Miscarriage: He gives and He takes away . . .

Faster than the fireweed comes and goes, God gave and then took away the little one in my womb.  I was so excited to find out that I was pregnant with our fourth about three weeks ago.  I dreamed that he was another boy!   This past weekend, I miscarried.  Sad, so very sad . . . but I have felt the Lord’s comfort through the sadness in a powerful way.  Not one tear fell from my eyes that He didn’t see, there was not one sad thought that He didn’t know, and not one moment of surprise for Him in what happened.  He saw, He knew, He felt, and He carried me through.   Now I see all the more how close He really is and how blessed I really am.  How can I not praise Him with all that He has blessed me with . . . a loving husband who has been thoughtful beyond words, three sweet boys that keep me smiling, a physically painless miscarriage (didn’t even know that was possible), family that has lifted me up in prayer . . . so praises to the Giver of life, to the One who gave and took away our little one only to take him to the best place he could ever be, in His loving arms.  We have a little treasure up in Heaven now.  God is good, all the time . . . even when He takes away.

Blessings,

Carrie

Another testimony to God’s great love . . .

 

Testimonies are powerful!  They silence the evil one and declare the greatness of our God.  I used to think that I didn’t have much of a testimony, growing up in a Christian home with parents who loved me and no big moment of great change.  But now I am blessed beyond words to share what God did for me and want to say, “Thank you!” to Laura for encouraging us all to share through her blog.  I have been longing for an opportunity to share my story ever since I read The Vision, by Debi Pearl and realized all the more how important one big moment in my life really was.

From the time I was two weeks old, I was going to the church building every Sunday morning and evening and various times throughout the week.  My parents love Jesus and made sure that my siblings and I had every opportunity to hear about Jesus.  I praise God for my loving parents! 

I don’t remember not knowing about Jesus.  I don’t know what it’s like to not talk to God for a day.  I have always known of my great need for a Savior.  From my earliest memories, I was praying for forgiveness of my sins every day and received just about every invitation to “pray the prayer” that I was given.  You see, I thought that if I didn’t keep confessing every possible sin, every day, with a sincere heart, then somehow I just might not be His anymore.  I was terribly afraid of being lost and that fear ruled my life.  Fear of man, fear of loosing my salvation, fear of saying hello to a new face, fear of singing in front of people, fear of piano performances, fear, fear, fear . . . all rooted in  . . . PRIDE.  Somehow, the basis for my salvation always came back to me and my confessions, which were like filthy rags to my Father because they were getting in the way of what His Son did.  In His great love, He met me right where I was at and put a huge wedge into that root of fear in my life.

One amazing night, at Hume Lake Christian Camp, while huddled under the stars with a group of girls for prayer, God spoke to me very clearly.  He asked me a question, “In this moment, do you believe?”.  NOT, what do you believe?, how do you believe?, why do you believe?, or with what kind of a heart do you believe? . . .  just do you believe?  My simple reply was, “YES!”  Then I heard Him say the words that I will never forget, “You are mine forever.”  FOREVER!  What joy eternal filled my soul!

In my desire to belong to God I had complicated things.  Salvation is really so simple.  Just believe.  Yes, it is important who you believe in, but beyond that it’s all wrapped up in the eternal vine of Christ.  Jesus did it all.  He died for every sin, past, present, and future, confessed or not, remembered or not, known or not. We confess to be healed, but we believe to be saved.  As I humbled myself to simply believe, He stepped in to claim my life for eternity.  What a burden was lifted that glorious night!  What freedom to know that I am His forever!

I have often wondered if I was really His before that night.  I’m sure He didn’t appreciate my daily filthy rags.  But I also know that He knew my heart.  He spoke to me right at the age of accountability.  He protected me from so much pain.  He kept me from having to experience the world without Him.  He did it all.  Glory to God, He sent His Son to save me forever!  FOREVER!

Thanks for reading . . . blessings.

Because of Jesus,

Carrie

Multitude Monday: Week 18

 

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to post another part of this one thousand gifts list, so I’m thankful to be feeling well enough today to join with so many others in lifting up praises to The Giver of all good gifts.  Here are #’s 340-360:

Life in His mighty hand,

healing without antibiotics,

new life forming inside me,

little one loving his boots,

warm clothes,

soft blankets,

getting to see how a home works off the grid,

reminder to abide in Christ, the Vine, no matter what season of life,

husband’s warm hands,

mama tea,

money to save for a cookstove,

playdough for the coldest winter days,

the giggles of children sledding down snowy hills,

fellowship around the table with good friends,

sliver of brightness in the evening sky,

bright warm stars on a cold night,

“I love you” from a son,

our thoughtful one,

morning hugs,

thoughts of holding a new little life . . . nine months doesn’t seem as long as it used to . . .

 

Have a joyful week with thankful thoughts and a grateful heart.  God is so good!

Blessings,

Carrie

Areas Affecting Health: Part 5 – Natural Healing

God amazes me!  The way that He has provided all that we need for health within His creation is marvelous.  I have greatly enjoyed learning about natural forms of healing over the past few years and look forward to further learning every day that I am blessed with. 

The topic of natural healing is huge and the information out there is endless.  So I have chosen to look toward Biblically based sources as a foundation for learning.  The Bible itself is full of references to herbs and oils used for health and healing.  I also feel that it is important to use whatever you can that grows wild near where you live.  It makes since that God would provide in each unique geographical area the plants that fit the needs of the people living there.

With natural healing, the idea is that you work with your body to attack the root issue(s), rather that medically supressing your symptoms and prolonging healing.  I have decided to focus on three ideas for this post:  daily preventatives, steps of first defense, and all out war strategies.  I will only be able to share a few of our families most used and most affective remedies in this post, but look forward to futher posts on this subject if anyone is interested.  If you would like to read the other posts in this series, you can find the links on the Natural Health Basics page.

Daily Preventatives:

• Eat organic whole foods prepared in traditional ways and avoid processed foods (see Nutrition post for more information on this one).
• Drink plenty of pure water (divide your weight by 2 and drink that number in ounces of water per day).
• Take a daily organic whole food based multi. vitamin if you don’t eat enough greens.
• Get daily probiotics through yogurt, kefir, supplements, etc. to keep your digestive system working well.
• Take a daily dose of a high quality fish oil for too many reasons to list here (we use these and these Garden of Life supplements and Green Pasture’s when we can afford them).

Steps Of First Defense:

• Continue daily preventatives, but drink extra water.
• Rub cinnamon essential oil on feet at night using a cotton ball (be sure NOT to touch the oil).
• Avoid all sugar.
• Take a garlic soft gel or two twice daily.
• Get some extra vitamin C (we add rose hips to tea and/or take these).
• Take a Tummy Tune-up and/or eat a little extra yogurt.
• Apply healing salve for skin issues.

All Out War Strategies:

• Continue daily preventatives and steps of first defense.
• Boost your immune system with echinacea in tea, Emergen-C, and/or orange juice with grapefruit seed extract (GSE) drops (one drop per ten pounds of body weight).
• Support your immune system with fresh crushed garlic and chopped onion cooked in bone broth.
• For sinus problems, use a nasal spray and/or neti pot rinse with sea salt and choice of GSE drops or a little baking soda sprinkled in water.  You can also put two cups of water and four drops of tea tree oil in a pot, boil, and breath in the steam for fifteen minutes.
• For soar throat, rub tea tree oil on outside of throat, add raw honey and lemon juice to water to drink, gargle warm water with crushed garlic, sea salt, or GSE drops in it, and/or take elderberry syrup.
• For earache, Herbs For Kids Willow Garlic Ear Oil works great or you can make your own drops by crushing a fresh clove of garlic in a tablespoon of oil, let sit for 5 minutes, strain, administer two drops per ear, three times daily (this is best used as fresh as possible).
• For fever/flu, try a warm/cool sea salt bath, a ginger detox bath (put a T. of ground ginger in a little cloth bag or piece of nylon and rubberband closed then toss into bath . . .warning – this bath may irritate little boys private area, so use less ginger for them), and/or peppermint and chamomile tea with raw honey.  Stay hydrated and take a probiotic or eat yogurt if possible. 
• Herbal teas are a family favorite every day, but especially when sick. 

What natural remedies do you and your family use?  I would love to hear what has worked for you.  Thanks for stopping by Heavenly Homesteading.  In the next post in this series, I plan to write about body care tips ( ie. getting sun, skin care, hygiene, etc.).  Have a joyful day.

Blessings,

Carrie

Areas Affecting Health: Part 4 – Physical (laughter, affection, exercise)

 How many of you will take the laughter and affection but leave the exercise for another day?  Exercise used to interest me enough to actually get moving, but after living five years in the desert (hot!) and having three boys that keep me quite busy, I have had to look at exercise a bit differently . . . it’s called “functional fitness”.  Before I go on, if you haven’t read the first three posts in this series, you can find the links on my Natural Health Basics page. 

So, we’ve talked about spiritual, environmental, and nutritional affects on health.  Being in the middle of this seven part series, I thought it would be a good time to look at a couple of verses in Proverbs to keep the right focus with all this health talk.

          “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil.  It will be health to your flesh, and stength to your bones.”                      Proverbs 3:7,8

The Lord truly knows best.  We learn as He leads us, but ultimately it is our heart toward Him, not our head full of knowledge that gives health.  And, health is a gift, not something we deserve.  We praise Him for the gift and praise Him when we’re ill simply because He is God and worthy of all praise.

Laughter:

• Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine -”.  So, it looks like simple laughter can improve health!   Studies show that laughter releases endorphins (the body’s pain killers) and lowers blood pressure.  That sounds too good to be true.
• Our family used to be in the habit of making sure everyone got in a belly laugh each day by asking around before bedtime.  If anyone hadn’t had a belly laugh, a good tickle session would ensew . . . we need to start doing that again.

Affection:

•  The need for affection is a given, but it is something that can be forgotten through the business of daily life. 
• We have tried to make hugging a habbit in our family with morning hugs, bedtime hugs, and as many hugs as we can fit inbetween.   
• We have also found that simple message techniques can help ease many different discomforts.  For example, for headaches we message timple area, neck, or between thumbs and pointer fingers.  For stress relief, message shoulders or feet. 
• With little ones, bouncing and rocking helps get their system moving and thus helps the healing process as well. 

Exercise:

•  Before you skip this part, let me tell you that functional fitness is not hard, it is actually quite fun. 
• The basic idea is that you just get moving . . . whenever, wherever, and however you can as you do what you have to do throughout your day or all at one set time if you are able to set aside time for exercise (I am not).
• How functional fitness is applied will look different for everyone . . . you can really get creative or keep it very simple.  That said, here are a few things I like to do:
• Morning wake up moves – stretch arms, stretch legs, head and shoulder roles, and sometimes squats and/or leg lifts (20 for each leg to the back, to the side, and to the front while holding onto something).  All this is done while taking deep breaths in and out . . . very relaxing.
• While brushing teeth – heel lifts slowly up and down.
• Here and there – lunges (also known as knee downs) around the house (inside).
• With music – dance around with children.
• When the weather is good – take a nature walk.
• While doing dishes – quick side to side steps.
• Rebounding – if you have a trampoline.
• When you have a burst of energy – jump in place or jump rope.
• If you want to make your children smile – jump around punching the air while making a good guy gets bad guy sound (I know, this one is silly, but sometimes it’s okay to be silly).
• When you just feel like being free – run around the house (outside), then walk a bit and do it again.
• The ideas are endless . . . just get moving and have fun doing it. 

In the next post in this series, I plan to write about some natural healing ideas that have worked for our family.  Until then, have a joyful time laughing, loving, and moving.

Blessings,

Carrie

 

 

Homemade Sauerkraut

 

 

If I had known how easy it is to make sauerkraut, I would have started making it a long time ago!  My sister and I were inspired by the West Ladies in The Art of Canning DVD.  With their encouragement and my mistake on our Azure order (wanted two heads of cabbage . . . got two boxes with 32 heads!), we were blessed to try something new and I’m so glad we did.  Besides being easy to make, our children love to help with the sauerkraut as well, making it a fun family project.

 

So here is how easy it really is . . .

Ingredients:

• cabbage
• salt          

How to make:

• Wash and grate cabbage (or cut up into fine strips).
• Put cut cabbage into large bowl(s).
• Sprinkle with about 1 tsp. sea salt per head of cabbage.
• Let your children play . . . knead, squish, sqeeze, and grab the cabbage until the water starts to come out of the cabbage, making a puddle in the bottom of the bowl.
• Press softened cabbage into jars and add a little of the “cabbage juice” to each jar leaving about an inch of space between cabbage and lid.
• Put lids loosely onto jars.
• Store in a cool dark place for about 3 weeks.
• Then, enjoy and keep opened jars in refrigerator.
• That’s it!

Homemade jars of sauerkraut last one to two years unopened.  If you don’t care for sauerkraut, but would like to get the health benefits, try adding it to things like sausage, beans, soups, salads, or omlettes. 

Blessings,

Carrie

Multitude Monday: Week 18

 This week was one full of reflection and thoughts of how God saved me, totally and eternally, with no work of my own but to believe.  As a child, I thought to be His I must daily confess all my sins and invite Jesus back into my life (as if He had left me for some reason) . . . little did I know all those years that I was daily offering my filthy rags to Him over and over again . . . how patient God is.  As a young teen, God reached down in one amazing moment that I will never forget and asked me one simple question, “In this moment right now, do you believe?”.  “Yes,” was my reply.  Then came His words that have forever sealed me with a love more powerful than words can ever express, “You are mine forever.”  No more fear of being lost, no more wondering if my heart was sincere enough . . . freedom and peace forevermore.  What a precious gift, to believe.  His gifts are endless and I just can’t help but praise Him.  Here are #s 341-360 in this list of gifts from His hand:

Childlike faith,

freedom in Christ,

simple belief,

justification (just as if I had never sinned),

the things I find in a pot that make me think of my boys,

 husband spending time with our boys,

husband’s leadership,

bright spots of blue peeking through,

walk around property on snowy path,

rubbing Nathan’s head while he nurses,

toothless smiles,

snow angles,

snow ball fights,

sound of frozen snow shattering,

happy helpers,

New Year’s Party communion circle time,

husband’s prayer for the new year,

boys with BB guns,

husband teaching me how to shoot a BB gun,

God’s grace . . .

God’s love is amazing! 

Blessings,

Carrie

 

 

 

 

 

Areas Affecting Health: Part 3 – Nutrition

Eating wild seems to be the most nourishing way to go these days, but I don’t know of anyone who eats a completely wild diet . . . I can’t even imagine what it would take to eat completely wild.  So, in this post, I am just going to share some of the most important changes our family has made so far in the area of nutrition, specifically changes that have affected our health for the good.  You might like to read Part 1 – Spiritual and Part 2 – Environmental Issues in this seven part series before continuing on.   As I have shared before, I would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment if you have any thoughts or questions.   

Area 3: Nutrition

Nutrition is such a huge topic to tackle in one blog post, so to make it easier to follow I have divided it into three categories:  intake (food and liquids), detox (things taken to cleanse the body/fasting), and suppliments. 

Intake:

•  I used to think I was eating healthy by purchasing low-fat, cholesterol-free, whole grain, “natural” products at the grocery store.  Then, I read The Maker’s Diet, by Jordan S. Rubin and it changed everything for me.  I really appreciate how Biblically based Jordan’s perspective on health and nutrition are.  With so many diets and conflicting ideas about health out there today, I have tried to stick to Biblically based ideas because I truly believe that the One who created us is the One who knows best about how we should eat and stay healthy.
•  The first big step our family took to better our nutrition was to use part of our tax return to purchase a Nutrimill, a Bosch Universal Kitchen Machine, and a bunch of grain.  I am so thankful to God for the way my loving husband let us make such a big investment toward good health.   I began to research every free moment I could find, collect new recipes, and started switching one item at a time from store-bought grain items to homemade with fresh ground, soaked or sprouted grain flour: first bread, then pancakes, then cookies, crepes, cakes . . . now the only store-bought grain item we purchase is organic chips, as a treat.  No more rancid, preservative packed, nutrient depleated grain products full of phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors that make those whole grains hard to digest.  
• The next big step we took was to begin to switch little by little to organic produce, dairy, eggs, and meats.  This step takes time if you are on a limited budget and it helps a great deal to plan out your meals and buy in bulk whenever you can (that will have to be a future series of posts).  This year, by God’s grace we were able to have our own organic garden, get chickens for organic eggs and meat, get enough wild Alaskan salmon for the winter, and purchase shares for raw cows milk.
• The third step toward better nutrition we took was to only use natural sweeteners (raw honey, organic grade B maple syrup, organic raw blue agave, sorghum syrup, sucanat, and a little coconut sugar as a treat).  We also try to use only half the amount of sweetener recommended in recipes. 
• The fourth step we have taken is to include healthy fats in our diet (organic unrefined coconut oil, organic palm oil, organic extra virgin olive oil, and organic butter). 
• The next step we plan to take is to include some fermented items into our diet on a daily basis (ie. kombucha and/or sauerkraut).  We also look forward to more hunting and wild-crafting of herbs.  Having our own cows for milk and meat someday would be amazing, but we are not at a place to handle that yet.

Detox:

• Detox of the body seems like the most logical first step to take when you begin to learn about all the toxins the average American takes in on a daily basis, but I think that if you don’t also begin to STOP PUTTING TOXINS IN your body then no matter how much you detox, you won’t be able to fully heal and experience good health.  True detox begins by saying no to the toxins that have caused the need for detox in the first place.
• So what are the worst toxins, nutritionally, that should be avoided?  Here is a great place to start, Jordan Rubin’s dirty dozen list.  The Biblical Health Institute is a great resource for anyone interested in staying healthy and strong.  Another great resource is  Food, Inc., an eye opening movie that will encourage just about anyone to make changes in their diet (though I have to warn you, the producer included some evolutionary comments and clips  . . . maybe his next movie can be a documentary that reveals the truth about creation).  
• As the toxic burden to the body gets lighter, detoxing can really make a difference.  Our family has used herbal teas to detox (with green tea, dandelion, and burdock), ginger baths with a few drops of lavendar essential oil added to water (1 – 2 T. of ginger powder in a small cloth bag with a rubber band to keep it closed tossed into the bath water), and bentonite clay powder (which I plan to research further before using again).  If we ever get really serious about detoxing, we may try the Garden of Life Perfect Cleanse Kit.  Has anyone tried it? 

 Suppliments:

•  I have found that the suppliment world can easily become overwhelming and a waste of our resources if not approached carefully and prayerfully.  By God’s leading, I decided years ago to create a nutrient needs chart for our family that became a quick reference for me whenever it was time to order suppliments.  Before creating the chart, I did a bit of reading and researching to find out what each individual family member needed and then I took a good look at how those needs were being met through our normal food intake.  The chart was simply to fill in any gaps in our daily nutrition to show what our individual suppliment needs really were.
• Here are the basis categories in our daily nutrition chart:  protein, fats, carbs., dairy, fiber, antioxidants, enzymes, pro-biotics, living vitamins and minerals, and immune boosters.
• Here are the suppliments we currently take to fill the gaps: 
• My husband:  Garden of Life Vitamin Code Men  (half dose), Vitamin Code Raw Calcium (3 a day, he is lactose intollerant), Primal Defense (every other day), Oceans 3 (full dose through winter), was taking this CLO (favorite, but can’t always afford it . . . watch for sales!), Garlic Soft Gels  (2 a day as needed to support the immune system), Vitamin Code Raw C ( 2 a day as needed to boost the immune system), and sometimes he takes organic acai juice blend with Amazing Grass (because he doesn’t get enough fruits and greens) but hope to try this to replace the juice blend and Amazing Grass.
• Myself:  Garden of Life Raw Prenatal (half dose), Oceans 3 (full dose through winter), hand capsulated beet root powder (for folate and iron), Tummy Tuneup (as needed), Garlic Soft Gels (as needed), and Vitamin Code Raw C (as needed).
• Our boys: Garden of Life Oceans Kids (half dose), Primal Defense Kids Powder (along with yogurt), Greens Today Children’s Formula, and Garlic Soft Gels (as needed).

What steps toward better nutrition have you made recently?  Do you take any supplements that really work?  I would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment if you desire.  In the next post in this series I plan to talk about physical areas affecting health such as laughter, affection, and exercise.  Thanks for stopping by Heavenly Homesteading.  Happy New Year!

Blessings,

Carrie

Our Growing Family: December, 2009

The boys are growing so fast . . . and the joy of being their mother grows along with them.  Here are a few pictures from that past month for family and friends that live far away.  We miss and love you all. 

Playing with sparklie pipe cleaners from Aunt Sherry.

Nathan's almost 21 months old!

He has been "helping" me a great deal in the kitchen these days.

Our little live Christmas tree.

Board, hammers, nails . . . boys love it!

Happy New Year!

Maple Snow Candy

This is such a fun and delicious treat for children and adults during those cold winter months!  If you don’t have any snow outside, you can still make it, so don’t go away just yet (just grind up some ice in your blender and you’ve got “snow”).  Here is how you make maple snow candy:

• Step one – Begin heating desired amount of pure maple syrup in a pan on medium heat (we like to use organic grade B maple syrup).  Have a wooden spoon and thermometer ready to use.
• Step two – Have someone bundle up and go out to find some fresh, clean snow, but don’t bring it in until your syrup starts boiling.

• Step three – Once your syrup starts to boil, stir constantly until it reaches 240 degrees F. This temperature makes a soft smooth candy. While it is getting hot enough, have someone bring  in some snow and give each person a bowl or plate of their own, full of snow.
• Step four – When syrup reaches 240 degrees, pour it into a gravy server or something that will be easy to pour out of. 
• Step five – Drizzle the hot syrup over the snow and allow to cool for a minute.
• Step six – Once cool, the syrup will be candy that can be picked up and enjoyed.
• Step seven – If you have boys like we do in our home, you can give them a few army guys (when their candy is gone) and let them play with them in the leftover snow.  You can also make little ice figures with the leftover snow.  Have fun!