Treasure #2 of My National Treasure Tour: Martha Washington

Posted on June 27, 2019 by treeoflifemama

Do you all realize what a treasure Martha Washington is?  George wouldn’t be the man he was without her aid and comfort. Not to mention her wealth as well, :-). When he married her and got a part of her wealth that certainly gave him even more land and a leg up in society. I got to meet her on my trip to Mt. Vernon recently, on my National Treasure Tour with some homeschool friends, on May 25, 2019. (It was a very special day, as it was my parents’ 56th wedding anniversary day, as well as Carlin Bates wedding to Evan Stewart. So while the Bates were celebrating in Tennessee, with most of the Duggars there, I got to be just a few hundred miles away in Mt. Vernon! Just FYI, I am a fan of the Bates and the Duggars, two super-size families who each have 19 kids.)

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Ok, back to Martha. She delighted us with her stories and songs, holding us spellbound for an hour. She even taught some children there how to jig. It was so cute! One thing that is so cool about Mt. Vernon is that since it’s not government-owned, the people there can talk about religion all they want and not get any flak about it. So the woman who gets to reenact Martha Washington told stories about growing up Episcopalian, believing in God and Christ.  She had us stand up and sing her favorite hymns with her. One was “Faith of our Fathers,” and the other was “Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow.”  I absolutely loved this!

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I loved that she also shared about traditional gender roles. She told the sweetest story from her childhood, about telling her father that she wished that female birds had brighter colors. She said she was embroidering an image of a bird in some fabric as a little girl, and wished that the female birds had fancy plumage like the male birds. So she asked her dad about this. Then her father told her that it was God’s design that the female birds had the duller colors, so they would be protected from being seen and killed. That thought gave her great comfort and was one of the first times she could see the wisdom and grand design of Providence. She said that she enjoyed learning to be a good wife and mother by following her mother’s example and teachings, learning housekeeping, child-tending, and other homemaking arts,  in her home while growing up.

 

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George loved her dearly. Truly they had what Ramona Zabriskie calls a “grand marriage” in her Wife for Life book. Up until now, I had always heard that Martha burned all of their letters, but the video below tells us that one letter has survived. How cool!

 

 

I do so hope you get to go to Mt. Vernon and meet Martha! You won’t regret it! When you go, get a map and be sure to look at the schedule for the “A Visit with Martha Washington” times, then go see her!

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Treasure #1 from My National Treasure Tour: Mt. Vernon and Anne Cunningham, the Woman Who Rescued It, and What We Can Learn From Her

Posted on June 25, 2019 by treeoflifemama

Are you ready to go on a National Treasure Tour with me?! In honor of Independence Day coming up, I am going to blog over the next while to share my “national treasures”: my memories, book ideas, and nuggets of truth from my trip to Washington D.C. that I took in May, with my homeschool group. It was epic! The video clip below is from National Treasure 2 and it features the subject of today’s post.

Yes, Treasure #1 from my recent “National Treasure Tour” is Mt. Vernon. Mt. Vernon is the beloved home of George Washington. He inherited it from his older half-brother Lawrence when Lawrence died. I didn’t know this, until I visited it, that Mr. Vernon is privately owned. Thirteen years ago my family drove by it on our way from Williamsburg, VA to the airport. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to get out and tour it. The closest we got was into the parking lot to see the visitors’ center (The Ford Orientation Center) while sitting in the car. This was sheer torture for me! So close and yet so far!!! We had just spent three days at Colonial Williamsburg with my parents, sibs, and all the grandkids, and now it was time to go home. So ever since then, I have been itching to get back there, go past the parking lot, and get inside the mansion!

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I consider Colonial Williamsburg, Mt. Vernon, and Nauvoo like Disneyland, so you can imagine how giddy I was when I got to actually get inside Mt. Vernon, at last! The Mt. Vernon estate is so vast and has so many things to look at and explore I could probably go every day for a month 8 hours a day and still not absorb everything.

Up until my recent visit, I had the idea that it was owned by the federal government, that it was a National Park. Not so. In the 1800s, it was one woman, Ann Pamela Cunningham, who spearheaded the efforts to buy Mt. Vernon and restore it to its original beauty, as a national treasure for public viewing and enjoyment. I think that is soooo cool! It just goes to show what one woman can do! I love this!!!

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Ann Pamela Cunningham

She started a not-for-profit organization, the Mt. Vernon Ladies’ Association. With this group, she raised $200K to buy Mt. Vernon from George’s great-grandnephew John Augustine Washington. So now the organization owns it and runs it today. Not only does the story of Mt. Vernon’s restoration project show what one woman can do, but it also shows what one mother can do!

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Doesn’t this make you want to lie down and sigh, looking up at the clouds, or have a picnic, or sit against the tree and read a book?

It was Ann’s mother Louisa Bird Cunningham, who inspired Ann to the cause. Louisa, a semi-invalid who suffered from a horseback riding injury, made regular trips to the doctor. Her mother often attended her on these trips. Once on her way home from a trip to visit Ann and the doctor, the ship’s bell unexpectedly woke her up in the night. Louisa noticed Mt. Vernon on the edge of the Potomac River as she rode on a steamer ship.  Right after awakening, she noticed the disrepair of Washington’s beloved estate. Then she wrote the following words to her daughter Ann:

“I was painfully distressed at the ruin and desolation of the home of Washington and the thought passed through my mind: Why was it that the women of his country did not try to keep it in repair, if the men could not do it? It does seem such a blot on our country!” (Quoted in Elswyth Thane, Mount Vernon is Ours: The Story of its Preservation(New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1966), 16.)

Where would we be without Washington’s Mt. Vernon? It is an ensign and a rallying symbol to remind us of a statesman who served his country unselfishly with public virtue. I am grateful for a mother who, unexpectedly awakened in the night, took the time to notice something, that I believe God wanted her to notice, and write to her daughter about it.

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Mt. Vernon even inspires gingerbread homes! My friend’s daughter created this last Christmas after her visit to Mt. Vernon the previous spring.

I hope you can go to Mt. Vernon someday. If you’ve ever been, I’d love to hear your thoughts. It is so beautiful! Here I am sitting in the garden.

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Mt. Vernon has many features: the actual home where Washington lived, called the mansion, the greenhouse, the wharf, a gristmill, the slaves’ quarters, the blacksmith shop, a distillery, a visitor’s center with exhibits, an education center with a theater and exhibits, gift shops, places to buy food, and much much more!

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One side of the mansion was being worked on so it has scaffolding covering it. Not the best for pictures. 🙂 I snapped this one while I was waiting for my tour of the mansion to begin. The guy leading the group played the fife and drum for us earlier in a chat we had with a woman reenacting Martha.

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We weren’t allowed to take pictures of the inside. The other side of the mansion looks out on the Potomac River, with a gorgeous view. See below.

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Living in Arizona makes me miss grass like this!

It was just so wonderful to walk these sacred grounds and think, wow, George Washington actually walked here! He lived and breathed here. He really lived! His dear wife Martha lived here. They raised her children, his stepchildren here. George pioneered farming methods here.

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America’s First First Family: George, his wife Martha, and her children from a previous marriage, John, aka Jack and Martha, aka Patsy.

I can’t describe the feelings I had adequately as I saw the grounds, the beautiful gardens, his home/mansion, the slave quarters, and objects he actually owned and touched. The closest I can come is to say that maybe it was the Holy Spirit bearing witness to me that he really lived and he sacrificed his home comforts to lead the colonists in the war for independence, for the sacred holy cause of liberty. He was a true statesman, worthy of emulation, because he did not let power get to his head. He could have easily become king as he had the overwhelming support of the people, but he refused. I wonder if that’s the same feeling Ann Cunningham felt and if that’s why she felt compelled to make Mt. Vernon into a living legacy for the general public to learn from. I think so. So thank you Ann Cunningham! In the video of the story of Ann and the Mt. Vernon Ladies’ Association, which I posted above, it sounds like John A.’s wife Eleanor felt the same Spirit and convinced her husband to sell it to the Association. How grateful I am that that all came about.

Here are some questions I pose to all of us from this treasured experience I had visiting Mt. Vernon:

  •  If Ann Cunningham can raise $200K being semi-invalid, in three years’ time (before the days of the Internet selling, kickstarter, and gofundme.com) and leave a legacy that has endured long after her death, what can you do?
  • Who do you know who can help you with your cause? Ann asked Edward Everett Hale to donate the money he raised doing public speeches to the cause of restoring Mt. Vernon.
  • Do you ever wake unexpectedly at night because of a sound like Louisa did? What might you notice in that time, like she did, that could inspire you to reach out to someone and inspire them to a cause?
  • Washington is remembered as a war hero, a commander of the army, a signer of the Constitution, a pioneering farmer, statesman, loving husband and father, a churchgoer, and our first president, among other things. How do you want to be remembered?
  • What can you do consistently, starting today, to change how you will be remembered in each of your roles?
  • How can you make your home, however humble it may be, so lovely that you can say as Washington said of Mt. Vernon, “No estate in United America is so pleasantly situated as this.”?
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DIY Pretty Cash Envelope for the Super Frugal, Glamor Girl

Posted on June 22, 2019 by treeoflifemama

 

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OK, I’m writing this post in part to celebrate a huge announcement! We are officially debt free!!!!! Yee-haw!!! Can I get an amen, hallelujah, and happy jig?!!! I want to shout our debt-free scream and dance on the rooftops! It’s been a loooooong debt-free journey, but we are done! More details on that later! It’s been so long that we have to sit down and calculate exactly how much we paid off and how many years it took. We still don’t know exactly. During the journey, we cash-flowed a daughter’s wedding, some cars, my trip to DC, and then we paid off consumer debt, a car loan, and the big bugaboo that we’ve had since our wedding day, the student loans from my husband’s law degree. Good-bye Sallie Mae! We’ve had so many miracles along the way from God helping us. I am so grateful to Him!

We definitely benefited from Dave Ramsey’s guidance. We did his FPU Home Study Course, listened to his podcast for years, went to some live events, called and got on the show three times (DH once and twice for me) and used his cash envelope system. It all worked!!!  Fist pump, dancing, and cue the Rocky music!!!!!!!!!!! Yesss! (It was so fun for me to see this museum in the video behind Rocky.  I drove by the same exact museum in Philadelphia on my D.C. trip to let a few of my cute young homeschooling friends get out and clamber up the steps for a photo opp in the Rocky pose.)

 

 

Have you ever wanted to use the cash envelope system that Dave sells, but you didn’t want to shell out the money to buy one because you are super frugal like I am? Maybe you have the money to get it, but you don’t really like the looks of it? Not that it’s super ugly, it’s just, uhhh, rather plain. Hey, that’s OK, even his own daughter Rachel says it’s not fashionable, so Daddy Warbucks, I mean, Daddy Dave, got a stylish one manufactured in her name, the Rachel Cruze Wallet. It even has her initials on it. That’s another reason I don’t want it. I want my initials on my wallet, LOL! I do agree it’s beautiful.

 

 

I have Dave’s envelope system but after using it for three years, I decided I wanted something prettier like Rachel designed, and a little more functional. I don’t like dealing with the flaps in Dave’s system. Trouble is, I didn’t want to pay for Rachel’s wallet. So I took her example of using clips, as shown in her video below.

Then I bought a $1 makeup bag at Dollar Tree, and colored binder clips at Walmart for less than $5. I love the pink glittery bag! And it was only $1! Then I labeled the tops of the clips with a sharpie for my categories: “G” for Groceries, “NFC” for non-food consumables (paper goods, soap, hygiene items, etc.), “A” for my allowance, and “C/Cl” for my kids’ commissions and their clothing (long story as to why they are together).

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Done! I love it! Then I fold the receipts and clip them to the money after I buy stuff, so I have an automatic record of where the money went, and I don’t write it down, cause I’m a little lazy efficient that way, LOL! I used to do it but after a few years decided I didn’t need to anymore. The receipts are folded behind the bills in the photo below. I also a small plastic coin purse (you can barely see it up there on the left) to corral all the coins, which I tuck inside the wallet. It’s not fancy with all the slots like Rachel’s but it works. I have a purse organizer with slots for my cards in my big purse so I don’t need that in this wallet. Someday I’m going to get a concealed-carry card like she has!

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We also use the Every Dollar app, but I think we will be switching to YNAB. I just learned about YNAB from Girlfriend Aneladee so that’s what we will be using to see if we like it better than EveryDollar as we attack Baby Step #3! I just finished reading the YNAB book so we shall see! Onward and upward! If you have comments about EveryDollar vs. YNAB, please comment below, I’d love to hear them.

 

 

Posted in Family life, marriage, money, money in marriage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Come, Follow Me: Insights for the Week about Peter’s Denial of Jesus

Posted on June 22, 2019 by treeoflifemama

 

So in our family study recently about the atonement and crucifixion of Jesus, using the Come, Follow Me Study Guide, we read about Peter denying the Savior three times. I’ve always felt sad thinking about Peter doing this. This time though, after reading it, my husband mentioned he remembered a talk from Pres. Kimball about this event with an alternative explanation. I wondered about that but didn’t do any searching for it.

Then when I was randomly reading old issues of the Ensign magazine, which I do a little of every day using my LDS Gospel Library app on my phone, if I’m having a hard time falling asleep, I came across a reference to it! The August 1979 Ensign features a talk that Elder Bruce C. Hafen gave at then Ricks College, which is now BYUI. Here is an excerpt:

Consider also the case of Peter on the night he denied any knowledge of his Master three times in succession. Some of us commonly regard Peter as something of a weakling, whose commitment was not strong enough to make him rise to the Savior’s defense. But I once heard President Spencer W. Kimball offer an alternative interpretation of Peter’s behavior. In a talk to a BYU audience in 1971, President Kimball, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, said that the Savior’s statement that Peter would deny him three times before the cock crowed just might have been a request to Peter, not a prediction. Jesus just might have been instructing his chief apostle to deny any association with him in order to insure strong leadership for the Church after the crucifixion. As President Kimball asked, who could doubt Peter’s willingness to stand up and be counted when you think of his boldness in striking off the ear of the guard with his sword when the Savior was arrested in Gethsemane. President Kimball did not offer this view as the only interpretation, but he did suggest there is enough justification for it that it should be considered. So what is the answer—was Peter a coward, or was he so crucial to the survival of the Church that he was prohibited from risking his life? We are not sure. This is a scriptural incident in which there is some ambiguity inhibiting our total understanding.

 

Here is a link to the talk, in audio format only.

 

 

Then here is what David Butler and Emily Belle Freeman say about the incident, in the video above. You can skip to where they talk about him, at the 26 minute mark approximately.  This all gives us a lot to ponder. Obviously we don’t have all the answers. It’s a wonderful thing to know though that Jesus has enough grace for all of us and because of that we can extend grace to others, especially when we don’t know all the facts in a situation when it would be easy to be hurt and offended.

 

So this is one of those cases where we get to deal with ambiguity in the scriptures. That’s OK. It’s one of those things to put on a shelf and wait for further light and knowledge. Overall, I feel comforted and awed knowing that Heavenly Father and Jesus love us and allow ambiguity because it is best for our growth and happiness.

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Patriotic Books for Summer from My National Treasure Tour, Part 1

Posted on June 21, 2019 by treeoflifemama
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This beautiful building in the background is the Royal Governor’s Palace at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. It’s so amazing to think that this building looks just like the original one. This one was built in the 1930s, to look like the original. If you’ve ever read the American Girl Felicity books, think of the events that happened here, like the Royal Governor’s Ball that Felicity attended.

 

Here is the beginning of my patriotic book posts, just in time to get ready to celebrate Independence Day! These books pictured below I garnered from my recent “National Treasure” tour. I had the privilege of touring D.C. and other historic sites for a week at the end of May with some of my homeschool friends. We saw a lot of the things featured in the National Treasure Movie, so that’s why I call it my National Treasure tour. I went to the very room of the National Archives building depicted in the scene below. I saw the precious original founding documents of our nation. I also saw Washington’s personal copy of the Constitution with his notes in his own handwriting in Pennsylvania. So amazing!

 

 

It’s going to take me a while to download all the gems that I learned and the treasured memories I collected, here on the blog. I had soooooo much fun! Although my toenails still feel slightly bruised from all the walking with my swollen feet, inside my athletic shoes as we walked 10 plus miles a day touring. I’m used to wearing sandals here in AZ all day, LOL! It was totally worth it though!

OK, we’ll start with some of the books I saw. If you know me at all you know how much I’ve always loved books! The historic sites were cool as well of course. :-). I’ll post pictures of all those later.

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I saw this in the window of one of a used book store. How I wanted to go inside!!! It took all of my self-control to resist as we had to leave to get to our flight home!

So here’s Part 1 of My Patriotic Book List from My National Treasure Tour. These are the books I saw in the gift shop at Colonial Williamsburg. Find these at your local library or buy, and enjoy!

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I came home and found this one at my public library, so I’m currently reading it. I didn’t know these three guys were foodies!

 

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I loved The Midwife’s Apprentice so I will probably like this one too!

 

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Doesn’t this book look so cool?

 

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Where would we be without chocolate??? I’m glad to see it’s a part of our national heritage!

 

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A Little Golden Book I didn’t know about! My mom has a huge collection but she doesn’t have this one!

 

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This is from a series that looks totally fun!

 

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I’m really intrigued by this one!

 

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The image below is not a book cover, but a poster from the gift shop. I love American history! Stay tuned for more book finds in the coming weeks! I took pictures of books in all the gift shops I visited! Soooo…much…fun! When I look them up to find them in my public library’s online catalog, I feel like I’m on a treasure hunt and safari!

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Posted in classics, patriotic books | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Summer Food Recipes from Me and the Trim Healthy Mamas

Posted on June 21, 2019 by treeoflifemama

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It’s summer! Don’t you just feel like exploring some new foods? If you want some new salad, grill, or cool drinks and desserts, I’ve got some ideas!

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A slushy lemonade drink is here.

Here’s my recipe for Southwest Bell Pepper recipe, adapted from the Trim Healthy Mamas.

Click on this link for Grain-free Brownies which I love to take to picnics.

A lighter cake alternative, made from watermelon, also grain-free, is over here.

Then I’ve got some ice cream recipes over here.

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Here are some great new summer recipes from the Trim Healthy Mamas, in their brand new June 2019 ezine.  Enjoy!

 

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Out of the Best Books: Classics We Studied in April and May 2019

Posted on June 21, 2019 by treeoflifemama

It’s time to do another recap of classics we’ve been studying in our home, for homeschool and family life. Words that I hold sacred, from the holy writ of my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, says that we are to  “… seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom. …” (D&C 88:118.) It’s so wonderful when I can claim a divine mandate for one of my favorite hobbies, reading!

Here is a wonderful article about reading from the best books over here from the New Era. Even though it was published in 1974, it is just as timely for today.

I love these quotes in the article from Elder John A. Widtsoe:

“Man must forever seek out knowledge, put it to proper use, and train his will to intelligent living…Among Latter-day Saints, education becomes a life-long process. Young and old alike must be engaged in the development of their natural endowments. In fact, it is expected of the members of the Church that they continue their education throughout life.”

Then here’s another juicy one:

“The reading habit is most valuable in life. I mean by that the practice of using a little time, say half an hour a day, in the systematic reading of worthwhile literature. The mind is opened to precious fields of thought; the achievements of the ages become ours; even the future takes form. As the mind and spirit are fed by well chosen reading, comfort, peace and understanding come to the soul. Those who have not tried it, have missed a keen and easily accessible joy.

“Moreover a person who engages in such a regular daily reading, if only a few minutes a day, in the course of a few years becomes a learned man. But it must be a regular daily habit. … Some of the best educated men that I have ever met have never been to college but have acquired the habit of daily reading of good books for a few minutes a day.”

So here’s to the reading life! I know it’s hard in this day of digital distractions. I confess I sometimes succumb to reading social media instead of books. I always do feel rewarded more richly when I turn to a book, however, so I am committed to spending a good chunk of time reading at least 5 days a week this summer. (Reading in the sunshine helps motivate me.)

I started this post back in April, and here it is June! My blogging life gets away from me! I found so many fun books for June and July from my “National Treasure” tour last month. Those books will have to wait for another post. :-).  I came home and found a bunch of them at my local library and have had so much fun reading them by myself and with the kids. Anyway, back to my April and May books.  The above book, Joy in the Covenant, I read for my online book club. You can read my review here.

The above book has become one of my favorite Easter books. It casts a vision for me of how fun it will be to be a grandma and have Easter traditions that the cousins look forward to. I want to do an Egg Tree like in this book, but make it more spiritual by having the kids put in their favorite scripture inside an egg that they hang from a tree, like the tradition talked about here. 

The kids and I consumed The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Prince Caspian, and The Horse and His Boy, as audiobooks on our long drives back and forth to our weekly homeschool meetings this past spring (90 minutes each way). I don’t pay 100% attention to fantasy books, my mind always wanders, so the kids take more credit for listening to these than I do. I do have some favorite quotes from these books though that I managed to notice and laugh or smile at.

Here are a few from The Dawn Treader:

“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”

“It isn’t Narnia, you know,” sobbed Lucy. “It’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?”
“But you shall meet me, dear one,” said Aslan.
“Are -are you there too, Sir?” said Edmund.
“I am,” said Aslan. “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”

“In our world,” said Eustace, “a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.”
Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is, but only what it is made of.”

“One of the most cowardly things ordinary people do is to shut their eyes to facts.”

“It would be nice and fairly nearly true, to say that ‘from that time forth, Eustace was a different boy.’ To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun.”

 

Now a few from Prince Caspian:

“That’s the worst of girls,” said Edmund to Peter and the Dwarf. “They never can carry a map in their heads.”
“That’s because our heads have something inside them,” said Lucy.”

“You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve,” said Aslan. “And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Be content.”

“Aslan: You doubt your value. Don’t run from who you are.”

“Aslan” said Lucy “you’re bigger”.
“That is because you are older, little one” answered he.
“Not because you are?”
“I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

“The worst of sleeping out of doors is that you wake up so dreadfully early. And when you wake up you have to get up because the ground is so hard you are uncomfortable. And it makes matters worse if there is nothing but apples for breakfast and you have had nothing but apples for supper the night before.”

The image below shows the cover art for the Focus on the Family audiobook set we enjoyed. We got all seven audiobooks of the Chronicles of Narnia in one album set, for only $7, brand new, still in the shrink-wrap, at a thrift store in Phoenix, on the way home from the airport after I got to see my grandbaby shortly after his birth. So sweet! God was really watching out for me to bless me with such a beautiful, random gift that He knew I would love to give my family! I gave it to them/me for Christmas. I love, love, love these versions of Narnia. They employ full dramatization with different voices, beautiful orchestration of music, and tons of sounds effects.

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I got the book below on Audible. I love the author’s interpretations of the Bible stories. She, Sally Lloyd Jones, really has a way of explaining the depth and breadth of God’s love and the beauty of His stories in the Bible.

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name

 

The book below tells a story I had never heard before. It’s a true story about a woman who helped finance the Montgomery Alabama bus boycott by baking and selling pies. She inspires me!

Then the one below is one of my favorites from childhood. I confess I didn’t actually read it this past spring but I totally meant to! Does that count? I have my own softcover copy from childhood that I ordered from Scholastic books when I was in third grade. My version doesn’t have the cool charms though. It’s a great book to read at least once a year to cast a vision for kids and parents that kids can do most if not all of the housework and not just mom.

My nine year old read all the volumes of Tintin from the public library in two months. They are full of fantastical, implausible plots. Every twist and turn seems to involve an explosion, fight, or disaster. Definitely not for me but for sure for my little boy. He loves them all, except for one of the volumes, The Castafiore Emerald, because “they spend the entire time at his friend’s house and don’t go out and do stuff.” I’m not really sure if Tintin counts as one of “the best books,” but at least he’s developing a habit of loving to read which Sarah Mackenzie says counts.

 

The book below is a cute look into music history.

 

For the Quest class I mentored for older homeschooled teens we read the one below. It’s one of those classics that is just sooo great to revisit at least every year. I found a decent version on YouTube to listen to. That’s how I get a lot of my “reading” done.

I finally finished reading aloud the Uncle Eric WWI book to the kids while they do dishes and kitchen cleanup 2-3 times a day. Now we are working through his WWII one below. These are great for challenging commonly held assumptions about the World Wars, written by a Vietnam vet. The two middles of the younger kids had a class in our homeschool group last semester about WW2. I wanted to make sure my kids got a non-glamorized view of war with some of its complexities and hellishness, which these books definitely offer. Even though the class is over, it’s summer, and these books weren’t required, we are reading them on our own and finishing.

My friend Olivia asked the parents in our homeschool group to read the book below and discuss it. I like it, it is full of valuable insights. It’s just slightly intimidating for the average stay at home parent. How about we have books that talk about the grit needed as a parent to endure another sleepless night of a teething kid crying, a toddler who won’t stay out of the toilet bowl or the flour, a preschooler with chicken pox who won’t sleep, or endless rounds of cleaning vomit when the family catches the bug? Surely someone has done studies of how important grit is for everyday parenting?

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by [Duckworth, Angela]

 

Olivia also had us parents of our homeschool group read the Hunger Games and discuss it for March last semester. I finally gave in, despite what I wrote here, years ago. I decided I was wrong. HG is valuable to read as a somber warning of what could happen if society shifts from being God-based to state-based. I also love the Christ figure-ish-ness of Peeta. I  would wait for kids to read it until they are maybe 13 or 14, depending on the personality. I let my 14-year-old read them. Olivia is urging me to read the rest of the series to get the full depth of the Christian symbolism between Peeta and Katniss. We’ll see. Can’t I just read the plot summaries online and call it good, lol?!! I have so much nonfiction and picture books I would rather read! On the other hand, it would be great to read the rest and bond with my son over them. I listened to a lot of this book while either driving to and from Tucson or painting my friend’s office, so just thinking about the book brings up those memories of painting back and forth or driving back and forth, with the narrator’s voice lulling me through the brushstrokes or the desert. Her voice was kind of creepy but I got used to it. At least now I’m a bit more culturally literate, although I’m not giving in on reading Harry Potter.

The one below is one of those perfect bedtime stories that is light, funny, and charmingly illustrated. I love, love, love illustrator LeUyen Pham’s work. It’s that perfect combination of realism and cartoonishness that I adore and hope to be able to draw like in my next life. She’s also done work for Shannon Hale’s Princess in Black and Real Friends books. So amazing!

We also did the standard scripture reading out of the New Testament for the Come Follow Me Study Guide and our daily Book of Mormon reading. That’s it for now! I’d love to hear what you are reading lately, please comment below.

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Book Review: Joy in the Covenant by Julie B. Beck

Posted on June 15, 2019 by treeoflifemama

 

 

Joy in the Covenant

 

This book is by Julie Beck, one of my all-time favorite women leaders of my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sister Beck has a way of just telling it like it is. Like when she said that nurturing equals homemaking, and that includes “cooking, washing clothes and dishes, and keeping an orderly home.” In the same talk she stated that “Latter-day Saint women should be the best homemakers in the world.” That’s all from her famous “Mothers Who Know” talk. I love that! One of my sister’s close friends from high school is Sister Beck’s niece, and then this friend’s sister is my other sister’s friend from high school as well as the sister-in-law of the just mentioned sister. How is that for confusing? 🙂 My sisters and I had lunch with these two nieces about six years ago on a breezy, lazy summer day.  I remember them saying that their Aunt Julie has a boldness that they admire as well.

 

 

So you can expect that kind of forthrightness in this book. It starts a bit slowly as she flashes back to her childhood when her father, Elder William Grant Bangerter, was called to be a mission president in Brazil. As she tells those stories they all run together and the book gets a little repetitive, I admit. I loved, however, hearing how she saw the kingdom of God grow in that nation, from a tiny seed to a great mustard tree of faith. I have a brother and nephew who each served a mission in Brazil so I’ve been touched that way by the growth of the kingdom there.  Brazil has so many missions! I’ve heard that one out of every six missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ serves in Brazil, although I don’t know if that’s true, but if anyone ever asks you go guess where a missionary might be going before he or she opens a call envelope, guess Brazil. 🙂

OK, back to the book recap. Most if not all the book is a compilation of talks she gave at various venues, outside of General Conference. It was interesting to see that she had a rough start in school as a child with illness and learning disabilities but made up for it later, by getting her bachelor’s degree as a mother. She is so articulate, who would have thought that she had learning issues and lacked self-confidence as a student at one point?

I loved her emphasis on how keeping covenants are so important, that they bless us so much, that we are safe and protected and have joy because of them.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

(Please forgive me for not having page numbers for all of the quotes. This is not a scholarly article, :-). )

“Priesthood is an eternal power that gives us access to all the blessings of the Savior’s Atonement. The priesthood connects God’s covenant people to Him and to each other.” (36-37)

“The Holy Ghost: guides us to truth, fortifies our faith and testimony, helps us find answers to our questions, enlightens our minds, fills our souls with joy.” (37)

“The Lord has restored His covenant to the earth. The blessings of this covenant have no qualifications other than worthiness and desire to obtain them. …All who sincerely study its doctrines receive the blessing of knowing Him, loving Him, and becoming more like Him. …All who desire to be partakers of the blessings of the priesthood can enjoy them.” (40)

 

 

“We sometimes desire to live a dream life now, forgetting that earth life is about having an experience that prepares us for the promised dream of eternal life.” (64)

“We all need our Heavenly Father and our Savior in every part of our lives. Without Them, our puny efforts will never be enough. Because of the Savior’s atoning power and through the covenants we honor with Him and our Father, we can depend on strength that is greater than our own during our mortal experience. We don’t know all that will occur in our future, but we do know that we are not powerless and that we do not have to travel this experience alone.” (75)

“It is good for us to ask …questions and draw nearer to God for our answers, to seek a renewal of hope and confirm our faith.” (77)

“To compensate for our weakness and to ensure that death would not be permanent, we were promised a Savior. Jesus Christ was chosen to mark the path and lead the way back to our heavenly home. He would conquer death and lead us into life eternal. The scriptures today record the life and ministry of Jesus, and we have the testimony of many witnesses of His resurrection and life. We have ‘hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of [our] faith in him according to the promise.'” (78)

“To protect ourselves from adversarial influences and qualify for the companionship of the Spirit, we also cannot neglect spending time in the scriptures. When the scriptures become our friend, when they became our thesaurus and our dictionary, when they become our companion and our teacher, then the Lord can use them and open them for our benefit. We will find verses we didn’t know existed, and we’ll be blessed by words we are seeking.” (sorry, I don’t have the page for that one and I had had to return the book back to my inter-library loan system before I captured all the quotes I liked with exact page numbers.)

 

 

That all sounds so lofty, doesn’t it? Like maybe she is spending hours in them every day right? But she goes on to say that at one point she had several classes she was attending with different scripture reading assignments hanging over her head. She felt discouraged that she couldn’t keep up. So she finally decided she wouldn’t even try to keep up or set a certain number of minutes or read at a certain time. She simply decided to read her scriptures every day without keeping to a schedule, and that made life easier and enlightening. So I love that combination of the ideal and the practical.

 

 

She also tells the story of how she and her team in the Relief Society General Presidency produced the book, Daughters in My Kingdom, with Susan W. Tanner as the writer. It was great to read that story.

I also love that she bears testimony of the Savior, the gospel, the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith. About her testimony, she says, “This is more than a guess for me. It is a priceless collection of ‘evidence’ I have worked hard to assemble. It is in my soul. It is a knowledge achieved through study and faith. It is now like a tree I have nourished that has grown to fill my life.”

 

 

My favorite story in the book is about her mother, Gail Hamblin Bangerter. She said that her mom was a Primary teacher who decided to minister to a little boy in her Primary class who had parents who didn’t come to Church. The little boys’ Primary classmates started making fun of him because he smelled of cigarette smoke. She sternly reprimanded the boys for being so unkind and asked them to stop making fun of Billy. She brought Billy to church and Primary every week (this was in the days when Primary was on a weekday– I am old enough to remember that). Then the ward got split and the boy became a deacon but he kept coming to Sister Bangerter’s ward. The bishop wanted Billy to come to his proper ward so he told Sister Bangerter to stop bringing Billy to her ward. Sister Bangerter replied something to the effect of, “Bishop, when you love Billy as much as I do, he will come to your ward.” I love that!

Here is another one of my favorite quotes from the book:

“When prayer becomes a craving in our lives, when we breathe prayer, when we dream prayer, when we sigh prayer and cry prayer and love praying, then we begin to know some things about Heavenly Father and His Son and what They know about us and how much they love and trust us and how patient They are with us while we learn. Through that kind of prayer, we repent and feel the Lord’s love around us. …When the scriptures become our friend, when they become our thesaurus and our dictionary, when they become our companion and our teacher, then the Lord can use them and open them for our benefit. We will find verses we didn’t know existed, and we’ll be blessed by words we are seeking.” (153)

I give this book five out of five stars! This is not a light summer read. It is perfect for reading at night when sleep doesn’t come and you are full of anxiety. Enjoy!

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Come Follow Me: Week #19, What I Learned at the Smithsonian Institute When My Toenails Were About to Fall Off

Posted on June 7, 2019 by treeoflifemama

Sorry for being so long in blogging. I went on this amazingly epic trip with some of my homeschool mom friends, one homeschool dad friend, and their kids to Washington D.C. recently. Hence the blogging hiatus. Getting ready for such a trip, doing the trip, and then recovering from the trip took all my time and brain space for the past three weeks, haha. Pictures and descriptions will be coming soon! None of my kids wanted to go, sadly, (can you believe it?) but that certainly made it easier (translate: cheaper) for me. So even though I was sad they didn’t want to come, I was not-so-secretly-relieved too, because then I didn’t have to help them raise money. Less stress for me. More on all that later, but for now, just know…my trip was so wonderful!

 

 

I don’t know what number I am on for blogging about what I’m learning about Jesus Christ from the Come, Follow Me Study Guide. We’ll go with Week #19. I don’t even know if that’s the week that has the Parable of the Ten Virgins. but I’m feeling too lazy to look it up. I’m blogging about that today, regardless. One thing I learned from my DC trip is how important it is to exercise regularly, not to lose or even maintain weight, but to feel good and to be able to keep up with the physical demands on my body. I had just read the Parable of the Ten Virgins that Jesus gave in the Come, Follow Me readings, or maybe I read it in the middle of the week-long trip, or right when I came back?

 

Anyway, back when January of 2019 started I had, like many people do every year, gloriously planned on making this year the year I am consistent in exercise. I don’t really care about weight loss, if I can just tone my muscles and shape up (translate: lose inches). I planned on exercising at least four times a week, 20 minutes a time. It sounds doable right? Doing the Trim Healthy Mama Workins was part of the plan. I love that the Workins routines get my heart rate up and my breathing heavy after only 20  minutes. I really want to complete my self-challenge of doing the Workins  for six weeks consistently! Some days I wasn’t up for the intensity of a Workins routine so I would do my healthy posture DVD instead, which is Pilates-based (those stretches feel sooooo good!), or I would do stepping for 20 minutes with my arm bands. With those three things for variety (not to mention all the variety of all the DVDs in the THM Workins’ package) this all seemed very achievable.

 

Well, here’s what happened: I would go for about four weeks being consistent (at least four times a week), then I would let it slide, then I would get another four weeks in or so of four times a week. Then when May hit, I completely let exercising slide because of all the other pressures I was under. I realize now more than ever that exercise is much more a wellness tool than a weight loss tool. After exercising for one of those chunks of time I just described I weighed more than I started. That was really discouraging. It wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t also feel that my pants felt tighter on me. I wasn’t losing inches! I can’t say I was developing muscle and feeling leaner when my pants are fitting tighter. So that’s when I stopped the last round, that, combined with all the end of school year pressures, including finishing the Quest year and my kids’ Shakespeare play. (It’s such a joke that Mother’s Day is in May! How about we honor all mothers in May by everyone agreeing not to hold any end of year stuff in May?!)

 

On the D.C. trip, one of my mom friends, Ms. K,  was like the Energizer bunny. She’s short, cute, cheery, and kept going when part of the group, including me, was flagging around 3 PM. One the second day of the D.C. tour, my feet felt so sore and swollen I thought my toenails were going to fall off! On the first day,  when I felt my back was going to melt into the floor, I stopped for a rest at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, to just sit against one of the walls. It had been a very full day and my body, eyes, and brain needed a break after seeing Julia Child’s kitchen, Dorothy of Oz’s ruby red slippers, and a million bits of miscellany of Americana, like the real Star-Spangled Banner (for reals, the original one that hung at Fort McHenry, it’s huge!), a fragment of Plymouth Rock,  the inaugural ball gowns and all of the china of the First Ladies.

 

 

Ms. K just kept pressing forward for another round, as if she was doing laps around the rest of us. She came back to all of us slackers and reported on the treasures we were missing out on: Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves, the original Swedish Chef Muppet, a Nauvoo Temple sunstone, and a copy of the Liberty Bell. I asked her if she was even tired and she said “No, not at all!” I remembered I had learned her secret two days earlier on the way to the airport. This woman, a busy mother of 8, is a triathlete! Yes, she has completed a handful of triathlons and is used to regular exercise. Her regular trips to Disneyland help her endurance as well, not to mention being the mom of 8 kids, :-).

 

 

So how does all this relate to the Parable of the Ten Virgins found in Matthew 25? Some conditions, like being physically able to walk on a tour in D.C. all day, and being spiritually prepared for the Savior’s Second Coming, can’t be done at the last minute. I have to prepare for them a little bit every day, just like the virgins added to their oil in their lamps, a few drops every day. Not only that, but some conditions can’t be shared. My cute Ms. K couldn’t share her robust physical condition with me, much as I wish she could, just like the virgins couldn’t share their supply of oil. I can’t give my testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to  you, but I can encourage you to gain one and nourish it daily.

My homeschool group is gearing up for a repeat of this trip (with improvements of course) in the fall of 2020. You can be sure I’m going to be a lot more in shape for that trip! I want to be just like Ms. K the Energizer Bunny!  I’m also taking at least two of my kids with me, without dragging them but by inspiring them. I’m shooting for at least four times a week of exercise (at least 20 minutes a time) from now until then, and I’m determined to see and feel the difference in my stamina when I tour D.C. that fall.

P.S. The next day after feeling like my toenails were going to pop off I found out from Ms. K, through her FitBit, that we had walked 13 miles in one day! My body is not used to that! We did that every day for 5 days. No wonder I had to recover from the trip!

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Married Date Night Movie Review: No Greater Love

Posted on May 16, 2019 by treeoflifemama

 

DH and I watched the movie No Greater Love a few months ago for a date night at home. The acting is a bit stiff, but it was still enjoyable. It’s a wonderful movie to watch as a married couple. It raises the questions:

When is it OK to get divorced?

What does it mean to be a Christian and be married?

Is it OK for a Christian to marry a non-Christian?

What does it mean to be a Christian and be married?

Is a Christian marriage different from a non-Christian marriage? Why?

What is the proper role of a wife?

What is the proper role of a husband?

What is the proper role of a mother and father?

If you weren’t Christian and suddenly woke up one day as a Christian, would that change the way you parent or the way you treat your spouse?

Is it OK to yell at your child?

How far does forgiveness extend in marriage? in parenthood?

I found this on DVD at local my public library. You can also watch on amazon. It’s great to watch as a couple. Families with kids 12 and older might enjoy watching it together as well.

 

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