What ARE Essential Oils, Anyway??

This is a guest post written by Stacy McDonald. It gives good information about what essential oils are. If you'd like to know more, I am happy to send a FREE information booklet for those who follow my blog. Just leave a note in the comments that you're following now or e-mail me with your address. Do you already follow my blog, and would like the booklet anyway? Let me know - I'll send one your way. Head here if you'd like to see more about what Young Living can do for your health and well-being, or to order (as a customer or for wholesale discounts), go here. I'm happy to walk you thrugh the process!

Therapeutic grade essential oils are much more than some sort of glorified perfume. They are healing, soothing, stress-reducing, health inducing, and downright powerful gift from God. Many oils have properties that are anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-microbial, and the list goes on. Some are known to help coagulate blood, stimulate circulation, relieve congestion, constrict blood vessels, calm nerves, balance hormones, or reduce nausea.

“His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue…” (2 Peter 1:3)

Why Do You Believe What You Do?

I watched a documentary a while back about Mecca. The video followed three Muslims who were going on Hajj. It explained much about Islamic belief and Mecca that I did not know. To that end, it was an interesting video. The part that I found most interesting, though, was the American woman who had converted from Roman Catholicism. She had an Irish last name and hurt her family badly (she said) when she converted. They did not dwell much on that aspect of her conversion, but her conversion story was interesting to me.

Little seeds planted along the way help form our beliefs
 over time - what seeds are you planting?

Growing up, my parents took me to church each Sunday. As a very young child, my mother took us to many different churches, trying to find the right one. She was raised in the understanding that "All churches have something, and no church has everything." Under a philosophy such as that one, presumably, almost any Christian worship place would be acceptable. However, clearly not all were within her acceptance levels, because we continued our search.

Good Snacks for Growing Kids

With four boys and the girlie, keeping good healthy, filling snacks on hand is essential. I don't buy the granola bars or pre-packaged snacks because they are expensive, have a lot of junky ingredients, way too much sugar and they don't keep my kids satisfied for very long. In fact, Maestro can easily munch his way through an entire box of fiber one bars and still look for "something more to eat."

The other night dinner was going to be more than just an hour in the making so with a little rummaging around, we came up with this:

Slices of french bread (left over from the night before), peanut butter, apple slices from lunch, golden raisins and dried currants. It was a hit (and gave Buttercup and her friend a nice little tea party snack!)

Because of all the munchies going on, I try to keep certain things in the pantry and am sharing my go-to snacks today.

Ahhh... The TAX Return

I'm a nerd. I admit it. I have always looked forward to doing my taxes. I love plugging in the numbers and seeing what the outcome will be and how much I'll be getting back. But this year... This year I didn't want to dive in. I was afraid. 

PART of the Motivation

I've tried to say little on the politics on my blog. I know I have friends who disagree with me and I am not always as educated as I'd like to be before getting into such a discussion. So without getting too political, I would be happy if I got even $100 back, or (worse yet) if I didn't owe money on my taxes this year! With five children it would have taken some serious conjuring to make that happen, but it is our first year as landlords, and I wasn't sure how that would affect things. It was impossible to say how things would come out.