Diaper Bags || Minimizing Your Load

I lug around what mimics a suitcase. It's a diaper bag, but it is a big diaper bag. At any given time, that bag contains:

• Diapers for both my kiddos
• Wipes
• Diaper rash cream
• Extra clothes
• A small trash bag
• Bottles
• Burp cloths
• Pacifier wipes
• A thermometer
• Hand sanitizer...

You get the idea. But the other day, after struggling to get myself and my giant suitcase diaper bag out the door again, I finally snapped. There has to be a better way.

And there is.

The solution? Two bags.

We mothers pretty much need to be prepared for whatever may come. Trust me, you don't want to get caught two hours from home with no change of clothes and no trash bag when your toddler suddenly throws up in the backseat. Been there, done that. But I also don't want to walk sideways due to the massive load I have to cart around. It's time to simplify. So I now have two bags.

The smaller bag on the left is a purse I found at Wal-Mart for $16. It has two side pockets, much like a diaper bag, where I can store two bottles. Inside, I have a few diapers, a small container of wipes, and the extreme, need-it-now nessecities. I also have my wallet and very few purse essentials. That's it. The second bag stays in the car. This way, I have what I need with me and what I could possibly need within reach. The big bag holds my baby carrier, my toddler's "leash" (can't have him running off), a trash bag, a set of clothes for both kids, more diapers and wipes, and a mini-first aid kit.

I don't like toting around a huge diaper bag. It's hard enough toting around two small kiddos! So lighten your load, mom! Simplify and give your arms a break.

The Best Toothpaste I've Ever Used!

Have you looked at the ingredients in your regular, store-bought brand of toothpaste?

• Floride
• Glycerin
• Saccharin...

Let's just say the word nobody wants to say - TOXIC. Even children's toothpaste has a warning to instruct children not to swallow. I don't know about you, but that's not exactly an easy thing to get across to a two year old. And knowing my baby is swallowing toothpaste just doesn't sit well with me.

I began looking over a year ago at all-natural toothpaste and how to make your own. I tried Baking Soda and Hydrogen Peroxide. Gag. I tried Coconut Oil. Eh. I just couldn't stomach it and my mouth always felt gross after. My husband also detested it all. Then I stumbled upon Earthpaste and the first thing I did was read the ingredients:

Purified Water

Food Grade Redmond Clay

Xylitol

Real Salt

Tea Tree Oil

Menthol (found in peppermint and wintergreen Earthpaste flavors)

Essential Oils (like Cinnamon or Peppermint, depends on flavor)

That's it. It sounded exactly what I was looking for. So I gave it a go and was surprisingly thrilled! My mouth feels cleaner. It is completely safe to swallow (even eat if you so choose). But what I love most of all is the difference I have felt in my teeth. It's a little word called remineralization. That's right. This stuff can possibly heal teeth! Most of my teeth were drilled and filled in childhood and young adulthood and my teeth have always been sensitive, especially in one area of my mouth. After just two weeks of using Earthpaste, I noticed that my teeth felt stronger and, instead of simply feeling less sensitive, they weren't sensitive at all!

I highly recommend trying Earthpaste. You can find it on Amazon and at most health food stores!

Essential Oils in Pregnancy

I am not a doctor, midwife, herbalist, or anything of the like. 

The information in this blog post is just that - information. 

This is simply what I have learned and what I tried in my pregnancy. 

Do your own research before you use Essential Oils. 

photo credit

It is believed that one drop of essential oil is equal in medicinal strength to twenty-eight cups of herbal tea. Wow! My second pregnancy was my first time to use EO's while expecting and I simply love everything about them. You can use Essential Oils three ways. 1) Topically, 2) Internally, and 3) Aromatically. After some research, I decided to try a few Essential Oils for various pregnancy ailments. This is what I used:


Wild Orange essential oil is great for morning sickness. It also helps with colds and indigestion. You can use it topically, by blending it with cream, massage oil, or lotion and massaging it onto your skin when needed. Or you can use Wild Orange EO aromatically by adding it to hot water in a bowl and breathing in the vapors. 

Lavender is one of the most common Essential Oils and is known to be relaxing. I occasionally put a few drops in my bath. But along with being a relaxant, it has antidepressant and anti-fungal properties. Lavender EO is also an antihistamine, is anti infectious, and works as an anti-inflammatory. It also helps with fluid retention. Because it is also known to help with stretch marks, in my last weeks of pregnancy, I deluded the oil and massaged it on my belly. I had no new stretch marks this pregnancy and the ones I had in my previous pregnancy are very light. Before we headed to the hospital, I labored at home and kept my Lavender EO close to help me relax and release the tension in my muscles. It is definitely one of my favorite Essential Oils that I will always keep on hand.

Lemon is wonderful for nausea and morning sickness! All you have to do is put a few drops of the Lemon EO on a cotton ball and keep it close. Or you can rub a small drop behind your ears. The smell is invigorating and wakens the senses. When mixed with Lavender EO, you can also rub it on your skin for stretch marks!

Clary Sage essential oil is something I had in my bag for labor. It should be avoided in early pregnancy because it can cause miscarriage. Also, do not confuse it with Sage oil, as that has been proven to cause miscarriage as well. However, once your labor has begun, Clary Sage EO can actually help the process. The smell itself can intensify contractions and speed up the process. Breathing it it can often lead to an easier birth, which is why I had it with me. Though I didn't have time to use it during labor, I did add a little to my bath water in the last week of my pregnancy to keep myself relaxed. Rubbing the belly with Clary Sage EO helps in relaxation, especially when mixed with Lavender EO.

Though we should never rely on anything but the healing power of Jesus, I am very thankful for the things God has given us in nature that aid our health and help strengthen our bodies.

Be Only Women

“To me, a lady is not frilly, flouncy, flippant, frivolous and fluff-brained, but she is gentle. She is gracious. She is godly and she is giving… You and I, if we are women, have the gift of femininity. Very often it is obscured, just as the image of God is obscured in all of us… The more womanly we are, the more manly men will be, and the more God is glorified. As I say to you women, ‘Be women. Be only women. Be real women in obedience to God.’”

- Elisabeth Elliot          

Is It Ever Okay to be Immodest?

Modesty.

What comes to mind when you think of that word? Floor-length dresses? Turtle necks? Long sleeves? Some simply think that as long as their private areas are covered, then they are exuding modesty. And some believe that modesty only matters when they are around a certain group of people. You know like boys....or those who seem creepy...or the Pastor.

That brings me to ask this question, is it ever okay to be immodest?

This past Memorial Day, I put my 3 1/2 month old baby girl in a cute little patriotic bikini. I have to admit, she looked quite adorable. I mean, who doesn't love baby pudge and baby rolls all over the place? Several days later, a friend gently brought it up to me and asked "When do you begin to teach modesty??"     Woah! Light bulb.

To be honest, I had reservations about that bikini in the beginning. I don't wear bikinis. And I won't allow my daughters to wear bikinis or any swim suit that exposes too much skin. But I thought, "Well goodness, she's just a baby!" and went on with it. It doesn't really matter when they are that young, right?

So when does immodesty become unacceptable? When they become a teenager? At puberty? At age five?

Or does training in modesty begin from birth?

I'm new at this. I have always thought about modesty when I'm the one choosing what to wear. But now I am a mother. To a little girl. And now I am faced with a completely new spectrum of this whole cover-up-and-be-modest thing. I am having to shine a light into the corners and closets of my life and examine, not just my choices, but the reasons behind the choices I will make in training my little girl. How can I teach her to be modest if I compromise in infancy but stand solid when she is a tween? I could simply say, "I'm the Mom and this is how it is." But that's not training. That's bullying.

The Bible says to "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6) If we, as parents and leaders of our home, begin NOW in training up our children in the way they ought to go, then the Word of God gives us the promise that our work will not be in vain. If we raise our little girls - our baby girls! - to know and love modesty and what it means, then we will surely reap a harvest of blessings in the future. They will understand more of purity and holiness and I am quite certain that the Godly mothers of young men will thank us as well.

It's hard stuff, this training up of little people. I know down the road I will have my share of exasperation...and stupid mistakes. But I do not want to be too lazy to diligently guard my children from worldliness. And I have to begin now. I'm sure when she's old enough, my little girl will ask why. She will mostly likely get angry. But training and loving and showing her the beauty of our God and of representing His name in our dress will be worth it in the end.

When You Want to Quit Motherhood

I am going to be brutally honest with you. Sometimes I want to quit motherhood.

Sometimes the dirty diapers, the midnight feedings, the endless laundry, the selfish toddler, the overtired baby - sometimes it gets to me. And I want to quit. Sometimes all I really want is a bubble bath. And polish on my toes. And quiet.

Ever felt like that?

When my sweet Selah was born, I brought her home with a gleam in my eye. I had a 22 month old son and, now, a precious little girl! Could life be any better? Nathan was a complete joy as a newborn; very easy and very mellow. Then came my feisty little girl whose name means "pause; rest; peace" and she shook things up! For the first two months, I experienced near-constant crying. We saw three doctors and got three different "reasons" for her crying. I was at my wits end. I thought I was going to go crazy. Literally. I put on a brave face, but deep down I didn't want to do it any more. Motherhood, that is. I wanted to quit.

I don't know if you have ever experienced anything like that. My heart goes out to those parents who endure 'round-the-clock screaming. I knew I did not have much left inside me. I also knew that I needed to run to Jesus. And I did. While pacing the floors, nursing around the clock, and trying to keep my eyes open, I prayed. I prayed for my baby. I prayed for my little boy who was a real trooper while mommy had to care for his new sister. I prayed for my husband who had to come home every day to dirty laundry, a dirty kitchen, and crying - from me and the baby! And I prayed for me. A lot.

Motherhood is hard. When you are expecting your little one, you think of baby cuddles and baby clothes and baby cooing. You don't think of colic or nursing problems or going days on end without a shower or sleep. And honestly, nothing can prepare you for motherhood. It's a learn-as-you-go kind of thing. And it's hard. It is a messy, gruelling, bring-you-to-your-knees kind of work. And that's the best part.

When I was at the end of my rope, I had nothing but Jesus. And it was then that 2 Corinthians 12:9 became "my verse" yet again. "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." The word "infirmities," I discovered, means - get this mothers! - feebleness (of body or mind); frailty; weakness.  Oh what comforting truth!

His strength is given to us in our weakness. Because of this, we can say "I glory in my feebleness and my frailty as a mother!"

We can take delight in this because the Word of God says that when we want to quit, His grace - His strength - can rest upon us.

where JOY is

I am at a new place in my life that calls me higher. It demands more. And my "more" is the title of this blog - where JOY is. Satan is the destroyer of joy. He steals our reason to do as David did and sing songs of praise, even in the midst of emotional hurt or physical pain. If he cannot have our souls, then he will try to devour our happiness and push us lower and lower into a pitiful mess of gloom. But I say, as David did, restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation!

Looking around at what we have become, even in the Church, I am burdened for myself and my fellow sisters. We have lost our joy!

Single women have no joy in waiting on the Lord's timing for romance.

Married women have no joy in serving and loving their husbands.

Mothers have no joy in investing their lives in raising and discipling their children.

Homemakers have no joy in keeping their home and making it a sanctuary for their family.

Believe me, even in the middle of long days, exhausting nights, and seasons of waiting patiently impatiently for God to move, there is joy. Though I am struggling with you, because the Bible tells us so, I KNOW we have plenty of reasons to sing, dance, shout, and rejoice in who God created us to be. And I choose joy.

Be patient with me as I continue to move things over and get this blog in line. But expect regular posts very soon and I encourage you to join me as the Lord teaches us both how to be full-to-the-brim of His joy and how to offer that joy to the lost world in need.