An Exciting Adventure Awaits

Our family is thrilled to be going on an adventure this year. What is the adventure? Just a minute. I want to share the background first.

We have two lovely daughters. I am a homeschool Mom and I absolutely love it! Yes, even on the dreary days in February, I love being with my kids. I love the extra time we have for training and instructing. I love the time we spend together reading, listening to audiobooks, playing games, and learning new things together. Together is my favorite place to be.

As my oldest is now a teenager and starting high school next year, I feel the years slipping by like water in my cupped hands. No matter how I try to hold on, it still pours forth. There is only so much time left to experience the things we want as a family unit.

When I was in school, I loathed history class. Always. Every year. I hated dates. I hated the boring past. Wars. Kings. I didn't see how it all applied to my life. But now, as I am relearning all of this and teaching it to my own daughters, it is fascinating. I LOVE HISTORY (Mr. Clark and Mr. McAllister would be so happy) !!

The United States is actually not very old and doesn't hold a lot of historical sites. Don't get me wrong, there are some wonderful places to visit in the US and some history to explore (and we love that as well)…. but other than the Native American history, it is really only about 300 years old.

Europe on the other hand....now there is some history! Oh, we read about so much of it in books, both fiction and non-fiction. What a blessing it would be to actually go there!

So we made a proposition to our kids. We asked if they wanted to go to Europe. I'm sure you can guess their enthusiastic answer. And then we told them if they desired to travel across the Atlantic, they should help save for this expensive trip. We want them to be a part of the process. We do not want to raise children that feel entitled to anything. We want them to see the value of saving and helping to provide for this adventure.

And do you know what? They loved this idea! They looked for ways to earn money. They donated birthday money, Christmas money, earned money and even money they found. It all went into the Europe fund. When we had a substantial amount of coins, we would take it to the bank and put it through the coin machine. It was fun to see how quickly their coins would add up.

When there was a sale last fall on tickets to London, we decided to go for it. The flights were very reasonable and we booked the tickets for this coming spring. The hardest part was keeping it a secret from the girls. This was to be their Christmas surprise. The best part of the surprise for them was to find out that Grandma is coming with us.

It turns out there is a vast amount of information to discover when going on such a grand adventure. Follow along as I share some of this helpful info and as we go exploring Europe. I plan to share pictures and tales from our journey across the big pond.

Have you been to Europe? Do you have any lessons learned to share? I'd love to hear from you.

Colostrum Update & Homeopathy Study Group

First - an update on our Anovite Colostrum6 30-day challenge.

The first thing we noticed was that we were all pretty, um, well, "gassy". I am not sure why that is but I think it might have something to do with it being a powerful probiotic and we were experiencing some die off. I have had that happen before with Kombucha, homemade sauerkraut and even Probiotic supplements. So that didn't surprise me. A dose or two of Nux Vomica and this was gone fairly quickly.

Other reactions we experienced were:

I had same reactions that I have with dairy: itching all over and some constipation (sorry for personal info). This was when taking a small amount once a day. I took the remedy Bovista and Lycopodium (a combo for food intolerance) and this almost immediately "fixed" these reactions.

My youngest had a mysterious rash on her back that I am not sure was related to the Colostrum6. I sprayed Young Living's Lavaderm spray (my answer for almost all things skin) on her back and in 2 days it was gone.

One surprising thing happened. My oldest daughter experienced little to no reaction at all. I was totally surprised at this. This was so encouraging to this Mama's heart who thought she damaged her kiddos beyond repair with the antibiotics, ibuprofen, Tylenol, C-section, and bottle feedings.... There is hope!

The problem with the 30 day challenge - we had a cross country vacation planned during the middle of it and we seriously didn't want to experience any irritating itch, painful bloating, stinky air or anything else while we were stuck in the car together enjoying family time while we traveled across the country. So we put the challenge on hold.

I will definitely keep you updated on what happens from here.

My 2nd announcement is that I am going to lead an online Homeopathy Study Group in October!!

Yay!!! This is one of my passions and I just really want people to understand what homeopathy is and how you can really heal the common ailments that plague your family with these tiny white pellets. I know there are others like me that hate going to the doctor for every fever, ear infection, headache, belly ache, etc... You can truly be set free from the germy immediate care center!!

     Class information:
     Fridays and Tuesdays from 7-8:00 pm Central Time 
     Starting Tuesday, 10/3 for 4 classes 
         Classes will be 10/3, 10/6, 10/9, 10/13
     Cost $30 total for all 4 classes
   
You will also need to purchase  Everybody's Guide to Homeopathic Medicine  (by Stephen Cummings and Dana Ullman) ahead of time for the class since this will be the book of reference and I don't want to infringe on any copyrights.

Bonus: You will be grandfathered into any future homeopathy study groups that I hold for free after paying for the initial class.

Payments can be sent via paypal to edsiefker@yahoo dot com. Please also email me at drsiefker@gmail dot com to confirm the email you would like to use for the class information and to let me know that the payment has been sent (so I know to look for it).

The class will cover some of the following items:

I have been using homeopathy for a couple of years now and have nearly eliminated the need to go to the doctor for myself and my family (and we were at the doctor all the time before). I have witnessed how powerful these little white pellets are and love that I can treat our family's acute illnesses at home and I am extremely passionate about teaching others to do the same.

One note: I am a Christian and my faith plays a big part in everything I do. I am sure it will come into the conversation and want to anyone aware of it ahead of time.

Also, I am not a doctor and this is in no way an attempt to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease. You should always consult your primary physician before changing any prescribed medication. This is merely an educational study group to learn more about homeopathy.

Feel free to email me at drsiefker@gmail dot com if you have any questions.

30 Day Challenge - Colostr-YUM

Our family is taking on a new challenge.

It is a Colostrum challenge.

For 30 days, we will take this daily and "see what happens".

What is colostrum you ask?

If you are a mother, you probably heard about colostrum before you had your first baby.

This perfect gift begins with the formation of life itself. Colostrum is a food produced by mothers, it is not milk, but precedes milk production. Colostrum’s benefits are fine-tuned by nature to deliver increased immune efficiency, metabolism support, tissue repair and regeneration.

My daughters and myself are allergic to milk. We have been told we can take this product without any allergic reaction since it is not an actual milk product. I am praying this is true.

It contains these wonderful health promoting agents (plus more):

Immunoglobulins

Also called antibodies, work on pathogens.

Thymosin

Composed of two protein-based chains, known as alpha or beta chains, which are separately present in bovine colostrum. The chains act on the thymus gland independently or stimulate activation, development and maintenance of the immune system.

Proline -rich polypeptide (PRP)

Helps regulate the immune system, keeping it in balance between under- and over- activity this can be extremely beneficial for those with Autoimmune diseases.

Leptin

A small hormone-like protein that can suppress appetite and lead to body weight reduction.

Enzyme inhibitors

Also known as “permeability factor,” are actually small proteins that slow down or inhibit the enzymatic breakdown of proteins. They provide protection to the immune, growth and metabolic factors as they pass through the digestive tract.

Insulin-like Growth factor (IGFSF)

The complete family of naturally occurring growth factors that functions like the captain of a ship, triggering the events that activate cell growth and reproduction, protein synthesis, and the release of energy (glucose metabolism).

Our family has dealt with the following issues:

acid reflux, food allergies, eczema, irritable bowel syndrome, auto-immune disorders, underactive thyroid, chronic inflammation and pain, migraines, leaky gut, vertigo, mood disorders.... 

I would really like for our guts to heal and our immune systems to be balanced.

How about you? Do you suffer from any of these conditions ? If you are interested in joining our challenge, go to Anovite to find out more information.

You will have the option to purchase the product at either the retail price or wholesale (think Costco) with a yearly membership fee.

But for now, you can just follow along vicariously through our journey and see if it is all they claim it to be. 

{{ fingers crossed }}

I have to say that I'm a bit nervous. So is my darling hubs. He made a funny face when I asked if he would join along. But he is so supportive and encouraging that he is willing to try it out with me and our daughters.

** Update **

We received our product - and the crowd goes wild!!!!!!!! Well, some for different reasons. I cannot say that my daughters are sold on the idea yet. ha !

I forgot to mention that one of the allergies we have is to dairy. My youngest daughter and I had a bit of a reaction (nothing violent) after taking the first 1/4 tsp, so we are starting MUCH slower now.

Since it is such a wonderfully rich probiotic, I would suggest anyone to start slow. My hubs and other daughter seem to be tolerating it just fine, so they will take 1/4 tsp 2 x daily this week and start to ramp up to the 1/2 tsp. My youngest and I are taking a pinch at a time (I am taking it more than she is because I think it is SUPER yummy). I am hoping our bodies will adjust and we will be able to increase our intake.

I'll keep you posted on affects soon.

Here's to our health!