Call me crazy, but I’ve always been into “natural” things. Perhaps it stems from the fact that I was the one child in my family who was born at home with a midwife. Not just any midwife, but a midwife who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and given 0% hope from the doctors. I was told as a child about this midwife, who after learning she was dying, had a dream one night where her grandmother appeared to her. Her grandmother was holding a bunch of herbs, and told her to learn all about them. So, this midwife did, and thus assisted her cancer in completely disappearing.

My Mom told me about all of the crazy herbal drinks that the midwife had her drink during pregnancy, and pointed out how I was always such a healthy child with an unusual taste pallet that preferred spinach over chocolate.  Coincidence, we asked?  No-probably not!  Just this simple knowledge opened up my mind to lots of “alternative health” things growing up.

I am not a fan of Aspirin, Advil, or most over-the-counter medicine– if I can avoid it. I think medicine has its place in the world, but I think it is overused and over-prescribed, instead of teaching people the ways they can be eating or treating their bodies to avoid their maladies.  I have used midwives for my children, and have always appreciated their alternative approaches to preparing the body for labor and treating the body post-labor with herbal mixes and applications, oils, etc.

So, when our friends visited us in April enroute from Alaska to Argentina with their 5 kids, I was kind of intrigued when a call to get out their first aid kit produced a case of 40 essential oils.  My head was full of questions, but I also didn’t want to seem too eager to know more!  So, instead of asking questions I picked up a hefty hardback book about the oils that they had with them, and started getting an essential oil education. The book explained the history of essential oils, how they are made, why they are effective, and then had a dictionary-style list of maladies with ways to treat them with essential oils. It was all news to me!  I showed it my husband, and he also became intrigued. However, he argued “ESSENTIAL oils? Why in the world do they call them that? That’s a terrible name!  They should be called NATURAL oils!” Heehee…he’s still hung up on that.

So, here are some things we learned:

-Essential oils have been around for a LONG time!  They’ve found evidence of them in ancient Egypt, China, and of course, Biblical times!

-Essential oils are the liquids that are distilled from plants. It takes a lot of plant to make a little bottle of oil. A LOT.

-Essential oils never expire. Ever.

-Essential oils are 50x-70x more powerful than herbs. For example, one drop of peppermint oil is equivalent to having 28 cups of peppermint tea. Did you know that peppermint is great for treating indigestion? Which would you rather have? 28 cups of peppermint tea to treat that upset stomach, or a single drop of oil?

-Essential oils  have literally hundreds of chemical consitutuents/ingredients in each one of them, which make them operate a certain way. Scientists haven’t been able to identify every constituent of every oil…they are very complex!  Therefore they have never been able to successfully recreate a complete essential oil in the laboratory, but they have learned to replicate some of the individual constituents in oils.  After synthetically duplicating some of the isolated natural oil constituents, they then stamp their patent on it, and market it as a medicine they can sell very profitably (after all, they can’t patent a natural oil, so it is only financially profitable to make a synethetic version that can be patented and sold!). Unfortunately, because that constituent has been isolated (not to mention it is now fake–not the real, natural deal), it no longer comes as a package deal with all of the other constituents of that oil, which means that it does not operate exactly the same way. So, you can get unexpected side-effects from the synthetic versions, because the divinely-made properties are not the same, and it may be missing a constituent that otherwise would have worked to naturally counteract a side-effect.

-Essential oils can be used 3 ways – Internally, Topically (on the skin), or Aromatically. All are very effective.

-Essential oils are so small in molecular size that they can quickly penetrate the skin and can literally affect every cell of your body within 20 minutes, allowing it to be metabolized like other nutrients. You can put a drop of oil on your feet (did you know they have the largest pores on your entire body?!), and it can have a biological affect on your body FAST.

-Antibiotics cannot penetrate cell membranes, which is why they are not prescribed in the case of viral infections, because viruses are located inside of cell membranes. However, essential oils CAN penetrate cells to kill viruses and bacteria!  So there IS something you can do to fight off a virus!!

-Not all essential oils are created equal–you only want 100% pure therapeutic-grade oil.

-Essential oils are antibacterial, anticancer, antifungal, anti-fectious, antimicrobial, antitumor, antiparasitic, antiviral, and antiseptic. They are also antioxidants. Those are some pretty super cool anti’s.

These are just some of the factors that made me begin to seriously consider giving essential oils a try.

Once I knew the science was there, I was willing to jump in and test them out. (p.s. if you really want to know more about the science of them, I could share with you pages and pages explaining essential oil constituents, like terpenes, alcohols, esters, ketones, and a lot of other really yucky looking words. For me, it’s enough for me to glance over the pages and know that someone understands that jargon, and I don’t have to!)

So, we purchased some, and here are just some of the things that we have found them to be WONDERFUL for in the last two months!

-Headaches

-Cuts

-Fevers

-Muscle Pain

-Allergies

-Coughs

-Sore throats

-Constipation

-Diarrhea

-Bug bites

-Sinus infections

-Stress relievers

-Snoring

Basically…everything!

Does your kid have an earache in the middle of the night?  Treatable.

Does your kid have Viral Moluscum Warts? Doctors in the US tell you will go away in a few years, so they shouldn’t swim or bathe with other kids until then. Doctors in Mexico instead suggest to painfully CUT them off…and then they come back.  But guess what?  Melaleuca oil (aka tea tree oil) will eradicate them within a week or two. GONE. Completely!

Do you get car sick? I don’t anymore!

Your kid has a fever, and you don’t know how much to give him because the old medicine bottle in your cabinet says consult with a doctor for children under the age of 2? Or wait–didn’t they outlaw all fever-reducers for children under 2?  What if you give him the wrong amount? What if it’s expired?  What if he has a bad reaction to it?   I now know there’s a natural solution!

Did your daughter get a crazy outbreak of hives that had her screaming and itching all over? No? Okay, maybe that was just mine? We put  mix of lavender and melaleuca all over her bumps, and within 20 minutes they were flat and no longer itched. Except her hands. Oh, sweet darling!  We forgot to put oil on your hands! So sorry!  We took care of those, too.  Sweet.

Seriously–I love this stuff. And I’m just learning about it.

I love the fact that when my kids have a pain of any sort, they come asking for oils, instead of medicine. It makes me smile inside.

Okay, and outside, too.

Want to know more about essential oils?  I’m happy to send some samples your way this month, so that you can try them yourself, and see why sometimes returning to time-tested traditional ways is often the best way!

I can also share with you a way to buy them at 25% off. Who doesn’t like a deal?

Leave me a message, drop me an email, or check out this link for more info on Essential Oils and where to get them!

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 Why is it that children love eyeglasses?  We try to keep them out of Ethan’s grasps, but it is not always an easy task. Well, one weekend Ethan grabbed Jared’s glasses and broke them. We did the best gluing job we could (because Jared does not have contacts or any form of backup for seeing), but it was not holding.

 After checking out the local Chapala.com forums (a great online resource for finding any information about living “lakeside” or Mexico, in general), I discovered a reputable eye doctor/surgeon in Guadalajara at San Pablo. I called the office first thing on Monday, and we got an appointment for the very next morning. We made the hour and a half drive to Northern Guadlajara, and patiently waited throughout Jared’s 5 ½ hour exam to determine if he was eligible for Lasik surgery.

 Ethan entertained himself (and others) in the large waiting area with a balloon that a staff member so kindly gave him.

Jared was whisked from room, to room, to room, to room, to be examined on all of their specialized equipment. And thankfully, he was eligible!

We scheduled surgery for the very next day, and it was quick (and not so painless). Jared said it was pretty horrific for the 15-minute surgery, but he survived and was more than happy that he did it. The staff wheeled him out to our car, and I braved the Guad traffic for the long drive home. He was ordered to take it easy for a day, and returning the next day to have the bandage removed. So, on the third day in a row of driving to Guadalajara, they removed his bandages, and he could see the world clearly and beautifully. I admit I was a bit jealous!

They asked to see him again a week later (drive #4), and we also scheduled an appointment for me to see if I could also be eligible for the surgery.  We left the baby with a friend, which made the long wait in the office not nearly as painful.

However, their final decision was a little bit painful: Not eligible.

At least, not for now. Now I need to go do some research on how to thicken my corneas!! Is it possible???!!!

p.s. Surgery for both eyes with all appointments and prescriptions included cost about $1,200 USD. If we’d waited, it would have been even cheaper with the current exchange rate!

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