Worth Fighting For

I am on a roll this week! I don't remember the last time I've blogged every day! And yet, there is so much on my mind, so much on my heart...it's just one thing after another, and if nothing else, writing about it helps me think it all through, gain perspective, and get it off my chest!

Two days ago, I posted here about the peace we have over the decision we made not to pursue an adoption referral we received on Monday. I can't explain it, but it truly is a deep seated peace. That doesn't mean the decision was easy and it doesn't mean little things don't make me stop and think, "are we SURE we made the right decision?"

In fact, yesterday we found out we are farther away from getting the file on the specific little girl we have been praying over than we first thought. We went from believing it was likely, to being told it's a needle in a haystack situation once again...not what we wanted to hear, but still not a closed door. Add to that, today I realized that if we don't travel to get our daughter by mid-September of this year, we will need to update our home study for an additional $500 fee. Unless we are matched next month, the chances of traveling by then are slim.

Now let me be clear--we believe these are minor obstacles. We serve a BIG God. When it is time for our daughter to come home, not only will He provide the funds (even additional ones) needed to do so, but He will do so at the perfect time. I keep telling the "mama in me" that she will not arrive a day early OR a day late, but exactly when she is supposed to. Sometimes I repeat it as if it were my mantra. LOL.

It's these little things that Satan could easily use to make us doubt. To take us beyond the occasional question of "did we do the right thing?" and drive us right into a spiral of unbelief, despair, and discouragement when things don't seem to add up exactly like we'd like them to.

Back in late December, after Sean had shared with me his feeling of being drawn to this little girl, but while we still had no idea how we would get her basic info, I was feeling anxious. I was stressing out over little things, details we had no control over. He was wanting me to check here and there and (seemingly) everywhere, to do what we could on our end to get more info on her. In my discouragement, I hesitated at one point, and he could clearly tell I didn't feel calling any other places would help. He looked at me and said, "Isn't she worth fighting for?"

It took me by surprise, but yet, it brought me back to a place of belief. I had let some of those little things drag me down. I was beginning to feel discouraged and disheartened. I was beginning to doubt all of those other areas where God had clearly delivered things we could've only hoped for. Instead of focusing on how far we'd come, I was looking at how far we still had to climb.

I refocused, prayed and laid it all at the feet of Jesus, once again relinquishing control. Wouldn't you know, the day the first list came out, we not only learned her birth date, we learned her name. Once again, God delivered and He delivered HUGE! I was speechless. I was in awe.

It's times like these, when little things seem to be slowing us down. When we seem to take one step forward and two steps back, that I have to remind myself...those things worth having are worth fighting for. SHE'S worth fighting for. And until that door is closed, we will continue to fight for her. After all, we're on God's timeline, not ours. She'll be here before we know it...and right on time.  :)

Let It Be Said...

Let me first say, this is not a political blog. It's not even an opinion blog. However, with all the recent ranting, raving, arguing, and bashing going on, I just can't hold my tongue any longer. I realize, by choosing to share my opinion, I will lose some "friends". However, I feel compelled to no longer remain silent and I use the term "friends" in quotation marks simply because, if you can walk away simply due to someone else's opinion, well then, we weren't actual friends to begin with. I'm okay with that. Back to the topic...

I am a Christian. I have Christian friends. I also have Atheist friends. And Gay friends and Lesbian friends and Straight friends and friends of many, many ethnic backgrounds and belief systems; healthy friends, disabled friends, deaf friends, hearing friends, vegan friends, vegetarian friends, paleo friends, McDonalds friends :) Republican friends, Democrat friends, Libertarian friends, kind friends, rude friends, friends that make me proud and friends that seem to thrive on embarrassing me. Friends that I see eye-to-eye with on nearly everything and friends with whom I have only one place of common ground. And I love them. All of my friends. ALL OF MY FRIENDS.

But let me guess, when I described all of my different friends, you had opinions that immediately formed, correct? Some of you even formed an opinion of me. Some of you CHANGED your opinion of me. Why? Because you saw a label. You saw a label and all of your deep-seated beliefs and opinions came to the forefront of your mind. I know, because I do it too. We all do. We all label. We all judge. We do. It's (sadly) just second nature. What's even sadder than that? That we let those labels, those opinions and judgments DETERMINE HOW WE TREAT PEOPLE before we ever get to know them.

For those of you who consider yourselves Christians, I'm gonna call you out here because we SAY we hold ourselves to a different standard. Specifically, what does the Bible say on how we are to treat others?

Matt 7:12    Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.

Matt 7:2      For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

Matt 7:3     And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?

And one of my personal favorites:

1 Cor 13: 1-7
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing.
If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud
or rude. It does not demand it's own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.
It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

You see friends, I don't care what your beliefs are. I don't care if we agree or not. You can be the most rotten person on the planet...as long as you own up to it, we can be friends. It's called integrity. BE WHO YOU SAY YOU ARE. For my fellow Christians, Christ didn't call us to hate, to name-call, to berate, to turn a cold shoulder, to gossip, to hurt, to offend. He called us simply to LOVE. LOVE your neighbor. LOVE your enemy. And LOVE God with your whole heart. HE and HE ALONE will take care of everything else.

We are to be His ambassadors for the time He has given us on this planet. We are to REPRESENT WHO CHRIST IS. Why do so many people automatically dismiss us or hate us? Because we've screwed up directive #1, and badly! And please understand, I am as guilty of this as the rest of you--so please don't think I view myself as high and mighty here.  The truth is, WE WILL REACH NO ONE WITH THE GOSPEL OF GRACE IF WE DON'T HAVE LOVE. I don't care what your platform is, I don't care what your passionate about. If you don't do it in love--you won't get anything accomplished! And, yes I'm gonna say it, you won't do it through denying other people their basic, human rights. You won't.

You wanna discuss concerns you have with someone about their life? GET TO KNOW THEM. You want to share the love of Christ and His story of redemption? BUILD A RELATIONSHIP. We have to stop preaching and start living. We have to love people--in their hurt, in their pain, in their shame, in their guilt, in their triumph, in their goodness, in their success, in their failure, IN THEIR LIFE.

What is it about us that leads us to believe we can tell others what they can and cannot do?! *NEWSFLASH* We ALL need grace. We ALL need mercy. We ALL need love. We are ALL different versions of the same thing--sinners. No one better. No one worse.

I can only hope that in my life, the following is true:

Let it be said...
...that I was gracious.
...that I was merciful.
...that I gave forgiveness.
...that I left the planet in better condition than I found it.
...that I was fully engaged.
...that I had integrity.
...that I gave of myself to help others.
...that I was the best wife, mother, daughter, sister & friend that I could be.
...that I raised my children to believe they can be and do whatever they set their minds to.
...that I was a fully devoted follower of Christ; not of religion, or politics, but Christ.
Let it be said...that I loved.

You see friends, we don't need to preach Christ, we need to show Christ. We don't need to judge, we need to forgive. We don't need to persecute, offend, ridicule and hate. We need to love. LOVE. And leave the rest to a mighty God who, believe it or not, can handle it without us. :)  It really is that simple.

Spread the love, friends. Spread the love.

Peace

Last night we were forced to make one of the hardest decisions of our lives. As many of you know, we've praying and waiting for this little girl we came across by accident. We've been following her file and praying to hear soon that she is "paperwork ready" and that her file has graciously been assigned to our agency. The March "list" came out last night, and we received a referral. However, it was not the file we'd been hoping for, but one for a different little girl.

She met all of the criteria we'd asked for when applying to adopt. She was only 7 months older than the little girl we'd been praying over. She was located within an hour of the city where we will spend our entire 2nd week of our trip, which means our travel would've been considerably easier. And SHE. WAS. ADORABLE. A little girl, half a world away, needing a home, needing parents, needing someone to simply say "yes".

I cried. I believe I used the phrase "I think I'm gonna throw up" at least 4 times. I cried more. My husband even got teary-eyed (that doesn't happen people). It was heart-wrenching. It was raw. It was...horrible. We truly had no idea what to do. We were at a complete loss. We thought we were headed one direction and, in a moment, we were questioning everything we'd believed up until that point. It was by far the hardest decision of our lives. How do you contemplate two beautiful little girls, identical in need, and choose only ONE?

Once again, I found myself crying out to God, Jehovah-Shalom, to give me peace...to give US peace. We looked over every inch of her file, and her photos...oh God, the photos...did I mention she was adorable?? We talked about our gut feelings. I told my husband I was completely on the fence. On the one hand, I felt so strongly God had brought us through so much, answered so many specific prayers for the little girl who had already stolen our hearts. Did deciding on a little girl who was available now mean we didn't trust God to bring us any further, to deliver on what we had specifically prayed for? Was that taking the easy way out? Because, in so many ways, saying "yes" to this new little girl would be easier. On the other hand, was this God closing that door? Was this His "something better" that we'd told our children He would give us if He didn't give us the little one we'd been praying over? I was, as I said before, at a complete loss. Sitting smack dab on the fence with no clue what to do.

I asked what his thoughts were. He was very quiet. He admitted he didn't want to tell me. He said he was scared. He reminded me, for probably the 1 millionth time (true story), how he isn't drawn to other people's children. He's really not a kid-person. Ironic, I know, as we are going on FIVE kids. He loves our kids. He loves being a dad. In fact, one of his biggest fears about adopting was how he knew he felt about children who were not his own. He was afraid of bringing home a child that he might not see as his own. Although I am not built that way, I TOTALLY get that. I think that's the case for many people. We all love our own kids, but someone else's? Eh, take 'em or leave 'em, it's just not the same as the way you look at your own. So I get it. And I love the heart of my husband, who has such discernment that he does not want to deny a child the genuine love of a father.

Then he told me, from the moment he laid eyes on that first little girl, he knew he could love her as his own. He didn't understand it, how that could be (my husband, who is very logical, where everything-needs-to-make-sense and I-need-to-see-a-plan-before-deciding). For him to love a little girl in a picture as if she were his own was HUGE. It was simply from God, an answer to prayer, I believe. He also said it was not the same feeling when he looked at this new little girl. "Are we horrible for thinking about saying no?" he asked, as he voiced aloud our mutual concern. "Or is that just worrying more about what other people will think?"

In that moment, a complete peace washed over me. My doubts vanished. I was no longer on the fence. You see, what I haven't told (most of) you until now is that early on, when I was praying over this first little girl, I was scared. I have a tendency to jump in with both feet and ask questions later (I know, big surprise there). But with this, my heart being completely drawn to a simple image of this child, I knew I needed discernment. I needed something to show me that it wasn't just my wishful thinking falling in love with a child I'd found, but the leading of the Holy Spirit. For days I had searched my heart, trying to know what to pray, how to ask God to show me if I should be feeling the way I did. And in one moment, way back in December, I knew what to pray. I told God that if I was supposed to feel this way, if we were supposed to pursue this little girl, it needed to come from my husband. You see, faith is my spiritual gift. It comes naturally. It always has. I worry very little, almost never in fact. But my husband is very practical, very logical...he needs everything to make sense. So I left it at the feet of God and resolved not to say another word about this little girl. On the way home from celebrating Christmas at my parents house a few weeks later, as we were talking in the car, he said,

 "If I tell you something, do you promise not to freak out on me?"
 "Um, ok, what's up?" I said.
 And he sat there...contemplating whether or not to continue. "It just doesn't make sense."
"Huh?"
"It doesn't make sense"
"What doesn't?" I asked, thoroughly confused.
He remained silent, nearly driving me batty. Lol
"I shouldn't feel this way about a little girl I've never met."
BOOM. THANK YOU JESUS. I was smiling from ear to ear, naturally.
"I TOLD you not to freak out!!" he said when he saw my face.
"I'm not. But I have something to tell you." And I proceeded to share with him my previous conversation with God.

I share all that to say this: God knew what my heart needed then. And He knew what it needed last night. In the moment Sean shared his heart, I knew. God was leading me, once again, through the discerning heart of my unknowing husband. He and I both felt a love for that little girl for a reason. And for the same reason, we were not drawn to this second little girl. Maybe that sounds horrible to some of you. After all, she needs a home like every other orphan on the planet. But we serve a BIG God. And we believe He created a specific little girl for our family. One of them was our daughter. The other is someone else's. To say "yes" would be to keep her from the home she was created for.

So we wait. And pray. And we stand firm in our decision to fight for her, this specific little girl, until God Himself closes that door--or brings her home forever. Right now, it's still wide open. So we still wait...with a peace that TRULY passes all understanding.

Beauty for Ashes

For many reasons, we have decided that, until God closes the door for us, we will fight for this specific little girl who has stolen our hearts until we bring her home. It's strange at times, to have such a fierce love for a child we've never even met. And yet most of the time, it just feels normal, as though she were born from my own body.

The last couple of months, the day before and the day of the "list" coming out, I've been a bit of an emotional basket-case. I am excitement, worry, apprehension, fear and elation all rolled into one. And as I've said before, it's not due to a lack of peace over the situation or a fear of what will happen--because we know God is in control. It's more the mama in me--wanting so badly to care for my child and realizing I'm at the mercy of others for (literally) God only knows how long.

When we first came across this little girl, I was so captivated I began researching where she lived, the culture that surrounded her, what her weather was like, etc. Trying, somehow, to envision her there and what life was like for her. My wonderful, and very practical husband, however, told me it was probably better to wait until we knew for sure she was ours before doing all of that research. So I stopped. Until this morning.

I started looking again today. I pulled up images, websites, info pages...pages on language, history, climate, tourism, industry, location, and so on. At first I was intrigued. So much of this culture is foreign to me, so much I don't understand. Then I became excited. I mentally planned out (in a matter of minutes before my brain switched to another thought, lol) what would be the best way to drink it all in. I desperately want to understand where she's from, to experience so much of it. I picture us by rivers, hiking mountains, site seeing the numerous attractions, all in an effort to fully BE in her world.

And then it hit me. An over whelming sense of sadness and grief. While she will gain a family and love and security that she's never known, she will also lose the culture where she was given life. All of its beauty, its wonder, its history, its language...it will all be as foreign to her as it is to me one day. And that breaks my heart. It creates in me a pain that is different from any I've ever known. My insides ache for the loss my daughter will experience that she has yet to even realize.

There is so much about adoption that is beautiful, magnificent, truly sent from God. There is so much to be said for a child finding a home where he/she is forever loved and for the change only he/she can bring to that family. But so often I believe it is over looked, the grief they will suffer. Not just in the loss of their birth family, but, especially in cases of international adoption, the loss of their people, their language, their culture. This point was brought to my attention for the first time at an adoption conference we recently attended. At the time I thought, wow, I never thought of that...that's deep. But today, God has allowed me to FEEL it...to grieve for my daughter. I can't begin to explain how it feels but it is raw, and it is real, and it is painful. Yet I know that it is nothing compared to what my daughter will feel when she is older, when she understands, when she really gets it.

As a mom, I've always (at least to this point) felt confident in my ability to soothe my children, to comfort their pain, their frustration. Because I've been there. I've been the pre-teen that was picked on in the midst of struggling to figure out who I am. I've been the 4th & 5th grader trying to decide how to deal with friends and for the first time, those who weren't friends. I've been the 4 year old whose whole world is candy and roses and everything's sweet. :) But for the first time, I'm staring down a path I've never seen, contemplating issues I've never experienced myself, and wondering how on earth I will ever fully help my daughter grieve.

Adoption is beautiful, exciting, and wonderful...and at the same time hard, ugly, and down right scary. But it is drawing me closer to Jehovah-Jireh, the God who provides, Jehovah-Shalom, the God of peace, and more than anything, Jehovah-Rapha, the God who heals. Only He will make my little girl whole. Only He will mend her broken, hurting places. Only He will provide us with what we need, when we need it, to be there for her when she grieves. And she will.

"When sorrow seems to surround you
When suffering hangs heavy o'er your head
Know that tomorrow brings
Wholeness and healing
God knows your need
Just believe what He said

He gives beauty for ashes
Strength for fear
Gladness for mourning
Peace for despair"

         --Beauty for Ashes, Crystal Lewis

Life In The Slow Lane

Time for what seems like my "monthly" update on our adoption. On the one hand, it seems to be taking FOREVER. On the other, it seems crazy to think we will have had 3 lists come out since we received our LID. We are now on the countdown for school to be out! I can't wait to have all my babies home every day (she says right now, while they are playing nicely and getting along. lol).

So much has changed and yet at the same time, so little has changed. Monday night another list will come out. Our caseworker is hoping we will hear something from the CCCWA by then about the specific file we've requested. If she doesn't hear anything, she will search the list that evening, just in case the file was added to it. It's a crazy process that I know many of you do not fully understand. It made little sense to us until we were in the thick of the process. Now we throw around terms like DTC, LID, LOI, CCCWA, LOA, TA, etc and even our kids know what it all means. :)  In a lot of ways, it seems as though we've been at this same point in the process f-o-r-e-v-e-r. It feels like a lot of the same. There's not really even a lot more than weekly communication between us and our caseworker because there's not a lot to do on our end other than wait.

That being said, there is so much that HAS changed since the first list came out! As I've mentioned before on my facebook posts, we are privy to information that we should not have!  We have been able to locate this specific little girl's file and we have one of our agency workers checking on her paperwork daily.  In the beginning, when we first came across this little girl, the response from our agency was, "of course, send us the info you have and we'll do everything we can to locate her and get more information on her situation. It's not common to find the information we'll need to find her file and she may not be available if we do, but it's worth a try."  And now, only a few months later, their response was, "we can't say with certainty, but barring some strange thing we are not aware of, we see no reason why they wouldn't send us her file since we know where it is in the process and they know a family is waiting for her."  THAT, my friends, is HUGE. It's not unheard of, but it is extremely rare, especially given the circumstances of how we came across her and how unlikely it was that we would be able to get her specific info. Needle in a haystack type of rare. Truly.

So while we are still very much in the same place, we are much MUCH more hopeful, much more excited, and in reality, every day we wait is one more day closer to bringing her home!! To be honest, there's many a day that I must remind myself of that fact so that I don't wallow in frustration and despair. I don't, for one minute, want to make this process seem easy. But I don't want it to seem insurmountable either. I want you to read these posts and be able to share in the joy and the pain alongside us, but also to walk away with a better understanding of one of the many facets of adoption. I want it to be real. open. honest. And I want you to see the miraculous in the mundane, God in the midst of our wait, our struggle.

This I know: We have a daughter half a world away, created just for our family. She is loved. Not only by us, but by the birth mother who gave her the very best chance she could, in what I can only imagine was the most difficult decision of her life. God has bigger plans for this little one. I have no idea what they are yet, but she will not come this far, through this process, to simply exist. She was created for something bigger. We will meet her, not one minute too soon and not one minute too late, but at the time appointed according to the goodness of a mighty God who knows better than we do exactly what we need. And even though we may not see all of it right now (or ever), He is working even now, in the details of her life and in the details of her adoption. We hold tight to this truth:

"The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."  Exodus 14:14

He fights. We remain. That is all. That is enough.

DIY Deodorant

As I've mentioned on here before, I always want to test ideas/recipes out BEFORE I post them on here because I want to make sure you won't be wasting your time if you try something I've suggested. I want this blog to help make your life simple, not more work. Or, if it's gonna be a bit more work, I at least want it to be worth it, something that saves you money, keeps you healthy or something you can just take pride in having done yourself.

So today I wanna share a recipe for homemade deodorant. Yes, I realize you can take less than 5 minutes and a few dollars and just go buy some. Yes, I realize you're limited on time. However, I also realize that store bought deodorant is FULL of aluminum. And being that your skin is the largest organ on your body, you are putting that aluminum directly onto your skin where it seeps into your blood stream. Not good for you. PLUS, it's the reason your hubby's white shirts have all those yellow pit stains.

Yes, I realize you can spend a bit more and get a healthy, organic version from any health foods store. However, if you're willing to take 20 minutes once every 3 MONTHS (yes, you read that right) then you can have the same, organic, good for you type of deodorant for a fraction of the cost! And worst case scenario, if you try it and decide you either don't care for it or don't wanna take the time to make it, you can always use the ingredients you bought in many other recipes, so they won't go to waste.

I've been using this recipe for 3 months now. I just made my second batch today. I LOVE IT. It's simple, it's healthy, and it works! I searched for a long time through a myriad of recipes for homemade deodorant. But all I ever found were ones that had you make a paste and then rub it in your armpits with your fingers. NO THANK YOU. And besides, I have limited time to get ready in the morning because I want every minute of sleep I can get, so I really don't want to add another time of washing my hands while getting ready. Even if it only takes a few minutes every day. For a few minutes every 3 months, I can have regular, solid deodorant that doesn't require me to get my hands goopy. Yes, please!

I came across this recipe on the blog Frugally Sustainable. Love, love, LOVE this blog!! You should definitely check it out when you have a minute! Here's my version (with a couple of things omitted):

DIY DEODORANT

1 T cocoa butter
1 T coconut oil
1 T beeswax
3 1/2 T arrowroot powder
1/4 t. vitamin E oil
8 drops essential oil
Clean used deodorant container

You can find all of these items at your local health foods store (except the container of course). I wish I'd paid attention to the original cost, but knowing that the equivalent in store bought healthy deodorant is usually $6-8 each, this is waaaaaaaay cheaper. I'm roughly guessing it cost me about $30-35 for all of it. But this will make you at least a 5 YEAR supply if each batch lasts 3 months. You'd spend that on the store bought stuff in just over a year if not sooner. So it's approximately 1/5th of the cost if you DIY.  :)

The original recipe calls for shea butter and probiotics. I have no idea why I didn't get the shea butter, but it didn't seem to make a difference, so I'm not worried about it now. As for the probiotics, those can be expensive, so I wanted to be sure I liked the recipe before I bought them. Next trip to the store, I'm definitely picking some up! I also used only arrowroot powder and 1/2 the amount of essential oil it suggests because I have sensitive skin.

So here's what you do (total time about 20 minutes):

1. Melt the coconut oil, beeswax & cocoa butter over a low heat.

**I just eye-balled 1 T of each because the butter and wax are hard.**

2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the arrowroot powder, mixing until well blended.

3. Add Vitamin E oil and essential oil. Let cool in the pan to a pudding-like consistency.

4. Carefully scoop into your clean deodorant container with a spatula.

**Make sure your container base is rolled down to the lowest setting. Then you'll have to press down on each scoop of deodorant to squish it into the container. You should have very little left as it will take nearly all of it to fill a regular size deodorant dispenser.**

The finished product!! Now place in the refrigerator to cool completely and harden. Once it does, you can keep it in your bathroom at room temperature.

Here's to healthy, money-saving ways to DIY in your everyday routine!

DIY Face Wash

**Repost from 7/5/12 on my previous blog**

So there's a number of things I've been DIYing over the last few months, preparing for potential posts on here. Some worked and some didn't. But I wanted to be sure I'd tried them first so that I could give you honest feedback. I must say, out of all the things I've tried, this was my favorite by far! DIY Face Wash!

I've been back and forth between your standard, run-of-the-mill store brand face wash, and the high-end representative-ordered facecare line and all the in-between. I've never been as happy with any of them as I am right now. It's simple. It's relatively inexpensive. And my face has never looked or felt better. What do I use? OIL. Now PLEASE hear me out. I'd hate to lose you at the word "oil"! There has been tons of research done on the subject and more and more people are switching to what is commonly referred to as the "Oil Cleansing Method", with amazing results! Go on, Google it. Find out for yourself!

Basically, it boils down to this:

Dry Skin:            10% Castor Oil, 90% Jojoba Oil
Balanced Skin:    20% Castor Oil, 80% Jojoba Oil
Oily Skin:            30% Castor Oil, 70% Jojoba Oil

You can always change out the Jojoba Oil for EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), Grapeseed Oil, Flaxseed Oil, Sunflower Oil or others. I prefer to use Jojoba because it is lightly moisturizing without being overly thick. But before you put money into this, I'd advise you to research the properties of the different oils and figure out which one does what you're looking for.  I have balanced skin for most of the year, so I use an 80/20 ratio. I also bought both of my oils at a health food store so that they would be organic, but you could easily buy them at many local grocers as well. To make this easy on myself I did the following:

1. Rinsed out my empty pump bottle of face wash I had just finished using.

2. Emptied the contents of the Jojoba Oil bottle (the little one) into the pump bottle. In this case, the only Jojoba they had was a smaller bottle, so I used it's entirety to make up the 80%.

3. Eye-balled what I believed to be 20% of additional Castor Oil.




Now that I had my face wash, I decided to make it fit into MY schedule rather than adding any extra steps, just to be sure I was going to like it without much work. Remember: Simple is the key! So, when I got in the shower, I applied 1 pump worth (about a nickel size amount) of oil on my hands and began rubbing it in gently. After about one minute, I grabbed a clean wash cloth, wet it with fairly hot water, laid it on my face with my head tilted back just a bit, and allowed my self a minute or two to relax under the shower spray while the rag cooled. This "steaming" allows your pores to open up and the oil to really cleanse your face. Once it cooled to about room temp, I used the rag to gently wipe off any excess oil. **NOTE: Do not scrub the oil off your face. Your skin is supposed to feel slightly oily to the touch, but it will soak in within minutes. If you scrub it all off, you will need to use moisturizer afterwards, which the oil could easily do for you if you'd just gently wipe it off instead.

Then I finished showering, got out, and got ready for the day. Easy as pie! That was nearly 2 months ago and I wouldn't go back! I have found that if I wash my face at the sink at night (which I do if I've worn make-up that day) I may or may not need a tiny amount of moisturizer in the morning, but if I do, it's WAY less than I ever used before.

Results:

*Less expensive than store bought organic face wash. I was paying about $18 per bottle that would last me about 6 weeks. Now I'm paying about $40 (after finding a larger Jojoba Oil bottle) and while the full pump bottle still lasts me only 6 weeks, I have leftover oil for up to another 3 batches!

*My skin is clearer, softer and more balanced than with any other product I've used.

*One product does the job of many. No more wash+toner+lotion. Just wash. Maybe the occasional lotion, but rarely.

*Before, I was also paying about $16 for a tub of organic face lotion that would last me about 8 weeks. I started the OCM about half way through one of my lotion tubs. I'm STILL using it. It has about 1/4 left and it's been almost 2 months for me to use the 1/4th that I have!

I really have NO complaints. I would highly recommend this to all of you! Give it a try--at least 2 weeks of daily use and see your results! I'd love to hear how it works for you!

DIY Face Wash--a simple way to keep you looking beautiful.

Homemade Fabric Softener & Dryer Sheets

**Reposting from 6/14/12 on my previous blog**

Maybe you don't all feel the same, but my philosophy has always been, if I can make it/do it myself without much hassle AND for less cost out of pocket, why not? A lot of times when you make something yourself, you're able to keep out extra things that aren't good for you like preservatives and other chemicals. So in that case, they're also better for you.

I used to always use dryer sheets. Until the day the guy fixing my dryer told me how dangerous they were. Because of the chemicals in them, they leave a film on your lint screen that, if left unchecked and not regularly cleaned, becomes the number one cause of dryer fires. In order to check and see if your lint screen has this issue, take it out and run it under water in your sink. If it holds water rather than letting it run through, then you already have the film on there and it needs to be cleaned. You can easily clean it with warm soapy water and verify that it's fully clean by running it under water again to be sure it runs through the screen. The other thing the chemicals are known to do is to make your clothing less fire-retardant, which is never a good thing.

Now I don't know about you, but even without the fire-retardant clothing issue, who has time to clean their lint screen all that often? And who wants to sit up at night wondering if they clean it often enough to always be safe? I'll be honest. I have FOUR kids, soon to be five. The last thing I think about most days is all the smaller, routine home maintenance stuff like dryer lint screen cleaning.

All that being said, I was also hesitant when someone first told me I could simply use vinegar in place of fabric softener. I don't care for the smell of vinegar. And I LOVE the smell of freshly cleaned clothes. But I thought, well I'll try the vinegar. It worked. It was simple. It didn't make my clothes stink like vinegar. But they weren't overly soft, either. So I wasn't thrilled. Enter this recipe from Jillee over at One Good Thing. (I love her site!!) This allows you to get the inexpensive benefit of vinegar but also the softness and more enticing smell from hair conditioner! That's right, hair conditioner. It goes like this:

6 cups water
3 cups vinegar
2 cups conditioner

Gently mix all 3 ingredients in an extra large bowl OR a 1 gallon jug. If you're too fast in mixing it you will get bubbles, so be sure to be gentle. Once it's all mixed, use it just as you would your store-bought variety! Easy Peasy! Now, I will say that I chose to make the recipe in half, simply because I wanted to reuse my old store bought bottle and it's just over a half gallon size. But feel free to make it in the full version if it works for you. I always find that I use more shampoo than I do conditioner so it's easy for me to use up conditioner faster this way. If this is not the case for you, just find whatever brand of conditioner smells good to you and use that--as this is what your clothes will smell like when you're done.

If you'd still rather use dryer sheets than liquid softener, you can! Simply take your homemade softener and completely dampen (but not to dripping) 5-10 clean old wash rags/scrap towel pieces. Let them air dry, then keep them in a bin or container in your laundry room until they're needed! Each rag should work for at least 10-15 times before it needs to be re-soaked and dried. This is not the method I use, simply because the liquid version works for me. To make dryer sheets would be an extra step I don't need to take.

Hopefully this has encouraged you to to grab the ingredients (because you likely have them on hand) and take 5 minutes--yes, only 5 MINUTES--and try making your own! It's so easy and so inexpensive! And that's always a beautiful thing!

Note:
*I prefer to mix using a whisk as it seems to blend it a little easier.

After Mixing

Before Mixing