My Hair Care routine update and self sufficiency

Hello everyone!

I have been asked by a few friends in person and on the blog sphere what my hair care routine actually is. So I am going to try and answer that question in this post. There are so many different things on the internet, it did seem overwhelming and a little scary back in August 2010 when I took the plunge and decided to wash my hair with an egg and some baking soda and water. :) I first heard about the method from the Feelin Feminine website. You can find it here-http://feelinfeminine.com/ Jocelyn had also posted a lot of tutorials on her blog A Pondering Heart, that interested me and thats how I took the plunge and washed my hair with a fresh egg from some of our friends hens. :) I also rinsed with apple cider vinegar back then, but now I don't do that anymore and love the results much better.
Little did I realize that I would be changing the way I thought about taking care of my curls. :)

Now here is a recent photo from about a month ago of what hair looks like currently. I believe its much healthier to the touch, not so dry and brittle and much bouncier curls. :)

photo credit-http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/shopping-storing/food/storing-hard-cooked-eggs-10000000695687/index.html

I told you all that the first thing I tried was washing my hair with an egg. Now I do not wash my hair with an egg every day. My new routine that has been working for me is doing it once a week, but washing my hair with water and the egg yoke only. I use the egg white whisked for moose. Like I said I do not do this daily, just once a week. I highly recommend using fresh brown eggs from a farmer you may buy from or friends who have laying hens. But if you can't get that get brown organic, cage free eggs from your grocery store. The white eggs you do not know where they have been and they don't have as much protein and stuff that is good for you in them. Since most white eggs were processed in a plant and were from chickens who were ill treated and not fed good stuff they won't be so great for you. But anyway brown eggs are the best in my opinion! :)

photo credit-http://lifehackery.com/2008/07/22/home-4/

The next thing I use it baking soda, now many of you may be saying it has no smell really and you use that for baking, not washing?! Well baking soda actually is a very good for washing just about anything, hair included. My mom uses it to scrub our sinks and I scrub that sinks in the bathrooms and the bath tub with the stuff. It also works great on tile. I am not sure what is exactly in the stuff that makes it such a great thing to clean with, but it works well for hair as well. I only scrub my scalp with it. I don't dump it all over my hair. I talked about in this post putting a little in the bottom of a condiment/sqeeze bottle and adding water up to the top. I still do this, but I have cut back on how much baking soda I use. My hair is very dry usually and baking soda can dry out your hair. 


I have heard in the no shampoo world that gals like me with hair that tends to be dry use very little( I don't measure it when I put it in the bottle), but I probably use about a teaspoon and a half I am guessing. But definitely experiment yourself to see what is best for you. I have heard gals with hair that tends to get greasy should use more than what I would use, because it will keep there hair not so greasy. 

You may be wondering what do you do for conditioning your hair?! You said you don't use vinegar anymore. Well I stopped using the apple cider vinegar because my dad and sister and mother all said my hair smelled funny, not bad, just a little weird. :) That was before I had added essential oils to my routine. Maybe when you all experiment you could add some essential oils to your routine to cover up the vinegar. But instead of vinegar I have been using an organic conditioner we have that needs to be used up. But now that thats gone I am using egg whites again. But I don't put that in till after I have gotten out of the shower. I don't condition in the shower anymore. This works well for me. You just take one egg white from one egg and whisk it till its frothy and then put it through your hair just as you would a store bought moose or gel.  It works great for me!

I also have started using essential oils. I love to use orange or lavender. I add a few drops to my baking soda shampoo and I put some in my hair between washings when I don't need to wash it but I want some scent. I love the natural scent and I am never using store bought bath and body works sprays again either. I love essential oils instead. I have seen bottles of it at wegmans, which was the best buy for us when we first wanted some essential oils to try and at whole foods. Wholes food is really expensive, so I would recommend that as a last resort. We have now been getting them in bulk from a whole sale company. So that has been great! But definately research how you could make or buy them cheaper than at the regular grocery. I have been making rose oil this past week with yellow roses from my yellow rose bush in our yard. I plant to make some rose water as well. So you could do that as well instead of essential oils. I so very much want to be self sufficient and not need to go to a grocery all the time. We hardly go anymore, since we started growing some veges, going to the farmers markets, getting eggs from a local farmer, milk and meats and cheese as well from a local farmer. So we hardly go anymore! So start small and try and make your own maybe. I was inspired very much this month by the Devrae family.Here is a video about them below-

They are totally self sufficient, well dependent on the land the Lord has given them. I would love for my family and I to be able to be somewhat sufficient as that someday. We are hoping to get laying hens soon, but in our city it may not be aloud. Still seeing if we can though.:) 


well sorry for the rant off of hair care, but definately when you change your life style from buying off a shelf all the time to buying from farmers, etc. or growing it yourself you tend to appreciate and be more thankful for what the Lord has provided. I have found this to be true! No way am I sufficient on only the land the Lord has given my family, but we are trying to be more frugal with our purchases and buying fresh and natural foods and products instead of the massed produced stuff. This has really been on my mind lately after going to the food and farmers rights rally. 


Have a lovely rest of your monday!


In Christ,
Rebecca


I thought I better add a list of places where I found recipes and other encouragement and ideas about going without store bought shampoos and conditioners. 
http://ylcf.org/gotcurl/ - great place for curly girls!
http://aponderingheart.com/blog/?p=4749
http://aponderingheart.com/blog/?p=2201
http://feelinfeminine.com/?page_id=2 - I was featured with my no shampoo story in their e-book on feelin feminine, may be worth your money if you are new to it and want all the resources in one spot!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF0hizHWghc&feature=related - this gal did a great video telling about what she uses to wash her hair! I got inspired by her in the first place when I found her on the feelin feminine site!

I hope all these links help you all out! :)

A Pure Bride

I read this chapter of Revelation on Sunday and its stayed with me since then! The Lord has prepared His bride and is ready for us! This song by Leeland really said it all for me as well! A Pure Bride is what our Lord is coming for! Not a bride that is dirty and defiled, but one that is pure because of the Lamb! So remember He is wiping away every tear and all the pain and has made His Bride pure through Christ Jesus the Lamb who died for sinners. 

Here is Revelation 21 below and read it and drink from His Word the words of life. Praise God the Holy Spirit dwells in us His people until He returns and then we will be made one with our groom Christ Jesus the Lamb! These words have encouraged me these past few days.

The New Heaven and the New Earth

21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place [1] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, [2] and God himself will be with them as their God. [3] 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

The New Jerusalem

9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. [4] Its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits [5] by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement. 18 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life."

Have a lovely rest of your thursday and Saturday I am getting photos of my sister and I's business being at our first reenactment. Its so exciting seeing all our creations being made up and labeled to be sold to others. Photos to come!
In Christ,
Rebecca

Jesus Lover of My Soul

I remember singing this song at church when I was about 16 and I forgot about it until now! I love that lots of the words are from the Scriptures, such as You set my feet upon a rock making my steps secure! Thats from Psalm 40! Praise God He is the only lover of our souls! He is always there even when the world falls! I wrote another song about it this and will post it soon.

Btw, got a lot of studying done today! God is so good! I believe I will be able to get through these next two clep tests. :)


In Christ,
Rebecca

Farmers and Food Rights Rally

 Hey friends! I just wanted to share a bit about my day today. It was quite lovely! I have really been pondering, praying, and contemplating food and where our food comes from lately and how we should be eating healthy food that is not covered in pesticides and other stuff that is not God made. :) Some friends of mine told us about a rally in D.C. that was this morning and we decided to attend. It was all about food and farmers rights and how the FDA is not letting us have our liberty and freedom to choose to have unpasteurized milk among other things.Two lovely friends of mine who attended the rally with myself and my mother above.

Yes they even brought in a cow from a local farm near D.C. to prove the point all the more that cows that are being treated well and are grass fed produce yummy milk.

I loved these signs this family made! Why is alchohol and tabacco consumption legal, but having raw milk is not?!! I don't believe that its right for us americans who are supposed to have the liberty cannot consume food that is good for us!

My family and I have also enjoyed The Nourishing Tradtions cookbook for the past year. We were able to hear the author Sally speak about the benefits of non pasteurized milk. We were also able to hear other speakers as well talk about our right to liberty and how we should have the freedom to legally consume foods that are nutritional! Why is junk food legally sold and it is not even nutritionally good for the human body?!

All the Moms and their children that attended above and below, it was great to see families, fathers and mothers and their children come to the rally together! How wonderful to see the generations young and old wanting to support liberty and the freedom of speech.

I hope you all's day was also lovely! I ended my day with watching Food Inc. and I would recommend this movie! If you have netflix it is up for instant streaming! It was also a day for me of pondering really where our foods come from and my sister and mother and father and I have seen it confirmed that growing our own food and tryign to buy locally is definately becoming a bigger priority for us!

Do any of you garden or buy from local farmers for your own food? Have you all ever attended a rally before?! I had not! I am just starting to really ponder about all this food stuff. But I have been gardening for about 3 years now and trying to eat better food for much longer. But I had never realized how the FDA is trying to prevent americans from freedom of choice for healthy foods!

On another note, today was also a great day for me because my two friends and I and my Mom were able to share the Gospel today. We were able to share with many at the Rally that we were not there just because we believe eating natural foods is good for our health and the world. We believe that since God provided us with these foods we should be using the foods He provides knowing the food is from Him and Him alone and not man.If you get my drift.

We were also getting onto the metro to go home and a lady said to us, " I know you gals, your amish!" I was a little taken a back for a second, but as I had kept on walking I stopped and said, " No we are not amish, we are Christians and we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior!" Then the lady responded, " Oh I like that, thats nice." And we had been walking to get onto the escalator as she replied. Then I smiled and said to my mom and friends, " do we really look amish?" Then we all discussed this for a while and came to the conclusion the lady was just trying to get our attention so she could give us her flyer, but that what a great ministry opportunity it is when you dress differently from the world. People notice and then you can share why you dress differently! Praise God He can be a light through us even in the small way of dressing in a feminine way. :) That made my day!
In Christ,
Rebecca

You may be wondering......

where have I been for the past 11 days! :)

Well life is pretty full right now with many things I have been learning from the Lord, through family, friends, and acquaintances. Its hard to really know where to start this post. :) But I want to share with you all some Scriptures that have really been written on my heart lately and some songs that have come out of these words from my Lord.

sunset this evening! it was beautiful!

I have truly I will admit gone through a tough times these past days and hence no blog posts.But I have found a renewed joy in the Lord through these trials that came out of no where. God gives us these trials in His perfect timing and only for our good I have come to realize after pondering and trying to memorize Romans 8 for a few weeks now.
I have doubted if I am where God wants me to be in this life and I have cried out to Him literally as it talks about in the Psalms. I am serious, I do not believe we should just talk to God in our heads, we should verbally and out loud cry out to the God of our salvation. I believe this is good to do in times where we really just realize that we can do nothing without Him. I believe more often I should talk out loud to God on my knees. This makes us realize how small we are and how big He is I believe. Every time I do out loud talk to God I see Him talk to me through His Word and other believers time and time again. He always answers as it says in Psalm 40. 
40:1 "I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord."

He has heard my cries for His help, because His is the best help. He drew me up out of the pit of destruction I was in( allegorically speaking that is) and now I am secure once more in His arms of mercy and protection. I was always secure in His arms, I just did not understand why there was pain while in His arms. But now I realize its because this is a fallen world, I sin and God does not. So many a time my sin blinds me from His goodness. I was reminded of this at church this morning from the Bible teaching (discipleship hour before our service) and the sermon.


I have also been very convicted lately about as I said earlier everything being for our good as it says in Romans 8:28-30, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, [7] for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

I was so convicted because I thought that what I wanted to do in this life was the best plan, but even though I believed that doing college right now was not the best plan God knows its for my good and is in His plan. Its for my good that I pour over clep exam studying materials. I don't understand sometimes why I have to learn about things that don't seem to matter, such a psychology, which is interesting, but most parts of it don't interest me or are very humanistic or evolutionist and are not based on there being a God who has put the world into working order and created it from nothing. But praise God I can see what lines up with His Word and what does not. This studying subjects that have a liberal back bone is making me a stronger believer in God and His Word that they are living and active and sharper than a two edge sword. :)

My mom, sister, and I tried our hand at drying oregano and lavender today and yesterday. Can't wait to use the oregano in pizza and the lavender in our homemade soap!

Now granted that my life lately has been very much blessed by the Lord. I don't struggle to have food or clothing or enough money to live on as many people in the world today do. The Lord has blessed myself and my family immensely! But these trials I am going through may not be ones such as that, but its really helping me to see again that my old self needs to keep on being chipped away and the Holy Spirit inside of me needs to take over my earthly body so I can be more like my selfless Savior. So I guess to sum up these trials I have been through lately, they have been just me not accepting God's plan for my life right now, which is being at home and doing college plus and not just writing music all day long. :) I wish I could just immerse myself in music and sewing pretty dresses. But hey where would that get me! I would not be using my time in the way God wants me to! Without God helping me to stay disciplined doing the hard things in life which is submitting to His plan for my life I would not have joy! I would be a lonely gal wasting away on the inside and outside.:) But praise God I am wasting away on the outside, but the inside of me has the Holy Spirit of God which is helping me to see more and more my selfish desires of wanting to do what I want will not give me gratification! they will only give me temporary happiness, which is not joy! Only Christ Jesus our Lord ladies can give us true joy when we give our lives to Him!

Sorry this post is a lengthy one and I hope it makes sense. I just have so many things that the Lord has been teaching me! Life on this earth is too short and is passing away and if we don't seek to glorify Him now then we won't see the joy that is set before us and why Christ died for us, so that we could have fellowship forever with Him! We need to use these tough times of wanting to go back to our old selves before we were won by our Savior for sharing the Gospel and not sitting at home sewing dresses for ourselves and writing songs for ourselves. I guess what I am saying is that doing college plus has stretched me and made me realize that my life is not my own. I have been bought with a price! Christ died and went to hell! Yes Christ went to hell for me and you and everyone else that will ever live on this earth. And I want to use my struggles with my sin to glorify God in this life so many others will be able to be in glory with God in heaven someday soon. So ladies live your life not for yourselves but for the God who died and went to hell for you so you would be able to be in His arms forever.

Use your gifts and talents such as sewing, song writing, or whatever it is for His glory! I am really being stretched writing songs based on the Scriptures! I could have made many up with my own words, but the WORD of God really is so much better! I wanted to go to Nashville, Tennessee and record Cd's for what though?! For my own self glory! But now I realize that to die is gain and to live in Christ is eternal gain! So give up what you love to do and give it to God and He just may give it back to you as He did me. Now He is writing music through my fingers and voice, it just comes out from not me, but Him God. He amazes me daily as He puts melodies and harmonies in my head to write down. That actually correspond to Scripture I have read or am trying memorize. I hope these will encourage you and please realize that its not me writing it, its God the Lord of all creation.

Romans 8 Song
Verse 1
For He's the only lover,
Who gives and gives and gives,
Who does everything for my good,
because He cares for us!
Verse 2
For those in Christ are not condemned 
We've been given the Spirit of life.
We live in Christ in life and peace,
only because Christ died for us.
Verse 3
For God has done what the law could not do!
But sending Christ Jesus His Son,
in sinful flesh and for sin,
so the law might be fulfilled in us!
Verse 4
For Those in the flesh cannot please God.
Because they do not know God.
But if the Spirit is inside of You,
God dwells in you, and communes with you.
(more verses and chorus to come)

Gerber daisy my mom planted in a pot yesterday after we brought it home from the local farmers market.

 Psalm 34 Song


probably chorus
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.
Commit your way unto the Lord,
and always trust in Him.
He will act, He will act, commit your way to Him.
verse 1
Fret not yourself over the ones who prosper in His way!
Trust in God and do good and dwell in faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way unto His righteous plan,
the Lord is good and faithful all your days
(this more in progress)

That quilt I had told you all about that I finally finished basting together with my sister 2 weeks ago! More pictures of us quilting it at our first civil war reenactment of the season to come. It was last weekend!

I will post a few more songs tomorrow. Its getting late. But I hope to have these finished being written out with the notes and everything by my next birthday. Thats my goal anyway. I mean all 15 songs I have written. I am going to try and post them over the next week, all the ones I have written that is. :)

I have been having so much fun with gardening lately! we planted a lot of peppers and tomatos yesterday and I dried some oregano from our herb garden with my sister and mother today. Here is a photo of it before the drying stage that is at the beginning of the post.

Here is our oregano patch in our raised garden beds. My mom made that nice little Oregano popsicle stick label yesterday. I just love the way it looks with all the dew after the storms we had this afternoon!

Sometime I want to get videos of me playing them for you all, but my camera does horrible recordings. So I will have to enlist a friend to help. I am sorry this was long and if you read the whole thing praise God! I hope it was an encouragement to you and I was not too wordy or boring. :)

In Christ,
Rebecca

Our Deliverer

My Help and My Deliverer

Psalm 40

40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2  He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3  He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.

4 Blessed is the man who makes
the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after a lie!
5  You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
yet they are more than can be told.

6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open ear. [1]
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
7  Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
8  I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”

9 I have told the glad news of deliverance [2]
in the great congregation;
behold, I have not restrained my lips,
as you know, O Lord.
10  I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
from the great congregation.

11 As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain
your mercy from me;
your steadfast love and your faithfulness will
ever preserve me!
12  For evils have encompassed me
beyond number;
my iniquities have overtaken me,
and I cannot see;
they are more than the hairs of my head;
my heart fails me.

13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me!
O Lord, make haste to help me!
14  Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether
who seek to snatch away my life;
let those be turned back and brought to dishonor
who delight in my hurt!
15  Let those be appalled because of their shame
who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
say continually, “Great is the Lord!”
17  As for me, I am poor and needy,
but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
do not delay, O my God!

Praise God He delivers us from trouble! I had a really hard day yesterday, it seemed trial after trial came and the Lord was good pointing me to His Word and this Psalm really helped! Praise God for Scriptures that we can recall in times when we really need to hear His Word! 

In Christ,

Rebecca

Bagel Sucess!

 Hello everyone! about a little over a week ago,(saturday the 20something not the 30th) I was able to try for the first time baking bagels. I had been wanting to do this for a while and did not know where to start as we don't have any cookbooks that have a recipe. So I googled it of course and this wonderful tutorial came up! I appreciate Heavenly Homemakers blog! they are so helpful and have great tutorials for all kinds of recipes and other things.
http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/honey-whole-wheat-bagels

I also made another batch on tuesday with a combination of hard red and hard white grain that I milled in our mill. I really want to get a mill such as this one that I first found out about from Paris's blog http://pastoralsymphonyfarm.blogspot.com/
Its not electric such as the one my family already owns and then it can be used even in power outages and if you want to save on your electric bill. I would love to own one someday! I can't find the exact post about it unfortunately right now. Paris?! Maybe you could point me in the right direction about your no electricity mill for grain?!
I also learned how to darn my socks over my birthday week from Paris's blog. Its been a great thing to learn and I have already done two pairs, one for me and one for my sister. I made sure my parents don't throw out any more of their socks so I can fix them. :) http://pastoralsymphonyfarm.blogspot.com/2010/02/well-darn-it.html

So if you were scared as I was about the whole boiling the bagels, then use this tutorial. It was not scary when I had step by step picture instructions for it. I used kamut flour instead of hard white and they were really tasty! I learned that about 70% of people who are allergic to gluten can have kamut grain, but some people still can't because it still has some gluten content. It is also one of the oldest grains, probably was the one they used in the times of the Bible, such as when Abraham asked Sarah to make bread for the angels in Genesis. That fascinated me!

I also have been really convicted as to why Jesus is referred to as the bread of life! He is not being compared to Wonder bread by any means!! He is being compared to the bread that is healthy and gives strength to you after you eat it. So after being able to learn how to make bread with my mom I understand why our Savior is said to be the bread of life! If that makes sense. :)

Have a lovely Monday!
In Christ,
Rebecca