Homemade Lotion.

Have you ever wondered what lotions are made of? Well, the ones you purchase in the store are made of many different things you probably can't even pronounce ;) We don't strictly avoid them alltogether, but I prefer to make my own or use coconut oil.

I didn't think much about lotion until someone had asked if I had a recipe for one, so began my search! I'm thankful she asked because it is so simple to make your own. I found this recipe on a blog I came across one day.

This recipe is very basic and if you want more moisture, I recommend looking for a lotion that has cocoa butter in it. I will be looking for one as it gets cooler in Michigan and my skin gets dry, so stay tuned for that.

What you need:

• Aloe (unscented pure aloe)- I found ours at Harvest Health, I bought one of their mid-cheaper ones after reading all of the ingredients in each. 
• Coconut Oil- I get mine at Aldi ($4.99 for 16oz)
• Essential Oil- I used a small amount of lavendar. 
• Container to put it in- I used an old coconut oil container. 

How to make it:

1. Mix the aloe and coconut oil in equal parts in a bowl with a whisk. I recommend melting the coconut oil, I did not and it didn't mix very well. 
2. Add essential oil; I did about 15 drops for my 16oz of lotion and it was good.
3. That's right, it's that easy! 

I use this lotion daily after showers and it's been great! You don't need near as much and it is easy on sensitive skin.
 
Let me know how this works for you! If you tend to get extra dry skin you may need something with a little more moisture in it, such as something with cocoa butter.

Feel free to comment with any questions:)

Have a great fall week!

Amy 

Cold and Flu Season is Here! Recipe- Hand Sanitizer.

We all know that in Michigan we have 4 seasons, we should add one more "Cold & Flu Season" (perhaps also "Construction Season" to make it 6). Many of us are constantly using hand sanitizer that we pick up at the store. With so many major brands/off-brands to offer, how do we choose? Our family chooses to make their own, it saves money and it's much safer for our bodies.

Often times the sanitizers we purchase at the store are alcohol and chemical laden, which is actually not good for our skin or our bodies. Sure, it gets rid of the germs 99% of the time, but it's still not good for us. Consequently, I went on a search for some recipes for hand sanitizers! I love making my own and I am confident that it is safe and effective.

This is the best I found with a 2% essential oil dilution from a facebook group I am a member of:

What you need:

• 1 2oz glass spray bottle (found at Harvest Health)
• 1 1/2 oz Witch Hazel (found at Harvest Health; that's 3/4 of the bottle, save yourself the measurement!)
• 2 tsp Olive Oil (carrier oil)
• 10 drops Tea Tree Essential Oil (found at Harvest Health)
• 8 drops Sweet Orange Essential Oil (found at Harvest Health) 

What you do: 

• Fill the 2 oz spray bottle 3/4 full or 3 tbsp Witch Hazel.
• Measure 2 tsp olive or almond oil and pour into the spray bottle (we only had olive so I used it).
• Put 10 drops Tea Tree Essential Oil into the bottle. 
• Put 8 drops Sweet Orange Essential Oil into the bottle. 
• Shake it before each use to make sure it is mixed. 

I carry this with me in our diaper bag at all times. I use it after every diaper change if there isn't a sink close by, and so far I am pleased!

If you try this, please let me know how it works for you:) 

Have a great week everyone!

Natural Face Wash

 Do you have acne prone skin? Oily skin? Are you sick of paying drug store prices to clean up your face with products that never seem to work? Have you thought of making your own face products?

For about 2 years (maybe more, I can't recall) I have been making my own face wash. It started with a Pinterest recipe... some oil mixed together (probably caster and olive) and then it developed into a wonderfully exfoliating face wash that I can not live without!

I will NEVER buy a face product from the store again. I tried everything before this trusty recipe, I used topical creams, 'natural' face wash from the store, wash that promised to clear my skin in _____ days; you know the drill with big companies promising things they can not hold to. I'm here to tell you I CAN promise you better skin with this face wash! I can't promise a timeline, but I can say if you make it and you stay dedicated to using it you will see results:) 

Before I started this face wash I had constant acne, not a ton, but big deep painful acne that could pop up at any moment, fairly oily skin and scaring. You ask, "How did that clean up with OIL?" Well, I'm here to tell you it did! The coffee in the wash helps to exfoliate scars and acne. The oil in the face wash rinses away the bad oils (ones that cause acne) that your face naturally produces and you are left with a clean moisturized face. Many of the products you purchase in the store dry out your skin which causes the skin to over produce oil and cause acne. I also have hardly used lotion on my face since I've used this product, occasionally if my face is extra dry I will use a little bit of coconut oil on it.

This facewash will also only cost you pennies and last you for at least half a year. I buy everything at Aldi and you can make multiple batches with just one trip; you may also have the products on hand already. Sugar = $1.89; EVOO = 2.99; Coffee = 2.00 (these are rough estimates).

Whats even better with this face was is you DON'T have to wash your face EVERY day. I literally wash my face with water every day and use this face wash 1-2 times per WEEK. In the beginning I did use it every other day, but now I don't need to.

Here is the recipe (equal parts each ingredient): 

Olive oil (sometimes a little more than equal parts oil)
White sugar
Caffeinated coffee
**you can play around with it and add some essential oils or lemon juice**

That's right! That is all you need!

I put mine into a mason jar. I will be transferring to a flip top jar soon because the top of the mason jar does show some rust over time.

I hope you try this. Please comment with any questions!

Have a great week everyone!

Amy

Well, it sure has been a while! My last post was just after my Dad died in 2013. Whoa! A lot has happened since then and a lot has changed...let me share some of those changes.

I went from a life of just me to a life of two with my wonderful God-fearing husband in the summer of 2014. Here is a picture of us on that beautiful July day...Don't we look so happy? We still are :)

Shortly after we got married we found out we would no longer be just two, but three!! Here is our announcement from last year.

On May 1, 2015 we welcomed our little -I mean big- bundle of joy; weighing in at 9lbs 13oz she entered the world after a long hard labor. We are so continually thankful to our Lord for this precious child and we don't know what we would do if we were still just two! Here is a picture of our little sweetie...

 What a stinkin' cutie!

After all of that...so begins our journey as a family to become more natural and use a lot less chemicals. I've spent some time researching homemade natural products and currently use a few already. I hope to use this blog to share success stories and probably some failures along the way about homemade-natural cleaners, household products, body products, etc. 

Some insight on the "natural" things we already do/have done...

1. We use vinegar/water for a household cleaner. 
2. We use cloth diapers with our little lady. 
3. We use EVOO/cloth wipes for her bum over wet wipes.
4. I make my own face wash, I have been using it for over 3 years with the BEST success I've ever had with any face wash. 
5.  We used to use homemade laundry soap.
6. We use organic garlic as an antibiotic to fight off colds and the like- thanks to my mom-in-law.
7. We use coconut oil as a moisturizer.
8. Random semi-natural fact: I JUST started brewing kombucha too!

Some of the natural things I HOPE to begin...

1. Making an all-purpose natural cleaner.
2. Making a natural toilet bowl cleaner. 
3. Making a tub/shower cleaner. 
4. Making baby wash/shampoo. 
5. Making our body wash. 
6. Making our own handsoaps. 
7. I think the list could go on...just the top 6 on my mind:) 

Let's do this together! Feel free to follow, comment, share your natural recipes! I love hearing what other people are doing/have done.

Have a good one all!

Amy

To be Thankful or to Dwell?

As I reflect back on this past year there is so much that I could sit and dwell over, but there is so much goodness from God that I can't sit and dwell. I must and will be thankful!

I am thankful for salvation
Without salvation I don't know where I would be today. Before Christ my life was headed down a path of destruction and He was my only Hope to bring me out of that destruction. Salvation is the best gift I have ever received and something I am eternally grateful for. (Ephesians 2:1-7)

I am thankful for God's will
No matter how many times I don't understand what God is doing, I can always look back and thank Him for the wonderful ways He has orchestrated things. I am thankful that He is in charge of my life and I am not, He will see me through until the last day and may that always be inside of His will.  (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
 

I am thankful for my dad's death
This year as many already know my dad died. Well, I could be sad about this, but I'm not. It was the cancer that took over his body, but in the end Christ triumphed over my dad's death and brought him into glory. Before cancer my dad had no knowledge of Christ or the gospel, but on his death bed he proclaimed Christ as his Savior, for this I am deeply and eternally grateful. I know now that my dad is at peace and one day I will get to meet him again in heaven!


I am thankful for my mother
Over the past year my mom has shown great strength in the way she has remained strong throughout my dad's cancer and death. My mom has managed to support me to go back to school and also my brother. She has given me laughter and joy on days when I didn't think they would be possible. She has brightened my days with ability to bless me in many ways. She has been a strong hold for our family and has been able to keep us going, she has never given up!

I am thankful for my friends who have become my family
I am thankful to every single one of you who continued to pull me in the direction of Christ over the past year, even when I was going through a hard time and likely hard to deal with. I am so thankful for every one who stuck by my side through it all and don't know what I would do without all of you!  
I am thankful for singleness
This year I am thankful for the gift of singleness. It has been a blessing to spend time with my family and go through everything while living with them over the past couple of years. Without singleness I wouldn't' have been as free to move in with my mom and spend time with her and my dad before he died. God always knows what He is doing!


I am thankful for marriage
Weird you might think, since I'm not married or anywhere near marriage, but alas I am thankful for the covenant of marriage. I have seen a number of friends be given into marriage this year and have been so blessed to watch my friends marry their best friends. As my friends get married I am continually grateful for their spouses and the ways that they lead each other toward Christ. 

I am thankful for the chance to be a part of a church plant
This year I have had the opportunity to get to know some wonderful people through the work of Harvest OPC's church plant New City Fellowship OPC. I look forward to diving deeper in community with the many brothers and sisters I have come to know and love. May God be glorified through the work being done on the Northeast side of Grand Rapids.

I am thankful to be graduating 
This December I will have completed the first leg of my journey in education and I can't wait to see how God uses it! Being a preschool teacher is one of the biggest blessings and I can't wait to see where God places me next in this journey.  

I could continue, I am so thankful this year and could continually point back to the ways God has blessed me over the past year, but these are just a few of the most important blessings that have occurred over the past year. May God create many more things to be thankful for over the next year.

I Can't Believe It's Been 6 Months...

Today marks 6 months since my dad died, it only seemed fitting to write a post in reflection upon God's wonderful goodness to me and my family over the past year and a half.

The blessings began when I moved home. When I left Grand Rapids, I was a new believer, someone who was only beginning to grasp what it meant to follow Christ. I came back with a stronger relationship to Christ which in turn helped me to be able to witness, though imperfectly, to my parents. Through moving home so many blessings that I couldn't see that first summer were to follow.

It all started in March of 2011, I was working at a nursing home as a CNA pushing my residents down to a St. Patrick's Day celebration when I got a text from my mom saying, "We were just in the ER, your dad has lesions on his pelvis and he has an appointment with a specialist on Monday morning." Instantly I went into panic mode. What did this mean for my dad? For my family? For me? For my family that I had grown to know and love so much in Lansing? Did this mean I would have to leave the place I now called home for the past 2.5 years? It did mean big changes, it meant moving home with out a job initially, trusting God to provide, and praying I could minister to my family through this hard time. Did I mention it meant many patient and loving people who supported me even when they probably wanted to give up or get some sleep?

Soon after moving home, within days, I found a job at a local pizza place...though a job I was thankful for, it was far away and didn't exactly pay the small amount of bills I had piled up at University. This meant finding better employment, which I did, I found a job by God's wonderful provision at a childcare center and this in turn grew my love for children. I soon found myself loving working with children and I wanted to now pursue a degree in Child Development.

Last January I began studying child development at GRCC and I wasn't sure what this would look like in the future. Here I am 8 months later almost finished with the program and working for the second best preschool program that Grand Rapids has to offer, what a blessing. In 8 weeks I will be able to say that I have finally finished at least one degree! :)

Through all of this I was living with my parents at 24, not something I had ever envisioned. I was often discontent, troubled, conflicted, and ungrateful, yet a steward God chose to use in the lives of my parents. Many days I had a bitter spirit one that would argue or become easily frustrated. Despite all of this, through out my dad's battle with cancer he grew to have a softer heart and our relationship changed. He started volunteering, before he never would have dreamed of working for no money! He started spending his time biking, volunteering, meeting up with old friends and spending time at home with us. Life was busy and often he would be home alone during the day, but he always had the house to fall back on and still continued to go through with the remodel of our home. He had plans ready to finish, called in people to finish the job sooner, refinanced the house for my mom's sake, made sure she was going to be stable if anything happened to him and kept living his life. 

Fast forward to last January, my dad was finally in a form of "remission," the cancer had stopped growing and things were really looking up, yet realistically we knew that it wouldn't always stay this way. By February his cancer had become metastatic (fast growing) and it attacked his entire body rapidly. We spent many days in the ER and at the hospital.

The last time we were in the ER was perhaps one of the scariest moments of my life, it was midnight and I heard a loud thump come from their room. I shot out of bed (it was a Friday night) and immediately went into his room to see what had happened. I turned on the light and my mom was holding his body onto the bed while his eyes continued to roll into the back of his head, I went downstairs and called 911. On the phone I gave them the overview of his condition and within minutes they were at our house. We called my brother to have him meet us at the hospital. They wouldn't allow us to see him for about 30 minutes, this seemed like hours. As we sat and waited each nurse or doctor that came out we expected to talk to. Eventually they let us back to see him and he was acting fine again, happy, yet you could tell the strength was leaving his body.

Soon after this he was admitted to Faith Hospice. We enjoyed one last night of laughs with him on Monday evening, which was also the day he told my Uncle Ross that he had Jesus in his heart. Perhaps the one thing that makes me cry most now is the fact that God had claimed my dad's spirit in his last moments of life. I never believed it was possible, I thought I had done it all wrong, I thought my witness had failed, I never saw the day my dad would love Jesus. As God's servant in my sin I doubted God's ability to break into my dad's heart and redeem him and relied heavily on my works or what I had done. Reality is God saves souls, He only divinely chooses to use us by His infinite grace. By Wednesday the last words that he spoke were to me, I told him I loved him and he said, "I love you too."

By Sunday two of my friends who have become family over the past 10 years, my brother, my mom and my aunt (my dad's sister) were all in the room while the Tigers were playing and he breathed his last. God had finally called him to his eternal home, it was as if the fight had left and peace came over his body. I still remember the nurse who came in and watching the hands on her watch tick for a full minute before she pronounced him dead. 

I'm not going to pretend the last 6 months since his passing have been all roses and butterflies. What I can say is that we serve a faithful and mighty God who cares for our inmost being and will surround us in his peace even when it seems like the world is crashing down around us. When my dad died, my relationship that I felt was weakening with Christ was only strengthened. God has shown me that as His servant it is my duty to share the gospel, to trust in His saving work in the lives around me and to be a faithful servant to Him even when I don't feel like it. God has shown me more of what it looks like to be His daughter, dearly loved and cherished, the one He constantly pursues even in my moments of doubt. I have also come to see the sovereignty of God and His willingness to never give up on pursuing me. God is good and His purposes are meant for the betterment of His people.

I can firmly rest assured that as Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." God's purposes aren't always clear in the beginning, but as He continues to reveal Himself to you, you will become more sanctified and more blessed by His faithful goodness and love.

As children of God we can firmly say that He will never bring pointless trials or meaningless sufferings even when we can't see the good within the bad that happens all around us. I don't claim to have it all right, God has just been teaching and showing me the way through His grace.

We serve a mighty God!

Thank you to all of the friends and family who have never given up on me through out all of this, but have continually pointed me to Christ and strengthened my walk with God. 

What's Next?

It goes a little bit like this...

I arrived in Uganda late in evening on August 11, from there we took a short trip to a hotel. I would consider it more of a resort seeing as how I basically slept like a princess my first night in Uganda with running HOT water, electricity and wireless internet...did I mention the candies on my pillow?

Anyway, after my arrival I woke up quite late the next morning and had breakfast with Eric and Dianna. After breakfast we took the "3 hour" drive to Mbale which could also take 2 hours, 5 hours or maybe even 6 hours, you just never know! In our case it took about 5 hours. The uncertainty lies in the fact that the roads are often full of traffic heading both ways down a two lane road consisting of mutatu's, boda-boda's, pedestrians and any other vehicles. Did I mention livestock sitting on the side of the road and even crossing in front of you at times? Driving in Uganda is crazy, but it is definitely and interesting adventure!

When we arrived at the Tuininga compound we were greeted by 8 excited children, 3 dogs and one MA all ready for the return of mom and dad. It was a warm welcome and I made myself at home there. It wasn't much of a transition, Christi (their current MA) and I became fast friends, their children were great the whole week, and I made many new friends. I am so thankful to the Tuininga family for allowing me a chance to see into their life in Uganda, it is truly amazing what God is doing in Uganda.

My trip was enjoyable overall, I never got sick, we had nice weather, my body was just a lot more tired than usual. I only caught ringworm, I will definitely take that over other possible illnesses! The whole two weeks I was there I never truly had a 'bad experience' and the culture of Uganda made my heart happy because everyone is so friendly all of the time and most of the time it is impolite to not say hello or greet a stranger on the road.:) Africa forever captured my heart with it's culture and it was an experience I will forever remember.

I arrived home after 36 hours of travel and layovers to Grand Rapids, on Sunday August 25. I was never more thankful to see my bed that night. I could hardly keep my eyes open and I went to bed at 8:30. The next morning I began a new job and semester of classes. God is forever faithful.

Let me show you some pictures of the trip. I don't have a ton, perhaps because I like to just experience:)

 

 A morning walk with the older children. 

 

The three compound pups; Faith, Grace and Heidi. 

 The house I was blessed to stay at, a downed power line and Mama Rachel:)

Here are some photos from the hike we took:

A view from the top of Mt. Wanale

 Our hiking group at the top:)

 The crazy ladder we climbed down!

We literally slid the whole way down...

 

 Three children we met at the bottom and gave sugarcane to:)

A few pictures from our last night out together...

 

 The group minus Martin, so thankful for all of them. 

Since he wasn't in the last one, here is a pic of Martin and I.

 Kenyan poker, a new favorite game!

 Just for fun, a pic of Christi and I!:)

Will I return in January?

As of right now, the answer is unfortunately no. Through much prayer and counsel upon my return I realized that I really desire some day to work with local preschools and help them to develop and establish solid long lasting programs that truly enhance the children they serve. I wait in anticipation for the opportunity to serve in this way whether it be in Uganda, America or another country. Regardless of not returning in January this trip opened my eyes to the world, a completely different culture, and I made many wonderful friends along the way.

As I wait and depend on the Lord for the next step join me in prayer for doors to be opened for a job or a mission opportunity in the coming months to serve in preschools. I have started applying for jobs and I am still open to going abroad and serving in preschools as God opens doors. I will also be working to finish my degree in December (Lord willing), which will be a burden lifted from my shoulders when it is all said and done!

God has been and always will continue to be faithful, that's one certainty I will never let go. His gospel is reaching the lost through servants like the Tuininga family among many others and for that I am truly thankful!

Also, in the next few months remember my friend Ashley as she sits on near bed rest due to a car accident last week. She and her husband are due to have their first child (a baby girl) in December, and her husband is away finishing his degree out of town until then.

As a final note, a huge hug and thank you to all who have made this possible through prayers, encouragement, monetary support and care for me. We serve an amazing God who makes all things possible for His glory and our good!

Waiting on Him,

Amy