This is us

This picture is painful to look at, isn’t it? Maybe you have experienced something similar and it surfaces an emotion for you. For me, it initially surfaces memories of a time when life was really hard. Really. hard.

This is our first born, we frequently called him Sweetpea and he was such a sweet little soul, but something very troubling began brewing straight from birth, although he would eventually begin to regress faster in his toddler years, pressing us to dig into the depths of the vast knowledge on the world wide web about SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder) Autism and eventually PANDAS (Pediatric Auto-Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcus).

He’s recovered now. He is completely neuro-typical and indistinguishable from his peers.

Our second son has been recovered from ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder) and struggles with MCAD (Mast Cell Activation Disorder) which is a condition that requires ongoing management. This journey certainly isn’t without a lot of heartache, challenges, road blocks and self-reflection. Had I known more about the road in advance, it would not have changed anything about our choices.

When asked if I would do it all over again, just the way it unfolded, I respond with a resounding yes! Would we have made it to this point if we chose another path? Well, I don't know, because I think I am always where I am supposed to be. Every step of the way, I learned something new. We needed the path we were on. We are who we are today because of the path we have traveled. 

When we saw glimpses of who our children could be underneath the identity of the illness, it drove us harder to pull them out. It kept us motivated. We learned about anatomy and physiology because of the path we traveled. Our diets are healthy and our environment is cleaned up because of the research we did. We researched and experimented and we came to incredible conclusions due to the roads we traveled.  

Most importantly, we met the people we needed to meet to succeed on this path. It wasn't put in front of us sooner for very valid reasons, we just weren't ready for it! Every single day of our pasts have lead us to this very point in our lives. We wouldn't change a thing. Without the first IgG food sensitivity panel, we wouldn't have known to cut problematic foods which resulted in healthier eating habits for the whole family. Without the use of natural antimicrobials, we wouldn't have learned the signs of microbial overgrowth or how important it was to address the infections even if we would eventually change the way we handle them. Without learning about the low-dose oral chelation which involved supplementation to remove heavy metals from the body, we wouldn't have known that the toxicity of heavy metals are a problem in our world, which opened my awareness and spurred change towards a healthier lifestyle overall. Without the implementation of soil-based organisms, we wouldn't have dropped all of the antimicrobials we were using daily, proving that building up the gut terrain was more effective than tearing it down. Without the experience of Homotoxicology, a homeopathic method of opening the detox pathways, we wouldn't have eliminated dozens of supplements, and without homeopathy and energy healing, we wouldn't have the permanent healing we have experienced. Even camel’s milk had it’s place on our healing path. Most importantly, I wouldn't have crossed paths with some of the most influential people in our lives.  

The things we have learned and experienced have made us who we are today and today we are healthier, more vibrant and immensely grateful for the life we’ve created together. Our lives all have more meaning because of what we’ve been through.

We hope to inspire your journey with ours. If you are here, reading this, it’s because our lives have purposefully converged. Thank you for allowing me to be part of yours.

If you’d like to see a list of symptoms both boys exhibited early on, click here to be redirected to my old blog. This blog was created in 2008, when we were just learning to navigate healing naturally. It is a raw account of the learning curve I fiercely took on single handedly so you will witness the day to day things we struggled with, before reaching our goal. I was learning, experimenting and documenting all at the same time. I would say there are things in this blog that I don’t resonate with any longer, but I also believe that every single experience we encounter is one of learning and growth. I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for every single day that preceded this one. So while I do encourage you to check it out, if it resonates with you, but remember that it may be different from my current views today, based on a lot more experience since then. 😉

A little behind the scenes on yours truly

It’s pretty obvious that I am passionate about health, and that endless years of research enabled me to recover my boys from conditions most of society seeks to medicate.

You can probably tell that I take the bull by the horn, and I trudge forward even when things get hard, because I believe the result is worth it.

Something you might not be able to tell about me from my public presence, is that I am very shy and I’m a bit of a hermit. It takes immense energy for me to go public or to be exposed on video, but I am working on that. 😘 I believe that we aren’t growing if we aren’t uncomfortable, so I am stepping into my shadows to serve a higher purpose.

Before I was thrust into this lifestyle, I thought I wanted to do something in the creative arts. I went to school to become an architect, initially, then decided to go to school to be a cosmetologist (got licensed but never worked a day in a salon), then ended up in the world of real estate as a Global Relocation Consultant (where I first learned about mold in great detail). I married the love of my life and together we decided to raise our children with me at home, so I left my successful, but very intense career for a new pace in life and started a family. Throughout my years as a stay at home mother to two, and you can see how much work went into parenting high needs children, I still pursued interests. I became an advertising photographer for quite a few years and I hand made jewelry (Rob Thomas’ wife and Nicole Kidman have some of my jewelry thanks to my mother’s connections). ☺️ Even through all the madness of chronic illness, I always made room for things I love doing. But passion really began to flood my heart when I realized I could help others succeed at what I was succeeding at through my own research! If anyone had asked me ten years ago what I would be doing now, this would have been the furthest idea from my mind! Very early on in this health journey, my creativity turned to writing, which has always been a hobby of mine. Between two blogs (now this website and my FB groups) and a book, I’ve been fulfilling this dream of mine to help others.

I’ve spent over a decade honing my skills with the sole purpose of making this journey easier on others. I finally know what I want to be when I grow up! 🤣 What really moves me and motivates me is seeing others jump into the driver’s seat of their family’s health and drive that bus. I am humbled every day by the beautiful souls who cross my path.

Clearly, I love to stretch my brain learning new things. If I am not researching something, writing something or reading something, you will find me helping my boys do the same! Our homeschool environment is shaped on exploration and intrinsic motivation to learn. Yet ironically, my children have taught me more than I could have ever imagined I could learn in one lifetime. This journey I’ve laid out before you, is their blood, sweat and tears too. They made me who I am and for that I am infinitely grateful.

If you have any questions about me or our journey, I’m an open book, all you have to do is ask!