Natural Transformation

I found this post that was written a few years ago. It was designed to be the beginning post of a series of our journey to healthier living.  Lots of changes have occurred since then, But, here is the beginning and more up to date happenings will follow!

Over 10 years ago a friend invited me to a woman's seminar.  It turned out the Above Rubies founder was making a special visit to our small town for a one day seminar.  Nancy Campbell was very inspiring and encouraging, but talked about things which were foreign to me.  She shared things like

• truly loving our families and making them a priority
• serving our family with joy
• watching what we fed them - talked about junk food in the grocery cart
• teaching them and implanting God's Word into their heart
• walking through the garden to 'pick' her lunch
• making bread from fresh ground wheat
• loving the home and delighting to be there
• natural living - using homemade and natural products for all aspects of life
• teaching our children at home - homeschooling

At the time, I had just had our third child.  I was staying at home with the baby and working to make my family my priority.  Improvements were being made in our home, I was making it a point to be at home more, but eating healthy, using natural products, gardening, dressing modestly seemed a bit foreign to me.  Above Rubies has a Yahoo Group page that I joined.  These ladies were different from anything I had ever been around. Home births, home school, holiness, organic food, garden and food preservation, dresses and family were the topics.  These all sounded good, but I just didn't see it fitting into our home. 

Fast forward to our lives today and some changes in our home include - homeschooling, cooking from scratch, grinding wheat for bread, growing and harvesting a garden, canning and preserving food, herbs used for culinary and medicinal uses, natural remedies for health and eating for health.   Sometimes, I look back and cannot believe the changes the Lord has made in our heart and home. 

To keep a record of God's faithfulness and His transformation, I'm planning to share some about the changes our family has made in some of these areas.  These areas which seemed huge to make changes in, were done gradually and are now a natural part of our life.  Most of these things don't take much more time than the way done in time past.  And most importantly, if I can do, anyone can!

 I'm entitling this journey "Natural Transformation" and plan to share bits and pieces of various areas we are living more naturally.  Through my life, chemicals have never bothered me, whether in cleaning or cosmetics or in food!  I've not gone over the top and eat only raw food, or organic food, but simply made a few changes in our diet, in cosmetics and cleaning and am amazed at how good natural feels!  It's a great feeling to know your giving and getting your best in these areas that flows from the inside out. 

Although there is no particular right or wrong way in the areas of natural simplicity, there are many beneficial changes we can all make to enhance our home, health and heart!  It is my hope you will be encouraged as I share this journey and see how easy it is to insert new habits into a lifestyle of natural health.