Leading by doing

Leading by doing - I love this bulletin that I received from the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services. Paul, Stormi, and I have made a commitment for total change this year for Samuel. 

We are a typical American family, we all work. Eat out a lot, really didn't pay attention to our lifestyle. Paul & I started experiencing the middle age spread. I have smoked since I was extremely young, to much pop (soda) junk food, work high stress jobs and during the week we come home and go comatose in front of the TV. 

Then Sam comes along, so little so young not making much of a ripple and we are still tooting along, much the same, with the exception of smoking. I gave that up when Sam was born.  Two years and still smoke free. Yay! It was  hard, so very hard. It was 40 pounds, head spinning, no one would talk to me hard. Then when Sam hit about 9 months old he was constipated all the time, not eating that good. He was sick, what I thought was a lot, but the doctor didn't seem concerned and I notice all these kids were sick all the time. This is when I started researching the correct medicine free way to handle his diet. Started making Sam smoothies with flax, wheat germ, spinach, whole milk and yogurt. These seem to really swing him around. One small step at a time. Now we are all incorporating a healthier diet.

Then we stumbled onto essential oils. I actually found them at a town festival booth, or should I say they found me. I was having a heat stroke (exaggeration) when a guy goes "Hey I got something that will cool you down". Me Mrs. Cynical was like whatever, when this guy slaps some peppermint on the back of my neck then stuck his hands in my face. I was ready to deck him. I took a deep breath and was like WOW and I was instantly cooled down. So I bought a bottle of peppermint oil. I started using it during the week at work when I would get hot flashes. Then I started to notice that it was also a little pick me up. Another step..

The Beginning

22-Sept-12

Paul and I are both products of the 60's. The very tail-end of the baby boomer generation. Our parents still used glass bottles and cloth diapers, the only plastic around was Tupperware. There were no microwaves and TV dinners came in foil pans. Up until the 80’s our soda’s came in glass bottles not plastic. We grew up knowing freedom to run like children should be able to, until the street lights came on. To build, imagine, and create whole fantasy worlds. We made our own paper dolls, tree house's, catching tadpoles, Playing cowboy and Indians, cops and robbers. Knowing to respect your elders, minding your P's & Q's.

I never heard of ADHD, ADD, Bi-polar, anger issues. But these are things our kindergartners are being diagnosed with. My girls were born in the mid 80’s. Plastic bottles were the rage, plastic diapers. They were born in the era of convenience, the disposable environment. Can I use the excuse the world was like a bunch of teenagers? I hate that, its like a cop out but truly most of us didn’t know the effects or the problems we were creating. When my eldest was born you could still smoke in the hospital room. Crazy.. but the result is we had a whole generation of medicated children who grew into medicated adults.

Our grandson came into our life with no warning, a special delivery August 2010. Samuel is the reason for the beginning of our journey towards a greener family inside out out. Cleaner living, natural wellness, healthier eating. The challenges his generation faces terrifies us. Sam was so different from his mother and aunt that we started researching and reading. Looking for holistic information was very frustrating. Trying to find things that were somewhat decently priced and information that wasn’t so confusing was a nightmare. 

We would like you to join us on our journey to a healthier greener sustainable future.

Sami & Paul