My name is Bonnie Raines. I’m a wife, mother of two, and litigation paralegal. I’m not at all the “crunchy” type and started my oily journey after over a year of research. My son, Joshua, was born 5 weeks premature after I had been on bed rest for 6 weeks. He spent 2 weeks in the NICU with a feeding tube allowing his stomach and lungs time to fully develop. At 3 months old he was diagnosed with RSV and asthma. We spent the next year plus in and out of the hospital and visiting our pediatrician multiple times every week. Just after Joshua’s first birthday we found out I was pregnant again. Even though we were hoping and praying this pregnancy would be different I started doing some research. Several of my friends had just gotten involved with oils so I started doing a little “googling”. During my sixth month of pregnancy my father suddenly passed away and my blood pressure started going up. I was put on bed rest again and had lots of time to research oils. There were so many different companies and I had good friends that used two of the most common brands so I started focusing my research on those two companies. Seed to Seal was what sealed the deal for me. I loved knowing that Young Living had total control of the process from the very beginning until the oils reached my house. I also loved what I discovered about the relationships that Gary Young had made with the natives around the farms and that there were certain areas that no one else was allowed to farm, but they had let Gary establish farms.
Fast forward almost a year, our daughter, Lindsey was born early, but with not as early as Joshua and we didn’t have the “preemie” issues that we had with Joshua. At almost 3 we were still treating Joshua for asthma and he had a boatload of medicine he had to take every day. We made a visit to his pulmonologist and it was suggested that some of the medications could have a long term effect on his growth. This was something I had researched before, but he needed the medicines to continue breathing so it was a no-brainer. About a week after that we took Lindsey to the pediatrician and discovered that she had a rare allergy to citric acid. This allergy is not only affected by food, but by soaps, laundry detergent, toothpaste, baby wipes, etc.
I decided that there had to be a better answer than just keeping Lindsey away from everything. I went back to my research about oils and talked to my husband. The initial investment seemed like a lot, but my husband and I decided that if we could knock out one medication for Joshua or two trips to the pediatrician by staying above the wellness line, then we had paid for the starter kit by what we had saved in co-pays. The day our kit was delivered Lindsey was sent home from day care because she was coming down with something. Still being totally clueless about oils I emailed one of my friends who had been using Young Living for a while and asked if there was anything in the premium starter kit that would help. She gave me some suggestions and we tried them. By the next morning my husband and I were sold! About a week later we had the opportunity to use oils to help support Joshua’s respiratory system. The oils were a God-send for our family.
Over the last year and a half our family has become totally oily! We have replaced many of the daily products that are weighed down with chemicals (and can’t be used by Lindsey) with cleaner, chemical free products that actually work better and I know where they came from. We have cut our trips to the pediatrician tremendously and for the first time in his life Joshua has gone 3 months with no medication! This is a long story to say that Young Living and essential oils have changed the life of my family and I am proud to be known as an oily mama!