Tree of Life Mothering

The 2016 Agency-based Education Conference is coming next week! If you live in Utah, I encourage you to go. You can register here. When I lived in Utah, I attended most every year and always came away feeling renewed and armed with more knowledge to continue my homeschooling journey. You don’t have to be a homeschooler to benefit from the conference. Whether a parent or grandparent, it’s great to be aware of how you can promote agency-based education in whatever setting your children or grandchildren are in. The speakers come from public school and homeschool backgrounds. My friend Oak Norton, in the video above, puts it on every year and does a great job of getting inspiring, informative speakers. Go here to watch the 2014 videos. I am excited to see that two of my friends, Aneladee Milne and Audrey Rindslisbacher, are speaking this year. You can see Aneladee’s presentation from 2014 below, and Audrey’s presentation from the same year below that.

This is Aneladee talking about “You Don’t Have to Go It Alone: Seven Principles to Building Long-lasting [Homeschooling] Communities”

Here’s Audrey on “From Opinion to Principle”

Image Credit: wikipedia.org

Who is G.A. Henty and why should I care about free audio versions of his books?

Henty lived from 1832 to 1902. He wrote dozens of historical based fiction novels, based on his career as a journalist covering war. That’s the answer to the first question.

Now for the answer to the second question. Here is a description of his work, copied from henty.org:

While many children’s adventure books that emphasize the traits of courage, high moral character, diligence, perseverance and other valuable personal virtues were written during this period, G. A. Henty’s books are unique. Each adventure takes place within the setting of some important period in human history. From the fall of Jerusalem to the American Civil War, Henty’s heroes live their adventures within exciting historical events. The reader learns much detailed history while he is being entertained and taught by exemplary heroes.
Moreover, through his personal experiences and careful scholarship, Henty provides very detailed and accurate accounts of history. While one might read a section of a history book concerning, for example, the conquering of Mexico by Spain, most such accounts are dry and shallow in comparison with Henty’s tale of the primary happenings and of the way of life of the people caught up in those events.

From the French Revolution to the Great Plague of London, from the Crusades to the American Civil War, Henty readers learn in-depth history, superior vocabulary and literary techniques, and the advantages of high personal character – while they are being entertained by a master storyteller.

Jim Weiss has recorded a few of his stories, but now you can get many of them free from librivox.org. I acknowledge some volunteer readers for librivox.org aren’t super exciting to listen to, but most are acceptable, and that’s OK with me if I am getting them free!

Click here to go to the download page from librivox.org .

Recently I delightfully discovered that my Veggie Gal girlfriend Joyce has a youtube channel. The above video is one of the videos from that channel. Joyce is my dear friend who I met 21 years ago when I went to her home for my first La Leche League meeting when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter. One of Joyce’s passions is consumer rights when it comes to funeral services. She is currently president of the Utah Consumers Funeral Alliance. Please watch this video to open your eyes to inexpensive options when it comes to caring for your loved ones after they die. You can save a lot of money if you are armed with information. You can go to the website Joyce maintains here, scroll down, and read the “Message from the President” which are six tips about bypassing a funeral director when you bury a loved one. Then go here to learn more about “family-directed funerals” vs. “funeral-director directed funerals.”

Last week we watched this for our family night movie. It’s Miracles from Heaven, and it’s based on the book of the same name by Christy Beam. I’ve read the book too and it’s even better. The movie and book are based on the true story of Christy’s daughter, Annabel. Annabel suffered from an incurable disease, but through a miracle, she was cured. I love hearing stories like this! This movie is my current favorite all time movie, maybe because it’s the best movie I’ve ever seen that shows the power of mother bear chemistry. I love the story! Annabel’s pain involved in her illness was made bearable because of the ferocious determination that Christy had to find the best care for her daughter.

I love that this movie is about a family, marriage, and motherhood. You can see the first ten minutes in the clip above. In the movie, Christy, the mom, is played by Jennifer Garner. Jennifer does a wonderful job portraying the nurturing, loving, protective mom of a very sick little girl. I loved watching all of her expressions. Kylie Rogers also does an equally good job playing Annabel, the sick little girl. I love the determination Christy shows when she announces to her husband that she is taking Annabelle out of state to a specialist doctor, no matter what. As you look into the husband’s eyes as he beholds her mother bear chemistry, you know that he knows that she is going to do it, come flood, blizzard or tornado! I also love where Annabel’s cure comes from. That’s enough of a spoiler, I won’t say any more! Another thing I love about the movie is the faith in the power of prayer demonstrated by the family and their pastor while Annabel has surgery. You know what else I loved? The dresses the girls wear to church and the darling outfits that Jennifer wears throughout the movie.

This is another “feel good” movie that encourages belief in God. If you are looking for a great family movie, watch this. I give it 5 out of 5 stars. My 7 year old stayed and watched the whole thing. The 10 and 12 year olds left to go read. But that’s just them, sometimes they don’t appreciate good stuff! The movie is great! We borrowed a copy from our public library, hopefully yours has it too.

The video below shows the real Annabel and her mom Christy. Don’t watch until after you have watched the movie!

Here’s a recipe for sourdough bread from Serene Allison, one of the co-authors of the Trim Healthy Mama plan. The recipe is on page 208 of the THM Cookbook. The stick she uses to mix up the dough must be the stick she mentions in the book that her kids found outside and sanded for her. Her method is a lot more labor intensive than my bread machine sourdough bread but it’s probably more healthy since the loaves are let to stand/ferment more before they bake.

Here’s a wonderful book on how to stop binge eating. I give it 5 out of 5 stars! The author is a food addict who broke free from binge eating with a simple change in his mindset. In this book you will find 20 helpful chapters on such topics as:

• how to deal with cravings
• how to change your food plan and the important elements that will help you
• overcoming the deprivation trap
• discipline vs. regret
• a radical view on guilt and shame
• unconscious bingeing

and more! The best part of all, this book is free in Kindle format right now! It has an average of 4.5 stars with 414 customer reviews on amazon.com. I love the author’s sense of humor. The free price may change, so get your copy today right here.

I highly recommend this book if you struggle with emotional eating stress eating, and overeating. I hope you will read it and make a food plan, as suggested in the book. After you do that, if you want accountability in following your food plan, sign up for my Eternal Warriors Healthy Eating class.  The class starts next week, Wed. Nov. 2, 5 PM to 7:15  MT. It goes for ten weeks. Read the next paragraph to learn how to get a discount on the class.

I want you to experience freedom from obsessing over food and the bondage of food addiction. I am so serious about this that if you will get a copy of this book and email me the receipt, you can have a discount on taking the Eternal Warriors Healthy Eating Class. You may take the class for $99 instead of the current regular price of $179. That’s ten weeks of coaching with solid principles to break from your emotional eating. You will be asked to do homework, and if you do the homework, you will succeed. You may bring to the class whatever food plan you feel is right for you, and I will share with you what worked for me to lose 70 lbs in 11 months and keep it off, eight months afterwards, and counting.

Click here to learn about all the details about the class and how to register. When you checkout at paypal to register, put “food freedom” in the comments box. After you register, just email me your receipt to info (at) treeoflifemothering (dot) com so I can confirm that you qualify for the discount.

There is hope for you! You can have vibrant health and be slim!  You can get to the point where you can take part in all the activities you want to participate in with your loved ones: swimming, hiking, running, playing soccer, football, or simply walking down the street.  I am 100% confident that if you put into practice what you learn from reading this book, Never Binge Again,  and what you learn in the Eternal Warriors Healthy Eating class, you will lose weight.

My  super awesome  Veggie Gal friend Becky is offering a gift to people who do her Food and Mood Challenge. Watch the video above and go to this link to sign up! By doing this challenge you will see the connection between your food and moods. It is so liberating to figure out what causes you to be grumpy, depressed, and lethargic. The good news is that there are foods that help you feel the opposite!

Here’s a free Kindle book (at the time of publication) full of recipes for pumpkin-y baked goods. It’s not totally whole foodsy, so I suggest a few substitutions:

• melted butter for canola or other vegetable oil
• sucanat for sugar
• maybe raw milk with a bit of sugar added for the sweetened condensed milk
• bone broth for the vegetable broth

It’s got quite a variety of recipes, from the old standbys of pumpkin bread and pie, to pumpkin soup in a pumpkin bowl, to roasted pumpkin seeds, to fried pumpkin, to Mexican pumpkin candy. Who knew you could make so many t hings out of pumpkin? Enjoy!

It’s time for a book review and giveaway! Today’s book is the one above. It’s the sequel to the one below.

If you haven’t snagged a copy of the prequel above, ask your mom or husband to give it to you for Christmas this year. Or get it sooner if you can. It will change your life! If you are into baking with whole grains, then this book is a must! You will learn how to use natural yeast, which is simply water and flour left to sour. Then you use it in the place of commercial yeast. The result is bread and baked goods that are much better for your body. Seriously! The bread and other baked goods will be more nutrient dense, with the nutrients much more bio-available. That’s because the phytic acid in the whole grains will be neutralized. When I went to a class featuring one of the co-authors, Melissa, the hostess claimed that her husband could eat this sourdough bread even though he had celiac disease.  The prequel covers the basics: how to make a sourdough, aka natural yeast starter, and how to make the basics of bread, baguettes, rolls, muffins, pancakes, waffles, crepes, chocolate cake, and flatbread. You can read more about it here.

OK, back to the sequel. The sequel is just as a-maz-ing! You will learn how to make even more wonderful baked goods using starter, such as:

• dark and light rye bread
• pumpernickle bread
• soft pretzel rolls
• jalapeno cheese sourdough bread
• sprouted oat rolls
• chia flax loaf
• spelt rosemary flax bread
• indoor dutch oven bread
• campfire duth oven bread
• more waffles
• carrot cake waffles(!)
• more pancakes, including orange blueberry pancakes
• pumpkin pancakes
• lemon poppyseed muffins
• chocolate date muffins
• pumpkin muffins
• chocolate chip cookies
• crackers, including ones like Cheezits, but much more healthful!
• teff crackers
• graham crackers
• a whole slew of international breads, including challah and naan bread
• pasta
• mac and cheese
• banana bread
• granola bar cookies
• multi-grain pastry flour
• mango strawberry chiffon cake
• swiss roll cake
• carrot cake
• bread pudding
• croutons and stuffing
• starter roux and white sauce
• oatmeal cookies
• gravy

Is your mouth-watering yet? Yum, yum, yum! I give this book 5 stars. I’ve made some recipes from it and thoroughly loved them. You can go to Melissa’s blog and get her oatmeal  cookie recipe to get an idea of her awesomeness. It’s not the exact one from her book, but it will give you an idea of baking with natural yeast. She also has a recipe for pie crust made from natural yeast here.

If you are interested in winning a copy of the book, please comment below. The random drawing will take place on Saturday Oct. 29, 2016.

Here’s a free Kindle book (at the time of publication) full of recipes for pumpkin-y baked goods. It’s not totally whole foodsy, so I suggest a few substitutions:

• melted butter for canola or other vegetable oil
• sucanat for sugar
• maybe raw milk with a bit of sugar added for the sweetened condensed milk
• bone broth for the vegetable broth