So other night I looked down and I had this huge lump on the back of my leg. It looked like cancer, except that it was read all around the bump.

I knew it was a spider.

And I was seriously panicking.

Some of my bottles, left over from a trip, didn't have labels on them. Honestly I don't know all the oils I put on the bite, but I started putting them all on: lime, melelecea, lemon, hellycrisum, frankincense, pepperment, lavendar, onguard maybe purity (one of the bottles not labeled). Basically whatever oil touched my hands, I applied. I didn't have time to analyze proportions or oils. I just put them on a whole lot, probably every five minutes, but more like every minute just rotating different oils.

About an hour later the bite had reduce in half, and the next morning my skin was flat, and by mid morning, you couldn't even tell a bite had been there.

Weird stuff.

And I know I can't spell.

I just don't wanna do it.

is a better answer than I'm just too busy: this veggie tale song says it better than I can. "we're busy, busy, dreadfully busy. You no idea what we have to do. We're busy, busy, horribly busy, much, much too busy for you."

Life is a reflection of what you and I value most. Crystal of Moneysavingmom@ is doing an excellent series right now on managing time.  Inspires me that although I have a lot on my plate, I can make time for what really matters.

Here's my rough weekday schedule:

6:30 8:00: prayer time, breakfast, make sure the kids are ready for school.

8:00-3:00 - I homeschool the kids, morning walk, lunch, review Thai
2:45 -to 5:15 --I go to Thai school.
5:15-10:30 p.m. -- 1 hour dinner/cleanup, 1 hour of exercise, 1 hour of prayer, 1 hour of studying Thai, 1 hour of internet

(I do the bulk of my business projects and other work during the weekend.)

You make time for what you want to make time for. When I taught college, I received 999 excuses for not turning in homework. Teacher, I'm having my period. Teacher, I had to go to court because I broke the law. Teacher, I left my homework in my dorm. I didn't actually bang my head on the wall; I told them outright, "For crying out loud, if you have 999 other things to do, why are you going to college?" I'm not one to believe the world revolves around college. If its not important enough to do homework (I understand if you get boggled once or twice), its not important enough to you.

A little perspective this morning: If you want to start a business, you can do it!! I'm in full-time Thai lessons, take care of teenagers, and I mostly support myself. And I still find time for what matters. I had to delete my personal facebook page to get it done, but point is, I find time for what matters to me. Is it God's grace that I can even breathe? Absolutely. But one way we respond to the spirit, is by making time for what matters.

Another perspective: it takes 4 years to get a college degree, which includes appr 15 hours of class a week and at least 10 hours of homework, not to mention transportation time if a commuter.  In a good company (all companies are not equal), it takes five years of running a network market business 20 hours a week in order to have enough to cover your bills. And once you reach that momentum, it takes another five to become wealthy relatively speaking (no gold won't fall in your feet, but your family will be well off).

If you are in a jab financially or a jab for time, and starving to see dreams and promises come true, read this inspirational story. The story is from a mom who was married and pregnant her senior year of high school. She and her husband often did not have food to eat during college though her children did. She even took a train 1000 miles to another state to finish her education. Now they only work part time and travel the world with their four kids. People say, "you are just lucky." That is a pretty low blow, huh? Let their testimony inspire you to make your business dreams come true.

Once when I my car broke down while fighting for its existence, and I was waiting for the tow truck to show up to take my car, this man asks me these questions (in order), "Are you married? How old are you? How long have you been in Thailand? Do you ever get diarrhea from eating Northern Thai food?"

Questions in Thailand are interesting!

And people really do get stomach aches from eating too much spicy food. I just don't need to hear the details! Which they regularly tell me.

I get various stomach problems frequently, namely nausea and diarrhea. I think its bad bacteria. Two things work for me most often, almost without fail.

(1) Peppermint Oil. I put it a couple on the stomach, if diarrhea a couple drops inside the belly button. Usually that does it for me!

(2) DigestZen. If I think its bad bacteria, I always add this one, and it WORKS.

Here's a few other ideas;

(3) For constipation. Rosemary, lemon, peppermint and marjoram on the stomach.

(4) For motion sickness. A drop of ginger on the stomach, or in combination with a drop of peppermint oil. Oooooor a one drop of peppermint on a sugar cube and give it to the kids, but I'm not trying that one! I was driving seven kids all crammed in a tiny vehicle today -- trust me, sugar high kids doesn't fall top on my list.

(5) For severe diarrhea. Dilute cinnamon on the neck. DILUTE. Its like oregano in that it BURNS! So add coconut oil or something.

QUESTIONS?

doTERRA products are not intended diagnosis, treatment, cure or prevention of disease.

.....because accidents happen.

Thanks to a lot of amazing people for helping make it possible, and to the family I work for not excluding me, we went on vacation to an island. Listen, this was by no means anything normal. 

To get to the island meas 20 something hours by bus. Then a ferry. Then a car bumping up and down on no mans land until we reach a deserted land of coconuts and thick jungle.

um. Well, last Monday we rented a couple motorbikes from our resort, and split up the kids on the back of our bikes, so we could see the island. Let me just say that biking through the sand was neck-and-neck with impossibility and absurdity. I finally made the kids walk because I could not get the bike to quit sliding.

Sometime during the day I heard God say to have the kids stay at this beach while I picked up lunch in a village nearby.  So I did. But I never came back to that beach.

I had a bike crash. Lost control of the bike. Sand, water, who knows. I ride a motorbike every day in my town. I've had people almost kill me a number of occasions. But lose control of a bike? never.

I screamed so hard the entire village came out, and took me to this cute clinic who cleaned my wounds and gave me five stitches on the chin. And to top that: someone in the village drove my bike back to the resort, picked me up, and drove me home.  I'm telling you -- what Thais do naturally match what a lot of Christians call "outreaches."

(gotta admit this little hospital is pretty cute...)

All that was scary and all, but nothing as bad as what happened the next day. Infection set in up my leg and on my foot. It was terribly gross, and I was mad scared. So I employed the biggest oil of all: the Holy Spirit. Thanks to my friends laying hands over me, and thanks to all you across the US and Texas praying (triple thanks to you guys in Texas praying; the fact that your forests were burning and you still remembered me is near incredible).   God answered, and God healed that leg!!!   

Why take oils with you when you travel? Cuz you never know. I In my case the doctor was affordable (even though I don't have insurance), but it was too far to go back and visit from our remote beach. I NEEDED my oils. I did not have Deep Blue, Frankincense or Melaleuca (because I was out of the oils....well, I had a tiny bit of Frankincense, but, but, but....I used it all up the Frankincense on my forehead to prevent headaches and bruising ---no bruise, but none left over for that leg).

So to my list of oils to take with me traveling, Deep Blue goes down on the list. Deep Blue helps prevent bruises and helps muscle soreness. Its the emergency oil. Sign up this month, and get some Deep Blue Rub for free.

Trust me, even if you don't ride a bike, accidents happen.  Hospitals aren't always near or affordable. I advice keeping some on hand!!!

TR

TRAVELING ^^^ THIS WEEK. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMG YES.

We're taking the night bus to Bangkok (piled up like sardines, but piled up non the less), will continue further east tomorrow, and will be back next week.

In the meantime I have my oils packed and taking Terra Shield with me this time, so I can put it on to avoid being bitte , so I don't get malaria or anything of the sort. Thailand is gorgeous, but its rough in places.

I kinda like have a billion things spinning around in my head. Such as why its windy outside but not raining.  (don't even bother rolling your eyes, Texans. Not raining for me is like not being hot for you -- its rare indeed)  Such as why I came to this crazy awesome place knowing I'd break my bank. Such as why I sacrifice my heart and head for teenagers. Such as when I'm going to get on with life and raise my own kids.

Bottom line: I'm not nutty. I'd rather help the world and see the world than trim toenails for a living .

In his uber-the-best-ever book The Four Hour Work Week,  Tim Ferris talks about how young people want to make their own decisions, which he terms as the New Rich. DISCLAIMER: His book is not about getting rich. Its about doing what you want, and having control of what you want to do.

An easy example is travel.  The Old Rich owned plantations and stayed in one home. The New Rich love to travel and have mini-retirements, pockets of their life to do short term travel. NR aren't necessarily rich in land or homes, and might not have much money at all. I meet these people frequently as they travel through Thailand living off pennies, or through blogs such as Soultravelers3  or family on bikes.

Also jobs. New Rich toss out the mental agony of running a CEO. Flush the billions down the toil; they just want to spend time as a family and community, and so work from home as much as possible. Some are entrepreneurs, some are employees. Some travel abroad; some spend their time volunteering at their kid's school. That makes no difference. Summarize it: Freedom!

Also ministry. The book talks about a family taking their daughters around the world volunteering with different organizations, giving them a global perspective of needs greater than themselves.

But I think with all these things comes --- you got it --- taking control of your health.  Health care is a mess in the good ol' US, and its silly to go to the doctor every time you have a head cold. If your traveling, you don't have insurance in every country under the sun. Taking control of your health isn't only what you want; its sometimes essential. This isn't to throw the doctor out of the window (sorry no bath tubs in Thailand to throw people out of), but just as a way to rejuvenate your health and have more energy to keep going, and going and going.

Want to balance your emotion? Sooth kid's  bug bites? Get rid of headaches. Essential oils are right for you.

The information on this site intended for educational purposes only. The statements have not been evaluated by the food and drug administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Anyone suffering from any disease, illness, or injury should consult with a physician.

The suggested uses apply only to certified pure therapeutic grade doTERRA essential oils.

Today I was asked the question: do you think doTERRA essential oils are essential for going on a two week missions trip? And if so, which ones?  GOOD QUESTION.

First of all, I so. OMG. Always travel with oils, in America or abroad. I can't imagine not having them, but if you’re on a tight budget, you probably want to know if they are absolutely essential. Gotcha. (Did you know gotcha is a word according to my spell check? that's crazy stuff there.)

1) It depends on where you are going.  If you are going to Koh Chang, Thailand, for a two week vacation. you will be served bottle water and top notch food even if you’re staying in a hotel costing $10 a day. Odds are you will not consume bad bacteria. Same goes with other third world countries.Some mission trips are to villages that boil all their water (one time water wasn't being piped in the home, so I did a quick check to see if all the plastic pipes bringing water into the house were latched together -- whata you know, I found a snake INSIDE. Wonder why folks BOIL *cough - should boil* water in villages???), and some missions teams are doing VBS in a clean city. Know the type of environment where you are traveling.

2) If bad water is a problem, I advise essential oils. I had a friend from Thailand recently go to India for two weeks and was stomach sick most of the time. Again, it had to do with staying in a remote village; I aren't, I ain't, I isn't, and I won't, say all of India has the same issues. Understand,I haven't traveled the entire world yet (I want to. GRIN), but I do know bad water is common in a lot of countries. So in these certain environments where toxic water is a problem, I would carry doTERRA 1) Lemon oil and 2)Digest Zen and Peppermint Oil.  You will want doTERRA Lemon Oil because you can consume it internally (put a few drops in your water to purify it). I use Peppermint oil on my stomach to stop nausea that has set in. If diarrhea (yes, I just said that word), I put a bunch inside my belly button. It works efficiently for me, so I'm recommending what I have found to work.

4) If Malaria is a concern, I would choose the natural route, over the medical mainstream route.  Malaria is very rare in Thailand,but there are still strands, and if I go to Burma, Laos, or Cambodia, my chances of getting it are much greater. I got Dengue Fever last year, which is akin to malaria with its high fever, and it feels like your bones are crushing.I just thought carting firewood down a mountain was hard; moving a muscle just to walk to the bathroom can be worse.

I'll be honest: I have yet to get any shots to prevent diseases, and I refuse to consume Malaria medicine on a daily bases. Know anything about malaria medicine? It has side effects, such as diarrhea and stomach aches.Listen, I got enough problems with diarrhea and stomach aches just from living abroad; I'm not taking medicine to keep me well but makes me sick.  Again,you need to weigh the risk yourself, and talk with the locals. I have known people to die of brain malaria, so if you don't know what you’re doing, or if malaria is really strong where you are going, or if you are just taking the medicine for two weeks (as opposed to 2 years as I would be doing), the natural way won't be for you.  

Here's what I do for viruses I get from mosquitoes. (I’ve never had malaria.Not a big threat here.)

1) I have doTERRA Melissa, and I put it one drop on the roof of my mouth once a day when my fever spikes high. I've had to use it twice since I got it. I don't think it was malaria, but it was a virus and took care of my fever quickly. There’s a lot more that you can do with doTERRA oils to help with malaria. Again, I don’t claim to know much about that virus, so self educate yourself.

 

2) I have a homeopathic that took care of our dengue fever very well. I used it before I got into doTERRA; I don't know if doTERRA will have the same results, but I surely hope so, and the reviews point that way. Enough that it was well worth the $$$$ investment. If you can’t afford Melissa, please bring some kind of homeopathic medicine with you to any country that has bad mosquito viruses. (Thailand is not a country I have in mind though I had a friend who got Dengue Fever in the one month he was here.)

4) General advice --- find out what locals do for illnesses. Remember, people have lived in jungles for years. If the people eat really spicy food to keep out parasites, you might think twice before you turn down that spicy food. They use lemon? You use lemon. The Thais taught me that if you dry Thai orange skin, and then burn it, it keeps away the mosquitoes. White man stays clueless on what to do in warm climates.

5) Think twice where you save your pennies. Oils are expensive, but so are shots and malaria medicine. Compare the cost and side effects before you automatically rule out oils even Melissa. Additionally, keep your health in mind. Do you want to spray your body with toxic mosquitoes spray? You might purchase doTERRA's alternative.

6) If you’re worried about common colds and fevers, purchase OnGuard. I carry it with me everywhere, and put it on the bottom of my feet. This one is not essential to life or death. Stomach bug and malaria is (or can feel like it), so they take first presidents. However, almost every team I've traveled with here, someone has gotten fever (last October, that included half the team.Try coaching a soccer team with 100 fever. Suddenly you don’t feel like Mr.Cool Man).  

A saying goes around Northern Thailand that bugs are more healthy than chicken or pork because the bugs roam free in the mountains while the farm animals are shot with chemicals. On a certain level, they speak truth. A massage therapist first pointed it out on my friends leg. She said, "Your legs are swollen because you eat chicken." Take it with a grain of salt, but I've seen evidence that chemicals do creepy things.

HEAR YE HEAR YE. Chemicals are nasty, and its a global problem, not a US problem.

While folks in Texas are in a drought, Thailand is in the middle of rainy season, averaging 7-10 inches a month for six months of the year. Lemons drool off the vines in this village.

(In case your wondering, no that's not a barn. That's a house. Its quite nice inside, actually.)

Lemons purify our system. That's why these villages grow them and use them in everything. So here's what you can do if you don't have lemon trees hanging in your back yard. Purchase some lemon oil, and use it like this.

1) For the chemical problem, put a couple drops of doTERRA lemon essential oil in your sink of water that you normally use for dish washing (or the sink that kids use to make soap bombs instead of washing the dishes. *cough* You can tell the gender of the people in my house).  Put your veggies in the water and wash them. In my house, we even purify the water if we're washing dishes cuz we don't trust the water here AT ALL. (Supposedly water is good in Thailand, but it comes and goes, and you never know when the clock says its poison day.)

2) To drink, add 2 drops to your glass of water, like you would when adding squeezed lemons. BE SURE ITS doTERRA cuz its the only kind that can be taken in internally. You could poison yourself if you drink a brand that cannot be swallowed. (When I was in college, I'd always order three lemon slices -- well once, the guy at Pizza Hut took it upon himself to deliver a whole lemon with a knife, just to make my friends and I die of laughter.)

If drinking water in a third world country, add up to six drops.

If your drinking water straight from the River Ping in Thailand, or Amazon River, add the entire bottle.  Once in time (not a fairy tale; once IN time), a missionary did just that: drank Amazon water with an entire bottle of doTERRA lemon oil. Everyone on his team got deathly ill, but him.

Now listen: if you drink water from a river and use the oils, you better do so on YOUR OWN ACCORD.  I've never tried it, I'm not promising it will work. All I'm saying is that God made lemons to purify, and in an emergency when your going to die if you don't drink water, why not try it?

I slightly went over the edge into death valley this weekend. I could barely breathe. When I'm fighting something, it always helps me know if its bacteria or virus. In this case it was a family friendly reaction to dust. You see, part of being a digital nomad is letting go of stuff. I live in a shoe box, and well, shoe boxes are for things like shoes, not stuff stuff. I live off the bear necessities of life.

So I took everything out of my room, tossed out  50%, and then moved all the furniture, whipped (*cough* I mean whiped) down all the furniture. DIE A SECOND DEATH. There was enough dust under my bed to feel up a dust pan.

Well, I came back to life, thankfully.; I did use Breathe on my chest to keep me BREATHING. And a little Frankincense on my throat.

Somethig crazy I noticed in my declutter madness: medicine has short expiration dates. I brought a bunch of  medicine, advils, and such things that shut down your kidneys to Thailand in 2010. Not long ago, folks. In going through my medicine, I noticed all of it had either expired, or will in around four months. All except.

*drum drum*

My oils

The expiration dates on those is amazing. LIFETIME GUARANTEE.

Think the US dollar is going to crash? Well, I'm thinking Frankcense might be a better investment these days.

Problem is, while its amazing to know my oils are not going to expire,  I use them up faster than cash.

My mom went to San Antonio and took her own 8 doTERRA therapuetic-grade oils plus doTERRA TerraShield, a natural bug repellant especially handy in the middle of a hot Texas summer.  Oh boy. I told you. Anytime you leave town, yourare  jinxed to get sick. She got it. The Cold.

Oils are like first aid kits. They can be applied anywhere. So while in the car, she noticed her bottle of On Guard was empty. Not good cuz OG is number one on the list to fight colds. But NO PANIC. Other oils can do the trick.

FIRST THING TO DO: Evaluate your symptoms. She had a sore throat-kind-of-cold.

SECOND: Treat the problem. In this case, the sore throat. She did four things repeated throughout the day.

1)Since Melaleuca is swift for the throat, she started with it. One drop on the tongue every ten minutes. Exhausting to do it every ten minutes? Well, its more entertinaing than lying in bed for a week watching TV.

2)She put TerraShield and Melaleuca on the outside of the throat as well. About every four hours. Again, close to the throat as possible as these two oils help with the throat. Melaleuca helps the soreness, and TerraShield helps horseness.

3)Then my favorite. Lemon on the neck every four hours. Lemon gets the lymph symptom moving. *cough* That is, helps get THEM TOXICS to tail out of there.

4)Finally, she made it to the hotel, and added Melaleuca, Frankincense, and Lemon on the spine cuz viruses hang out in the spine, and you want to push the nasty stuff on out of there. (Note: it helps to have someone do it for you.)

How to apply oils to the spine:

 

1) Put three drops on the bottom, middle, and top (one drop each place)

 

2) Run your fingers up the spine three times, starting at the bottom and going up. Spread them oils out, baby!

 

3) Then starting at the bottom of your spine, fan your hand to the right three times. Then to the left three times. Go up. Fan to the right three times, then to the left three times. Go up. Fan to the right three times, to the left three times. Repeat until you covered your spine Base, middle, and top, which is about six places all together. Get the mental image of what your doing. Your trying to push the toxins away from their hideout and into the lymph system, so they can get the heck out of your body.

She did the oils on the spine three times. Once in the evening, once that night, and the next morning. She also continued the every-four-hours and every-ten-minutes oils as much as possible.

Total hours she was sick: Less than 24 hours!

If you have questions about how to apply the oils on the spine, leave a comment!