doTerra – TerraShield

It’s that wonderful time of year again. Summertime! A beautiful time of year marked by…

Itchy ankles, buzzing in the ears, swatting each other in the forehead (yep my mom once swatted my forehead to kill a bug…) A beautiful time of year, huh?

Several people have been asking me if doTerra offers any options for insect repellant. I am excited to share it with you tonight! The product is called TerraShield.

“TerraShield® is an all-natural formula of lemon,
eucalyptus, citronella, lemongrass, and a proprietary blend of 12 other
therapeutic-grade essential oils blended in a base of pure fractionated coconut
oil. A primary function of essential oils in plants is protecting against
insects and other predators. Unlike other products that contain synthetic and
toxic chemicals, TerraShield is a natural approach to managing exposure to
biting insects. TerraShield’s fresh, light citrus smell is wonderfully
invigorating and can be used safely by everyone in the family. One application
provides coverage that lasts up to 6 hours.” (doterra.com)

Ways to use TerraShield:

Apply TerraShield^® straight from the bottle topically onto exposed areas. Where the mosquitoes are thick, apply thickly! Can be sprayed on from a spray bottle. Reapply every 4-6 hours as needed. This product may also be diffused into the air. Terra Shield will not stain clothing. (www.everythingessential.me)

If interested, visit: www.mydoterra.com/heidiseawell

and search under the “Oil Blends” section.

dōTERRA- My New Passion

Y’all… I wish I could just sit down across the table from you with a glass of coffee and have this conversation in person. But since some of you are very far away, or just very busy, the ol’ blog will have to do!
A couple of months ago, my mom approached me about a health change that she had made in her own life. She was loving it, and she truly believed it could help my family. I respectfully listened, hung up the phone, and went on my way (sorry, Mom! ) Well, a few weeks passed, and she called me again.

“Heidi, I really want you to try this stuff. If I give you some of mine, will you try it and just see if you like it.”

“Yes, Mom.” (reluctantly…)

So, she gave it. I tried it. I was hooked- and still am by the way.

The amazing product? doTerra Essential Oils.  (doTerra meaning: gift of the Earth.)

“Essential oils are natural aromatic compounds found in the seeds, bark, stems, roots,   flowers, and other parts of plants… dōTERRA  (CPTG) Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade^® essential oils represent the safest, purest, and most beneficial essential oils available today. They are gently and skillfully distilled from plants that have been patiently harvested at the perfect moment by experienced growers from around the world for ideal extract composition and efficacy.” (source)

Long story short, my mom introduced me to the oils, and I made a decision:

If I’m going to do this, I’m going to go all out- 1 month without any traditional medicines for my family. We’re going to prove it for ourselves.

And we did it. We are now officially a month out- one month into our life-changing, exciting venture. For the past month, we have used essential oils for every ailment, every ache & pain, every health issue we’ve faced- and the oils have worked. We have successfully used the oils for seasonal allergies, colds, laryngitis, pinkeye, headaches, and more. The oils are completely natural, have no harmful drug interactions, are safe for older people and young children, and just provide a sense of peace in knowing that you are providing the best possible products for your family.

I am so hooked that I have decided to become an Independent Product Consultant for doTerra. I love it, and can’t wait to help others learn about the benefits of the oils so that they can love it too.

I hope you’ll take some time and click through to my site at: http://www.mydoterra.com/heidiseawell

to read all about doTerra & to look through the products. Please feel free to leave me a comment on here or facebook if you have any questions or would like more information about these life-changing oils. I promise you, you will NOT be disappointed.

 

Shattered

Way back when, I read and reviewed the book Submerged by Dani Pettrey. And I gushed about it. Loved it!

Well, as it turns out, that book was not a fluke. Dani Pettrey is on a roll with this series! How do I know? I recently received the 2nd book in the series as part of the book reviewer program with Bethany House Publishers, and it was JUST.AS.GOOD. as the first! I couldn’t put it down!

( Picture from book listing on amazon.com)

Piper McKenna is so excited to finally have her brother Reef back in town for a while- all the siblings back together again! The excitement doesn’t last for long though… Shortly after his arrival, Reef stumbles upon a murder scene and is blamed for the terrible act, and thrown in jail awaiting a trial by a biased judge and jury.

Piper doesn’t believe it. Not Reef. He wouldn’t. But her hopes of finding out the truth are quickly shattered when she realizes that the man closest to her heart, Landon Grainger, can’t seem to look past the facts of the murder scene to see the man he grew up with, the man he knows would never commit such a heinous crime.

Can Piper convince the others, especially Landon, to dig for the truth- for the sake of her brother? And if they dig, will Piper really be satisfied with what they find? Will the faith she placed in her brother be shaken? And will this be the thing that finally brings her and Landon together, or the one that drives them apart for good?

This book is phenomenal. Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. The characters are, just as they were in the first book, so believable. The struggles and emotions they face are identical to “real-life” issues, which makes them very relatable. Pettrey writes in a smooth, easy-to-read style, with a very succint style- no disjointed, jumpy chapters.

I highly recommend this book to lovers of romance/suspense novels. And perhaps to other readers as well- since this may be the book that brings you over to the other side…

As always, Bethany House Publishers is beyond fabulous for providing me a free copy of this book and allowing me to review it honestly. The opinions are all mine.

Sopher-Topher

One year ago today, our family had its most recent addition- this girl:

A rather lovely addition, I say!

She’s such an easy-going girl, eats all sorts of yummy healthy food, and always has a giggle or a “toofy” grin to share. Such a pretty girl too!

We love you Sophie!

Happy 1st Birthday!

Choices

Ever have one of those moments where you just want to smack yourself in the face? No? Well, I do…often.
Yesterday morning the sun was shining & the air was just crisp enough to make me think Spring hadn’t forgotten us after all.

I was happily getting my clean on inside the house. Scrubbing showers, vacuuming, folding clothes, sweeping the kitchen floor, humming away.  Content as could be.

My husband was outside mowing our lawn- before 10 AM. What a stud I have. The man works all week long, then is willing to get up on Saturday morning & make sure our lawn is looking good. I was living it up on Cloud 9- just as happy as a lark with my life and marriage.

I quickly ran to the back of the house to grab something and came back into the kitchen.

When what to my wondering eyes did appear….but a husband with damp grass clumps all over my freshly cleaned kitchen floor.

Cloud 9 evaporated.

Immediately the talons came out. “I JUST cleaned this floor. Urgh.” etc., etc., etc.

My sweet husband backtracked out the door and finished the lawn. While I re-cleaned the kitchen floor….and my heart.

How quickly I forgot the sacrifices my husband made for me.

I am a woman & my emotions can jump from here to there before I can blink. But I have to choose not to make my decisions, or respond in a certain way based on my emotions.

Choose…

Choose to recognize the good in my loved ones.

Choose to respond in love, patiently.

Choose to acknowledge that our relationship is far more important than my kitchen floor.

 

 

Man of a Few More Words

Straight from the horse’s er, toddler’s mouth:

While on the church playground with his Daddy, he looked up at the sky and said, unprompted, “Daddy, it yooks yike it’s gonna yain today.” He was right. It rained. Meterologist, maybe?

—–

We are on the verge of potty-training. He is interested, loves his pull-ups, and is very aware of how big boys “go.” He loves to talk about “peepin’” in the potty. Yep, peepin’…

—–

We have been talking a lot about summer recently. On his own, E has been recalling things we did last summer while on vacation. Today we dressed him in a souvenir-T from Myrtle Beach, where we usually vacation. It has the signature SC Palmetto tree & sliver moon…similar to this one:

As we dressed him, we talked about how the shirt was from the beach. A few hours later, he randomly said to me, “Mommy, my shirt says (pronounced “say-s,” not “sez.”) beach, summer and moon on it.” If you say so, little one.

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Little man loves to count things these days. Counting is all the rage, you know! Lately, it’s been going a little something like this, “Yun, two, three, foo, fi, six, seden, eight, nine, ten, yeven, fourteen, eighteen, eighteen, eighteen.” And that’s usually the end of the list of items, because really, who needs to count higher than eighteen, anyway?

—–

We love this little man. He is a tiny clone of his father, from his peanut-butter lovin’ to his spring allergies, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Quick Spring Update

Spring-a-ling.

Spring has sprung and it has been glorious! We have weeded and re-mulched our plant beds, mowed the lawn, put out a new, beautiful garden flag & just basked in the sunshine as much as possible recently.

So, as I was out in the yard, making it look as good as possible, you can imagine my horror when I noticed this birdfeeder hanging in our tree:

It was cute enough- in a 4 year old, grungy, cedar, greened, sort of way. But it didn’t “pop” anymore. And Spring is ALL about the pop. Right?

So, I decided to paint it. I must thank Pinterest for this. While I didn’t actually see any inspiration of painted re-furbed birdfeeders on Pinterest, I owe my newfound desire to make something old, new again, to Pinterest.

A few hours of paint and drying time later, and I now have this beauty hanging in my tree. The birds are loving it, almost as much as I am!