Many folks are seeing the light of the benefit of online network marketing. With big leaders like Robert Kiyosaki, Donald Trump, Jim Rohn, and Warren Buffet saying that network marketing is the tried and true industry now – no longer a questionable one – well, it makes the thinkers stop and think!

What’s holding you back from internet marketing?

Want to know what three things to look for in a network marketing company?  Click here to find out.

Does this sound like you?
I don’t want to sell. (Okay got it).
I don’t want to talk to my friends or family. (Check).
I don’t know anyone.  (Sorry to hear that, but okay).

Anything else?

Yeah, I’m tech-challenged.

Normally that list of obstacles would scare away most people.

But not me. Not anymore. I have found a super online system where you can build your business right on the internet during your “at home” hours. It’s truly a home business that is done … well… at home.

I’ve partnered with multi-billionaire Roger Barnett to relaunch Shaklee – a preventative health and wellness company with an impeccable 50+ year track record.

Enter: Online Network Marketing on Steroids!

Now, I’m using state of the art technology, to build Shaklee into a major global brand.
It called Create My Future (CMF), and it combines the latest technology with state-of-the-art marketing sites that present the opportunity and products for you – so NO SELLING. It’s online network marketing at its best.

Plus no more struggling to find interested people, thanks to CMF’s lead capture pages and integrated lead generation. You see, you can purchase leads at a very good price of people who have been pre-screened and have declared that they are actively looking for a home business. This is win-win. Win for them because I have super home business opportunity for them and win for me because I love helping people reach their financial goals.

And as long as you can read, point and click, you’re in business thanks to pre-loaded emails, scripts, presentations and more.

With Create My Future you can grow faster and earn more in less time.  Without selling. Without talking to family and friends. (Okay, here is a disclaimer: I actually DO share with my family and friends because frankly, I love them and I want to offer them the chance to try these great health products and earn thank you checks back if they want. Why would I not tell them? But some people have had bad experiences and don’t want to share with their warm market. Well, this system makes that okay. You don’t have to. No problem.

It’s online network marketing that is sweet . . .  really sweet.

Want to check it out? I thought so. Don’t be shy. Click on this link and plug in your info. You have nothing to lose and lots to gain.

Do you like the industry, but don’t like to sell? Click here for a new paradigm shift in online network marketing. I’ll see you on the other side.

Leave a comment with your favorite tip for online network marketing.

Photo Source: Rob Enslin

Did you know you might have put a disinfectant ingredient in your mouth this morning? Yep, it’s possible. Go check the ingredients on your toothpaste. (Might not be on the tube; check the box.)

Innocent looking. But is triclosan in there?

Did you find triclosan on there? (There is other bad stuff too like sodium laurel sulfate, artificial coloring, artificial flavoring. But let’s major on the triclosan for now.)

Facts on Triclosan

Triclosan is considered a pesticide by the EPA.

Triclosan is a synthetic, broad-spectrum, anti-microbial agent that has recently become a common ingredient in soaps, deodorants, toothpastes, cosmetics, fabrics, plastics, and more. Studies have linked this chemical to skin irritation and allergy sensitivities among other nasty things we don’t want to happen in our bodies.

The European Union classifies it as an irritant to people and also a danger to the environment.

Triclosan may cause endocrine disruption in people according to the Environment Working Group’s “Skin Deep” database. Check out this post on the Ubiquitous Triclosan by Aviva Glaser.

A study was done in 2008 that was designed to determine what exposure to triclosan had occurred in a selection of children and adults living in the U.S. The results showed that triclosan was present in the urine of nearly 75 percent of those tested. Hmmm. Not very good news in my opinion.

So, check your personal care products: toothpaste, hand soap, shaving cream, etc. And be sure you are using products that are free of triclosan and other bad stuff. Here are some more thoughts on how chemical toxins are poisoning us.

Check the warning label on your toothpaste box. It might say: “If more than used for brushing is accidentally swallowed, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center right away.”

Hello? Poison Control Center for too much toothpaste? No thanks. I’ll stick with my Shaklee Dentrifice & other personal care products that I know are safe for the rest of me AND I have healthy teeth and gums and skin!

Be vigilant with every product you trust your body to. Your long term health depends on your good choices so please avoid triclosan.

Photo Source: Marc Samsom

Disclaimer: Remember that this information is not endorsed by the FDA and is not meant to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease. Check with your health professional for all your medical concerns including the safety of triclosan.

Did this resonate with you? 2012 can be a turning point in your life as you take action.

Contact me if you would like to learn how Shaklee can help you reach your new year’s goals. Leave a comment below or use the contact me form and I will get back to you within 48 hours.

Video source: Thanks to A Siloy on Vimeo for the creation and sharing of this video.

You'll be shocked at this proof of Shaklee vitamins!

I was at a vendor event awhile ago with lots of shoppers streaming by. My Shaklee table, which had to do with building health from the inside out, was a bit slow. I studied the people as they leisurely made their way around the room scrutinizing the vendor’s wares & choosing their treasures – for their home, their own adornment, or their stomach.

And I pondered, “Why do people readily buy a necklace, or a fancy plate, or spend hundreds of dollars on internet training programs, or thousands of dollars on a fancy cruise, yet refuse to invest in natural supplements to improve their overall health?”

I think I figured out the reason. The reason is that there is no glitz to a bottle of good Shaklee vitamins. There is no picture of how your body will improve plastered on the label. There is no vision portrayed of what might happen to you if you don’t invest in them. There must be proof of the Shaklee vitamins truly giving you better health before you will shell out the money.

I, too, needed proof. I began investing in Shaklee supplements because the Landmark Study proved they work, they have a 100% moneyback guarantee, and I have heard or read so many great testimonies* of how the  products have worked for others – even by doctors and medical professionals! (*needs a password for the library; email me for my password!) (Here’s a video with more results of the Landmark Study.)

But what if, just what if, there WAS a picture that proved someone who uses Shaklee long term DID affect her health for the better? I was delighted to find a great story the other day about identical twins.

Mary and her sister (from Indiana) are identical twins. You can see their adorable photo as four year olds here. Their genetic make-up, heredity, and environment (diet and lifestyle) were exactly the same during their childhood years.

Some time in her 40s, Mary began to use Shaklee supplements. Her sister, however, preferred products from other companies. Mary has more energy, feels better, looks younger, and is healthier than her non-Shaklee sister.

The same twins - 65 years later

Seeing is believing. 20 plus years on Shaklee supplements resulted in outward appearance being healthier: outward proof of Shaklee vitamins working well. How much more so are her insides doing great too that we can’t see!

Prove this to yourself. Take the 30 day Shaklee challenge and if you don’t feel better, you get your money back. But if I were you, I would stick with it for the long haul like Mary has done. In my book, these photos are the proof I needed that Shaklee vitamins really work.

Join Shaklee with an order that includes Vitalizer and your membership fee will be waived. Prove to yourself what feeling good really feels like.

Photo Source: tibChris

What is your "why?"

The following article was written by Michael Oliver. It is being reposted here with his permission. I thought you would enjoy it as much as I did.

On Being “Why-ser”!

According to anthropologist Charles Case, the question “Why?” is the most powerful invention of the human mind. When you use it to discover your own purpose for being and doing, you become self-creative and fulfilled by realizing and sculpting your own destiny.

You get “Why-ser”!

Similarly, when you use the question “Why?” in its many forms with your potential partners, you help them reflect on and challenge their present circumstances and thinking, heighten their desire to change and in the process become self-creative which allows them to sculpt their own destiny.

And the time to ask the “Why?” questions is BEFORE you invite them to join your organization or buy your products.

Notice I say the “Why?” question(s); not the “Why?” question. In other words, ask lots of them. The reason is that for most people their “Why?” has been obscured by the sands of time. It can be many layers deep and take time for it to be uncovered and revealed. It’s like unraveling the mysteries of history and changing what we thought was fact to the real reality.

Finding out the “Why?” of your present team members to motivate them to speak with potential partners has become quite popular in Network Marketing.

To me, however, the time to help them find this out is not after they have joined you, but BEFORE.

This helps them and you gain clarity as to the depth of their desire to move toward what they really want so that they are moved to action from the moment they start.

Their desire and motivation to “turn up” consistently is predicated mostly on why they are doing it.

If you don’t have time to find out and set the stage before they join, then when will you have time? Once you’re frustrated with their lack of action and they are frustrated with you and your continuous pressure it’s much more difficult to create that climate for change.

Finding out and talking about this very personal side of your potential partner is easy and comfortable when understanding and using one of the principles of Natural Selling; “Asking the Right Types of Questions at the Right Time”.

You can discover for yourself how to ask the right types of questions at the right time and how to “listen” a person into helping them change and join your team by getting my Home Study Course. The course includes my best selling book “How To Sell Network Marketing Without Fear, Anxiety Or Losing Your Friends!” and two sets of CDs. If you’re an audio person the CDs will be of particular value as you hear me actually give you words and phrases that work.

Thanks, Michael, for a great post on helping to our “Why?” Leave your comments below on how you seek to find out your team members “Why?”

About the Author

Michael Oliver is an internationally recognized trainer, speaker and author and the founder of Natural Selling, the only sales training program designed to really eliminate rejection and objections. Visit his blog and signup free to get blog updates by email, along with the latest news, free advice, additional resources, and a lot more! Go now to http://naturalsellingblog.com. While you’re at it, check out http://www.naturalselling.com.

Recently I asked myself “is that how I want to spend my life?” Well, truth be told, I was told by my life coach to ask myself that. Okay. Wait. Let me back up here.

Here is a sample lifewheel.

Have you ever evaluated your life on the life wheel idea? It’s pretty cool. I was introduced to the concept by my life coach who I have been meeting with recently. It is where you divide your life into 8 – 11 different categories (your choice), and then evaluate how you are doing in each category. Here is a really cool blog post that explains it very well: How Are you Faring in Your Life Right Now?

So back to my life coach. She had me choose 8 different categories in my life and make them into pie shapes in a circle. So I chose health, family, spirituality, business, recreation, finance, friends, & personal growth. (In reflecting now, I would add a few more, but that is beside the point.) I then rated each category as to how I was doing with 1 being “needs lots of improvement” and 10 being “totally fantastic.” Yes, it was quite eye-opening – especially the realization that my home business was just a small part of the pie!

My business coach told me that for the next month I should keep track of my activities, noting the category it represented. Then she told me to ask the killer question. Looking right in my eyes, she said, “Now at the end of the month, I want you to look at how you spent your time and ask yourself . . .

“Is that how I want to spend my life?”

Let’s do that in slow motion: “Is. that. how. I. want. to. spend. my. life?”

I didn’t even have to do the exercise for the month. I went right home and called my local adult daughter to plan a lunch date with her. I didn’t want another month to go by when I didn’t make time to sit over lunch with her, look into her eyes, and feel her heartbeat. I knew that if I didn’t schedule it, it wouldn’t happen. And not having personal time with my daughters is NOT how I want to spend my life!

After all, we never know when it will be our last chance to show love to someone. Something could happen to me or to them to cut our time together short. Check out just such a story here.

How are you spending your days? The way you are spending your days is how you are spending your life. Take time right now to stop, evaluate, and take some deliberate actions to schedule in the things that are most important to you.

When you go to bed tonight, think about your day. Did you read to your little one? Did you kiss your spouse good-bye this morning? Did you compliment the cashier waiting on you? Did you have meaningful conversation over lunch with someone you love?

Empower yourself to be able to say “I love the way I am spending my life!”

Leave a comment below as to how you feel about the way you are spending your life and what has helped you to be proactive to spend it well!

What exactly does a hug do for a person internally? How does a hug help you have good emotional health?

The Importance of a Hug (photo 1)

I was privileged to watch the dvd based on Temple Grandin’s life recently. Watch a trailer here.

Temple Grandin is an autistic woman who thinks in pictures. She credits her achievements to her autism, stating that how she thinks has enabled her to learn the sensitivities of animals.

Temple Grandin DVD cover

What does this movie have to do with the importance of a hug?

Temple is perplexed as to why the cattle stop mooing and seem to be calmed down when they are put in a restraining contraption for being innoculated. She asks in desperation why they stopped mooing. The cattle-hand responds matter-of-factly, “They like it. It gentles them.”

The contraption is a wooden device that is closed gently on their bodies so it was dubbed a “squeeze-machine.”

Example of a squeeze machine

Later when Temple is upset by a change in her bedroom, she goes wild and rushes out to the squeeze-machine. She demands for her aunt to close it on her. “Tighter, tighter,” she yells. Then she begins to take deep breaths and she is calmed down. Temple discovered that the squeeze machine worked for her too. She ends up making a squeeze-machine for herself to keep in her dorm room when she goes off to college.

Later in the movie, when she is explaining the feeling that the squeeze machine gives her, she says, “I always wondered what it feels like for children to be hugged by their mothers.” (Temple was always opposed to physical touch and refused hugs or other forms of human contact. This is often characteristic of autistic children.)

She then said regarding the feeling that the squeeze machine gave her, “It’s like a wire that is disconnected in you gets reconnected.”

I immediately thought of the importance of a hug to our emotional health. It is like a wire that is disconnected getting reconnected.

Here are some other ideas you might be interested in to help promote healthy emotions.

Big hug! (photo 2)

Go hug someone you love  . . . and do it daily. Help to reconnect whatever wire might be disconnected for them. And while you are at it, you just might reconnect a wire in you too.

You can never underestimate the importance of a hug. Leave your comment below of your own experience that validates the importance of a hug.

Photo Source #1
Photo Source #2

I want you to picture yourself at 70 years of age or older. What do you want your life to look like? Would you like to be in lots of pain? going from doctor’s appointment to doctor’s appointment? having multiple surgeries for this or that? Of course not!

What do you want to feel like when you are over 70 years old?

Decisions you make today for your health will affect what your “70 year old self” looks like. Make good health choices: exercise, maintain a good weight, get plenty of sleep, eat a good, fresh diet, handle stress well, and . . . invest in the best natural supplements available. Let me explain.

I bet you are already taking fish oil. How about B complex? a multi?  Hmmmm. Sounds like you need to hear how to evaluate the best natural supplements available.

Here are the top five reasons why you should invest in the best natural supplements for your health:

Reason Number 5: The best natural supplements will have no product recalls over its entire history nor any lawsuits from contaminated supplements. Shaklee supplements are known for purity and strict manufacturing standards. During their entire history since 1956, there has not been a single product recall. Check out the Shaklee difference here.

Reason Number 4: The best natural supplements will have proof that you can reduce your risk of diseases. The Landmark Study showed that Shaklee users of multi-vitamins for 20 years or longer reduced their risk of heart attack by 43% and of congestive heart failure by 60% and of diabetes by 65% over the other groups who used no supplements or other brands of supplements. If you could do something right now to reduce your risk of these diseases in the future, wouldn’t you do it?

Reason Number 3: The best natural supplements will ensure each vitamin is delivered where it is needed by the body. Shaklee Vitalizer™ is the only multinutrient supplement pack in the marketplace with S.M.A.R.T.™, a patent-pending, cutting-edge delivery system designed to improve absorption of key nutrients, ensuring the right nutrients get to the right place at the right time.

Reason Number 2: The best natural supplements will be endorsed by many people who have proven their efficacy. Here is an audio by chiropractor Dr. Frank Painter on the efficacy of the products.

Reason Number 1: You are worth the investment. Your future will be healthier by investing now in your health.

Now imagine yourself the morning of your 70th birthday. You bound out of bed in the morning, your eyes are bright, you feel ready for your day biking with your grandkids. Ahhh – you bless your decision years ago to build up your health with the best natural supplements around: Shaklee!

Good health is less expensive than sickness . . . you just have to pay for it sooner. So invest in the best natural supplements by Shaklee. Take the 30 day Vitalizer challenge and if you don’t feel better, you get your money back.

To help you get started, I am offering a $5 rebate to the first 18 people who join  Shaklee and order Vitalizer.

Here is what you do: Go to my website, put your choice of Vitalizer in your cart (Vitalizer Men, Vitalizer Women, or Vitalizer Gold for people over 50), follow the prompts to join as a member (or distributor or Gold), and then submit your order. I will receive a copy of your order and will prepare your rebate to come in the mail to you.

It’s a great decision for your health and your future health. Shaklee products are 100% money back guaranteed so there is no risk to you to give these products a try and get on the road to optimum health. I’ll see you on the inside of Shaklee!

Photo Source

Health Disclaimer: This post is the opinion of the author and these statements have not been approved by the FDA. This is not intended to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease. Contact your health professional for all your medical concerns and be sure to ask him what are the best natural supplements to invest in.

In Tim Elmer’s book Generation iY, he lists 8 damaging parenting styles. Just like a butterfly must experience the struggle of breaking out of the cocoon to strengthen its wings, so also our youth must mature into adulthood by experiencing failure, relating to difficult people, and other hard things we would like to protect them from.

A helicopter parent is one of the damaging parenting styles.

Here are 8 damaging parenting styles according to Elmore:

1.     Helicopter parents tend to hover over their kids, keeping them from normal life difficulties and preventing them from learning from normal failure which would result in the life lesson of persevering.

2.     Karaoke parents work hard at emulating their kids’ generation and try to be their buddies rather than the authority figure of parents. They fail to earn respect and to demand obedience.

3.     Dry cleaner parents are always dropping their kids off for others to raise them or fix them. They fail to mentor their kids.

4.     Volcano parents tend to erupt all over school authorities without any warning.

5.     Dropout parents give up, either just checking out of being a parent or literally leaving the family to fend for themselves.  They fail to provide a role model.

6.     Bullied parents are beaten down by their strong-willed kids, intimidated by their threats. They have surrendered their authority.

7.     Groupie parents idolize their children, making celebrities of their glorious offspring, lavishing things on them and denying nothing.

8.     Commando parents focus on perfection and compliance rather than being satisfied with growth and improvement.

I bet you can think of someone you know who is an example of each one of these. And of course, there is the blend too – where we do this sometimes and that other times. And sometimes we do the right thing too!

What an adolescent needs is an adult in his life to make appropriate demands on the one hand and to have appropriate responsiveness on the other hand.

Some of the suggestions Elmore makes (but you really should read the book!) are:

• Intentionally mix the generations
• Teach practical life skills
• Provide opportunities for service
• Give opportunity to practice maturity
• Engage kids in actively helping others (not just voting on a website)
• Reward the development of real skills and actual accomplishments
• Set boundaries
• Develop rituals to mark rites of passage

Check out Tim Elmer’s book Generation iY for more great information about the struggle of a new generation of parents. Get more information from Tim Elmer’s website.

What is your parenting style? What would you like to improve on? Remember that childhood is very fleeting and whatever difficulty you are experiencing as a parent, you want to keep it in perspective.

Do you have a healthy parenting style or one of the damaging parenting styles?

Photo Source

Why build a Shaklee business?

The entrepreneurial spirit is in every person interviewed

on this short video. Each one was a veteran network industry

professionals. Listen as they succinctly detail their large

investment, long hours, not much pay, or other frustrations.

Why Build a Shaklee Business

Quotes for Why They are Building a Shaklee Business

“When I asked my boss for a raise, he said, ‘If you need a raise, there is the door. Get out.’“

“You would think working 20 hours a day, seven days a week, you would have lots and lots of money. I didn’t.”

“We borrowed $400,000 and bought a franchise. We worked hard. We bought a 70 hour a week job.”

“No one is going to tell me what I am worth.”

“It is about creating your own destiny.”

Check out this post about three things to look for in a network marketing business. What reasonated with you about building a Shaklee business? Leave your comments below about your favorite part of your Shaklee business or other business you are in.

Photo Source

Disclaimer: Shaklee offers Independent Distributor opportunities and does not guarantee any particular income or results. Results or dependent on your own efforts to build your Shaklee business.

Our life is like a steam vapor dissipating into the air.

Do you know what is actually stealing your future? It is tomorrow . . . next week . . . next year. “Tomorrow” is stealing your future. It is procrastination . . . or just plain distraction. It is putting off till tomorrow what could be done today.

I just read a fantastic blog post on CopyBlogger called “The Single Word that is Stealing Your Future” by Robert Bruce.

CopyBlogger is one of the few email lists that I let come into my primary inbox because their stuff is so powerful. I wasn’t disappointed today. I had to share it with you here.

Tomorrow is not ours to spend

To paraphrase Bruce, “Tomorrow is not ours to spend. We cannot build on tomorrow. We can only build on today.”

He encourages us to realize our life is just a vapor – just like the steam rising from the cup of hot coffee sitting before us . . . our hours, just like the vapor, curl up and away, dissipating faster than it appeared.

In fact, there is a verse in the Bible about that. James 4:14 says “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

So Bruce gives a succinct call to action:

“If you intend to write something, write it.”

“If you intend to build something, build it.”

Tomorrow is like a master thief

Tomorrow steals away our productivity and success.

Today is what we have been given and we can build everything we need today.

For further thoughts on productivity, check out How to Improve your Performance with the Clock of Success theory.

Don’t let your future be stolen by tomorrow.

Share in the comments below what you are going to do with your “today” instead of waiting till tomorrow.

Photo Source

Aron had his arm pinned by a big rock.

I recently was inspired to think about how to solve the poor economy. At the 2011 Shaklee convention, I had the privilege of hearing Aron Ralsted speak to us. Aron is an extreme outdoor explorer who narrowly escaped death in 2003 during a hike through the Blue John Canyon in Utah.  Aron had his arm pinned by a half-ton boulder for nearly a week and he made the agonizing decision to cut off his right arm in order to free himself with a pocketknife.

His first reaction was to use his tiny pocketknife to chip away at the boulder, but that was obviously futile. As he considered his dilemma day in and day out, he realized that he wasn’t trapped by the rock, but rather he was trapped by his tool, a puny knife.

This statement got me to thinking. The economy is like that huge boulder trapping Aron’s arm. And the knife he had was his only tool to solve the problem of the boulder pinning his arm. Everyone is suffering from the economy right now and trying to solve that problem. But they need the right tool to free themselves from the rock of the poor economy.

Let me share what has been the right tool for me and many, many others and that is the business opportunity of a 55 year old network marketing company called Shaklee. In fact, thousands of people have been seeing the Shaklee compensation plan and leaving other network marketing companies to join Shaklee.

“Why Shaklee? Why You?” Check out this video by our CEO Roger Barnett of the Shaklee Corporation.

Shaklee is the right tool for me to solve the problem of the economy. Maybe it is right for you too. Contact me at amy @ hagerup . org (no spaces, of course) for more info so you can evaluate well whether or not it is a fit for you. Here is the link to a quick video about the opportunity. I am committed to helping you every step of the way if you do want to go “all in” for Shaklee.

Oh, back to Aron’s story, he WAS able to cut off his arm with his puny knife and he used the boulder to break the bones in his forearm to free himself. His story is detailed in his best-selling book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and was the inspiration for the movie “127 hours.”

When he succeeded in getting himself loose from the boulder, he said, “And I then stepped out of my grave and into my life.”  Do you feel like you are in a grave right now with the economy beating you down – too many bills? not enough money? job-loss?

Step out of your grave and into your life with the Shaklee business opportunity. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

You can view a clip of Aron speaking at the convention right around the 5 minute mark in this video:

So what do you think? What tool are you using to keep the rock of the poor economy from draining the life out of you? Leave a comment below with your ideas on how to solve the poor economy and please share this post with your social network.

Want to reduce your prescription usage?

Have you ever thought about what could reduce prescription usage for the average Joe Blow (my apologies if your name is Joe Blow)?

I am off to the annual Shaklee convention next week – woo-hoo. I’m so excited about it. This will be my third one to attend. Pay attention now because I have something really important to share.

You know what I notice at these conventions? I notice how many elderly people are there who are in amazingly good health! Mind you, there are a lot of young people there because so many young people are excited entrepreneurs who see the potential of the Shaklee Dream plan as well as being interested in improving their health.

Anyway, back to my subject line. Have I had the chance to explain the Landmark study to you?  It is the study conducted by the University of California at Berkeley in 2006 that compared long term, multiple Shaklee supplement users (20 years or longer) with people who used no supplements at all as well as people who used other brands of supplements.

Lab analysis showed the Shaklee group maintained much higher blood levels of all the essential vitamins and minerals than the other control groups.

When comparing risk factors for diseases, the Shaklee group scored between 200 to 500% better than the other two groups, and their actual incidence of coronary artery disease, heart attacks, stroke, and diabetes were much lower.

The most remarkable differences between

Take Shaklee vitamins to help reduce prescription usage over the years.

the two was revealed by their use of prescription drugs. In the Landmark Study, the control groups averaged using 19 prescriptions per year, while the Shaklee group only averaged one-half of one prescription per year!  That’s a difference of 3800% in usage pattern. Now that’s impressive. Go Shaklee!

“So, yes, Susan, there is a Santa Claus” – I mean, yes, Susan, there is a factor that can reduce prescription usage. It is taking good Shaklee whole-food supplements faithfully over the years.

Want to have vitality into your old age? No, slow down. Read that again. We are talking about your future health here.

Do. you. want. to. feel. really. great. into. your. old. age? Then look at the evidence from the Landmark Study. Look at the evidence of all the healthy elderly people at the Shaklee conventions. Read the testimonies at http://www.vitabooks4u.com. (Email me for the user name and password.) Take. your. Shaklee. vitamins.

Whatever your age, be faithful to take your great Shaklee supplements because it will help your health LONG-TERM.  Don’t play Russian Roulette with your health.

I heard a quote recently that sums this up. “Good health is less expensive (and more fun!) than sickness. You just have to pay for good health sooner.” That means you need to invest in quality Shaklee vitamins, faithfully take them, and probably reduce your own prescription usage.

Thanks for stopping by, health friend. Leave a comment to what you are doing to reduce prescription usage and build up optimum health.

Top photo source

Shaklee photo source: my personal photo

Health Disclaimer: This post is the opinion of the author and these statements have not been approved by the FDA. This is not intended to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease. Contact your health professional for all your medical concerns and be sure to ask him what factor can reduce prescription usage.

MS is often diagnosed with an MRI.

Is there a natural, immune boosting supplement that can help fight Multiple Sclerosis?

One of my teenage daughters has the possibility of having MS. She has had an MRI in June every year since 2009 to see if her three white spots on her brain have grown. When we had our appointment after the MRI recently, the neurologist asked her what treatment she is on. She said that she is only on Shaklee supplements including NutriFeron and Vitamin D3. The doctor told her that one of her white spots had faded significantly and that even though she did have two new spots, they were very, very faint.

Dr. Smith asked me more about the NutriFeron and I told her that Japanese Dr. Yasuhiko Kojima, who discovered Interferon, spent forty years working with botanicals that would boost the body’s natural interferon. He discovered four botanicals that worked and created NutriFeron. (Here is a video on NutriFeron.)

Are you wondering what interferon is? When a virus attacks a cell in your body, interferon triggers resistance mechanisms and activates other immune cells to kill the invading pathogens. Interferon helps your body protect you from the millions of germs you encounter on a daily basis that can lead to disease or infection.

Dr. Smith turned to my daughter and said, “You DO have MS, and you ARE on treatment. Your NutriFeron is your treatment. The NutriFeron you are taking is keeping your body from being overcome by the MS.”

The doctor asked me the cost of NutriFeron and I said that it is $39 at member network price with a 10% discount on autoship or on quantity volumes. She shook her head and said, “$39 instead of thousands of dollars that my patients have to pay.” She was interested in more information so she can offer it to her patients who want more natural solutions. How cool is that?

I was talking with Gaby last night and she said that when sickness went all around her office this past spring, she stayed well. She said that she is sure it is the great immunity boosting supplement, NutriFeron, that she is taking. There is another immune boosting supplement you can read about here.

Dr. Sandra Bevacqua says that she uses Vivix and NutriFeron with all her cancer patients. Listen to her talk about “Natural Solutions for the Challenges of Cancer.”

Shaklee’s NutriFeron is a wonderful immune boosting supplement and is all natural. In Japan it is even called “natural interferon.” I hope and pray that many more people will be helped to fight MS, cancer, Alzheimers, Hepatitis C, and other debilitating illnesses by taking this powerful, natural, immune boosting supplement called NutriFeron.

Have you experienced a great natural immunity booster yourself? What is your story? Leave a comment below so we can compare notes.

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Health Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion and experience, and these claims have not been approved by the FDA. Please consult your health professional for all your medical concerns. This information is not meant to treat, cure, prevent, or cure any disease. Take information on the immune boosting supplement NutriFeron to your health professional for their guidance.

Keep your dreams before you on a dream board.

Successful leaders encourage people to create a dream board to keep their dreams alive. A dream board helps to visualize success. Ask yourself this question: What do I want to accomplish with my life?

Can’t answer that quickly, can you? Think about it and then write some things down. This is the beginning of your dream board.

There are lots of articles about how to create a dream board.  My favorite and super easy way is to use Creative Memories Everyday Display Board that is a magnetic board. It comes with magnets as well as a cute little clothesline with clothespins for pinning up more dreams and goals.

Your dream board helps visualize your success.

A dream board, sometimes called a vision board, uses the law of attraction to help you visualize success. You can use photos, clippings from magazines, images printed from your computer, words, and drawings to put together your dream board.

Some ideas of what to put on your dream board:

1. Items you are working toward (car, house, new furniture)

2. Experiences you want to invest in (vacation, college fees, health club membership, security in retirement)

3. Values you want to promote (charitable giving, more time to volunteer, missionary support)

4. Ranks you want to achieve in your business leadership

5. Impact you want to have on other people (helping people, developing leaders on your team)

The Creative Memories Everyday Display Board comes in black, white, or chocolate distressed frames. They are 18 by 18 inches with the inside white magnetic board measuring 13.5 by 13.5 inches. All the hanging hardware is included. The cost is $52 (US) plus $8.50 shipping and applicable tax. This versatile board can be used for other fun things too, like your latest family photos, the birthday family member of the month, wedding photos, and lots of other great things. It is a favorite for teens’ rooms, baby’s room, kitchen … well, everywhere!

Here is a special for all my valuable readers who want to order their own dream board through Creative Memories. Go to Creative Memories and put the everyday display of your color choice in your shopping cart. When you check out, you will be asked for a Creative Memories consultant’s name. Put in my name, Amy Hagerup, and my state of Wisconsin, and my name will come up. When I see your order come through to me, I will send you a rebate for $4.00 (US). That is my special thank you for being a blog reader AND ordering a super dream board through me.

Which quadrant are you in in the clock of success?

Have you ever heard of the clock of success? I attended a Dale Carnegie class and we learned about the cycle of performance improvement. I like to call it the clock of success which is useful especially for those with home businesses or network marketing businesses.

The Carnegie instructor used a clock for the illustration and divided it into four quadrants.  These four quadrants are the cycles the average person goes through to reach optimum performance.

Clock of Success: Quadrant 1

The first quadrant in the clock of success is from 12:00 till 3:00 and this is the ATTITUDE quadrant. This is crucial for building the foundation of a solid business. Think of the attitude piece as realizing:

1.       Something needs to be done

2.       I am able to do something about it

3.       I want to do something about it

4.       I am determined to do something about it.

Without a good attitude and determination, nothing will happen.

Clock of Success: Quadrant 2

The second quadrant is from 3:00 to 6:00 and this is the KNOWLEDGE quadrant. This is where you are working on your business by collecting information – learning about the products and the company. You can learn from books, the internet, training events, and your upline. You can go thru your company’s training and listen to webinars, conference calls, and meetings. The learning curve is often steep at first but even once you know a lot about your company, you still need to keep learning.

Clock of Success: Quadrant 3

6:00 to 9:00, the third quadrant in the clock of success is PRACTICE. Now you are moving from knowledge to implementation. You want to put into practice all that you have been learning. Don’t fall into the trap of wanting to know everything before you get started. Just get started! All the super stars began with 0 sales and 0 team members. As you practice, you will find that habits develop.

Clock of Success: Quadrant 4

And with those habits come SKILL and that is fourth quadrant – from 9 till 12:00. As you keep practicing, skill results. With skill comes a breakthrough. The key is consistency. Keep practicing with consistency – don’t  get discouraged when everyone doesn’t come on board with you or when you hear a lot of naysayers or doom-predictors. You just keep pressing on.

Here is the funny thing – as skill improves, the fourth quadrant, your attitude gets even better. As your attitude gets better, you want to learn more. As you learn more, you are willing to practice in natural life settings – not just when you schedule time to work your business. And as you practice, your skill takes quantum leaps.

Now take a look at the four quadrants. Where would you put yourself right now? The big problem that often occurs in a network marketing business is that we get stuck at 6:00. We spend a lot of time on learning and then we get another great book or get on the list of another great internet marketer or we sign up for another super duper webinar that is sure to break things wide open for us and guess what? We don’t start practicing!

Here are four tips to help you focus your time on building your business.

Many thanks to the Dale Carnegie training for this idea. If you get a chance, read his books or attend a class. Doing so will improve your performance in every single quadrant in the clock of success.

Wherever you are on the clock of success, take steps to move to the next quadrant in order to improve your performance. You can do it! Leave a comment to let me know where you are progressing on the clock of success.

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Hmmm - is this ice cream making me feel better or worse?

Is there a connection between depression and sugar consumption?

One of my guest posters, Mary Anderson, sent me this article titled “What happened the last time I ate ice cream?” I thought she shared some valuable experiences so I wanted to share them with you.

Mary writes: “For anyone suffering from depression, I highly recommend Sugar Blues by William Duffy.  I stopped eating sugar after reading this book, with great results, but over time I lost sight of what I learned and slipped back into my sugar-eating ways. Then I realized that depression and sugar consumption are definitely connected.

It took me a long time, and many winding roads, to return to what I learned from Sugar Blues.  Unfortunately, I didn’t learn it the easy way.  I had to suffer.  In fact, my whole family had to suffer, because my mood affected our home.

I finally became so fed up with how I was feeling that I quit eating sugar.  In order to help me resist buying ice cream, one of my favorite treats, I put a little reminder note in my purse to read just in case I become weak again.  This is the note I wrote after the last time I ate ice cream:

“For five solid days I felt tired and listless. I did not feel

Gotta love this expression!

like doing anything other than lying on the sofa, with no motivation to do anything beyond the absolute basic necessities.  I felt easily irritated and insecure.  I required two or three naps each day.  I felt overwhelmed with our dog’s needs.  I had several days in which I felt I ‘had to munch.’

I do not feel like this when I am eating an organic, sugar-free diet.”

Sugar is deadly for the body and emotions.  A truly healthy person will not be noticeably affected by sugar because the body can still process this poison.  However, it is slowly doing its damage, and someday the effects will be manifested.

Depression and sugar seem to go hand-in-hand.

I encourage you to study the effects of refined sugar on the body, and then take it off your menu.”

Thanks to my guest article writer, Mary Anderson. This is very insightful.

You might also want to read Two Mood Altering Drugs in Your Shopping Cart.

Remember too that depression is very multi-faceted and that diet is only one component of what is happening in your body and brain. Be sure to check with your health professional for help solving depression issues, but decreasing or eliminating refined sugar might be worth a try for a few weeks to see if that helps. It sure helped Mary and many others who discovered that there is a link between depression and sugar consumption.

Photo source #1: worried woman

Photo source #2: huge sundae

Please contact Mary Anderson at mea@hvgsystems.com if you would like to subscribe to Get the Connection.

Health Disclaimer: Remember that this article is the opinion of the authors and it not meant to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease. See your health professional for all your medical concerns to help you determine if there is a link between depression and sugar consumption.

Can the use of a cell phone cause health hazards?

Did you know that the WHO (World Health Organization) says that brain cancer can possibly result from cell phone use?

After reviewing numerous studies on the use of cell phones and brain cancer, the WHO listed cell phones as being “possibly carcinogenic.” Simply put, that means there’s enough evidence to raise concern, but the information is not exactly conclusive.

Other items in their “possibly carcinogenic” category are the banned pesticide DDT and gasoline engine exhaust. Hmmm. Not a good sign.

On the other hand, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states “that although some studies have raised concerns, the scientific research as a whole does not support a significant association between cell phone use and health effects.” Here is a comprehensive list of scientific studies done by the National Cancer Institute regarding cell phones and the risk of cancer.

Mobile phones do meet federal safety requirements, but to be cautious, here are

Five tips for using your cell phone safely:

A cell phone is almost indispensible now.

1. Limit your time on your cell phone. If you have a choice between your landline and your cell phone, choose the landline.

2. When you do talk on your cell phone, use the speaker phone feature so you don’t have to hold the phone near your head.

3. Or better yet, use a hands-free headset.

4. Don’t sleep with a turned on cell phone by your bed. If it’s your only phone, put it in “airplane mode.”

5. Children, because of their thinner skulls and developing brains, should use cell phones only on rare occasions according to Devra Davis at University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Environmental Oncology.

It is a fact that cell phones do emit radio active waves, similar to the danger of microwave ovens – it is just not certain whether they are truly harmful yet. The surge in cell phone use is fairly recent and it can take a decade before cancer shows up, so the jury is really still out on the human evidence factor.

However, cell phone usefulness is here to stay so it behooves us all to take precautions to protect our health as much as we can.

Remember there is no such thing as a brain transplant, so turn that speaker on next time your cell phone vibrates.

What do you think? Leave a comment below to let us know if you believe there a danger in too much cell phone use.

Photo Source: Man

Photo Source: Two girls

Disclaimer: Remember that this post is my opinion and is not meant to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease. Check with your health professional for all your medical concerns including cell phone use.

What is the safest mosquito repellent to prevent this bite but not harm the body?

Have you wondered what is the safest mosquito repellent out there? One you can safely use on your small children without harming them? Mosquitos are so pesky and annoying, but more than that, they harm us with their bites – leaving welts and itching patches on our delicate skin. Where is the safest mosquito repellent to stop the bites but not harm our bodies?

Listen to these amazing stories about the safest mosquito repellent ever:

Linda’s story: I have a friend who owns a restaurant on a lake. There is a deck
over the lake that is used in the summer. She puts small spray
bottles of full strength Shaklee Basic H2 out on the tables for the customers
to use to prevent mosquito bites. It works like a charm. She even
did a test with one of her waitresses. The waitress used “Off” and
Linda used Basic H2. Long story short, Basic H2 won. It’s the safest mosquito repellent ever.

Brenda’s story:I can attest to the fact that Basic H2 works great as a bug repellent. At our house we keep a 16oz spray bottle filled with 1/3 Basic H, 1/3 white vinegar, 1/3 water. We use this on all of our animals and on our selves to keep the bugs away. This mixture also works great to keep itching down if you have already been bitten. If you want the safest mosquito repellent ever, grab a bottle of Shaklee’s Basic H2.

Kaaren’s story: At the Muenster Chamber of Commerce wine-tasting event, a group of the members went outside to the gardens and were getting bitten by mosquitoes. One guy starting talking about a guy that he golfed with a few weeks earlier. He said, that this golfer took out a little bottle of what he called Basic H and it was mixed with water and started spraying the guys with it, and they didn’t get eaten up alive with mosquitoes. Well, I am that guy’s wife and so I told them all about Basic H2. The next day I sold ten bottles of it. The mixture we use is 1/2 basic H2 to 1/2 water. It works and is definitely the safest mosquito repellent ever!

The Safest Mosquito Repellent Ever is Shaklee’s Basic H2!

So there are three different mixtures here but the bottom line is that Basic H2 works to repel mosquitoes. It is even safe for babies. Try it and enjoy your next outdoor event without mosquito bites! You can get small spray bottles at Wal-mart or Target for just 99 cents and keep your protection handy in your purse or car.

One more thing: don’t forget that Shaklee’s Basic H2 has many, many uses. So if you are crazy about being green and clean, you are going to love this product.

What has your experience been? I’d love to hear what have you found to be the safest mosquito repellent out there.

Photo source

Disclaimer: Remember that this post is the opinion of the author and is not endorsed by the FDA or Shaklee Corporation. Please check with your health professional for all your medical concerns. The information here is not meant to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any illness. But I sure do believe this is the safest mosquito repellent ever – just had to add that.

Kinza's adoption story was told at her concert/grad party!

My husband and I decided to share Kinza’s adoption story at her high school graduation party. We had to leave out a lot of the details in order to keep it to 10 minutes because her party was also a piano concert performed by Kinza, including songs that she composed. Stay tuned for a video or two of her playing the piano. But the highlights of Kinza’s adoption story are included here. Take a peek:

Kinza wrote her own version of her adoption story when she applied to Bradley University. She absolutely loves composing music and has told me that “she hears it in her head.”

One time I was contemplating how the choices we make in our lives can impact us . . . and others . . . so significantly, and this post about choices also shares more details of Kinza’s adoption story. You can also see more family photos on our family website at http://www.hagerup.org.

Kinza’s adoption story is an amazing story of an infant rescued from death, and destined to musical greatness. It makes me think of how every single child has great value and potential.

In the orphanage where we found Kinza, there was a large poster on the wall of a smiling boy. The caption read, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And then below, in big words, it had printed, “ALIVE!”  Kinza’s adoption story is a reminder of the value of every child on this earth – whether they are born in a mud hut or a mansion!

If you enjoyed Kinza’s adoption story and the lesson of the value of every human life, please share it with your friends and family through the sharing links below.

What did you think? What do you like to look for in a network marketing business? Leave a comment below to let me know what you feel is the top criteria when choosing a network marketing company.

She needs warriors to build up her immune system!

Did you know that 80 percent of your immune system is located in your digestive system? This means that you need a healthy gut if you truly want to maintain optimal health and this can be achieved by the delivery of 500 million warriors, also known as friendly bacteria, in the form of probiotics.

The number one defense against all disease is a robust immune system. This is because the nutritional root of many health concerns is directly related to an imbalance of the intestinal bacteria. The optimal balance for good health is about 85% good bacteria to about 15% bad bacteria.

Healthy food choices will help with the bacteria balance. But, similar to keeping your yard covered with green grass, you might need to “reseed” areas that have become a bit barren for whatever reason.

The warriors for a healthy immune system you are striving for have several important functions:

* Digesting and absorbing certain undigested starches, sugars, and fiber, and then converting these carbohydrates into sources of needed energy and nutrients.

* Helping to produce vitamin K and B vitamins, promoting mineral absorption, and also aiding in metabolism and the breakdown of toxins.

* Keeping bad bacteria under control.

* Preventing allergies by distinguishing between pathogens and non-harmful antigens, and to respond appropriately because of these friendly bacteria.

* Providing vital support to your gut’s immune system and your systemic immune system.

Probiotics, I mean, warriors, perform many functions.

A few of them include help with:

* food and skin allergies
* vaginitis or candida
* inflammatory bowel disease
* recurrent ear and bladder infections
* chronic diarrhea or constipation
* acid reflux
* flatulence and bloating
* taking antibiotics
* stomach ache & digestive disorders

Look for these features in your probiotics:

* Doesn’t need refrigeration
* Has a long shelf life
* Has good protection to survive stomach acid and reaches your small intestine
* Live cultures arrive safely in the small intestine where they can be effective

Shaklee’s Optiflora has 500 million warriors to help you build up your immune system. Each capsule contains 250 million Bifodobacterium Longum and 250 million Lactobaccillus Acidophilus. The triple layer encapsulation guarantees survival through the stomach acid and the arrival of live cultures to the small intestines where the friendly bacteria is needed. Optiflora can be purchased by itself but is also a part of the Vitalizer pack which you can check out here.

A healthy immune system is so important to maintain good health. Rally your own 500 million warriors and get your gut ruled by friendly bacteria!

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Remember, folks, this post is the opinion of the author and is not meant to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease. Please consult your health professional for all your health concerns and what warriors for a healthy immune system are advised!

Be careful what type of vitamins you put in your body!

Have you been confused regarding natural versus synthetic vitamins?

Does the body recognize the difference? Do synthetic vitamins really go through the body without dissolving? What is the truth?
It is important to know the truth regarding natural versus synthetic vitamins before you put a vitamin in your mouth.
It is possible to ingest a pill that can kill us – so why would we even consider swallowing a vitamin we were not certain was good for us?

A vitamin consists of not only the organic nutrients identified as the vitamin, but also enzymes, coenzymes, antioxidants, and trace element activators.

A vitamin supplement cannot simply be an individual chemical or several chemicals. Supplements must be food concentrates, intact, integrated with their vitamin complexes incorporated so as to retain their functional and nutritional integrity.

There are two general points of view when it comes to natural versus synthetic vitamins.

One belief is that the vitamin factors can be made as parts to resemble the structure of natural vitamins, prepared in a chemically-pure form in a high concentration or high potency. The result is a synthetic vitamin that is a crystalline-pure chemical, hardly resembling the original intricate vitamin complex. This is the principle followed by the drug or the pharmaceutical companies and most supplement companies. Many contemporary biochemical researchers and nutritionists believe that the body doesn’t know the difference between this synthetic vitamin and a natural, whole-food vitamin.

The other point of view, the natural vitamin point of view, is that vitamins are just like other food factors. They exist as extremely complex groups of associated substances of a synergetic nature and that if the complex is taken apart or fractioned, it no longer is capable of producing its normal nutritional and metabolic effect or function.

The important truth is that nature produces that which man cannot duplicate.

Even when the chemical analysis is the same, there is still a difference that makes one alive, functional, and the other dormant, inactive, and basically dead.  The synthetic product may resemble the natural product in one or more ways, but it is deficient and definitely not the same thing. It is a false imitation. The synthetic product is always simple, isolated, chemical substance while the natural product is a complex mixture of related and similar and interdependent materials.

The Landmark Study conducted at the University of California at Berkeley in 2007 proved that people on retail store vitamins sometimes did worse than people on no vitamins at all in their body’s bio-markers and disease history. The third control group of Shaklee whole food supplement users for 20 years or longer had markedly better biomarkers, less disease, and overall better health.

This Landmark study proved the importance of choosing whole food supplements for optimizing your health. When it comes to natural versus synthetic vitamins, choose the natural ones that are whole-food based.

What do you think? Leave a comment below telling us what your opinion or experience has been on natural versus synthetic vitamins.

Check out http://www.topdocinformationlisting.info for the bulk of this article and more great articles on every subject.

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This post is the opinion of the author and is not meant to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease. Check with your health professional for any medical concerns and seek out the truth about natural versus synthetic vitamins.

What you do with time is a critical component to building a business.

There is one critical component to building a business and we all have an equal amount of it. And that component is TIME.

Time, however, can often elude us. A quick look at our emails sends us on mission to solve a client’s problem. What is intended to check to see if we have any messages on facebook ends us with an interesting blog post getting clicked on.

There are lots of great time management tips available, so check out those for the nitty gritty of prioritizing. But, if you know all of those and still struggle with focusing,  here are four quick tips to help you become more laser-focused with your time in building a home business:

1. Clearly write out (yes, on paper!) what you do that is the most valuable part of building your business. Document at least five key things on this A List.

2. Now list 10 low value activities that take up a lot of your time. Learn to delegate, minimize, and control the time these low value items take up, so you can focus on the high value ones.

3.  Carve out blocks of time of 60 to 90 minutes where you refuse any distraction, including the phone, so you can accomplish high value work from your A list. You might even find it helpful to set a timer.

4. Put controls on your email. Don’t have your email be set up as your home page. Set up specific times to check and deal with email. If you don’t do this, email can be a great deceiver – making you think you are accomplishing something, while it is actually distracting you from your work. The same guidelines can be used for facebook too.

I love how Amanda Han shared more detailed tips about time management so check out her article here.

If you had a bank account that credited your account with $86,400 every morning with no balance carried over to the next day each and every day, what would you do? Well, you do have such a bank. It is time.

Every morning you are credited with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off as “lost” whatever you didn’t use toward good purposes. It carries over no balances and allows no overdrafts. You can’t hoard it, save it, store it, loan it, or invest it. You can only use it.

This is why it is so vital to learn to focus your time in building your home business.  A big impact on your daily life is the power of the choices you make with the use of your time. Share a comment below to let us know what you have found that helped you focus your time in building your home business?

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"Turn around and you're two..."

I’ve been entertaining reflections on the speed of childhood as the time for high school graduation for my daughter gets closer. One of my favorite songs through the years has been “Turn Around” that was made popular by a Kodak commercial. This quick song will totally emphasize your reflections on the speed of childhood. Get out the tissue!

When you are going through the thick of sleepless nights, toddlers throwing tantrums, stubborn eaters, juggling soccer schedules, sibling arguments, and teens who only think of themselves, then stop to remember how fleeting childhood is.  Stop and think of how excited you were to find out you were going to have a baby . . .

"...Turn around and you're a young one going out of the door!"

or how thrilled you were to have the adoption go through. Reflections on the speed of childhood will help you realign your feelings of what you are going through right now.

Psalm 127: 3 says “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward.” Do you believe that?

One of my daughters just celebrated her adoption day and on her facebook wall, she wrote:  “So about 18yrs ago I was officially adopted by my parents and brought to America. And now I will be going to college in the fall. Thank you, mom and dad, for giving me the opportunity to live! Happy Adoption Day to me!” Read Kinza’s story here.

I was really touched by her comment “thanks for giving me the opportunity to live.” It is possible she would not have survived at the orphanage – she was only 4.5 lbs and needed special care. But then again, every child can really thank their parents for giving them the opportunity to live.  That is what each parent does. They sacrifice incredibly so that their child can truly live. (I know there are bad parents too, and I cry for the children they have hurt.)

When you are ready to pull your hair out with all the stresses of parenting, stop and spend time  reflecting on the speed of childhood.  Project yourself into the future at their graduation, feel your pride for that precious two year old who drove you up the wall sometimes, and sing this little tune in your heart:

“Turn around and you’re two, turn around and you’re four, turn around and you’re a young one going out of the door.”

Leave a comment below to share your own reflections on the speed of childhood and . . . hang in there!