Renewed Health + Essential Oils

I wanted to start a new series about my journey in Essential Oils.  It is something that is near and dear to my heart and after about 3 months of using them I feel confident enough to share my story.   I have sooo much more to learn, I mean 3 months really is not a long time and I feel like I have just started this journey and know that each day will bring more knowledge and more confidence in them. 

My Beginning: As a lot of you all know, I have had a pretty rough go at health in my life.  // With that I have to say that I do know how blessed and extremely grateful that I do not have severe disabling diseases, heart conditions, cancer, pain, I could go on and on... //  But for me, my asthma, eczema, and allergies have ruled my life and have been disabling in many ways in my day to day life. 

Hearing the stories my mother tells about my childhood, I am grateful that by the grace of God, I really can't remember most of them.  I do remember my view on my conditions and most of them revolve around my skin.  Staying up all night itching myself until I bleed, because well honestly that was when the itching stopped and the burning started which was a more pleasant feeling for me.  Being ashamed of how I looked, being embarrassed when people stared, and feeling like I had to hide when I felt itchy because everyone one around me would say "Lynn, stop itching" like it was easy to do... It was hard.  I mean really hard.  But looking back at all the crying, the frustration, the anger to God that I had for not taking it away, I can honestly see now that I wouldn't be who I am today with out those experiences.  I would not wish it on anyone, and I am sure there are other ways to teach compassion but I know that I have a different way that I see the sick, the broken, the embarrassed than most other people do.

 - On a side note... one of my biggest fears in my life was that my kids would have my health problems.  I truly was scared for years to get pregnant and "pass it on".  I finally decided to trust God, pray nearly 10 times a day during each pregnancy and thankfully so far, with the exception of Rhone's slight eczema, neither one has them!!!-

So, on a lighter note, and why I wanted to do this series on Essential oils.  About 5 months ago, I was at a point in my life here in WA that I was ready to move again!  My allergies, asthma, and skin were soo bad that I didn't think we could live here anymore.  I was frustrated. I didn't want to move again and I didn't know where we should go... I realized that in a way moving state to state every couple years was me and my husbands way of "running" away from my allergies and trying to find that perfect place where I could be "normal".  Everywhere I am I seem to be allergic to everything in our environment, which triggers my asthma and eczema.  After coming to the realization that we couldn't move to that imaginary no allergy land, I started diving into researching other alternatives.  I had tried new doctors, new medicine, new creams, new regimens, new ideas after new ideas and non of them lasted more than 1 month.  I was at the point where I needed something completely new, completely different, and a "miracle drug".  That is when I happened upon Essential oils.  -- Let me say first that after 2 minutes of reading I realized that this was in no way going to be a "miracle" but it was something that was worth trying.  It's funny, I actually have been exposed to oils years ago by both my mother in laws.  But I was so brainwashed with living 30 years in prescription steroids that I dismissed oils and thought those might work on them, but there is NO WAY they would work on me.  Fast forward 3+ years and here I am confessing that I was wrong and that they really can work on anyone!! 

I have implemented doTerra oils in to my day to day for not just myself but for my husband and kids as well! Actually the biggest benefit for KC and I with using oils in with our kids.  Giving them a great start to living healthy and clean is the best thing I can do for them.  Another extra bonus is less doctor visits.  I have some anxiety each time I think I need to take them to the doctor, not because of what is going on, but for some reason, no matter how much sanitizer I make them use, or how instructing them to use their elbow and not their hands lol... one of them seems to get sick after our appointment.  It is a $25 copay followed up by colds for everyone. ugh!  So having oils and knowing how to be preventive and giving the means of treatment gives me so much peace of mind! 

-- why doTerra? and about my asthma coming soon!

DIY Coffee Table

I have this slight obsession with copper everything lately and really wanted to get a new coffee table.  The one we previously had was an old black rectangle one with sharp corners that, for some reason, our kids loved to fall into.  So after many bruised body parts, I decided it was time for a circular coffee table.  My husband and I started brain storming on how he could build one and I found this white ikea coffee table on craigslist for $20!  I knew the table top was perfect and instantly we planned out how we could make a new base using copper piping.  My husband drew many different plans and 3D renditions of his vision.  I made him scale back ALOT and we finally agreed on this configuration (3 U-shaped legs with cross bars and then a 3rd cross bar for stability).  Our main hurdle was the need to make it extremely sturdy because well, we have two kids who are currently using coffee tables for jumping platforms.

He took the original base off, cut the piping to size and started assembling the new base. (He said soldering would discolor it at the joints so we went with super glue in all the elbows and T's.) Then he attached the new copper base to the table top and that was it!  The whole thing cost $55 and took 1 afternoon.  And I seriously love how it turned out!  I immediately started thinking of what else I could do with copper pipping and I'm pretty sure a curtain rod or doll clothes stand DIY post will be happening very soon!

A Saturday morning

Seattle has gotten a serious cold front that came in just after a week of 60 degree weather.  We have been freezing our AZ butts around here... I think around 30 degrees has been the high!  I know, most of the country has snow right now, but I was not ready for it to be cold this soon!  I mean, it's only November!  But this morning, after a long week of work and school, we woke up to a gorgeous cold but oh so sunny day.  Living in the PNW has really made me appriciate the sun and how glorious it can feel.  So we decided to bundle up and take a morning hike (aka, slow walk) with the kids.  It was perfect.  Dry ground, beautiful morning light, and leaves covering the earth.

A zoo trip in the Fall

This past Saturday the sun came out, so we decided to get these kids out and go explore a new zoo that we haven't been to.  Cougar Mountain Zoo is a small but very educational zoo.  The best part was that we practically had our own tour guide.  They weren't very busy and so one of the volunteers helped teach the kids about the animals there.  Rhone's favorite was the tiger and cougars.  He's definitely a large kitty kind of kid.  Lach enjoyed the birds until they started squawking and then she ran away screaming hehe.  All in all, it was a great day to be out together and enjoying this crisp fall air. 

Zurich, Switzerland

Zurich, Switzerland was our next stop after Germany.  We drove the car back to the airport and caught the tram into town.  We pretty much were traveling on a whim.  Not knowing any German and not seeing any signs in English.  I was a nervous wreck while my husband was calm and collected.  How does he do that?! I guess this was just another opportunity to trust in him and God and somehow, we did end up on the right train, and although we got off 3 stops too early, I was pretty impressed (again) with his ability to navigate.  I have to say, Zurich is so clean, the trains, trams, and streets are clean, modern and very user friendly.  However, I think this is the most expensive city I have ever been to and probably will ever go to!  We barely ate anything while we were there because of prices... thankfully I packed protein bars :)  That night we did gets drinks, split a sandwich that night.  We walked around as much as the city that we could in our 1.5 days that we were there.  One of my personal highlights was when KC went to grab a beer at a local bar and I got to go shopping.  I didn't buy anything but it was so much fun walking downtown Zurich seeing the fancy shops and getting to know the culture.

Our hotel was pretty horrible here (and it was the most expensive) so we tried to spend as much time out and about as we possible could.  The day we were there, there must have been a futbol game that just got out as KC and I were walking the streets.  It was quite entertaining watching and hearing these Switzerland fans.  People were walking in huge packs down the richest parts of town singing in German, waving flags, and just enjoying the win.  There were riot police out in many areas around the city and KC and I were pretty impressed with the police there.  Being we were in Switzerland, who I thought was the most neutral and peaceful country in the world.  I guess they have the intimidating factor down perfectly.

That next morning, we got up, packed, and headed out for some breakfast and a cafe.  Walked around a little more, then packed and headed back to the airport.  Meaning... a tram to the train station and then a train to the airport.  By now, we had it down pretty well and made our flight to my final destination, Venice, Italy! // Coming Soon...//