I said, ‘I can’t.’ But God Said, ‘Go.
I do all things, and you will know
The power of God, My hand, My skill,
If you move to do my will.’
I said, ‘I’m tired.’ But God said, ‘Rest,
The weight is Mine, and in this test
Lean hard on Me, and I’ll perform
A miracle within this storm.’
I said, ‘I’m scared!’ But God said, ‘Trust.
Fear flees before My hand, so just.
For power and love flow to combine
My vibrant life with your own mind.’
Our God is good! And He will seek
To bless the humble and the meek,
Who love, and thus obey their Lord,
And seize the promsie of His word.
I have not liked bug spray ever since my babies were born. I have never liked using it on myself. The bugs have to be pretty bad before I will use any spray. But they don’t really bug me all that much any way. Generally when others are complaining of bugs biting, they are leaving me alone.
I have my speculations as to why. For one bugs like warm-blooded bodies. Women are generally warmer blooded than men, but me… I’m cold.all.the.time. (Part of lyme.) Also it depends on what you eat. Bugs like sweets (sweet blood), so a person who eats more sugars and processed foods just may get eaten quicker.;) And I have heard that taking garlic before going out helps keep them away. But be sure it is not the odorless, and eating it raw would be best I am sure. I tried it, but knowing the bugs don’t bug me much, not sure how much I would trust my own testing.
A year or two ago someone gave me a natural bug spray to make. But it had so many ingredients that I don’t always keep on hand. So I never got it made. And I cringed every time we would go camping and the boys begged for bug spray, even if I got the ‘least toxic thing’ I could find. (Is there even such a thing??)
So this summer I was determined to find a spray that would work… I did. But I don’t promise it will work, as I just made it last night so it needs to sit 3 wks.:( Why do I wait so long to find things that take time to make??!?!?! We are camping next weekend.)
I have heard about the Vinegar of the Four Thieves before, but hadn’t had the time to dig into it. Well, I still didn’t have the time, but it came to my inbox, so I learned a bit more.:) And it was simple enough I quickly went and made it. Yes, I had all the ingredients in my kitchen.
I followed Shoshanna’s video tutorial, and didn’t add the Tansy or Lemon Grass as I didn’t have those two herbs.
Recipe for your own Vinegar of the Four Thieves Mix-
2 TBS Each of
Rosemary
Sage
Lavender
Wormwood
Peppermint
I think I actually about doubled that amount for a qt. jar. Put in a glass quart jar, fill with plain white vinegar, and mix to get all the herbs wet. Put on a lid, and store for 3-6 wks. Shake every day or two. Strain off the herbs, and add about 1/4 the amount of vinegar of water. Just guess, no science here. Put in a spray bottle and use as needed. You can store in a cool, dry place.
So simple…
Rosemary - is a strong antiseptic.
Wormwood - is the bitterest of herbs. It is antiseptic and vermifuges (kill worms). Wormwood is great in a parasite cleanse program.
Lavender and peppermint are high in volatile oils, hence excellent ingredients for a very good insect repellent, as well as being pleasant smelling.
Sage – is also antibacterial. And is lymphatic, which helps in a disease outbreak.
If you google ‘Vinegar of the Four Thieves’, you will find other recipes, amounts and added ingredients. Even the original recipes on Shoshanna’s article has garlic, but her video doesn’t. So I am not planning to add it. Not sure I want to wear garlic on my skin, unless I would know som plague or such is going around!!
It is interesting to read Shoshanna’s article on plagues and how people kept from getting sick and dying like so many of their family and neighbors were… The most common thread being herbal vinegars.
The most famous and interesting story of healing coming out of the great Black Death plague was the story of the four thieves and their amazing concoction that came to be known as The Vinegar of the Four Thieves. History records that the four thieves were arrested for stealing from the homes of the many dead victims. After their arrest, they were taken from prison and forced to bury the dead with the promise that if they lived, they would go free. One of the thieves was a herbalist, whose herbal wine vinegar purportedly kept the four thieves alive all during the Black Death. As their resistance to the disease became obvious, others started using their vinegar tincture—reportedly with great success. They lived to credit the vinegar potion for their survival. (And there are many variations to this story as well.)
And something so simple kept them so healthy!! So why should we not try it ourselves??!??!
A couple of links to more info on Vinegar of the Four Thieves -
Four Thieves: Historic Anti-Plague Remedy – This page has a lot of different combinations of herbs for the 4 Thieves recipes, research and decide what would work for you.
Do you have a favorite Natural Bug Spray?? Please share.
It started out good enough… I thought it would go smoothly. And it actually did. We just did more things than I had thought.
We had plans to go to the park on a picnic for lunch. It got bumped earlier, so my morning got shortened. I had a chiro appointment at 9:30. So I tried to do all I could before that. I even made body wash/hand soap, and did some wash. Got home later than planned, like 10:15. Then I had to scurry to get out the door in half an hour. (Didn’t quite make it.)
We had a lovely {windy} time at the park. Watched a big snake in the water swimming up-stream. Then walked around on the trails.
Then we hurried home and I quick looked at the picture’s I took, on my computer. Then my mom and sisters came and we headed out to butcher some chickens. A few of them had went lame and were not doing so good. So Delvyn wanted us to get them in the freezer. We decided to make the mess worthwhile and did 12, even though they were a bit smaller than we like. And most of them were the bigger roosters. As we were cleaning up, I gave the chickens their feed back and noticed another lame one. So we quick did him up too. We were done and cleaned up by 4ish. (We keep getting faster the more often we do it.:) )
So now I have wings in the oven, and potato fries on the menu. I have NEVER before eaten chicken or any other meat on the day I butchered it. But somehow it is not affecting me today. We wondered if it was because it wasn’t so many, and we weren’t feeling so utterly grossed out by the end of a long day of butchering.
This little boy of mine has suddenly hit a new level of maturity. I find it amusing, but sad that he is growing up. Like he started winking at me, and he does it at just the right and appropriate moments. He just melts me heart. I love watching the emerging young man who is blossoming forth.
You know, long ago, they did that. Butchered a chicken for their meal, wonder if that’s why they could handle it. (Random thoughts we had.)
So now, this evening, hopefully we get some much-needed rain. It so so fierce windy out there, it better blow something in!! We are having random barrels and buckets flying from around the barn and merrily bouncing down the drive.
And this little boy is all his own… He does not have time to stop and take pictures!! But my cousin was able to get him to sit a bit longer til I got one I liked!! (Thanks Lys!! It was actually the first one of him up there.^^)
Well, I should go finish supper. And hopefully spend a relaxing evening with my family. And maybe tomorrow go get them exposed to some chicken pox. Collin had them at 7mths and the other 2 haven’t had them yet. So I want to get that done. Much as I don’t like the thought of sick kids, it’s better now then later!!
I really don’t know how he grew up so fast. But I have one thing I like… on the morning of his birthday I merrily told him he is ’3′ now. He looks at me with all seriousness and says, ‘I ’1′!!!’ So he is going backwards, and somehow, I don’t mind!!
Rylen David 3 yrs
Is this a typical 3 yr old type thing?? He got in a huge mud puddle along with his 3 brothers… I had a hard time deciding if they were wearing any clothes for a bit!!
My precious new-born baby boy!! We fell in love with him so fast. He was such a good baby, content and happy. So different from his older brother.
My 3 boys… Rylen 3mths.
8mths old
My happy little 1 yr. old. And this picture was taken after spending the day on the streets passing out tracts, and singing in soup kitchens. Not much phases him in life!!
My happy 3 yr old with his ‘neigh’. We asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he would always say, ‘a neigh’. So I got him a stick horse. But he didn’t know what to do with it at first and gave it to Jevan. So when Jevan began ‘riding’ his horse, he fast wanted it back!!! The hat came from Uncle Justin’s.
Mr. Sober, ‘this is a very solemn occasion’!! He dearly loved all his cupcakes. I found that stand at a garage sale for .25. I was so pleased.
The party guests, Delvyn’s sister, her husband and daughter came.
Grandpa Hershey gave this speed race car set… ALL the boys loved it!!!
And when there is field work to be done, and boys can’t ride with Dad. You do the next best thing. Lay right beside the road and watch all the action!!
Like this… We live on a busy County Road, so no, I was not impressed to see this. But I had to take a couple of pictures!! He was watching the tractors, which were way across the fields!! He would have had a much better view from inside the house!! And saved his Mom the heart-attack!!
We love you Rylen!! Our ever busy, easy-going, live-loving, always smiling and happy little boy!!
Stress: The Overlooked Toxin – By Keeper of the Home I love this website, she always has good tips and how-to’s for healthy living, healing, etc!!! She also has great tips for children’s health and wellness, doing it yourself and prevention.
My Researcher’s Own Story: Did Overzealous Screening Cause Her Cancer?? by Dr. Mercola. Just another conformation in my mind to not do screenings and eat healthy. It really is the best way!! Our body will fight cancer cells if we eat properly and live properly!! Be sure to read comments, you always learn so much from one another’s stories!! You can’t agree with everything everyone says, but it helps to know what others are learning too.
Did you know infants have 287 toxins found in their cord blood?? (Stated on previous video) Many wonder why there are individuals who still get sick even when they are trying to eat/live healthy… Quote – ‘Yes a great diet & good habits like exercise & not smoking /drinking/etc are extremely important. However if you do all this and still get sick it would be prudent to seriously look at your exposure to heavy metals, halogens, and dental infections. In Dr Robert Dowling’s research virtually every woman with breast cancer had oral pathology; often occult and silent. If not addressed the cancer came back. If treated the cancer [or fibroid] often dissolved.’
A Lyme Video explaining how the body responds to lyme, becoming autoimmune. And the failure of short-term abx treatments and how boosting the immune system is a major key!! Christa also has a link to watch her story on video, prepare to cry as you watch her painful journey to health. (Yes, I have linked it before.)
We Time – At Raising ArrowsIt’s about creating marital oneness, family bonds and being an example to my children on how to put others first. A very thought-provoking post!!
Love, Honor & Vacuum - A great website for intimacy marriage. (Not for unmarried readers, since I know I have some of them here.) She has a Christian perspective and has opened my eyes to a lot of lies that the Devil has tricked us into believing. Our world is becoming so desensitized, and the lies are harder to pick out!! We need to be so careful who we listen to, what we watch, and believe!!
And if you want a tear-jerker… Read the last few posts on Sounds of Life. I think I found this blog through FB once upon a time… At times the heart cries, ‘Why’. But God has His reasons and purpose. All we can do is pray for them. (There are some beautiful pictures there, but the tears just want to fall!!)
He actually wanted this ‘Shark Cake’, as he called it. I try to stay away from cakes and the frostings, but for birthdays I would do it. I seen this idea and asked him of he would like this. He was ALL for it!!! And I sure didn’t mind, it was so simple!!
His supper of choice was grilling burgers, and eating outside.
He was one happy kid!!! A lego set of his very own… His friends gave him another one too. But it was the same as the one we gave. So we have yet to go exchange it, then he will have 2 sets!!!
And this picture makes me giggle!!! It was in a card. And right now his 2 front teeth are sorta that way anyway. One huge, the other tiny and ‘looth’, thus hanging around all funny.
And, yes, this is getting posted late… His birthday was last week, the 3rd. And we have another one coming up next week. We get birthday’ed out by the end of Spring. But we sure didn’t pick the birthdays!!!:) Rylen came 3 wks early, Collin was 5 days late, and me… well, ask Mom. I was early too.
Time keeps marching on… if the next 7 yrs go as fast as these have… HELP!!!
The last few days I have had some ask me where I get my herbs, supplements, etc. So I thought I’d just share here with links, then those that need it or want it can find them easily.:)
For my vitamins and other herbal supplements I order most times through LuckyVitamin. And I pretty much stick with the NOW Foods Brand. If you are familiar with Beeyoutiful, a lot of their supplements are the same as Now Foods Brand supplements. They just have a different name, so you have to dig a bit to find the right one. Lucky Vitamin also has free shipping on orders over $100, I have a few friends around here that we often order together to hit that mark.
Iherb is another place to get cheap supplements. They have free shipping on orders over $20. But I often find Lucky Vitamin is just a tad cheaper, but with shipping it figures about the same. So it will depend if I have a $100 order or a smaller one.:)
Or if I need something quick and don’t have plans to order before long I will just pick up what I need at our co-op, even if it may cost a bit more.
Herbs – I order from 3 different places… depending what I need.:)
Mountain Rose Herbs is a very good place to get LOTS of different herbs. They have more herbs than a lot of other places, like the not so common ones. And they carry my ingredients for lotion making, tins for salves & other containers, and many different kinds of oils, including essential oils. I love their video’s on YouTube. (I’ll link later, for some reason my web security is not letting me link.)
Ameriherb is the cheapest place to order herbs from!! (That I have found.) You will need to call them from that link to set up your account and they will send you a catalog with prices. I haven’t set my own account up, as I have always ordered with my cousin. But they are the cheaper than Mountain Rose or Bulk Herb Store, although they don’t have as big a selection as the others.
Bulk Herb Store is the other place I order herbs through. Again, it just all depends on what I am needing or wanting. Each one has a few things the other doesn’t have that I use.:) Shoshanna also has great video’s about her products, and how-to’s in making herbal things. They also have a birthday club thing on Facebook. If you join you get a $5 coupon on your birthday. Look for it on FB. And her catalogs are always full of fun and interesting things. Plus with each herb, she lists its uses and other tidbits about the herb.
I also make my own pills out of bulk powdered herbs. Right now I am doing my own kelp for my thyroid, and black walnut, wormwood and cloves for the parasite cleanse I mentioned yesterday. It is a bit time-consuming, but easy and frugal. You can buy capsules at some of those links up there…
Did I miss anything?? If you have anything to add, share it with us in the comments.
I went to my Lyme Dr. yesterday and we received a much better report than we were ever expecting!! He could find no active lyme, so that was exciting. But I have a big pocket of toxins in my brain and neck, which is what has been causing my headaches. (I had way too many last week.)
But the co-infection Babesia is still going strong!! Like I mentioned before it is a hard co-infection to get rid of. So I will be working on that one for a while yet. I will still be taking the Detox Herbal Blend from Dr. Lindsley and getting the toxins OUT!!! One major way is the liver flushes. I need to do at least 3, 4 is better, in the next months. I will try to do one every 3 wks. Babesia likes to hide in the tissues and the liver and in the liver stones. So it will be some hard work yet on my part.
The one good news is, he didn’t find signs of yeast in my body!!! So maybe all my anti-yeast programs have been doing more than I realized!! I am still not sure that I totally agree, but hey, I will hold on to any good signs of progress. I am not going to change my diet. Although I may allow gluten a little more. I still want to be careful to eat properly and keep building my immune system. Sugar is a HUGE immune system wrecker!!
Plus, on a side note, I am trying an anti-yeast program with the boys. I learned about it when I went to the home school convention in April, from Dianne Craft. She has an awesome website with lots of info in her articles archive. Some of them are the very ones she shared at the convention. Dianne focus’ on healing the brain by healing the stomach. She helps a lot of ADD, ADHD, etc. Most of those problems come from a compromised digestive system, so it’s not digesting food properly, thus your body is not getting the nutrition it needs. You have a leaky gut, and more… causing LOTS of issues you may not even realize stem from your own immune system, and bad gut flora.
Anyway, I am giving the boys grapefruit seed extract capsules 3x a day. I open one capsule and divide it out between the 3 of them in a spoonful of apple sauce. And then later give them each a capsule of probiotic (Nature’s Way Brand, Dianne’s recommendation). So you are killing and planting at the same time. She says to do it for 3 mths, then you can back off. But if you hit a time of lots of sweets, etc. (Holiday’s) then do it again for another month. So we will see what happens. It’s hard for me to always remember to give it. It is best to do before meals, but if I forget I figure it’s better with food than not at all.
I have had a rash on my chest and back for a while now and didn’t know what it was. Well, I finally showed Dr. Lindsley yesterday and he ran some tests and only came up with it being a parasite. So I am going to go through another parasite cleanse. Maybe one day I will get rid of all those nasty little buggers. He said as I am killing them, they are probably coming up through the skin. I had the boys doing a parasite cleanse last month, but I didn’t think I needed it as I had done it in Jan. in FL. They probably re-infected me, as it is something that is easily passed in a family!! If you treat parasites it is best to treat everyone at the same time!! So maybe I should do them again… grrr. Actually the GFS capsules should help them there too.
So now I am wondering if the other itchy ‘bite’ type spots I get are some type of parasites too. As they don’t follow a pattern of breaking out with certain foods I eat. Would be great if that would be all it is.:)
So that is our plans for the next few months… just keep killing and detoxing. I plan to start taking Bentonite Clay as well, to pull more toxins from the tissues and flush them out. I am really hoping to see big improvements with that. I will probably try sweat baths with the clay as well. I still really feel great improvements when I do them. I shed a lot of toxins that way.
I was also given a cream with some of the detox tinctures in it to rub on my hip and other joints that hurt. It will kill bacteria by absorbing it through the skin. And it helps with the pain as well. (He had forgotten to give it to me last month when I was there.)
So I am sitting near the top of the mountain we have been climbing for so long. Dr. Lindsley told me that yesterday and then this morning my Chiro I see 2x a week told me the same thing. So I’m starting to believe it. The end is in sight, and much sooner than we ever anticipated!!
What do you do when you are craving lemon bars and are trying to avoid gluten?? What do you do when you don’t want to buy speciality flours or ingredients for lemon bars?? You come up with your own recipe. So many g/f recipes call for things like guar gum, Xanthan Gum, or premixed All Purpose Gluten Free flour that is not cheap!! I would rather stick with coconut flour, (I got on sale online a while go) or use ground oatmeal or rice or something that my kitchen holds. And then add LOTS of eggs. Eggs are an awesome binder. So this is what I came up with after looking at MANY different g/f recipes, I finally combined about 3-5 of them and did my own. And I remembered to write down my recipe.:) Just in case it turned out you know.
I actually didn’t think it had turned out. I taste-tested it Sat. after it cooled, and it was so crumbly and the flavor didn’t come through very strong. I was disappointed but decided, too bad, no time to make another one. Not to mention I didn’t have enough lemons to try another pan!!! Then at our church fellowship meal I began hearing other liking my bars. Hmm, that seemed strange. So I’m not sure why, but sitting overnight sure improved them!!!
I had over half the pan left when we came home. (That’s what happens when you make a sign to put in the bars that they are g/f, keeps a lot of people from ‘trying’ it, unless they know what they are getting into.:) ) Anyway, I told Delvyn he really needs to try a bar. Hmmm, that may have been the wrong thing to do… Later he admitted to me he just couldn’t stop eating them!!
So anyway… here is the recipe…
Lemon Bars G/F & S/F
Crust layer:
1 C. Butter – Room temp
1/2 C. Coconut Flour
1 C. Oat Flour – Ground Oatmeal
1/3 C. Honey
3/4 C. Toasted Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
Filling:
6 Eggs
3/4 C. Honey
3/4 C. Lemon Juice - It took about 6 lemons
1/3 C. Toasted Unsweetened Coconut
1/3 C. Oat Flour – Ground Oatmeal
1/3 C. Coconut Flour
2 tsp. Lemon Zest
Toast 1 1/4 Cup or so of coconut flakes. Be very careful not to burn them. Allow to cool before using. I sprinkled the extra coconut over top of the bars the last 10 minutes.
Crust: Cut butter into the flours, honey and toasted flakes. Press into a 9×13 cake pan. Bake at 350* for 15 min. Or golden brown.
Filling: Beat everything together with hand mixer. It will be really runny!! Pour over baked crust. (Opps, just realized I didn’t write down how long I baked it.) I think I baked it at 350* for 20-25 minutes. Remember to sprinkle the toasted coconut on it if you want, do it for the last 10-15 minutes.
Chill at least 2 hrs or more before serving. I had let it in fridge overnight. Not sure what made the difference, that it wasn’t so crumbly the next day… but it did!!!
It is really simple and an easy thing to make. My cousin just make her own coconut flour last week. And the cake she made with it was very good and moist. You should be able to google it to find out how to make it. I found a place to make your own coconut milk on Tropical Traditions website.
And I had to include this picture of my ‘baby’… He is just growing up way to fast!! He turns 3 in May. Doesn’t seem that long ago he was a tiny newborn!! He loves playing with his cows… and had made this line of cows heading who knows where. He was quite pleased with himself.
