Like A Box of Chocolates

Sometimes, amidst the swirling chaos of life, I forget to just chill and remember that life is like a box of chocolates:
Simply try new things, don't attempt to finish the pieces that you almost broke a tooth on because the caramel filling was as hard as plastic, savor every sweet and exciting bite of goodness... and be sure to thank the Lord for the guide on the lid of the box....

Mullein Flower Oil

In the Fall, as the golden rod is displaying it's yellow hue, you may notice some tall, straight plants with yellow flowers at the top. Mullein plants. You can see them in ditches all over the country side. Unique looking.... with big, fuzzy, wooly leaves.

They are biannual. The first year you can spot their leaves growing among other wild foliage. Then in their second year they send forth a tall shoot, where at the top you will find a lovely cluster of small, yellow flowers. (look up mullein plants on Google for an image)

This past Fall I went on a hike with my friend, Hannah, to pick mullein flowers. We gathered maybe a cup or two and then set them out to dry just for the evening. This was a good idea because there had been plenty of bugs we'd managed to bring home on the flowers.... who, fortunately, crawled off my collection before it was time to bottle them.

After a short airing-out period I put the flowers in a small jar, covered them in olive oil and put the lid on, beginning the cold infusion method of making an herbal remedy. The next day I opened the jar to remove air bubbles that had been trapped (sort of like you'd do when preparing a jar of veggies you are about to pressure cook). Sealing the lid back on I left the jar in a sunny windowsill and let it alone for almost two months. Then, when the time was right, I strained the flowers from the oil, discarding them. I put the oil into cute little jars that I'd purchased on amazon, which may have been the most fun and exciting part. :)

The next step was to wait..... for someone to get an ear ache!

Sure enough as the season grew colder and sickness was starting to plague the community, my brother developed a terrible ear ache.
Now I've heard that antibiotics help fight an ear ache but each year, as the immune system becomes resistant to the antibodies, the ear aches hurt worse and worse. ....and ear aches are painful enough. If the mullein flower oil worked then this would be good news, indeed.

My mom warmed the oil up and dropped it into my brother's troubled ear. He'd had the ache since the day before and hadn't slept a wink because the pain was so unbearable. Literally, within less than 5 minutes, he'd fallen fast asleep and received much needed rest because the oil had provided relief. The mullein flower oil was a success!!

Although I can't say for sure, I believe the infusion is supposed to relieve swelling, pain, and fight infection, though it cannot be used on a punctured eardrum. Some say they use it on other external issues as well. I still have a lot to learn about the mullein plant and it's healing properties but I am quite happy with the results it's flowers produced!

For more information, Google, "Mullein Oil for Ear Pain". I also found a lot of helpful advice for how to administer the oil on Greenster.com.

How To Use Mullein Flower Oil:
-Warm oil slightly, put some into the affected ear with a medicine dropper and plug loosely with a cotton ball.
-Don't use if ear drum is punctured.
-In addition, echinacea and goldenseal are supposed to be effective in helping fight ear aches.

Genesis 1:29, "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth..."

Born for Adversity

Someone once said, "Show me your friends and I'll show you your future." Well, I can't see the future but if I can judge what's to come in life by the quality of the friends I have then I need not worry.

The number of people who have reached out in response to my family's change of circumstances has been incredible. So many folks have reached out in encouragement, sympathy, empathy and hope for our future. It is hard to lose something you love... but it is never so difficult when you know there are so many people who are right there, ready to share your burdens.

Some days, when grief has taken it's toll, it is easy to forget how much help it is to have friends. What a beautiful thing friendship is. In this world it is easy to become distracted in the day to day plans, disconnected in the frenzy and leave those around us to worry about their own problems... while we drown in ours.
And yet I have been touched by the comments and messages and words from so many friends. It only reminds me that I am not alone in my struggles.

In fact, just knowing this relieves the load immensely.

I suppose after God designed the family unit and the relationships therein, he knew that there was one more aspect that mankind would need, to carry on through the tests of life: friendship.

It lightens the heart to know that one is not left to wade through the mire of change alone.

I've written on the subject of friendship a number of times in previous blog posts, but I'd like to take this opportunity to simply thank my friends... just for being my friends. I am so blessed. It is an honor and privilege that I do not feel worthy of, to have such wonderful friends as you all. I appreciate your companionship, your kindness, your support and encouragement.

Thank you.

Proverbs 17:17
A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

Starting From Scratch

It's 2015. I wouldn't mind a big year full of nothing. No excitement. No problems. No pleasures. Just routine. Work. Milking cows.
...but that's not going to happen, is it.

Oh well, ...act now, cry later. That's how I deal with things. If I cry at all. I over-do the happy side of things sometimes because I'm afraid to let my emotions show. So when they do come out of hiding it's more like an explosive network of bombs.... unraveling each issue I've been bottling up since who-knows-when.

I suppose it's all a part of the growing up process. Problems help bring out our worst so we can see it in the daylight and figure out how to address it and move beyond it. I remember from drivers ed, I.P.D.E. ... Identify. Predict. Determine. Execute. Sounds like a good strategy for dealing with life issues.... not just automobile experiences. As General George S. Patton said, "A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week."

The point is that one should have a plan. Any plan. Yet, nothing sounds interesting to me right now. I have 500 projects I could work on. Things to create, things to make, participate in, accomplish, clean... you name it. ...but the center of my schedule, the one thing that was always sure, was my job milking our cows. It wasn't just a job either. It was my identity, my purpose. 

Just a few weeks ago I was talking to an old homeschool friend and we were discussing careers. She'd just graduated from University, was about to marry a guy who'd also graduated from University and they were moving to the big city where their careers would take place. What was I doing? Milking cows. Of course that didn't sound very lofty to my friend and it didn't matter to me what she thought of my occupation because she didn't understand that though my vocation sounded humble the cause was noble. It seems to me that people don't understand farming much unless they've truly come into contact with farmers or participated in agriculture.

I never imagined myself to be a career chick. I never cared to be out there in the work force, to be the bread-winner. In fact, I thought I'd get married young and have a bunch of kids. It sounded like a nice life plan and it didn't have the big, red debt score to add to the "I do" list. Since the marriage thing didn't happen, I focused on milking cows. Well, I focused on milking anyway because I enjoyed it. It could be difficult, challenging and yet equally rewarding and satisfying. I liked the routine, the passion, and the bigger purpose for dairy farming that reached beyond our little farm. Making food for the world. Now that's something big. Though being a milkmaid sounded menial to others it did not bother me because I knew my worth.

Then, yesterday we took my job, took my purpose, put it on a trailer and sent it down the road to someone else, somewhere else. 

What am I now? 

I am starting from scratch. Scraping together my desires and looking for some all-purpose super glue, in hopes of re-purposing my purposeless being.
 
O.K. ... I'm being a little extra gloomy. It's not as bad as I'm making it sound. I know I am pretty lucky and maybe in my next post I'll be able to tell you just how lucky, fortunate and successful I am. As General George S. Patton also said, "I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom."

Right now it's about not dwelling at the bottom end of things. It's about getting up and carrying on. Winston Churchill said, "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

So I am searching for the courage. The courage to try new things. Searching for ambition and searching for purpose. I know it's all waiting out there for me... at my disposal. Time to bounce back and advance into the future. 
It's the idea that things happen for good reasons and the best is yet to come. It all hinges on hope... that mere thread of possibility.