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Equipped and Called

Liz James · June 18, 2018 ·

Have you ever felt like you were at a crossroads in your life? I’m not talking about a midlife crisis, but rather something bigger and more profound.

About 3 years ago, we took a pretty long road trip to pick up a bull in a remote (VERY REMOTE) area in West Texas. I mean…… drive to the very edge of civilization and then head 3 hours further…..the kind of remote that requires a physical map instead of cell phone/ GPS service. Without a map or good navigational tools, you’re sunk kind of remote. As you might guess, we confidently drove down the road….. in the wrong direction because we thought we knew where we were going. It cost us about 3 extra hours that day. We were reminded the value of an old school map and a dose of intuition!

This kind of parallels the last 15+ years of my life. I have been a pharmacist since 1991. I graduated, and like most health professionals…. upon graduation…… was pretty sure I had a really good grasp of the profession. I’m not saying I was God’s gift to pharmacy (hardly!), but I certainly thought I knew enough to make a difference in people’s lives. I toodled along in pharmacy doing the absolute best job I could do (because that’s my nature….. never tackle anything halfway).

When I was in my 30’s I thought we were living the dream. Charlie and I both had good jobs, had bought our farm, and had begun building our home (by hand, ourselves…. because that’s how we do things…. with all our heart and soul). We worked super hard…. 40-60 hrs a week at our respective jobs and then swung hammers and wielded paint brushes on nights and weekends for about 3 years before completing our home. It was somewhere during that time that I broke my wrist, was subsequently diagnosed with osteopenia , and both Charlie and I were diagnosed with high cholesterol. In hindsight, that broken wrist was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I won’t go into great detail (you can read more about that journey here and the second half here), but it was a big fat hairy road sign to stop and assess what I thought I knew.

That broken wrist reopened a different avenue of education for me…. only this time, it was not subsidized by the pharmaceutical industry and there was some skin in the game…. my own. When you are a pharmacist, you’re in the business of knowing side effects of meds. The good news is…. you know the potential side effects. The bad news is…. you know the potential side effects. I wasn’t willing to go down that road given the med options they were dangling in front of me. My gut said no way, and once my research started it changed my life forever. It all began with raw milk. From there, my research extended into finding access to truly healthy and healing foods. Each time I thought I knew enough, I found that more pieces to health puzzles were MIA…. not just my puzzle, but everyone else’s too.

About the same time, I went to work at a pharmacy that specialized in rare diseases, oncology, auto-immune disorders, and infertility (which frequently has an auto-immune component). Sadly, this pharmacy represented the outcome of people living in toxin filled environments. Silly me. I still thought I was helping people. I guess I was. Kindness matters, especially when you are dealing with life altering body dysfunctions….. but kindness and pharmaceuticals don’t dissolve the problems these patients face every day.

Another personal puzzle piece fell into place after I was diagnosed with something called interstitial cystitis and discovered (after 9 years of no REM sleep and frequent trips to the bathroom), that it could be managed well with a fresh and healthy, but limited, diet. Expensive medication and daily catheterization are the common treatments. Ummm, no thank you. I would later learn that IC is part of the autoimmune disorder family. Not surprisingly, approximately 1 in 5 adults in the USA are card carrying autoimmune disorder patients. I had been given my card.

Eight years ago, my dad was diagnosed with dementia. It made no sense to me and we had no family history of dementia. I backtracked the onset to a statin drug (commonly prescribed for high cholesterol). In the finest of the fine print of this class of drugs you will find information alluding to possible memory loss with these drugs. Dig deeply and you’ll find it. I thank God for leading me to raw milk to lower my cholesterol instead of that which stole my dad’s memory. I don’t blame the pharmaceutical industry for burying the whole ‘memory loss’ side effect in the fine print. I mean, would you want to take a drug that could potentially rob you of your memory as a side effect? Ummmm, no thank you.

By now, I’ve truly begun second guessing pharmaceuticals. I began educating myself on everything I could get my hands on that gave honest and documented proof that maybe what I knew wasn’t EVERYTHING…… that perhaps there were some gaps in my education and knowledge base. I dug deep deep deep into gut health and discovered the link to most autoimmune disorders. I studied sleep patterns, herbs, thyroid and hormones. I picked up yoga and began healing my posture and my stress level. That led to my recent certification (7 years later) as a Christian yoga instructor.

I had a life changing accident 3 years ago this week, and (eventually… after a 3 month recovery) walked out of it when I should have been an amputee. Last week I walked a 37 minute 5K with many close friends. Thank God. Despite the severity of my injury, I have no pain day to day and am not on any medication. I’ve got oils, supplements and a little thing called Dolphin MPS that rocked my recovery world so much so that I decided to begin taking classes so that I could help others as I was helped…. another tool in my toolbox that wasn’t related to pharmacy.

The last 18 years, by serendipity or Divine design (I believe the latter), I have been gathering tools to help people (myself included) heal physically and emotionally. What had started out as a mission to care for myself and my family gradually extended to include friends and strangers who have become dear friends. The more truth in healing I gleaned, the more uncomfortable I became in my white lab coat. Back in the day, we took an oath to do no harm (that oath has been changed and no longer includes that phrase).

Once you know something, you can’t unknow it.

I have grown uncomfortable in my pharmacist skin (and coat)….. able to speak only truths that are approved talking points regulated by the pharmaceutical industry.

Once I found that there are better, safer, more life sustainable ways to heal, it became harder and harder to deny people access to these opportunities in wellness……. because they exist for the taking.

Every day, people make unconscious choices that affect their health….. making poor food choices, drinking chemically treated water, watching too much media and not exercising enough…. taking meds without researching them thoroughly first. They think a pill will solve their ills. I’m here to tell you that medications are simply adding to the already hefty toxin load within all of us. The heavier the load, the sicker the individual.

I’ve had several people in the last many months call me a healer. I don’t claim that moniker. I feel more like a shepherd, leading those who are thirsty to a safe place to drink, eat, and rest. It gives me great peace, and it makes my heart sing a song it’s never sung before.

I have straddled both worlds now for many years, and being true to myself is becoming increasingly difficult despite the six figure income that comes with the white coat. I fill prescriptions for people I have grown to love in the community, knowing that they can be helped in other ways that actually heal. I respect my duty as a pharmacist and do not step outside that boundary……but I feel God’s hand firmly on my back telling me to Go. Do. Become. Shepherd those I send your way.

Really God?

Yes. Really.

And so I prayed. “Lord, if it is your will, send me those who need me.” I began praying this daily about 5 months ago. God has a sense of humor. I’m sure of it. About a month ago, I had to alter my prayer a tiny bit. ” Lord, if it is your will, can I have a little breather so I can adequately help those you sent so far? ” God is so very good.

I would have never in a million years guessed that I would step away from pharmacy more than halfway thru my career. Pharmacy has taught me so much. Perhaps most importantly, it has given me the gift of scientific discernment: the ability to understand fact from fiction or skewed data.

When I was a young pup out of pharmacy school, I thought my life was set on auto pilot. I couldn’t have been more wrong. God took me down a completely different path, guiding me and giving me tools along the way: pharmacy, nutrition, exercise, yoga, health coaching, scientific based knowledge of essential oils, supplements, and herbs, Dolphin MPS, and most importantly the empathy acquired from personal experiences.

God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called.

Here’s to the journey! I can’t wait to see what the second half of my life holds.

Hugs and love, Liz

PS: I am not completely stepping away from the pharmacy just yet. You will still see me in a white coat one or two days a week.

With Her Weight In Gold

Liz James · May 30, 2018 ·

Well. This morning started off with a bang. Literally. I was not sure whether to name this post “Family First”, “Farm Life Reality Part II” or the above title.

About 6:30am I heard a very specific series of barks. For those of you who are well tuned in to your dog(s), you know exactly what each bark means. Our dogs have some very specific ones:

Herding yip-barks
Hot air balloon notifications (we appear to be on the regular flight path of a few )
Sirens (the dogs will start yip-howling before we can even hear the sirens on the highway a few miles away)
Skunk/Possum barks. These are more excitable bark patterns, but not a “Danger Will Robinson” kind of bark.
Happy barks.
Warning barks (stranger danger!)
And then there was the one this morning….. ‘the enemy is here‘ bark.

As soon as I heard it, I flew out of the house wondering which enemy it was. When I rounded the corner on the back side of the property I knew we had a situation that wasn’t going to end well. Lily, our livestock guard dog, had backed a coyote into a corner (between fences), and no way was she going to stand down. Lily is an Akbash, a dog very similar to a Great Pyrenees, but in my mind, a far superior LGD for many reasons (another post for another day). These dogs are not fighters, although pressed to do so, they will defend themselves and will kill if necessary. No, their instinctive drive is to protect their family at all costs using intimidation first, and force as a backup if necessary.

We do not kill predators for the sport of it, but if we have one threatening our farm family, we will not hesitate. It is a rare day that we pull out a gun and use it for this purpose, but this morning, it was necessary. We have shot sick skunks and poisonous snakes. Coyotes, although they live all around us, generally stay off our property thanks to the dogs. This one had gotten brave, and that’s not good. A brave coyote will find a food source and then our farm becomes Luby’s cafeteria for she and her friends. This means that our chickens, our cats and kittens, and even our calves and smaller dogs become potential meals…… not to mention vet bills that start rolling in as our LGD’s have to sometimes engage the enemy in battle.

Today did not end well for this coyote, and it was stressful for Lily too. She would not back down even tho she is terrified of guns. She held the coyote at bay, and Charlie shot it. Lily scrambled back to the porch, shaking…… not because of the coyote, but because of the gunshot.

Lily prefers to spend her time outdoors guarding her farm-ily……unless there is thunder, fireworks, or gunfire in our area. Any of those, and she’s at the door begging to be let in (which we do). This said, I was concerned about her response to gunfire literally that close to her.

Young Living has an oil that is well used and loved by those who know it: Stress Away. I would venture to say that several million bottles of this relaxing blend have been used and relied upon over the years. It is one of my favorite oils, and for a very good reason too…. it is my ‘go to’ in times of stress. Consequently, I keep a bottle in my purse, and one in my lab coat at work, as well as one on my desk at home. It is literally like letting out a gentle sigh of relief simply by applying it to the neck and wrists.

Now, this morning, while the situation was an elevated one, it was not as stressful for me as say….. driving in Dallas traffic during rush hour…… or working in an intensely busy pharmacy with not enough help (Frankly, that’s waaay more stressful than the previous scenario!). Poor Lily, however, WAS stressed… not from the coyote, but from the gunfire.

So, after all was said and done, I slathered our hard working girl up with Stress Away and gave her some extra special loving for the good job she had done. Young Living oils are amazing for many reasons, not the least of which is that they work just as well (if not even better) on animals as they do on humans. I believe this is because animals have no preconceived notions about what therapeutic oils can and cannot do. They either work, or they don’t for our four legged friends…. but in my experience, they nearly always do.

I am happy to report, that after about 30 minutes, Lily had a very spoiled breakfast (with treats), AND she had no interest in coming inside to recover from the gunfire. In fact, she spent the rest of the morning laying in the midst of the chickens, guarding her peeps. I’d say both she and Stress Away did their jobs well this morning!

Hugs and love from the farm y’all…. Life goes on. ~ liz

Peaceable Kingdom

Liz James · April 27, 2018 ·

Good morning friends! This is the time of year where things are fast and furious around here…. garden planting time, berry vineyard maintenance, etc…… all on top of our general busy lives.

Contrary to what you might think, my oasis of busy-ness is milking. The slow repitition is very ‘zen’. I use that time to pray, think, ponder, and enjoy the peace of it all. Honey (Elsa’s mama) has turned out to be an incredible mother and milk cow. I need to write about her story at some point. She and I really got thrown a curve ball when Elsa was born, and she truly rose to the challenge and has become a very special cow to me.

Hand milking is relaxing (it’s also a skill and requires a certain set of muscles most people don’t use). The sound of a cow quietly chewing her cud, and kittens playing. When the weather is right, it’s a perfect ‘bottle the moment’ time for me.

Our diverse animal family are cross species friends, and that makes for some amazing moments. I was able to catch some particular cuteness last week between our retired granny cow Clementine and Velcro (one of our two kittens). Velcro had started chasing Clementine’s tail, and Clementine let her do it….. in fact, even seemed to be encouraging her. The next thing I knew, Velcro had climbed up on top of Clementine….

(I had to stop milking to watch how this was going to play out). Once he got up there, I think Velcro suddenly realized he had a very comfortable perch. I was more concerned about Clementine getting up and accidentally stepping on Velcro in the process. Not to worry tho!…. her response was the sweetest thing to watch.

Velcro decided he was going to take some time to give himself a little spit bath.

Then he decided he was just going to hang out and enjoy the view for a bit. After a bit, he got down and continued to play all around Clementine. Clementine seemed to enjoy the attention, and when he ventured off, she actually stretched her neck out as far as it would go, low to the ground, in his direction, trying to get him to come back (he did).

They sat like this for quite awhile, and then I watched them do what I could only call an inter-species hug. Clementine very gently lowered her head and kind of hugged Velcro with her neck. Velcro, in response, put his little paw up and hugged her back. It was a completely adorable moment (and these pics do not even begin to do it justice). I wouldn’t trade moments like these for anything.

So if you need some cuteness to get you thru your Friday…. here ya go :)! Enjoy your day, and look for the beauty in life wherever you go. It’s everywhere!

Hugs and Love, liz

It’s Not Just the Water

Liz James · March 21, 2018 ·

We’ve lived on our farm for nearly 24 years. When we first moved here, our hometown, Anna, Texas was population 900. Today, I believe it is pushing 10,000. Although we’ll likely never move, we’ve learned some valuable lessons about buying property, utility companies, and government. All these things would play a part in a ‘do over’ if that were possible in life.

Little towns everywhere (but especially those within an hour or so of booming metroplexes) are frequently the assailed and hostaged of the aforementioned entities. Things happen. Deals are made behind closed doors. Money exchanges hands. The voices are too few to fight back. In a town of 900, those who try to fight are easily outnumbered by big business and big government. It is tragic. There is a difference between growth and what I can only call a hostile takeover of urban life. Residents in small town USA bear the brunt of the outcome.

In the last 24 years we have fought:

Enormous power lines delivering power to other cities, all while emitting dangerous levels of EMF’s to those who are forced to live close to them due to eminent domain laws. These laws allow the power company to place these things on private citizen property). We’ve fought this battle more than once.
An enormous landfill (aka: The Dump). This was a long hard and lost battle with the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD). The deal was done and small towns in our area were dealt a blow once again. It wasn’t even our trash…. it is trash from Dallas and other surrounding large cities. A back door deal that eventually landed a local mayor in jail a few years back when it all came out. Too late tho. The deal was done.
And now, the water. Thankfully, our personal water supply does not come from this company (Is it any coincidence that the same company manages both water and trash?) ….. but I work and serve people within our community who have been deeply impacted. Groups of us have attempted to speak against the water quality for months (if not years), and have been hushed, pacified, and condescended to. I spoke at a city council meeting many months ago regarding the impact that I, as a pharmacist, saw on local resident’s health. Anna, Texas truly is one of the most nauseous towns (I mean this literally) I’ve ever filled prescriptions for. I determined years ago, that it had to be the water. No other explanation fit. Local Facebook groups had long discussions about it… but still nothing was done.

Last week, Erin Brockovich (yes, that one!) drew the NTMWD into the spotlight for the quality of water it has been delivering to its people. Hundreds upon thousands of families. No longer is this a small town situation. Thank God. I’ve seen mention more than once that Anna, Texas might be of particular concern.

If you’d like to read more about this particular fight, please read on here.

Suddenly, we have thousands of people interested and concerned about their health and their personal safety. We are such a litigious society these days….. it’s so easy to place blame for woes we have (on others) without giving due introspection on how we ourselves have played a part.

Friends, the water quality is important and we do need to fight it hard…. but it is a ‘drop in the bucket’ (excuse the pun) when you look at the bigger picture. The chemicals in the water are causing rashes and other health concerns. This is truth ya’ll, and unfortunately, we have no choice but to use the water that is supplied to each of us.

I know thousands of families in this area buy and drink bottled water to circumvent the crummy tap water, but this still leaves themselves exposed to the SAME chemicals when they take a shower or bath. Our skin is not like saran wrap…. keeping everything out. On the contrary…. it is our largest organ and absorbs chemicals like a sponge. (Precisely the reason that drugs applied topically have a systemic effect! ).

Now, here comes the self introspective part of this post that may hurt a little …. people are squealing about the water quality…. which we pay for and have no choice but to allow into our homes…..But what about the items we DO have the choice on what we do or don’t bring into our homes? These things cause equal damage (if not greater)…. and yet you may unconsciously do this every day.

Toxic words to look for in your products:
Fragrance (about 300 chemicals hide behind that word)
Dyes of any sort (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green)
SLS (Sodium Laureth Sulfate)

This is only 3 in a LOOOONG list of harmful chemicals that are in nearly all standard body care products.

We point fingers at the water company who is doing us wrong , but we may also need to begin to take a close look at ourselves too ….. are we grabbing things at the store that are also causing insidious damage? Just because it’s for sale, doesn’t mean it’s safe……. case and point with our water source. Our government does not do an adequate job of regulating chemicals in our country…. again… just look at this water situation.

I know many of my friends have also realized this over the years and now make conscious decisions when buying products…. whether that be food, house cleaning supplies, or personal care products.

The problem, is that now we have companies who operate on subterfuge to sell…. they brand themselves as ‘healthy alternatives’ but then slip in damaging chemicals. One bad apple then spoils the barrel. Take a look at this article by Food Babe (one of my vocal heroes) on the company LUSH as an example: https://foodbabe.com/lush-bath-bombs-not-think/…… and DANG, their products aren’t cheap ($8.95 for a bath bomb?)

I put my pharmacist detective hat on each time I look at a product… and for a long time, that made shopping incredibly time consuming. Over 4 years ago, I found Young Living, and quit reading labels. Originally, it was about the incredible health properties of their oils (because I believe in doing life’s ups and downs naturally instead of with man made chemicals), but YL has evolved into my ‘everything company’. I pretty much just shop once a month for TRULY non-toxic body care products and household cleaning supplies (and yes, they have bath bombs that actually have heal-th benefits, smell great, and cost less than Lush’s… or, you can make your own if you are a DIY’er for even cheaper!).

diy shower bombs

People argue that living healthy is expensive, but I would argue that just the opposite is true. Studies have found that people spend (on average) 16x more on their health on the backside (when all heck has broken out in your body), versus taking care of things up front by eliminating toxic chemicals, exercising, eating right, etc. Our environment really does determine (90%) our health outcome, and we have to take some personal responsibility for creating that environment.

I see the ramifications of NOT doing these things every day I work at the pharmacy and it breaks my heart. It is the reason I have slowly stepped back (not yet completely away) from pharmacy and looked toward ways to help people become whole again. Dolphin MPS, Health Coaching, Christian Yoga teacher training, Young Living product education, other holistic modalities…. all of this. The need for repair in our bodies is HUGE and we need more people being part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

But it starts with what we choose to allow into our own homes …. and that starts with us as individuals…. you and me.

If you aren’t sure where to start, reach out to someone you know who is already walking this path. We all had someone lead us initially too, and I don’t know any one who isn’t happy to share tips and life hacks on how to live a healthier life.

To learn more about the personal care products that Young Living offers, you can take a gander at my Young Living store.

Even our makeup usually contains ‘dirty’ ingredients. Young Living has that covered as well.

Be Well my friends ~

Hugs and love, Liz
#itstartswithpersonalchoice
#todaysthedaytobeginmakingchanges

Coming Up For Air

Liz James · March 6, 2018 ·

Lordy, the first quarter of 2018 came in like a lion, and then took over my life. Here’s a toast (of raw milk) that 2nd Qtr 2018 will be a little gentler on my time. The good Lord only gave me 24 hours in a day, and they’ve been filled to overflowing. Thank goodness I’ve been blessed with a fast metabolism and have access to NingXia Nitro.

Rain: Henceforth known as “The Great Flood of February 2018”. While we desperately needed rain, in this part of Texas, the weather is feast or famine. It’s either scorching hot, windy as heck, insanely beautiful, or swampy wet. February was cold and wet. In fact, it was too wet to be muddy some days. The mud came later tho….. lots of it. Chores that typically took an hour sometimes took two hours for days on end. As I sit here and type, the wind is blowing hard…. (Wyoming hard if you are from that part of the world). I don’t enjoy the hard winds, but I’m enjoying it today, knowing it’s drying the ground out faster.

Friends: This crazy quarter has been filled with so many good things…. Elsa survived (and is thriving), my vision is coming into fruition, and we’ve been blessed by connecting with friends old and new. Humans are interesting creatures. We thrive in community. Studies have shown that over and over again…. even introverts (myself included) need community to thrive. That said, we introverts just need time alone after we’ve spent time with our tribe. I read recently that most introverts are generally highly sensitive and some are bestowed the blessing of ’empath’. Work with me here while I try to explain this in basic “Joe science” terms….. Each one of us is a bundle of energy. This is a scientifically proven fact. Electrical current frequency is measured by Hertz, and we all have varying degrees of energy frequency (Again, not new-agey stuff… this is a fact). Some people have the ability to sense or ‘feel’ subtle changes of energy in people and in our environment (Animals are VERY good at this). I hear massage therapists speak of it often, but didn’t really understand until I began my Dolphin MPS certification process and spent more time with my hands on people. Christian Yoga certification training has taught me even more about it. There are people who could be termed ‘energy vampires’ in that they leave you exhausted after spending much time with them. The same can be said for those who recharge your spirit. And then, there’s the chaotic ‘energy chatter’ that many of us introverts try to avoid when we can. This is a real thing, and I am learning to embrace the gift that God has given me. It has also enabled me to understand why my quiet/ recharge time is truly so important for my physical and mental health. Chronic low frequency (meaning low Hertz) will lead to dis-ease and disrepair within the body. I know… it sounds hokey…. but do some research if you think I’ve dived off the deep end. There is truth to what I just wrote. Fascinating stuff! The body is an incredible machine, and the more I learn about it, the more I marvel at how easy dysfunction can occur.

Elsa: Our little miracle calf has had some milestones in the last month. About 6 weeks into her life, she figured out how to mechanically overcome her cleft palate and begin nursing on her own. Huge kudos to her very patient mama, Honey. It takes her quite awhile to eat, but Honey has definitely been the unsung hero in all of this. I will tell you more about her someday. Elsa has been able to latch on to both front teats, but because of the angle and length of the back teats, could not nurse on those. That is working out well, so I’ve been milking the back quarters while she cleans out the front two. (A cow’s udder has four separate compartments that produce and then store the milk)

We noticed several weeks in to Elsa’s life that her ears had gotten frostbitten, and it looked like she was going to lose the tips of each ear. Sure enough, a couple of weeks ago, the dead areas simply peeled off. I’m posting a pic here, and although you really can’t tell unless you look hard enough, her left ear is a little different than her right ear now. (I’m telling you…. it gets COLD here sometimes in the winter!).

She is starting to eat regular food now, and we’ve come to realize that there is a new problem emerging. The solid food keeps creating a bolus that lodges in her nostrils. I have created a gentle rinse recipe along with a way to remove the bolus when it forms. She doesn’t like it, but I can tell she is appreciative of our efforts afterwards. The rinse is a mixture of distilled water, colloidal silver, and a small amount of Thieves Mouthwash. The latter two create an inhospitable environment for bacteria….. important because my fear is now that she will develop a bacterial infection if food sits there too long and is allowed to ferment. (And yes, I did put a little up my own nose just to make sure it wouldn’t burn…. for those of you who are wondering ;)! We’re just taking this ‘Raisin’ Elsa’ thing day by day. She is healthy and strong, but I feel like I need more information on cleft palates that are not surgically repaired. Surgery does not seem to be an easy option here, but perhaps I’ve not dug deep enough, or contacted the right resources? She is growing so rapidly, and it seems like any repair would need to be able to grow with her somehow.

Take care and enjoy the rest of your day! I’m headed out to feed. Although the wind is blowing hard, the sun is glorious and shines on my face.

Hugs and Love, liz