Thieves

Yes!  You could say I'm nuts, or something!  LOL  I promise I will not "squirrel" away this knowledge!  Keep reading! 

Seriously though, there is some cleaning POWER in these plant juices and it's absolutely mind blowing!  

First of all, I'm a science nut.  I loved teaching science to our kids when we homeschooled for 17 years!  We incorporated the love of science in God's world through everything we could possibly add it to.  What an awesome way to show our kids the fantastic world around us than with how much the Lord loved us by giving us this beautiful wonderful world to not only explore, but experience!  

In the Bible it tells us how the leaves of trees and plants are to be used for medicine, like in this verse:

And all trees for food shall go up by the torrent, on its bank on this side, and on that side. Its leaf shall not fade, nor its fruit fail. It will bear by its months, because its waters come out from the sanctuary. And its fruit shall be for food, and its leaf for healing.(Eze 47:12)

Isn't the Lord magnificent for thinking of us to make a way for the plants to help heal us?!   Here is another one to see:

In the midst of its street, and of the river, from here and from there, was the Tree of Life, which bore twelve fruits, each yielding its fruit according to one month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.(Rev 22:2)

God is awesome! 

But, what about cleaning?  

It's the same thing!  When you add a plant based soap to essential oils, you not only disburse the oils through the water, but you get a great cleaning agent!  This is what Young Living Thieves Cleaning line is all about!  All plant based materials  make a super powerful cleaning agent!  

Great question!   If you remember your science, vinegar is an acid.  Acids are one of the things that degrade the power of essential oils.  Sunlight is another thing that degrades the power of essential oils.  It is for this reason that when you buy Young Living essential oils, the bottles are amber brown color.  It keeps the oils shaded.  When you make a roller bottle for someone, it's good to use either cobalt blue, amber, or another shaded color (they come in rainbow colors, too!) to keep the oils as powerful as possible!  

Another great question!  Remembering science class from elementary school, when you did the experiment with water and oil, what happened?  Did the water and oil mix?  No it didn't!  

This is what will happen in your mop bucket or spray bottle.  You need what is called saponification.  In purest form, soponification is the soap part of the cleaning agent.  You could get heavy in to science with this, but for those of you who glaze over with the science of it all, I've simplified the definition.  Those of you who thrive on research, go ahead and look up the definition of the word "saponification."  

What is in Thieves Essential Oil Blend that makes it so powerful?

Quite simply, there are 5 essential oils in this powerful blend: Clove (Syzygium aromaticum) bud oil, Lemon (Citrus limon) peel oil, Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) bark oil, Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus radiata) leaf oil, Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) leaf oil.

Referring back to our scripture verses above, where the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations, each of these wonderfully aromatic plants have specific properties that help our bodies with various issues we may be having. 

 Clove:  This oil is steam distilled from bud and stem--originating in Madagascar & the Spice Islands  HIstorical uses were skin infections, digestive upsets, intestinal parasites, childbirth, and most notably toothaches.  The Chinese also used cloves for diarrhea, hernia, bad breath, and bronchitis. (61)   There are many many other uses for this particular oil that science has proven to help our bodies with since the 1900's.  It's fascinating learning about all the different current day uses!  

Lemon: This oil is one of my favorites.  We use it so much that I order it every other month with my Loyalty Rewards order!   Lemons are cold pressed from the rind ( requires 3,000 lemons to produce a kilo of oil)--usually from California and Italy.  HIstorically, lemon has been used to fight food poisoning, malaria, and typhoid epidemics, and scurvy.  Lemon has also been used to lower blood pressure and to help with liver problesm, arthritis, and muscular aches and pains. (91)    This oil has so many more uses to help with our health and support a healthy immune system!  Interestingly, Lemon essential oil also helps get anything sticky off kids, garage hands, or old paint off things!  I love using this oil in addition to Thieves Household Cleaner when there's something particularly sticky to help clean up!  

Cinnamon Bark Oil: This oil is steam distilled from the bark, which makes it so very much more aromatic and stronger than the ground cinnamon we get in the baking aisle at the store!  It's from India, Madagascar, & Sri Lanka.  Historically this was used in just about evry presciription issued in ancient China.  It was regarded as a tranquilizer, tonic, and stomachic and as being good for depression and a weak heart. ( 58)  I have used this particular Vitality Oil in my pumpkin and blueberry pies without an issue.  They turn out very flavorful and I only have to use a toothpic twirl to add the oil to the batter!  

Eucalyptus Radiata: This oil is steam distilled from leaves and originates in Australia. (71)  There isn't historical research on the uses of this oil, but suffice it to say that this oil helps with every breathing concern I've ever experienced.  This oil, along with other oils have helped with repeated use over a few weeks to a month or more time frame.  This oil is invaluable and is a wonderful asset in Thieves Essential Oil Blend! 

Rosemary: This oil is steam distilled from flowering plant and originates in France, Tunisia, and USA.  Historically the rosemary plant was regarded as sacred by many cifilizations.  It was used as a fumigant to help drive away evil spirits, and to protect against plague and infectious illness. (118)  This oil has been known to help with hair regrowth, also.  It has wonderful help also with Immune, Respiratory, and Nervous systems.  Rosemary Vitality Oil can also be used in food preparation.  I've used a 2 drops in a marinade for steaks as well as over salmon.  It has a wonderful flavor!   

Of course all 5 of these oils combined in a specific way makes up Thieves Essential Oil Blend.  This is the BASE of all the Thieves Line of Products.  There is Thieves Household Cleaner,  Thieves Whitening Toothpaste, Thieves Cough Drops, Thieves Chest Rub, Thieves Laundry Soap (I have a super frugal recipe that stretches this out to  make it last up to 2 years!!!), Thieves Dishwasher Powder, Thieves Hand Sanitizer, Thieves Dish Soap,  Thieves Wipes, Thieves Fruit and Vegetable Soak, Thieves Mints, Thieves Dental Floss, Thieves Mouthwash, and Thieves Foaming Hand Wash.  You can click on any of the products to read about them.  I have used all of the products except the Thieves Mints.  I can attest to their effectiveness and I love the fact that they're all completely plant based and grown without any toxic chemicals.

Disclaimer:  In many cases, when switching from toxin filled, chemical laden products, there is a bit of a learning curve that needs to occur.  You alone are the gatekeeper of your own home.  It is up to you to research the toxins that are in the products you currently use.  I am not a medical professional, nor can I prescribe, diagnose, or treat anyone.  I can educate you in the dangers of the industry's waste products and toxins that you are currently putting on your skin and your loved one's skin as well.  In most, if not all, cases the products you're putting on your skin and in your body have been banned everywhere else in the world except in the US.  The US bans 15 known toxins.  The European Union bans 1,300 known toxins.

  Young Living bans a whopping 2,500 known toxins! 

Years ago, about 24 to be exact, the general "rule of thumb" was when your kids were 2 years old, take them to the dentist, get started with flouride treatments for their teeth, get their teeth cleaned, as much as they will handle, and continue doing that every 6 months until they have their own insurance.

By the time my oldest son was about 8 years old, we noticed brown marks on his teeth. We didn't know what it was and the dentist didn't seem too concerned with it, so we didn't think much of it.  We just told him to keep brushing his teeth twice a day and we left it at that.  

As time went on and things came to my attention--oxidative stress from the wrong oils in our cooking and baking, using vinegar and baking soda to clean with, and subsequently flouride poisoning, this Momma bear's ears pricked up and more research ensued.  

Can you imagine what I found when I looked up flouride poisoning?!  Try it!  


That's just in drinking water! 

And I wondered how my son's teeth were getting brown spots!?

What did we do?  I had been trying to get him to use baking soda and peppermint for a while, but the baking soda just didn't feel good to him.  

As a mother who is concerned, you do all that you can, keep researching, and leave the rest up to God.  

When we moved to Georgia, we've used a filtration system on our refrigerator for our drinking water and use bottled water for our coffee.  I'd like to eventually get a Berkey system like the one below which filters out so much more than our refrigerator filtration system.  

Click the picture to see this particular Berkey filtration system!

 I'd like to say we've reached a point where we're no longer using flouridated toothpaste, but so far it is only me who is using the non-flouride toothpaste.  I think everyone else is more concerned about taste than anything else.  

As for floride free toothpaste for kids and adults, you could make your own toothpaste from Bentonite Clay, which remineralizes your teeth; Organic Food Grade Activated Charcoal, which draws out impurities, Organic Coconut Oil which is a good binding agent; Thieves Vitality OIl and Peppermint Vitality Oil.  You could also add Orange Vitality Oil for whitening instead of bleach.  

Another option for kids is KidScents Toothpaste which is flouride free.  For adults there are quite a few options for toothpaste, including Thieves Whitening Toothpaste.  Take a look and see which one(s) you might be interested in learning more about!  Of course none of these products are made with flouride, so you don't have to risk the flouride poisoning from the OTC products.  

For me, it's a no-brainer!  

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Love & God Bless,
Regina

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, "The Need to Breathe", breathing is VERY important! 

I have had another issue in times past that has bothered my own breathing--black mold!

Fortunately, we found it in our carpeting in the basement of our Pennsylvania house in about a 12" diameter space and got it out of the house immediately.  When we did that, we uncovered the source and as it turns out, it was water damage to our foundation.  

The wood paneling behind the kids in this picture is where we had a slow leak. It was truly amazing when all of it was taken care of, how much the moisture affected our home.  

So what did we do?

We took a multi frontal approach at the time.  If given the same issue, I'd do it the same way again, but on a larger scale. We started with taking all the old wood panelling off the walls and burning them.  With those things you can't put them anywhere but in a dumpster, so we decided burning those would help.  With the carpeting, we just put it by the road for the trash company to pick up.  

We dug up the front part of our house, sealed the foundation, then put in gravel and french drains, covering the drains with landscape fabric so that it would catch the water instead of getting clogged with more gravel.  

On the inside after removing the paneling and carpeting, we blew multiple fans and dehumidifiers for a couple of days until the wetness on the concrete wall was gone.  Then we used Dry Lock on the inside.  I remember my husband coating the entire wall multiple times.  He did the entire front of the house up to the garage so we wouldn't have any more issues.

Black mold

What is Black Mold?

"If you can see or smell mold, a health risk may be present. You do not need to know the type of mold growing in your home, and CDC does not recommend or perform routine sampling for molds. No matter what type of mold is present, you should remove it. Since the effect of mold on people can vary greatly, either because of the amount or type of mold, you cannot rely on sampling and culturing to know your health risk."

Black mold can be the culprit of quite a few breathing issues, so do not wait to get the issue taken care of because your health and the health of your family is at stake!  I have a friend who had to get rid of 95% of their clothes and personal belongings because the mold spores were on their clothes, in their furniture, and curtains.  They had to start from scratch.  Everything that could not be wiped down well, had to be gotten rid of. 

 According to the CDC,