In Relief Society yesterday, we discussed the talk given above by President Dallin H. Oaks. I love it!
Here are some principles (in bold) from the talk and questions to spark discussion about it:
Repentance begins with our Savior, and it is a joy, not a burden. When have you felt that repentance is a joy?
President Russell M. Nelson said, “To repent from sin is not easy but the prize is worth the prize.” Sometimes repentance is like entering a cave. It seems dark and scary at first, but then you discover a prize. What prize have you experienced from repentance?
The song “Come Unto Jesus” mentions the truth that the love of Jesus will find you, and bring you out from darkest night to day. When did you feel the love of Jesus doing that for you?
President Oaks mentions that our life is governed by both mortal laws and spiritual laws. Name a law that you have obeyed recently and the blessing you experienced from your obedience.
I love this recent talk that Elder Gary E. Stevenson gave for BYU‘s Education Week last month. It is wonderful to behold that the restoration started in 1820 and continues to unfold. His challenge to read from the Book of Mormon for at least 10 minutes a day can be easily done if we use some of our screen time to listen or read from the Book of Mormon using the Gospel Library App. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It testifies of Jesus Christ as our Redeemer. It is a gift to guide us in these last days of trouble and gloom. It brings peace, love, joy, and light whenever it is applied. I have been feeling some turmoil over an issue in my life. Then last week a verse popped out at me in our family reading that gave me a lot of comfort. It is amazing how God can use the Book of Mormon to answer our questions, whatever they may be, if we let him. Answers are much more likely to come when you take your question to God in prayer, write in your journal, listen/read the Book of Mormon, then write your thoughts, then pray again. My friend Becky Edwards outlines the process, what she calls a prayer sandwich, in her book below. You can listen to Becky describe the process in an interview here.
This month we started our new homeschool year. (I know…sob! I don’t like back to school in August. Nevertheless, I am part of a homeschool co-op/commonwealth/liber community school that started this month.)
I co-mentor a class about the Civil War/the War between the States for young teen scholars with my friend Dena. Yesterday for class, we discussed The River Between Us. It was such a wonderful book! I wanted to get the kids emotionally hooked by a novel that get the youth fascinated by this time period, so I picked this book to launch our study of this war.
I led the discussion of the book, and here are the questions I planned. We only used about three, and then I thought of new questions to ask as different things came up. Next time I want to plan at least 45 minutes for a book discussion in our class instead of 30 minutes.
Discussion Questions for The River Runs Through It by Richard Peck.
Let’s talk about vocab words (I wrote these words on the whiteboard before the discussion started)
Who can tell me what these words mean? Without looking at your book, you can use your notes though.
Ok, now who can tell me what these words mean by referring to your book?
(I wanted to see if anybody had taken notes about definitions or made notes in the book with definitions. Nobody knew what these terms meant off the top of their heads. One boy looked up one word on his phone, the one I hadn’t looked up yet, quadroon. It’s really important to know what they mean to understand the story, so I explained the other terms. Hopefully my students will decide to develop the scholar skill of looking up definitions of words on future books we read. We read one a month and discuss at the end of the month.
2. With those words in mind, what surprised you the most when you read this book?
3. Did anything not surprise you? Anything you predicted?
4. How do race and color affect the different character’s freedom of choice?
Cass
Noah
Calinda
Delphine
Mrs. Hanrahan
Howard Hutchings
Howard’s father, the young Dr. Hutchings
Do race and color affect Calinda more than Delphine?
3. After reading this book and discussing what we just did, what is your definition of freedom?
4. Why is it necessary for Delphine to hide her race in order to protect herself and those around her?
Awhile ago for the “Come, Follow Me” readings, in the New Testament, I read that Paul talked about predestination.
Romans 8:29-30 says, “Whom [God] did foreknow, he also did predestinate, … them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
What are we to make of predestination? I found this article to help shed light on the subject, showing the difference between predestination, which is not one of the doctrines of The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and foreordination, which is. This article also has a bit about predestination, skip to the paragraph under the heading, “Moving a Word or Phrase.” Here is a talk by Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s on foreordination. You can watch it above, or read it or listen to it here. I really enjoyed it.
Some of my favorite lines from the talk:
The combined doctrine of God’s foreknowledge and of foreordination is one of the doctrinal roads least traveled by, yet these clearly underline how very long and how perfectly God has loved us and known us with our individual needs and capacities. Isolated from other doctrines or mishandled, though, these truths can stoke the fires of fatalism, impact adversely upon our agency, cause us to focus on status rather than service, and carry us over into predestination. President Joseph Fielding Smith once warned:
It is very evident from a thorough study of the gospel and the plan of salvation that a conclusion that those who accepted the Savior were predestined to be saved no matter what the nature of their lives must be an error. . . . Surely Paul never intended to convey such a thought. [The Improvement Era, May 1963, pp. 350–51]
Let’s talk about thrifting! It’s one of my favorite activities! It’s so fun finding clothes, toys, books, furniture, and more treasures, for a fraction of the cost you find in regular stores or online. I’m of the Duggar mindset to “buy used and keep the difference” as much as I can. Although I have to admit, my snarkiness comes up when I hear them say that phrase. I immediately think, “Uhh…what about those pricey wedding dresses for the Duggar daughters custom-designed from out-of-state bridal shops? Did they buy those used?” LOL! I don’t think so! OK, OK, I will stop. It’s OK not to buy everything used. I’ll grant that! Especially if you are millionaires, as the Duggars are. Go ahead and splurge if you are, as long as you pay cash. I admire the Duggars for their wise financial habits, chiefly, avoiding debt. It’s quite all right with me if they buy new wedding dresses or anything new, in their financial state.
So back to my love of thrifting. First I’ll share some of the amazing deals I’ve found at thrift stores. Then I’ll give you my biggest tip for how to find deals. As you read all this, you may be thinking, “Why the heck doesn’t she just go buy what she needs new?” Good question. So here’s the answer: My husband and I have been on a tight budget in order to do Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps. We just finished Baby Step #2 (finally!). It feels so incredibly great to know that we have no debt! Now on to Baby Step #3, which means there’s no letting up. All the money we were paying towards the debt snowball every month ($500 plus) now goes into our savings for Baby Step #3. As such, the amount of money I have to buy clothes and household goods is still the same, which is small. So for that reason, and for the “thrill of the hunt” I go thrifting. Now, on to the deals…
Have you seen Toy Story 4 yet? The antique shop in the movie reminds me of the place I got these Nikes. I don’t know why these Nikes were at an antique shop, but I got them there for only $5! They looked brand-new, never worn! Definitely not antiques. I had been wanting to get some new athletic shoes to replace the Reeboks I had that had holes in them, and these fit perfectly! Not only that, they were pink and white, just like the Reeboks, which I love. They were the only shoes in the shop and they just happened to fit. I walked into the store, and the charming owner asked me what I was looking for. I told her I was looking for shoes and dishes. She then showed me the only pair of shoes in the shop, and it was this pair. I was thinking, “Wow, how lucky/blessed can I be. The only pair she has, just what I was looking for, and they fit!” Plus she said she was willing to go down in price right when she showed them to me so I got a $1 off.
One of the best deals I ever got was these bright green capris for a quarter! The picture above doesn’t do the pretty green justice, and my filter’s not working. These capris even aroused fashion envy from my sister-in-law when she saw me wearing them. (The pair looks rather wrinkled right now, sorry about that. I accidentally spilled some bleach on it/them? so this article of clothing has been sitting on my dryer, waiting for me to attempt to dye the white spots green with some Rit Dye. So sad.) A Goodwill store was going out of business so everything was for 25 cents. I have the same exact style of these in khaki as well, also bought while thrifting. The only problem is they don’t have pockets. But the style does look sleeker without pockets I admit.
This gadget might just be my favorite find! It was $1 at Deseret Industries. It is probably “officially” an easel for framed art. I, however, I immediately saw it as a cookbook stand. All cookbooks should be published hardback with spiral binding. If they aren’t, they just aren’t practical. You need one of these babies to hold the cookbook up on your countertop to keep the book open to the recipe you are using. Especially the Trim Healthy Mama cookbooks, which are thick and heavy. If you are using a page towards the front or back of the book, the book is lopsided and falls off the stand. So I figured it out how to keep it open in that situation, just lay the easel on top of the book like this:
A year ago last spring my daughter was in a Shakespeare play for our homeschool group. She had a big role, and then a minor part of a deer. A few weeks before the performance, it was time to find her two costumes, one for each role. I had a tightly-packed week while hosting my out-of-the-nest son and his girlfriend on a college spring break. We had activities planned practically back-to-back. I thought, “OK, I will block out this hour on Friday afternoon to go look for clothes for Dear Daughter’s deer costume (pun intended, LOL!). That’s all the time I have this week.” This daughter tends to be picky in clothes and often won’t wear things if they aren’t super comfortable. I found a brown turtleneck and brown leggings in the first place I looked. Better yet, she was willing to wear them! They were perfect for the look of a deer.
Early this summer, I got this heavy-duty set of stainless steel bowls, still new in box, never been unwrapped out of the plastic liners, Kirkland brand from Costco, at the Goodwill in my town for $10! For years, I have been wanting some high-quality bowls to replace my two big cheap plastic ones that were falling apart. They were so cheap that the outer lip fell off, which really weakened the integrity of the whole bowl, so that tears were developing. I love how thick these are, there’s no way they are going to crack or tear like the plastic ones did. The bonus is that they all come with matching lids. I can use these for popcorn on family movie nights, with everybody having their own metal bowl. We already had two big metal bowls and a few smaller ones but not enough for everybody, so some used plastic ones. But metal is so much nicer. Because of the lids these bowls are perfect for storing leftovers, to serve dips, sauces, or sides, and for taking salads to picnics and potlucks. I’m so excited about this set! I didn’t set out looking for bowls that day, but I did have in the back of my mind that I would be needed to replace my two big plastic mixing bowls, and it would be nice to do it with metal ones.
I found these white Keds for $7! While in Utah last month, in between family reunions, I was house, dog, and chicken-sitting for a friend for a whole week while she took her family to Nauvoo. Early in the week, I got the impression that when I dropped my mother-in-law off after our planned outing to the Church Museum of History and Art in downtown SLC, I would find white shoes at the thrift store down the street fromher place. I have been wanting white canvas shoes for years. I have a few outfits that were just begging for such shoes to top them off. They don’t go well with my flowery sandals because they are more sporty looking. Like when I wear the striped top I’m about to describe. Bonus points for me if they turned out to be Keds, which I have an emotional attachment to (long story). So we went on our outing, I dropped her off, went to the thrift store, and lo, and behold, there they were! One solitary pair of white canvas shoes, Keds even, and they fit me exactly! They looked practically new, just worn maybe once, because they were a teensy bit scuffed. I went home and washed them and they looked good as new. I felt so blessed!
No, I didn’t get this dog thrifting. She’s just so cute! She’s the dog I dog-sat while on vacation. Just thought I’d throw her pic in here for your enjoyment!
This striped top, pictured below, was only $2 at Goodwill. I had been wanting something red, white, and blue for Independence Day, so this was a delight to find. It still had a Ross tag attached so I’m assuming it was brand new. I know it looks like a maternity top, but it wasn’t. It’s just flared at the bottom, which is perfect to accommodate my “mummy tummy.” Even if it had been labeled maternity, I would have bought it. I have a few maternity tops I wear even when not pregnant, it doesn’t matter to me. If it looks flattering to me, even slightly stylish, and harmonizes with my Dress Your Truth Energy Type 4/1, I buy it and wear it.
This cute checked shirt was $2.50. I am a sucker for gingham checks, as long as they aren’t too big. I love wearing this top with my yellow capris.
Last fall, In Idaho, I went thrifting with my daughter right after her baby was born. It’s one of our favorite things to do together. We took turns babywearing B.G. (my daughter calls her baby B.G. for “Big Guy”– he’s 10 months and weighs 24 lbs!) while we shopped. It was probably his first shopping trip, we start them young thrifting around here, LOL! Here’s the loot we got:
Everything in this picture was around $30 total. My dear daughter found that nice Pyrex rectangular glass dish with a lid for only $5! I was so jealous! My mouth was watering as I pictured the brownies she would bake in it. All my nice baking dishes I’ve had have broken through the years. So on my way home, after my flight, I stopped at a thrift store in Phoenix and found the same exact dish, Pyrex, without the lid though, for $7. I was too tired from the trip to see if I could barter the price down so I shelled out the 7 bucks for it. (She did give me a cute set of Pioneer Woman baking dishes the month later for my birthday, brand-new, a set of Pioneer Woman ramekins, plus a Pioneer Woman pitcher. I felt so spoiled by her!) The striped green shirt is one of my most absolute favorite shirts now. It looks a lot more vibrant in real life. It was $5 I think. The brown flats on the left looked brand new, never worn. They were $4 at Deseret Industries. I had been wanting some brown casual flats to wear with nearly everything that my black casual Sketchers don’t go with, for when the weather gets colder, and those fit the bill splendidly. They are prettier than I even expected. The year before I had been wearing sandals almost every day, even in the winter, and wanted some warmer shoes. Even though I’m in AZ, it does get a little cold here in the winter.
While on vacation in Utah this past July before our family reunion this same daughter took me thrifting. This time she paid the bill for me as a special gift. I got a stainless steel colander for only $1. I had been wanting to find one to strain my DIY Greek yogurt while on vacation at my parents’ cabin. I wasn’t sure if a colander was already there, and figured my mom probably wouldn’t know even if I asked her. I loved finding this, it looks so shiny, sturdy, and beautiful. During this same thrifting trip I found a nice comfy, beefy white v-neck top to replace the one I had that a got a hole in it. That was only $2. I also found a navy skirt with white polka dots for $5. I love it!
OK, in all actuality, this set of CDs in the picture above is actually my favorite thrifting find of all time. It’s all of the Chronicles of Narnia on CD produced by Focus on the Family, fully dramatized, with voice actors, and fleshed out so lusciously in the background with beautiful orchestral music. It was still in the shrink-wrap, only $7, at a Goodwill in Phoenix. Score! We listened to it all last winter and spring on our weekly 90 minute-one-way-drives to our homeschool group meetings.
Last summer I found these cute peachy coral sandals at my local Goodwill. I love wearing them with black and white stuff, bright green stuff, yellow clothes, and/or bright blue. I felt like I could wear them with everything but my red clothes.
Then this past spring it was time to get some new sandals that would go with more stuff than the peach ones, because my white and gold ones that I got two years ago while thrifting had both fallen apart. I found two pairs, both at a Savers in Tucson, only $3.50 each pair, brand new. We had some time to spend in between our homeschool co-op class day and a swimming party so we went thrifting to hopefully find some shoes for the kids and sandals for me, and to pass the time. Bingo! I found two perfect pairs in the same style. One is white and one is gold. Perfect for summer! They are so comfy. They have more support than the peach ones so if I’m going on a long shopping trip I will wear them instead of the peach ones. I’ve worn them so much that the gold is starting to turn to orange (weird), that’s how much I love to wear these.
I realize now they are in fulfillment of seeing my friend wearing some cute sandals years ago at a parent meeting for homeschoolers. I saw them and thought, “Those are so cute, I am going to take a picture of her sandal-shod feet!” That’s the photo above. At the time I dressed a lot more utilitarian. This was before I lost 70 lbs. and I didn’t shop or dress for fun or style much. I thought, “Why don’t I get cute sandals like that?” That planted a seed in my mind and look, now I have attracted them. These sandals I found look like the same brand and style, just a different color. It’s interesting how sometimes I get a vision in my mind and it sets the stage to attract that thing. Even if it takes years.
My 10-year-old loves these shoes. He wears them all the time, even in summer, when I suggest he wear sandals. He took the picture himself (hence the unbalanced photo– my cropping feature is not working). I think of Encyclopedia Brown or the old Disney Flubber movies when I look at them.
On the same trip, we found a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars for each of my two youngest kids, which is exactly what they wanted, for $5 each. Then next month both my younger boys asked for cleats for football playing and I found them each a pair of Nike cleats, practically new, for $7 and $12.
In summary, I don’t like to spend more than $5 for shoes (OK, $7-12 for white Keds or cleats), pants, skirts, or tops. Really anything. If a household good or clothing item is more than $5 I usually won’t buy it unless it’s a specialty item.
Ok, so those are some examples of great deals. Now, how I do I find them?
My biggest help I have for finding deals come from God in the form of angels. Don’t laugh, I am convinced it’s true! Years ago, I read this article by Kim Sorenson, in the August 2006 Ensign. In the article, Kim describes how and why she did family history research and temple work, consistently, even when she was a harried busy mom of four young children with a husband who was hardly ever home. She was also a small business owner and mother of a baby and a preschooler. She believes that she was blessed for doing the work, daily, during the prime time of the day (while her baby napped and her preschooler was at preschool) by having help in unseen ways.
For example, when it was time to buy some clothes for her son to attend scout camp, she felt directed to a certain garage sale where she found plenty of jeans and shorts for him, new and or slightly used. She bought them and took them home to him, and they fit exactly. Not only that, he loved the new clothes. This blessed find at the garage sale saved her a three hour trip to the mall that she had originally planned to take. She says that she feels God blessed her with three extra hours of time and the savings in money because she had given time to God in doing family history research and temple work for her ancestors.
That is how I have been blessed for doing the work too. I read that article, and then set out to learn how to do family history and temple work by asking my sister-in-law to teach me. That was New Year’s Day of 2012. Ever since then, I have found names on a regular basis and taken these family names to the temple, with my husband and teenage children, for the proxy work to be done. We visited the temple weekly when we lived in Utah. After we moved, I’ve done it monthly. We make it a point to include a temple visit during family reunions and my older children go while at college. As a result, I am convinced that I have been blessed with more time, more cute clothes and other material goods, and more money.
2 Nephi 32:3 says:
Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.
So when someone decides to donate something that I’ve been specifically wanting, I believe that an angel is communicating to that person through the power of the Holy Ghost to donate it, to the specific thrift store or antique store that God knows I’m headed to. Then angels communicate to me with a thought or feeling, through the power of the Holy Ghost, to go to a specific thrift store and not another, so I can find that very thing He knows about. I don’t always find what I need and want every time I go thrifting, but more often than not, I do. Maybe angels are communicating in the intermediary steps as well, to dissuade other shoppers from buying the treasure God wants me to have. I feel often lately that angels are smoothing every step of the way as I go shopping, from giving me an easy parking spot to having a cashier motion me to his or her check-out aisle for a speedier exit. As Elder Dallin H. Oaks said:
Angelic messages can be delivered by a voice or merely by thoughts or feelings communicated to the mind. President John Taylor described “the action of the angels, or messengers of God, upon our minds, so that the heart can conceive … revelations from the eternal world” (Gospel Kingdom, sel. G. Homer Durham [1987], 31). (see this source here.)
Lots of other great tips abound for thrifting, like watching for half-off days, and wearing a catsuit so that you can try things on in the aisle without going to the changing room, but the best tip of all is to do your family history research and temple work. God will bless you for it! He will give you more of whatever it is you want, whether it’s more deals at thrift stores, more time, more money, more friends. See the promise in this video below from Pres. Nelson.
I challenge you to test it out! If you need help in doing the work, contact your local family history consultant at your local family history center.
You know that part in the movie Moana where she and Maui talk about wayfinding? I saw the movie but I didn’t even notice the term or wonder what it involved. It just went way over my head, like a big wave.
I had forgotten that scene, but I’ve been thinking about navigation lately. My two scholar phase children just read Carry On Mr. Bowditch over the summer for a book discussion at our homeschool co-op/ liber school group (Pyramid Project– a LEMI Scholar Project). It started already for the new school year. (I know, school in early August–soooo not my idea! We should still be on vacation like last year, having #notbacktoschool in Utah! Alas, seminary, football practice, and the homeschool group have all started so I’m being more of the attitude of “When in Rome…do as the Romans do” this time around.) Mr. Bowditch lived in the Founding era of American history, and was a pioneer in the field of navigation. As an author, he wrote the book The American Practical Navigator.
Then something else happened to pique this wondering about navigation. When I got back from my Utah vacation, the Summer 2019 BYU Magazine was here waiting for me. The cover article tells about a modern day Moana, Dr. Linda Furuto. She is a professor of ethnomathematics at the University of Hawaii. Ethnomathematics is math that uses the creations of Heavenly Father as the textbook.
Dr. Furuto also practices the science of wayfinding, which is finding your way without using any man-made instruments, just like Moana. So no compass, sextant, or GPS. Instead you use your hands, your observations of the waves, the wind, wildlife, the sun, the moon, and the stars. I find this so fascinating! You can see how they do it here at the article.
If you click on that link, and then scroll down to the subheading “Wayfinding 101” you will see the same illustration above. Then read the explanations for each number. This is so cool!
Some people of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, the PVS, use wayfinding to navigate a Polynesian traditionally-designed canoe, the Hokolea, to circumnavigate the globe. Dr. Furuto has been a master apprentice with the PVS on such a voyage. She holds Google Hangouts with classrooms around the world to answer questions from schoolchildren about math and navigation.
Wayfinding uses the Hawaiian Star Compass, a mental construct. Basically you imagine your canoe at the center of the Star Compass. Learning the compass involves memorizing the seven star houses for each quadrant between the four cardinal points of the compass, as well as 200 plus stars. This is so cool! Here is a link to look at it. Here’s a description of its history.
Two lessons I see from wayfinding:
We can’t know where to go unless we know where we’ve been. Wayfinders have to observe and remember all the cues coming from the wind, waves, stars, moon, and sun. Isn’t this interesting? It’s the same in real life. We can’t know where we are going unless we know where we’ve been. This applies to both the physical and the spiritual realm. Memory is such a blessing. I read this book, Moonwalking with Einstein, last year (I actually listened to it on my drives to my weekly liber homeschool group), and learned from that book that memory is part of personhood. I’d never really thought about it before. People who lose memory lose their identity. To take it deeper, we can’t really know who we are unless we look beyond our own personally-known past to our roots, to our family roots, and even to our pre-birth roots. Could it be that we can’t really make our way if we don’t know ultimately where we came from, our heavenly home with God?
Things external to us are there to guide us. If we pay attention to them, they can help us. In other words, external reality really is a thing, and we can rely on it. It’s created by God and placed here to guide us. Some things are universal to all of us, and not irrelevant or imaginary. This is amazing! If we had to, we could be reliant on these external things, God’s creations, and not technology, to guide us.
Here is a video of Dr. Furuto telling us how she voyaged around the world with Christ as her navigator. (The videographer lost the audio link so the only audio recording done was with the camera mic so it’s not the best quality.)
During my week-long family reunion at a cabin in the mountains of Utah in July, my sibs and our kids and I watched this fascinating movie out of Bollywood called Dangal. The title word literally means “honor” in Hindi. Since my brother just moved from India after living there for three years I thought this movie was his idea. He had just hosted my parents on a June vacation in India where they toured the Taj Mahal and other amazing Indian places. Nope, watching the movie was my baby sister’s idea. She and her husband live across the country on the east coast with six kids. After we watched the movie, as we got ready for bed, she told me that her husband has a passion project of watching movies in the winter on weeknights after the kids are in bed. She paints art. He watches movies. They both get to unwind in their own way, then go to bed feeling relaxed, ready to sleep, to refresh and restore for a new day. Sounds like a great recipe for happy home life!
So I’m sharing this movie with you all. It’s a great story of fatherhood, love, marriage, family life, and mentoring. Best of all it’s based on a true story! So fascinating! It’s all in a foreign language though, so you can’t multitask while watching (which I do all the time, working my hands while I listen). You have to watch the screen to read the subtitles or you will miss out!
My brother in law found the movie on Netflix when he watched it in Maine. If you don’t want to buy the DVD shown above in amazon for $60, you will have to do a search. (Credit for image above: amazon.com. Disclaimer, that is an affiliate link, I receive a small commission if you purchase the DVD from that link.) A quick search I just did shows that as of March 2026, you can still watch it in Netflix as a subscriber, or rent it digitally in YouTube and Google Play. Make sure before you rent it that you can get it with English subtitles.
The movie does have one crude statement about female bodies that I missed because I was out of the room when the young girls start wrestling. Other than that it’s a clean family movie, as far as I can tell. I did leave the room a few times and then came back. It held all the younger grandkids attention for over two hours. I give it five out of five stars. It raises a lot of questions like:
What is the true role of a father? Is it OK to push your children to do things?
What is the true role of a mother? Is it OK to interfere with your husband pushing your children to do things? How do you find a compromise?
What is the role of children in obeying parents?
Is it OK for females to wrestle in public?
What gender roles are OK? Is it OK to have gender roles?
What experiences do you see in your life of women or men being treated less than respectfully because of gender?
Do you see a need for female empowerment in your society?
Do you see a need for male empowerment in your society?
Is it important to do things to please your father or mother, even if you don’t want to do that thing?
I won’t ask any more questions about the movie otherwise I will spoil it for you! Just watch it and tell me what you think in the comments section below!
The guy who played the dad, Aamir Khan, had to transform himself from fat to fit to play his character. He started out looking old and fat (after gaining weight– he said he had fun eating to do that) and then in five months, after a vigorous regiment, he was fit and young, to play the younger self. So they filmed the “older dad” part of the movie first. Wow, he’s so inspiring! A six-pack after age 50 to play a thirtysomething!
This next video shows the star who played the mom, Sakshi Tanwar, talking about her role. I loved her as the mom. She’s so gorgeous!
Remember when I announced the Your Health Freedom Conference that happened in Utah last fall? One of the topics presented at this conference was about vaccines. Since it’s back-to-school time, many of you are faced once again with the vaccine issue. You might feel pressured to vaccinate against your wishes because of education officials or relatives. So here’s some information to consider: (note, this post has been edited to offer updated information on jabs that has come out since 2018)
1.The book above by Dr. Paul Thomas MD and Dee Hoover. It reports the only study ever done comparing vaccinated children with non-vaxxed children. A summary of the data is below. Notice the key takeaway at the bottom of the chart: “In every case, the risk of death is higher in the vaccinated than inc the unvaccinated.” Get the book here, in print or ebook form, if you need it right away. Credit for image: vaxfactsbooks.com.
2. A playlist of the videos from the organization that sponsored the conference, Your Health Freedom, over here.
3. A brief summary from the conference, from my friend Heather who attended:
One guy spent an hour and a half sharing meticulously researched historical data that shows how the autism epidemic as truly that, and not just a modernization of diagnostic techniques. His son is autistic and he was passionate- they all were. Another spoke about the coming tsunami of the adult population of autistic folks that we will be seeing soon; how we thought weak soc. sec. was just a problem for us, but how about them?! When their parents pass away, how will we deal? Is anyone preparing our country to deal with those realities? I had not really thought of it in those terms-very sobering. There was a brilliant bio-chemist who talked about chelating of heavy metals, a naturopath, a gardener, a U of U researcher who sued the univ and CDC for data fraud, etc., etc. The two highlights for me were Andy Wakefield- answering all kinds of medical and legal questions on vaccines, and Laura Hayes. Wow, she is has a powerful message. She cares for her 22 year old “4 year old” and is fired up about getting the word out. She gardens to have safe food, she has done every alternative diet thing out there, takes care of him, and still travels all over to speak. She lives in CA, which is now a state of tyranny for vaccine mandates. People with sick kids are fleeing the state. The only way to avoid vacs is to homeschool. If you need the hospital, they can withhold treatment until vacs are given. If you say no, they are calling CPS on families and taking their kids. It’s getting crazy! She says Utah is headed for similar legislation. We need to be involved before our rights are gone!
These two are modern heroes to me!!
The room was full of people with vaccine injured kids or family members. It was painful to hear the stories and how all of them have been through their own version of hell, that is the ongoing story of their lives. The woman that I sat by (from Cedar City) has two adult autistic kids that she cares for. One son became so after his vaccines and she overhauled their life, for years, to get him better. Through endless interventions, he graduated high school. at the top of his class! Went to college and played soccer! He was in an accident, she was in another state, in the hospital they gave him two mercury loaded vaccines (with no permission), and he completely reverted to the autism of his childhood!! He’s 24 now and functions as maybe an 8 year old, but because he is strong and gets violent, he is now in a state institution. Sad, hard stories like that- lots of them. I’m glad I got to go!
4. This video by Jim Moody, JD, who knows a lot about vaccine injury.
5. The website created by Laura Hayes, speaker at the aforementioned 2028 conference. She is the mother of a vaccine-injured son. Her website: ageofautism.com.
“And moreover, I say unto you, that the time shall come when the knowledge of a Savior shall spread throughout every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. And behold, when that time cometh, none shall be found blameless before God, except it be little children, only through repentance and faith on the name of the Lord God Omnipotent.” Mosiah 3:20-21
(Note: I started writing this last January, but got distracted. Imagine that, LOL! That’s the way motherhood rolls, right?! Anyway, I’m finally publishing it! Hooray!)
I finished the Book of Mormon by the end of 2018, to follow the prophet’s challenge that he gave to the women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in October 2018. Then, as a family, we finished in January 2019. To top it all of, my nine-year-old finished on his own in June. I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve finished it. It’s one of of our family’s central classics that we turn to again and again to strengthen our core faith. Just like the Bible.
“I think a book like this can help people find answers when they are in darkness.” – quote about the Book of Mormon from a non-religious person.
That’s what I love about the Book of Mormon. Reading it can give you answers if you read it with a sincere heart, intent on finding answers to your sincere questions, not matter who you are, religious or not. Just like the Bible. It really doesn’t matter who you are, as long as you are sincere. I promise you, that if you read it sincerely, it will bless you. It will give you light in the darkness.
What happens when people actually read words from the book, without knowing the title of the book, without knowing where the words come from? The video below shows an experiment done by some students at BYU. They copied excerpts from the book, showed the excerpts to random people on random streets in big cities, and asked the people’s opinions about what they just read. In other words, they let the book speak for itself, by having it speak to people with no preconceived notions of what they were reading, because they weren’t told the title of the book. The result? Watch below:
I love this! I love the Book of Mormon! I testify that it testifies of Jesus Christ. It will lead you to Him and help you follow His teachings, so you can feel joy and peace. Here are 10 gems from the Book of Mormon that fill my heart with light and hope and why I like them.
“And as I spake concerning the convincing of the Jews, that Jesus is the very Christ, it must needs be that the Gentiles be convinced also that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God; And that he manifesteth himself unto all those who believe in him, by the power of the Holy Ghost; yea, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, working mighty miracles, signs, and wonders, among the children of men according to their faith.” 2 Nephi 26:12-13
This verse explains that Jesus shows himself to everyone who seeks him. Everyone! Not usually in person, but He manifests Himself in Spirit and or other ways according to our best good. Jesus is for every nation, kindred, tongue and people! He works “mighty miracles, signs, and wonders” among the whole earth. That’s amazing! I love hearing stories about Him showing His grace, peace, comfort, and power in people’s lives. I have definitely felt His power in my life.
2. “For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true.” Alma 29:8
Why I like that verse: No nation or group has a monopoly on truth. God gives wisdom to all according to their readiness to receive truth, to all nations, across the globe, throughout all history. God is so generous!
3. “Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow. And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil—for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold, they chose evil works rather than good; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of their house—and these shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and this because of their own iniquity, being led captive by the will of the devil.” Alma 40:11-13
Why I like that verse: it comforts anyone who loses a family member to death. “The spirits of all men,” when they die, go home to that “God who gave them life.” These verses show both mercy and justice. Those who have lived according to goodness and the light and truth they have get the just reward of paradise. Those who have chosen “evil works rather than good,” get their fair reward as well.
4. “For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.” Mosiah 3:5
I love that verse because it demonstrates that people knew that Jesus was going to come many hundreds of years before He was born. (The speaker of those words, King Benjamin, lived hundreds of years before Jesus.) Heavenly Father, in his merciful, beautiful, orderly plan, inspired prophets to tell people about Jesus, before He was born, to give them hope. God always wants us to have hope!
5. “And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness. But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.” Mosiah 4:14-15
That verse pops into my mind whenever my kids fight. It motivates me to help them stop.
6. “And it came to pass that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken hard things against the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I justified, and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center.” 1 Nephi 16:2
If I’m finding it hard to accept something, maybe that’s a sign that I’m guilty and need to change? Ouch.
7. “Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.” 1 Nephi 7:12
I remember reading this verse as a teen. It hit me so hard. It has always given me assurance that the Lord can do all things for me, according to His will, conditioned on my faith in Him. He is the most generous, loving, liberal god that we could ever hope to have.
8. “And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full. And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.” Alma 12:11-12
That verse reminds me of the importance of receiving the word of God. The more I receive, the more I will get.
9. “Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.” 2 Nephi 9:51
Nephi knew our “constant-stimulation-24/7” day would come, with its empty calories for the mind and body. He guides us to seek for that which is rooted in Jesus Christ. If it’s not, we will never be satisfied. This is the one place in the scriptures giving us permission to get fat on good stuff! I love it!
10. “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.” Alma 7:11-13
I have more fave verses but that’s enough for now. I encourage you to dig in to the Book of Mormon yourself, even if you don’t belong to my church. You can read the article about the experiment here. You can read the Book of Mormon here. You can read some fascinating answers to questions (“KnoWhys”) about the Book of Mormon here. I challenge you to read it and let the book speak to you for itself.
I recently got back from a three week vacation in Utah. It was just what I wanted and needed, for a change in my routine. That is, except for a slight hiccup that happened in the middle, which surprisingly made my vacation better after the situation resolved itself. Before the resolution, however, I felt mildly panicked and lost. I still feel slightly discombobulated after living out of two suitcases for three weeks in five different places, with two of my kids being swapped out for each other, so that each could go to a camp.
I attended a birthday party for my 18 year old son, a Veggie Gals reunion, two family reunions, one for my husband’s side of the family tree, one for mine at a cabin in the mountains, and then my 30 year high school reunion. In between the two family reunions, I chicken-and-dog-sat for a friend, with my two youngest kids, while she took her family to Nauvoo.
One thing my siblings and I, and all our kids love, is playing games! The week at the cabin was full of all kinds of games: card games, board games, ping pong, and Frisbee golf.
The high school reunion seemed unreal! So many beards and gray hair (for the guys, the girls didn’t look much older, surprisingly, probably because we are more vain and color our hair, lol!). Has it really been 30 years?! Amazing!!!! In a way, that part of my life seems like it never happened. It feels like a dream, in a sense that so much about high school does not matter to real life.
That class reunion was fun, but the family reunions were better. It is always delightful to be around cousins! So to celebrate that, here are a bunch of pictures of my kids (and my grandbaby) and their cousins. Staying at a log cabin in the mountains completely refreshed me!
Before this summer vacation, I thought I had found the best definition of what a cousin is from the book, Gone Away Lake, by Elizabeth Enright:
“If cousins are the right kind, they’re best of all: kinder than sisters and brothers, and closer than friends.”
Just this week, however, I found the best definition, by studying the word “cousin” in Hebrew. After I returned home from Utah, I discovered the mention of an extended family member in Acts 23, as part of my Come, Follow Me Study.
In this chapter of Acts, we see Peter in prison. The son of his mother’s sister intervenes. He comes to Paul in the “castle” and tells Paul of a conspiracy against him. So Paul’s nephew intervened to help save his life.
The New Testament was not originally written in Hebrew, so I have heard, but I love to see how words translate into Hebrew whenever I study any book of scripture. When I read about Paul’s nephew helping him, I somehow thought of the word “cousin” instead of “nephew.” Probably because I had just seen my kids immersed in the world of their cousins at the cabin in Utah just the week before. I wasn’t thinking of these kids as nieces and nephews, even though they are, but as my children’s cousins. Reading about Paul’s nephew triggered the fresh memory of cousins. So in my scripture study time last week, I looked up the word for cousin in Hebrew. Hebrew has no generic word for “cousin.” It does, however, have words for “son of uncle” and “daughter of aunt.”
The Hebrew word for a male cousin, a son of an uncle, is “ben dod.” I won’t take the time to show each of the characters of the ancient Hebrew pictograms, but when I combine all the meanings of the pictograms together, I interpret the word to mean, “The heir/seed of the home who works to enter the home.” Entering a door into a home shows humility.
The word for a a female cousin, the daughter of an aunt, is “bat doda.” That means, when translated back to the ancient pictograms,”The home of the covenant/sign to work to enter the home.” Again, entrance into a home shows humility.
I love how the word for a boy cousin involves the word “heir” and the word for a girl cousin involves “sign/covenant.” Both words involve home, work, and entrance/door to home (humility).
Cousins are to work on and help each other to make covenants and be heirs of the Father, to enter His house, in humility.
For the reunion, I made plans to take the cousins to go to the Manti Temple for a youth baptism session. That temple is so dear to my family. My parents got married there over 50 years ago, my paternal grandparents did as well, and then I did too, as well as each of my four siblings.
At first, it looked like only my returned missionary sons would be coming, but in the end, as one girl cousin saw that another girl cousin was coming, she decided to come, and got ready in 15 minutes, and then another got ready, as some of us waited in the car. So I ended up with my younger daughter, three of of her girl cousins, and my two sons for a wonderful trip. At first they were quiet in the car, but the more we drove, the more relaxed and louder they got, especially on the drive home. Cousins are great for that! I’ve been blessed to have great cousins and I’m glad my children have been too. I’m grateful we had that week in July recently in the mountains to forge those friendships stronger.
Tree of Life Mothering 