Ode to Herbs

I’ve been interested in herbs for a while now. I’ve bought quite a bit and have made teas, salves, oils, and tinctures. I’ve never been very confident with herbs though. I think I need a herb mentor. I just have a hard time figuring this stuff out on my own. Of all the stuff I’ve made, I’ve mainly just used the teas. I’ve never used them consistently enough to see results, for medicinal purposes. I just mainly drink them because they taste good, are easy to make, and I know they’re good for me. Well, I finally got daring enough to use some herbs and I got to see some results, on Delight’s bottom!
Delight had a bad diaper rash (the worst she’s ever had, very red and bumpy) that wouldn’t go away. It had been more than a week with this persistent rash. I had tried three different commercial diaper rash creams with no luck, it only seemed to be getting worse. My brother had used Vaseline for his baby with good results, so I even tried that, but it still didn’t improve. Then I remembered my plantain salve.
I had made a salve using plantain last year. Plantain is a yard weed, very common. The salve is supposed to be for cuts, burns, stings, ect. I thought, what the heck, nothing else is helping, maybe it’ll work on diaper rashes too. I started to use it one afternoon after each diaper change and by the next morning her rash was completely gone! Lets just say it’s made me a believer in the power of herbs! It was so simple to make, I’ll include a recipe. All you need is a jar of Vaseline, a yard (you’ll have to wait till spring to get plantain though), and an aloe-vera plant.
I love being able to use the resources God has given us to heal our bodies. I'm not against medicine, I would just always prefer to try something natural first.

Simple Green Plantain Salve
by a smart reader
May 2006
12 oz. jar of Vaseline
2 handfuls of Plantain leaves
1 large or 2 smaller aloe leaves, sliced and crushed
Heat Vaseline on low, only enough to liquefy. Carefully drop the Plantain leaves into the liquid—it will quickly produce a mass of thick foam. Add the aloe. Let simmer until foaming has stopped. Pour through strainer into Vaseline jar (if the liquid is too hot, wait a bit so as not to melt the plastic jar, but don't wait too long or it won't pass through the strainer). Let cool. Mark container and store on shelf. It is easy to make and works on bug bites, stings, cuts, sores, pimples, burns, and more.


here's some plantain. i'm sure you've seen this in your yard before.

Way to go Sam!

We just found out this morning that Sam passed his professional engineer exam! He took the test back in October. We're so excited! And I'm so proud of him! It's a pretty big deal and it weighed on him pretty heavy, so I'm very glad he doesn't have to worry about taking it again.

Our Story: How it all began

(here's a picture of us at Sam's going away party)

I've decided to do something a little different on my blog. I know a lot of people, but I don't really know them. I don't know there story and how they got to the point they're at today. I always enjoy hearing people’s story’s, so I thought I would write ours out. I’ve wanted to get some of this stuff wrote down anyhow, so I thought I would share it with you all. I hope you enjoy learning about our life and all that has taken place to get us here. There have been a few twists and turns, but God had been with us every step of the way. In some of the circumstances, it was only later did we realize He was perfectly orchestrating the details of our lives to get us to the point we are at today. He loves us more than we can imagine.

How it all began…

I’ve known Sam since I can remember. I was probably 5 or 6 when we met his family. We’ve been friends with his family for many years. He started coming to our church when he was in high school. Sam is 5 years older than me, so he was friends with my older brother. Another connection we had is that my best friend growing up, Stacy, is his cousin. And her older brother and Sam are best friends. I can remember many times when I was younger seeing him at my friend’s house. I can remember one particular time at my friend’s house stomping Sam’s foot with a roller skate. He had it coming though J With the age gap; he was more like an older brother to me.
We grew older and the age gap didn’t seem so big. I’m not sure what happened that made me begin to look at Sam in a different light. I can just remember that right before he graduated college in December 2002, I began to think the world of him. I never told anyone of my feelings for Sam; I never thought he would be interested in Nikki Whited. When he graduated, he spent time living at his dad’s house while looking for a job. He was around a lot more and I really enjoyed talking to him. That winter he had been sledding with Stacy and he said something about his dad saying something to the effect that he would like to see Sam and I get together. Then he asked her what she thought about it. When I found this out, I was thrilled. Could he possibly be interested in me? He was just so great, I couldn’t believe it. I was 18 at the time and I had never had a boyfriend and never been kissed. I was so glad I saved myself for Sam. I was still living at home and worked at a vet clinic and loved my job.
Time went on and nothing happened. I was attending a young adult group at a church in Kokomo with my brother and I invited him to come along and he did! Every week we would go to the meeting, get a frosty after and go to the leader’s house to hang out with others from the group. This went on for quite a while and our friendship grew and grew.
I knew even then that we would be married someday. I knew he was the one God had for me and I didn’t mind telling people about it. I can remember telling my mom and even some of my co-workers that I knew we were going to get married.
In March we went to a True Love Waits concert together. He bought me CD and we went out for pizza after. Even though we weren’t dating, he was always a gentleman and paid for everything. I thought after that, it would be no time before he told me his feelings and we would officially become a couple. Well, I guess he wasn’t as certain as me. Time went on. I took every opportunity to be with him. I even had it arranged to walk back down the isle with him at my brother’s wedding in March. We had a couple people tell us we made a good looking couple. I thought so too and was hoping that Sam was getting the hint J We continued to hang out and grow closer. We had a lot of meaningful conversations on our rides to and from Bible study. He was having a hard time finding a job and considering joining the air force. He would ask me what I thought of it. I wasn’t in favor of it, I certainly didn’t want him moving away, but I tried to remain objective. He finally decided that he would join. The day drew near that he would have to leave for officer’s training and still nothing was happening (this was in May). I was dying for us to talk about our relationship, but I didn’t want to bring it up, he’s the guy. One night, only three days before he would leave for OTS (officer training school), he invited me to go to dinner at his mom’s house. Shortly before we left, his mom asked if we were an official couple yet. We just looked at each other and couldn’t answer. The subject was quickly changed.
As we drove home, I knew that this was our opportunity to talk. I couldn’t let him leave without telling him how I felt. I told him that I thought we needed an answer to his mom’s question. We talked for a couple minutes and he said that he did want to have a relationship. I was on cloud nine! He took me home and when I walked him back to his car, we had our first kiss. My first kiss ever! Life was good, but it was bittersweet, knowing that he would be leaving so soon. The next three days went by quickly. We went to a movie the next night with my brother and his wife. Neither one of us could probably tell you a thing about the movie. We weren’t making out or anything. Just sitting there holing each other’s hand was captivating enough. We had a going away party the next day with lots of friends and family. He left the next morning, a Sunday. It was very hard. Even though we had only begun our dating relationship, we had grown so close in the last few months and loved each other. We both cried and I was such a mess that I couldn’t even go to church after. I knew then that I would never experience a normal dating relationship, but that we would make a long distance one work.
And so began our dating journey.
(more to come)
(don't worry, I'll still post cute baby pictures too :)

Baby Blue

I had lousy week last week. I had crowns done on two of my teeth the week before and they were bothering me a bit. Then last week they really started bothering me and I had a terrible tooth ache. I had to take the pain meds from my c-section just to cope, then those meds started making me sick. Sam ended up taking two days off of work to take care of Delight for me. He was great and helped me out so much. He even did a job that he's not comfortable with, giving Delight a bath. I appreciate him so much. After several trips to the dentist, I finally had them do a root canal on one of the teeth and things are much better now. Praise God! My mouth is still bothering me a bit, but it's nothing like it was.
Sam took the picture of Delight below. I was feeling crappy and laying on the couch and I leaned her up against my arm. Her eyes look so beautiful in this picture. She is such a joy. I was giving her a bath tonight and she's laying there grinning up at me while she chews on her hand and I couldn't help but saying out loud, being a mom is wonderful. I don't think that all the time, but all the times she smiles and giggles at me make up for all the hard times.

How could you not love a face like that?

Baby Shower

My best friend Stacy was in from Arizona and we had a shower for her yesterday. It was a lot of fun and it is so good to see her. She will be having a little boy in February (her first). I can't wait to meet him. Me and Delight are hoping to make a trip out there to see them this spring.







Wendie, Stacy and me

Wendie's beautiful baby Gracelyn

Another new sling. We keep collecting them :)

Little miss serious

Here it is

So here's what I was going to write on the post below.
Today is Delight’s 4 month Birthday! It’s hard to believe she’s so big already. Sam and I are still amazed by her everyday. Sam’s always saying “she’s so cool”, and I have to agree. She seems to learn something new every day. It’s like you can see her brain growing. She’s getting better everyday at reaching out and grabbing stuff. She’ll look at the toy, then look at her hands and start moving them around in the general direction of the object she wants. Today though she reached right out and grab the toy, no problem. Of course everything goes straight for her mouth and she covers it in slobber.
I feel so completely blessed to have her and so glad that God trusts be to take care of his daughter for a little while.
Well, when I wrote that it was the 1st, just took me a few days to put it online. I just haven’t had time to blog lately.
Delight has started solid foods. She loves it! She’s had rice cereal, bananas, pears and sweet potato. She likes the cereal with a little fruit in it and I don’t blame her. I’m going to try and put a video of her eating on here. She’s so cute, she opens right up.
We had a good Thanksgiving. Busy, but fun. We went to Sam’s family first. There’s always so many people we have to meet in a gym. They have a card game going at every table. I love that. They’re a game playing family and I think it makes them close. We went to my family’s later where we look through ads and made our shopping plans. Sam and I spent the night at my parent’s and Delight slept their while we went shopping in the wee hours of morning. It was crazy, but we did good and got almost everything we wanted. My favorite was a DVD/VCR player that can record tapes onto DVD. It’ll be nice to got our home movies onto discs. We made good time and D had only been up 30 min. by the time we got back.
I have great news! Sam and I have made it into the 20th century! (we’re still working on the 21st ;) We now have a garage door opener! I’m so excited about it. It’s nice to park my car in the garage, but not that much fun opening and closing the door by hand everytime. This is so nice so have a button in my car that does the work for me. It probably doesn’t sound very exciting to you, but it’s the highlight of my week!
Seems like everyone is having babies these days. I was thinking the other day about how many other babies Delight will grow up around and hopefully get to be friends with. Last year two friends from Bible study had girls and my brother had his first baby in November, a girl also. Then this year Sam’s cousin had twin girls in March, another friend from Bible study had a girl in April, and another cousin of Sam’s had a boy in September. Just last month my cousin had a boy on the 15th, a friend of mine had a girl on the 20th, and then another friend from bible study had a girl the 25th. Whew! That’s a lot of babies and a lot of girls! I don’t think D will have any trouble making friends! In February, one of Sam’s cousins, one of my cousins (having a girl), and my best friend (having a boy) are all due. Out of 12 babies mentioned, 10 of them were (or will be) their first born. It’s nice to be among other new mommies :)

Oh Christmas tree

I typed a lot at home to put on here, saved it to my card, and now it won't copy onto the blog. You'll get the text that goes with this post tomorrow :)

Here's a picture of Sam's buck. It put a lot of meat in our freezer!

Here's one of Delight's future friends. This is my friend Wendie's baby girl, Gracelyn, born 11/20. Look at all that hair!

Another Delight friend. This is my friend Alex's baby girl Kendra, born 11/25

Here's daddy and Delight with our tree. It looks pretty good for a fake one!

Are we done with all the pictures yet?

4 month picture with bear

She's started solids now! Here she is enjoying some sweet potatoes.