New Territory begins with "No"

When asked by Judah this morning, "Miriam, can I have my pirate eye-patch, please?" Miriam, for the first time in her life, uttered the word, "No." She's 18 months old.

For a negative response, Miriam has been in the habit of shaking her head or making an awful sound (grunting, squealing, pouting, crying). Until now, she has refrained from the proverbial first and favorite toddler word: no.

New territory awaits . . .

Speaking of new territory, we spent time this weekend with someone we admire, a leader, a mentor, a friend . . . and discovered that his teenager is in state custody. He's beside himself with grief . . .

A girlfriend of mine who spent time on the mission field with her husband is in the midst of an ugly divorce. She's clinging to her Rescuer and Redeemer, hoping it gets better. It must get better . . .

My neighbor's kid and his friend passed by our house a couple hours ago on skateboards. When I offered him and his friend a piece of watermelon, he said "No, thank you." His friend said, "Sure." Then, as we got to talking, I ask if either of them has an older brother. The friend says, "She does." She. Not a boy. A girl. My brain is reconnecting the dots. "I think I've met your mom," I say. "I have two moms," came the response. It took a while to figure out the situation. I figured she had a mom and a step-mom. Nope. Both moms live together in the house across from mine.

It's times like these that I think I want to take my family and escape into my own little happy, carefree world. Like Eustace and Jill nearly did this morning in The Silver Chair of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. The witch-Queen tried to convince them and Prince Rilian and Puddleglum that there is no sun, no Aslan, no Narnia, no Outerworld. It's all a dream. All that exists is what you see before you. The only world is the Underworld, an underground kingdom shrouded in complete darkness and silence. "After a pause, and after a struggle in their minds, all four of them siad together, 'You are right. There is no sun.' It was such a relief to give in and say it."

Eventually, after a few futile attempts at breaking the spell, Puddleglum says:

"Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things--trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Asland to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we're leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for the Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that's a small loss if the world's as dull a place as you say."

You said it, Puddleglum. The spell is broken. To Narnia and the Overworld!

Such timely reading for such a day as this.

The Sword and the Blanket

Last night, after a full day of hanging out with friends while they constructed a dragon float for their neighborhood's 4th of July parade, my family piled in the car ready to head home. Judah realized he had forgotten his swords. We hear this coming from behind us:

"I forgot all my swords! My paper sword, my big sword . . . and it takes a long time to get home!"

So I ran back inside to find the swords. I found the paper sword (a rolled-up piece of paper) and the hook (made out of foam board) but not the big sword. While I was looking, Judah says to his daddy, "Daddy, quit being such a wet blanket."

Ah, the fruits of reading The Chronicles of Narnia aloud to my 4-year-old sponge.

*****

After I posted this, Judah came upstairs and (after announcing that he was scratching himself) said to me, "Mommy, we haven't read Narnia in a while. Can we sneak through one chapter? Just one chapter? Just one chapter?"

He's an addict.

*****

We managed to "sneak through" two chapters. He has his sights set on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn next. I might need to redirect.

Mint-eating Caterpillar

 

 

As if I didn't already have enough trouble keeping things alive around here, a caterpillar has decided that mint is one of his favorite leafy greens, too. Make this THREE times that I've killed mint. At least this time I had an accomplice.

The Composting No-No

Last year when metro was running a sale on compost bins, we bought one. It's nothing fancy. In fact, I'm pretty sure we could have constructed something ourselves that would have worked just as well. However, since we're not really the constructing type, we now have a big, black, plastic bin in our backyard.

Before I started composting, I read the manual. No meat, no oils, no seeds. I kind of didn't worry about the no seeds part. Now I have little plants growing in my compost bin, desperate for some sunlight, reaching through the vents for some photosynthesis action:

Another reason why you're not supposed to put seeds in your bin is that when you start using your compost to help your plants grow, you don't want your plants overtaken by mysterious fruits or vegetables. Or, if you're like me, and don't mind the surprises (along with being willing to sacrifice a couple planned plants), you could put seeds in your bin on purpose and see what springs up:

This is proof that I don't kill EVERYthing trying to grow in my yard.

From Overwhelmed to Overjoyed!

After last night's training call, tonight's mentoring call, and receiving a few encouraging e-mails from long-time friends (thank you Amy and Adina!!!), I'm OVER the feeling of being overwhelmed and now filled with joy and excitement!

It's easy to become completely overwhelmed by all the new information since there is SO much to learn, but I'm entirely surrounded by people who care, people who actually want to see me succeed, and people who have the tools that are necessary for my success, who are more than willing to freely share!

I absolutely love the CTC team. It feels a little ironic to me that I'm saying that because one of the main reasons I haven't joined other "membership" companies in the past is that I didn't want to be part of a club. I didn't want to have to put on some shiny exterior and pretend that I was happy and rich and successful. If I truly am happy and rich and successful, I'll let you know. I'm not going to pretend. I don't do fake.

However, when I went to the Full Sail Getaway and met nearly 100 Cruise to Cash members, I was completely blown away by how real everyone was. Not a single person I met was trying to impress anyone. No one was putting on airs. There were no speeches about dressing to impress or wearing full makeup and power suits and heels. There were no unrealistic expectations or sales quotas or even pressure to sell. The atmosphere was supportive, genuine, laid back, and felt like home. I called James to tell him that everyone was like me--like us--like Tod and Emily Bell and David and Becky Durham (dear friends who were both present--Tod is actually the co-founder).

Something else that has really impressed me is that CTC has daily "Meet the Crew" calls that provide an opportunity for people to hear about the business and ask questions. Two CTC members team up daily for each of the 11 (soon to be 15) calls and volunteer their time to help other members build their businesses. I love it. It's a team effort that benefits everyone. I haven't met a single person who is money-hungry or self-absorbed or merely interested in their own success. Every single person I've met has been quick to share what makes her successful, what has worked for her and what hasn't, and how well she's doing in her business.

I spent nearly two hours tonight talking to one of the top CTC mentors. She is closely connected with the other co-founder. Once we were finished talking, I had five pages of notes and a head full of ideas to implement! She won't make any money from any of my sales, but she was willing to sit and talk to me for nearly two hours about how to build my business internationally. She also walked me through the training for the "Meet the Crew" calls so I can become a presenter and host, putting me on the executive team. It's all about volunteering your time to benefit everyone else's business.

My marketing professor in college said once that if people in a particular business would stop competing with people in the same line of business and work together instead, sales for that type of business would increase. CTC has that principle figured out, and I can say that I'm really proud to be affiliated with a company that works together to make sure every member gets the help they need.

And now it's time for "Her Royal Excitedness" to get excited about getting some sleep! :0)

He's only 4, right?

Judah tries to get Miriam to say things on occasion. He'll dress her up like a pirate and say to her, "Miriam, you're the captain, OK? I'm part of your crew. We're going to sail the HIGH SEAS! Can you say, 'Aarrgghh'?"

This afternoon, he and Miriam were sitting on the kitchen counter eating apricots and kiwi while I sauteed some fresh summer squash. He says to her, "Miriam, do you want to smoke a cigarette?"

What?

Then, he asks, "Mom, what's tobacco?"

I'm not ready for this. He's 4. FOUR!!! 4.

Did I mention that he's 4?

Breathe.

I am on serious information overload.

Running your own business is a lot of work. It takes a lot of time. And energy. And resources. I'm trying not to feel overwhelmed. But I am. A little.

I'm taking a trip to Pittsburgh next month to attend a Dani Johnson seminar. I really feel as though the trip will be exactly what I need to get my business up and running. I'm expecting a serious paradigm shift (like the one I received when I heard Danny Silk speak for the first time on parenting). I need a mentor. A network marketing mentor. Someone to walk me through the ins and outs of network marketing. Someone to tell me what's going to be worth my time and money and energy and what's just going to zap it and make it all disappear without any results.

I'm tired. I'm having trouble absorbing everything. My brain is like a big magnet being dragged through a desert full of informational paperclips. I need to drink more water. And rest.

And then, there's THIS:

 

 

 

 

Judah Thinks He's 18

Twice tonight I wondered when Judah suddenly turned 18.

Spending the evening at the Turnip Truck farmers market on Wednesday nights has become part of our routine. Tonight we all sat down at one of the outdoor tables to have a little Turnip Truck soup--except Judah. He grabbed a toddler-sized cart and started walking casually down the first aisle of the little natural foods grocery store. I walked up behind him and thought, "When did you turn 18?"

Then, we got the kids ready for bed (Miriam had a blast tonight in the bathtub), and Judah had what we call "stinky toots." James told him to go sit on the potty since he must need to poop. Judah said something like, "Just because I have stinky toots doesn't mean that I have to poop every time." James disagreed, saying that stinky toots means you have poop that needs to come out. Judah responded, "You don't know anything about me!" Again, when did that kid turn 18? Isn't that sort of comment a bit premature? And where does he get it? We don't even own a TV!

The Kids on their Adventure

 

 

 

 

Today's Adventures

 

 

 

 

Book Recommendations

Three quick book recommendations from Her Royal Excitedness:

Honey for a Child's Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life by Gladys Hunt. It's an excellent resource absolutely FULL of wonderful book recommendations based on your child's age.

Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think and What We Can Do About It by Jane M. Healy. A quote from the Amazon.com editorial review best describes in a nutshell what the book is about: "clearly conveys the relationship between language, learning, and brain development, then explains why television viewing and present-day lifestyles sabotage language acquisition, thinking, and personal success." Warning: The research presented in this book is completely counter-cultural.

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. This is a call to unstructured play--in natural environments (a.k.a. Nature).

My Passions in a blog post.

While sitting in my hotel room in Orlando, rather than writing about my new business, I started journaling about nutrition, parenting, and "screen time." Imagine. Here's what I wrote:


Would putting these substances into your body scare you in the least?
Nutritive Dextrose
Calcium Saccharin
Cream of Tartar
Calcium Silicate
***
Corn syrup solids
Partially hydrogenated soybean oil
Sodium caseinate
Dipotassium phosphate
Mono and diglycerides
Titanium dioxide
Silicon dioxide
Artificial flavor
Artificial color


These are the ingredients in the “sugar substitute” and “creamer,” respectively, that were next to the complimentary Wolfgang Puck organic tea and gourmet coffee in my room tonight.

Would it scare you at all for your food to fall on the floor and get “dirty”? Would you pick it up and eat it anyway? Do you think twice about putting artificial (fake—not real—made in a laboratory) substances in your body but throw away anything that has dropped on the floor?

Help me understand why we so quickly consume anything labeled as “food” or “food product” without reading the label or understanding what the ingredients are, but we shun any real food that has spent a couple seconds on the floor. If you drop a strawberry on the floor, would you throw it away or rinse it off? I’ve often seen people throw away their dropped food! Are you willing to eat a strawberry that has had all sorts of pesticides and fungicides and weed killer sprayed on it, but unwilling to eat a strawberry that might have a little dirt from your own kitchen floor?

My friend Sally was joking around with me once and said, “Here, let me spray a little Raid on that squash before I give it to you. Don’t worry, though, I’ll rinse it off.” If you watched her do it, would you still eat it? Out of sight, out of mind. What we don’t know is killing us.

My neighbor shouts at her daughter to “get out of those woods!” when she comes over and wants to play with Judah in the little patch of trees next to our house. However, she exposes her 8-year-old daughter to thousands of violent and sexual images a day on television, she’s allowed to play video games for hours on end, and she now has a computer in her bedroom connected to the Internet. Somebody please, please help me understand.

Recently, I attended a Carole Joy Seid home school workshop. She read from a book called The Last Child In The Woods. There is actually a nature-deficit disorder that children are suffering from, which stems from a lack of being outdoors. Too much indoor play (fear of abduction has dramatically decreased the radius around which children are allowed to roam from their homes) combined with an exponential increase in “screen time” (time spent in front of televisions, computers, and video games) has actually damaged the brains of our children. Their developing minds need more social interaction, more real-world experiences, more nature connections, more time spent outdoors in unstructured play than we’re offering as a culture.

The American Academy of Pediatrics warned us in 2000 that children under the age of two should not be exposed to any television or videos. Having majored in communications and believing that television had no benefit for children, I tried to find evidence to support my theory. In 1994, I found none. Now, the evidence abounds.

I didn’t allow Judah to watch movies until he turned two, and even now he probably only watches one a week, on average. Miriam has seen one video twice, but we have made sure that she’s not exposed to television or videos much at all. Everyone thought I was nuts (and some still do) for not owning a television (a lady actually told my mom that my kids were “missing out on so much” and that she would “pray about it.”) Please, pray all you want. We’re not getting a TV.

Did you know that television viewing decreases as education increases? The higher educated a person is, the less television he watches. Did you also know that wealthy people tend to watch television the least? Poor people watch television much more often than wealthy people. What does that tell you?

Everywhere I turn, I’m hearing the message, “Don’t watch television.” Do you know where it’s coming from? The wealthy. The self-made. The rich. Fortunately for us, we’re a step ahead by not owning a TV, but it makes me think about how many hours and hours are wasted in front of the boob tube for so many families throughout the world, but especially in America where the viewing statistics are staggering.

Children in America spend more time, on average, in front of a screen, “plugged in” than playing outside. They spend more time in front of a screen than they do interacting with other children or adults. They spend more time in front of a screen than they do reading books. What is feeding them messages about what success looks like? what they should think about themselves? what they should think about other people? what they should believe about the world around them? what they should eat and drink? what they should wear? what they should say to their friends and family members? what kinds of attitudes are acceptable? what their role is in society? what a healthy marriage looks like? what a healthy sexual relationship looks like? what is really important? TV. Movies. Video Games. Computers. Internet.

As a culture, we have effectively handed over the educating of our children to the government. We expect the government to teach them everything they “need to know” in “school.” Have you ever thought about who decides what your children will learn in school? Has it ever occurred to you that every country has a different standard? that every culture has a different set of values?

Have you handed over your child’s education to a system that is failing miserably on a global scale?

Have you handed over the teaching of “religion” to Sunday School teachers who see your child for one hour once a week?

Have you handed over your child’s health to a doctor that your child sees once every few months?

Have you handed over your child’s emotional development to the media?

Who is more qualified to train your child in education than the one who loves and cares for them most?

Who is more qualified to train your child in the ways of God than you?

Who is more qualified to make decisions about your child’s health than you?

Who is more qualified to shape your child’s emotional development than you?

The answer is NO ONE. YOU are the most qualified person on the planet to train your child because you love your child more than anyone else could possibly love him or her. God has entrusted your child to YOU, not to the government, not to the religious establishment, not to the medical community, not to the media . . . to YOU.

It’s time we started taking back the reigns and realizing that we have a tremendous responsibility to “train up” our children in the ways they should go and not depend on other people or groups to do it for us.

Let’s think about what we’re feeding them. Are they eating healthy, nutritious fare or pigging out on junk food and sodas? And what about their minds? Are they absorbing lots of good brain food, or are they zoning out on mindless, flashing images for hours a day?

What if meats and natural fats are not the enemy of healthy living? The diet dictocrats would have you believe that it’s better to eat soy than meat, that it’s better to eat canola oil than real butter, that it’s best to avoid fat to stave off heart disease and obesity. However, the rates of heart disease and obesity continue to climb ever higher. Did you know that heart disease was virtually non-existent before 1900? Did you know that people prior to 1900 ate meat and real butter and animal fats on a regular basis? Did you know that since the inception of newfangled vegetable oils, our country’s rates of heart disease, cancer, and obesity have gone through the roof? That we’re now facing an epidemic?

What if we all went back to traditional diets (eating only what our great-grandparents might have eaten) and stayed away from packaged, processed, newfangled foods (more appropriately labeled food products)? I wonder what would happen.

Perhaps we will never know.

Memories of Admiration Coming to Life

Memories are interesting things. Do you ever wonder why you remember certain things and forget others?

Something I distinctly remember from my college days was being in the library (undoubtedly doing research on something unrelated to what caught my attention) when I came across a female author's biography. I thought it was Charlotte Bronte, but now that I've read her entry on Wikipedia, I'm thinking it could easily have been someone else. Anyway, I remember that this particular author used a masculine pen-name for her early works. What struck me about her, though, was that she would spend all day caring for her children (who, I believe, were her step-children or perhaps her sibling's children that were left to her upon the death of both parents) and then stay awake late at night writing. I admired her committment to both the children and the writing and imagined myself one day doing the same.

Here I am.

I spent all day today hiking a three-mile trail through a forest, eating lunch around a table with my kids (including my honorary 10-year-old daughter), reading books, wading in a creek, playing on a playground, enjoying a farmers' market, gathering around a table with my entire family for dinner, and both giving and receiving dozens of hugs and kisses. I LOVE my life.

It's now 1:17 a.m. and here I am writing, just like the author I read about in college. That says a lot to me about how we connect with what we admire, how our faith (according to your faith, let it be unto you) plays into our lives, how visualizing ourselves doing the things we want to do is so powerful (any career coach worth keeping will tell you that), and how timing plays a HUGE role in living out our dreams.

Shortly before I graduated from high school (I was 17), I won a national competition with Sonic Drive-In. Competing against tens of thousands of other carhops, I continued to advance to the next level. During one of the final interviews, we were asked something to the effect of, "Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Will you be focused on your career, your education, or your family?" Each girl chose one of the three. When it came time for me to answer, I said, "I want it all. I want to focus on my education now, I want to focus on my career next, and eventually I want to focus on raising a family." Guess what? I have it all.

Granted, I've had to lay down responsibilities as I've found myself in different seasons, but I'm in a constant state of educating myself (I can't help it--I LOVE to learn), I have a fabulous family, and I'm building my own business as well as picking up teaching again in the fall. Truly, I do have it all.

Thank you, God. Thank you thank you thank you. I am so thankful.

I was on my face tonight in the kitchen (literally) thanking God and praising Him and asking him for help and crying out as I felt him continuing to heal my heart of past wounding.

I stopped right in the middle of wiping down the kitchen counter. Moments before, I was remembering a story that Peggy Fitzpatrick, an elder at Grace Center and the epitome of a godly woman, shared about her own mother who would stay up late doing chores in order to spend more quality time with the children during the day--I admired that, too, and found myself thinking about how, again, I have become what I admired. As I cleaned the kitchen, I began to pray to God specifically about my business.

Thinking I needed to be more focused on the Lord, I started to walk into the living room to get comfortable on the couch when I realized I needed to immediately lie down on the floor in worship. I prayed and cried and healed and prayed and cried and healed . . . until I felt release. Then, I stood up and finished cleaning the kitchen. All the while, I was listening to Julie True's excellent new CD Healing Love. It's what we at Grace Center like to call "soaking music." It did me in.

Preface to Tonight's Blog Post

While I was at the airport waiting to board the plane to Orlando, I returned a call from my friend Wendy. She read a couple passages to me from a Wendell Berry book she's been reading. I've thought about the quotes several times since.

To my absolute delight, she posted her thoughts and one of the quotes on her blog.

In case you don't make it to her blog, here's the part that I really want to share:

FROM WENDY:
I borrowed another Berry book of essays from my brother, and in the preface, he addreses the way in which this new age has affected the way we bring up our children. He writes (tongue in cheek):

"The main thing is, don't let education get in the way of being nice to children. Children are our Future. Spend plenty of money on them but don't stay home with them and get in their way. Don't give them work to do; they are smart and can think up things to do on their own. Don't teach them any of that awful, stultifying, repressive, old-fashioned morality. Provide plenty of TV, microwave dinners, day care, computers, computer games, cars. For all this, they will love and respect us and be glad to grow up and pay our debts."

***

This is exactly what I needed to unclog the drain that has been my writing brain tonight.

I discovered The Blue Zones this weekend on NPR. It's a book written by Dan Buettner about people groups (that he discovered with the help of National Geogrpahic) who live the longest, healthiest lives. What impressed me most were the things the author Dan Buettner said about Seventh-Day Adventists in his "Morning Edition" interview:

"In the United States, there's at least one Blue Zone, a small area about 60 miles outside of Los Angeles. Buettner describes the Loma Linda zone as more of a cultural Blue Zone than a geographical one, and says it has the highest concentration of Adventists anywhere.

He says their plant-based diet is inspired directly from the Bible — the book of Genesis tells of God providing his people with grains and seeds — and that every week, they take a Sabbath Saturday they call the "sanctuary in time."

"No matter how busy, no matter how stressed out they are, they'll take that 24 hours and focus on their God," Buettner says. He also points out that most of the Adventists he interviewed said 90 percent of their immediate friends are also Adventists, so their social circle is very much supportive of their cultural habits.

Although the aging process isn't fully understood, scientists do know that there's a complex interplay of genetics and the environment that factors into health and longevity. And Buettner says he was able to identify shared patterns among people who live in Blue Zones.

"They didn't take any supplements or pills or wine extracts," he says. "They tended to live in houses and environments that nudged them into bursts of physical activity in kind of an effortless way.

A couple of things that I need to get out of my head and into some type of written form:

Supplements (in my opinion, of course, this whole blog is my opinion) are unnecessary and can sometimes be harmful. That includes vitamins (most of which are synthetic anyway), expensive juices (that have to be pasteurized in order to maintain a shelf life--and you should know by know how I feel about pasteurization), and health-claim-laden bottles of cure-yourself-of-nearly-any-ailment-BS. Whatever.

We live in such a "take a pill and relieve your symptoms" society that we actually have to fight thousands of messages a day just to get back to "eat real food." Which brings me to this thought:

WHAT IF meat and dairy and salt and fat and even cooked foods are not to blame for heart disease? WHAT IF processed, packaged, convenience foods are to blame? Did you know that before 1900, heart disease was nearly non-existent? Diabetes, obesity, cancer . . . all extremely unusual. Today we face a diseased culture of epidemic proportions. Did our ancestors eat meat and dairy and salt and fat? Most certainly. Did one in three suffer from heart disease or obesity or diabetes? Absolutely not.

Convenience is killing us. Remote controls so you don't have to get up from the couch and turn on the television? The Seventh-day Adventists in CA that were featured in The Blue Zones INTENTIONALLY set up their lives so that they move more. They pursue activity. They embrace it. They understand the need for it. They're healthy and living long lives.

I've stopped looking for the nearest parking space. I purposely live in a house with stairs. I enjoy push-mowing my lawn. I took a 3-mile hike in the woods with my kids today. I'm more active today than I was 8-10 years ago. I'm also a heck of a lot healthier. I haven't been to a general practitioner since my first year of marriage almost nine years ago. I don't take any prescription meds. I don't take any meds, period.

I want to know what truly healthy people are doing to maintain their health. I've begun research truly wealthy people, too. And now I feel as though I'm ready to share the thoughts I've been wanting to share all along. This is quite a preface.

How it goes . . .

I sat down nearly an hour ago intending to write a blog post before I did anything else. But I checked e-mail first. And then I checked out the MCM site. And someone had a grammar question. And I felt compelled to answer. And someone posted a "Have you started a home business?" thread, so I posted about my business. And I check e-mail again and I read a well-thought-out, well-researched response to the documentary I just posted about. And I got some excellent constructive criticism on my website. And now it's nearly midnight. Welcome to my life.

The Business of Being Born

I didn't know this existed until about 20 minutes ago. I'm completely blown away.

"The Business of Being Born" Trailer

"The Business of Being Born" Online Documentary

My sister witnessed the birth of my daughter--in my bedroom--while my son slept a few doors down. He woke up less than an hour after Miriam arrived and asked to hold his baby sister. My sister said that she would have done things so differently with her three if she had only known. I'm so thankful for the ability to research nearly anything in seconds because of the Internet. Kudos to Rikki Lake for putting together an excellent documentary, too.

The Business Explained

So far, I've had three friends tell me that they are completely clueless as to what my business is about. Obviously, I have some explaining to do. The truth is, I didn't fully understand it until the getaway this weekend.

Tod Bell, the co-founder of Cruise to Cash Vacations, has been a close friend of mine for nearly 10 years. He started looking at Internet businesses, network marketing, and direct sales a few years ago and quickly found tremendous success. He went from barely scraping by to generating a high six-figure income within a few months.

He began to suspect that the organizational leadership of one of the businesses wasn't being particularly ethical, so he and a business colleage (an accountant named Mike Churchill who held the same suspicions) left the organization, joined forces, and eventually created Global Abundance Program (G.A.P.), which is the parent company for Cruise to Cash Vacations (CTCV).

I joined CTCV a couple weeks ago and went on the first "Full Sail Getaway" this past weekend. I'm SO glad I went. I have a much better understanding now of how the company works and what they have to offer. I finally feel as though I have enough knowledge to be able to explain it.

I'll lead with a restaurant example: Last week, I took the kids to a local Italian restaurant. When we got there, the place looked much different from the last time I was there. After a close inspection of some public documents, I realized there had been a recent ownership change. The restaurant was in a great location and offered a great product, but the ownership and management lacked the marketing skills to get people through the door.

Kalamata's, on the other hand, offered coupons in Citipass, which is how we discovered the little gem. We might never have stopped in to the little hole-in-the-wall had it not been for the buy-one-get-one-free meal they were offering. Once we interacted a bit with the owner, I was hooked. Now, we're regulars. We eat there almost every week. We've met countless friends for lunch, introducing them to one of our favorite restaurants. Not a bad little investment for Kalamata's. They've also volunteered at Generous Helpings, our favorite fundraiser for Second Harvest Food Bank.

When I suggested to the owner of The Italian Market that he walk through the neighborhood giving away buy-one-get-one free coupons, he said that the food costs were too high. He couldn't justify spending a little to gain a lot. Now Cafe Coco owns The Italian Market. On the counter were coupons for a free coffee at Cafe Coco. They get it.

Airlines, hotels, condos, resorts, and cruise lines are rarely ever booked to capacity unless there's a large convention or other special event. Businesses like Cruise to Cash Vacations contract with these travel industries to help them get people in the door. The hotel or condo or cruise line hopes that when you enjoy a complimentary stay, you will also take advantage of their restaurants, bars, room service, or other paid services. They hope you will thoroughly enjoy your experience, return, and tell your friends about their excellent amenities.

If you strip it all down to the basics, I'm now a marketer for the travel industry. I connect people who travel (or want to travel) with airlines, hotels, condos, resorts, and cruise lines that are willing to give something away in order to build their businesses.

The way it works is this:
I pay a one-time fee of $1,477 (this is the largest package; there are others but they don't offer as many travel options, and they don't pay as well) to gain access to unlimited vacation certificates FOR LIFE. I can do whatever I want with the certificates. I can use them myself, give them away, or sell them.

The certificates require the payment of an activation fee, usually around $25. Then, you receive a travel voucher in the mail. Most of the travel vouchers offer a complimentary stay in 4- and 5-star accommodations as long as you pay the room tax. For example, Tod and his family took a trip to Hawaii this year. They paid $30 a night for a $300 a night room. The two previous years, my family stayed with their six children while they were away. This year, because of Cruise to Cash Vacations, they were able to take the entire family.

James and I are planning to take a weekend cruise next month. We spent $25 to activate the certificate and we're obligated to pay $59 per person in taxes and fees. The trip would normally have cost us $525; instead, we're paying $125 and we get to go on our first cruise EVER.

There's so much more to write, but I need to go fix breakfast for the kids. Hopefully, I'll have more time later this morning to explain the rest.

In the meantime, there's a call tonight at 10 p.m. EST explaining all the new products we're rolling out in July. If you have ANY interest whatsoever in starting a home business, doing network marketing, or getting the absolute best deals on travel, I encourage you to listen in on the call. You'll need to call a few minutes early because it will fill up fast. It's the first time we've had a paid-member call that is open to the public, and we have over 8,000 paid members!

June 10, 10pm EST, 1-605-475-6910, PIN# 190241

Off to Florida again!

Tomorrow morning I leave for Florida again. I'll be back Sunday afternoon. James has the kiddos and is actually looking forward to some focused Daddy/Baby time.

I've been working away trying to learn the Internet-marketing ropes. It's a lot of work, but I'm still enjoying it. I think I'm just wired that way. I love helping other people market their businesses. I can always seem to come up with helpful strategies for other people (even when those other people were happened to be ME before I started by own business), but now I feel like a blank slate without a single creative idea in my head. Why does that happen? It's like when you're single and you have all kinds of parenting answers, but as soon as you have kids, they all go out the window and you just stare at your children and wonder what in the world you're going to do with them--especially since none of the options that come to mind are legal.

Time for bed. Seriously.

A Little Link Love

My dear, dear friend Rachel (she's the kind of girl who deserves two "dears") shared this link with our playgroup (we're connected through a Yahoo e-mail group, which is a wonderful way to stay in touch with a group of people).

I LOVED it, so I thought I'd share. That's what I do. Love something, share it, love something, share it, love something, share it. And then I clean up some messes.

http://budgetingforabetterlife.blogspot.com/2008/06/worth-vs-waste.html

P.S. It's written by John Sheasby's daughter, for those of you who are familiar with Sheasby.

Kids at the Zoo

 

 

 

 

Call Me Crazy--this is REALLY stream of conciousness.

I haven't had ANY comments posted on my last few blog entries and I've received NO feedback on my new little website. What's the deal?

I promise not to try to sell anyone on my new business. I can't imagine that many of my friends would be interested in doing a bunch of Internet research for hours and hours and days and days before making any money doing direct sales and network marketing. Really. I'm just looking for some feedback.

I'm constantly making changes to the site. Constantly. I can't ever seem to be satisfied with it. I try to imagine the opinions of someone who doesn't know me or even someone who knows me--someone who isn't me--happening upon it. I wonder what people think. What would make it better? What isn't clear? What works? What doesn't?

In the meantime, we have Tiffany staying with us all week. I'm trying to get all the laundry done. I have a bunch of dishes to handwash. I tried raw goat's milk for the first time yesterday. I need to mow the lawn before I leave for Florida again on Friday. I feel like I've been slacking this week on my green smoothies. Then, I realize it's only Tuesday. I had one on Sunday (leftover from the day before) and another on Monday. I only missed today. We had produce from our CSA share for supper tonight. It was so colorful and flavorful. The kids and I ate an entire quart of fresh strawberries before supper. They taste amazing. My Miriam is making me laugh all the time now with her funny faces and her charades. Judah is really enjoying having Tiffany here, but I noticed that yesterday he needed some serious mommy time. We finished reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Only two more books to go in the Narnia series. That amazes me. There are so many things just rattling around in my head. And now I need to put Judah's clothes on hangars and get another load of clothes in the dryer.

Judah has been saying, "A boy's gotta do what a boy's gotta do." Yesterday he said it and followed it up with, "And sometimes a boy's gotta find some worms." (I replanted my three tomato plants and Judah stole all the worms he could find. He claims them as pets and tries to get me to pet them because they're "really nice.")

Today, when I was checking out my little plants, Judah said, "Oh, bother," just like Pooh in The Pooh Story Book. Children are such reflections of what we expose them to that sometimes I feel super sensitive about cultural influences. He watched a "harmless" DVD produced by some friends of ours who are Believers. In the video, a little girl taunts some kids with a whiny voice and lots of comparing. Since then, Judah has been doing a lot of that with Tiffany ("I have three strawberries and you only have one . . ."). It's so annoying. I'm addressing it, but I haven't seen any fruit yet. I also can't figure out how to help the kids remember to SHUT THE DOOR!!! Any suggestions?

Grace Extension Request

I've been researching like crazy, going to bed late and getting up early . . . so I haven't been very good at responding to e-mails. This is me asking for grace as I learn my business and how to market it. The Internet is a whole lot more complicated than I had ever imagined. Wow. The learning curve is incredibly steep. At the same time, I'm really enjoying it, so it's not a chore. I look forward to naps and bedtime so I can find out a little more. I keep telling myself that if I do a little bit every day, I will have accomplished much by the end of the week or the month or the year. Just this afternoon Judah and I finished reading the fifth book of seven in The Chronicles of Narnia series. That's a tremendous amount of reading, but it didn't happen all in one sitting. I look at that book and am constantly reminded that even an hour a day can make a huge difference.

One of my accomplishments of the night: a new domain name for my business!

I have a website: www.increasingfreedomnow.com
A business blog: www.increasingfreedomnow.com/blog
And a domain name: www.loritodd.biz

All of them link to my Cruise to Cash website in some fashion.

Any insider tips? Any ideas as to how to increase traffic without spending money in advertising? I'm looking for all the help I can get!

Treasure Unearthed

I have hit the jackpot! Last night, James and I were perusing the company website, clicking on all the links in the back office when we finally discovered what he's been so excited about finding: the unlimited vacation certificates!

Our friend Tod Bell recently used one of them to stay in a four star hotel in Hawaii. Instead of paying $300 a night, he paid $30 a night. He was only responsible for the activation fee for the voucher (around $25) and the room tax.

James activated two of the vouchers last night and planned little get-aways for our family. Woo Hoo!

If you'd like me to send you a vacation certificate, just leave a comment or send me an e-mail. I'm all about spreading the love! (and the deals!)



Oh, and I started blogging about my journey into the business world. You can read it HERE.