Backpack Essentials 6 is all about the oils Young Living made just for our children!
Our family loves the pre-diluted KidScents oils!
Here’s a quick rundown of each of the oils for you!
Backpack Essentials 6
Backpack Essentials: Teacher Gifts
As a former teacher, I can speak for all educators when I say that teachers work hard for your children, so one of the biggest backpack essentials is teacher gifts!
I can also say that when teachers feel appreciated and cared for after pouring their hearts out to your children, it is refreshing.
This post is full of toxin-free gifts any teacher would be thankful to receive!
(If you haven’t gotten your 24% discount on all oils and oil-infused products, click here: Young Living Starter Kit)
Essential Oil Hacks: Getting Started
These essential oil hacks help with the basics of the toxin-free transition.
Essential Oil Hacks: Resources
DIY is totally achievable…if you have the right resources.
Essential Oil Hacks: Rollerbottles
Get more bang for your buck making rollerballs with the use of rollerbottles!
Let’s dig into some of my favorite recipes!
Young Living: Save a Ton!
Young Living: Save a Ton!
I wondered if I would ever take advantage of the Essential Rewards program until I realized with Young Living I could save a ton!
First Thing’s First
(If you haven’t gotten your start to a toxin-free lifestyle yet, click here: Young Living Starter Kit )
After the second month using oils and learning there’s literally an oil to support everything, my husband and I took a look at my ever-growing list of products, oils, and oil blends and knew we needed Essential Rewards.
Why?
1. Give Me ALL the Oils
My budget-watching husband disagreed. No, Andrea. You cannot trade food and shelter for oils.
$50 per month. Now, THAT we can do!
2. Free Product Thank Yous
I’m budgeting oils into our life AND you’re giving me some of the money back to use like cash on other oils on my list? UM…OKAY!
And you’re going to send me a free oil at 3,6,9, and 12 months? Alrighty!
And you’ll offer me more free product up to over $200 retail value each month on promotional items? Yesss….
And you’ll discount certain products, like our beloved Ningxia Red, in exclusive ER bundles? Ah!
Love like this should not be passed on, friends!
Our family has been given thousands and thousands of dollars worth of free product!
We’ve got one squeaky, toxin-free homestead over here, y’all, and we didn’t even have to pay for all of it!
I love free things just as much as the next momma bear. But I love this even more. Our boys, including one spunky cancer survivor, are only breathing in and wearing goodness!
Loyalty
You can choose Essential Rewards.
The Wholesale Discount Premium Starter Kit with 12 oils, a diffuser, and a 24% discount will pop up, and you simply click the loyalty box.
Add in the Essential Rewards, and you’re looking at 49% back in your pocket just for making your home full of the most trusted non-toxic products on the planet, and save tons!
>>NEXT: Hacks You Need NOW! Part 7>>
Grace Speaks
Grace Speaks
“Give yourself a year’s worth of a lot of grace.â€
I heard these words come out of my best friend’s mouth about me leaving my job of the last 11 years to be a stay-at-home-mom.
In my head it didn’t make sense. I’d have all the time in the world. Literally.
I was in for a rude awakening.
Learning Curve
All those things other people chipped in to help with when I was teaching like laundry, vacuuming, dishes, childcare, errands became my new time crunch.
And on top of it, because I was a stay-at-home-mom, I felt the need to jump into the PTO, take on a new business to help out with finances, and pitch in more with our non-profit.
On its own, motherhood within the home is a huge job, but add in all those extra features to it, and here I am feeling confused and lost like a fish out of water.
No schedule. No “This happens now†and “That happens then.â€
Just time.
The Stuff
And stuff.
And in that “stuff,†no matter what it is, it is so easy to get distracted and land in this place of confusion and disappointment.
The kids aren’t getting enough of my attention. I didn’t make that call. I missed that appointment. The house isn’t clean as it should be. The laundry isn’t caught up. The blog hasn’t been written lately. I haven’t worked out in months. I’m behind on Bible study. I. Am. Such. A. Failure.
I am floundering, it’s true, but I’ve got one thing that keeps lifting me up.Â
Jesus.
Never Alone
I’m not wandering aimlessly.
Best of all, I have a purpose and a calling.
I can lean on Him as hard and as often as I need to.
Lord, what have You put in front of me today?
This pile of laundry? A game of Sorry with my four-year-old? A random blog post You put on my heart in the middle of loading the dishwasher?
Then I consider it joy.
Because it is so unbelievably easy to see it as being scattered or lost or even failing.
But all I needed was a little perspective and a big reality check, that came in the form of advice from another wonderful friend.
Perspective
Reality: Satan saw an opportunity to chip away at my heart, and I let him.
Satan says:
- I’m not good enough
- Not worth it
- Should do more than I can handle
- I’m a failure
- It’s okay to be lazy because being a mom is hard
BUT. JESUS.
Grace says:
- I’m right where God has placed me after answering a six-year-long prayer.
- Exactly what my family needs.
- Have enough on my plate, and He will guide me.
- Not alone.
- Succeeding. Learning. Growing.
- Pull strength from the Lord when being a mom is hard.
- Trust that He is sufficient and His grace is enough.
I don’t have to worry.
I’m no longer a slave to fear.
For I am a child of a graceful, loving, peaceful God.
Amen.
The Breathing Word
There’s this thing that happens.
Fearless in Times of Suffering
Fearless
If there’s any time I need God’s grace, it’s when I am mustering up faith in Him to become fearless.
When I don’t know how things will work out.
Don’t have control over the situation.
Just can’t make things go the way I want them to.
When I just. Don’t. Know.
Today was one of those days.
Hospital Scare
I was at the hospital for a routine checkup with Hudson.
Our oncologist was saying how the disease he once had, Neuroblastoma, usually ends up okay for kids like him.
One who has favorable genetics, but he wanted to let me know that there could still be some cancer left over in my child.
What do you mean, left over cancer? You said it was out.
Long story short, he was speaking of calcified and dead cancer and also in generalities.
He ended the conversation by saying Hudson is okay and will most likely have a totally normal life expectancy.
I should be fine, right?
I was.
I am.
But the devil totally saw his opportunity to mess with my head.
What if?
Get OUT
Get out, Satan. Not today. Not ever!
My God is greater. My God is stronger. My God is higher than you and your lies.
I know the Truth.
I know God is the ultimate healer, and my son is clean from this disease.
I know that even if something does happen, that the Lord will see us through just like He did three years ago.
But most of all, I know that I don’t have to fear anything because I am not a slave to your fear, Satan.
Who I Am
I am a child of God.
I don’t have to wallow in the piercing fear that immediately gripped me when Dr. Dole began talking about Neuroblastoma.
I don’t have to let myself get caught up in the past trauma of how it feels to be a mother of a very sick child.
I don’t have to camp out there, because my identity is not traumatized mother.
My identity is daughter of God– Heavenly Creator and Healer.
He > I
He has done a perfect job of being Him. Walking me through all the pain, all the joys, triumphs, and all the fears.
God’s grace goes far beyond what I could ever be capable of doing myself.
If it weren’t for grace, He would’ve been angry that I could second-guess what I know in my heart to be true, and He would’ve washed His hands of me completely.
But that’s just not our God.
He loves so abundantly and so grand– bigger than we can comprehend.
So, instead of kicking me to the curb, He drew me nearer to Him.
I felt myself being drawn up into His arms and comforted.
I know what is true: I can trust You, Lord.
Grateful
Thank You Lord, for being a merciful Father.
Who sees my fears and disbelief and triggers of past pain and uses it to pray, connect, and delve deeper in my relationship with You.
Thank You for being a God whose number one mission is to care for His children.
Sitting here in my motherhood fears, You love me so tenderly that I am able to feel calm and peace in my heart.
To be overwhelmed with Your love through grace, to rest in the fact that You are good.
You are God.
You are Truth.
When I Fail
Is it always my first fleshly reaction to trust?
Unfortunately, no.
I wish I could say that every single time I’m met with adversity I was fearless, but fear does get a hold of me–especially when it comes to my children.
However I never have to live in that fear because I have my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Even More
Because of this, I can enjoy my motherhood. I can enjoy my family. I can enjoy this precious gift of life the Lord has given me. I can be fearless.
Best of all, I can share His grace with you with the hope that you, too can open your heart to it as well.
Never would I ever want to hold all this to myself. It’s too big not to share.
It’s too amazing.
It’s the only thing in this world worth calling perfect: God’s love.
3 Words to Kick Pride to the Curb
3 Words to Kick Pride to the Curb
Pride: a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
Why would anyone want to get rid of a pleasurable feeling?
It’s crazy.
Ludicrous.
Necessary.
A Humbling
Every time we get a sense of pride-of true unabashed pride-we are really saying one thing: “Look what I did.”
My son can speak at three months: look what our boy can do.
I spend two-and-a-half years getting my Masters degree: look what I finally accomplished. Look at how my hard work has paid off.
My husband makes a sale that affords us renovation: All of those long, hard days and sacrifices our family has made while my husband worked so hard is blessing us.
The 8th graders in my class create amazing projects: Look what my students did after a long quarter of perseverance.
All of these things, they’re good things, but pride isn’t the feeling we should associate with it because pride is a lie.
Pride is a Lie
Deceitful.
Wrong.
We have been taught to believe pride. To relish it. To find our joy in it.
And frankly, no one likes to hear that something they like is a sin.
But it is.
If you read further down into the synonyms part of the definition, you’ll read the following:
Pride is a lofty and often arrogant assumption of superiority in some respect: Pride must have a fall.
A Fall
Must have a fall.
Then why in the world do we tell our children, “I’m proud of you” or our husband upon that bonus check, “Babe! I’m so proud of you!” or to others, “I’m proud that I stuck with that degree, it’s really paying off”?
Because we’ve been taught to.
Child of God, when looking within ourselves, we must remember that we are living in this world, but we are not of this world.
In It Not Of It
Whether we particularly like it or not, we are set apart. Living in exile.
Which is why what I’m sharing today is most likely not sitting well with my readers.
How do we undo this prideful thinking?
We must trade in old feelings for new.
It sounds impossible, but it can be done.
How?
Changed Viewpoint
We must change our view on how the achievement was made.
All things. Not some things. All.
And if this is our truth, if this is what we claim to believe, then we cannot ever take complete credit for accomplishments because that would be a lie. That would be prideful.
And pride, we know, must come with a fall.
These three words are all we need:
1.) Grateful
2.) Thankful
3.) Praise
Instead of “I’m so proud of…” say, “I’m so grateful that…” or “I’m so thankful that…” or “I praise God for…”
Some Easy Changes
CHANGE THIS:
“I’m proud of myself for sticking with that tough course load and making it to graduation. That was so tough!”
TO THIS:
“I’m so thankful God helped me through that course. That was so tough!”
CHANGE THIS:
“Babe! I’m so proud of you!”
TO THIS:
“Thank God you were able to earn this bonus. I’m so thankful!”
CHANGE THIS:
“I’m so proud of you, son!”
TO THIS:
“I’m really thankful God helped you through this test. I know you studied hard for it.”
What’s the Payoff for Ditching Pride?
It really is a switch in how we think about the end result of our hard work, but we must speak truths, especially to our children.
We are the only way they will know who’s truly at work within them allowing them the strength, courage, and perseverance to complete tasks.
Today, instead of falling from pride, we’ll fall to our knees and pray, “God, thank you!”
We will use the words with our children, “I’m so thankful God was with you through that assignment,” or “Thank you, God for my child. Thank you for his courage. His heart. And that I get to be his momma.”
Turn Our Hearts and Eyes
We will still feel joy, excitement, and happiness, but we will turn our hearts toward giving credit where credit is due.
While only God can change a heart, we do play a very specific role in how our children’s hearts are shaped. We play an active part in our own salvation and heart changes, too.
Because we know God wants our hearts, we know we have to make ours right and raise up the next generation to understand the driving force behind their life, too.
Thank you, Lord for being with me as I wrote this piece. I pray You are in my reader’s hearts so they can become closer to You through this post. I love you! Amen!
Laid Bricks on My Heart
As a little girl, I used to daydream about motherhood.
What would it be like to have a baby of my very own? To hold, change, carry, and snuggle.
What would it be like, I wondered from as far back as I can remember, to be the mommy?
How I hoped I could be like my own mother.
Let ’em Fly!
In response to sickness and the Ohio weather shifting from mid 70s to upper 30s overnight, we present to you some indoor fun…
**drumroll please**
It Rained Until it Shined
SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 2014
The snow day Monday, Steve stayed home from work and couldn’t play with the kids at all or come near me because he was feeling so bad. This was a bummer, but boy oh boy did we have quite a week in store for us. This was truly the calm before the storm.
Tuesday was another snow day, and I did have such a great morning with Cohen, but then it was off to the hospital with Hudson for an I.V. and an injection.
This radioactive substance attached to the Neuroblastoma in his body and let us know, head-to-toe, where everything was for sure.
We finally made it home and Steve was feeling sick still. He went on a run to get some medicine, but never made it there because there was a pipe burst in our rental property.
A pipe burst near the water heater causing it to dump its entire contents and everything it was trying to refill onto the ceiling causing it to cave in.
All flooring on the first floor, the entire ceiling on the first floor, counters and cabinets in the kitchen must be replaced.
While I was on the phone with the insurance, I had Hudson screaming wanting to nurse, Cohen grabbing my hand to play, and Hattie dropping a ball on my lap to throw. All in all quite a stressful evening, I must say.
Oh yes, and earlier that day I realized Hudson is losing his hair.
Chemo will do that, and we totally expected it. So, I took some pictures before it started falling out to celebrate and remember the hair he was born with.
We also did a little at-home hair cut the day I found the first of it in his bed and some that came out in my hands.
After crying for quite a while, I called my sister, who had these simple yet all too true words of wisdom, “He may be losing his hair, but if you didn’t have this treatment you’d lose Hudson.”
Talk about perspective.
So, I gathered myself up after mourning the beautiful hair I was so (foolishly) proud of and decided to celebrate it instead.
Though I feel good about everything, I will admit I even shed tears writing this and looking at the pictures, still. I don’t know why this one little thing is so hard for me.
Most babies don’t have this much hair anyway, and it will grow back, but for some reason it strikes such a spot in my heart and makes me ache every time I think about it or more hair is left behind on his sheets, carseat, or my shirt.
That was the hair he came into this world with. It was such a wonderful day, and his hair was quite the topic of conversation as I was delivering him. I just remember how beautiful my baby was upon entering this world almost four short months ago, and I guess I’m selfishly not quite ready to give that up. Stupid, I know, but it’s the (ugly) truth.
Hudson came out of the scan and nursed like a champ. That night at home, however he was not able to get milk from me.
This was so upsetting. My mom went to make a bottle of my frozen milk for him, and I had to leave the room because he will refuse a bottle if he can see, hear, or smell me at all.
I went into my room, laid on my bed, and sobbed. I was just so drained emotionally from the day, from what was to come Thursday with chemo, and I just fell down on the bed and let it all out.
I think I needed to. Doing all of this by myself at the hospital, I have to hold everything together, and I’m glad in a way that I finally had something that made me release those emotions.
Then, I got to thinking about what I had eaten that day with all the stress and being at the hospital had brought. About 500 calories.For the entire day.
I wiped my tears away, ran downstairs and started grabbing the best foods I could to replenish my supply. I pumped that night around 10 so my body knew I still needed to produce milk, and by morning we were back in business.
Thank goodness this happened with my second baby, so I knew how to process what was happening, and I didn’t think I was just drying up! Thank you, Lord!
Thursday morning we were back in the clinic for a full day of chemotherapy. This was Hudson’s second round, and this day made everything else we had been through (and would go through in the next couple days) totally worth it.
 Dr. Dole told us the following news: Hudson’s tumor has gotten considerably smaller, his genetic testing all came back favorable and low-risk, and Hudson will have a normal life expectancy! Tears of joy!
 Thank you, thank you thank you, LORD!!!
Such a beautiful Thursday, but we would quickly realize, tough times were not quite finished in the Marshall house.
Friday, Steve took both he and Cohen to the doctor. The night before, while in the middle of hourly diaper changes, Steve told me he was just so cold. His temperature read 101.7. I grabbed Tylenol and a half hour later it read 103!
Got the Motrin, but fifteen minutes later it read 105.1! I was so scared. He was shaking and shaking, Hudson needed me, and Cohen was coughing so hard in the next room, I just knew he had something, too.
With help from a sweet friend, who is a nurse, we chugged some Rehydrate and brought his temperature down to where he could finally sleep. The doctor says it’s an infection possibly sinus or bronchitis.
Our babysitter has a sinus infection, and Cohen tested positive for the flu after waking with his own 102 temperature.
Hudson and I took to the nursery with the air purifier and camped out in there for a few days. The hardest part is seeing Cohen (with a mask on and changing my shirt every time I come in contact with him, which isn’t that often) and not being able to help my baby at all.
And all of it…no matter how stressful, how tough, how emotional; all of it I’d do all over again for moments like this.
Thank you, Lord that we will raise these brothers together as it should be. We praise You for this beautiful gift!!
PRAISES:
-Wonderful genetic testing!!!
-Tumor shrinking!!!!!
-Loss of more nodules!!
-Growing and gaining weight!
-Family and friends who leave food on our doorstep and in our infusion room, call with concern, text with love, and rejoice along with us!
-Wonderful jobs for Steve and myself that are so good helping us still through this
-Amazing doctors who go above and beyond. Dr. Kim Kohsla and Dr. Dole are a Godsend.
-Sweet Anna, who we prayed for last week, is home safe and recovering…thank you, LORD!!
PRAYER REQUSTS:
-Chemo. last Thursday will knock the tumor down even more!
-Wonderful bloodwork this Thursday
-Steve, Cohen, and Ruthanne (our babysitter) get healthy enough to be around Hudson by the doctor’s Wednesday estimate
-Me going back to work (still nervous a little!) Tuesday
-Hudson and I do NOT catch any of this sickness!
Thank you for sharing our journey with us.
Andrea 🙂
Life after Chemo 1
Living This Blessed Life
January 1, 2014
I think what I’m most surprised about is how normal our life is right now.
Other than Hudson sleeping more than usual, we are just the same as we were before December 10.
It’s not like our life has come crashing down on us. It’s not even like I think about it all the time. It’s just a part of our new lifestyle.
We check his Broviac when we change his diaper to make sure the dressing is still properly attached. I flush his Broviac once a day with Heparin, and I wipe him down with Chlorhexidine before putting him into his jammies each night.
This may seem like it’s not normal at all, but after just two short weeks, it’s just our new normal. No biggie.
We still play, laugh, talk with friends, watch movies, celebrate little things here and there that the boys do each day, and go to work. We still do everything we used to, it’s just got a few more steps to it than normal.
Hudson is so happy, and is getting close to rolling over back to belly. He loves looking at his big brother and staring at the fireplace. He loves when we talk to him, and especially when we read to him. He’s loving being a thumb sucker, and I secretly love it, too.
When I look at the big picture, we’re going to be okay, and we are okay.
We have to keep positive to make life fun and healthy and loving for our boys. If anything, we’re growing closer as a family each time something new comes up with Hudson. Best of all, we are growing in our faith in the LORD though our walk with Him has taken this unexpected turn.
Prayer Requests:
~Hudson has lost many of his nodules, but he still has four major ones that are yet to go away.
~That Hudson and Cohen will do just fine when I go back to work on the 6th.
~That a little girl named Anna, whose momma has posted about her heart surgery coming up on Friday will be laid on the hearts of everyone reading this blog, too. Lord, please heal her sweet little heart!
~That the body scan will show Hudson’s tumor has shrunk considerably.
~Good chemo session on the 9th
~That my students aren’t affected by my need to leave and be with Hudson when I need to be with him. That they will still learn a lot from me and take important lessons with them that will help them in high school and beyond. That I can be a good teacher for them even though my heart and mind are here with my boys.
PRAISES!:
~Friendships that the Lord has given us. I cannot believe how many people are so compelled to pray for Hudson and our family, write us sweet messages, and just stick by us through the tough and celebrate the good with us. What a blessing every single day!
~Another nodule that was on the back of Hudson’s head, and a source of constant concern is GONE…GONE GONE GONE!
~That I found a homemade recipe for wipes that I love and will feel so much more comfortable combating “chemo rash” with after our next treatment on the 9th.
~That Mommy and Daddy shared our 10th Happy New Years smooch on the couch after both nearly falling asleep before midnight.
Songs. Books. Tummy Time. Comb-overs.
All in a day’s work.
~Jeremiah 29:12
Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Thank you for sharing our journey with us.
Andrea 🙂
