Oils: How to Get Started

A few months ago two of my lovely friends were talking about essential oils. We got together and all made bath salts from their oils. I didn't think much of it but the seed was planted. I wanted to learn more and get some of these oils!

I have made a few posts on Facebook about Young Living Essential Oils. I thought it was time To write an overview on how oils can be used and what your options are to buy them.

First and foremost I want to say that I recommend Young Living Essential Oils over other brands and any that you can find at a health food store for several reasons. Young Living Essential Oils has established itself over the years as the premier manufacturer of the highest quality essential oils. Young Living is proud to set the standard for essential oil purity and authenticity by carefully monitoring the production of our oils through our unique Seed to Seal® process. From the time the seed is sourced until the oil is sealed in the bottle, we apply the most rigorous quality controls possible to ensure that you are receiving essential oils exactly the way nature intended. This being said we only offer oils that are the highest quality. If the crop does not meet our standards, we simply do not carry those oils and try again.

You may be thinking, "That's all wonderful, but what are Essential Oils used for and how do I use them?" This link leads to a video to answers these questions. In my family we are exploring the use of oils instead of turning to our medicine cabinet. We put them on topically and diffuse them. I've even added drops of lavender to our girls bath water to help aid in calming them down at night.

Next step, how can I purchase the oils? There are several options for purchasing essential oils. You can purchase as a retail customer and buy just what you need, one item at a time.

However, there's another way. For those of us who love a bargain this is the best bet. You can choose to be a wholesale member. Think of this step as purchasing a membership to SAMs club or CostCo. This membership allows you to purchase any and all of your oils at a wholesale price for life. If you choose to sign up you will notice that your social security number is asked for. This is for tax purposes only. Should you choose to sell Young Living Essential Oils as a distributor and you make more than $600/year then you will receive a 1099 form for tax purposes. As a wholesale member you will pay wholesale pricing from here on out, 24% off. There is no monthly obligation. To maintain your ability to purchase oils at the wholesale pricing a purchase of $50 must be made, yearly, that's right, yearly!

Retail Customer:

• Do not have to purchase a starter kit
• Pay full retail

Wholesale Customer:

• Have to purchase a starter kit
• 24% off retail for life
• NO auto-ship/yearly fees
• NO obligation to sell/promote, however if you choose to you have the opportunity to do so

There are several starter kits available through Young Living wholesale membership. The best value is the Premium Starter Kit. It comes with $329 worth of products for $150, that's over 50% off! The kit comes with everything you need to get started: 11, 5ml bottles of the most commonly used oils, a diffuser, a roller ball top, 10 popular oil samples and 2 Ningxia Red samples. and samples/pamphlets explaining them all. 

The Basic Plus Kit is the same as the Premium Starter Kit, except for the Everyday Essential oils. The only actual bottle of oil you get aside from the samples is the Citrus Fresh. Most people get this one if they are wanting a diffuser and the wholesale pricing but do not care about the 10 everyday essential oils. This kit is $75.

The Basic Starter Kit is everything in the Basic Plus excluding the Diffuser. This kit is $40. This kit is most commonly purchased by those who are just looking for the 24% off life time retail pricing.

I personally have chosen to be a Young Living Essential Oil distributor. This is because I want to share the amazing transformation that oils are having on my family. However, I am not out to take your money. Please read this carefully: After you select your kit you may want to click the circle that says, "No thank you" to the essential rewards program. If you find that you are loving essential oils and want to sign up to get this monthly shipment then you can do that at a later time. There is a rewards program and by doing this monthly order you will earn free products. For me personally, I'm not ready to make that financial commitment at this time. As my wish list continues to grow it may be in my near future. However, I felt it was important to get my kit and begin using it before making that choice. You can add it at any time.

To anyone interested, please let me know if you have any other questions. I am still new to this and will be more than happy to find the answer to any questions you may have!

Child Like Faith

What a day. I feel like the only way I'm every going to be able to sleep is to write, and write quickly. I'm sorry for any typos or grammatical errors. My mind is spinning and this has to come out.

Our morning started like any other. The girls and I got up, we had breakfast and we went to wake up daddy. Karoline excitedly ran into the bathroom to get her hair brush and then there was a thud. The kind of thud that you know is bad. At the time I was making sure Alexandra was not crawling off the bed. Instinctively I pushed her over so she could not crawl off before her dad could get to her. Not the best move on my part, but it did the job.

I rushed to Karoline and picked her up, I knew she hurt herself. When I pulled her off my shoulder to look at her face she was bleeding from her mouth. A quick scan of her teeth and I was assured that it wasn't a missing tooth. She had either bit or the impact caused her lip/check to split on the bottom right inside of her mouth. My first thought was stitches. Tim didn't think it was that bad. So, we waited for her to calm down. I put Alexandra down for a nap. While I was doing so Tim got a few more glances and thought we might need a stitch or two after all. I decided to call her pediatricians office. The nurses were very helpful and informed us that because of the location of the cut/hole there really wasn't much that stitches would help.

Laying down and resting after giving us a good scare.

Fast forward a bit. Alexandra is down for her afternoon nap and Tim has left for work. Now I finally get a clear view of her cut/hole and I'm a bit baffled. First of all, let me say that this morning the sight of Karoline's blood invoked an emotion in me that I hadn't experienced before. Then looking at her cut it was back. I didn't necessarily feel like I had failed her, but I was disappointed in the fact that she got hurt. I turned to a group of my mama friends and also sent the pictures to be seen by my elementary school nurse. Both had the same opinion, any possible stitches would cause more trauma than was necessary. But at least now I had the reassurance.

Skip forward a bit more. It's after bath time and I'm getting the girls in their pajamas. Karoline tells me that she loves her sister. I tell her that that's a good thing. Especially since Alexandra will always be her sister, even in heaven. This is when she responds to me, "I'm going to stay home with daddy and you and sister are going to heaven and get to be with Jesus." Even now as I type it it gives me chills. My immediate response was to hug her and cry. She quickly told me, "Don't do that (cry)," she doesn't like to see people upset.

I got the girls into bed and sent Tim a text message of what she said. I got my house hold chores taken care of and jumped into the shower. I stood there and just stood some more. I had two thoughts. The first being, with her saying that I realized that there is nothing better in this world than being a parent and in the future I would definitely consider having more children. Having more kids is something we have talked about and joked about but really there have been no iron clad, "Yes, I'm ok (more than ok) with having more children," talks. I felt like that was an interesting revelation to come from Karoline's profound statement.

The second thought I had was one that brought a smile to my face. When Karoline said that Alexandra and I would go to heaven I was not scared for her and I. I knew that if what Karoline said had any meaning or truth to it that Alexandra and I would be set, golden, in the Kingdom of Heaven. What made me cry and hug Karoline was the thought of her not having her mom and sister here with her. I was sad at the thought of Tim and Karoline having to go through life missing us.

As a baby I was baptized Catholic. Growing up we didn't go to church every Sunday and I did not have a Christian education. My parents gave my brother and I the freedom to come to our beliefs on our own. We did go to church from time to time and there were bibles in our home and if we ever asked a question we were certainly given an answer. One of the best things my parents taught me was to be a good person, surround myself with good people and to always have an open mind.

There were some key players in my life that led me to my faith. An amazing friend and her family who are the very definition (in my mind at least) of a family of faith. Girls who were the "cool" kids but were also accepting, nice and had faith backgrounds who later became friends, best friends. A friend who came back into my life when I went to school in Fort Collins who introduced me to Iasis church. The church where I first raised my hand (I wish I knew what date that was) in front of everyone to symbolically show that I choose to be a Christ follower (fun side note, Karoline Christelle means, "Free man, Christ follower). An amazing husband who is so rock solid in his foundation and love for Christ that there is no doubt in his heart and soul that the one true King and Kingdom of Heaven await us.

All of these amazing people have helped me to learn, and my parents paved the way for me to come to this on my own. I have written blogs about taking time to learn more and read more from my bible. I have expressed my faith and I've made it known that I follow Christ. But in my mind there was always a question, one that nagged at me. One that I tried to hide from God even though I knew full well that he knew my thoughts before I even thought them, if he was real. If it all was real. I doubted myself and my faith but didn't want to admit it. Did I believe well enough, strong enough? Was I doing it right? Are my heart AND mind in the right place? Do I really believe. I think I do, I surly hope I do, I want to be in heaven and I want all of the people that I love to be there too. I want them to believe. But, do I really?

Then, my sweet two and a half year old said what she said tonight. And in her voice when she said the word, "get," my heart knew. "You get to be in heaven with Jesus." My immediate reaction to be sad for Karoline and Tim gave me my answers. I do believe, I believe with all my heart. In knowing what I know there was/is no reason for me to be sad or scared for Alexandra and myself.

Who knows if what Karoline said was what she meant to say. But I do know she has a grasp on heaven and Jesus. Just a quick example, last week my parent's had to put our childhood dog down. I explained to Karoline that Emilee was in heaven with Jesus. Her response, "Oh good, she'll like it there." She knows heaven is all things good and that Jesus is love. When she said that Alexandra and I would be in heaven she was not afraid. Not my sweet loving girl. No, she was matter of fact and spoke what came to her mind. However, she is still two and a half.

For me Karoline's statement served a purpose. A reason for me to openly express my heart, my insecurities and now my extreme JOY in knowing that I do believe the "right" way and "strong" enough. I'm so glad that she said what she said so that I can share this with all of you. I think the correct phrase is, "I am young in my faith." I do know one thing for sure, my heart is full with the love of Jesus. My hope and prayer tonight is that the ones I love who have read this will share their hearts with me so that we can learn and grow together. That I will be able to give my children the best gift I can give them, to know the love that Jesus has for them and heaven awaits them because He paid for our sins.

13.9 Miles from Boulder

It's happening and I can't say that I'm surprised. I'm writing blogs about feeding my family healthy, organic and allergy free foods. I "baby wear" more than I use a stroller. I cloth diaper my baby. I breastfeed. "Gluten free," is a common phrase out of my mouth. We are drinking a ton of vegetable juice. I'm wearing yoga pants (with no intention of doing yoga) as an acceptable form of clothing, even outside of the house. The biggest hint was when I decided that I would like to try running a race for fun. That's right, me, the girl who has yet to master running and breathing at the same time. I can only imagine that I'll walk most of it, but I still want to give it a try. Gasp!

When we bought our house I was aware that we were close to Boulder. I didn't realize we were as close as we are, 13.9 miles. I knew it was a matter of time before the "Boulder lifestyle" would become our way of life. I don't like the taste of alcohol so I am not on the band wagon of beer tasting at local breweries. I have yet to ever see that green leaf in person and intend to keep it that way, even if it is "legal." But, I fear that despite these exceptions I am becoming, dare I say it, chewy. I don't think I'm completely "crunchy/granola" ...yet.

I jokingly open with my chewiness to reveal that I finally took the plunge, with the support of my husband, and bought my Young Living Essential Oil Premium Starter Kit! I can not wait for it to arrive! This last year I have have been blessed with a new group of friends to love and share this stage in life with. Two of them use and sell essential oils. I've been curious for a few months about what all the oils can do for my family. After a get together last week and learning more about the oils I knew purchasing my own set was a choice that would impact our family in nothing but a positive way. One of my dear friends put it better than I can when she said, "I'm riding my life of chemicals in more than one aspect: medicine, cleaning supplies, facial/bath products, aromatherapy (NO more candles/wax warmers) and supplements. I know exactly what I am putting into my body and my families."

My last blog post focused on finding healthy options for my family to eat. All of my efforts to keep my family on the right track with healthy eating are great goals. However, if I'm still filling our house with harmful and harsh chemicals in other ways then I'm still not providing the best environment for them.

I have become passionate about caring for my family. I know that sounds silly, who isn't? For me this means that I'm focusing on riding our house of toxic items one thing at a time. I live in the real world and I'm on a budget. So, I'm doing this one step at a time. When I run out of a cleaning supply I now will replace it with a "green" cleaner. Lord willing I will be able to replace it with a Young Living product. The item I am most excited about is the Essential Oil diffuser. I can't wait to fill my home with amazing smells that are also killing the airborne germs in our house at the same time. No more chemicals from candles and wax warmers. Goodbye and good riddance to aerosol disinfecting sprays!

I am still breastfeeding Alexandra so this means my options for medicine are limited. Furthermore my children are still too young for most medicines. I am not a doctor and I know there will be times that my girls will need an antibiotic or medical attention. But, in the mean time I am ready to try a different option and use Young Living Essential Oils to help with our overall health and well being. Oils that are just that, oils. No chemicals, dyes, or words I can't pronounce.

If you are reading this and you are pregnant, breastfeeding, have small children or simply want to look into other health options for your families, let's talk. Let's look to the "oil cabinet" together!

The ones I love the most, the ones that are about to become my "oily" little family!