Tree of Life Mothering

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! We had a great Thanksgiving Eve bonfire last night, pictured above! I love having a teen son who can build huge fires! I also love having bonfires. So far we’ve done it on Christmas Eve, All Hallow’s Eve, and Thanksgiving Eve! Also when my brother-in-law visited. I love having a fire pit! The picture below shows our mountain view from the fire pit. You can barely see a speck of the moon at the top of the picture below.

So by moonlight and firelight, we ate pie with maple syrup sweetened whip cream. Yum, yum, yum! I cheated on the prep work and bought some pies (you know, the 80/20 rule, where you eat whole food 80% of the time. Sometimes I think, if the kids don’t care and it doesn’t affect their behavior, I will buy the less-than-pure food for them, to save time, true confessions!) I made apple crisp for me. It’s so much easier to make than pie! I couldn’t find my trusty recipe from Diane Hopkins over at lovetolearn.net so I winged it and it turned out great! Recipe coming soon!

I let the kids do mock sword-fighting (with padded swords) outside by firelight while I gave them a Thanksgiving gift of doing the dishes. Usually they do them. To make the chores fun for me I listened to the lastest Trim Healthy Mama podcast about how to get through the holidays without getting derailed on your diet plans. It was good! I like all the tactics they gave. Then we watched The Mouse on the Mayflower and Monumental. It’s so wonderful to be reminded of how persistent the Pilgrims were, as told in Monumental. So many forces conspired against them. In the documentary, Kirk interviewed an expert on Pilgrim history who described all their setbacks. Here they are:

• The head of their government in England, King James, was a tyrant who wanted people to only follow his religion, the Church of England. They had to meet in secret to have church meetings
• They could have have been arrested for reading the Bible in their own language, English.
• So they go to Holland, for religious freedom. During the first attempt, the captain of the ship betrayed them into the hands of the government, so they had to spend time in jail
• On the next attempt, however, only the husbands/fathers could go.
• Then they were caught in a storm while on the boat that lasted two weeks.  The storm abated which allowed the men to finally get to Holland
• It took a whole year before the wives and children could join them. Then the Pilgrims built a printing press to print pamphlets to teach others about the Bible and Christ. Then authorities from King James came and destroyed the printing press.
• When the Pilgrims came back to England and then decided to go the New World, their first ship sprang a leak. So they had to come back and get a different ship.

Whew, all that before they even got to Plymouth! That was just the beginning of all their hardships. It is truly amazing that they had the tenacity to press forward. I’m so grateful they did. I am grateful for their example of self-government according to what they felt was best in worshiping God. Perhaps God gave them all those challenges before they got to the New World to prepare them for even more challenges. I don’t think any of those challenges were just coincidences. I look back on my life and see the hand of God in my trials. They weren’t simply coincidences.

Here’s a story that involves so-called coincidences that I know will warm your hearts this Thanksgiving Day. It involves some mixed-up mail, a common surname, long-lost twins, and reunited cousins and siblings. It all happened around November, culminating in a joyous family reunion on Thanksgiving Day! All from a catalog sent to the “wrong” address! God definitely works through mysterious ways, even with catalogs and the postal system! The story is called “A Catalog of Events”, by Janet Kruckenberg. It appeared in the June 1994 Ensign. I have reprinted some of it below this photo below.

(reprinted from the June 1994 Ensign):

When I answered the phone, a man’s voice on the other end of the line asked my name and told me his, saying that a mail order catalog with my name on it had arrived in his mail. He asked if I had ordered the catalog or if I wanted it. I told him I didn’t and that I had no idea why my name was on it. We would have hung up then if the caller hadn’t said something else.

There’s so much more to the story! Please see the rest of the article here.

Here are some great Thanksgiving shows to watch this week besides the parade and football. The first is Monumental by Kirk Cameron. You might be able to see all of it on YouTube if you poke around for the parts or you can use Amazon Prime. I didn’t know such a monument to the Pilgrims existed until I watched this!

An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving is loosely based on Louisa May Alcott’s short story. Watch the trailer above. You can rent the full version on YouTube. Read the short story in the picture book form below to know what the original is like. It’s not nearly as dramatic with an estranged daughter. Your public library probably has a copy and it’s OK to read it after Thanksgiving is over!

Then we have The Thanksgiving Promise below, a made for TV show from when I was young.

BYUTV has come out with a new Thanksgiving special that will premiere tomorrow on Thanksgiving Day. Here are the details. It will broadcast at 6 PM MT.  Sounds like it’s also for Christmas too.

Of course, there’s the classic Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving, over here. Make it a tradition if you haven’t already!

And last but not least The Mouse on the Mayflower, above, a blast from my past. I love the old somewhat cheesy holiday cartoons for kids from my day. They make me think that life is still that simple.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Image Credit: Holderness Family YouTube Channel

In case you don’t have a way planned for how to do your turkey tomorrow, listen to the video below. It’s an interview from the famous libertarian Tom Woods with his now ex-wife, Heather. (They divorced since this recording was made.) I’ve used it for many years. The turkey always turns not dry and wonderful! (Notice I didn’t say “moist.” My older daughter tells me she had a college roommate who reacted negatively to the word moist.) Here’s the printed recipe over here.  You will never have to endure a dry turkey again! Throw away all your turkey basters! That’s what Heather says! Actually, you can use them for removing cream off the top of raw milk. That’s what I do with mine.

If you want some laughs from funny Thanksgiving videos, to ease the tension of Thanksgiving  prep, go here. Some of those videos include the Holderness Family, of the YouTube channel I got the image from above. They are fun!

If you want some fun audios to listen to while fixing Thanksgiving food, go here.

Then I’ve got some fun Thanksgiving games here, and when you don’t want to have to think much anymore after a fun but tiring day, here are some Thanksgiving-themed movies.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Story #8 as we countdown to Thanksgiving is what I call “The Power of a Thank You.” It is originally titled, “Thank You Mrs. Pfeil,” by Carl Nelson, and it appeared in the July 2003 Ensign. Here it is:

When business meetings brought me to my childhood hometown of Mansfield, Massachusetts, I looked up the Web page of my old middle school. At the end of a list of current faculty members was Mrs. Christine Pfeil, my eighth-grade English teacher who was a truly influential person in my life.

When I was in eighth grade, difficulties at home left me angry and distracted from school responsibilities. Other teachers didn’t pay attention to my altered attitude and slipping grades, but Mrs. Pfeil took a personal interest. She would never accept less than my best. Often she would write on my assignments, “You can do better—try again.” Grudgingly, I would redo the assignment, thinking, “OK, you want something better? I’ll give you something better!” In her class, I felt intelligent and appreciated. When I left Qualters Middle School after eighth grade, I knew I could succeed scholastically because of Mrs. Pfeil’s belief in me.

As I looked at her name on the Web page that day, it suddenly seemed overwhelmingly important to tell her as soon as possible how she had influenced my life. I determined to find her, so at noon the next day, I excused myself from a business meeting and sped to Qualters.

I had just tried her classroom door when I saw Mrs. Pfeil walking down the hallway. “Carl Nelson!” she exclaimed. “I haven’t seen you in 25 years! What are you doing here?”

Impelled to deliver my message, I began abruptly. “I feel I need to tell you personally how important you were in my life. In eighth grade I was going through difficult times, but you expected my best. Precious few demanded that much from me then. As far as I can tell, your faith in me was the major reason I began trusting in my own abilities. I don’t know what my life would have been like without a teacher like you.”

As I spoke, Mrs. Pfeil’s eyes became wet. “I have to tell you a story,” she said. “I have always wanted to be a writer, even though I felt God wanted me to teach. Last night I was feeling hurt that I had never received any appreciation for my work. I told God that unless I received some thanks the very next day, I was going to retire from teaching and work on my writing. And now here you come after all this time to thank me on this particular day—this blessing is almost too much!”

Mrs. Pfeil and I were unable to talk longer. Her students began arriving, and I left, humbled that Heavenly Father let me share in helping one of His children. Reflecting upon my brief experience with Mrs. Pfeil, I remained impressed that no matter who we are or what church we belong to, our loving Father works in our lives to answer our prayers.

I love this story because it shows the power of prayer. God does answer prayers! I also love it because it shows how wonderful a simple “thank you” can change someone’s life. I’ve been helping out in a homeschool group for my kids. I teach a class for older teens in the morning, which can be somewhat stressful, and then in the afternoon I’m basically on the crowd control team for the younger kids’ drama class. I don’t even teach in that class, which is great because by then I want to relax, but the sweetest little girl, Kylee, in that class, has noticed my presence there. She took the time to write me the note I have in the picture above. It totally brightened my day! I’ve often wondered where some of my teachers are today. I know I never thanked any of them for teaching me. I’m going to write at least one thank you note this month and one next month. I challenge you to do the same, write a thank you note to a teacher, a parent, a grandparent, or someone else who has influenced your life for good.

Here are more stories of saying “thank you”

• Nine Lepers and a Thank You Note by Jane McBride Choate
• Think to Thank by Pres. Thomas S. Monson (this includes many stories, including one of a teacher getting her first thank you note after teaching for over 50 years)

and here are some simple tips to writing thank you notes. Next time I’m on FHE activity, we are going to do this! Remember, the note doesn’t have to be Pinterest-worthy, a simple note on plain paper will do like Kylee did for me.  Don’t let the desire to have it look beautiful keep you putting it off so you never write it!

This Thanksgiving story comes from the New Era, the LDS Church’s magazine for youth. It’s in the February 1999 issue, and it’s by Janna DeVore. The title is Please Bring Us Home.

Here is the story:

About 15 miles north of Elko, Nevada, is a stretch of highway dotted with signs warning motorists not to pick up hitchhikers because of a prison facility nearby. To four college students traveling from Provo, Utah, to San Francisco, these signs were a bit unsettling. My roommates and I were certainly glad to cruise by them on our way to California’s Bay Area for Thanksgiving weekend. We didn’t think twice about the signs until four days later on our way back to Provo. It was then that our car suddenly stopped precisely 10 yards north of one of those ominous blue signs.

Our first instincts were to flag down another car and ask for a ride back to Elko. But images of escaped convicts kept us locked inside the car. It was four in the afternoon, it was snowing, and it would definitely be dark and very cold within the hour. We needed help fast but were too afraid to even get out of the car. We offered a short prayer, and 30 minutes later a man driving a snowplow stopped and radioed the police for us. A young officer piled us into his car, called a tow truck, and dropped us off at a motel in Elko.

We soon got over our fears and realized how blessed we were to get off the highway unharmed and be in a safe, warm motel room. Our only problem now was getting back to Provo. Each of us dialed home collect, expecting that our parents would wire money for bus tickets or a rental car. We were surprised when each set of parents immediately offered to drive to Elko and get us.

Even for the closest set of parents, this meant a three-hour drive to Elko and a four-hour drive back to Provo. It meant disrupting work schedules and finding baby-sitters for the other children. Eventually we decided that it would be best for Jenni’s mom and grandpa to drive down to get us. Relieved, we went to bed and expected to see Jenni’s mom by noon the next day.

Things didn’t go quite as planned. Overnight the snow storm had worsened, and the roads were terrible. Despite leaving Salt Lake City at 10:00 A.M., Jenni’s mom didn’t get to us until four that afternoon. The roads back were equally icy, and a typically four-hour drive took six hours. Still, Jenni’s mom and grandpa never uttered a word of complaint during the entire drive home. They were only happy to help and grateful that we would be home soon.

No matter where we had been stranded, any of our parents would have done all they could to bring us back home. The same is true of our heavenly parents. And our Heavenly Father will take us all the way home, not just to a safe resting place. No matter how lost or confused we may be, we need only to make a humble call to our Heavenly Father, promising to heed His words, and He will lead us back.

Unfortunately, our earthly parents are not always at the other end of the line when we call. Many parents cannot or will not answer their children’s cries. As I rode home from Elko in the safe confines of a warm van, I realized just how much my parents love me. Even more, I knew that my Heavenly Father would always help me. He does so without complaint, for He is happy just to know that I am on my way home and will soon be safe in His arms.

Having driven through more than one snowstorm, I fully appreciate this story! I lived in Utah for about 35 years so I’ve had my share. One time I had driven the kids down to a homeschool event an hour south of where we lived. We left to go home around 4 PM but the snow started falling and I got scared. I have had natural birth 5 times, so I know I’m a strong woman who can have nerves of steel when I want to, but when it comes to driving in the snow, I am a wimp. Or maybe just overly cautious? I called my parents who live about 10 minutes from where I was driving and asked if I could spend the night instead of driving home in the storm. They were more than happy to put me up for the night with my 6 (at the time) rambunctious kids. My husband is a lot more brave driving in the snow. I can’t count how many Christmas parties we drove home in what seemed like blinding snowstorms. All that is blissfully over for a while now that we live in Southern AZ, praise the Lord.

We had the most picturesque Christmas last year. It hadn’t snowed all month. Then it snowed during the night on Christmas Eve. We woke up to a beautiful powdered sugar dusting of snow on Christmas Sunday. We drove to church, where I accompanied a men’s trio singing a song with Sally DeFord at her finest (translate: the piano accompaniment was hard with tons of eighth note chords! I had had only one week’s notice to practice.  I skipped many notes, and I’m sure many people weren’t the wiser! My older daughter thought it was just supposed to sound minimalistic.  :-))

Oh, how I digress! This Thanksgiving season, I’m so grateful for earthly parents and heavenly parents. I know that Heavenly Father is more than eager to hear our cries for help and answers us in the best way possible for our eternal growth and joy. Our Heavenly Father is like the most doting grandparent imaginable: one who drops everything when we call and only does things for our ultimate joy. How grateful I am that He has provided a way for us to return home to live with Him again, through the redemption of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Today’s story as we count down to Thanksgiving is a true story that took place on Christmas Eve. It involves a turkey so that’s why I’m including it here as a Thanksgiving story. Most people typically eat turkey on Thanksgiving, more so than on Christmas, when other traditional or easier foods to prepare crowd out Mr. Turkey. So that’s why I’m telling this story today. I love, love stories of miracles like this one! We usually don’t think of miracles associated with Thanksgiving but it’s time we do. I myself think of Thanksgiving every year as a time of miracles because:

1. Some of the Pilgrims survived the first horrendous winter in Plymouth. As a descendant of William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth, and John Howland, I’m thankful for that, because they were both among the survivors. Without them, I wouldn’t be here! The first Thanksgiving was a time where they gave thanks for surviving the winter and having a bountiful crop.
2. Thirteen years ago, we moved the Saturday after Thanksgiving into a miraculous situation that I know God provided for us.
3. Two years ago, again, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we moved from #2 situation into a new, miraculous situation that God provided for us, again, due to his mercy and abounding provision.

So, on to the story! It is from the February 2003 New Era, in a talk called, “Do You Need a Miracle?” by Elder Larry Gibbons. It tells the story of a man, Mr. Bogar, living in the hills of Missouri. He went hunting for a legendary turkey named Foots who was so big that he left prominent tracks in the snow. The man stalked Foots down until he was 60 yards away. Carefully, Mr. Bogar aimed, shot, and hit the turkey! The turkey fell down and appeared to be dead. Mr. Bogar was sure that his turkey dinner was in the bag. But then an amazing thing happened, and it wasn’t until months later that the hunter found out the rest of the miraculous story. The end result was a miraculous turkey dinner for some hungry people who had been praying for food, not the hunter’s family. Click on this link to read the whole thing. I’ts amazing!

I believe in miracles! I’ve seen them happen in my life. I’ve seen hearts soften (including my own) and miracles happen when at first it seemed like no change was remotely possible. I know these changes happened because of the power of faith in Jesus Christ.  Thanksgiving is a great time for miracles! Any time is a great time for miracles when we do as Elder Gibbons says in the article:

You have some difficult battles to fight. It is easy to let fear overtake us. Have courage! Have faith! Remember the sons of Helaman. “Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; … yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them” (Alma 56:47).

Have faith! Repent of those things that you need to change in your life. Do not fear. Work hard. Expect a miracle!

Remember the greatest miracle of all time. The Son of Man rose from the grave. He overcame death and hell! He lives. I know that He lives. Because of this, the greatest of miracles, we have no reason to fear, and we have every reason to have faith.

(Sorry to bread geeks everywhere: this picture does not show true rye bread. I don’t have any pictures of rye bread in my stock photos!)

Today’s story is about two topics: Thanksgiving and traditions. Actually, even more. It’s about bread. And teaching traditions to children. But most of all, it’s about appreciating husbands and building your marriage. It comes from the January 1996 Ensign, and it’s called, “Grandma Chris’s Rye Bread” by Mary Ellen Bramwell.

In this story, a woman realizes that she has been selfish in preserving her own family traditions and ignoring her husband’s. In all her years of keeping the traditions alive that her family had regarding Thanksgiving and Christmas foods/traditions, she had completely forgotten to find out and appreciate those from her husband. Her mother-in-law gave her a collection of recipes for traditional holiday foods from her husband’s family history. Then he made Danish pancakes from a favorite recipe. She failed to show appreciation for any of this.

Here is more of the story:

Last Thanksgiving a small menu detail finally opened my eyes to all that I’d been missing. Allen suggested getting root beer to drink because that’s what his family always had with their turkey dinner. I dismissed it, declaring that my family drank water with our Thanksgiving meal. Suddenly, I became painfully aware of my rudeness. I realized I’d been so intent on my family traditions that I had completely ignored Allen’s family traditions.

How did the writer of this story change this situation so that her children learned of her husband’s family traditions? Read the rest of the story here.

I love the smell of homemade bread, and I love that the author figured out that bread symbolizes not just love, but the mixture of two cultures: her husband’s and hers. Whenever I smell my homemade bread baking, I’m going to think of this story.  For all the romanticism of this story, I have to admit that it definitely hit a sensitive nerve for me. This past week I finally finished watching the webinar of marriage coach Ramona Zabriskie. I highly recommend you go watch it if you haven’t already! In this webinar, and in her book, Wife for Life, Ramona teaches how you can have hope for a Grand Marriage, one full of true love, romance, intimacy, fidelity, dreams come true, and unity.

In the book, Ramona teaches the Laws of Attractions for interactions in marriage. One of these laws from Ramoni is appreciation. I realized that I have not been showing sufficient appreciation for my husband. I mishandled a particular incident a week ago which left him feeling totally, completely unappreciated. Oops. If I had just handled it differently, by using the phrase Ramona shares below, things would have gone soooo much better.

So don’t be like me! If something happens that you feel critical of, instead of saying anything that remotely hints at criticism, say, “Interesting…tell me more.”

So this Thanksgiving, and forever after,  remember to show gratitude and appreciation not just to God, but to those closest around you, your husband and children. Together, with gratitude and appreciation, we can make something much more beautiful than we can on our own!

(This post contains affiliate links. If you click on them and buy, I will get a commission from your purchase, which helps me to pay for the cost of running this blog. Your price remains the same.)

Sorry I missed putting a Thanksgiving story up yesterday. Thursdays are long days around here! We have our homeschool group that day, based on Thomas Jefferson Education. We drive 90 minutes one way to get to it because it is totally worth it! I teach a youth class for that called Quest. Afterwards, my older daughter and I went “thrifting” (thrift store shopping) in honor of our November birthdays that are four days apart. We got a great haul for around $30, including the most darling silver sandals with roses on them, and lightweight sweaters (swoon!). In just the colors I wanted, peach and aqua! I will blog about it soon! The younger kids all got invited to playdates with dinner at different houses after school, so it was just the two of us shopping. I’m so grateful because we had some very meaningful conversation that I will treasure forever. This is her last season at home because she gets married in December. (Insert misty eyes…)

(Ok skip to the story a few paragraphs down if you don’t want to hear all of this backstory.) Between school, shopping with my daughter, meeting her future sister-in-law, giving said future sis in law tips on natural labor induction (she’s due in 4 days) and arranging pick up of kids, I didn’t get home until after 9! Forget about the grocery shopping I had entertained ideas of doing on the way home, I just wanted to get home. Thank goodness I got to eat pizza at girlfriend Kimberly’s home when I went to fetch my youngest from the boy party going on there. (Total chaos with Nerf guns, all manner of wheeled toys, and 12 mini packages of testosterone running around, on top of her 8 kids. She was in all her glory because she loves parties!) Otherwise I wouldn’t have eaten dinner until after 9, because she lives 1 hour and half away from me. I will have to blog about “caving in” to my food plan, because even though I ate her totally delicious, but supposedly “evil” white flour crust pizza with cheese (total crossover in Trim Healthy Mama land) I did not gain weight. I was so hungry!!! But I stopped at 3 pieces, even though I could have easily eaten more. I even lost some weight. There goes my theory that whenever I eat crossovers I gain weight! There are more factors involved that I have to watch out for, which I will muse over and write up soon.

Okay, back to my Thanksgiving story that I wanted to put up yesterday! Today’s story is called “30 Million Dollars and Still Lacking.” This story comes from an article that brings memories of my youth, because it’s written by the prophet of my older teen and college years, Pres. Ezra Taft Benson. What a grand man he was! It’s from this article, “Receive All Things With Thankfulness,” from the November 1976 Ensign when he was President of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles.

Here is one quote from the first part of the article that I love:

The Prophet Joseph is reported to have said at one time that one of the greatest sins for which the Latter-day Saints would be guilty would be the sin of ingratitude. I presume most of us have not thought of that as a serious sin. There’s a great tendency for us in our prayers—in our pleadings with the Lord—to ask for additional blessings. Sometimes I feel we need to devote more of our prayers to expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving for blessings already received. Of course we need the daily blessings of the Lord. But if we sin in the matter of prayer, I think it is in our lack of the expressions of thanksgiving for daily blessings.

This is so true! I am going to start having at least one of my prayers every day be a complete prayer of thanksgiving.

But wait there’s more! In this article, Pres. Benson shared many stories to increase our thanksgiving spirit. Here is one of them, that I call “30 Million Dollars and Still Lacking for Something Money Can’t Buy”:

[A]t the end of World War II, I was seated in my office in Salt Lake and received a telephone call from a man in New York, a multimillionaire who had made 30 million dollars by the time he was 30 years of age. He had a son in a military camp just outside Salt Lake City. This boy had expected to be shipped overseas, as many others had been. Then the war ended and so they were crowded into that camp, like sardines in a can. This boy was discouraged, and his father was worried about him. So he called and said, “Would you please call him on the telephone and see if you can cheer him up a bit?” I said, “Of course, I’d be happy to.” And I called him and said, “Would you like to come into the office for a little visit?” And he said, “I sure would.” He was a bit delayed in coming, and I was just ready to leave for home when he arrived.

I said, “Would you like to go out to the house with me and take potluck with the family? My wife doesn’t know you’re coming, but you’ll be welcome.” So he said, “I can’t imagine anything I’d rather do tonight than that.” So we went out, and we had our dinner, and we had our prayer. We gathered around the piano afterwards and enjoyed ourselves with some singing. Then after we visited for awhile, I drove him down to his bus. In a few days I got a letter from his father, and you know, you’d have thought I’d saved that boy’s life. The father quoted a letter from his son in which the son had said, “Father, I didn’t know there were any people in this world who lived like that.” Yes, we take it all for granted. Here was a man worth millions of dollars—could buy his son anything that dollars could buy and never miss the money—and yet this simple thing of prayer and devotion in the home had passed him by.

I love this!!!! The simple act of giving devotion to God each day is something that this boy, the son of a multimillionaire lacked. We can give this devotion to God through songs, prayer, giving thanks for food before eating, dining together as a family, scripture reading, and sharing spiritual stories with other family members. These things cost nothing. Yet they warm the soul like nothing, I repeat, nothing money can buy. Doing these things over and over with your children gives them a rich life! We can each afford to do this!

As Pres. Benson went on to say in the same article:

We need to be more grateful. I think there’s no true character without gratitude. It’s one of the marks of a real strong character, to have a feeling of thanksgiving and gratitude for blessings that are ours. We need more of that spirit in our homes, in our daily associations, in church, everywhere. It doesn’t cost anything. It’s so easy to cultivate the spirit of appreciation and gratitude. And it’s so easy, also, to be dissatisfied and to be envious of other people.

We can create this feeling of gratitude “in our daily associations, in church,” and “everywhere” by sharing stories that increase our children’s appreciation of culture. I’m talking about sharing stories of people, places, and things that create connections for them. When they feel those connections, they are more likely to feel appreciation. I’ve been working on this for years by sharing stories from the Friend, New Era, and Ensign almost every weekday with my kids, usually over the breakfast table. I used to read them aloud, and still do sometimes, but usually I play the stories using the Gospel Library app on my phone, from the aforementioned church magazines. I always point out to my kids interesting connections to the stories, like if they know someone or someplace relating to the story. Sometimes I ask them what they think about it or how the principles in the story apply to them.

I am so excited to share with you that after years of listening to these stories, and months of work poring over them, I have created the resource I wish I had had for years. It’s a collection of songs, scriptures, poems, and stories in an ebook form, called “The Celestial Guide to Family Devotionals.” Everything is linked to the Internet, so you can just use your device, click on the text, and the scripture or story I’ve linked will pop up for you. I’ve grouped everything by seasonal and holiday themes. You can use these for homeschool morning devotionals. Even if you don’t homeschool, you can use this ebook for FHE, firesides, or simply sharing at dinnertime or anytime you want to share a spiritual story or thought! Watch for it in December when I release it!

Today’s story as we count down to Thanksgiving is about football. What would fall or Thanksgiving Day be without it? I have a love/hate relationship with the sport. I appreciate the strategy and infinite ways the game can go, but I don’t like the injuries involved. Son #3 is currently recovering from a concussion sustained in football. Ouch! Anyway, despite my dislike for the pain and permanent damage the game can create, I love the way football can bring people together, at least when they are rooting for the same team, LOL!

When we lived in Utah, it was a tradition for my oldest son’s friend to organize a football game with as many boys and men he could round up the morning of Thanksgiving Day. They had a ton of fun! Today’s story involves a football game on a Thanksgiving morning that changed a young man’s life. He enjoyed a football game without cursings, anger, or fighting. Then he learned why, and that changed his whole life! You can read it here.

Are you enjoying November? I sure am! It is still 80 plus degrees here in southern AZ so I can still soak up plenty of sunshine without a jacket! I love it!!! I decided it would be fun to count down to Thanksgiving with a story/article a day to remind us of the power of harvest time, trust in the Providence of God, thanksgiving and gratitude. So here’s Story/Article #1. It comes from the Ensign, September 2012. It is called The Harvest Will Come.

It tells about the Filipponi family who live on a farm in Argentina. They see firsthand the power that comes from planting and tending seeds, both literally and physically. Here are some principles we learn from their story:

1. Harvest time always comes! God’s harvest time is sometimes different from man’s, so we have to be patient and obedient in our work, never giving up hope in God or giving in on our standards.

2. You can’t expect a harvest of good crops unless you plant good seeds and work hard to tend to them every day. Spiritual crops of peace and prosperity come from planting the gospel principles of paying tithing, getting an education, honoring the Sabbath Day, and working hard.

3. The physical crop of good health comes in part from obeying the Word of Wisdom.

4. The social crop of esteem from your fellow man comes from standing for your values and being friendly.

5. When we obey God’s commandments, He blesses us by opening the windows of heaven for us.

6. When we obey God’s commandments, He allows us to become instruments in His hands.

I know this is so true! We had financial troubles a few years ago. We paid our tithing and kept the commandments through all of it. We also increased our temple worship, using names for the temple work that I had researched on my own and submitted. (That’s another story for another day.) God did come through on his promise that if you pay your tithing, the windows of heaven will be opened for you (see Malachi 3:10). You won’t have room enough to receive it all. This is so true!!!!We were blessed with so many material goods during this time, that several times I had to dejunk because I simply had too many things. We had many spiritual blessings as well. My oldest son and daughter both got scholarships to college. We got out of a car payment and were able to get a used car for cash and we haven’t had a car payment since. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law gave us a van so then we were able to have two cars with no car payments. My oldest son served a mission and helped people come to Christ in the waters of baptism. We all increased in our knowledge, health, and friendship. I know these blessings all came from God and I thank Him for His loving care.

I would love to hear your thoughts on gratitude. What blessings do you see come from being grateful, acknowledging God, and keeping the commandments? I will be posting a story a day, which all come from the LDS Church magazines. These stories are referred to in my upcoming ebook, The Celestial Guide to Family Devotionals, which will be coming out in December. Watch for it! It will help you with FHE, homeschool morning devotionals, Sunday firesides, and dinner time conversations.