If you want a great movie about married love that you can watch at home, without having to get a non-electronic babysitter, this one fits the bill. My husband and I watched it on Valentine’s Day night. The night before, we went to the temple, which is over an hour away, and then out to eat at a Mexican restaurant that was packed. By the time we got home (due to getting lost on the way home because somebody fell asleep) it was 11 PM! Needless to say, I was too tired for a movie. But I wanted to get a romantic movie in for Valentine’s Day, so I picked this one to watch on Sunday, which was actually Valentine’s Day. It is Christian-based, so I felt it was Sabbath-day appropriate because it did help me feel closer to God. It is about a family that sticks together through illness. The mom gets dementia and regresses to acting like a 2 year old. Despite the crazy, unpredictable hardships, the husband stands by her and sticks to his wedding vow of “to have and to hold, in sickness and in health.” It got me teary-eyed a few times and also made me laugh in a few places. The husband’s brother definitely provides the comic relief! If a movie can make me laugh and cry, and doesn’t have anything to make me cringe, then I give it five stars!
As we approach another Valentine’s Day, my heart aches for all the strained marriages I know about. Addictions, financial pressures, physical and mental illnesses, and a host of other factors can combine to make Valentine’s Day hard to bear. You might feel like you are supposed to do something to celebrate Valentine’s Day, but a strained wallet or relationship can make it hard to buy something to celebrate or to even feel like celebrating. You might think of all your expectations through the years that have been dashed. If that’s the case, I hope you will take a big breath right now, and then remember that you can’t change what has happened in the past, but you can turn over your troubles to the Savior for healing and move forward with faith in Him, trusting that better times will come.
I suggest two blog posts written by Diane Hopkins to help in the “how to celebrate married love on Valentine’s Day” department. As a wife, mom, and grandma, Diane has a lot of experience. Show this blog post to your husband, read it yourself, and then talk about your expectations for Valentine’s Day. She has instructions for both husbands and wives. Let each other off the hook to buy a gift if money is lacking and acknowledge that you can both create something from what you already have around the house, whether it be a favorite meal, a night playing a game or baking cookies, a poem, or even a foot rub.
If you are a wife, go read this post by Diane to help you show appreciation for your husband more, every day of the year.
Having said that, here are ten+ ideas for Valentine Married Date Nights that I hope will help if you need a free date night idea this weekend, or something that can be done even if your relationship is strained.
1. Go to the temple. Healing is found in the temple. I loved the Renlunds’ presentation from the Family Discovery Day that explained this so well. Watch it here. Elder Renlund taught his family about the healing water mentioned in Ezekiel 47. He said this is symbolic of the healing power that comes to our families when we engage in family history research and temple work. As we participate in family history research and temple work, we will receive more and more of this healing power to flow through our lives constantly.
2. Make a healthy treat together and then eat it while you do my next two ideas (see #2 and #3 below). Here are some ideas for healthy treats
my sugar free chocolate over here, which is similar to Diane’s above, with bigger quantities
popcorn, just in case you didn’t think of that already, 🙂 and aren’t being low carb. I’ve decided that a low carb alternative to popcorn is kale chips. They are crunchy and salty so they taste just as good, plus they are better for you because they have more nutrients! So now I don’t have to feel like I am missing out when my family has popcorn. I know it may be weird to think of something green as delicious as popcorn but it’s true!
3. If you can’t afford the standard dinner and a movie, fix an early dinner of something you know you both love. Get the kids watching a movie in one room, and the two of you go watch something in another room. Dh and I have had lots of dates this way. The kids will watch something in the family room with the TV and DVD player, and we go watch something on the laptop in the bedroom. Here are five romantic movies that are actually about married love, which is what I am wanting to watch these days:
a. War Room. The trailer for it appears above. You can rent it from vidangel.com, then sell it back at the end, and the total cost is $1! I love, love, love this movie because it fills a void in the movie world. There are hardly any clean, uplifting, wholesome movies about life after marriage, and how to deal with the struggles that come. It also shows the power of prayer and the power of mentoring. It is good on so many levels!
b. A Song of Love. This classic old-time movie starring Katharine Hepburn tells the true love story of Robert and Clara Schumann, both talented pianists and composers. It’s a beautiful story about talent, passion, and supporting each other’s mission in marriage.
C. Fireproof. Has anyone not seen this yet? Another great movie about overcoming threats to married love, namely a husband’s addiction to porn.
d. Yours, Mine, and Ours
Some blog readers reminded me of this movie last year when I asked for a good movie about married love for Valentine’s Day. I had seen it in high school but in those younger, immature days I didn’t fully appreciate it! It’s a great movie with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball. In the movie, their characters each lose a spouse and then get married and create a blended family. Then they go on to have children together. It’s based on a true story. The above clip shows the dad, played by Fonda, explaining what real love is when one of the daughters feels pressured by a boyfriend to sleep with him.
e. A Vow to Cherish
This one is so awesome!
It’s about sticking to marital vows even when illness comes. See my review here.
3. I have been lamenting that it’s hard to find “entertainment” for my date nights that are about married love, real life, and family love. It all started a year ago on last Valentine’s Day and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. i guess it’s my type-4 energy coming out (just Google Carol Tuttle’s energy types if you don’t know that term). At my 40+ years I am not wanting to waste time on fluff or garbage portrayed by Hollywood actors that has no bearing on my real life.
As you can see, I have found a few more movies about married love, as shown above. I have also found an even better media choice that was right under my nose. A few Sunday nights ago I was making some cookies, as I listened to the Mormon Channel on my phone. I found an episode in “Mormon Identities” about Pres. and Sister Richard Walker. Sister Walker is Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley’s daughter. It is a second marriage for both of them and they are serving a mission in England as temple president and matron. They told the delightful story of how they started courting because one of their daughters set them up. As I listened to this, I realized, this is what I am looking for, stories of how real love unfolds in real life in unexpected places for real people. Specifically, real people who are committed to covenant-based love, not convenient, come-as-you-go-pleasure that masquerades as real love.
So for idea #3, listen to the stories on Mormon Channel about real life people in the Church, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, who have committed themselves to covenant-based marriage. Find a puzzle, a craft, or some project you can work on together or separately while you listen. Or you could listen while you make the above-mentioned treat! You can find these stories in the Mormon Channel programs called “Mormon Identities” and “Conversations.” Look for the episodes that feature married couples, like Linda and Richard Eyre.
4. While you do your craft, puzzle, or handiwork project, you can also read or listen to the following words from these Presidents of the LDS Church about true love in marriage, family love, and temple and family history work. Look in the Teachings of the Presidents Manuals, which are found on lds.org and in the LDS Gospel library app. I enjoy hearing the stories at the beginning of each section about each man falling in love with his wife. (Interesting family history note, the first wife of Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith, Louie Emily Shurtliff, was my grandpa’s first cousin. I didn’t know that until a few years ago when I discovered the joys of family history research.) We will be listening to these as we drive to and from the temple today!
5. Get this couple’s massage course as a Valentine’s Day Gift for you dh, watch together, and then practice on each other. The creators promise there is nothing in this video course that goes beyond a PG rating. If you sign up for the newsletter (the offer that pops up eventually when you first go to the web site) you will get some free how-to videos emailed to you. You can also find lots of massage videos on Youtube, but of course, use your spirit of discernment.
6. Go to datingdivas.com, peruse to your heart’s content and find a game. Surely among all of their ideas you will find something that will work. Some of them might make you blush, I admit, but the dating divas always warn you about those with a disclaimer at the very top. These are all ideas for married dates, and they are fun!
7. Play a game like the Bates family does. Gil and Kelly Bates have 19 kids, and have their own TV show called ‘Bringing Up Bates.” I love watching them! They are friends of the Duggars and just as cute, amazing, service-oriented, talented, and fun. Use the same questions that are in these videos, or have your kids come up with some questions earlier in the day, and then one of them can be the moderator.
8. While the kids are watching a movie in the other room, get out the laptop or your smartphone and make a playlist of your favorite romantic music on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, or even Youtube. Then play the playlist while you look at old pictures from your dating, wedding, and newlywed times.
9. While the same music is playing above, get out the old cards, letters, and journal entries you saved from your dating years, if you are a memorabilia saver like me. Read aloud to each other.
10. Create a vision for what you want to create for your children in their dating and courtship times. Watch these resources here and here and here.
11. If you just want to have fun without so many romantic influences, play a game ofJeopardy! or Scrabble, or whatever your favorite game is, electronically or the old-fashioned way. Dh and I actually had a a date or two before we married of playing Jeopardy on his ancient HP computer that had only two colors on the screen. So whenever we play the game now, it takes me back to that sweet time.
Here are more video clips that can expand our vision of what to expect for our daughters during their teen and then single years. A friend sent me the link to this page. I encourage you all to watch the videos. They bring up a lot of questions, like, is it OK for young women to go away to college? How do you live by the vision encouraged in this vision of these “Biblical young women” of these videos if you do send your daughter away to college? Is it OK for young women no to pursue anything related to their father’s business or profession? I encourage you to watch it and come to our discussion about Zion-based Courtship and dating, part 2, online in a zoom video chatroom. It will be Thursday, Feb. 18th at 7 PM Mountain Time. Please RSVP to me celestia (at) treeoflifemothering dot com so I can send you the link.
Here are all the resources we are discussing
Here are the resources we will be discussing for Zion-based Dating and Courtship, part 2, Wed. February 24th 7 PM MT:
February- Dating and Courtship part 2 Thursday Feb. 18
Learn about “Restoring the Patriarchal Order”. Read this article here by the Stoddard family.
Read this article here by a marriage and family therapist about what to do when your husband is wrong (abusive, addicted, adulterating, etc).
Watch the War Room movie. This is to see the power of prayer towards an emotionally abusive husband. You can rent to watch online like at vidangel.com
4. Watch a father’s role in guiding the courtship process. Do this by watching Duggar videos about Jill and Jessa’s courtship on YouTube
5. Watch “To Have and to Hold” by Richard Wheeler of Mantle Ministries. You can get the gist of the message by watching the excerpt from his DVD below in the Youtube clip.
6. watch these videos about “Biblical young women” here at Ziontube.
7. Watch Princess Cut. The movie was available on youtube but then it just got pulled. Maybe we can find it elsewhere, like pureflix.com or vidangel.com.
8. Watch “Pamela’s Prayer.” Buy it here. The trailer is below. This movie shows a father taking a very active role in the courtship process, similar to the Duggars. (It’s rather fun to see the 80s hairstyles in it!)
You can go here to see the schedule for the whole year. Please email me at celestia at treeoflifemothering dot com to get the link to join the online video classroom! I only have 20 spots so respond early! If the link doesn’t work scroll down past the videos to see the full schedule.
1. Get a hankering for ginger cookies because you have been on a strict grain-free, sugar-free, limited carb diet diet for a long time. You can’t even eat any sweets for Christmas. Not even honey or sucanat. (It was worth it, I lost 14 lbs in 6 weeks!) When you finish the diet and can ease into more carbs, including natural sweeteners, you plan on making some spicy cookies before wintertime is over. You still want to stay grain-free and limit your carb consumption so you can maintain your new weight.
1. Find a great recipe, like the one here, and notice that it has eggs. No problem, as you can tolerate eggs.
2. Realize you only have two eggs left so you have just enough to make the goodies on Sunday evening before you can get more eggs on Monday.
3. After church, when you are having Family Executive Council with your husband (planning the upcoming week), your son comes to you and asks if he can make homemade pudding.
5. Wanting to cultivate a boy into a man who pleases his wife with the ability and desire to make food from scratch, agree to let him do it.
6. Several hours later when you go to make the long-awaited-for-gingersnaps, realize that the afore-mentioned son used the last of the eggs to make the pudding.
7. Realize that you will have to find a different recipe that is radically different from the plan, because you also realize you have never bought almond flour since you moved here, which the original recipe calls for.
8. Adapt the recipe, using coconut flour and no eggs, after doing some Google searches. Realize you have a strange concoction on your hands, because coconut flour is funky. It absorbs liquid like a sponge and needs a ton more liquid so the mixture FINALLY looks like cookie dough instead of cake batter. Add more water and maple syrup. Mix. Add even more, plus butter.
9. Bake the cookies FOR A LONG TIME because they take forever to get hard.
10. Have ginger cookies that are quite crumbly, dry, and different in texture that nobody else in the family will touch. When you send them in your husband’s lunch he barely touches them.
That’s OK, more for me! I’ve been eating these a few every meal for the past few days (they are so dense that you can only eat 2 or 3 at a time) and love them. They are filling the bill of wanting something sweet and spicy quite nicely. They just aren’t moist and chewy. I guess when you are off sweeteners for a long time, anything sweet tastes good. I did go get some almond flour and eggs though so now I want to make them the original way, hopefully moist and chewy.
OK, so after this fail, I think I need some help in cooking grain-free! Especially for treats. Just like with my DIY spice cabinet risers, another resource providentially showed up for me just in time in my email, on Monday, the day after the sort-of disaster. A link to a grundle of Paleo (which means grain-free) recipes! I thought I would share the link with all of you.
So here it is, just go to paleodork.com. It expires soon so go there right now!
You do have to give them your email, which opens up a floodgate of advertising, I’m sure, but you can unsubscribe at any time after you get the downloads of all the recipes.
Remember my project from last Saturday, to make risers for my spice cabinet out of cardboard for my new kitchen? I finished the project, and here are the before and after pics. The above picture shows how it was before. Pretty normal right? You can’t see what’s in back, so you have to take everything out or “sort of” memorize what’s back there. I didn’t really memorize what was back there, but since I was in the cupboard every day, I put what I use every day in the front, and knew whatever I didn’t use every day was somewhere in the back. That’s frustrating for my husband, who does the cooking on Sunday. I love this man, he’s so awesome for doing that!
Anyway, I stumbled across this video, and then made my own risers. I have plenty of cardboard around here with all the boxes from our recent move. Hooray, I just saved over 30 bucks instead of ordering something on Amazon, which I seriously was about to do before I providentially found the video tutorial.
Here are the risers in the photo above, which I measured to fit with some space leftover for taller containers. I just used packing tape instead of the masking tape mentioned in the tutorial. In the picture below you see the final effect, a fully organized spice cabinet! Now I can see everything at a glance! And now you can see that I don’t buy organic, non-irradiated spices and herbs or fair trade cocoa. Someday I will, but it’s just not in the budget right now. Now I just need to alphabetize them!
RootsTech 2016 is coming up! What is RootsTech? RootsTech is an annual conference hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It showcases the latest in research techniques, technology for family history research. It’s this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Feb. 4-6. You can even watch parts of it online!
I have received so many blessings from family history research and temple work. I know that blessings of protection, prosperity, and deliverance from bondage have come from it. I know the phrase “family history research and temple work” sounds as much fun as getting a cavity filled. So let’s call this work “how to get angelic help in all phases of your life.” We enlist the help of angels when we do temple work for the names of our own family members that we researched. It’s in harmony with natural law, the law of the harvest. What we put out, comes back to us. When we help people on the other side of the veil, to do what they can’t do, they are allowed to help us in ways we can’t help ourselves. I’ve seen it happen in my own life! I don’t have time to write up all my stories here, so I will point you to this: the best article I’ve read about angels helping us when we do the work is found here, written by Kim Sorenson. Kim was a busy, harried, stressed mom who had little children and a work-from-home business.Her husband was always gone for school, work and church service. Despite all of this, Kim found time to do temple and family history work and was blessed immeasurably by it. In short, family history research and temple work is a way to add dynamite, angelic power to your personal efforts! Elder Dale G. Renlund and his family will talk about this on Saturday, which will be streamed online.
If you want to get excited about this work, come to RootsTech 2016! You don’t even have to leave your house! You can watch some of it online from the comfort of your couch or, if you are like me, while you are cleaning or organizing!
and here is the schedule for Saturday’s Family Discovery Day, featuring Elder Dale G. Renlund, his wife and daughter, Sheri Dew, Wendy Watson Nelson, Sister Rosemary Wixom, Elder Stephen Owen, and football players Taysom Hill and Britain Covey.
Here’s a funny clip from last year’s RootsTech that featured Studio C and David Archuleta. What fun surprises will RootsTech feature this year?
If you haven’t watched this yet, you are missing out! President and Sister Nelson spoke at a worldwide devotional to the youth, about being millennials. Wow, it was so fabulous!
My wonderfully talented and amazing girlfriend Becky Edwards has blogged about it here with her takeaways and action items and quotes. I could feel the Spirit as I listened to the Nelsons and as I read Becky’s recap. Please take the time to watch it and read Becky’s recap. It will brighten your day and prepare you for the future!
Ever since I moved I have had a lot of depressing thoughts about life, even through Christmas. And feelings of hopelessness. I think the Enemy has been attacking me to get me to fail at my mission of being a righteous, God-fearing mother of an eternal family who partners with a righteous husband to lead our children back to God. We’ve had success in overcoming our recent trials with this move and new job so now the Enemy has attempted to get me to downplay and overlook that success. I had my three older children with us during the holidays and then they left and that got me feeling sad as well. I mean, it hit me, that eventually all the kids are going to leave and my house will be an empty nest. (I’ve got to focus on the fact that I will be able to dedicate a ton of time and even a whole bedroom to family history work like Elder Scott’s wife did when her kids moved out!). In addition to that challenge, after the holidays I sometimes find it hard to get back to the grind. That’s the enemy again, attacking me any way he can to get me to just feel stuck in the past, frittering away my time, and not actively doing things to teach my children and nurture some great things for the future. Well, no-siree! I am not letting him win!
I find inspiration and hope as I connect with my kids by reading to them, teaching them to cook, having a devotional with them every weekday morning for homeschool that is greatly expanded over what it used to be when we lived in Utah, and watching videos about finding joy in family life. I’m also working on some craft projects, like upcycling sweaters, finding sources for farm fresh raw milk and eggs, reading great books to myself, and listening to podcasts! I’ve been on my strict diet again of no grain or sugar so I’ve had to find joy in sources other than food. It’s been a challenge but so worth it as I fit in the same size or smaller as when I got married.
Anyway, I thought I would share some fun videos I found about the joy of marriage and family life. I’ve been following the Duggars and the Bates for a while, but recently I found some other big families out there who do YouTube videos. Of course, You don’t have to be a big family to enjoy happiness in marriage or family life. It seems though that big families are more likely to make videos or have videos made about them so I am sharing these.
So the top video is from the Hoffmann family. They are LDS and have 9 girls and 1 boy, including two sets of twin girls! They have a blog, allboysbut9.com and a YouTube channel with the same name.
Then there are the Bates, of course, who aren’t quite as famous as the Duggars, but just as attractive and fun! I love the video that shows their annual Valentine’s Day party.
Ok, now for the Rebacks. They have a ton of kids too! 15 in the video but they recently had 1 more.
Here’s a video from Lyette about stay-at-home date night ideas. I am always wanting more of those, especially ideas of movies to watch at home that are decent, and promote family culture, not just boy-meets-girl, boy-chases-girl, boy-breaks-up-with-girl or marries girl. We hardly every see what happens after marriage!
Here’s a great video from Lyette about teaching boys to be gentlemen, and then the video below is about teaching kids to do chores.
We watched War Room last week, if you haven’t watched it, go watch it. It is a great Christian move about how to get through the struggles of married life. The star, Priscilla Shirer, is a minister in real life with a master’s degree in Bible studies. We watched it using vidangel.com last Saturday for our date night. It was amazing! I am starting to convince my husband to make future date nights of watching lots of videos about budgeting Dave Ramsey style, and Bates and Duggars and Hoffmans. I am weary of watching “escape” entertainment from Hollywood, even from the classic era of the 40s and 50s, that although wholesome, doesn’t give me any practical skills or inspiration to live the realities of Godly-based family life. I am thinking of getting a season pass for the Bates show, Bringing Up Bates.
I also found some great videos on people using Dave Ramsey’s budgeting system. So here’s a video from a sweet family about that.
I’ve also been finding some great videos on Biblical-based courtship and marriage to study and share with my older children. I hope you enjoy all of these! It helps to watch things about the ordinary but basic parts of life, such as prayer and family life, to give us a vision of life as a family-based, Godly-based, amazing journey. I don’t feel alone when I know other moms are out there doing these things to “fight the good fight.” Go watch War Room to get a vision of the power of prayer that you can use to build your marriage and family!
Hooray! I was just about to order some risers for my spice cabinet in my new kitchen, after my husband complained that he couldn’t find “anything” when fixing Sunday dinner. The spices were all on the same level so it was hard to see what was in there without taking everything out. I found some risers on amazon, but then I discovered that my favorite blogger of the Duggar family, Ellie, over at duggarfamilyblog.com (she also does a blog on the Bates family, at batesfamilyblog.com) had created a video on how to make your own risers! This is from her own blog, over at nashvillewife.com. So that’s today’s project! Maybe I will remember to take before and after pictures and post them later.
I also found some more kitchen organizing videos. Enjoy!
I am determined to read one chapter book aloud to my kids for each month of the new year. In addition to reading the Book of Mormon in our daily family scripture reading and my personal reading for Gospel Doctrine, as well as the Teachings of President Howard W. Hunter, I am reading or have read the following books…
To celebrate our new life in Arizona, I decided to read about the Grand Canyon, since we visited it during our move. What better book about the Grand Canyon for kids than Brighty of the Grand Canyon? I have wanted to read this book for a long time. It’s totally what Charlotte Mason would call a “living book.” It has a great story, full of suspense and action. Good is rewarded with good, and evil for evil. The author Marguerite Henry, has a wonderful gift for describing animals and nature. I like the mention of the song “Onward Christian Soldiers” as a fitting ceremonial song for the bridge built in the story to span the Colorado River. The book has some great Christian symbolism. Brighty is definitely a Christ figure. 5 stars!
I happened upon this book on CD at my local library and it intrigued me. I’ve always wanted to learn more about Betsy Ross. It’s the first scholarly biography of her life. I keep it in the car and listen whenever I drive into town to take my 14 year old to baseball practice (can you believe, baseball practice in January? Yes, that’s how it is here in southern AZ). The author is a gifted writer. I liked her description of how once memories are written down, they are like “insects pinned down” on a page, forever caught. Betsy Ross was one industrious, amazing woman!
Another book inspired by our move to AZ. I didn’t know that John Wesley Powell, who Lake Powell is named after, was a veteran of the War Between the States, or that he got his arm injured during the war and had part of it amputated. I also didn’t know that he was named after John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. This story had too many words for my younger kids, as indicated by their tuning out as I read this book to them, but it fascinated me. 5 out of 5 stars for me, 3 for the kids.
In keeping with my usual tradition, I keep reading Christmas stories to my kids in January. Anything to brighten up January right? Although, here in AZ, the weather’s been plenty bright. The winter nights though sure are dark with no street lights in my neighborhood, so I still like some brightening for the nights. This is a page-turner book, just like the author’s Tennis Shoes book. He really knows how to come up with exciting plots. We haven’t finished it yet, but so far I am thoroughly enjoying it.
Slowly but surely I am making my way through all the Dr. Seuss books. I didn’t really like this one. It has the message that you should put up with what people dish out on you, instead of politely and firmly asking for what you want. Instead, the message is that you wait for outside forces to come to play to get rid of negative relationships. I didn’t like it! 0 stars!
I haven’t stayed up late at night thinking about it, but I have wondered once or twice exactly where cranberries come from. This book was a perfect answer to my question. I like that author wrote form personal experience, her family owns a cranberry farm in Wisconsin. I enjoyed seeing all the different tools cranberry farmers use. 5 out of 5 stars!
I also love reading Thanksgiving books outside of Thanksgiving time. This is a sweet story in verse form, about a family working all together to prepare for a big Thanksgiving dinner. I like that it involves multi-generations. 5 out of 5 stars.
Even though I have read the Bible and taken seminary and religion classes at BYU, I still don’t know my Bible stories very well. I am reading the above book aloud to my kids, one story a day, for our devotional time. I combine it with the LDS Old Testament scripture reader for the LDS perspective. I want to know the plot line of the Bible much better, and this book injects more understanding of the human nature of the characters of the Bible. I don’t agree with some of the doctrinal points, but that’s OK because I am just wanting to understand the plot line. I haven’t finished it yet, but so far I like it and would give it 3 to 4 stars.
Part of moving involved packing up a ton of books. I felt very discouraged as I enlisted my children in unpacking the books and they complained about having too many. I feel frustrated and discouraged that they don’t pick up any of these great books I have to read on their own. I decided I better start reading them aloud to them if I want them to benefit from them. So I started reading the Cartoon Guide to Chemistry as another aspect of our daily homeschool devotional. I also have the Cartoon Guide to Calculus, and the Cartoon Guide to Physics. Some of the humor is sophomoric, so I skip those parts. The books are easy to understand. So far, 4 out of 5 stars.
My middle child and my youngest haven’t read or had read aloud to them the Little House books. I read them to the older ones, and then two of the younger ones but these other two missed out. I decided to have my emerging reader listen to 1 hour of a classic a day after lunch before he has free time. As he listens, the 14 year old who missed out on these books and refuses to read them on his own it at least catching some of it! I absolutely love all the Little House books for their evocative images of happy family life, obedience to parents, and beautiful descriptions of simple living and nature scenes. 5 out of 5 stars! I love how the Big Woods story follows the seasons of the year and the activities associated with each season of the year.
i started this one and so far I like it. I will post about it more when I finish it.
Tree of Life Mothering 