is such a beautiful time to slow down and take a walk outside and so I thought how wonderfully appropriate to write about the gentle art of learning!  The past few days have been an exciting time here on the farm as some hens who were quite broody have successfully hatched out some little chickies...I think the last count was 11! 

My kids have been in awe as they've actually witnessed the chicks emerging from their shells...I can barely drag them away from the chicken coop.  They run in to tell me what color the next chick is and how one hen only had one chick so they moved some chicks from one nest to another and how Mrs. Cluck-a-Lot gladly accepted the new chicks.  They have embraced the gentle art of learning...and they don't even know what they're doing!

It's easy for me to stress because my kids have spent more time outside then in the house working on their school...but...well, it's just refreshing to have Moments With Mother Culture pop up in my inbox!  Go on over and read what Karen has to say.  You won't be disappointed!!

This one was named Coffee!  They all have names!!!

Anti-conformity

Cows are creatures of habit.  They find comfort in same, same, same.  They walk the same path wherever they go.  You'll see paths etched out in the landscape everywhere our cows are kept.  There's a path that leads to the gates, a path that leads to the hay feeders, a path that leads to the water trough. Even if they've been out of a pasture for several months...they always find their paths.  They walk the same path to the milk barn every morning. 

They have the same routine for getting into the milk stanchion and when they've been milked they back out...same thing every time.   Most of the time it's even the same order...Honey first, then Wendy, then Joy...unless Honey stops at the water trough for a drink and Wendy runs on in.  Joy is always last...timid little Joy.  This is her bring up the rear.  

They like to be milked at the same time every day...I should really do a better job at getting out there on time!  When I was on the ball and out there every day at the same time (3 kids ago) they would wait for me at the barn.  If I was even 5 minutes late they would start bawling at me as soon as they saw me.  It's kind of embarrassing to be fussed at by a bunch of cows...but they not only like their life same, same, same. ..they expect that of their leader as well!

We can be like that as Christians, can't we?  We find comfort in getting up and doing the same thing every day.  Read my Bible for so many minutes then spend time praying.  Go to Sunday school then worship in the sanctuary.   Listen to the preacher speak exactly 30 minutes and don't you dare start late or go over or somebody's gonna be bawling at you!  Eat lunch, take a Sunday nap then church again at 6...

I'm gonna rock the boat a little bit because God has been speaking to whomever will listen and you know what He's saying?  He keeps telling us He's doing a new thing.  Life as we know it is changing all around us.  We've been seeing it take place right before our eyes.  We can deny it all we want but the fact is that our world is crumbling.  It seems as though it's all been turned upside down...good made to look evil and evil made to look good.  Violence, chaos, sin abounding....but God...BUT GOD.  The spiritual realm has shifted.  In Hebrews He says He's going to shake up the world one last time before Jesus' return.  He's shaking our foundations until all that remains is that which cannot be shaken.

What do you have that you're holding on to?  What do you have that cannot be shaken?  Where is your focus?  Where is your place in God's Kingdom here on earth?  He has warriors strategically postitioned...just waiting for the call to come forth.  They are being trained right now as I type.  They have been called out and set apart.  They are in this world but not of this world.  They listen to the voice of their Master.  He's giving them the battle plan.  He's placed within them the battle cry and you know what it sounds like???  "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY!!"  "WORTHY IS THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN!"  "GLORY AND HONOR AND POWER BELONG TO EL SHADDAI!"  He says that our worship is our warfare...the enemy has no defense for it!  God doesn't want us to be creatures of habit.  He doesn't want us to be stuck in the old ways of "doing church" and "being a Christian".  He's breaking us out of the molds we've created in the name of religion and He's bringing together the Jew and the Gentile...ONE NEW MAN!  

My friend if you have found yourself in the middle of a storm and you feel as though your world is about to crumble to pieces, sound the battle cry!  Worship your God!  Stand with Him and He will war for you!  Worship the Lord for He is worthy to be praised.  Break out of the box you live in and be willing to do something new with the Lord!

I'm telling you, things are about to get exciting!  Hang on because if you think life has been a roller coaster....WOO HOO!!!!!  

Homeschool Schedules...Don't You Just Love Them??!!

If you're anything like me, you enjoy reading over other homeschool families' schedules...hoping to get a glimpse of their day in order to tweak your own.  I like to see how other families operate their normal daily tasks in addition to the homeschool routine...so I read and read and tweak and tweak.....

Not too long ago the Lord called us out.  He told us that we would eventually be in the ministry but hasn't given many specific details.  One thing I know for certain is that He told me to simplify our schooling schedule.  I have had to let go of a lot of curriculum...most of it never really got used anyway...but I develop bonds with my books and it's hard to let go....

I sat down and through much prayer I developed a school routine that will be (hopefully) a whole lot easier for us to follow and will allow time for ministry....

We'll be sticking with the 3 R's: Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic!  I gleaned a bit from the Robinson Curriculum and tweaked it to fit our lifestyle. 

Reading will be 2 hours per day split 1 hour in the am and 1 hour in the pm.  I will read aloud from The Mystery of History (we're on Vol. 3) to all kids...hoping that Baby Number 7 will be able to sit still long enough to be a part of it.  I may also require my older readers to read different lessons as well...just so I can stay on top of their reading skills!  We will discuss what we read then I will have my older readers read their Bibles quietly to themselves.  They will also be encouraged to keep a list of words they come across that they have trouble with or that they don't understand and they will be required to research them so that they can fully understand what it is they are reading.  This includes word studies with Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and our Webster's Dictionary from....well...it's the old one from a long time ago!!  There will also be required reading that will be assigned by myself.  These are books I've gotten off of the Robinson Curriculum reading list and others I've come across along the way.  This will be how all other subjects outside of the 3 R's will be covered.  Writing assignments will be derived from the required reading as well!  I will work with my younger readers teaching phonics or just listening to them read aloud.  I will also work with my pre-schooler just in learning his letter sounds and recognizing the letters.  If he is ready I will begin teaching him to write his letters...but I won't push him...we'll take the gentle approach!

Writing will be 1 hour daily.  I will have my older children fill out a writing assignment sheet where they choose the type of writing they will do each day for that week.  The younger students will have simple sentences to copy and/or dictation.  For my pre-schooler, again, I will start with simple letter writing if he's ready...

Math will also be 1 hour daily and will be done first thing while their minds are fresh!  We have an array of curriculum we use for each student, basically because we're using what we have.  I know that isn't very scientific or anything, but that's what we're doing.  One will be doing Teaching Textbooks, 2 will be doing Math U See, 1 will be doing Christian Liberty Press, and my pre-schooler will be doing simple counting, number recognition and some adding and subtracting with manipulatives.  They will all do flashcard drills and they will each have time where they do oral math with me.  I downloaded the Ray's Arithmetic Series for free off the internet and have printed out lessons for each grade.  I like the old books and encourage people to go snooping all over the internet to look for these old 19th century schoolbooks...they are great sources for word problems and I think they really exercise the brain!

So that's it.  Simple.  I will next work on a spreadsheet chore chart that will hopefully simplify chores and incorporate their lessons with it so they can mark off what they've accomplished.  It will be divided into sections of AM CHORES, MATH, READING, WRITING, PM CHORES.  Again...keeping with the "keep it simple this year" theme!!

I hope this helps someone just a little bit...especially if you are feeling overwhelmed and unprepared!  The world says that luck favors the prepared, but I say when we feel the least adequate for the job and terribly unprepared we can take a moment to completely empty ourselves of our own strength and allow Abba to fill us up...even in our homeschooling journey!  I believe by far that your worst day homeschooling is better than their best day at public school!  Enjoy the journey!!!

A Prophetic Word From Abba

Our Father is speaking to us, His children.  His heart is to have us turn to Him...to seek His heart.  Are you listening?  Do you feel Him tugging at your spirit?

The Lord is saying that I know your heart is for Me and you're doing the best you can in your own strength.  You have a passion for souls and winning souls to the kingdom but you're doing it in your own strength.  I want you to begin to do it in My strength.  Not by might, not by power but by My Spirit says the Lord.  You must allow My Spirit to work through you.  Surrender yourself to the Holy Spirit.   Allow Me to have My way and you will see a flood of the harvest like never before.  There will be great rejoicing for when My Spirit is allowed to flow freely, when My Spirit is allowed to connect and interact with My people unhindered, who can resist My Spirit?  There are some pastors who seek fame and glory, they seek to be acknowledged among their peers.  They want to be well known for the amount of people they have saved.  But there are some who's heart is genuinely for Me, who's heart is genuinely for the lost and their sole desire is to bring people into the kingdom...to save them from hell and see them with Me in eternity.  Do not concern yourselves with the ones who seek glory for themselves, for I will bring them low.  But encourage one another, uplift one another, share the burden.  Work together to bring in the harvest.  Awaken your spirits to the Living God.  I will use you when you surrender to Me, when you seek to do things My way, when you seek to let Me have My way.  Then I will see that your heart is truly for Me and I will work through you .  I will draw people by My Spirit and you will see a great harvest.  Now is the time for awakening, turn your eyes to Me.  Seek My Holy Spirit. Cry out to me and I will hear your cries.  I am just waiting for you to cry out to Me.

Hearing From The Lord

I haven't been reading much on Facebook and we don't watch the news anymore so I tend to miss a lot.  It's time for harvesting and canning and I'm consumed in my own little world.  While we are out chasing cows all over the woods because someone (finger pointing at myself) forgot to plug in the electric fence and hunting for a lid for my water bath canner that someone (not naming names) used as a shield outside while he was playing... the world is in turmoil.  Most recently, there's a lot going around about Robin Williams and his tragic death.  Some people are using it as a platform to "preach" and others are just mourning the loss of a Hollywood funny man.  We criticize the "preachers"...we criticize the mourners...critical, critical, critical!  People everywhere are so quick to criticize...don't judge this or don't judge that.  Don't you see what is happening?  Have you heard what Abba is getting ready to do?  Are you getting caught up in all the distraction or are your eyes fixed on Him??

 

 Right now we are in a crucial time...things are falling down all around us.  Christian persecution, government corruption, rampant immorality....our world...our nation seems to be turning upside down.  BUT GOD!!!!!  God is moving in a mighty way!  He's been speaking through His prophets that He's about to pour out His Spirit on us like never before!  We've been hearing it for a while now, but the time is drawing so close.  The devil knows what Abba is about to do...that's what all this junk is about.  He knows that if you're looking at the waves you're not looking at the One who walks on the waves!  If you're looking at the storm, you're not looking at the One who calms the storm!!

 

Yesterday Darrell and I were praying and asking Abba about all of this nonsense and this is what He shared with us:

 

"People are saying how can God let all this be happening? How can God let the Christians be killed and everything that's going on in Iraq....the caos that's in the American government....people are saying where's God?  Why is God letting all this happen?  And God's response is where are My worshippers?  You want Me to swoop down and fix everything but your heart is not for me.  You want to continue on in your life, having fun, doing things...not worshipping, not focusing on Me...you want to close your eyes to these evil things.  You want to ask Me where I am but you can barely whisper a prayer for these people.  There are some praying, there are some worshipping, there are some who see what's happening.  There are some who see what I'm doing.  But there are some who are sleep walking.  You talk as though you're awake.  You look like you're awake, but your spirit is asleep.  Why all the destruction, you ask.  Why all the earthquakes?  It's because for all these years I've used the least severe means possible and you still won't listen to Me.  I've called you and called you and called to you repeatedly but you have hardened your hearts.  The earth groans for justice.  My creation cries out to me.  But the ones I have created in My image, they have hardened their hearts against Me.  So I am sending flood, I am sending famine, I am sending earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados... The things that you've seen so far...these are the least severe measures I've used.  So what I am sending now you have never seen the likes of.  Those who hear Me now, those who are focused on Me, those who are lifting their eyes for the outpouring of My Spirit, those will be spared.  And when the people are broken and they have no hope, My shining ones will rise out of the ashes and you will preach and you will prophesy.  You will walk in My favor.  You will bring healing to these people and they will listen because then they will be ready to hear.  So pray now.  Lift your eyes to Me now.  Don't be caught in this destruction.  I am sending you this warning because I don't want you to be caught in this destruction.  But even now I know that your heart is hardened against Me.  Don't you see that I weep for you?  Don't you know that My heart burns for you?  I sent My Son to die on a cross for you and He went because He loves you.  He loves you above His own self.  He suffered so much for you.  He bore all of it for you.  And you harden your heart against it all.  I stand here with My arms wide open just waiting for you to walk into My arms.  I call you My beloved.  Even as you stand with your arms crossed and your chin braced and your heart hardened I still call you My beloved.  And it's because I love you...because I love you I am sending this destruction.  Because I love you...to turn your heart back to Me.  I have legions of angels that stand at the ready to protect you.  Just cry out to Me.  Cry out to Me.  For I hear your voices, I hear your cries...cry out to Me."

Saying Good-bye

Yesterday marked the end of an era.  Yesterday we loaded our herd bull, Billy Burger and his son Hurricane Isaac, and took them to the livestock auction.  Ok, so 6 and a half years doesn't really make an era, but for Number 5 that's a lifetime ...and bless her heart, she had the hardest time of all of us letting him go.  I don't really understand why she was so upset.  I mean it's not like he was a pet, but he's been with us her entire life and now her life on the farm will never be the same.

  It didn't hit her until we began our drive home.  She wasn't concerned with the loading of the bulls or the long drive to the auction.  She was excited that she got to ride with Daddy in his truck while Mommy followed behind in the van.  She was excited to see all the livestock running through and disappointed that we could not stay long enough to watch Billy Burger run through.  No one mentioned his life here on the farm....not the fact that he was born just 2 weeks after that precious little girl.  No one remembered how he demolished their swing-set and ate parts of the blue padding from the old trampoline.   No one talked about how he chased Daddy one time while he was mowing or how he used to get all excited and try to fight the hay bales while we were trying to load them into the hay feeders.  We all just knew that it was time for him to go.  We've lost a few cows due to milk fever and acidosis and even sold a few so the majority of cows we have here are his daughters.  The excitement of looking for a new, younger bull just isn't enough to soften the pain of saying goodbye.   Billy Burger was part of our family in a small way.  And I think, especially for little Number 5, it all hit home when we hit the freeway behind our empty stock trailer.  Then all the time with Billy Burger here came flooding over her as she realized she would never see him again.  We're all a little sad...my heart hurts a little too.  But life on a farm, as wonderful and beautiful and amazing as it is, can sometimes bring a little heart break.  So Billy Burger...wherever you are....thank you. 

Thank you for 6 years, for fun times, and for 6 beautiful heifers that we get to see little glimpses of you in.  We will miss you and it really won't be the same here without you.....

Years and Tears

It's almost 5 am and I've been awake since 3.  I'll barely lay my head on my pillow and it'll be time to start the day.  I've been wrestling with a soft, squishy little chunk of a man-child and my eyes are getting so heavy.  My cheeks, just minutes ago wet from sweet, slobbery kisses are now wet with tears as I think about how quickly the years have rolled by.   This little baby boy who I carried in my womb not too long ago is now a year and a half.   He still wakes several times in the night and so sleep,  once a necessity, is now a luxury.  But that's ok.   For now I'll take these precious times of nursing and cuddling and wrestling and shooshing because I know that all too soon these days will be gone...and the tears flow again.

I have learned to cherish the days of sleepless nights and stains on my clothes.  A year may be a long time if you're moving a pile of rocks from one place to another; but a year in the life of a baby is way too fast.

We didn't quite get 2 years with our first child.  He was taken from us much too soon.  This year...this month in fact...Our sweet firstborn would have been 19 years old!  I'd give anything if I could hold him one more time and run my fingers through his curly red hair.  Oh but the blessing of eternity!  I wonder if it would be ok if I spent the first few years in heaven just holding my boy...

As I consider each child and how the years have flown by so quickly, I think of my own precious mama and how she must long for the days when she was a young mama and the pitter patter of little feet filled her house as my sister would leave her own bed and come crawl into my crib...and the tears flow again as I realize that one day that will be me.  One day my own house will be quiet and I will think back on the time when it was filled with the sound of children playing and laughing. It will be clean and everything will be in its place...and all my little arrows will have left my quiver. 

So for now I'll deal with the messy house filled with noises and smells and I'll cherish every second of it.  I'll wake up 7 times a night if I have to and hold my sweet baby boy.   Sleep will find me eventually....maybe...

I Am Not a Doctor!

A lot of people ask my advice when it comes to natural remedies.  It's an honor for me to be able to answer questions and help someone else get a little further down the road of natural medicine.  There are so many things that I still don't know...but I don't mind sharing the few things I do know.  There are tons of people out there who've been doing this a lot longer than we have.  I love it when new people discover the beauty of natural healing.  It really excites me!  But.... you know there's almost always a but...I feel the need to put out a disclaimer. So here's my list of health advice disclaimers:

 

1.  I am not a medically trained professional.  I have not taken any specialized classes for anything.  Everything I know has come from years of reading, researching, questioning, more reading and the application of common sense.  I also try my best to pay close attention to the Holy Spirit.  Since it was God who called us into this lifestyle, He is who I go to first for advice on how to treat any ailment.  He's the one who created our bodies, I figure He's the best source to go to when there's a problem.

 

2.  You have to think logically.  I will be the first to admit this is probably my biggest weakness.  I am not known for my logical thinking skills. As a matter of fact, I am the world's biggest emotional thinker. I would love to say it's a woman thing, but unfortunately I know a lot of women who are totally logical and that seriously bums me out!  But when you are dealing with sickness or injuries big and small, you have to always remain calm.  Please believe me when I say I understand when a child is sick or in pain how hard it is to see them suffer, but we have to remember that the quick fix isn't always the best.  Now again, I'm not a doctor so if, heaven forbid, your child somehow slices an artery, don't wait around thinking that cayenne pepper is going to stop the bleeding.  Or if they break a bone, don't think it's going to magically set itself.  You must take each situation as it comes and always evaluate, with the help of the Holy Spirit, how best to take care of yourself or you loved one.

 

3.  You have to change more than just your medicine.  Oh man...this is gonna be hard!  In some ways, yes.  You will be forced into a change in the way you live.  But I promise you will feel soooo much better overall.  I don't want to go overboard here so I will be brief in this.  Our food choices are not what they used to be.  Food is grown differently now than it was 50 years ago.  The nutritional value isn't there thanks to all the scientific advances in GMOs and chemicals we put in and on our food.  You will have to forgo convenience for the sake of nutrition and wellness.  I'm not a food nazi.  We still have junk in our pantry.  But it isn't our main food source.  We don't eat instant mashed potatoes and we don't eat Hamburger Helper.  No frozen dinners...but I did buy some organic frozen spring rolls the other day at the grocery store!!!  Work to reduce your toxic load.  Get rid of the chemicals you use to clean with...I know...I'm talking crazy!  But the truth is you don't have to disinfect EVERYTHING.  Some bacteria is good.  Clean your house with plain old soap and water or if you feel like you need some disinfecting... like in the case of rampant illness making it's way through your 6 kids...use essential oils.  Young Living has an excellent cleaning product with their popular oil blend Thieves.  It smells fantastic, by the way!!!  Change your toothpaste...again Young Living and their Thieves...I love the Dentarome Plus toothpaste.  But really any toothpaste without flouride would be good...for starters.  Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps.  If you can handle a big jump, then by all means, GO FOR IT!!!  But if you tend to get overwhelmed, just do little things here and there that liberate your senses...And it will seriously liberate your senses.  I have been obsessed with smells for as long as I can remember.  I used to spray lysol, Febreeze, Glade air freshner...then they came out with Plug Ins!!!!  Don't even get me started on Bath and Body Works!!! I always had no less than 6 bottles of lotion at a time!!! But when we quit all the chemicals and started using essential oils my nose literally woke up!  I can smell things from a mile away!   These are just a few examples of things you can change that will make a difference in your health.

 

4.  Health and healing is a journey, not a destination.  This is my hubby's favorite saying when it comes to natural healing and probably is the most least understood.  We think that natural healing is supposed to be instant.  God is the miracle worker...not herbs or oils.  There are those rare occaisions that we feel better instantly...for example...Number 5 complained that her ear was hurting.  I looked with my otoscope (best investment EVER!!) and her ear was red.  An hour later she was crying...I looked again and her eardrum was completely swollen.  Ten minutes after that she was writhing and kicking in pain.  I tried several oils and nothing helped.  I got online and did some quick reading and got 3 cloves of garlic and a slice of onion (both organic).  I warmed some grapeseed oil and crushed the garlic and onion in the oil and simmered for just a few minutes.  As soon as it was cool enough to put in her ear, I dropped some in.  Instantly, she settled down, stopped crying and kicking, and went to sleep in my lap.  It wasn't an instant healing, but the pain went away instantly.  The next day her eardrum was slightly swollen and red but she never complained again.   Instant relief...not instant healing.

 

5.  What works for me may not work for you.  Just because oils didn't work in my kid's ear, does not mean they wouldn't work in yours.  They have worked in other situations where people had severe ear infections.  Our bodies are all different and so it sometimes takes some experimenting to figure out what exactly you need to do.  It can even vary within your own family.  Just like you may not be able to teach every child in your family in the same way, or discipline in the same way...you may not be able to use the same remedy for every child.  You have to be willing to fail without giving up.  And you have to continue to figure things out...remember the journey not a destination thing???  Which leads me to my last disclaimer...

 

6. You must be willing to take your health and your family's health into your own hands.  We are programmed (and have be for years) to think that we need a professional to tell us what is wrong with us when we are sick.  Doctors are the experts, right?  I mean, they spent soooooo much time and money going to med school and all that, so surely they have to know what's wrong with us, right???   WRONG!!!!!  They don't always know what's wrong.  They may have the ability to run tests to be exact, and they may even have the benefit of experience.  They've seen (if they've been in practice for any length of time) every illness under the sun...you kinda get to the point where you can recognize it right off.  But guess what...you can do that too!!!  Recognize things, I mean!  You don't have to have gone through years of medical school to realize that your kid has the flu.  Oh and I'll go even further to say this....hang on....it's pretty radical....are you ready???  You don't always have to know exactly what's wrong to be able to treat it naturally!!!  WHAT???!!!!  Did I really just say that???  Oh yes I did!   For example... 5 of my kids and my poor hard working hubby have been sick recently.  Mainly a cough, 2 ran fever, and 1 had a major runny nose.  I didn't need to know if it was a cold or a flu....whether it was bacterial or viral.  Know why?  Because when you use natural remedies, at least the remedies I use, they can work for either.  WHAT???!!!  But the doctor says if it's viral there's nothing they can do!  Well, maybe THEY can't do anything....but nature can!!!  God, in His infinite wisdom, created herbs and plants to work on anything from viruses to bacteria to fungus.  Talk about multitasking!!!!

 

 

Sometimes people get all weird and go off the deep end and take what they read and just do.  NEVER DO THAT!!!!!  I would hate to think that because of something I said someone did something crazy and something terrible happened.  I am no authority.  I make mistakes...I make typos.  I'm sure you'll find several in this article despite my constant reading and re-reading.  There are things in other people's lives I know nothing about.  I will not begin to speculate on all that is out there.  Just do this one thing for me...think for yourself!  It isn't hard to do...if I can do it anyone can!  Really!!!!   Take what you read and evalutate it yourself.  Seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  If you've never met Him, take the time to seek Him out.  He already knows you and all your quirks.  He can read between the lines and guide you in the direction that will work for you...He's waiting.  All you have to do is take that first little baby step.  You can do it...really you can.  I believe in You and He does to!!