I guess it started with my degree. I’m a registered nurse (RN) and have worked for hospitals in the ER, for nursing staffing agencies, as a telephone triage/advice nurse and also as a RN Birth Assistant for Premier Birth Center. I’m really glad I have been blessed with the opportunity to gain such valuable medical knowledge, but it also saddens me to see what has happened to our health as a nation. I would get so frustrated working in the ER that we enable drug seekers and those with big health problems we just band aid and send home, when they need much more than that. So many people have lives and diets and lifestyles that have affected their health and at least from an ER perspective we don’t even take a look at that. Granted there isn’t a lot of time… it is the ER and there are emergencies that need to be taken care of, but there are also lives that are falling apart that need so much more, but they fall through the cracks. With this frustration, I had a hard time going to work each day knowing that I really wasn’t fixing any of these long term problems. This also made me start thinking about what has caused some of the health problems today and how I want to avoid it. It also made me consider what changes I would need to make in order to have that happen.
When I was pregnant with my first I decided to go to see a midwife and have a home birth. A lot of my medical colleagues thought I was crazy, but when I explained how I wanted to be in charge of my birth and how I didn’t want to be caught dead in a hospital (unless it was really medically necessary) they could agree and it was amazing that they often totally understood my reasoning and weren’t condescending or judgmental at all. Still they had the “good for you, not for me” response, but that is ok with me… they will start thinking about it when they go to bed tonight and will call or email me in a few days or weeks!!!! 😉
That is what started my journey, but what gives it validity and depth is that God has placed me on this do earth to do His will and bring Him glory… The best way for me to do this is in good health! I also believe we are on this earth to be good stewards of what God has created and given us. Not to take advantage or waist, but to use it wisely and to care for it. As God said in Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
As a direct result that has led us to seek food that is beneficial and healthful to our bodies and to care for this earth in the best ways we can. This has included: homebirths (x7), cloth diapers, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, babywearing, no vaccines, trying to eliminate as much plastic as possible, toys with no batteries, little to no TV, homemade cleaning supplies and detergents, vegetable gardening, rain barrels, composting, holistic (homeopathic/naturopathic/chiropractic) doctors, wise/frugal use of finances, try to reduce or eliminate all disposable products (feminine products, resalable baggies, paper towels, napkins, toilet paper, etc), healthy eating (least processed possible plus some), homeschooling, essential oils, and I’m sure there is more that I’m missing.
So with all that I hope you’d like to join us on our journey! I’m always looking for new ideas and simpler and cheaper ways to do things! And that leads into the reason for choosing the name Green&Grateful?
Green & Grateful 