In our house, we like to stay healthy, avoiding the germs that seem to float around us, trying to get us sick. We like to use natural remedies whenever physical problems arise. 

If I'm feeling sluggish or under the weather, I like to drink a cup of Pau D'Arco tea. Pau D'Arco has been used to fight candida, cancer, and inflammation.

When I was pregnant, my iron levels were a little low, so a friend recommended Blackstrap Molasses. It did the trick. Blackstrap Molasses is a great way to keep your iron levels up when you are pregnant or when anyone is suffering from Anemia. We simply mix a spoonful with boiling water, add a bit of milk, and drink it like coffee. 

Cooking with herbs or adding them to your salads is a better way to get them into your system because herbs are still medicine and your liver still has to excrete them, but sometimes you need a little bit more than you can get in food. I use turmeric for arthritis pain when it flares up, but I am careful not to use it everyday so I don't put strain on my liver. 

We also use natural ways to stay healthy. 

When I had my first colonoscopy, my doctor recommended eating Bran Buds every day to keep my colon healthy. I don't eat it every day, but try to have it at least once a week. 

I cook with lots of garlic and onions because they are nature's antibiotics. When we get sick, we take garlic tablets to fight viruses and bacteria. 

And of course, we use coconut oil for everything--as face lotion, hair conditioner, and a great carrier for essential oils. 

We even take multi-vitamins occasionally when we are recovering from surgery or not eating well for a season. We are just careful on how much we take. Again, so we don't strain our livers and kidneys. Whatever your body doesn't use, they have to excrete, or get rid of.  

We purchase everything on Amazon Prime. It's easy and quick. Here are some of the brands we use over and over again. 

My sister was getting on her horse one day when she noticed weakness in one of her legs. She had to help the leg over to climb up. Later she noticed weakness in her hands on the same side. Her friend, a physical therapist suggested she go to the Emergency Room the next day. 

Meanwhile, I hurried off to homeschool co-op to teach my Economics and Human Anatomy classes. Between classes, my phone rang. It was my sister. She told me that she was in the E.R.

I asked why. 

She told me. 

I sat down stunned. My baby sister in the E.R. I worried about the possibility of a stroke. I didn't even think about a brain tumor. When she told me the news hours later after several tests, I felt like I had been sucker-punched. The world was spinning around and around. I couldn't quite find my footing, process, figure things out. 

Three weeks later, I was flying north to be with my sister as a surgeon removed a tumor from her brain. They didn't think it was cancerous, but the thought of surgery...on the brain..was a lot to handle emotionally. I was worried, afraid, fearful. All the things I'm not supposed to be. Where was my trust? When the doctor told me the surgery had gone as well as they had hoped and she was recovering, I burst into tears. How is it that I was so sure she would be okay, yet so afraid at the same time. Oh, dear.

As I processed the whole thing later, I realized that the hardest part was knowing how scary this was for my sister to go through. Her pain made me feel terribly sad. Isn't it always harder to see our loved ones suffer than to suffer ourselves.  

It turns out attending religious services can be good for the body and soul.
 
In fact, at least one study suggests attending church can even help extend a person’s lifespan.  As part of the Nurses' Health Study, researchers examined data collected from nearly 75,000 female nurses in the U.S. and found those who went to church more than once a week had a 33 percent lower risk of dying during the study period compared with those who said they never went. Study subjects who attended services once a week or less than weekly had 26 percent and 13 percent lower risk of death, respectively.
 
Churchgoers had higher rates of social support and optimism, lower rates of depression, and were less likely to be smokers, but researchers factored out those differences when calculating the lower mortality rates. That left scientists to speculate that attending religious services might promote self-discipline and give people a greater sense of meaning and purpose in life, according to a story from CNN.
 
Church Offers a Support System
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“Can you fit me in as soon as possible?” I asked Rhonda, my favorite dental assistant. “I was chewing gum on the flight home from Denver when a piece of my tooth came out.”  
 
“Can you come in next Thursday,” she offered and I quickly accepted, feeling guilty as I hung up the phone. I had been pushing my annual dental exam and cleaning back month after month until now it had been over two years since my last dental appointment.
 
“This tooth looks fine,” my dentist informed me. “The tooth looks great. I will just clean out this little hole and fill it up. Of course, first I’ll check the X-ray.”
 
I sighed happily. My daily brushing and flossing had done the trick. I was safe.
 
“Uh-oh.”
 
“Oh, dear.” My heart stopped beating.
 
“On the outside this tooth looks fine, but evidently, an old filling got a tiny crack in it and there has been leaking. The cavity is quite extensive. I’m sorry to tell you: it’s down to the root.” ​

"Is this an exercise video? Is this a math video?" I wondered aloud when Exploramania Gymathtics arrived in the mail to be reviewed.

The answer to my question is YES! It is an exercise video and it is a math video.

What a fun, colorful, exciting video to watch! Our hostess, exercise leader, and math teacher is energetic and upbeat. She reminds me of my spinning teacher at the Y. Her name is Carrie and she is the creator of Exploramania. The exercise video is a high-energy aerobic workout with a twist. The twist is that you are always doing math while you move and sweat.

"Isn't exercise fun?" perky Carrie asks throughout the 30 minute workout.

"Yes, Carrie," I have to agree. "This is fun!"