Welcome to the newest section of our candleshop! For many years, right alongside our candle making equipment we have used and explored many different types of natural healing methods and products. Today, we want to share with you how our family began our journey of healing and better health. We will continue to share occasionally on our blog so check that out too.
First, a little about my family. I’m Andrea and I grew up on a farm with a vineyard, honey bees and beeswax candles. My parents still run the vineyard, bees and their own candleshop where I learned so much about candlemaking. Now my kids are the ones playing between the vines, in between our travels that is!
My husband is a US Navy Chaplain and through the Navy we have visited many interesting places! Currently we live in Southern California while my husband serves alongside the US Marines. We are enjoying the mild weather and living near the ocean… and the desert! Though we do miss our home state of Michigan and the SNOW!!! maybe not all caps and an exclamation mark or two less :)
Our journey into natural healing began shortly before our third child was born. We had two wonderful little girls and were already making more and more foods from scratch, using whole grains and learning that there were indeed grains other than white flour and white rice.
Then our first son was born and our world changed. Within a few weeks he had developed severe food allergies, even though he was exclusively breastfed. It was a long road of discovery but basically the doctors tried everything they could think of, in three different states as we moved around that year due to my husband’s school work, and we were finally told to just take him home and do the best we could because they couldn't help him any more.
At that point he was about eight months old and we could not take him out of the house because his asthma was so severe, as the vaguest scent of an allergen in the air or even someone's perfume would cause either an anaphylactic reaction or a severe asthma attack. The slightest brush of anything other than the softest organic cotton would cause a weeping sore in his delicate skin within hours. He was allergic to all the “normal” foods and then some.
So when modern medicine failed us, we started looking around for other sources of help. And we found it. We had already been introduced to a more natural line of cleaning products that were safe around children (and adults!). So we started their supplements and found a grapeseed extract capsule with grapefruit bioflavinoids. Hows that for a mouthful? I started taking those and we also gave them to our son in juice. And guess what? That, combined with a strict diet on my part (he was still exclusively nursing as our first forays into food ended disastrously…), led to extreme healing within four months. By his first birthday he was off all the steroids, daily multiple breathing treatments, inhalers, and the around the clock doses of Benadryl.
Over the years we have explored other avenues of healing as well, such as homeopathy, essential oils, herbs, sublingual allergy therapy… we learned a lot about each method and our son has come a long, long way.
Today we use herbs and essential oils for our son, believing that whole plant products are the best answer. Well, that and a whole foods diet with lots of raw fruits, veggie, seeds and grains! No nuts for us due to some allergies, though the kids would enjoy those too. :)
We have six children now and they are all very healthy. While we went through a lot with our son we have all learned from it and thank God for his improved health. His allergies are not all gone but they are very much diminished from when he was small. He can do many things today that we wondered if would ever be possible.
We are responsible for our health! We can take control of what we eat and change how our body reacts to the world around us. I’m not saying it’s easy… but it’s so worth it!
Now off to light some candles!!
Have a wonderful day!
Andrea
