Changes I've made in 2013

This will be more of a personal blog post than a crafting one, but I've made a lot of changes in my life so far and I wanted to share them with you.

God
At the beginning of each year our church does a fast. Fasting is sacrificing food or meals to grow closer to God. I personally chose to do a 21 day Daniel Fast. I ate only Fruits, Vegetables, and Whole Grains. I won't say that fasting is easy. It's not! It is meant to be a sacrifice, but I feel so much better now. I have grown closer to God. He has really challenged the way I think. He will soon be returning for those who have surrendered their lives and lived for Him. Have you wondered why this world seems like it is degrading Morally, Politically, Spiritual, Economically, and Environmentally? Too many people live to please themselves. Instead we need to put our Hope and Trust in God.
I watched two movies on Netflix that also changed how I think: One Nation Under God & Beware of Christians.


Food & Exercise

Not only has my relationship with God grown Stronger but I am physically alot healthier. I learned to enjoy eating fresh produce and whole grains. Even since the fast I am continuing to each the fresh foods, whole grains, and minimal turkey and chicken. I started tracking what I eat through an app called My Fitness Pal. I never was aware of what I was putting into my body before. I also exercise and track that as while. I found a great source for recipes and I even purchased the book: www.ultimatedanielfast.com

Natural Cleaning
Since I'm going more natural in how I am eating I also make some of my own cleaning products. I have realized that there are so many chemicals in cleaning products that are harsh to clean but also harsh to our bodies. My search for natural cleaning recipes began on Pintrest. I found many recipes but I wanted to have them all in one source. I found an ebook that can be downloaded called Simply Clean. I think it is defiantly worth it. She goes from each room in the house and what type of cleaning products you use. One of my favorite things in the book is her chart and shows what kind of cleaning properties different Essential oils have.
My favorite recipes from Simply Clean are:
Homemade Soft Scrub - this works better than any normal bathtub cleaner with chemicals. I love it!
Powdered Laundry Soap - this has baking soda in it, smells good, and I think it works well
I don't care for the stain remover because putting baking soda and vinegar in a spray bottle under pressure is not a good idea

 I bought spray bottles from Sams Club. I like to store extra cleaners in canning jars. I found plastic twist lids for them. I purchased Chalkboard vinyl from Expressions Vinyl (which I love) and I cut them on the cricut so i could use them for labels so I know exactly what is in each bottle or jar. I purchased a chalk marker from my local craft store.

 Here are some of the products I purchased to make cleaning products.
I found them at my local Health Food Store but I also purchase other products from Target or Amazon. I found these reusable dryer sheets. Just another way to eliminate chemicals.

Now I want to make Natural Lotions & Deoderants. Once again I started finding recipes on Pintrest. I just ordered the supplies from Amazon to make the following lotion bars.

Basic Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Coconut Oil
• 1/2 cup Shea Butter (or Cocoa Butter, Mango Butter, etc)- Can use a mixture of any of these
• 2/3 cup beeswax pastilles

There are several variations so check out the full recipe from Wellness Mama this is a great resource for many more natural recipes.

I know this post contains alot of information and links but I wanted to share with you about alot of things I am choosing to change in my life to make it more natural and how I believe God intended for us to live. Please don't feel condemed by any changes I am choosing to make in my life. These are choices I am making for me and my family.