A Chat with Young Living Platinum, Jennifer Spanier

Hey friends! As I prepared for this interview it felt so weird in some ways. I struggled to think of questions to ask. I was like - I know this girl, it's going to be funny asking all the things. BUT what's so amazing is those questions eventually just came to me. We had good conversation mixed in with lots of mama multitasking moments and I learned new things about my own friend and mentor. I hope as you read this interaction between the 2 of us that you see real, that you see love, and that you get inspired just a bit. Oh and isn't this picture just amazing! It's one of my favs with her!

Jen, I am so excited to have you be my first guest interview on my blog! Actually, I am excited in general as I begin this process. I was just thinking the other day how it can really be a way for us mombosses to team up, support & love each other, as well as share each other's goodness. I love the idea that if your peeps are reading this they can connect with you after and if my peeps are reading it they can connect with me. I love that people can ultimately have opportunities to find someone they connect with on their journey in life. Ok... enough of my babble, let's get rolling!

A: So I know you Jen, but many if not most of my readers may not. Could you do me a favor and just share a bit about you and who you are?

J: I am a 30 something mom of 4 who is a coordinator of chaos. My life is chaos all the time but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Honesty, I'd be bored. So up until I decided to stay home with my children it was very rare for you to find me sitting still. I was always moving or doing something. When I quit working outside the home for 11 yrs I thought "GREAT I’m gonna have a break, I can watch 'Young and the Restless' and catch up on all the things I’m missing out on being a full time working mom. I was wrong, OH SO WRONG. Being a stay at home, working from home, self employed mom, just meant I had piles.

A: That has been what is hard for me too. A whole different kind of busy

J: Yeah! I was getting what I wanted don't get me wrong. I was getting to go to school functions and activities, play dates. Packing everyone up to go to the store. It's all because we can now. So yeah. It’s a new normal but we’ve adjusted.

A: So outside of mom, new normal, & chaos…

J: I like to have bookclub where I have a nice glass of Stella & there are no books allowed. I like long walks through Target & occasionally Hobby Lobby. I am a constant re-organizer. This takes up most of my time when I am not busy doing other things. We spend our summers at the lake and my winters under blankets. And I just love coffee dates with my girlfriends when we can make them happen. Oh and the occasional date with my husband in his tractor. I don’t sound like a very interesting woman haha.

A: I think it sounds great. I think a lot of women, especially moms can relate. Our lives change, we learn to like and enjoy new things.

J: Yes and I’m longing for the day I can go to the bathroom and shut the door.

A: I can totally relate!

A: So... I want to mix in life and oils and all the things. So let's chat motherhood first. Describe to me your favorite part of motherhood?

J: The back scratches. No, really the simple innocence of a child. Like, watching them learn from, hmmm, I don’t want to say mistakes because they are learning.

A: But mistakes mean we are learning. I don’t think that’s a bad word. It depends on how we look at the word.

J: Right. And just their willingness to be loved by anyone.

A: The willingness to be loved by anyone - I like that. I have found that I often look at the mistakes or terrible twos or whatever as really exploring because that’s what they’re doing

J: Right. Those troubling moments where they have learned what they are not supposed to do. You can be up front and they forget so quick that you were upset with them. In actuality they are teaching me that a mistake is only something you learn from to do better next time.

A: Exactly. They forgive us like nothing, nothing at all.

J: Right, And I don’t even do that with other people necessarily.

A: I think we, no I know, we forget how much our kids teach us on the day to day.

A: What would you say the hardest part of mamahood is?

J: To not feel like I’m screwing them up in everything I do.

A: Every single mom, really every single mom goes thru that.

J: Oh! Me time.

A: As in you struggle to take it.

J: Oh yeah, it had been 9 months since getting my hair done because everything else seemed more important. When you are a non blond trying to be a blond you need to do your hair more often. It’s getting better. I'm doing better at it.

A: When I was a working mom, I was good at that.

J: You were good at it?

A: Yup

J: Yeah, I just took off of work.

A: Right! I know used my lunch a lot for just me, hair appointments, gym time, quiet walks, reading, or sitting in a cafe by myself. I rarely spent it with others.

A: Ok so as an oily mama, is there an oil you find yourself grabbing most often?

J: mmmm? Believe. This is one of my favorites. Believe and Sacred Mountain. Believe is for me. It really gets me to focus on the fact that I am doing the best I can do in the moment. Sacred Mountain just keeps me grounded so I don’t lose my shit.

A: We all need those oils!

A: Are there oils you grab for the kids?

J: Um I would say we do a whole lot of Lavender. Lavender is kind of our everything oil.

A: Ok so change of topic. Marriage! You’ve been married to Curt for how many years again? What is his take on the oils? Is he a full blown Oily Dude?

J: 2006 so what is that, 12? And we are High School Sweethearts.

A: That is so sweet. You just don’t find that a lot.

J: Most of the oils still bother him in the smell realm. He uses them when he needs them. He knows that they work. It’s just not his passion. I think it'd be different if he could be a part of the Harvest part of the oils more

A: Cuz he’s a farmer?

J: Right. I’m excited for us to someday on a whim just take off and go to the winter harvest. I don’t think he would enjoy Ecuador but I think he'd enjoy being at a farm where he can chop down trees and drive a combine. At that point he would understand Gary’s passion. He would be able to get behind what Gary was trying to accomplish. All that set aside, does he like or dislike the oils, he fully supports me and what it takes to grow my business. With that being said. And, our friends always joke with him and how my oils have bought his truck... 'your wife supports your farming habit', and his words are 'Your wife could do it too'. I like that. This tells me he fully believes in this.

A:When you think about marriage, and Curt, what’s your favorite part of marriage?

J: The fact that he can make me laugh in ANY situation. That we love each other unconditionally regardless of the ups and downs and in-between.

A: Marriage is definitely a rollercoaster. You get bits of all of it.

J: I just feel like I was super - I don’t know, whats the word, blessed, super blessed in the world of husbands. Sure I don’t like some of the things he does, but I make the choice to not let that affect our marriage because no one is perfect in life. He truly gets it. His thinking process and behaviors have evolved with all of our seasons of life.

A:That being said, choice has played a big part in your marriage as it should everyone's, because love is a choice. Marriage is still hard. What would you say the hardest part of marriage has been?

J: Um Just finding balance. When it comes to loving your kids then your husband and then still having to do housework and business work. For me, it was hard trying to not love my kids more than my husband and not having them come first. When I finally figured this out, we were attending an event, and we were told that we should never put kids or work in front of your husband. When I started to do that, it all got easier.

A: I know I have to make a conscious effort of that. And it has gotten harder with Orion. Thankfully we’ve worked through it.

A: So… I remember when I met you, you were still working full time, building your Young Living business and you only had your 2 older boys. How would you describe your world today? Is it what you envisioned it would be? If not, how is it different?

J: Um no my world is nothing like what I thought it was going to be. When I met you I thought I was going to be a property manager for life. I enjoyed doing it. Being a yellow personality I wanted to help everybody and as a property manager I got to do that. So, really I enjoyed it until it got overwhelming. I didn’t imagine myself where I am at now, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have the freedom to say yes to anything and say no to whatever I want.

My world has definitely changed, 2 more kids, and 1 angel baby. We now live on the family farm. As a whole, we have 3 businesses. I’m living in the middle of the country and that is not where I thought I’d be.

A: Motherhood is the reason for many of us when we get started with oils. Will you share what made you take the leap to begin using them with your family?

J: So what made me take the leap was that Daniel had diaper rash to the point of bleeding and I went to the doctor and they gave me some cream, I researched it and it was basically Monistat 7 and since I was not ok putting that on my body I didn’t want to use it on him. So I talked to a friend and she said gave me a dropper bottle and told me to put it on his bottom. It worked, it cleared it up within 5 changes. My friend educated me on the why diaper rash happens, especially in our situation since I had had a C section and was on antibiotics. She also educated me on how the oils in the dropper soothe and maintain healthy skin. As I learned, I started to think what else is out there that I’m not ok with the ingredients? So basically I was looking for something better. I trusted this friend. When she told me she thought I should do more with the oils, I did because I trusted my friend.

A: I love how we can have real life stories that show how oils work to help maintain a healthy body. I sometimes want to say it’s like magic.

J: It is. It’s the magic of plant. The magic of God. Why wouldn’t we want to believe & trust?

A: Gary said at convention that to him these oils were his way of being closest to God. I love that. I love that I can know that we are using something He created to be proactive with our wellness.

A: So, I know for me I was like “No way will I do the business side of this gig, I’m just using the oils for my family” and of course that changed. Will you share your story?

J:The first time my friend or upline talked to me about this she took me on a four wheeler down to a corn field where I had no way to get back to her house. Her intention was so good. She just wanted to talk about how she loved doing the oils as a business and how she wanted me to love doing it with her too. I didn't join her right away. I wish I would have done it sooner and believed in her on the business aspect of it as much as I believed that the oils worked.

A: So how long did it actually take you to go from oily user to oily builder?

J: 4 years

A: And remind me how long has it been now

J: 11.5

A: Each of us has a different reason WHY behind why we do what we do and often times it’s way more than sharing the oils. What is your WHY behind all you do Jen?

J: My WHY is to empower other moms sorry to discriminate against you oily dudes/dads, to take control of their lives and their family’s lives. Young Living was just the wheelhouse that got that process to started.

A: We all know running a business, well, not just business but living life isn’t all unicorns and rainbows. What would you say has been the hardest season of life or the hardest season of business for you?

J:The hardest for me would have been the moment I realized I wasn’t putting my family’s best interest first. That created so many rabbit holes that brought me to the bottom of the barrel you could say. I know that is so generic but what that could look like could be the loss of a friend, loss of your purpose, loss of a child, just a few of the things I experienced at the bottom.

A: Where has that bottom brought you?

J: A place of understanding. It doesn’t matter if it looks like others have it all together, you truly do not know what happens behind closed doors. It has brought to me a better understanding that the only person in life that is allowed to judge someone's life is God.

A: I have to say the Jennifer I know today, vs the Jennifer I knew 5 years ago is stronger, more compassionate, honest, yet also respecting of others. You love people right where they are at and you have never pushed your agenda or what you want on me. You lead well because you love well. Thank you so much for that.

A: If there is anything at all you could say to inspire our readers today, what would it be?

J: Believe in yourself more. Because as mom’s or women we do not give ourselves credit enough that we are capable of more than we allow ourselves to do.

Jen! Thank you so much for being my first blog interviewee guest! I am so grateful for all you are to me. Not only are you my friend, but my mentor who challenges me, kicks me in the butt and loves me right where I am at all the time. You never push me to be or do things that are not of who I am. Your love and support is such a blessing. Thank You.

Friends, I am so glad you joined me for this post! Next week we will be chatting with Cheryl about how she incorporates oils into her faith life. I am so excited for this one as well because I love Jesus and I love oils! Oh! And I love Cheryl - she gives amazing hugs!

Much Love,