Have you ever wondered about Noah’s Ark and any evidence that has been found regarding it?
Here’s a great “movie” to watch with the family about it. It’s not feature length, but it’s still worthwhile.
For some reason I can’t get the embedding code to show up, so I am just going to paste the link here
What book was hidden away for almost 75 years after it was written? Why was it hidden? And how did the lady who helped the Rich Dad Poor Dad guy, Robert Kiyosaki, write his books, get involved in this hidden book? Listen to the interview below and then listen to the video above, it’s the book on audio. The book is Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill and it’s the Classic Book for Thursday. It is an amazing book! If you will read it, you will be forever changed. You will get awakened to how the opposition works against you to make you fail.
Here is the whole book on from YouTube.
Today marks 16 years since I gave birth at home for the first time. I not only gave birth to a wonderful, healthy, handsome baby boy, I gave birth to a new woman who has confidence in herself and the gifts God has given her to bring forth His children into this world. With every birth I have learned something new. I had three home births after that, and one hospital birth. With those births, plus two hospital births before that (one drugged, one Bradley/natural) I feel that I am an expert on birth. Maybe not as much as Michelle Duggar, true, but more experienced than your average American woman. Although I have not had any C-sections, footling breeches, or twins. But I consider myself an expert on normal, natural birth.
So here are my top ten tips for a healthy, happy, home birth!
1.Use water in a labor pool to help you relax during labor.
2. Use heat in the form of heating pads.
3. Dim the lights.
4. Clear up any clutter in your home and your life.
5. Have a priesthood blessing.
6. Use aromatherapy.
7. Have a birth prayer already written. Have someone read it when you are at transition and feel that you are at the end of your rope!
8. Use movement doing labor. With a lot of my births, I have rocked in the rocking chair during labor to help the “surges” go through my body.
9. Have a doula. They are amazing!
10. Prepare your body with consistent daily nutrition all through your labor.
That’s what I learned to do during that first home birth. Here is what I hope to add to the list the next time I have a baby.
1. Use more movement. I plan on doing spiral dancing
2. Have a stick handy for pulling on during pushing. Next time I am going to get a long dowel at Home Depot and then when I feel like pushing I will have someone put it in the labor pool and I am going to stand up, grab onto the stick, and bear down with a lovely feeling of pushing while feeling grounded instead of pushing while feeling too buoyant in water.
3. Drink raw milk every day.
Lately I’ve been making up for my lack of science ed with my older children in our homeschooling days. At ages 20 and 18, they can probably never, ever remember me doing any science with them. Sorry kids. I just felt so overwhelmed with nursing and potty training and surviving with 4, then 5, then, 6, then 7 kids. I was already dealing with enough chaos that the thought of making messes on purpose made me NOT buy jr. chemistry sets. Now that my youngest is 4 and we are past nursing and potty training, at least for the time being, I can handle getting messy in between meal prep and clean up. Lately we, meaning the 4, 8, and 9 year olds and I, have been watching a lot of Steve Spangler Science videos. I like them because he’s a professional, so you can usually count on the tricks to work. So go watch these and have some fun! Check out the light saber below!
And just to assuage any homeschooling mommy guilt, rest assured that as long as your homeschooling kids have a love of learning, great reading comprehension skills and great math skills, they will do well in science. This is one subject you can neglect in homeschooling and they can still get into college. My two oldest are a case in point.
My friend Katie over at The Gathering Place for Families recommended this book to me. Katie is on a mission, writing a curriculum that teaches children symbolism of “The Hebrew Way.” She is reading tons of picture books every week and sharing one or two each week in the class for core phasers (kids ages 3 to 9) in our Commonwealth School. I loved this book! It is scary and I think if I had read it as a little girl I would have had to stop reading it because I would have been too scared. But as an adult I saw a lot of symbolism in it as I read it to my kiddos last Saturday night. I love the illustrations by Ruth Brown, and I love the themes that it takes courage to stand up to evil, good wins out, and evil is destroyed by evil. This is a fabulous book! You might not want to read it to sensitive children, they might get too scared by it. 5 out of 5 stars!
I love the “Cranberry” books! We have read Cranberry Thanksgiving and Cranberry Christmas. Then I found Cranberry Autumn at the public library. I love how Mr. Whiskers always has a come-uppance in the end with a suprising twist to the story. In this story, Grandma and Maggie decide to have an antique sale to earn money to buy a coat for Maggie and some other needed items. This is a great story about resourcefulness, although I was a little disappointed in this one that Mr. Whiskers happened to “luck out” in his come-uppance and did not really have to really on any smarts, like he did in the other stories. The books always have a recipe at the back of the book, not as real-foodsy as I would like, but still tasty. 4 out of 5 stars.
OK, technically this is not a picture book, it’s a chapter book with pictures, but it’s a great read-aloud to kids. I always meant to read the Betsy-Tacy books with my older daughter who is in college now, but I never did. Now I am redeeming myself and reading it to my littles. I love the wholesome stories of growing up before TV, when kids actually played outside and around neighborhoods. The descriptions of nature are sweet, and I love the wry characterizations of the three little girls: Betsy, Tacy, and Tib. This book is #2 in a series that takes the characters all the way to marriage. They remind me of my mom’s childhood stories of playing with her cousin, swimming in a pond. I like that that the author talks about big families and refers to God and religion. In one of the chapters the girls start a “Christian Kindness Club.” In other chapters they give each other haircuts, pretend to be beggars, and try to fly. These are delightful stories about play, getting into mischief, making it right, and forgiveness. They are based on the author’s childhood. 5 out of 5 stars.
This one really invigorated my exhausting day when I cuddled up with my littles for our bedtime read-aloud ritual. It is based on the author’s childhood of his parents building their own house, told from the perspective of his older sister. I love that it shows having a vision, and then making it come true with persistence, hard work, and resourcefulness. The family building their own home has a parallel story that is only told in the pictures, which is that as you turn the pages you see the mom’s belly getting bigger and bigger, until finally you see her holding a new baby in a rocking chair. I just wish more had been said about the mom having a baby amidst the chaos of buidling a house. But I guess when the story is being told from a child’s point of view, that seems like no big deal. I just found out the author has a blog over here. I might be checking in a few times, as I like his illustrations. I will definitely be getting his other books from the library! Now I want to go build my own house out in the country liks his family did! 5 out of 5 stars!
A few weeks ago dh and I got to go hear one of my heroes, Elder Bruce Hafen and his wife speak at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. Why is Elder Hafen my hero?
Because he wrote the above book, which is one of the best books on marriage! Seriously, this book is just so full of golden nuggets of truth. I love all of the references to classic literature, the stories, and the beautiful prose which inspires marriage partners to sacrifice and serve as a “covenant heart” through the hard times of marriage. You can read a summary of the book’s ideas in Elder Hafen’s article he wrote for the Ensign called “Crossing Thresholds and Becoming Equal Partners.” Then he has a General Conference talk with similar themes here.
I have shared this love of the book with my college-age daughter. She is absolutely infatuated with it! She pinned the copy of the image of the book cover on her Pinterest page, so that is why I was able to get the image so big. (The image on goodreads.com is not very big.)
At this fireside for the J. Reuben Clark Jr. Law Society, Elder Hafen spoke of similar themes from Covenant Hearts. His son Jonathan got to introduce him and that was a treat. Did you know that Elder Hafen is an internationally-known expert on family law? He is also famous for his article he wrote on uncertainty. The best news of all is that you too can hear and watch his speech he gave on January 31, by going here.
For this weekend’s movie review, I present to you Letters to God. This is an absolute wholesome, God-honoring, family movie. It’s about a little boy who has cancer. To help him deal with his cancer, he starts writing letters to God, asking to be made whole. At the same time, we see the struggle of a letter carrier dealing with an addiction. Their paths cross and both are made the richer for it. We see how we each can influence others to be good even when we are struggling with illness or addiction. This is a movie that will leave you feeling better, and willing to keep figthing and trusting in the goodness of the human spirit and the overarching love God has for each of us. Watch the whole thing above! Enjoy! I give it 5 out of 5 stars!
Because I am studying the eras of WWI and WWI this semester with a homeschooling youth group, our Commonwealth School, Europe and stories that have emerged from it are on my mind a lot. Every week I give a hero story to the youth to inspire them. Maria Von Trapp’s story is definitely heroic! I mentioned this to a family member, and this family member did not think she is a hero. I respectfully disagree and I told this family member so. The family member said, “What was so heroic about her? All she did was follow her husband.” To which I had to take a deep breath so as not to hyperventilate in fierce, angry defense of Maria’s valor.
As I calmly told this family member, it takes a lot of faith for a mother not to give up in normal, everyday life. We have constant pressures, ordinary things like what is your family going to eat for the next meal, when are you going to go shopping, what are the children getting into next, etc. Then to put the stress of blending a family, living in Nazi Germany, and what to do about it on top of that? Maria definitely deserves the highest praise for becoming a stepmother, for having the courage to bear children, for not giving up being a wife and mother, and for getting her family to America.
I read her story years ago, I think when I was pregnant with Baby #5, the same year I read Corrie Ten Boom’s The Hiding Place. I absolutely loved learning the real details of the real story behind the Sound of Music. We watched SOM as a family last Sunday and Monday nights, as we realized our littles hadn’t seen it all the way, over and over, like the older ones had. The movie and the real story have some differences, but both are charming and I am so grateful that I have stories like these in my life to inspire me. I finally get why so many girls my age were named “Julie”! Julie Andrews was everybody’s favorite star in the 60s and 70s, of which I am a child.
I also enjoyed reading the book below that same summer when I was pregnant with #5. It has a lot of pictures and focuses more on the family’s new life in Vermont as the ski lodge they owned. Get these books and fall in love with the Von Trapps all over again. I almost feel inspired to turn my own brood into a singing troupe just so I can be more like Maria!
These canopies, are ingenious, as they have loops that keep them attached to the baby bucket, unlike a blanket. A mom thought of this for sure! You can get one for free, by just paying shipping, by going here. Just remember to use the code given above in the image, not the code you see on the web site after you get there. You can read a review of the canopy here.
How about just having to pay shipping for a nursing cover, a baby sling, nursing pads, or baby leggings? They are not completely free, you have to pay shipping, but it’s still a great deal! I am not big on what my sis in law calls “hooter hiders” as it seems to say that breastfeeding is immodest or pornographic, and therefore has to be “covered up,” which is not the message I want to send, but hey, I guess I am OK with them if it means more babies get nursed. Go here and scroll down the page, past the carseat canopy offer, to see the links to order this other stuff. Remember to use the right coupon codes, the ones featured on the images below and on the Fabulessly Frugal page. Every mom needs a sling! I have used one with every baby and they make a huge difference in keeping baby happy and “getting things done!” I love the prints! Enjoy!
Here’s a cute Valentine craft idea for your family: magnetic poetry words! Just go here to get the directions! It looks really easy to make! I tend to be very practical and only want to make crafts if they are “educational” or “useful” and this one fits the bill just fine.
The link in the directions takes you to this web site, The Dating Divas. So the words on the printable at that site are more for married couples. It doesn’t feature the words in the font pictured above. You might have to create your own words to make the poetry kit less “married couple” focused and more “family love” focused.
The Dating Divas site is a site that gives you married date night ideas. I already have my Valentine’s Date night with my hubby planned this Friday, but if you are still looking for ideas, check out the site, it has loads of ideas. If you are into crafts and parties, and printables, this site is perfect for you. I think I will be returning to this site for future date night ideas.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
Tree of Life Mothering 