My Go To Stomach Bug Remedy

So after last week's Bible School and nonstop running, DS5 ended up with the stomach bug. While camping with my parents, he got very pitiful. We brought him home and gave him some activated charcoal caps. He slept all day Saturday, but woke up yesterday feeling 100%. To keep the rest of us from getting it, we have all been drinking grape juice three times a day. It's a hack we saw on Facebook, but I swear by it. When the bug went around last time, none of us got it but the one kid who started with it.

We all started taking the activated charcoal, as well as diffusing thieves oil. Of course like with most illnesses, hand washing is key! We only do soap and water, because I have little faith in hand sanitizer and some germs are good for you. Unfortunately, it looks like the bug may have a long incubation period and we might have spread it to my friend's family. I feel horrible.

What do you do to keep your family healthy?

Disclaimer: Although I am a licensed nurse, I am not a doctor. This post is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any illness and is not guaranteed to work. This post is intended to state what works for our family. Seek medical attention as you would with any illness. If this is a life threatening emergency, call 9-1-1.

Affording Such a Large Family

Aside from the glances and sheer curiosity that having a large family causes, large families are often questioned as to how we can afford our kids. You stay at home with the kids while your husband (soon to be for me) works? How do you contribute to the family? Kids are expensive how do you afford all of them? I can only imagine how much food you'll go through when they are teenagers?

I like to think that these people are well meaning and not just being jerks. Are we wealthy? Hardly! Do we struggle? Sure who doesn't. We believe that children are blessing from God. In fact, in the Bible, we are instructed to multiple and are told that our children are blessings:

Psalm 127:3-5 New International Version (NIV)

³ Children are a heritage from the Lord,
    offspring a reward from him.
⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
    are children born in one’s youth.
⁵ Blessed is the man
    whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
    when they contend with their opponents in court.

 

Now, I know that this scripture has been linked to a famous large family and the quiver full movement. Let me make this super clear that we are not associated with that movement and do not tolerate the structure of this movement. I personally feel that the husbands role is abusive and controlling. Brad would laugh at the thought of me controlled. Also, blanket training is cruel and leads to robot children who have no sense of trust and to me is abusive. Who hits a child let alone a baby!? But I digress...

 

We believe that by following the Bibles teaching that we will in deed be blessed by our children. Every time that we face a financial struggle, God ALWAYS comes through and we receive an unexpected check or are gifted something that we need.

 

We believe that if we use our money (God's money) wisely that we will benefit from that. We also use our time and resources to bless others and in return we are blessed beyond measure.

 

Over the next few weeks we will talk about my tips for affording our children and how we plan to afford future children.

Garden

I am very excited to say that I finally have some plants of my own that I am growing! I have wanted a garden for as long as I can remember. Needless to say, living in a home with no yard makes that a little hard. So urban gardening it is!

A while back Brad built me some planter boxes. I found some starter plants at farmers market and decided that they would work great in our small area. I get 4 tomato plants, a leek plant and a chamomile plant. I already have some herb plants and a citronella plant.

When we eventually move we will be buying enough land to have a garden. I think that this is great for the kids to learn. It is skills that you are not really taught in school. Everyone should know how to grow their own food and preserve it and should be taught hard work and responsibility.

What do you grow in your garden?

DIY Planter Boxes

Brad has spent the weekend building planter boxes for our deck. Where we are renting we certainly do not have the room to put out a garden... so we are doing an urban garden. We are really strapped for cash so we are going about this the cheapest way that we know how. This past week we have been blessed with being able to gather supplies for free.

Brad was able to get lumber out of the throw away pile at work and a 3 gallon bucket. He is going to fashion the lumber into a vertical garden. I was able to get some planter pots from bushes that my parents had purchased for their flower bed.

My mom just purchased some plants for her garden and there were multiple plants in the pots. She is going to give me clipping and extra plants to start our garden.

I am so excited to save money on our grocery bill and not to mention teach the children new skills and have a little more control over what we put in our bodies. I feel so blessed that we have some skills that will allow us to do extra things that we otherwise wouldn't be able to afford.

Stopping the Soda Habit

So I have been wanting to stop drinking soda for a long time! I want to be more healthy and lose weight. Soda is terrible for your teeth as well. I would like to lose 43 pounds. I really want to get in shape. So I am walking away from the soda pop. I am drinking bottled water like crazy but the tap water around here is nasty. You can taste the chemicals even after filtering it. I have been infusing the water with cucumber or lemons or limes to make it taste better. I am determined to get healthy now that we have stopped smoking. I read somewhere that if you stop drinking soda you will lose up to 20 pounds in a year. I will not drink diet soda either. Aspartame is horrible for you and I am incredibly sensitive to it... headaches, tummy aches, etc.

Kombucha has been a wonderful alternative to soda pop for me. It is rather expensive to buy. I have learned how to make basic kombucha, but I would really like to make flavored alternatives. It is really tasty and very good for you and your gut health. It is easy to make and inexpensive to make.

I really need to drink more water though. I am going to set timers on my phone to remind me to drink water.

Food Waste Friday

So I don't actually have a picture this week for Food Waste Friday! We had a tight week and nothing got thrown out. This is definitely not the norm for us. I wish it were though!

Tune in next week for a more realistic picture.

Journey to Zero Waste

My job as a mama to all of my little lovelies is to try my best to make this world a better place for them. That is one of the main reasons I am a passionate activist. I once saw a video of a woman who could fit all of her landfill destined waste in a jelly jar. Wow! A jelly jar. No this is not a realistic goal for our family but we can significantly reduce our waste! I attempt live green. We cloth diaper, recycle and reuse when we can. I personally would like to family cloth but Brad is a no go on that. Haha. We clean naturally. We fix what we can before tossing it and buy a new one. But I am learning there is still so much more we can do! 2017 it is going to be my personal mission to find more ways to reduce waste and save money. Join me on this journey.

One problem I see where our family is concerned is how much food goes to waste! We are going to challenge ourselves to not waste food. Money is tight for us...as it is for most. We will compost what we don't consume, but the goal here is to remove the waste. We will start doing Food Waste Fridays for accountability. I have asked for a food recycler for our kitchen for my birthday, but I don't see that happening unless we get a house first!

Homemade Hair Mask

This year I have decided that I would like to not only take better care of myself, but want to feel prettier too. I really wanted to cut off my hair because I'm bored with it, but Brad really likes my long hair, as does my mother. So instead of cutting it, I am going learn to take care of it and style it and keep it looking nice. So of course I took to Pinterest! First thing on the list it coconut oil hair mask.

I did one egg, a tablespoon of honey, 2 tablespoons coconut oil and 2 tablespoons olive oil. I left it on for half hour, and what was left in the bowl I used as a facial mask. My hair is smooth and non frizzy. My face is soft and smooth. I am very excited about it! It worked great!

No frizz!

We Bought a House

After many tedious months, we finally have found a house big enough to accommodate our large family! We are so blessed! It is going to need quite a bit of fixing up, but thankfully Brad is very skilled in fixing things. Me? Not so much... but I am really good at supervising while he does it! Haha. I am rapidly falling in love with Pinterest. There are so many inexpensive and easy fixes to make the place more modern.

The house needs painting and flooring, but the fixtures are from the 1960s. The feature that under no circumstances is to be changed... the beautiful French doors leading to the dining room! I am so in love with them. I am going to be a Pinterest trying queen in the next few months. Some things will have to come more quickly than others. The house has no smoke detectors! There are several exit doors to the house which is great in case of a fire, but really bad when DS4 is a runner due to the autism. We will be getting a burglar alarm immediately. We are about to enter the teenage years with our older boys anyway. An alarm will save us some headaches from young men who think they get to sneak out! I love how they think we were never young... news flash we created and pulled off more ideas than you'll ever think of!

We have a little over three acres of land. So we are going to be homesteading a little bit! We are going to plant a garden, get chickens, ducks and possibly meat rabbits. I am excited to learn new things and share them with you! I am sure there will be some hilarious fails along the way, but hey we all have to learn somehow!