Inspire Me

Change Your Life

Last modified on 2011-01-19 21:33:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

On my search for a more natural skin care product, I met an amazing woman! She sells Arbonne, an AMAZING all natural skin care line. After meeting with her and finding out more about the product I knew I had to post her on our Inspire Me page! She is a mom of two, trying to find a way to supply an income for her family while also trying to be at home with her kids. What makes it even more inspiring to me is that she has now chosen a profession that exudes what she is all about…. ALL NATURAL! She is taking what she is already passionate about and trying to help change the lives of women all over… one at a time! After reading her story you will feel as inspired as I do!! Enjoy!

“So, let me tell you my Arbonne story…

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved the transformative power of make-up—the way it can make women feel beautiful and confident. From a little girl wearing mom’s lipstick to a teenager learning all the basics—making some silly mistakes along the way, but always having fun! I wanted that fun to continue so I decided to study make-up artistry in college and am proud to say that I have been a film and make-up artist for 15 years. During these years, I’ve created make-up magic for the Ford Agency and Irene Marie in Miami, as well as had the pleasure to work with such celebrities as John Mayer, Paul Simon, Randy Jackson, Chad Johnson and Lauren Bacall.

I’ve worked for tons of companies, including Longaberger Baskets and Proctor & Gamble. I once even worked on an Arbonne video production! Talk about fate giving me a nudge! It was about 10 years ago and I remember working with the make-up and absolutely loving it. The shoot itself was fun, but I really didn’t know much about Arbonne and the business. What a missed opportunity!

As if the fates were trying to tell me something, I ran into Arbonne products again in 2007 when I had my first daughter, Stella. As a gift, I was given some of the baby products and loved them but didn’t really know how to go about purchasing them. A year after that, I was invited to a spa party. I ordered a number of things and the products were amazing! I was going to host my own party, but life got in the way and I was again disconnected from the Arbonne consultant.

Well, finally, fate decided to really whomp me on the head in 2009 when I reconnected with my aunt Kim, who was not only a make-up artist herself, but also an Arbonne district manager! This time, I decided to listen to what the universe was telling me. The timing was right and I have started on the path to not only change and better my own life, but the lives of others as well.

With Arbonne in my life, I have claimed my own power to be successful. Every morning I wake up and say, “This is going to be a great day!” Every night, I go through my gratitude list and, right after my two gorgeous girls and wonderful husband, I thank Arbonne for inspiring me to be a better person. Thank you for introducing me to a wonderful world of supportive women.

And the products! Thank you for these amazing products that I love! For too many women, their make-up and skincare routines have become just that—routines. With Arbonne, I feel I am giving them back that spark of fun that they had as little girls playing with their mother’s lipstick for the first time! I feel that I am giving them back healthy skincare products that will not only make them beautiful on the outside, but on the inside as well. I know that RE9 has improved my skin and the night cream smells so good, it actually helps me sleep better.

As for the make-up line, it is incredible. As a veteran make-up artist, I have played in all the brand-name make-up sand boxes and I know that Arbonne is the best. The eye shadows and blushes have tons of pigment for lasting and rich color. They are finely-milled, evidence of a high-end product for sure. The foundation offers 16+ colors so I am able to match practically everyone who comes my way. The lipsticks are creamy and go on smoothly, and the glosses are luscious—not greasy or goopy in any way.

While the Arbonne products knocked my socks off, the supportive company surprised me even more! Nowhere else have I found so many supportive, positive women. My upline Kim Esser is helpful and encouraging, as is NVP Trisha Dezenski. I have only called on her advice a million times and each time she has been ready and willing to answer my questions and give me words of encouragement. Between the learns and burns, weekly conference calls, and Arbonne University, I feel completely supported to build my own business.

Wow! What a story! The bottom line is that my dream is to help people get great products into their lives so that we can all live healthier, empowered lives. Skin is the biggest organ on the body and we need to nurture it. I am living a healthy life making healthy choices and Arbonne is one of them. It’s fun too!”

Love to you all

Kendall

You can visit Kendall and her amazing products at http://KendallStolz.myarbonne.com/

5 Tricks to Turn Off Temper Tantrums

Last modified on 2010-12-21 22:16:06 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

We have another great inspiration for you from Lisa Shoreland. She has a great perspective on Motherhood and how she copes with tantrums. Something we ALL can relate to at one point or another! Here are her top 5 tricks to turn off Temper Tantrums! Enjoy!

I’ve been a mother long enough to tell you confidently that I have no illusions about motherhood. It’s not always about baking cookies, playing games, being amazed by your child’s intelligence, or enjoying story time together. Sometimes, motherhood means wiping noses, disciplining the disobedient,switching to Plan B after burning dinner, and going to bed too exhausted for anything but sleep. That is to say, motherhood is no picnic. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world. Even at its worst,motherhood still means that I am spending my life with my beautiful children and their loving father,and that’s worth more than I can imagine. So even when you’re dealing with temper tantrums and other crises, just remember that you’re still part of the wonderful gift of motherhood.

5 Tricks to Turn Off Temper Tantrums

If you’re the mom of a preschool-age child, temper tantrums are most likely a big part of your life. Believe me, I can relate. With three young children myself, I’m not sure a week goes by where the dreaded tantrum starts to rear its ugly head. Whether it’s a meltdown over finishing their dinner, leaving a playdate or over a toy, most moms agree   that tantrums are the hardest part of parenting. So, aside from having a meltdown yourself, how do you put an end to the tantrum

before it gets out of control? Thankfully, as long as kids have been having tantrums, parents have been dealing with them. Here are 5 proven tips to help tame that next tantrum.

1. Just walk away. Provided your child is safe, one of the best ways to deal with a tantrum is by ignoring it. This lets your preschooler know that their meltdown doesn’t phase you in the least. Generally when your child sees that the tantrum is not resulting in the reaction they want, they’ll stop.

2. Soothe your child. Some parents prefer to try a more hands-on approach with temper tantrums. One way to do this is by rubbing the child’s back and letting them know that they’re going to be OK. By taking a nurturing approach, your child is more likely to calm down and get over the issue.

3. Keep your cool. One of the most challenging things for parents is to keep calm when their child is having a full meltdown. This is especially true when the tantrum occurs in a public place. But by losing your cool, it will make the situation spiral even more out of control. Take a deep breath and count to ten before you react. Then, if you’re in public, remove your child from the situation and take them to a private spot when everyone can calm down.

4. Make a joke. One unexpected tactic that also works is to use humor to get your child out of their tantrum. Whether it’s tickling, singing a silly song or making funny faces, this strategy works surprisingly well as it makes the child forget the reason she melted down in the first place.

5. Use time outs. For children age three and older, a time out is a good way to take your child out of the situation and calm down. A good rule of thumb is to put your child in a time out for one minute per each year of his age. After the time out, explain to your child that tantrums are not appropriate behavior and the tantrum, not the child, is bad. Finally, it’s important to remember the key to every temper tantrum is don’t give in. If you do, your child will associate tantrums with getting what he wants and these emotional storms will increase. So, stay strong, hold your ground, and remember – this too, shall pass.

Red Thread Journey

Last modified on 2010-10-06 21:30:43 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

My friend, Shannon, has been talking about adoption for as long as I have known her (which is going on almost six years)! She has such a big heart and wants to help whomever she can. She has been blessed with three beautiful boys and a wonderful husband. She is a homemaker and works as a licensed massage therapist on the side. The McKnight family has so much love to give that they have decided now is the time to adopt! After the birth of their third son, they knew their family would not be complete until they adopted a little girl from China. It takes someone special to commit to a journey this family is taking and I commend them! I wanted Shannon to be the first to kick off our Inspire Me blog because she has inspired and uplifted me since the day I met her. She has motivated me to be the best wife and mother I can be.
Shannon, I love you girl and I am so proud of you! Most of us will never know what all goes into adopting a child, but what I do know is that Juniper Lin is one lucky little girl!!!!

Juniper Lin (her adopted name)

Age 2

Jun’s Story

Jun was born with a congenital condition called PFFD – Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency. This means that while in-utero her right upper leg bone (femur) did not grow all the way. This is a rare condition that effects an estimated 1-100,000 births. There is no clear understanding at this time for why PFFD occurs. If left untreated, Jun’s right foot would eventually fall at the level of her left knee, and life would be very difficult for her.

Jun was abandoned by her birth parents just days after her birth and was placed into foster care the day after being found. She has been with the same foster mother for the past two years, and available for adoption for much of that time. Despite her disability and inability to walk or stand on two feet, she has learned to crawl and manages to play with another child who she is in foster care with.

Jun is a beautiful little girl with as much potential as any other child, if given the right medical resources, support, and love…which we plan to do. You can see photos of her by visiting our blog and becoming a registered member.

Jun will forever live life with PFFD, but we will help her receive the right treatment to offer her opportunities she would likely have never known. Her medical files have been reviewed by several surgeons, and the best preliminary understanding we have is that she will require hip reconstructive surgery, if possible, since her hip is not fully developed. She will also need what is called a Symes amputation. This involves fusing her healthy short femur and existing tibia to create one healthy upper leg stump, and amputation of her deformed right foot. After her surgeries she will be fitted with an above the knee prosthetic, which will allow her to finally experience what it’s like to walk! Each step will bring challenges, but we believe we are the right family for her. We set out on this journey wanting to change the life of a child, but we never expected how much we would be changed by her. She is not even here and already she is blessing us!

Our Adoption Journey

Our adoption journey was not a short one, having first begun the conversations nearly 5 years ago. We both felt that we had been blessed many times over in our lives and that we wanted a chance to share those blessings with a child in great need. Adoption seemed a likely choice, but an expensive one. With some savings and a big leap of faith, the timing felt right to move forward with our decision to adopt in the Fall 2009, and we set out to adopt a Waiting Child (also known as “special needs”) from China.

Many people who have adopted say “when you see the right child, you’ll know”. To better understand the medical conditions of these special needs children we spent considerable time researching the conditions most often presented. On January 28^th of this year we received a distribution email from our agency letting parents know they were getting ready to send a group of files back to China to be distributed to another agency. They asked us to take a look to make sure there wasn’t a child we had overlooked. We had just been informed that our homestudy would be completed that week so felt a look through these files would be a good idea. After seeing Jun’s file I consulted our agency to see if the child was still available. She was, and our agency immediately emailed additional medical updates they had received several months back. This was when we first learned of the diagnosis of PFFD.

We were not surprised by the spark of interest generated by the child listed as having a physical disability. In fact, prior to reading her medical file many signs had come our way regarding prosthetics. So many, in fact, it was hard to NOT pay attention. The process of learning more about Jun’s medical condition was just as significant. Sitting at home on Saturday morning January 30^th we began doing a search on PFFD. What was this condition? At that time we didn’t even know what it was an acronym for. We quickly began learning, and each new step led to a person, a mother, a prosthetist, a surgeon…all with experience with PFFD. It was almost as if a chain reaction was taking place of information flowing to us with great ease.

It was in meeting with a local Cincinnati family, whose adopted daughter also has PFFD, that we were able to see a real family dealing with a real disability, and what it might look like for us. It was on February 14^th, Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year, that we made the decision to commit to Jun and move forward to request to adopt her. The rest…well, it involves lots of paperwork, waiting, and check writing!

This has been an unbelievable journey, and it’s just the beginning! We want to thank everyone who has taken the time to pray for us, support us when we’ve needed a shoulder to lean on, expedited paperwork on our behalf, written a reference for us, or written a check to help cover our adoption expenses. So many people go into the actual process of adoption that it truly does take a village!

God Bless!

Shannon & Greg McKnight

For more information or to keep track of their process, you can visit their blog, “Our Red Thread Journey”.


If you would like to make a donation to the McKnight’s Adoption you can do so in one of the following two ways:

1. Bank deposit donations:   Anyone can make a donation by going to Fifth Third Bank and depositing into the account “McKnight Adoption Fund” (This account is also under Shannon McKnight if they want to verify it’s the correct account)

**As an extra incentive, if you are local to Cincinnati, when you make a donation to The McKnight’s paypal account, you will be entered in to a drawing for a free 90 minute massage by Shannon, LMT. Please leave a post stating you have made a donation and we will also verify through paypal confirmation!**

The Seriousness of Postpartum Depression

Last modified on 2011-01-18 21:33:51 GMT. 4 comments. Top.

This story comes from Kathy over at Dreamy Babies. We’ve loved her website for a while now and were so happy to have her contact us and share her story about PPD. There are so many aspects of Motherhood that we’re not prepared for (mostly…ALL of it!) and then Mommy Guilt seems to kick in full force when we’re struggling with the choices and varied emotions that hit when we enter into Motherhood. For us, we’ve learned that it’s invaluable to surround yourself with people (family, friends, other moms, etc.) who are going to understand where you’re coming from, support you and lift you up when the Mommy Guilt kicks in! We hope you find Kathy’s story as inspirational as we did! Enjoy! Thanks Kathy!

There’s a big stigma attached to mental health issues which is why you will rarely hear people openly talking about their depression or other mental health issue. This is why people are reluctant to see a therapist or seek treatment; I can say first-hand that admitting you have a problem and need help from a mental health professional in some ways, makes you feel like a failure; less of a person because you can’t control your very own thoughts, feelings or emotions. But that is not true. After almost a year of treatment – and still going – I have learned that mental illness has a lot to do with genetics, biological, sociological and psychological attributes that affect our every day lives. Here is my story.


In 2008, my daughter was born. It was an exciting time for my family as she was our first baby but soon after she was born, things changed for me. I turned from a laid-back, easy-going person to a frightened, anxious, stress-filled, control freak who wouldn’t let anyone touch Kayla because in my mind, I was the only one who could feed her right, sleep her right or raise her right. I even had a hard time letting my husband take care of her and because of this, I rarely went out and for all of 2009, no one really saw me. Kayla was a catnapper and it drove me crazy. I thought that there was something I could do to fix that and I became obsessed with finding The Answer that I somehow wasn’t seeing that would make her sleep better and therefore solve my problem. I bought book after book and scoured the internet searching for any site that would give me The Answer but I couldn’t find it. I often found myself visiting the same sites or reading the same books over and over again, thinking that I must be missing something. What am I not seeing?


Over time, it wasn’t just her sleeping that kept me up at night; it was her eating too. She ate a lot but also had trouble with textured foods so she was on pureed foods way beyond one year old and she often threw up because if she burped wrong or coughed, everything came up. I constantly took her to the doctor asking for test after test because surely this wasn’t normal but he assured me that nothing was wrong and that once she got the hang of eating table food, the vomiting would stop.


Needless to say, the anxiety and stress robbed me of sleep and destroyed my appetite. I didn’t say anything to anyone because I wasn’t sure if something was wrong and everyone kept on telling me that “the first year is really hard” and that “I would eventually adjust” so I kept on going. Because other, more seasoned mothers, constantly told me that “it’s normal”, “it’s just the baby blues and it’ll go away” and they “felt the same way for about 6mos to 1yr but things eventually returned to normal”, I figured that if I waited long enough, I would return to normal too and I would start enjoying my time as a mother.
Well, 13mos rolled by and it just got worse. Still, I waited for that One Day when I would just snap out of it but that day never came. The bad days far out-weighed the good days and after a series of near mental breakdowns and a stint in the hospital (which the doctors couldn’t find what was causing my severe abdominal pains), I had hit rock bottom and knew that what I was going through wasn’t just your normal baby blues or your normal case of Postpartum Depression.


In August 2009 – 14mos after Kayla was born – I sought help from my doctor who immediately referred me to a psychiatrist. I was extremely skeptical to see a psychiatrist because I didn’t understand how someone I didn’t even know could help me. He knew nothing about my past, about my life, about what I was going through so if my friends or family couldn’t help me, how could he? I went anyway; deciding that I would give it a fair shot – 2 sessions at the most – and if I thought it was a waste of time (which I was convinced it would be), then I would stop. Obviously I was wrong.


The first session was intense. I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder with OCD traits and high anxiety disorder. That was a lot to take, that first session. I cried and couldn’t stop crying, even after I got home. I don’t know why either; maybe it was because I felt so defeated as a mother and person. Maybe it was because I felt like a failure when I excelled in all other aspects of my life. Whatever the reason, a huge part of the tears came from relief – relief from finally being able to see some light at the end of my dark, dreary tunnel. Relief that maybe things can change but mostly I felt hope – for the first time in 14mos, I felt hope that one day, I will be a good mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend again.


My psychiatrist was surprised that I waited so long to seek treatment but he was also not surprised as he mentioned that many mothers suffer in silence because they think that postpartum depression/baby blues are “normal” which is not really the case. Yes, it is normal to feel a little down after having a baby since your hormones are unstable for a while but it shouldn’t last very long or become as severe as mine did. I am so thankful that I sought help when I did because I seriously do not know where I would be right now had I not called his office that Sunday in August 2009.


My message is this: if you are feeling out of sorts and feel you can’t cope or that you are spinning out of control, I encourage you to talk to someone. That sinking and drowning feeling can turn into something more and it’s best to seek treatment – regardless of how mild the symptoms are – as soon as you can because if left too long, if you ignore it too long as I did, it could turn into clinical depression. Postpartum depression is a serious thing and although all mothers go through some form of it after birth – even up to a year after birth – not all cases are the same so take your case individually and take care of yourself. Even if that means talking to your family doctor or someone who has experienced PPD, it is a step in the right direction towards getting better. It is ok if you have depression. It is ok if you have feelings of regret, resentment, of thinking that maybe you weren’t cut out to be a parent, if maybe you made a mistake. I had the same thoughts and I felt horrible. I had awful guilt for thinking and feeling these things because Kayla is such a blessing and to have a child is an incredible thing. But if I knew this, how could I feel this way? Thoughts like that would keep me up at night. The anxiety destroyed my appetite and I dropped from a healthy 125lbs to about 108lbs. Nothing I did or nothing I ate made me gain weight. I hardly slept. I was utterly exhausted and it wasn’t because Kayla wasn’t sleeping – she was – I just wasn’t able to cope with the small things that often happen with young infants. When you are at this point in your life, in your mind, it’s time to seek treatment. I should have done that long before I got to this point however, I was stubborn and thought I could handle it. I was wrong – I see that now.


I am taking anti-depressants but because of the incredible progress I’ve made, my psychiatrist is weaning me off. I was extremely weary of going on medication but it literally saved me. 3mos after I started treatment, I felt so much better. Going to therapy has been extremely cathartic to say the least and I looked forward to our weekly sessions. After about 6mos of treatment, I cut back to bi-weekly sessions because I had better handle on things and since January of this year, I’ve only seen my doctor once because things are so great. I feel like my normal self again and I LOVE being a mother. I am able to cope and handle things as they come. I am able to take thing in stride even if that throws off our entire schedule or routine. I am finally able to see that raising children has its ups and downs and that it’s just a part of child-rearing. This is now my life and instead of resenting it like I used to, I embrace it. I love it. I couldn’t be happier. It took me a while to get here but I’m here and I finally feel normal. I finally feel like my old self. I am finally enjoying motherhood and I have my family, friends and my doctor to thank.

If you have any questions about depression or would like some support if you are having similar feelings, please do not hesistate to email us and we will put you in contact with Kathy.