Tree of Life Mothering

He’s going to the Tar Heel State! North Carolina, Charlotte mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! His mission president is a fellow Davis Countyite!

Grandma lent him her car so they could drive up north and open the letter with us, before my daughter went off to her dance class and a son went to scouts. (He’s been living at Grandma’s and working full-time.) They picked up some friends along the way to share the moment.

We are so excited! North Carolina is such a beautiful place. I wish I could drive him out there and see Mayberry (Mt. Airy- birthplace of Andy Griffith and home of the Andy Griffith museum) and Kitty Hawk.

Here he is reading the call, hiding the rest of it so no one can read ahead.

He’s happy to finally know! He will be treated to southern hospitality, Grandma assured him. She served a mission to Georgia.

Everybody’s glued to his laptop to see the mission map.

And he’s off, back to Provo to make it to his institute class. The younger kids had fun chasing him down the driveway and the street. They also had fun ambushing him when he walked in the door. What a fun big brother whom we will miss. I am glad we get a few more months before he leaves!

Attention modest fashionistas!

I am so thrilled to announce the giveaway of clothing from Modest Pop. This is a brand new company that specializes in modest, stylish clothing. The company sells tops, skirts, sweaters and dresses that are always $15 or less. We (my daughter and I) had a photo shoot with me wearing the “London Rain” jacket. I think it’s lovely and am excited to have it as part of my wardrobe! It is a neutral color that will go with lots of tops and skirts and pants that I have. One drawback, the jacket is not lined. But I still love it! The company will be adding maternity clothing sometime soon. I also hope they decide to do nursing clothes.

If you would like to enter to win one top or jacket from Modest Pop then please comment below. The winner will be chosen by random on Friday October 6 at 4 PM. The winner gets to chose from the following styles:

Aubrey

Claire

Kendall

Savannah

Taylor

Lani

London Rain

If you haven’t checked this book out yet, you are missing out! It’s written by a child TV star, Mayim Bialik, who played Blossom on NBC TV in the 80s. I am happy to report that Mayim did not follow the typical child star path.  She has a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA. She is also a star for The Big Bang Theory. But her biggest roles where she shines the most are as a wife and mother, who proudly promotes attachment parenting (AP) values.

I think it’s so beautiful that this picture on her book cover, above, shows how much her sons adore her. She is clearly the center of their universe. You can just tell that she loves being an attached mom!

This book has lots of support for you if you are into AP values. You will enjoy the introduction from Dr. Jay Gordon MD. The book has chapters on natural childbirth, elimination communication, cosleeping, letting up on the pressure of early academics, and gentle discipline. Wow, sounds like a sure addition to a La Leche League Group’s library. I love that she mentions La Leche League repeatedly through the book and says she gets teary-eyed and sentimental whenever she encounters a La Leche League Leader, since LLL Leaders helped her navigate her early days of breastfeeding.

I enjoyed hearing her unique approach of what to do when people are asking her children or their own children to share. I also liked hearing about how she went about incorporating elimination communication in her family. It is sweet to find out that I am not the only one who doesn’t go on vacation or marriage getaways without my baby. She does work outside the home as an actress, now that her children are older, but it’s refreshing to her that she doesn’t have a nanny but relies on her husband to be at home with her children. When her children were babies she stayed close to them 24/7. I also liked hearing her write about not being attached to stuff and clutter, which is so easy as soon as you get pregnant. It’s so natural to want to go out and buy, buy, buy in the baby section of the big box stores.

This is a delightful book that thoroughly covers what baby needs, what baby doesn’t need, and what moms need. If you are into AP values, it will resonate with you. If you don’t learn anything new, you will at least feel supported in your parenting choices. If you are not into AP, give it a read anyway. I think she does a great job of explaining the whys and hows of AP, without being pushy about it.

If you go here you can enter a giveaway for the book. Mayim is being nominated for Best Supporting Actress for the Emmys, so some people at a Jewish parenting blog are giving her book away. (Mayim is Jewish.) I like the dress (scroll down the page, it is not the first image you see) she picked to wear at the gala night, it’s modest as far as Hollywood actresses go.

My firstborn recently enjoyed turning 19. So we celebrated with a birthday dinner at Grandma’s home, where he is living. He has his papers in and we are awaiting his mission call. I am in a little disbelief that my time as a missionary mom is almost here. I am very grateful that he’s willing and worthy to go on a mission.

I am also rejoicing that he’s also very smart and a hard worker. He got a huge compliment last week. It all started with some announcements he made on Facebook, “I’ve now been at work for 34 hours straight.” Then the next day it was “Been at work for 42 hours, now time to go home.” Of course the mother in me was worried. He’s living away from home, over an hour away, in Provo. I messaged him to ask what was going on and he said that he had a deadline at work for his team to meet. Right now he’s working at a software company full-time as a computer programmer. He had a year of college last year and ever since the winter semester ended in May he’s had this job.

Here he is a year ago trying out for the  Andau Character prize, which he won. It gave him a full-year’s tuition scholarship to George Wythe College.

So after his long stint at work, including at least one all-nighter, maybe two, he got to go home and rest. He was going to stay home from work on Friday, since he had already put in his 40 hours. He had promised his grandmother he would do yard work for her on Friday.

Grandma set a lovely table for an elegant birthday meal.

But his boss heard about his plans and said, “No, you are too valuable of an employee, please come to work.” Then the boss sent the boss’s younger brother and the brother’s girlfriend over to Grandma’s house to do the yard work.

Here we are gathered for my son’s birthday, except for one of my sons, who stayed home with an illness. I am sorry about the lack of focus in the picture. My 12 yr old niece took the picture and I wish I had asked for a retake!

That is music to a mother’s ears, especially my homeschooling mom ears. This is the sweet fruit of self-education. My son has not had a formal class on computer programming. He completely taught himself to do it, learning from podcasts and books and tinkering on his own. Growing up, every time he was doing his chores, he always had earbuds in, learning about programming. He has always been my right-hand technical man whenever I had questions about how to make this web site or use my cell phone, LOL. He was the one who put up the downloads on this web site. When he did his Thomas Jefferson Youth Certification final paper, it was about computers, specifically, how open source software moves the cause of liberty.

This picture is not as blurry but one son is not looking and the another son’s eyes are closed.

I am especially rejoicing that he got this job, because a year ago at this time, he was looking and looking in Cedar City while going to college and could not find a part-time job. He ended up taking a full-time job answering the phone for customer service. Working full-time and being a full-time student is hard! Eventually he saved up enough money that he could quit the job before the school year was over.

My son asked for his favorite dish of chilaquiles, or Mexican lasagna. It is really easy. Just layer tortillas, cooked beans, salsa, sour cream, cheese, and green onions and bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted. You could also add corn or grated zucchini.

While he was searching for a job he signed into the LDS jobs section at providentliving.org. He noted that he knew a few computer languages, like Python and Javascript. An employer in Provo noticed this and came calling in March or so. So my son brushed up his skills and interviewed and got the job! The best part of all is that this company is owned by LDS people and they are mission-friendly. They will hold his job for him while he is on his mission and he will return to it when he gets back. Hooray, no more job hunting! Since George Wythe College moved to Salt Lake, he will be able to commute between Salt Lake and Provo, going to school full-time and working part-time.

I am so happy for him! I feel this is the sweet fruit of his leadership education, which I call stewardship education. Back at the Moms’ Retreat I attended in August I got involved in a conversation at midnight with some moms about what leadership education, aka Thomas Jefferson Education, really is. I got the feeling that some felt it wasn’t based enough on God or what the Spirit is telling them to do with their children. But that is really what it is all about. It is about educating yourself and your family to believe that their life and mission belong to God, so that they will turn their life over to God and allow Him to direct them.

For example,during the end of my son’s last homeschooling year he started feeling that he should not go to BYU, where had had received a scholarship, but that he should go to George Wythe College. He applied for the Andau, and while he was waiting to try out for it, he prayed and felt the Spirit tell him that he should tell BYU that he didn’t want the scholarship, so that he would have a “vacuum” or hole to attract the Andau Scholarship, which is just for going to GWC. He wanted to commit all his energy to going to George Wythe. That is what he did, unbeknownst to me.

The beautiful view from Grandma’s front window.

I can now see the fruits of this decision. If he had gone to BYU, he still would have needed to have a job to pay for his living expenses. He would have easily gotten a job, since BYU has plenty of on-campus jobs, but it probably would have been a job that did not involve programming, his first love. It was going to GWC that led him to find and apply for the programming job. This programming job is giving him lots of time to build his skills and knowledge. The company is great to work for, his boss has given him two raises and as a bonus is buying him a suit for his mission. He is working at a job where his not just trading time for money but he’s improving his skills and growing his passion.

So three cheers for leadership education/self-education/stewardship education!

To help me feel inspired for the new academic year, I’ve been reviewing an ebook that is all about self-education. It is Momessentials Jenni’s Stories & Education. In this ebook, Jenni Wilson, of Momessentials gives delightful examples of self-education. Jenni shares her family’s homeschooling journey of following the Thomas Jefferson Education philosophy, which is all about self-education and stewardship education. I am giving away a copy of this ebook. Please comment below if you are interested in winning. I will do the drawing for the giveaway on Wednesday evening October 10, around 7 PM MT.

This is the view we had as we drove to Utah’s Freedom Conference held at the Univ. of Utah campus last week. It was not quite 7 AM on the Saturday morning of the BYU vs. Utah football game. Yes, a Utah fan was driving a trailer, fully decked out in Ute colors, to the tailgate party, bright and early, leading the way in front of us. I know the picture’s kind of fuzzy, but it was hard taking a photo while riding in the car. Don’t worry, I wasn’t driving. It says, “A Utah fan am I!” Utah won the game, unfortunately, and even before the game was over the fans rushed the field, which earned a penalty for the team.

Utah may not lead the way in sound sportsmanship, but it does lead the way in sound money. At the Freedom Conference, some of the presenters talked about Utah’s new Sound Money Act. Utah now is the only state in the country that allows the payment of gold and silver coins for legal tender.

This video shows that it will be as easy as swiping a credit card, backed up by your gold and silver coins.

This video explains what sound money is and why it is better to use. At the end it says to contact your local state legislator, if you live in Utah. But that has changed, because the Sound Money Act passed. If you live out of Utah, please consider contacting your local state legislator to pass a similar act. The Utah Precious Metals Association will help you with resources on how to do that.

The presenters at the conference who were brought in to speak to us about sound money praised Utah for its leadership in this movement. Thanks to Larry Hilton and Brad Galvez for spearheading the movement.

This picture features two of my children with their good friends who are the children of one of my closest girlfriends, Shauna. I am pretty sure you can guess which kids are mine and which are hers. (She has Asian heritage.) Our two families attended Utah’s Freedom Conference last Saturday in Salt Lake City and had a blast. See http://utahsfreedom.org/

These pretty flowers added to my good feelings for the day .

I agree with the sign below. Liberty and prosperity come through sovereignty, or self-governance. Many people may think this blog of mine is just about marriage, homemaking, breastfeeding, homeschooling, and child-rearing. It is about all those things but it’s more about doing things as a woman, wife, and mother, that make you more self-reliant and self-governing, including self-education. That’s why I love learning and going to conferences. Breastfeeding and homeschooling and gardening and home remedies and self-education help a mom be truly independent and free. True women’s freedom or liberation comes through modeling our lives after trees, which have roots and soil. The soil is self-education.  (Read more about that in my book, just click “the book” tab above. I hope that wasn’t too much of a shameless plug!)

The conference was at the lovely hotel at the Univ. of Utah campus, the University Guest House. The U. of U. vs. BYU football game was held that night. Fortunately the conference was over and we got to leave just as the mob was arriving for the game. We are big BYU fans as my husband and I and my parents and my sibs all graduated from BYU.

The conference also had a youth track of sessions. The youth got to hear from a guy impersonating John Hancock as he told the story of the Revolutionary War and they watched snippets of the John Adams movie about the resolution for the Declaration of Independence.

The youth got to learn about 10 declarations, or principles of liberty, and commit to live to by them by signing a little book, produced by Roots of Freedom, as they took part in a simulation of passing Richard Henry Lee’s resolution that the American colonies declare independence from England.

We got to partake of this beautiful cake to celebrate Constitution Day, which was the following Monday. I think the plan is to have this conference every year, close to Constitution Day, as a way of celebrating the U.S. Constitution.

Kathy Smith, owner of Smith and Edwards, the “country boys’ store”, with her husband, Bert, was the conference organizer. She is pictured below.

The youth got to watch the movie Monumental, produced by Kirk Cameron. I fantasized about watching it with them but then I decided to attend the classes about sound money.

Larry Hilton (pictured below), promoter of Utah’s Sound Money Act, which the Utah Legislature passed last session, introduced the presenters for the sound money track. Larry is my husband’s cousin. I remember years ago, before he moved to Utah, he came to our home for a brief visit when he was on a business trip. He told us about one of Uncle Eric’s books that he had been reading, The Clipper Ship Strategy. That was my first indication that Larry was into liberty, economics, and how money should work. Larry lives in Utah now and worked with Brad Galvez, formerly a Utah state legislator, to get the Utah state legislature to pass the Utah Sound Money Act. Because this bill that got passed into law, It is now legal in Utah to use gold and silver coins as legal tender. You can go here, to Utah Precious Metals Association

to learn more about it.

The next picture below shows Tom Selgas, a monetary policy expert. Tom presented about what lawful money is, based on the U.S. Constitution. It’s important for every U.S. citizen to learn his information, so that we know about how we are getting ripped off by having fiat money which leads to inflation.

You can get some of his downloads about what the dollar really is and the history of money here. Scroll down through the list to get to his name and then click on the downloads below his name. He and his mentor, Dr. Edwin Viera Jr. have done a lot of research on the unconstitutional activities of the federal government regarding money and the Federal Reserve. If you or anyone are skeptical of this, I urge you to have an open mind and watch and listen. His website URL is “npn.net.” and the npn stands for “need proof now.” He gave away copies of a $20 book free, written by his mentor, Dr. Edwin Viera Jr.,  for those of us who were there at the beginning of his presentation, but he made the announcement that we could get the copies towards the middle of the class. I was happy to be rewarded for not class-hopping, which I sometimes do at conferences when I am feeling ADHD.

I liked that he shared that the Constitution says that Congress has the right to mint money, and to make the standards of weights and measures “fixed.” That includes the measure of money.  He said that Roger Sherman, the only Founding Father to sign all four founding documents, explained why it was important that Congress not be able to change what a dollar is, in other words, why it is important for a dollar to be fixed. He said that Sherman quoted Proverbs 20:10, that having diverse weights and measures is an abomination before God. The only way not to have “diverse weights and measures” is to have measures fixed, including the measure of what a dollar is. The Founding Fathers defined the dollar as a coin that had “371 1/4 grains of silver.” The Federal Reserve notes, which we commonly think of as “dollars” are not backed by that amount of silver at all. Or even any silver. They are not backed by anything, which is why they are called “fiat money.”

Tom also shared that if you ever want to save money if you are faced with medical bills, go to http://mymedicalcosts.com

because that site gives you the lowest prices on what medical procedures should cost. This will help you if you are not insured and want to negotiate the price of a medical procedure.

This guy pictured below is author Kevin Freeman. He wrote the book Secret Weapon. It is all about economic warfare. By a stroke of luck, my husband and I got to eat lunch with him at our table. I had learned in the introduction that Cousin Larry gave that Kevin is from Texas. He  was also holding a copy of his book and Glenn Beck’s book, Cowards. You can see them both on the podium below. So I asked him if he had been on Glenn’s show. He said he had been on seven times. He shared with us a miraculous story about how he got to be on the Glenn Beck show which included the hand of God working through him.

Kevin said that he had been to Utah three times in the past year. Once was to visit George Wythe College to speak to the students. Hey, I thought, I remember my son, who was a student at GWC last year, telling me about that evening lecture from a visiting expert. He couldn’t remember the name of the guy so it was nice for me to finally find out.

The guy pictured above is Victor Sperandeo. He is a professional Wall Street trader and financial analyst. He showed us why hyperinflation is a statistical inevitability. He said that the Federal Government’s money system is corrupt and that he was putting it that way “nicely.”  See his web site http://www.victorsperandeo.com/. The scholar in me looks forward to poring over an old book he recommended about inflation by the a cofounder of Cornell, Andrew  White, called Fiat Money Inflation in France, found here. He said that hyperinflation happened with the French Revolution. This is the first hyperinflation that happened before 1912. Since then, around 30 countries have experienced hyperinflation. Our country is doomed to experience it too. He recommended buying gold and silver to see your way through it.

Pictured below is Mayor Mia Love, who is running for Congress in Utah’s new 4th Congressional District. She is the mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah and Utah’s first black woman mayor. I enjoyed her speech and hope she wins! She is not in my Congressional district otherwise I would vote for her. She told us that when she started college her dad told her, “Mia, your mother and I never took a handout. You will not be a burden to society. You will give back.”

Here is Larry introducing a special guest during the first sound money session. His name is David L. Margrave.

I remember Larry telling me about this guy, without naming his name, back at a family gathering. He wouldn’t tell us his name. I have been anticipating finding out who this secret man is for months! He pays his income tax in gold and silver coins. What he told us is basically summed up at a blog post I found written by him here:

I have paid my State and Federal Income taxes in such coin for as many years. It is acceptable to the I.R.S. and California tax collecting authorities to record and report my income in the face value of the minted legal tender coins issued by the U.S. Treasury after 1986.

I recieve these United States legal tender dollars, report my income and pay whatever taxes I must in the form of legal tender in which I recieved income. I do not try to mix the two nor attempt to shortchange the government by recieving one form of legal tender only to report the other. In order to recieve income in gold and silver legal tender United States minted coin at face value I contracted with a Corporation to recieve income thus causing the Corporation to convert prior and to pay to me in coin what amount I asked for. So long as you report what is received, in the form in which it was recieved and pay the tax in that form, the taxing authorities seem to accept what I have done.

I was forced to defend my actions the first few years and we did get a letter from the I.R.S. stating that they would accept legal tender dollars as payment for the taxes I reported on their forms. If your are looking for ways to cheat on your taxes do not attempt to mix or confuse the taxing authorities, they will prosecute you for any such attempt. Coined United States legal tender dollars that are in current circulation are money just like Federal Reserve Bank Debt Notes, their value is not the same but we all have the right to use either of them today as we have since 1986.

This beautiful old building pictured above is a non-denominational chapel called the Post Chapel. It is next to the Univ. of Utah Guest House. Both of these buildings part of the Fort Douglas section of the Univ. of Utah. Fort Douglas was an army base built before the Univ. of Utah was built around it. This area is probably the most beautiful section of the U of U campus. In my previous life, before kids, I worked at the U of U, believe it or not, at the medical school. I never noticed this pretty part of campus! This chapel was built in the 1880s and was the longest continually used Army chapel before it was closed in 1991. It has been remodeled since it was first built. It is no longer used as an Army chapel but is still used for gatherings and weddings.  Some of the youth classes were held here after the screening of Monumental.

The Post Chapel has a bell in the tower. Here is my friend’s daughter ringing it, which is appropriate since her name is Belle and she’s ringing the bell! Shauna’s daughter is in the background, signing a copy of the Constitution, to celebrate Constitution Day. I loved her vintage-looking dress.

My daughter got to be filmed outside of the Post Chapel to get her testimonial of why she was glad that she attended the conference.

The classes ended around 5 PM. I have never seen so much food at a conference! They spread it out in front of us the whole day. It was like we were on a cruise! I thoroughly enjoyed the catered lunch of grilled chicken and steak. They even had grilled portobello mushrooms for the vegetarians. This was the first time I have eaten steak and chicken at the same meal, ever, I think. I felt very nourished. I skipped the white roll and enjoyed the flesh, along with two small portions of pasta and potato salad.

In the picture above my husband and his cousin and some friends are getting some food for the road at the end of the conference. I was amazed that my husband kept eating every time he saw the food in front of him. Of course my kids, especially my teen boy, loaded up. I was so happy that I wasn’t even tempted, even by the gorgeous fat chocolate chip cookies! This coconut oil diet I am on, along with eating meat and butter on my oatmeal, keeps me from even touching high carb food. They broke out food for the youth at 10 AM when they brought Congressman Rob Bishop in to speak. (He gave a fascinating speech by the way, I will have to blog about it separately.) They had candy bars, muffins, granola bars, juice pouches, everything that used to tempt me. I was still full of my wholesome breakfast of soaked oatmeal with butter, honey, and cinnamon, so I didn’t even want to eat.

The conference featured a banquet which started in the evening, featuring Timothy Ballard, author of The American Covenant, volumes 1 and 2.

I want to read these books! Basically, the author’s premise is that the Founding Fathers made a covenant with God to bring forth a government that would allow the kingdom of God, started with the Israelites in the Bible, to come forth in its fullness.

I picked up volume 2 and read about the author’s claim that Abraham Lincoln read the Book of Mormon, and that he was felt motivated to preserve the Union in order to uphold the American Covenant. I have my own theory about Abraham Lincoln, basically that he was not evil, just wrong. I feel he was seriously misguided and deceived by the big money interests who wanted to turn America into an empire with government involved in building it up, such as with the railroads and canals.In other words, he was a statist. He believed in the power of the state. As far as I can tell he did not believe in limited government. He was no friend to the Mormons and no friend to the Constitution. He suspended the writ of habeus corpus, a Constitutional right, and jailed about 13,000 people during the Civil War.  So to hear what this author claims upsets my theory a bit.  We will see if I can reconcile what Ballard purports with what Stephen Pratt teaches about Lincoln at http://www.libertyandlearning.com/videos// . The second video in particular is the one that teaches that Lincoln helped establish a “Second Founding of America” not based on the Constitution.

We did not stay for the banquet so I didn’t get to hear Ballard’s speech. It was time to go home and reconnect with my younger children. My favorite vendor though was the people selling the guns, above.

My daughter felt more enlightened than ever and is more motivated to study the cause of liberty. I hope my son learned something too, it seemed like he was more impressed with the fun he had with his friends and yelling “Go BYU!” at the Utah fans coming to the football game as we drove home. I pleaded with him not to yell too loudly, I did not want our car getting jumped.

Thank you conference organizers and presenters for a beautiful day! The only thing that marred it was driving home through all the Utah fans and then seeing BYU lose to Utah that night. That’s a whole other story!

Even after nearly 19 years of breastfeeding, I’m still learning new things. I don’t know if the following two points are absolutely true but I suspect they might be, so I am throwing them out there. They are anecdotal, but anecdotes have value for me.

1. If you want a full milk supply, especially, for twins, drink raw milk. See this mom’s story here. She quotes Dr. Frances Pottenger who said that a nursing mother should drink a quart of raw milk a day, and if she’s not, she’s cheating her child. This is not widely accepted. It even says in the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding you don’t have to drink milk to make milk.  At least the old edition, I will have to check the new one to see if that statement is in there. I remember quoting it at meetings over a decade ago. I went for years being vegan and vegetarian while breastfeeding. But by the time I got to baby #5 and #6, my babies had weight gain issues after they were around 6 to 9 months. So possibly I had low supply issues, or my milk wasn’t fat enough for them, because my nutritional stores were so depleted by the time they were born. I wonder if I had been consuming animal products all along, and hence more fat, maybe I wouldn’t have had those problems. Mother’s milk is composed of what the mom eats, it only makes sense. Here’s a story from Sarah Pope, one of my favorite bloggers. She tells of the difference her change in diet made in her milk. For her first baby her milk wasn’t as nutrient dense and fat, because she wasn’t eating traditional, sacred fats. She was eating organic produce and whole grains, the typical “Puritan” diet usually recommended as a “good diet” for anybody. She said her baby nursed a ton and never seemed satisfied. Then she switched to a Weston Price diet. Her milk changed from white to beiger and her next two babies didn’t have to nurse as much and were more satisfied.

2. If you want to avoid saggy breasts while breastfeeding, eat lots of saturated fat. I love this additional reason to eat fat! Wholesome, God-made fat is good for you! It keeps the baby blues and postpartum depression at bay and helps you look better. I remember my sister-in-law warning me that breastfeeding makes for saggy breasts when I was pregnant with #1. Well, Sarah Pope has the solution.

Here’s the latest episode of the Duggars. As if Michelle doesn’t have enough to do, she agrees to dog sit for some friends! Happy birthday to Michelle, on Sept. 13! She is one amazing woman!