Tree of Life Mothering

I am finally getting these pics up! Every time I went to do it over the past two months, the pictures turned out to be miniscule. I kept waiting for my techno-savvy son to get home from his mission to help me with it. Finally, the free moment came today to show him what was going, and whaddya’ know? The photos actually posted as he watched and I didn’t need his help after all. Is this what we call the Onlooker Phenomenon?

Last September we got to go to the General Women’s Meeting with my sisters, my mom, my nieces, and our newly-found cousins, Miss J. and her daughter, Miss L. I have known Miss J. for years in our homeschool community. It wasn’t until we got to talking at a friend’s breakfast part on Independence Day this past summer that we figured out we share a great-grandmother.

It is so fun to find cousins! Here are more pics of our fun night together.

These are my nieces and their “new” cousin, Miss L.

My mom, sisters, Miss J, and I. It was fun to swap stories about relatives. We will definitely be doing this again!

Cousins! There is something about getting together as cousins! I can’t wait to do this again! On the drive home I got to talk with Miss J and learn that she knows a lot about what I want to learn about, like Hebrew. I feel so blessed to know her as a cousin now.

My 10 year old son and 8 year old daughter recently read this book, Robin Hood, retold by Michael Morpugo. This is what my daughter has to say about it:

“In this book, a boy is at a house and a windstorm happens. He runs out to see if his tree was not knocked down. When he went out there he saw that it was and then he found an arrowhead. He finds a bow and a skeleton.

Then a person is dreaming about the same thing. This person is Robin Hood. Robin’s father wakes him up. Then Robin and his dad go hunting. They kill a deer. They hear the sheriff of Nottingham’s men. Robin runs away but his dad got captured. After Robin runs away, he finds a cave and hears a voice. He sees that the voice belongs to an albino dressed in Lincoln green. The albino tells him her name is Maria. Then she leads him to some other people who are outcasts. They are hunchbacks and leopards and dwarves. Then they go to sleep. 

In the morning, Robin goes to rescue his dad. He ends up finding his dad. The conflict of the story is to get the outcasts’ freedom back. That’s because there was a law passed that said that the outcasts had to stay outside the city gates. Robin decided that he would train the outcasts. He met a man named Munch who would help make the swords because he was a blacksmith. 

The conflict is resolved when the outcasts pay King Richard’s ransom. I liked the book.”

I’m taking a break on this Eve of Christmas Times Ten to share an LDS Thanksgiving Play that was shared with me by Jill Bigelow, a wonderful woman, mom, and grandma. See the video I posted of Jill on Christian self-government here.

Why is it the Eve of Christmas Times Ten around here? Because my son comes home from his mission tomorrow!!!! Oh Yeahhhhh!!!!! (fist pumps!!) And my daughter is home from college today!!! We will all be together for the first time in two years! I am so looking forward to seeing his face, hugging him, and seeing how much he’s grown, physically and spiritually. He was 6 feet 1 inch or so with his curly hair before he left, and he wasn’t done growing. The curly hair gave him some inches but then he had to cut it all off for his mission haircut. One of his former companions saw him later in the mission and said he had grown. His “little” brother, at age 16, is now 6 feet so we shall see who’s taller! Anyway, tomorrow afternoon I get to be in the airport on the busiest travel day of the year for the best reason of all!!!! And tomorrow night we will be sitting around the crackling fire listening to his stories.

Then…we get to have Thanksgiving the next day. I am hoping to get my daughter to round up her cousins to put on the above posted play. I am hoping to make it a tradition from now on. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We found this book at the library and picked it up since the dust jacket stated it was for kids who like the Boxcar Children series. My 8 year old daughter does so she read it. Here’s her review:

This is a story about Jack, Frances, and Harold. Jack worked a tuxedo factory. The tuxedo factory burned down so he was sent to an orphan train to go to Kansas. He and a girl named Frances and her brother Harold, who are orphans, met. A boy named Quinton started picking on Harold. Jack jumped on him. A few days later, he, Frances, and Harold decided to jump off the train. After a few days of wandering around they meet a boy named Alexander who takes them to Wanderville. Wanderville is a town for any children who escape cruelty. After they go “liberate” things (code word for stealing), Harold is caught by the sheriff. He is not caught for stealing but because he was supposed to be working at the Pritchards’. So after he is caught he has to harvest rocks. Alexander and Jack rescue him and that’s the end of the story. I liked this book. 

Editor mom’s note: The kids in this book steal and don’t get punished so that’s something you will want to talk about with your children, to make sure they understand that stealing is wrong, why it is wrong (even if you don’t get caught) and that they should not do it.

It’s pie time! It’s never too late to bone up on your pie-making skills so you can have this delicious, traditional American dessert.

This blog post from the past gives you a recipe for whole foods pumpkin pie from Sarah Pope, thehealthyhomeconomist. I hope you involve your children in the process, so they know that pumpkin pie comes from pumpkins you can grow and puree at home, not from a can!

Heather Dessinger has a recipe for pumpkin pie with a gluten free pie crust here. Watch her video above for a tutorial on crimping the edge. It’s so much prettier than just pressing a fork into the crust. She also has great links on that page for roasted turkey, grain-free stuffing, thick gravy, and roasted chili lime pumpkin seeds. Yum!

What if you want to be gluten-free, coconut and almond free as well? Then do like I learned from Diane Hopkins and bake the filling without a crust! Here is her recipe on her blog with a crust, but if memory serves me right, in her cookbook that I bought 20+ years ago, she said she sometimes bakes it with out a crust.  I am avoiding grains right now and my 13 year old son is allergic to coconuts and almonds so we will be going without a crust again this year. The pie I made at the top of the page has no crust and is still yummy!

So, lately I’ve been thinking about sprucing up my house, especially because my missionary son who left two years ago this month is coming home in less than two weeks! Yes, I am shouting there! We are so excited to see him!

Our living room couches are almost threadbare and the springs are sagging in one of them. It’s definitely time to replace those. I would also like to get some art up. 

I’ve always known that my home doesn’t look as swell as it could. I know I have it in me to decorate, but the inner decorator has been submerged for decades by homeschooling and mothering my brood of seven and tight budget constraints. I’ve been inspired by a few of my frugal decorative friends through the years, like Shauna. I remember one of our Veggie Gals lunches where she showed us the beautiful framed oval mirror she picked up at the thrift store. It had a piece of it broken off and she fixed it with salt dough, perfectly matching the salt dough to the wood with pain for a seamless look! That got me thinking, someday I am going to start attracting things to make my home more beautiful. 

Well, that started yesterday when I got a beautiful floral couch for free. I stumbled across the above video from the DoItOnaDime blog’s YouTube channel and now I feel amazingly more empowered to decorate on the cheap, from the Dollar Store and D.I/Goodwill/Saver’s. Here are my of her videos. I am addicted to these!

The video below shows how she organized her pantry with cute, cheap, chalk paint labels to make as she says “a cohesive look” in the pantry.

The above video is her a tour of her home decorated for fall.

This one is her home for last year’s Christmas. I love all these ideas!

Last, but not least, here’s a video about how to make a beautiful charging station for your mobile devices using a nightstand, a hook, and a basket. I love this! I am totally doing it!

Here is a message from Oak Norton, the founder of the Agency-Based Education conference. I hope to see you all there on Sat. Nov. 22. The above video features Aneladee Milne, who spoke at the conference last year.

Hello friends,

 
Final Call for Agency-Based Education Conference
 
I have to turn in the final count of attendees by this Friday to order lunch for the Agency-Based Education conference on Saturday 11/22. This is going to be an amazing conference. The opportunity to hear Neil Flinders speak alone is a great opportunity. Neil will be selling his new book, “Joseph Smith, America’s Greatest Educator” at the conference. He will be speaking on a subject that will be of interest to everyone, not just members of the LDS faith.
 
The range of speakers we have will provide something for everyone including two different speakers talking about two unique private schools, one in operation right now in Southern Utah. These will give you ideas for educating your own children whether or not you homeschool, public school, or are looking for a private school experience.
 
Another speaker will address how to mentor your child. Another will speak on the Constitution. Another will show you how to save thousands on college tuition for your child by graduating from high school with an associates degree, and Senator Margaret Dayton will speak on parental rights in Utah.
 
A Major Solution
 
For 10 years people have criticized myself and others for pointing out problems and saying we didn’t offer solutions (ie. their solutions). This was a red herring though, because we have constantly pointed out solutions which those in power didn’t like.
 
I will be presenting at this conference, a roadmap to local control of education which I believe is common sense and provides for a more than 100x increase in parental involvement in our school system. I believe it is the ultimate solution to all the nonsensical education fads that come down the pike. Once and for all we can put education where it should be.
 
I sincerely hope you will make the effort to attend. It is so important that people understand and advocate for this. We need an army of people to understand this plan to be able to effectively lobby legislators to sponsor, co-sponsor, and vote in favor of this plan.
 
Please sign up here:
http://www.agencybasededucation.org/conferences/2014-conference
 
Oak Norton, Director, ABE

Photo Credit: Cherae and Brandon’s blog

A few weeks ago I attended a Healthy Marriage Seminar presented by a couple whose marriage has been threatened by the husband’s porn addiction. They have been seeing the awesome Maurice Harker of Life Changing Services for counseling. After the couple, Cherae and Brandon, spoke, Maurice shared some principles for a healthy marriage. Much of the material he used was taken from his forthcoming book, I’m Not Okay, Your’e Not Okay. You can get a preview of the book/handouts based on the book here along with how to get a digital copy of the draft for $5.

Cherae and Brandon have a blog over here. You can go there and read the earlier blog posts to read their story, and how Cherae finally had her suspicions confirmed that Brandon was a porn addict. He also confessed to having more than one affair. This came out 11 months ago, right before Christmas. Of course she was devastated but also relieved  to finally have her suspicions that the Holy Ghost had given to her during their 15 year marriage confirmed.

These are ten tips that Cherae shared on what has helped her get through this crisis.

1. Pray and ask God if He wants you to stay with your husband or end the marriage. God knows what is best for your situation because He knows the future and if your husband will change. In Cherae’s situation she said that she was ready to divorce him, because of all the awful things he had done, but God assured her that Brandon could change so He said she should stay.

2. Get counseling. I highly recommend Maurice and his associates, who make up the counseling group Life Changing Services. They are LDS based and very skilled. I believe they can hold counseling sessions by videoconferencing if you live a long distance away. (Editor’s note, if you need help paying for counseling your bishop may be willing to help pay. It’s worth asking. Or you can contact Hart for Healing for money to pay for counseling.)

3. Learn how to be in Pioneer Woman Mode. Maurice come up with this concept, which he taught to Cherae. You can read handouts about it here.

This mode involves how to create boundaries with your husband and some accountability for his actions and what to do if he slips up.

4. Focus on the things that you are 100% in control of. Don’t focus on the things, like your husband’s actions and issues, that you have no control over. For Cherae these things were: 1. homemaking, 2. taking care of kids, and 3. church job.

5. Write in your journal everyday. Cherae said she fell in love with journal writing and got a lot of comfort from it. (Editor’s note, instead of surface-y journal writing, write letters to God, to yourself, or to your husband or kids. This is something we learn to do in the Eternal Warriors/Mothers Who Know class that Maurice Harker and Aneladee Milne created for self-mastery and addiction prevention).

6. Create daily rituals that help you feel safe and secure and connected to God, so that you are stable no matter what your husband does.

Cherae said that every afternoon she would go upstairs and turn the light on in her bedroom by her bed, so that when she went to go to bed at night the light would already be on and she would feel warmth and light. She would get ready for bed and then without fail, do her nightly rituals of reading her scriptures, writing in her journal and praying.

7. Get Covenant Eye for all computers and Internet based devices that your husband uses. It tracks the history of web sites viewed and reports them to Cherae.

8. Join the WORTH Group. This is a group for women who have been traumatized and abused because of their husband’s addictions. It is a weekly support group. They offer once a week morning and evening meetings. 

9. Read Like Dragons Did they Fight. It will help you understand how to fight your own moments of self-betrayal.

10. Know that this is not your fault. It did not happen because you are not thin enough, pretty enough, or worthy enough. It happened because your husband has issues, which have nothing to do with you.

11. Listen to church music.

12. Listen to the Mormon Channel’s Enduring It Well series, especially the one about pornography. Cherae said it features her best friend, Polly, who lives in her ward and was her angel mentor, guiding her through this healing process because she had “been there, done that.”

I ended up winning one of the books from the drawing that they had after Maurice spoke! I wasn’t focused on my name being drawn, until the fourth of four books was about to be given away. Then I thought, “OK, focus on your number, focus, focus!” and then the ladies drew my number!  I am excited to give it away to one of you dear readers, since I already have two copies. Please comment below if you want to to be entered into the drawing. I will probably do the drawing the first week of December sometime, after my missionary son gets home and things settle down a bit before the Christmas prep.

This fabulous video is by my beautiful and loving friend Karen who helped teach the Eternal Warriors class I took back in the summer of 2012. She sometimes brought my daughter home from the class on nights I didn’t go. She is such a wonderful woman. I have fun memories of her teaching the class. That was my first exposure to Eternal Warriors and I loved it so much I wanted to teach the class to other moms. So I got permission from the cocreator, Aneladee Milne, another beautlful and loving friend of mine, to teach the class to moms and I call it Mothers Who Know. (See tab above.) I am taking a break from teaching the class, but I will probably start another class in January. Karen does a wonderful job of explaining how to use the Girl Power calendar that goes along with the class. If you’ve taken the class before, this will be a great time to refresh yourself on the principles. If you haven’t taken the class, hopefully it will tantalize you to want to take it in January. Enjoy!

One of our favorite resources for homeschooling is a storyteller named Jim Weiss. We have many of his CDs, telling the stories of Thomas Jefferson, folk tales, fairy tales, KIng Midas, Galileo, the Old Testament, world history, and more. He is the voice behind my uber-stealthy-homeschooling method of having kids listen to Story of the World while doing chores and riding in the car. Now he’s coming to Utah!

I copied the following from UHEA.org

Storytelling with Jim Weiss

The Utah Home Education Association, UHEA, is excited to announce it’s upcoming Family Storytelling Event with Jim Weiss (narrator of Susan Wise Bauer’s series The Story of the World), Friday, November 7, 2014 @ Union Middle School in Sandy, Utah.

If you are familiar with Jim Weiss’ work, you know how fabulous this event is going to be. If not, please check him out at Greathall Productions, greathall.com, or just take our word for it that this is an event you and your family won’t want to miss. You may know Jim Weiss as the voice of Susan Wise Bauer’s The Story of the World or one of his other recordings, he has over 50. Feel free to share and invite others. This is going to be a wonderful event; please join us!

We will be splitting up the time with Mr. Weiss into two separate family-friendly events:

At 3:30PM Join us for an Afternoon Storytelling Workshop

Then at 7:00PM Mr. Weiss will present a Family Storytelling Evening

Award winning storyteller and recording artist Jim Weiss will captivate children and adults with his exhilarating tales at a special performance for the Utah Home Education Association, UHEA. Known for his in-person performances of stories from classical literature and history, Jim Weiss can be heard on 50+ different recordings that will be available for purchase and autographing.

To hear Jim tell a story is to become enthralled in the tale, and it is no wonder that young children leave the storyteller’s circle determined to re-create that drama in their own creative play. Jim’s stories encourage children to read original classical literature either on their own or with the help of the more experienced readers in their lives. Jim’s performances and recordings are perfect family entertainment.

2 Awesome Events for you and your family!

Afternoon Storytelling Workshop (12+)

3:30pm-5:30pm
$5/person or $12/family

Family Storytelling Evening (all ages welcome)

7:00pm-8:30pm
$7/person or $25/family

Where?

Union Middle School
615 E 8000 S
Sandy, UT

– See more at: http://uhea.org/get-involved/jim-weiss-storytelling-event#sthash.O5gqwfqB.dpuf – See more at: http://uhea.org/get-involved/jim-weiss-storytelling-event#sthash.O5gqwfqB.dpuf