Gaining Our Purpose – A Story of Our Pursuit to Natural Living
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This is going to be an incredibly personal and raw post for me. I think that its super important to share with you why The Homemade Revelation is so important to me and why we try to be all-natural. And to be honest, I don’t even know where to start talking about liver disease in our family. I guess the beginning is as good as any place.
Big changes were coming
Seven years ago, I was living in Northern California, sitting in the school parking lot, waiting for my kids to get out of school (yes, we were public schoolers at the time) and thinking about a trip I was planning to North Idaho. My dearest friends from college had recently moved to Idaho and found out there was a company local to them that was looking for to fill a position that was perfect for me. I was a single mom at the time, in between jobs, and when I did work, it was in a very specialized field. I knew that relocating was my only option, but being a single mom, I wanted to be close to friends or family. I applied to the company, and they quickly contacted me about flying me up and putting me up for a week in a beautiful lodge. There were going to be interviews, dinners out, and time to explore the area all on their dime! I was so excited to be pursued by such a company.
The moment everything changed
About that time my phone rang. I looked at my phone and saw it was my dad. I was excited to see it was him because I was going to tell him all about my incredible job opportunity. As soon as I answered the phone, I knew something was wrong. He didn’t greet me with his normal “Hi, baby” in a chipper tone. Instead, he sounded solemn and quiet. I felt my stomach drop and my whole body went cold. It was surreal sitting there listening to him tell me that my brother had gone to the hospital for a skin infection and now his kidneys and liver had shut down causing him to be in a coma. They were flying him to San Francisco and didn’t think he was going to make it.
My decision after being faced with liver disease for the first time
Long story short, after a quick battle with what turned out to be end stage liver disease, my brother passed away on Valentine’s Day. This was so hard on my whole family, and I knew that this wasn’t the right time to leave the state. I turned down the amazing job offer and started looking closer to home.
Things were looking up
I was working in a small store at a local bison ranch when I was headhunted for an amazing job only two hours away from my family. This position was going to take my career to the next level with amazing pay, benefits, and a full relocation package. Plus, I could still be close to my family and get the help that single moms need from time to time.
Boy am I glad that I took this job! Not only did I reach a professional goal of mine, I met the love of my life! He was a widower with two boys and really understood where I was in life. He is the other half of me that I didn’t even know I was missing.
Wedding bells were ringing
I could go on and on about so many aspects of our life, but this post is really only about one part of my story. So, I’ll stick to the brass tacks.
Almost a year to the day from our first date we were married at an absolute dream wedding in the back yard of our new home in Oregon. Sadly, my dad couldn’t be there with us that day because his health was failing from his long battle with liver disease (the same thing my brother passed away from). My dad had a different type of liver disease, but this ailment was really starting to feel like a theme in our lives. Five weeks later, on Thanksgiving morning my dad left this world.
Life goes on
A month later I found out that I was pregnant with our first son together, Wade. It was time for life to go on because I wanted Wade to experience the life that his PaPa Ernie would have wanted to him. Hunting, fishing, ranching, and generally an outdoor life was what my dad lived for and now my husband and I were giving that to our children. Our lives were exactly what we wanted, and I had never been happier.
When Wade was six months old my husband has a medical appointment at the VA hospital a few hours away from where we lived. It was my birthday, so we decided to make a weekend of it. We left the older kids with my husband’s cousin and took of to Portland for the weekend. At the end of what we thought was going to be a routine appointment we were informed that my husband (like my brother and dad) had liver disease. We were told that it was end stage and they didn’t know how long he had. We were devastated! At that point we really shut down and separated from the outside world.
Our Journey with Liver Disease
After tons of research and making some really positive life changes, my husband’s condition has drastically improved. If fact at this point, doctors cannot officially find any signs of his original diagnosis. This does not meat that he doesn’t have liver disease or that we changed anything in his treatments, but we have found considerable relief.
You can read our whole story on how this diagnosis led to the Homemade Revelation. But basically, the only treatment for his type of liver disease in natural eating, medicines, and weight loss. We have a couple of those down (we still love cupcakes).
Consequences and the beauty of retreating
Now during that time that my husband and I circled around our family, we started homeschooling, traveled, bought a farm, and began experiencing life on a different level. Our family really learned a lot about ourselves. It also meant that we didn’t communicate with many of our old friends. With that, I found out on my son’s birthday about two years ago that one of my dearest friends passed away from this same horrible disease. He was only 36 and didn’t tell anyone except immediate family that he was so sick. I can’t help but wonder if I had been more vocal about what was going on with if my research could have helped him. If I could have saved his mom this pain.
Goals of the Homemade Revelation
I am not a doctor, my recipes are not fatty liver approved, and I am just learning about home medical remedies. But if I can help a family cook cleaner, grow their own food, or connect deeper with their family, my goals will have been reached!
That first step
Everyone has that one thing that changed the direction of their life, but its that first little step that sets everything in motion.
What made you decide to pursue an all-natural life, homestead, homeschool or any other major change in your life? I would love to hear about it here on the website, on Instagram or Facebook.
Books and products that helped us through these times
Homemade Cost Cutting
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