The Cough that Wouldn't Let Go

                                              In past posts, you see that I totally

enjoy garlic.

I enjoy cooking with it.

I enjoy growing it.

I especially love the health benefits of it.

Recently, I again saw it's "powers"

at work.

Jordan, our oldest, has always been like me, in that,

if he gets tired, he gets sick.

In May he started working full time days.

In June he went to junior camp with our boys

followed by a week of teen camp.

The weekend in between the camps he started hacking

and coughing.  He kept saying he felt like

he was getting sick.

He rested over the weekend, trying to get enough energy

for teen camp.

He decided the morning we left for teen camp to go.

I knew he didn't feel well but also didn't want him to miss

out on the week he was so looking forward to.

He grabbed the Vit C bottle and went to camp.

While he was there at camp, he didn't seem better.

I could hear him sneezing and coughing during the meetings.

Each time I'd hear him, I pray he'd be feeling better soon.

As a Mom it's so hard seeing your kids not well but also

know these are the times that cause them to grow on

their own.  Many lessons can be learned from

sticking it out even though you don't feel up to it.

After camp, the cough continued and got worse.

Monday and Tuesday he went to work.

By Tuesday, the sickness caught up to him and the cough

got deep into his lungs. 

Each time I heard it, I thought to myself
"That does not sound good."

When he got home from work Tuesday night, he said he was sick.

He went right to bed.

Wednesday he called in sick to work.

I knew he was real sick as he doesn't like

skipping work, especially as he'd taked two weeks off

recently to go to camp.

Red Clover plant

All day Wednesday I pumped herbal

teas into him.  I made ones that with herbs that are good for

coughs.

I also gave him three garlic capsules every hour or two.

Garlic is said to be a natural antibiotic.  If he has some

sort of infection, the garlic would help.

I also know that consuming it WON'T hurt so why not load him up.

With lots of herbal teas & honey, Vit C, and garlic being

pumped into him and LOTS of sleep, Jordan

went to work the next day.

The cough lasted about a week but was sounding

less deep in his chest.

The week after Jordan got this, we found out there were

others with similar illnesses.  In the other cases,

it was diagnosed as broncitus and pnenomia.

The doctor's remedy was antibiotics.

I try  to avoid antibiotics.

I'm so thankful to the Lord that none of our children have

been put on them.  God has given

natural remedies that I try to implement first and they've

always done their job.

Mullein plant

(I'm not opposed to doctors and their medicines.  There

are times and cases they are truly needed and are so helpful.

But, I do feel that natural is best, when it can be done.)

It's now three weeks after camp, and the cough

still shows it's nastiness at times.

I've praised the Lord again and again for His goodness

in providing garlic for our home.

Peppermint plant

The herbal tea I made contained:

Red Clover-  good for preventative of health problems

Mullein- used in respiratory problems and pulmonary diseases

Peppermint- excellent for fever and flus

(Taken from THE HOW TO HERB BOOK)

Other books I constantly refer to are

PRESCRIPTION FOR NUTRITIONAL HEALING

and

HOW TO RAISE A HEALTHY CHILD
IN SPITE OF YOUR DOCTOR

I just asked Jordan what vitamins he took while he was

sick and he told me they were:

Vitamin C, Alfalfa, Garlic,

Cod Liver Oil and my tincture.

Rest, healthy eating, lots of fluids,

herbs and vitamins.

I personally get our family vitamins from a company

called Beeyoutiful.

I get nothing for promoting them here but thought

if you were interested in getting good quality

vitamins/remedies, I'd mention my supplier.

This is where I get our garlic capsules, cod liver oil and

alfalfa.

It's also where I get our boy's vitamins.

The How to Herb Book

http://www.woodwifesjournal.com/2011/01/herbal-medicine-chest-herbal-salves.html

Bone's Burn

Poor Bones.

He was warming up this morning and he

got too close to the woodstove.

How often have we warned and told them not to get so close.

Some of life's lessons are learned the hard way.

But how it breaks your heart as a mother to

see your child in pain. 

We ran the burn spot under cold water.

Then I broke a piece of aloe plant and smeared the clear

goo from the plant all over it.

I kept asking Bones how it felt.

He said the "stuff" made it not hurt anymore.

It's a pretty good sized burn and I know how badly burns

hurt, having burnt myself many times on that very stove!

Poor fella!

Thankyou Lord for your healing plants you give to us.

My sister posted on aloe's healing helps here

http://pumpkinpiepainter.blogspot.com/search/label/natural%20remedy

http://gnowfglins.com/2011/03/10/simple-lives-thursday-34/

http://woodwifesjournal.blogspot.com/

No Thankyou List

James 4:17

Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth

it not, to him it is sin.

Life is back to somewhat a normal routine.

No more travelling, holidays, parties and cookie exchanges.

                         

We ate horrible during the days of Nov-Jan. 

Cakes, candy,chips, dips, sugar and more sugar!

I've been so motivated to get us back on track with our meals.

I've been throwing candy out just about every day.

So much candy is given to the boys.

I've taught them to nicely say, "No thankyou" but I think

that gets hard to do over and over again each week to friends and teachers

at church.  So they bring it home and I've been throwing it out.

Yesterday my Beeyoutiful winter catalog came.  Oh, I love it when it comes!

I took it to bed with me and couldn't wait to jump in.

The very first article was so good!

The author talked about their family's journey into better eating and

thus better health.

She talked about an easy way to start. Read ingredient labels.  It may be easy to

find these bad

ingredients but you'd be suprised at how many products

we regularly eat that

these are in.  The boys have learned to read ingredient labels and warn me when

the BAD things are in them!

The list is:

* MSG (monosodium glutamate and all its secret cousins

like yeast extract, autolyzed or hydrolyzed soy protein, spice extract, to name a few)

* Nitrates or nitrites

*High fructose corn syrup

*Artificial colors

*The massive list of preservatives

*Soy products (this one is on my own list)

Pretty much everything not made by scratch has one or many of these in them.

I just checked our ketchup bottle, it has high fructose corn syrup.  BAD! 

Shame on me and we use alot of ketchup!

This is one of my huge goals this year.   I want to make all our own tomato

products from tomatoes I grow.  Salsa, sauces, ketchup, pizza sauce, etc.

This past week, I got together with two of my friends and we

discussed our garden plans and ideas.

It was so fun sitting with all our seed catalogs and comparing veges

we hoped to grow and stock our shelves with.

I said I want to grow 50 tomato plants.

I found a tomato seed that said they all yield at the same time. That would be
convenient, all the tomatoes ripe and ready at once.  Oh, but all the work
at once too!

 It made us all 

 laugh, my 50 plants and ALL the tomatoes I'd be processing!

Oh, to have Amish friends and can together like they do.

Life is fun with the journey of taking care of our health.  I know

most of the foods we eat are due to my cooking and preparing.  I want

to do right by our family.

I've heard so many say flippantly that they want to eat and enjoy it. They
don't care what it does to their body.
Life is short so why not enjoy my food?!

The problem with that is that is DOES affect those around us.  Our children, grandchildren
and others.  When we eat unhealthy, we usually leave this world with a struggle.
Someone is going to have to tend to us while we're sick and dying.
I want to die from just old age.  No struggle.  Just peacefully die in my sleep.

There's no guarantee for this but I want to do my best to take care of

myself and our  family so we can serve the Lord to our fullest with good health!

I Corinthians 6:19 &20

What!  Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which

is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in
your spirit, which are God's.



http://www.beeyoutiful.com/

Liver Care

After reading the article in No Greater Joy

http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/articles/general-view/archive/2010/august/09/fatty-liver-and-ugly-toes/

I wanted to make the tincture for my liver.  The article states all the important things your liver does.  Here are just a few: manufactures proteins, forming and secreting bile, absorbs vitamins A, D, E adn K.  It also eliminates the potenially harmful biochemical products produced by the body and detoxifies drugs, alcohol and environmental toxins.

As a child, I got strept throat often.  My parents (knowing no different) put me on antibiotics.  This happened just about every season!  I know my body has been damaged by all the antibiotics.  So I would like to build my liver back to good health. 

The article stated some side affects of an unhealthy liver, so if you're interested, I'd highly suggest reading it.  Also research what your liver does and it's importance to our well-being!

Our God is an awesome Creator!  Every part of our body works together to make a healthy body.  When one part is unhealthy or damaged, the other parts have to "pick up the slack" or function with a damaged "team mate". 

Here are some ways to help your liver:  eating nourishing and organic foods,  avoid chemicals, drink 8 cups of water a day, taking/eating  nourishing anti-oxidants, and using purifying herbs and foods.  Avoiding chemicals is a huge one!  Read the list of ingredients in most things we eat.  I heard it said, "If it's something our great grandparents wouldn't of used, we shouldn't be eating it."  There are so many chemical additives in everything!  Preservatives are put in tons so the shelf life is longer but it's killing our health!

I ordered the herbs listed in the article and they came in yesterday!  I'm so excited to make some tincture that will be used just to build my liver into good health!

The coconut oil is not for the tincture, just our household uses :)



Tincture Time

Because Mark works with kids all day, he tends to be around sickness often.  He's brought/shared many different sicknesses with us (how nice!). 

This past Friday, Mark came home early from work (he didn't do windows) and went right to bed.  He got the lovely bug that's going around at his school.

Before he hit the hay, he asked me where the tincture was.  I was mad, I hadn't made any yet.  I should of had some ready for my fella.  So I loaded him up with the vitamins we had and watched him march off to bed.  When he woke up at supper time, I fed him some "soup" I made.  Man, he reeked the rest of the night from it!  It was mostly garlic and onions.

So this afternoon, I got my herbs out and made some tincture.  It should be ready in 3-4 weeks, I just hope no more sickness hits the house!

I measured out the herbs and put them in a gallon jar.

Then I added enough vodka to cover the herbs.  The jar is safely put away in the cupboard until they're done seeping.  The herbs need to soak for 3-4 weeks in a dark place.

These are the herbs in this batch of tincture:

Red Clover- a blood purifier

Echinacea- infection fighter and is used as a powerful natural antibiotic

Alfalfa- called the King of plants beacause it is extremely rich in vitamins and minerals

Rose Hips- much vitamin C and infection fighter

Bilberry- ( I added this one mostly because I knew it was good for the eyes but there is a big list of things it helps)

Mullein- used in respiratory problems,  loosens mucus and expels it out of the body

Once the herbs are done soaking, I'll strain them and put the liquid in a canning jar and store it in the cupboard with all our vitamins.  As we start to feel illness coming, we'll take a tablespoon of tincture.  This has really helped prevent sickness in our home.

The How to Herb Book: Let's Remedy the Situation

The wonders of Garlic

While I was at my parent's this past week, a neat-o thing happened.  On the morning of Ruthie's shower (the reason I was there), my sister Tonya called and said she had a problem.  Levi (who had been fighting a terrible cold) had a terrible ear ache.  She said he's fussing and screaming about his ear.  If she just touched his face, he'd yell in pain.  Oh no, I wasn't prepared to do her part of the shower!  I asked if she had tried garlic yet.  She hadn't (she was going to take him to the doctor at 2:15 in the afternoon and this was early morning). So I walked her through preparing it and we got off the phone as she gave him to dose.  I called back a few minutes later and asked if she got it into him and she had.  I called back about 1/2 an hour later and I asked how Levi was.  Levi was laughing and playing with Violet.  She couldn't believe it!  Can it work that fast!?!?!  She did two "doses" before the shower and he was a new little boy.  

Later we were sitting around chatting about how the garlic had worked for Levi and Silas said, "Oh, that happened to me, my ear killed and Mom gave me the garlic and it went right away!"  My Mother was so impressed to hear it from an older child too!  Garlic is truly an amazing thing GOD has blessed us with!