March '17

March has been quite satisfying around here.  While we spent February getting certain areas of the backyard in order and prepping garden beds, we spent March working to ensure a strong future for our aspiring homestead.  There is very little as satisfying as seeing the germination of the seeds I planted after carefully prepping the soil.

For now, I am keeping a close eye on them watching for pests.  Once my plants are large enough and/or I have finished making chicken wire cloches for their protection, I will let the ducks once again roam the garden area for bug control.

Speaking of, the ducks are doing great!  It’s been their mating season so it has been interesting to watch the drakes compete for attention.  I am hoping one of my hens will decide to set her nest soon.  In the meantime, we added three baby ducks to our flock.  I would be thrilled if they were all girls, but being that they were straight run, there is a decent chance of boys.  Life will be much shorter for them if they are all boys.  For now though, they are just cute!

 We also did some work on our two and half year old made-from-scraps chicken coop.  After three years of chickens we have learned a few lessons (another post).  So we revamped, put on a new roof and created a new space for our girls to lay eggs.  They had no problem adapting to their new egg laying digs and have been providing us 8-10 eggs a day (plus 1 or 2 from ducks).

We culled two of our older flock members because we wanted to thin the flock just a little and once they get older, they lay fewer eggs.  Bad news for them, but good news for our venison-loving household because we got some chicken.  They were good hens, may their souls rest in peace in chicken heaven.

 The biggest news is that my beehive is set up!  Long time coming.  This was something I talked about since we got out here three years ago, but the timing had not been right for me.  So finally, I have my hive and it has found its perfect home in view of my back porch just like all my other endeavors.  I figure the more I see something, the more attentive I will be to it. I opted for a Top Bar Hive; more on that later.

 It’s been exciting for me around here, to make big strides to grow and raise our own food.  That was one of my main goals when we moved here three years ago, but my plans got derailed for a while why I worked through mother of cancer stricken, chronically–ill child PTSD.  So now the sun is shining again and we are moving forward.  Super exciting.

As for Clayton?  Well mostly he is doing great.  Talking up a storm and always taking things in.  His favorite phrases this month are:

“But how?” –when something goes wrong instead of but why, he says this and shakes his head with a hand on either side and gets a sweet little whine to his already super sweet voice.

“What to do, what to do?” –this has been a go-to for a while now.  He still uses it with the same theatrics as when he started.

“Where are you?” –I wish people could hear him say this one.  It is precious.  And when he says it he puts his hands to his mouth like he is calling for whatever he wants.  This morning he wanted his cars DVD, “Cars, where are you”, the other day looking for George, “Daddy where are you?”

Equally used is his sweet little, “Der dey are” = There they are.

“Do you hear dat” and “Do you see dat”

He is also good with using “I sorry” and “pease” – but don’t take that to mean he can’t throw down the gauntlet with a tantrum…he can.

Oh and I can’t forget one of the sweetest ones, that shows what a considerate kiddo he is….”Are you happee?”

It can be hard to understand him but he tries and things keep getting clearer and clearer.  I end up translating a lot for others, but this has all been such a long time coming and is really fun for us.

 Unfortunately, he did have an incident this month.  He became unresponsive and we rushed him to the ER.  Long story short, we didn’t stay, because they didn’t have the good sense to do labs immediately on an unresponsive child.  While waiting for them to do something, which didn’t happen we were able to get Clayton responsive again and we left and called his doctors in Pensacola.  Because the hospital did not do immediate labs, we can’t confirm the issue was blood sugar related, but are pretty sure.  As parents it would have been nice to get that confirmation.  I was hesitant to go to our local hospital, but did so out of fear not knowing why Clayton was unresponsive.  In the future, we will go straight to Pensacola.  For the record, I never would have left the ER with Clayton had I not been confident in where he was at that moment and in the fact that it was an issue his other doctors and I could handle outside the ER.  When we first arrived, I was concerned it may be something more serious such as acute renal failure (been there done that) or such.  Knowing what to look for, I was confident in my decision to leave, while very disappointed labs had not been done to confirm our suspicions.  I would NEVER recommend anyone leave like we did unless they were sure and had the support of doctors outside the ER like we did.  Just saying.  Follow your mom gut and stand up for your kid always.

And he also spent some time fighting a pretty mean rash this past month.

It lasted WEEKS.  His eyes were the worst and then a bit on his arms, but nowhere else.  All better now though and moving on to April.

February '17

What a busy month!  Productive...what a productive month.

 

We have been working on projects non stop and I love it! For starters, I spent the month of January and February getting my garden boxes ready.

 

Adding a special cocktail of soil, hay, ashes, egg shells, organic banana peels and duck poop. Yes duck poop. My ducks have a pond and once I fill it, I let them get it down until I'm left with their "mud" in the bottom. I then pour this lovely aromatic mess in my garden beds. Now I'm finally starting to plant!

We also adopted 5 grown chickens from a friend getting rid of her flock, bringing our flock to a total of 15.  Plus our 4 ducks and we are rolling in eggs!  Seriously rolling in them.

 

We've been working on some outdoor Clayton projects...like a new clubhouse where we removed his old swingset and a newly built porch bench. Both from scrap wood. You know that makes me happy!  I'll do a post on the clubhouse later, but here is his new bench:

 

The headboard was my great grandmothers and we made the seat out of wood recycled from his swingset.  It looks a little awkward because it's so deep, but that was intentional for Clayton.  All of our projects have been custom to his needs and how he'll use them.  It's his "daybed". ;) What you see sticking out underneath is our mantel drying out.  Which of course was another February project.

 

Me and the baby-man set up camp in front of the fire while George went hunting. We literally spent the last weekend of hunting season like that.

 

And then...George also harvested the first deer from this property!  Family property for over 30 years and the first deer was dropped this year. He got a kick out of dropping one in his backyard (the very back of property, not right by our house). On the last day of hunting season too.

 

Then I have been working on crafting for the antique mall.  I'm experimenting. Trying different things.  Seeing what I like doing most and seeing what buyers like. And of course furniture fun... 

Vintage side table makeover:

 

Reclaimed coffee table:

 

Reclaimed lumber makes me sooo happy.

And lastly we've been tying up a few loose ends in our backyard so it functions better and allows us to enjoy it more.  So close... post those projects and Clayton update soon.

Milling A Mantel

Sometimes I have no doubt the people around me think I'm crazy. An innocent  shade of crazy of course, but crazy none the less. I'm not. I just come up with these ideas that people think are ridiculous and have very little (to no) faith in. I think I just believe in myself and some of the people around me more than they do. For example:

"I wanna build a house for $50,000."

 This one got a lot of laughs and enough doubt to last a lifetime, but we ended up building a nice quality (yet unfinished cosmetically) house for under $57,000.

"I want chickens and ducks, and maybe a goat and some version of a homestead."

 Everyone wondered why I would want any of this since I can get what I need at the store. They also mostly thought it would be a passing phase. NOPE! :) Sans the goat because I want to travel and a goat would make that difficult.  Poultry not so much. Or more recently...

"Hey George, lets pull a big log from the pile leftover from clearing the property for our house and mill our own beam for over our fireplace."

 I say things and I get the crazy look.  Sometimes from George, sometimes from our parents, neighbors or friends.  There is always someone who gives it to me. The way that I want to live and the things I value are sometimes just a step further than any of the rest of them or in some cases completely different and folks end up in a combination of doubting my commitment, doubting my process and not understanding in general why the hec I want to do the things I want to do.  BUT none of that makes me crazy...just misunderstood. ;)

None of it should come as a shock to anyone though. I have a mom who has always collected everything and nothing at the same time always trying to create whatever she could. My stepfather is the strictest of strict do-things-yourself kind of person that led him to be a man of many trades.  I grew up in a house built by my dad and PawPaw (and my mom and over the past twenty something years modified by my stepdad). My dad does a lot of tinkering and is also known to tackle projects himself and greatly appreciates old things. And my Paw Paw was always working...always. He was moving and grooving and gardening and mending fences and feeding chickens and building things he needed around his home to make it function better. And even my neighbors Julie and Greg who for many years were like another set of parents since I practically lived at their house with their kids had a profound influence on me as I watched them DIY and garden and such. When you look at my influences, it should be no surprise that I would randomly let George know we were going to tackle this project.

...And of course Clayton's influence too. Every way in which he he molded our lives has made all of the skills and lessons about working and creativity and DIYing from those around me growing up even more needed and wanted.

Now if only George can believe in the crazy as much as I do! Bless him, he follows me even when he's full of doubt. Of course sometimes I think it is just so he can prove me wrong...which he usually doesn't. Because I have more faith in his abilities than he does!

So anyway... this weekend my crazy led us to milling our own fireplace mantel. Bless my soul, I am in love.  Milling my own mantel ranks up there with one of the coolest things I've done.  Whether it's food, furniture, lumber or whatever, our society just goes to the store or orders online, etc. to get what we want. Most of us never take part in the "start to finish" or any part of the process for that matter.  So to stand there and participate in and watch this log become my mantel was awesome. It humbles me and makes me so appreciative for what I have. It makes me so appreciative for the values I hold dear and for the way I want to live. It leaves me longing for that kind of high everyday. More DIY, more growing our own food and raising our flocks, more being involved and being a hands on part of all that goes into our life. I never expected to be here...in this place...but I am so blasted thankful I am and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  The last decade has been super tough with high highs and low lows, but it has led me to this amazingly beautiful place. So far 30 has freaking rocked my socks off! If things keep up like this I will be the happiest old woman ever! Pray it's true!

Back to my mantel...We pulled the log from the pile nearly a year ago (at which point the log had been cut down for two years) and immediately attempted a straight edge cut using the chainsaw.  Well, George will tell you it was tough as nails to do and the result was more than a bit wonky.  So we left it. For months, I would peer over at the log wondering if it truly would be transformed into my mantel. Finally I reach a "$&@? or get off the pot" point.  So, for $25 I ordered a chainsaw accessory off Amazon that was going to make or break my mantel idea. The idea is that you use a milled piece of lumber as a guide for a straight edge. The accessory slides along the milled lumber while connected to the chainsaw in a way that allows it to mill a straight line.

 

I didn't even tell George until it arrived in the mail because I knew he would be doubtful. But like a champ he gave it a try... And it worked!!! It worked like a charm. We will be using this accessory all
the time now.

 

Now my mantel has made its way to the back porch to dry for a long while.  Because it's heart pine and I want it good and dry so I'm not putting lighter knot over my fireplace. Yes, people do use heart pine for mantels. Google it. I am just in love and cannot wait to get it up down the road. We even left a tiny bit of a live edge on it. Just beautiful.  It already has dried out so in the few weeks it has been on the porch and the color is changing. Just love it!

 

Invasion

So last week we lost our rooster.  He was a good rooster.  Skiddish, but plenty nice and I never had to worry about him being aggressive around Clayton.  The weather was so beautiful, that I let the chickens out of the fenced in back yard a few times to scavenge elsewhere.  Well apparently, I let them out once too often, because he was snatched by a coyote.  All that we found of him were piles of feathers.

But he died doing what he was put on this green earth to do which is to protect his ladies and his babies.  And while I felt bad for letting them out and thereby allowing this to happen because we have a perfectly good back yard and a perfectly good chicken run, I felt better knowing it was likely very swift and his final days were absolutely AMAZING weather.

It's funny, last year after losing some of her livestock, my neighbor commented that sometimes she forgets she lives in the wild.  Isn't that true of all of us though?  Our world is their world and we just push animals from their homes most of us thinking nothing of it.  Its hard to hate the coyote for doing what he does which is hunt for food.  We live on untamed property and one of the things I love about that is that it provides a natural habitat for various species whose homes have been taken from them as we push the boundaries of our cities and neighborhoods more and more.  We've relocated a few animals who have been pests and we have shot the ones threatening our chickens in their coop, but otherwise, we try to leave them alone.  They don't bother me (my chickens), I won't bother them.

This past fall, we got George's 14-year old lab set up on the back porch since she could no longer control her bowels and had such trouble walking.  We would bring her in when we went to bed, but earlier in the evenings when it was time for the chickens to roost, the rooster would come keep her company her first few evenings.  It was the weirdest thing...but sweet.

I distinctly remember growing up listening to my parents talk about all the places that use to be different when they were growing up.  Particularly my dad, because his family use to own a good bit of property that he use to hunt right here locally that now you could never imagine has having ever been anything, but back to back houses.  I didn't live with him and when he would come to town he liked to ride around and check things out...I heard lots of stories on these rides.  Now as an adult, I look around and see the same things and think the same thoughts as I'm sure my dad was on those rides. I live in what was once the country.  I live on the same property on which I was born and raised and I travel the same roads I have traveled for nearly 30 years.  I cannot describe how much it has changed.  What was once farm land and cow pastures is now neighborhoods and churches.  It's sad.  Makes me feel like we are an invasive species.  We are aren't we?  At some point, we as a civilization, decided we had the right to conquer everything and we haven't stopped since.  We barely consider how our explorations and population booms have any affect on the land and the animals that call it home.  And for those people that do consider it and try and make a difference they often get labeled as crazies and liberals, etc.  Well if caring about the earth God put us on and the beautiful things that God put on this earth with us makes one a crazy, then count me in.  Regardless, we should all take the time to consider how our actions and ways of living are affecting our planet and the animal that inhabit it and in turn how these things affect us.  The things that we do on this earth have so many health consequences that we cannot even begin to imagine.  Rather than embracing and caring for our natural world we are trying to create a controlled-synthetic environment and in the process causing harm to ourselves, our children and generation after generation to come...All while sacrificing the amazing natural gifts God has provided to us.  But I digress...

Who knew the loss of one rooster could cause such a tangent? I'm going to stop now because this could keep going.

The point is we owe it to them to do better and to be better and to think about more than just ourselves.

Texas Travels, Alabama Homesteading

I wrote this within days of getting back from Texas and really have no excuse as to why it's just being posted...

We just got back from the great state of Texas.  FYI Louisiana is the most boring state EVER!  If you disagree, take a drive down Interstate 20.  So far I must say it is my least favorite state.

Anyhow, we had a good visit with Clayton's orthopedic surgeon...and the dentist.  I think I've mentioned before how much I love the dentist there and why we make a point to see them when we do ortho.  If you don't remember it's because almost ALL of their patients are special needs and not only are they equipped to accommodate any and all of those needs on site, but they know how to work with these kids to get the job done while inflicting minimal trauma.  Love them.  And what I love even more is that we had a GREAT visit with them.  We found a new way to hold Clayton for exams that rocks my socks off because even though it upsets him, it is easier on everyone...including him.  Oh, and we have to hold him in some form or fashion because he has not yet reached a point of cooperation in the dental arena and we have to get stuff done.  The report was awesome one year after his extensive dental surgery from last year.  Remember the snowstorm in Dallas? Yea, me too.  They said his teeth look great!!!  I was slightly concerned curious how the report would go because we aren't perfect with dental care and he only brushes once a day and yes a day slips by every now and then.  Plus I use a special tooth paste.  Clayton does not spit.  What goes in his mouth stays in his mouth and I could not stand the idea of my sweet man swallowing mainstream toothpaste with unknown ingredients every night.  So I searched and searched for a toothpaste to set my mommy woes at ease.  Enter Earthpaste.  Yes, I said Earthpaste.  All you non-organic believing folks can laugh now.  But the joke isn't on us because the dentist was thrilled and surprised by how awesome Clayton's teeth were doing after what they started with last year.  So I am a believer through and through.  I fully contribute his now superb dental health to two things he drinks almost all water and he uses Earthpaste.  So if your wondering about Earthpaste, it's made by Redmond and you can order it online.  It isn't as affordable as mainstream toothpastes, but you can make it yourself for much cheaper than you can by it.  Just search for DIY Earthpaste Toothepaste.  There are lots of variations.  Whether I make it or buy it, it's worth it for me since I feel safe with the ingredients that I am putting in my child's mouth every night.

On to Ortho...that went pretty great too.  Here is the run down:

• Clayton's curve is about the same as last year which is great because it's not worse.  This could be due to the fact that according to the doctor the spine undergoes rapid growth through year 6 and then it slows down.
• We will keep doing check ups while we wait for Clayton to get as old as possible before fusing his entire spine.  When we do cancer scans in Pensacola, they include his spine and send a copy to the ortho surgeon in Dallas.  In addition, we will keep visiting TSRHC doing check ups and X-rays and dental every six months to a year.
• We will be fusing his entire spine, but we need to let him grow as much as possible.  In the doctors words, 12 years would be a home run, but he does not think it will be able to wait that long, so we are thinking this surgery will take place around 10 years old.  Knowing that we have X amount of time is nice for us and allows us to make plans and such.
• And last, but not least because it is of the utmost importance, the doctor is not concerned at this time with his respiratory status.  If Clayton's curve does not get worse before his future surgery, then hopefully his respiratory function will stay the same and not decline.  However, there is great potential for it to decline if his back gets worse, so we just watch him for changes and report back to the doctor.  If it becomes a problem, we might do the surgery around 9 years old.

As for homesteading, it all came from Clayton.  When my sweet innocent three year old got cancer, it made no sense.  None.  And while different people handle things different ways, I looked for answers.  I could have been angry at God, but my findings led me to be angry at man.  Angry at man for our stupidity in how we live, what we eat and how we are destroying this earth and our bodies and how we will pay a price for that and most of all, how our children will pay a far steeper price.  So I threw myself into this world of organic and natural living; testing the waters in certain areas and diving head first in others.  And it isn't easy.  I don't live in an area of the country where these notions are popular.  I have been laughed at more than I care to say.  Funny thing is though every time someone laughs at me about something it isn't long before a news article comes out in which the science seems to be backing up my beliefs.  When this happens I can't help but smile and laugh to myself a bit.  Obviously I am no pioneer in this natural living movement, I just found it when I needed answers.  There really are a lot of people out there trying to live this way because they have seen the benefits of it and so many wonderful ladies who blog their journeys down this path.  But I digress...

As for me and my boys well, I'm not sure at what point you can call yourself a homesteader, but if we're not there yet, we're striving towards that goal.  What does that mean for us?  Producing as much of our own food as possible, hunting, gathering, reusing and up-cycling, living more energy efficiently, etc. 

So far we are raising chickens organically for eggs and occasionally eating an extra rooster for meat.  We are trying to garden (our soil needs improving right now as it use to be all pines so we've only done so-so in this dept., but this is only our second year)  We've added rabbits...for meat.  No I'm not a monster, rabbits are a healthy, free, sustainable source of meat that if we like rabbit can supply us with lots of organic protein.  They cost us nothing because they eat grass, weeds and kitchen scraps.  If we decide we don't like rabbit then we won't breed them anymore and our parent rabbits can live a long happy life with us.

Additionally, we are implementing rain barrels to provide water for animals and to water the garden.  We got rid of our broken push mower and replaced it with an old school reel mower.  No more gas and oil and broken engines for us!  And instead of buying a weed eater which we never had, we got a scythe.  Bring on the crazy comments.  And other then the small section of our backyard that we use, all the rest is wild and maintenance free.  No cost, no energy use, no nuthin'!  I'm hoping in the next three years we can add a low cost solar system on the roof.  Just enough to run a few things for now and maybe we can grow it later.

Anyhow, these are just some of the things we're doing and we are always trying to add more.  If things are free to do thats awesome, if they cost money, we do it as we can (translation: we get it donevery slowly).  But this is how we are choosing to live and we love it.  Our goal is to live minimally, live healthy and to live as eco friendly as we can.  Unfortunately for anyone who attempts this lifestyle, it isn't easy.  We live in a world that makes if difficult to live eco friendly and to eat healthy.  Not impossible, but either difficult or full of temptation.

I have to give George props, he enjoys much of living this way, but would not have found his way there on his own.  However, he usually lets me drag him along as I experiment with new things here and there.  He's a trooper.

The point to this is I love living this way and am going to start posting about it more and more so heads up that you'll be seeing that...

July 13, 2013

Clayton and I have had a rough week.  We are at that point where we have been here a month and even though the hospital is still wonderful, it has become the sam ole same most days.  We both just have had bad attitudes this week.  He's been a terd and I've been irritable and a bit of a terd myself.  It's hard with a child that doesn't talk.  I get frustrated because I can't always figure out what he wants or needs and he gets frustrated because I don't always get it.  Then there are days like the last couple of days and he acts out like a typical bored frustrated kid and the fact that he doesn't talk compounds all of the irritation for both of us.  Its hard to tell where the line is between what he understands and what he chooses to ignore.  I think we are coming out of our funk though...

My personal funk has been worse because I have been working through my "losing Clayton" anxieties.  There are four kids out there right now that I know about who have lost their battles to neuroblastoma and are slowly fading away before their families' eyes.  Another recently passed and others I don't know are passing every day and it has all brought my anxieties again rushing to the surface.  Plus we are getting close to our one year scans and aren't currently doing any treatment for the neuroblastoma and the last treatment we tried to do was a bust.  I guess this is what the next few years will be like for us.  Always dreading the worst.  

One of the things that is helping bring me out of my funk is thinking about our health and future plans.  This is also something we are doing to try and keep Clayton healthy on a daily basis.  Cancer forced us to take a closer look at what we are putting into our bodies and especially Clayton's.  I've been very disgusted by what I've learned.  Looking to the future, one of the reasons I am so willing to move out of the city is so that we can one day have our own little homestead for our family.  I want us to be able to grow and raise as many of the things we are putting in our bodies as possible.  For example, there are hormones that are in our typical store bought beef that research as shown has cancer causing carcinogens.  For that reason, those hormones have been banned in most places in the European Union.  They have the science to prove the harm caused by these hormones and chose to use it to protect consumers' health.  Our country as well as Canada have yet to show us that same compassion. Clayton doesn't need any extra cancer-causing anythings so we are trying to protect his health through what he puts in his body as best we can.  Since Clayton's diet consist of a lot of hotdogs, we buy him organic hormone and antibiotic free hotdogs.  As for the beef problem, George is a hunter, so every hunting season we stock our freezer for the year which gets us around that beef problem.  There is more and more grass-fed beef out there though!  Industrialized beef production is a disgusting process and not at all natural.  As well as the industrialized production of chickens and pigs.  It is so simple to walk into the store pick out our food and never give a second thought to what is behind the process to get that food on those shelves.  Don't misunderstand, this has nothing to do with giving up meat, only encouraging the practice of consuming healthy meats from animals raised naturally.  Which brings me to a question for all those that call themselves Christians.  God created the earth, the animals and man; isn't it reasonable to assume that God wants us all to respect the earth, its animals and ourselves?  Just a thought.  I challenge any of you to watch Frankensteer or A River of Waste or similar documentary and then tell me you think God would approve of the practices being used in industrialized meat production.  As Christians, isnt it our duty to care for all of God's creatures.  Yes, animals are going to be raised for slaughter, but should that mean they don't deserve a natural humane existence?  So if we know God would not approve of these practices, then wouldn't his will be to work to change the process of mass meat production?  So as Christians who are suppose to be doing God's will, what are we doing about this?  The crazy thing is that by correcting this HUGE flaw in our system, we would also be making ourselves healthier by removing the added antibiotics and hormones and risk for diseases like e-coli and mad cow disease.  Seems like a win-win to me.

And what does all of this have to do with Clayton?  Well, we don't know the cause of his cancer.  We just know he has a genetic mutation.  What caused that mutation we don't know, but we know he had neuroblastoma growing in his body and we know some of those cells are likely still there.  We don't want those cells to again start dividing causing the cancer to grow.  For that reason, it would be reckless in my opinion if we knowingly fed him products that science has proven harbors carcinogens that encourage cancer growth.  I do not believe that industrialized meat production processes caused my son's cancer, but I do believe that the hormones and antibiotics they use in those processes could encourage any existing cells to again grow.  I would have to be an idiot to put him at that risk more than necessary.  Clayton's main diet is hotdogs, burgers, apple jacks, apple sauce, spaghetti, milk and apple juice.  He drinks Horizon Organic milk, Publix Greenwise Organic Apple Juice, organic applesauce, I use whole wheat pastas or spaghetti squash, organic spaghetti sauce and deer meat and eats organic hotdogs.  I've had no luck switching out the apple jacks, but I feel good about everything else.  And to answer the unspoken question about how much this cost: processing deer meat is less expensive than store bought beef, Publix makes their Greenwise products like his apple juice comparable to all of the "regular" products, milk is just expensive period-thankfully he doesn't drink as much anymore,  it doesn't cost any extra to buy organic spaghetti sauce (obviously price varies by brand- you can get it at Sam's Club though for cheap), the hotdogs are pricey though.  We pay an extra $2 per pack of hotdogs at Publix in order to have organic hotdogs.  But the peace of mind it gives us is priceless since he eats more hotdogs than anything else...except apple jacks.  Thank God companies like Amy's Organic, Publix, Whole Foods, Kashi, Earth's Best and others are making it easier and more affordable for us to eat organic healthy foods.

We have also changed our laundry detergent, dish soap, shampoos, bug spray and some other things.  As for the price point, is just like the food; you have companies like 7th Generation that are making it more affordable to make safer choices.  AND these products work better then "regular" products from our experience.  Two years ago, I thought organic was a waste of money and a fad.  I was uneducated, didn't understand and never would have thought I would feel the way I feel about it now.  Clayton's health forced me into learning about this world and THANK GOD.  I would hate to have gone any longer before making these changes in my life.  Obviously we get stuck in the hospital and have to compromise on certain aspects of living organically, but we do our best.  All of this is another of the good things that has come from Clayton's health issues and especially his cancer.

Maybe all of this sounds CRaZY to some people, but I believe in it and for me is a huge part of my relationship with God.  Church has never been my "thing" and I'm not sure I fit into any specific division of Christianity.  I believe in God and I believe in the values I hold to be true.  Most of my relationship with God has been built on my educating myself on religious history, but I feel like this will be a huge point of growth in my relationship with God.  I never thought about it before learning about organic/natural living, but as I have learned more and the pieces have clicked, it seems so obvious to me: what better way to grow with God than to learn to live in a way that treats all of His creations with the respect they deserve.  It seems that each lesson learned making these life changes is a building block in a person's relationship with God. What better way to learn, live and believe in the power of God than to live in a way that allows you to truly come to appreciate the gifts he has given us and honor Him for what He sacrificed to give them to us.

Not meaning to sound like a religious scholar when I clearly am not.  Nor am I an expert on any of this. I am learning.  And since I have had a critic/small number of critics in the past let put this disclaimer:  this is MY blog, these are MY thoughts and feelings and if you don't like them, no one is forcing you to read.  If you are looking for someone to pick on...bad choice.  My beliefs are not being pushed on anyone, I'm merely giving people something to think about.  And if my previous critic/critics have any thoughts about the financial implication of buying my son organic products, let me say this...bite me!  As for ending a post talking about growing closer to God with "bite me"...well, even Christians get irritated.