Natural Easter DIY Eggs

Planning on dying Easter eggs this year? Try making colors from all natural household ingredients!
Make the following colors by simmering their corresponding fruit or vegetable in one cup of water for 15-30 minutes (color deepens over time):

• Yellow - 2 tablespoons ground turmeric
• Pink – ½ to 1 cup shredded beets
• Purple – 1 cup red onion skins
• Orange – 1 cup yellow onion skins
• Blue – 1 cup chopped purple cabbage or frozen blueberries

Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Strain into glass jars and add 1 tablespoon white vinegar. Submerge eggs in liquid, then refrigerate overnight. Dry eggs and rub them with a small amount of oil afterwards for added shine!

If you want smelly ones add your favorite ingestible Young Living Vitality essential oils...get yours here www.yvonnerentschler.com or www.releaseandbelieve.com

The week I met my son...

for the first time without being prescription medicated for his autism and ADHD. There's no doubt that he needed something to help him since he was 3 years old especially if he was going to enter into a scheduled life of learning in public schools. He couldn't control any of the unique and outlandish behaviors, nonstop talking, there's a leaf or squirrel attention span, and anxiety through the roof.

(Quick update for those following our journey in regards to his skull that started back in November; feel free to read here if you haven't before. We have approval for the neurosurgeon, we don't have insurance approval for the plastic surgeon...how is this? Don't ask me! The insurance says it's not medically necessary. I don't call people stupid...but this is the stupidest/dumbest thing I have ever heard. For goodness sake, he's got a hole in his skull with a major vessel exposed. Whatever! They have drained me but they will not get me to quit. I'm guessing it is because we've met our deductible and they will have to cover it all. We are still just tentatively going to have surgery on April 21st. It's been a long time for this momma to wait. I want this over for his sake because he's concerned, and rightfully so.)

He's always had a great personality, but just like the commercial of the girl interviewing for the job...you got to have more than that. His personality, heart, and smile has definitely proven to be contagious if you can get thru the annoyances and quirkiness. It's hard to understand how someone can look so "ok" and so not be. On top of these diagnosis' he has a incurable genetic disorder that was by spontaneous mutation called Neurofibromatosis. If one struggle wasn't enough, when you build these together it's utter chaos. It's not his fault. It's not my fault. It's the cards we're dealt, and the journey that has taught me more than I could ever imagine.

This journey has put me on a path of research, and boy did I hate research papers in school. It's also been years of trial and error, with us still learning about him and ourselves every single day. I'll say some of the greatest discoveries have came thru an accident so to speak, or just flat tripped over it while walking it out. I've never been more thankful for a journey...not thankful he has suffered with all that he has, but what we've all learned from it.

The reason I title this post the way I did is because I really have never had a full week without him living life without prescriptions. Since February 2016 we've been on a quest to remove as many prescriptions as possible due to the abundance of side effects. You take one thing for a symptom, then you take another for the side effect of the first, and then you domino effect into a crash of chaos...that even the dr's can't help with because they don't know. When you are on (at one time over 20 prescriptions when he was on chemo) multiple prescriptions, no one has done studies of what happens when you do a combination of meds. They don't know the side effects of such recipes. His liver, stomach, esophagus, sleep, skin, and behaviors were all affected greatly. The chemicals in these prescriptions on top of the mix of them...was destroying him. We are not against prescriptions...we are against the over prescribing practices and band-aiding a condition without looking for the root.

Busted!

This is what set me out on the quest of finding the alternative. We did that through a long tedious year with multiple times of wanting to just give up. Over the last year we have gotten rid of 11 prescriptions for asthma, EXTREME restless leg syndrome, allergies, nerve pain, etc leaving us with 3 total meds which are for helping with ADHD and Autism. ***It's spring break 2017***...he has be able to prescription free since last Friday am (now Thursday). We got clearance from our doctor to try a full week of no prescriptions...granted he cannot be without help because he still has ADHD, NF, RLS, and autism. These diagnosis' aren't just going away. We have changed his diet, added supplements like magnesium, exercise, joint compressions, massage with raindrop technique, and a whole bunch of love & patience...and Young Living Essential Oils!

(ohhh gosh is supplements a journey in itself because these too have a horrible to great benefits. If you get a hold of an all chemical, cheap brand of supplements you are swallowing "nothing", and they don't absorb properly, hardly have any "whatever it is you need" in it, your body can't metabolize the type it is, etc. Just because it says magnesium...what kind of magnesium is it, and where did it come from?).

I've been 7 years looking for the best bang for my buck when it comes to the oils. Here's our story on that...my Facebook post. So with great welling up in my eyes and crocodile tears flowing down my cheeks, my heart is wrenching in sadness it's taken this long...I've met my son finally at almost 12 years old. I am getting to experience the "real" him, embracing the joy & compassion in his heart, with excitement seeing his passions/desires, fully grasping his creative and intelligent mind because he's calm enough to express himself fully without the distractions of life, anxiety of the world, and a sensory overloaded atmosphere. I have been blessed with insight this week, and all is well with my soul. I just know he's struggled for almost 12 years living this life...and now I can see his truth. No, we won't get to stay on this regime until after school is out due to many things, but I am awaiting summer in hopes all these last prescriptions will go away. I have video documented and photographed his behaviors this week to present to the Dr...so now as spring break ends I know without a shadow of doubt that God's creation of plants, trees, etc were made for our use...and they have benefited us greatly. I've never met a more beautiful person than my son. Thank you God for helping us all through this far!!

When you've been told more than you should...

Update without all the details of his horrendous journey with K and his skull implant surgery. I know there's many awaiting an update. Over the last few weeks I have found the pits of hell much too often. I'll say I've never dealt with depression to this extent. God sent help through creation itself tho for me so I could at least function through the necessities of life. I've been trying to work my Wildtree business, but with all the uncertainties among us right now it's been too hard to hold tasting events, schedule vendor events, or have parties. I cannot do that to my customers...schedule something then cancel, it's just not who I am. This has been very frustrating to try to help provide for my family when there's been such a recent significant loss financially. It just sucks.

Also during this time I've been dealing with 3 appeals in regards to getting this surgery approved thru insurance. Time is ticking away since we have met our deductible for the year, and well it starts over June 1st. (that's coming way too fast at this point in this situation) While trying to stay updated with the medical team, I've been given 3 different stories from the different departments involved. I'll admit real quick I'm pretty tired of the mess. I wanted an update this last week so I pushed some buttons with a little necessity in my voice. I got a call that disturbed me greatly about how the implant hasn't even been ordered because there is no contract with a manufacturer. I was told that they've never done this type of surgery.  I was told that another child whom needed an implant that was on state medicaid was looking for funds to have the surgery and that Koda's file was combined with that child's journey; so they were trying to find him funds. I said, whooooaaaaa! STOP! What? Koda has commercial insurance and a secondary, there is no funds to be sought. It's all a real mess! I made more calls.

Uhm, making a longer story short. The plastic surgeon just now called this evening. He started with, "I apologize for the information in which you have been given though it's the truth." He also said, "Koda is the most complicated case they've ever seen regarding the skull due to the soft bone tissue, the deteriorated design of the hole, and the location of the plexiform neurofibroma (tumor).  This is a very serious surgery due to the exposure of the transverse sinus, the unknown of what's really going on until they get in there." He will not do surgery until he feels he has what he needs to do it the way he would want it done if it were his son. So, instead of going in there, then closing him back up to come tell us they have to go back in because they didn't have the proper implant. He's researching and conducting business with 3 other 3D manufactures that can give him the implant he needs, 2 of those have failed and the 3rd to report within the next couple weeks.

He said, he may still have to go back doing it the "old way" and do a manual carving while in surgery because they just don't know. There's a tentative date towards the end of April, but not holding my breath. He said the last thing I needed to worry about was funds, insurance paying/approval, and deductibles." I said, that's easy for you to say. He kinda laughed, said yeah...I don't even know what deductibles are. Nice, glad you don't have to worry about that. I love an honest doctor. Let me say, he wasn't being arrogant or anything negative.

Then get this...I'm in the middle of all this and school calls on Tuesday. If I don't bring back K's progress note by lunchtime, he's going to loose his recess. UGH...thank God, I don't work outside home, huh? This is an ongoing battle that we've got going on this year. They apparently love to take away recess, but be damn if it's because I did/didn't do something. This paper came home on Friday in his folder, I flip through the pages to see if there's any notes for me, nope. Saw the grades, but didn't pull it completely out so didn't realize there was a signature line. His grades are all good, so I had nothing to discuss except applaud him for his work. I can understand if his grades weren't up to par..., but regardless I didn't know it had to be back on Tuesday (Monday-no school). His para has been out for a little while, and getting to school has been a struggle because he says no one really helps him. Just all those seemingly little things within themselves really build up on a momma.

Prayers for K please as he really is concerned about the surgery, and everyday he has to wear his helmet reminds him of it even more. Thankfully we have an oil that controls his pain and anxiety. Thank you to all of you whom have contacted me one on one to find out what's going on because I haven't blogged. I appreciate you. I also don't care to answer questions, so feel free. I'm not all overwhelmed by that. Be patient with me as I'm patiently awaiting too.

(Update to PET scan) What I can do through this...

Let me apologize to those who have been awaiting this post to get the scoop on all the other details to our newest journey (read here to catch up)...with the recent presidential negativity throughout social media, some flashbacks of personal trauma that was also triggered by another's heartbreaking FB post, so I just mentally shut off everything and enjoyed the last two days with my family doing whatever we wanted. It was so nice to step away from the phones, computer, and screen.

That referenced post above was titled "When there's not a damn thing you can do"...I'm taking back as of right now because God definitely showed me that when it seems as tho you can't; you can!! No, I personally can't change the fact that at this moment our son has a tumor that has ate through his skull. I decided though, I was going to embrace the moments of joy throughout the new journey as we find out all the details of what the specialists suggest to do. What I didn't realize was how just maybe we were going through this so we could be exactly where we needed to be for someone else. I'll explain that in just a bit.

So, we are leaping with joy and thanksgiving for the answered prayers of Koda's tumor NOT being malignant. I had also posted on FB before we got results: 

"I'm posting this now because I'll not be shocked to find out why it happened after we get the results from the PET scan today...the technician apologized to me and called the dr, nurse, and radiologist to say she accidentally took too many images...it was only to be of the upper body (trunk up) and she took clear down to his feet. I said, I'm fine with it because it gives us a full body baseline regardless. I don't think this was a accident at all...in K's life, history has proven...there's a reason for everything. 

If you don't know...PET scan. A positron emission tomography scan is a type of imaging test. It uses a radioactive substance called a tracer to look for disease in the body. (They told us that it's where they feed the body sugar so if there's cancer it'll light up because tumors love sugar and will eat it up)".


I posted that because Koda has had other significant pain episodes throughout the years in his legs, and honestly I was expecting to hear they found something there. Praise God that isn't the fact, so we are thanking God for the additional images for future reference baseline, if needed. I'm ecstatic beyond words that nothing else showed up. Seriously my heart couldn't have handled something yet beyond what we're already dealing with. One diagnosis' in itself is enough for any family, but 5 significant affecting daily living is beyond me already then the skull thing was/is too much! I don't function on my own strength...I have none! I'm worn! And the newest journey is just beginning.

I wish I could say that with the great news from the PET scan that our journey is now going back to "our normal", but that's not true. We've got quite the journey ahead actually. Here's the next steps:

1. MRI in Kansas City to update us on the actual tumor itself growth/measurements/etc 

2. Neurosurgery and Plastic surgeon appointments in KC

3. NF Clinic appointment in St. Louis

4. There will at some point be a surgery scheduled to fix the skull itself (if it can be done with where the tumor is located) so much still to discuss and figure out.

5. Probable out of state (several places including NIH National Institute of Health) visits for clinical trials of  different chemo meds. (We really do NOT want to do this again...He was on the Gleevac trial for a year 2011-12)

Koda's tumor is complicated, it's as a bag of worms always moving and hopefully not growing, it engulfs the carotid and that in itself makes it too high risk to remove. All of his team up until this point has said they wouldn't touch it. The oncologist is concerned about getting this tumor to shrink or de-bulk it so it doesn't do additional damage to the skull...she has mentioned us going to Cincinnati for surgery because she knows they will do this type of surgery (ugh...no, we won't be making any decisions about this until we talk to the NF specialists because well this isn't her area of speciality...malignant tumors are.) 

These type of tumors if cut on tend to grow back 3x faster after surgery anyway. We are going to have a lot of praying time and discussions as we weed out the pros and cons for each suggestion as they become available to us. In the meantime, I'm now using Young Living Frankincense and Sacred Frankincense topically on the tumor while diffusing other blends as well. We had also fallen off our "clean eating" for a bit after our move here...but, that is back on track at 100% now. We will do what we can and we fully believe diet/atmosphere plays a big part in emotional, physical, and spiritual health. Please keep praying for us through this journey. Thank you for all that has supported us up until now through prayers, calls, texts, hospitality, and the financial support & donations to the gofundme page.

Now back to the last sentence in the first paragraph. This journey has allowed us to be placed right where we needed to be for someone else. If this had not happened, we wouldn't have ended up with a physical appearance much less anything else when it was needed. Another family 4 weeks into the hospital stay, 2 surgeries later this round, and still living in the PICU; God had a plan. I thought I was going to visit my friend and her son while I was there, well on the way to KC the night before the PET scan...I was prompted to go see them "now", as soon as I got to town. I dropped off Koda at his aunt's where'd we be staying the night...and off to the hospital I went. 

I got to spend some time listening to all that had went on. My heart sinks watching this momma not see daylight, but knowing she can't think about leaving him is totally understandable. So many times this precious face has stopped breathing...etc! :( So this is what I can do while we endure this journey of our own! I would've set up a Gofundme page for them, actually I'm shocked to no end that no one has done it yet...if anyone needs support it's this family. Daddy doesn't get to be there as they would like, because like us; bills don't get paid without somebody working. Gofundme does charge fees, it takes at least 7 days to get the first deposit, and this family at this time doesn't have an account to link to it so...

Update tonight from momma: He's running a 103 temp, heart rate at 200, and 3 new antibiotics started. My heart hurts so bad for them all. Don't let that precious face make you think all is fine...it's not. By God's grace, favor, and mercy Moose has endured and continues to fight daily. Help me help him & his precious family. This is now Koda's baby...He prays everyday, at every meal, and every night for this boy.
Thank you in advance for your prayers and support.

Until I work out other details with this family to get another fund raising opportunity made and funds to them; I'm asking for any donations possible. Please use this link:  PayPal.Me/embracingjoy I will make sure all funds donated gets into the hands of momma. Make sure to note that it is for Kennedy Murry aka Moose.