Where it all began, Alex & Sarah’s Story
Alex and Sarah had some experience with anointing oils dating back to days in their home church as children. They had always enjoyed the scents of Frankincense, Myrrh and other familiar anointing oils. But they didn’t understand the full purpose, or importance of the plants and oils mentioned in scripture until many years later. Here is their story in their own words.
Our Story, by Sarah
Our first experience with actual essential oils was when a friend began distilling and selling her own oils. So we purchased a few, and a small personal diffuser. Unfortunately, they fell short of our original hope and brought little to no improvement to our circumstances. So we used them for scent and enjoyed them but honestly never considered essential oils again. Then one day as I (Sarah) was perusing posts in a mommy group on Facebook, I came across this discussion about essential oils and their uses. Many different topics were covered and I was honestly very skeptical. From my own use of essential oils, I had seen nothing dramatic and thought these ladies were gullible and over-imaginative.
For several months I saw mothers sharing testimony after testimony about their success with Young Living Essential Oils and supplements. Eventually I decided to really dig into research about these oils. I was convinced my herbs, whole foods and supplements were just as good if not better than oils. As I began digging into research, I repeatedly found that verified quality meant everything with essential oils. This came as no surprise to me as I already knew that the source mattered very much when selecting food, supplements, water, etc But I had no idea just how much went into producing a truly therapeutic essential oil!
Background Checks
Did you know that where a plant is grown is just as important as how it is grown? I did not, until I began reading. Also, I found out that what genus of plant is distilled makes a big difference. So while Lavender may be calming and soothing, Lavindin may be better suited for another usage. And you do not want to confuse the two! So next, I checked into testing and verification of quality. Who was actually verifying the quality of their oils? At the time the only company who could answer all my questions with satisfactory answers (and beyond) was Young Living Essential Oils. They not only were able to answer my questions but also further explained quality issues I wasn’t even aware of!
So after researching for a year and sharing my findings with Alex we began to save money for what seemed to be the best value option, The Premium Starter kit from YLEO. At the time we were barely making enough money for rent, let alone food. So, finding a way to get oils was not easy. We decided to look into new work opportunities and even moved to a new home about an hour away to save more money. Ultimately, someone gifted us the funds to get our starter kit, but that was after we had already been saving for 6 months!
Our Present for our Future
The day that kit arrived… even my two oldest kids firmly remember it! We were all SO excited!! Alex and I sat on the couch and sniffed all the oils. And let me tell you… we felt silly and woozy the first few weeks just from sniffing our oils! Every time we would sit down to uncap the bottles we would feel silly and joyful. We enjoyed the release and it became a special ritual for us each morning. Another favorite memory is of rubbing our kids’ feet and backs with lavender at bedtime! As you can see, Young Living Essential Oils quickly became a big part of our daily lifestyle.
As we wrap up our story we would like to share one of our first YLEO “Aha moments.” We had met some family members at the mall about 4-5 months after getting our kit. The kids played in the indoor play area along with several other very sneezy children. My daughter needed to use the restroom so I took her. Upon returning, I found that Alex had begun to feed the boys snacks without getting them washed up first… *dun dun dun.* So gross! I know all the parents and grandparents reading this, know that feeling. Anyway, when we got out to the car I grabbed my bottle of Thieves Essential Oil and rubbed it on everyone’s feet because of its cleansing properties. I figured, why not? We went home just as happy as we were before!
We could tell you story after story of how we use Young Living Essential Oils as a part of our wellness lifestyle, but alas, we must bring our chatter to an end. We’d love to connect with you personally, so please reach out to us so we can share more in the future!
Katie & Jesse’s Story
My journey began one afternoon when Sarah, my best friend since childhood, brought her whole family over for a visit. Our kids were off playing and Sarah began sharing with me about these little brown bottles filled with essential oil she had just started using. Each bottle had a vibrant colored label and quite a few of them had odd names, such as THIEVES and PANAWAY. This was the first time I had ever heard of essential oils and, not being familiar with what an essential oil really was, I was hesitant to think there could be so much potential in a five milliliter bottle with a funky name.
From that day on I always noticed Sarah toting her oil bag everywhere she went. She would often open one of her little bottles and offer me a drop. Not wanting to be rude, I would hold out my hand, smile, and politely nod my head, “Yes.” My husband and I even coined a name for the aroma of the oils as, “The Gielow Scent.” “Gielow” is Sarah’s last name. All kidding aside, I am forever grateful that she softly persisted in offering me oils, because eventually, I had a huge, “Aha” moment.
On March 3rd, 2014, about a year from the first time Sarah shared Young Living Essential Oils with me, we went shopping at Target. I was disappointed because I was having a hard time enjoying our time away from the kiddos, due to my overworked neck muscles. Sarah, always wanting to help and probably sick of listening to me whine, stopped me in the middle of Target, pulled out her oil bag, and started looking around until she spotted that magical vibrant blue labeled bottle with the funky name, “PanAway.” She then proceeded to slather my neck down, right there in the middle of Target!
At that point I had zero faith it would sooth my tired muscles. And I felt pretty self conscious about the people walking by watching Sarah rubbing down my neck when,….”Ahhhhhhhhh!”…. I could feel the muscles in my neck relaxing. After that moment I never looked back. The proof was in the pudding and I needed me some pudding! My husband quickly became as excited about Young Living as I was, maybe even more, if that’s possible! We started learning the history behind this amazing company and even found out those funky names had some pretty cool history of their own.
How Barefoot ’n Oily Began & What Our Team Name Means
A few days after Katie & Jesse purchased their wholesale membership, Katie came over to our house and we all began to brainstorm. Alex and I had only been sharing with the intent to grow our team for 4 months. So while our vision was clear, our method of how to attain that vision was not. Our intention was to create a culture of hope, love, inspiration and restoration. We wanted to help people find their tribe. And of course it goes without saying, that we wanted to help people find the joy and freedom we had found in living the Young Living lifestyle! There were so many thoughts flying around our living room that day! We wrote a list of over 100 different team names and began checking to see if they were available.
Finally we settled on Barefoot ’n Oily after much thought and prayer. We love the aspect of anointing one’s feet to be consecrated and set apart. And we knew that holy men, when called before Father, were told to remove their sandals to stand on set apart ground. Also we understood human anatomy and took into consideration that there are many nerve endings in our feet that help absorb and carry molecules to the rest of the body. And, last but not least, we want to help people remember to take time to ground by literally touching the earth with their bare feet. Our name has a multifaceted meaning, and our hope is that it helps others to remember to take care of themselves each and every day.
With love,
Alex, Sarah, Katie & Jesse