Dear Mothers,

Ya know, last week I spent a lot of time at the hospital with Mary as she had the staph infection. Well, anyway, I picked up a sort of like flu, I think, from the hospital. Anyway, my stomach hurt and nothing I could do would make it quit. This went on for about three days. I felt like there was a bacteria in my stomach.

Well, I prayed for some raw garlic and my friend Bonni brought some over. I took a piece of garlic the size of a big vitamin pill or a large capsule? I chewed it a bit and swallowed it along with a thousand mil Vitamin C. I did this about twice with two hours in between. The stomach pain went away almost instantly. Being a bit weak, etc. lasted longer. The Vitamin C is supposed to help the garlic work better and the garlic the Vitamin C. But, boy, it knocked the major part of that sickness right out.

I had read years ago about a flu epedemic in the U.S. And the old timers ate the fresh garlic and swore by it. It does kill germs. I think yogurt would have worked, too. I mean the kind with the cultures. Yogurt sure gets rid of yeast infections.

But I thought I would share this home remedy. Now I must humbly bow and run off stage with my newly healed stomach. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Love,
Dr. Connie

Dear Ladies,

Just got Jim off to work. Oh, now I gotta put the dog out… be right back. Daisey, if she could talk, would tell you all of the home remedies I have used on her. Well, she has never been to the vet and she is twelve years old.

Anyway, on a more serious note. I wanted to write about how to care for sick little ones. Some of you Mothers I am probably insulting by telling you the obvious. Please forgive me and bear with me. I know most of you are good and caring mothers. But I have seen mothers who, when their babies are sick, they don’t care for them. I see them out at the grocery store. The children’s baby cheeks are bright red with fever and their eyes watery. They are, of course, crying and fussy. Mother is telling them they are just whiners. The mother has no compassion for her own little baby. Maybe Mother is treated like this at home by her husband when she is sick… and that is so sad.

Sure, maybe you have to take your baby to the store because you have no one to watch him. But please, Mother, do this with wisdom. Dress him warm and give him a little toy to play with while you shop. Put a blanket in the grocery cart and a little pillow so that he can lay down if he needs to. Maybe pack a little sippy cup of juice… and shop quickly and get only what you have to have. Tylenal is always good for a fever. To me, this is such an easy answer and would make him feel so much better. And you may say, “Well, everyone at the store will think I am nuts, bringing a blanket and a pillow and laying it in the grocery cart.”

Well, I will tell ya two things I have learned to say as a mother. “NO” and “I could care less.” I mean, no one has a right to invade your private family circle. No one has the right to come to your home uninvited when your children are sick and they need your attention. You can mix herbs and Home Remedies all day long Mothers, but if you have no bedside manners, that baby won’t get well.

I have been cared for by an older relative when I was sick. She used that time, as I was flat on my back, to tell me all the things she was afraid to tell me while I was well. I have to laugh about it now and I have forgiven her, of course. She didn’t know the Lord. And yet, a child will not get well quicker because we tell them to. We need to be extra patient with them.

And, Mother, this is the time, by your example, to teach your little men to have compassion and to respect their Mother and women in general… his wife some day. As your little girl is sick, your example will teach her to care for her own family when she is a mother. And, Mothers, some day those little ones will grow up and care for you in your old age. Teach them well now if you want to be cared for with dignity in your old age.

I often think of the story of the mouse and the lion. How a mouse got caught in a trap and a lion set him free. The mouse said that he was so thankful and some day he would be there to help the lion. Of course, the lion roared with laughter to think a little mouse could ever help him in time of peril. But a trapper came and wounded the lion and caught him in a net. The little mouse came and chewed the net until the lion could get out of the net safely. I often think of this story when I entertain a little neighor child in my home who was kicked out of school because of misbehavior. God sees us Mothers and He sees us in secret. He knows our hearts and judges our intentions.

Well, duty calls.

Love,
Connie

Dear Ladies,

Got my Jim off to work and I’m back to share some family home remedies.

When raising my babies, I was always just an old fashioned mother. What was good for my great grandmother was good enough for me. I always made sure my children were dressed warm when they went out in the cold. And at night in the winter time, I would wake up and check them to make sure they were warm.

Hats, Ladies… the children need their hats. Ear achs are caused from children being out in the cold without their hats. I never had to take any of my six children to the doctor for earaches. Even in the spring or the summer, for that matter, when the children were babies, we mothers put hats on their heads. They were nylon and light weight for the warm weather. I mean, if there was a wind blowing, we never allowed the wind to enter our babies’ ears.

If the children did get an earache in the winter, I would use sweet oil dropped into their ears. Dan would come in bawling after playing outside in the snow. “Mom, my ear hurts.” I would help him get his wet clothes off and put his mittens and hat on the hot air register. I would stop what I was doing and put my attention on Danny.

“Come on, Danny, I will sit with you and put the oil in your ear.” I would sit on the couch with a bed pillow on my lap. He would lay down with the hurting ear up and the well ear resting on the pillow. Then I would pour a little sweet oil into his ear, and then I would have a warm wash cloth ready for him to hold over his ear. I had him lay there for maybe a half an hour, so that the oil would go down deep in his ear. It always worked for us. Of course, I always prayed for him, too.

But we never had health insurance so we had to do the home remedies. We still don’t have insurance and we are hardly ever sick. I believe that prevention is the key to keeping children well. I never really allowed sick children around my children, either. And if one of my children were sick, I made sure no one else drank out of the same cup as the sick child had. I am really particular about that still.

I made my own cough syrup and it really works. It’s all natural so you can take it every half hour if you need to until the child’s coughing stops. Just take a jar and fill it half full with the Real Lemon in the green bottle at the store? Then fill your jar the rest of the way with honey, shake it up really well, and that is it. I would give my children a few tablespoons of it at a time.

And if my children were sick, we didn’t go anywhere. If my children got really sick, I always went in another room and cried. They were so close to me. The out of town children still call me if they are real sick. But if the children were sick, it was a really sober time for me, especially. I would just lay my life down and care for my children. Of course Papa had to go to work so he couldn’t nurse them, but I could and I did.

If it had been life and death, we would have taken them to the doctor but it never came to that. Our first three, I took to the doctor because we could. We had insurance. But the second three, I didn’t. My last three children never have been to the doctor for common colds or viruses. Mary had to go earlier this year for an asthma attack. I could have doctored her at home but she was scared, and so we had to go.

Another home remedy, and then I should close and get Mary up for school. For asthma attacks, this is what I used to do with Mary. She would, as a child, start to get hyper and then get short of breath. I would make her calm down and would give her a pain reliever and that would stop it.

Love,
Connie