~Serentity
Cottage was established October 2008, by Charlie and Dorinda Brown, in
an effort to promote environmentally friendly living, and eco friendly
lodging to vacationers.
~~Charlie
and Dorinda were married in 1970, and have lived in a wide variety of
places during that time. Their current location in Deer Park is
their favorite.
Serenity Cottage's Beginnings
After
some life changes, Charlie and Dorinda found themselves in a unique
position-- a large house that had been specifically remodeled with
their needs in mind-- that is, both suffer from health issues,
including Environmental Illness, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS),
and asthma. But a big house for "empty nesters" is not ideal,
especially with the strong desire to help and minister to others! So
some more remodeling was done during 2008 to separate the living spaces
in order to provide a quiet, cozy, and restful cottage for vacationers,
always with the goal of being eco friendly, as organic and "green" as
possible.
In Dorinda's Words
I have found that MCS is
the result of the cumulative effect of the over exposure to the toxin
in our world. It began for me many years ago, while living in
the
middle of the wheat fields of eastern Washington back in the 1980's. At
that time I became so sensitive that I could no longer tolerate eating
any meat as I was unable to digest it. We know now it was not the meat,
but rather the growth hormones and antibiotics that the animals were
being fed.
We moved to southern California in 1985 and the
exposure just got worse there. Fumigating was a common practice down
there to keep the roaches from taking up residence in your home. I hate
bugs and so in my naivety I was poisoning myself and my family by
having it done.
Another chemical exposure incident
occurred while swimming with my daughter at the YMCA/YWCA in San
Bernardino, California, I was poisoned when a worker there
put
chlorine in the pool right beside us. My hair was burned and it broke
off down by the scalp and my new bright blue suit turned a dull gray.
Both my daughter and I can't be around chlorine at all as a result of
that without getting very ill.
Upon our return to
Washington state, I opened my own business as an interior
decorator--that is, I was a house painter and wall paper hanger. Again
I put myself at risk with further chemical exposure, using oil base
paints and solvents. Several times I had chemical burns on my body and
hands as well as my breathing passages. Constant sinus problems
developed and my health deteriorated as the cumulative effect built up.
My
health became so bad that I could no longer tolerate going out in
public where people were wearing fragrances from perfumes, deodorants,
laundry soaps, dryer sheets, and personal care products. I had a hard
time breathing when in and around that. Pain and burning in my airways
was often really bad. I would also get very groggy and have a real bad
"brain fog" that would leave me very disoriented. My heart would also
race and have an unstable beat that was scary. I found that
even
when I let others know what was happening to me they seemed they did
not understand or care enough to go without their fragrances.
So
as a result I know first hand how hard it is to find a place that is a
safe environment in which to stay. Our home has become a refuge for me
from all that is out there that hurts all of us whether we are aware of
it or not. I just happen to be more responsive to it than the general
population is at this time. Therefore, I want to share the
calm
peaceful, safe home that we have here with others who need a place to
"get away." What we have here is special and what I have gone through
makes me aware of the needs of the eco friendly traveler for a safe
place to stay.
Website Under Construction~~ Notes from the webmaster:
I
am aware of problems concerning navigation in the Internet Explorer 6
and 7 browsers and am working on fixing that. The webmaster strongly
recommends visitors to update their browsers to the latest version, or
to install another browser to view this site. Thank
you for your patience. In the meantime, for users who have IE 6 or 7,
if you would like more information about Serenity Cottage and its
offerings, please email
serenityhostess@serenitycottagevacation.com
or call 509-276-7088.
This
website is still under construction, so please be patient as I
work out the kinks. If you discover any problems,
please feel free to email the webmaster at
webmaster@serenitycottagevacation.com