Lavha Essential Oil Jewelry- Giveaway!!!

** Today is the last day to get in on the Free Intro Kit!!  Email me today!**

Recently I have been coming across many situations in my life that can only be described as- 'everything happens for a reason'. Ever had that happen to you?  It's kind of amazing.  Last week I had an Access Consciousness Bars session with my friend Julie where we worked on a lot of very deep emotional "stuff".  I love Julie and consider our friendship one of those- 'everything happens for a reason' moments in my life.  At the end of our session she handed me a citrine gemstone and told me it might help me.  That night I was on one of the essential oil facebook groups I belong to and I saw a link to LavHa Jewelry's website.  I clicked over and wow(!!) I was impressed by what I saw! And- it seemed to fit perfectly into what Julie and I had been talking about earlier in the day....again, everything happens for a reason.

After looking through the LavHa website I emailed Jessica, one of the owners, and asked her if she would be willing to do a giveaway on the blog and she said yes!  She also answered about a million questions I had about gemstones and how they work.  I'm telling you, she was beyond nice and very thorough with all of her explanations.

Here is a little background from Jessica on her & Nancy's business:

LavHa started when I moved into my neighborhood and Nancy and I met. We both had a background in western medicine and I had a passion and interest in eastern medicine and she has her doctorate in Holistic Nutrition. Nancy was already making and passionate about yoga bracelets using gemstones and learning about their healing properties. I had been using essential oils for years and introduced her to medical grade oils (the purest on the market). My whole extended family uses the oils and I’ve had many amazing experiences with them that it was easy to share. We started talking and LavHa just “happened”. I don’t know how else to describe it. 

 

We both have worked in hospital settings and have learned that, although the advancements in western medicine is a blessing, that getting back to nature and what’s been provided and created for us by God is just as, if not, more powerful. 

 

We started to design bracelets using our combined knowledge of stones and oils. We believe that when you combine the mental and physical healing properties of the stones and oils, they amplify each other. The bracelets act as a personal diffuser, through the lava stone. .Each bracelet is made with high grade gemstones and at least one lava stone that acts as a natural diffuser. The oils will, microscopically, absorb into your skin and you have the aromatherapy benefit as you wear them as well. You put a drop on each lava bead and it absorbs the oils and will diffuse the oils for up 3 or more days.

 

The name LavHa comes from combining “lava”, which represent the "power of the fire within", and Ha, which means “breath of life” in Hawaiian.  Each piece comes with a woven bag, a gem guide, and a 1 oz. vial of oil to be used on your bracelet. We also make earrings and necklaces. We are excited to also “give back” and use our jewelry as a way to make the world a better place by giving part of our profit to non-profits, but also by spreading health and wellness both emotionally and physically to those that benefit from wearing our creations. 

 

Pretty amazing right?

 

And just look at how beautiful these bracelets are!

 

I already ordered my own with Jessica's help and I can't wait to get it!

Now for our giveaway!  LavHa is generously giving away this Fire Cracked Agate & Lava bracelet to one of my lucky readers. 

 

This bracelet is part of their Elements collection.  Need more physical and emotional balancing? Then this beautiful agate and lava strand is for you. Known as a powerful and universal body balancer, crackled agate is believed to evoke mental and physiological wellness.

 

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/6f01421/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Good Luck!!

 

Mimi

I read Stephanie's post yesterday- There are no coincidences and it got me thinking about a couple of  things that have happened with Emily and I wanted to get them down on the blog so I don't forget, although I'm sure I will never forget these stories.

When Emily was younger, I'd say about a year old, Steve and I were out for the day.  Jeanne (my mother in law) was watching Emily and they were the only ones home.  They were sitting on the floor playing and Jeanne said to her, "hand that to Grandma".  Emily proceeded to turn around in the opposite direction and hold the toy up in the air with a big smile on her face. Jeanne told us the story when we got home and I immediately got goose bumps. 

And about a month ago Emily started saying 'Mimi' a lot.  No one in our family goes by Mimi and I didn't know what she was talking about.  I asked her one night, "what is Mimi sweetie?" she gave me a questioning look and went over to the shelf where I keep family picture books and pointed at them.  I asked her if she wanted to look at the family book and she said yes.  She flipped through the pages naming her aunts, uncles & cousins.  Then she got to the pages with pictures of her grandparents and she named them, "Grampa Mark, Gramma Gina, Grandpa, Grandma", and then....she turned the page and pointed at my mom and said "Mimi!" My heart jumped.  I asked Steve to come in the room and I pointed at my mom's picture and asked Emily "who is that?" and sure enough she said Mimi again.  Steve just looked at me, eyes wide. I asked her where Mimi was and she pointed up and said, "her house is up there".  I just said ok sweetie and left it at that.

She hasn't said much about Mimi lately, but we all know she is here watching over us.

My mom had a disease called Multiple Systems Atrophy.  Right now the American Brain Foundation is having a Neuro Film Festival. The Neuro Film Festival aims to raise awareness about the need for more funding for research into the prevention, treatment, and cure of brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, autism, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, & multiple systems atrophy (MSA). Many people submitted videos telling their stories or the stories of their loved ones.  

If you have time, please click HERE to sign up and vote for the video called 'My Hero an MSA Angel'.  Although it's not my mom's story, watching it brought back a lot of memories of the time that she was sick.  MSA is a truly horrible disease and any awareness that can be brought to it would be very beneficial.

Sadness

There has been so much sadness in my blog feed this week.  These girls have been a big support to a lot of us in this community.  I hope you can take some time to send them a kind word or pray for their strength.

Josey at My Cheap Version of Therapy.  My heart is broken for Josey and her family.
I can't imagine the pain you are going through right now with the loss of your sister in law.  I can't even find the words, all I can say is how sorry I am. 

Shannon at Sitting in a Tree.  Shannon has been so strong talking about Alex and his hearing loss on her blog. 
You & Andy are doing such a great job with your baby boy (and Tay, of course).  They are lucky to have you for parents and I am praying for great MRI results.

Married with Endo.  She found out this week that her pregnancy is ectopic. 
I am so sorry for your loss.  I know how hard the diagnosis of an ectopic pregnancy can be.  I am praying for your quick recovery emotionally & physically.

You are all in my thoughts & I am praying for strength for each of you. 

xoxo

Lately

The kids are seriously growing too fast- like warp speed. 

Emily is talking our ears off, running "so fast" everywhere she goes, & acting like a teenager. 

She has recently become 'afraid' of bugs.  Except they aren't usually bugs.  She will see a fuzzy or something dark on the floor and freezes in her tracks saying,  "what's that mommy, what's that mommy?"  over and over until I tell her it's a fuzzy and then she tells me, "throw it away" with this fearful look on her face.  

She loves saying her ABC's and counting.  She counts everything and points out numbers all the time.  She can even spell her name thanks to her uglywhere chair.
Some of my favorite things she says are:
"hmmmm let me see" (when she's thinking about something)
"I'm so happy!"
"be careful it's slippety" (slippery)
"Gavin's cryin', he needs to go to sleep" (she says this any time Gavin cries).

Her hair has become quite a pain in the ass.  I know, I know- it's long and so pretty but the girl will not let me comb it, wash it, or put it up without a crying, raging fit. 

It has been pretty nice here the past two days so we have gotten the stroller/wagon out and it has done us all some good to get fresh air- let me tell you.  The walks of the past where I could get a workout in while Emily and Gavin sit nicely in the stroller are gone.  Walks are now all about Emily declaring, "walk with you mommy, no ride in the stroller!" and stopping to explore every single thing on the sidewalk and asking 215 times, "what's that sound mommy?"  It's so fun to see the world from a 2 years olds perspective. 

Gavin is boy- all boy.  He tries to climb everything, plays with trucks & blocks over anything else, and he loves throwing balls- boy stuff. His favorite thing is being outside-  he will bring us his coat and hat, point to the door and emphatically grunt until he gets his way. 

He is walking all the time now but is not a fan of shoes. When I put shoes on him, he acts like the floor is on fire and he won't put his feet down to stand.  Instead, he sits down, cries and tries to rip them off his feet. 

He is also very opinionated about food.  He will eat bananas, cheerios & goldfish (like they are going out of style), yogurt, peas, and sometimes chicken.  That's about the extent of his likes.  The boy will drink a gallon of milk if you let him though.

He is so funny & happy.  He loves to laugh and if he does something to make us laugh he will do it repeatedly.   

We are working on transitioning him to one nap, which is super fun.  But, he needs it. And so far, it's been a good thing for night sleep- meaning he has slept from 7:30-7:00 the last two nights- instead of waking up at 4:45am. Happiness.

Talking is not on the top of G's priority list.  He says 'mama' for everything.  Mama = milk, dad, Emily, Grandma, I'm pissed about something, etc.

Leave it to me to have two of the most strong willed children on the planet.  As I've said before, my mom is looking down on me and laughing because lord knows I was not an easy child.

thirty five

I celebrated my 35th birthday this weekend.  I'm not super excited about being 35, but Steve keeps telling me, "age is just a number".  The thing is, since having kids, the years are flying by, like- really. flying. by. 

Anyway, age is just a number.  I'm going to keep chanting that to myself.

Here's how my weekend went, you've been warned, it was really, really great.

Friday I came to work, Steve was in his office and said, "do you want a massage or a facial?"  Not knowing exactly what he was talking about I said, "a facial."  Then I hear him on the phone and he comes out and tells me I have an appointment at 1:00 at the spa in town (best husband award goes to Steve).  So I got to take the afternoon off work (best boss award goes to my FIL) to get a facial (it was fantastic) and then I went to get groceries.  When I got home I was putting the groceries away and I noticed all of the laundry folded neatly in baskets.  I was so confused because I surely did not do all of the laundry in my sleep, did I?  Turns out my mother-in-law snuck in and did the laundry while I was out (best MIL award goes to Jeanne)!

That night we had dinner with Steve's parents because their birthdays are the 27th & 28th.  We sang happy birthday (Emily's favorite thing to do lately), blew out candles and ate cupcakes. It was a really good night.

happy birthday to us!

Saturday we were lazy at home, everyone took naps (win!) and then Steve and I went out to dinner while Grandma & Grandpa played with the kids.  Steve and I talked about how things had changed in a year, how much better I'm doing (depression/anxiety-wise), how glad we are to have our little family and to be where we are today. 

terribly grainy pic but it had to be documented that I was in actual clothes with my hair done

Sunday we had breakfast with Grandma & Grandpa, we played and played and then everyone took naps again (!!).  We had dinner with my in-laws and my MIL made my mom's oven fried chicken recipe.  That was so special for me, thank you Jeanne!

This has been my best birthday yet, I feel seriously spoiled and blessed.