On Saturday I learned so many cool things from going to the Utah Eagle Forum Convention. David Barton, a guy from Texas who has been on the Glenn Beck show recently, gave the keynote speech. He is the founder of Wallbuilders. He astounded all of us by speaking for about an hour with no notes. He gave a rapidfire talk loaded with historical facts about the founding fathers and nuggets of truth about good government. Some other amazing speakers shared what they’ve been learning lately, including a concerned mom who has done research about the infiltration of progressive education, right in the heart of Zion. Kitty Werthmann, a nice older lady who grew up in Hitler’s Austria, shared her experience of what it was like so we can see that socialism has been and is creeping into the US. I left after her talk so I could get back to my nursing toddler, as much for his sake as mine with my engorged breast. I took notes so hopefully I can download what I learned.

(My brother and his wife.)

But first I have to download the rest of my Christmas experience. As I wrote in my last post, my brother and his wife gave my parents some unforgettable Christmas gifts of family history research. I have been touched by the spirit of Elijah lately and got my sister-in-law to help me with research.  I’ve always resisted research before about a year ago. But with http://new.familysearch.org and some other sites I’ll talk about later, I can do it from home and see right away what temple work needs to be done. It’s so addictive! It’s like eating potato chips, you can’t stop with just one name. I want to find all the names branching off from that person.

(My brother, the bishop in his ward,  tries out his daughter’s new rip stick on Christmas Day.)

The biggest myth in the LDS Church, next to the one that all Utah Mormons love Jell-o (I don’t) is that “our family history research work is all done.” Anybody who tells you that is doing so because they are either blindly repeating what they’ve heard, or because they are feeling lazy and don’t want to get out of their comfort zone of learning to research.

One of the biggest myths in the world is that we need to save the earth. The earth is already saved. It was baptized in the time of Noah and the flood and will be baptized with fire at the end of the world. We do know from the scriptures though that it might not fulfill the total measure of its creation if we don’t do temple work.

Instead of saving the earth, we can save it from being cursed or wasted. We can help it fulfill the measure of its creation instead of being wasted by allowing it to be a place where God’s children are bound together in the patriarchal order. After all, we know that those who have qualified for the celestial kingdom, that is those who have bound themselves in the patriarchal order through righteous living and receiving all of the priesthood ordinances available through temples, will be the ones who live on the celestialized earth.

It’s really quite fascinating how the tree motif appears so frequently in an LDS mother’s life. Her breast ducts are in the structure of a tree, and these breasts can be trees of life to her baby. The placenta has the same structural network of a tree. Then there’s the tree of life in the plan of salvation, which is Jesus and the love of God that he manifests. Then there’s the family tree.

Eternal life would not be complete joy without being with the ones we love, and ideally the ones we love the most are those who make up our family tree. The love that a husband and wife share between them, and the love between parent and child, is among the greatest love a human can experience. Why has a tree come to be associated with the family? If you take a pedigree chart and tip it sideways, you will see why. You become the trunk. Your ancestors are your roots and your descendants are the branches.

The tree is a fitting metaphor both visually and emotionally, for just as the branches are sustained by the roots which draw up minerals and water from the soil, the descendants would not be there were it not for their ancestors. In a real, physical tree, the branches with their leaves benefit the roots by turning sunlight, water, and air into food to support the whole tree. Descendants can benefit their ancestors by doing their temple ordinance work, which opens the way to eternal life for them.

As the Lord revealed to the prophet Joseph Smith,

“And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers–that they without us cannot be made perfect–neither can we without our dead be made perfect.”

In the English King James Bible, the term “perfect” was translated from the original Greek word teleios. Teleios means “complete.” Just as a tree cut from its roots would not be a whole, complete tree, we are not whole and complete when not sealed through temple ordinances to our ancestors or roots.

The Bible uses this tree metaphor to show the protecting power of the spirit of Elijah. In the last chapter of Malachi, we are promised that Elijah will come before the end of the world to “turn the heart of the fathers to their children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” This is the spirit of Elijah. In the first verse we are told, “For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”

What is stubble? A stick. If a tree has the roots and branches cut off from it, what is it but essentially a large stick, or stubble? As members of the restored church of Jesus Christ, we know that Elijah did come as prophesied on April 3, 1836, to Joseph Smith, and gave him the authority or keys to do the temple ordinances of sealing parents to children. Now his spirit prompts us to do these ordinances for our dead so we can be sealed to them and be a complete tree, not a stick or stubble at the last days. We do this temple work to show our commitment to follow the Savior’s example of selfless service, and it protects us from the great fire of the last day.

(The keys to the kingdom are family history and temple work, wrapped up with the keys of priesthood authority.)

If nobody does this temple work of creating an eternal patriarchal order then there will be nobody to live on the celestialized earth. As my husband’s distinguished and learned uncle, Lynn M. Hilton PhD., says, “Imagine, all the beautiful rocks, the trees, the canyons, the mountains, the rivers, wasted; if we don’t do our ancestors’ temple work! ” (you can see Uncle Lynn at http://hiltonbooks.com)

So our primary focus should not be to save the earth from pollution but to save the earth from being cursed by God because of our internal pollution, our selfishness and laziness in not being righteous and doing temple work. We are told in another place in the scriptures to seek peace on this earth by focusing on temple work. Doctrine and Covenants 98:16 says, “Therefore, renounce war and proclaim peace, and seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children.” Saving the earth in the form of environmentalism can be a huge distraction from saving our own family, our immediate and our extended families.

(The family history wall at my brother’s home.)

So sisters, it’s time to get going on the family history research, and not leave it to Great Aunt Gladys or insist with the lame line that “It’s already all done ” When you think of all the branching lines that come off each person due to siblings, it is impossible for it to be all done already. Even if you have a pioneer ancestor, all the work is not done. Not all of that ancestors siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles joined the Church, and they haven’t all been found.Just last night I found three generations of family members branching off as a brother to my pioneer ancestor who joined the Church and came to Utah. These family members stayed in Mississippi, and I signed on to get the temple work done. I didn’t even have to leave my warm family room out into the cold winter night to do this work!

A fascinating and encouraging story by a busy young mother of how she fit in family history work amidst all of her demands appeared in the August 2006 Ensign, pages 34 to 38. It’s by Kim Sorenson. See http://lds.org/ensign/2006/08/blessings-for-my-ancestors-blessings-for-me?lang=eng. Read it! It’s really good. I loved her descriptions of the blessings that flowed from doing this work. Because of her sacrifices to do family history research, she was blessed with HUGE blessings. Her family’s health was better, her appliances and cars broke less often, and she was able to attract clothes her son needed for his scout trip at a garage sale for a really cheap price.

I’ve taken her example as my inspiration. I can surely consecrate some of my baby’s napping time to do the work, or the alone time I get once a month on the third Sunday evening when everybody else but the nursing toddler goes to Grandma’s house (that was last night). In short, if you want mercy in your life and blessings, then consecrate some of your blessings of time, Internet connection, and brain power to family history work. As Kim concludes her article:

“The Spirit prompted me to work on family history. I was able to show mercy to my ancestors and bless their lives by doing for them something they could not do for themselves, and my family has been blessed abundantly. The Lord has promised each of us that if we are merciful we will also obtain mercy.

I love Christmas and love to stretch out the season by keeping the decorations up after New Year’s and continuing to read Christmas books. My kids and I are still reading An Angel on Main Street and loving it for our nightly read aloud. We did get the tree down though last Saturday but the other stuff is still up.

(These creations are actually the artwork of my nieces and nephews. Artwork is sorely lacking in our homeschool.)

This year I had so many unexpected gifts. That’s a hard thing for a mom to say. Usually we know everything that is coming and going from our Santa’s workshop as we coordinate everything.

First, my brother-in-law and his wife gave us their van! We have been needing a new van since our last baby was born so we could all fit with seatbelts but couldn’t afford it. Andrew got rear-ended in his van in Colorado Springs. It has a minor dent in the back but is totaled. OK, this shows how ignorant I have been with cars. I thought totaled meant that the car was totally smashed up and therefore not driveable. The car is totally still driveable. It just needed a new panel to replace the dented panel, and that cost more than the car was worth, so the insurance company declared it as totaled.  Andrew and Meg traded their van for our older minivan (the seven seater we outgrew two babies ago) because they are starting to empty their nest. They still got paid by their insurance for what it have cost to buy a replacement car and we get a new van that seats 12! Thank you Andrew and Meg! They have been so generous to us through the years.

Second, a week before Christmas I went to a Kirk Duncan Body Language Show. If you ever hear about this, go to it. It was fun!  See http://3keyelements.com/. This is one of those things like TJED was years ago where everybody’s talking about it in my circle of friends and I am thinking, “What is all this talk about? What’s so great about it?” Well, it is great and I learned a lot! Kirk is a super nice guy. I was afraid this would turn out to be kind of like those Impact trainings where the teacher/trainer/mentor tears the attendees up into shreds but it wasn’t like that at all. Kirk is very gentle and builds people up even while giving feedback about what their body language is saying. It is a commercial to come sign up (i.e. pay, for his next seminar) but I am OK with commercials for things that better my life. As a Christmas gift to all the attendees, he gave away his CD of The Compass. But that wasn’t the real Christmas gift from him to me.

The real gift, the unexpected one, was a piece of knowledge he gave me on how to deal with angry people. He said that you simply stop them in their tracks and say firmly, “Stop! Don’t unload on me. I have worked for years to clean up my life. If you want to unload your negativity go do it outside on the ground and then come in and let’s talk.” I love it! People talk about cleaning up the environment all the time. How about we clean up the toxin of anger first?

Lastly, on Christmas Day…I got the best gift of all. An increased knowledge of my noble heritage. My brother and sister-in-law, family history gurus, came up with beautiful gifts for my parents relating to family history. They gave them a scrapbook with pedigree charts, life stories, and copies of patriarchal blessings of ancestors going generations back. (Did you know you can order patriarchal blessings of your ancestors for free from the LDS Church? But just four per month.) My dad was recently called as a stake patriarch. He found out through this gift that he has many ancestors who were patriarchs as well.

Then for my mom’s birthday gift, which was two weeks before Christmas, but they decided to give it to her on Christmas Day, was a DVD with stories of three of her very famous ancestors. One she already knew about, who is the Reverend John Lathrop. Many Utah Mormons are descended from him, including my husband and the presidents of the LDS Church. See http://deseretbook.org/Exiled-Story-John-Lathrop-1584-1653-Helene-Holt/i/5059905. He’s a really cool guy who knew Christ’s true authority was not on the earth during the hey day of the Church of England. He flaunted the CoE’s authority and was therefore exiled and came to America in search of religious freedom. Joseph Smith is descended from him.

The two ancestors she didn’t know about were/are John Howland, a Mayflower Pilgrim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Howland). So apparently I am distant cousins to a lot of famous people, like Sarah Palin and George Bush, and Chevy Chase, some of whom I don’t want to claim.

The other is Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island. Elder Jeffrey Holland gave a General Conference talk about Many-Greats Grandpa Roger, saying that he was his direct ancestor. I remember thinking, “Cool! I want to be descended from him too!” So I am, and Elder Holland is one of my many distant cousins! Read about Many-Greats-Grandpa Roger here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_(theologian) and here’s an excerpt from Elder Holland’s talk:

“In the tumultuous years of the first settlements in this nation, Roger Williams, my volatile and determined 10th great-grandfather, fled—not entirely of his own volition—from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and settled in what is now the state of Rhode Island. He called his headquarters Providence, the very name itself revealing his lifelong quest for divine interventions and heavenly manifestations. But he never found what he felt was the true New Testament church of earlier times. Of this disappointed seeker the legendary Cotton Mather said, “Mr. Williams [finally] told [his followers] ‘that being himself misled, he had [misled them,’ and] he was now satisfied that there was none upon earth that could administer baptism [or any of the ordinances of the gospel], … [so] he advised them therefore to forego all … and wait for the coming of new apostles.” ⁸ Roger Williams did not live to see those longed-for new Apostles raised up, but in a future time I hope to be able to tell him personally that his posterity did live to see such.”

This has inspired me to live up more to my noble, freedom-seeking and Christ-seeking heritage. It also makes me feel more interested in family history and temple work. I got going during the Christmas break on some research and my sis-in-law helped me find some names. (It is the biggest myth in the Church that “Our genealogy is all done!” Baloney! As my family history guru mentor sis in law says, “I don’t care if you are the prophet, there is work to be done!”) Then my oldest son took the names to the temple to do the baptisms.You too can do this work, from home. It’s what the Internet was made for. If you are just playing games, reading blogs, and doing Facebook, your wasting your Internet time. Go to http://new.familysearch.org and sign up today.

It helps me realize that my problems are so miniscule and that there is so much more to life, like leaving a tremendous legacy, than my petty problems. If these great-grandpas could go through near starvation, imprisonment, exile, and falling overboard the Mayflower, I can certainly go through lack of money, impertinent children, and a not a big enough house.

So thank you Heavenly Father for these unexpected gifts of Christmas!

Stephen Pratt, a righteous man who is very knowledgeable about U.S. history and government is coming to town. At least, some towns in Utah. If you live in Utah one of these classes is probably within two hours from you and would be well worth your time. I have heard him speak and I can’t get enough…I love to go and learn from him. Please make time to attend one of these classes. Steve was mentored by Cleon Skousen and spoke under his tutelage teaching the principles of good government for many years.

If you homeschool, or are curious about homeschooling (you know you are), feel free to join this free homeschoolers’ conference. It will be done by phone and the Web, so you don’t have to find a babysitter or go out in the cold. What a great idea to boost homeschooling moms’ spirits during the post-holiday blues! I’m looking forward to this. The speakers will start speaking at 4 PM Pacific Time on the dates posted below.

You can sign up here http://http://www.hecoa.org/summit.html

Here are the speakers:

Jan 3rd :  Donna Goff – FIRST STEPS – TEACHING THE PRESCHOOL YEARS
Jan 4th : Marin Lipowitz – ARTS & CRAFTS TO TEACH ELEMENTARY MATH
Jan 5th : Nicholeen Peck – TEACHING SELF GOVERNMENT
Jan 6th : Laurette Lynn – UNPLUGGED
Jan 10th : Erika Schron –  THERAPEUTIC & TEACHING IDEAS FOR ELEMENTARY SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN
Jan 11th : Alicia Brown – HACKING HIGH SCHOOL
Jan 12th : Elizabeth Johnson – LEARNING CHALLENGES: BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION TECHNIQUES FOR ADD/ADHD/ASPERGERS)
Jan 13th : Rachel DeMille – THOMAS JEFFERSON EDUCATION/STATESMANSHIP
Jan 17th : Nicholas Tee – USING SUBTITLES AND VIDEOS TO OVERCOME READING CHALLENGES
Jan 18th : Surprise Guest Speaker – SOCIALIZATION

As a child, I think I had the desire shared by all children, for every day to be Christmas. Then I grew up and became Santa. In other words, a sensible, boring adult with responsibilities. That childhood
desire became relief that Christmas is NOT every day, now that I know
how much work is involved with pulling off a holiday complete with
exciting gifts, delicious food, time with extended family, and
meaningful traditions. I do love Christmas, and I also love ordinary life as well.

(The one and only time my husband has played a Wii game with his kids and their cousins. We don’t have a Wii at our house so this is a rare moment.)

But I do wish that we could all have that Christmas feeling every day, year round. This is the Christmas spirit, the love of Christ.
It’s the love that allows me to look at each person, including my own
children, as a child of God, not an object to hurry by in the pursuit
of my own desires. The love that allows me to have peace and goodwill
in my heart, even if war is around me. This is the love of God, or
charity, or the fruit of the Tree of Life. Like it says in The
Christmas Chronicles, the true spirit of Christmas is to believe
in happiness for its own sake, and that hope and joy will overcome
cold and darkness.

How do we keep the love of God in our hearts? Besides the Sunday School answers of saying prayers, reading the scriptures, going to
Church, keeping the commandments and covenants, and doing temple work
and service, I have two other suggestions:

1. Read The Anatomy of Peace and other Arbinger Institute books. They show you step by step how to keep peace in your heart
with everyday challenges like thoughtless people and rude children.
http://arbinger.org
The books talk about looking at each person around you as a person,
instead of an “it” or object. Christ teaches us to take it
a step further and see everyone as a child of God, and therefore
family to us. How do we treat family? We should treat our family the best. The words “kind”
and “generous” both have roots that indicate kin or family.

2. Study history and learn the past so you can prepare and educate yourself to actively create a  future of peace as a parent and Latter-day Saint.

As I’ve been studying the past few years from history books that aren’t textbooks, I have learned that Thomas Jefferson wanted America
to be founded on ideas distinct and different from Europe’s. What
were these ideas? 1. Belief in rule of natural law, God’s law, or
people’s law, 2. Belief in the fatherhood of God, a just, perfect, being, and the brotherhood of mankind, and 3.
Belief in liberty. I call these ideas the Hebrew way.

Europe is founded on the Roman way. Contrast the Roman way with the Hebrew way by looking at these ideas of the Roman way: 1. Belief in ruler’s law, which can change any way or any time according
to the ruler’s whim, 2. Belief that mankind is not the family of God,
since the Roman way believes in no gods or made up gods like the
Roman gods who were capricious and sometimes wicked, and 3. Belief in
being told what to do, not exercising liberty. Richard Maybury, an
author, calls European history “a soap opera with guns.”
That’s because Europe is founded on these ideas. How noble.

I’ve studied history with these contrasting ideas in mind. I can see that America has become entrenched in the Roman way instead of
the Hebrew way. But America was founded on the Hebrew way.

Take WWI for instance. This was an unnecessary war for America. As Richard Maybury quotes in his book about WWI, “Why did we have to
go to war because some American wanted to cross the ocean to go to
the bathroom?” (Referring to the Lusitania.) Nevertheless we got embroiled in it. I guess we
wanted to be involved in a soap opera with guns. If you would like an eye-opening story, read Word War. The Rest of the Story by
Richard Maybury. (http://richardmaybury.com/books.html)

Here’s a quote from Woodrow Wilson, the man who told us that we had
to enter the Great War in order to keep the “world safe from
democracy.”

Why, my fellow citizens, is there any man here, or any woman-let me say, is there any child here, who does not know that the
seed of war in the modern world is industrial and commercial
rivalry?…This war, in its inception, was a commercial and
industrial war. It was not a political war. (The Papers of Woodrow
Wilson, ed. by Arthur S. Link, vol . 3, pp. 45-46.)

“A commercial and industrial war.” Um-hm. Sounds like a soap opera with guns to me.

A period emerged in WWI when soldiers forgot about treating the enemy as an “it” and saw the enemy as children of God, or spiritual brothers. The
soap opera started to fade away. It’s because the spirit of Christ,
the Christmas spirit, touched some soldiers’ hearts. It was the
Christmas Truce of 1914. I read the picture book version of this
story, Christmas in The Trenches by John McCutcheon, this
Christmas, to my children. It’s very touching. The Germans and the
Americans stopped fighting over Christmas Eve and into Christmas Day.
They cleared the wounded, helped each other bury the dead, exchanged
gifts and stories. They played soccer, sang Silent Night, and recited
the 23rd Psalm. They fraternized, or treated each other as brothers.
Now there’s a story you won’t read in a history textbook. Read more
here http://christmasinthetrenches.info/cmastruce.html

These men started fighting again only because they felt they had to obey orders. Sad. I wonder what could have happened if every single one of them refused.

Stanley Weintraub, who wrote, Silent Night: The Remarkable Christmas Truce of 1914, writes:

To many, the end of the war and the failure of the peace would validate the Christmas cease-fire as the only meaningful
apocalypse. It belied the bellicose slogans and suggested that the
men fighting and often dying were, as usual, proxies for governments
and issues that had little to do with their everyday lives. A candle
lit in the darkness of Flanders, the truce flickered briefly and
survives only in memoirs, letters, song, drama and story. (p. 194, A
Century of War by John Denson)

A poem by Frederick Niven of the WWI time era , “A Carol of Flanders,” has a line that captures my desire for all people to embody the Christmas spirit, the Hebrew way, all the time:

O ye who read this truthful rime from Flanders, kneel and say;

God speed the time when every day

Shall be as Christmas Day.

I’m happy that the ceremony, feasting, and presents part of Christmas is not every day. (Sure, I would love it if I didn’t have to be involved with any of the work.) I do wish that the Christmas spirit was around every day, in which we treat each other with that Christmas spirit of generosity

and kindness. Then the best presents of fraternization, patience,
and the benefit of the doubt would come forth from each of us. In
other words, “peace on earth, goodwill to men” like it says in
the Christmas carol.

This will only happen if we as parents learn how to keep our hearts at peace and learn the true history of why political wars have
been fought. It has not been to promote peace, or to save democracy
or freedom. The children who were born to us between 1980 and 2000
are fourth generation children. That means they are warriors who will
be called to fight a battle involved in some great crisis as they
come of age.  After 9/11, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, who knows what’s next. It’s looming on us ladies. Read The Fourth Turning.
If we want to keep our boys out of unnecessary wars fought for socialist, commercial, imperialistic ideas we have to know
this true history so we can recognize when these unnecessary wars are
happening again. We must teach our children along the way.

What would happen if the knowledge of true history and the commercial nature of WWI and most wars became as common as the knowledge that Mickey Mouse was created by Disney? What would happen if we mothers refused to let our boys join the army to go to war, and this refusal were a huge movement?

(My husband, his mother, and four of my five boys who I do not want to go to war for some socialist president who fights a commercial war.)

If you would like to study history this year with me looking at the Hebrew way vs. the Roman way, please join me in reading one book
a month and having an online discussion. I’m calling this “Freedom’s
Light: The Hebrew Way History Book Club.” Please go to my other web
site for education, http://tjedlibrary.ning.com/forum/topics/announcing-freedoms-light-or to see the list of books we will be studying and
to sign up.

I’ve also found some great audio files with lectures from LDS Church leaders and members like David O. McKay, Ezra Taft Benson, J.
Reuben Clark Jr., Scott Bradley, Jack Monnett, Cleon Skousen, and
Joel Skousen, to help learn about how the U.S. Government has strayed from the Hebrew Way. Go to http://latterdayconservative.com/downloads. I can’t
wait to dig into these!

Merry Christmas! May the Hebrew spirit always be with you!

Last Sunday in sacrament meeting a couple in our ward gave talks about their most memorable Christmases. The husband shared a sweet story that brought tears to my eyes. He was 9 years old, living in Tennessee, and his parents had six children and were both back in school. They had no extra money for gifts. His parents went to bed on Christmas Eve dismally thinking there would be no presents in the morning. At 11 AM, a knock sounded at the door. The mom opened it to find two big sacks of presents for the whole family. Someone was watching out for them! That’s why I believe in Santa. If you tune into the laws of the universe, that is, obey, and “be good” then God will send blessings your way, many times anonymously. That’s the spirit of Santa.

(My husband with some of his sibs and in-laws at our day after Thanksgiving Day dinner.)

So then this brother in sacrament meeting shared of how he and his siblings have passed this kindness forward. Every year one of the siblings takes turns collecting money from the other siblings. Then that person finds some family to do Sub for Santa. They use the money they would normally spend on each other in a gift exchange. I LOVE this idea! $20 or $30 is about how much we spend on our sibling gifts each year, per side, as we rotate through the names. While I enjoy getting the gifts, there are so many people who are worse off than I am who I would like to help. We have too much stuff.  $20 to $30 doesn’t go far but multiplied by our number of siblings (four on my side, eight on my husband’s) we could get a bunch of presents for a family, provide a Christmas, and restore someone’s hope in a kind universe. I am going to propose this for next year. Hopefully we can make this a tradition!

My son with some of his cousins.

I organized an event recently to hear Jack Monnett speak. If you don’t know who he is, just Google his name and get his books and read them. They will open up your eyes more than ever to the truth and relevance of the Book of Mormon to today. After reading snatches from his books, more than ever, I feel a desire to be close to my Savior Jesus Christ and have the Holy Spirit to guide me through these troubled times. The contrast between the absolute, tremendous goodness of the Savior and the evil in the world has become in sharper focus for me. I am so grateful for His birth, sacrifice, and life.

Less than a week before my oldest son’s service project was due for one of his Williamsburg classes he announced that he didn’t know what he was doing. The one idea he had planned couldn’t go forward because of the weather. So we gave him the idea of making hats using those circle looms and he led the family in the project. We got five made by the following Friday. So I learned I need to have better mentor meetings with him where I ask specifically about each class he is taking, as in, “Do you have any major projects that are due this week?” Making these hats as a family gave such a cozy, warm feeling to the atmosphere. We should do family hand-crafting more often.

He also took the ACT a week ago. The week before he took a practice one at Weber State and got a really good score. We are talking a score good enough for a scholarship! I’m so grateful that he’s so smart. (Maybe it’s because I didn’t eat any white sugar when I was pregnant with him. I was so much more careful back then. It gets harder as I get older and have more kids to be so virtuous.) So now we are waiting for the real score to put on college applications. We are thinking of BYU, GWC, SVU, and even Harvard. I just found out this week that GWC has a competitor, started by some George Wythe types, including Dr. Shanon Brooks, and my neighbor up the street, Dr. Slade. It’s called Monticello College. http://monticellocollege.org. The web site says that the next fall semester is 2012 so I don’t think that fits Hilton’s plans. We’ll have to see. He just finished his finals with Williamsburg. I’m so thrilled for him!

After the ACT we went to my nephew’s baptism. His mom is my little sister. Her husband comes from a family of eleven children (eight of them boys, whoa! His dear mother has a special place in heaven reserved for her). Most of them live out of town so we usually don’t see all of them at family events like baby blessings. But this time, it just so happened that the baptism was the same day as my brother-in-law’s grandmother’s funeral. So all eleven kids had flown or driven in, and a lot of them with a spouse and kids.

To say that the tiny two bedroom house was overflowing with people for the family dinner, after the event, is to put it mildly. But it was so fun! I loved talking to my sister’s in-laws. Her brother-in-law and his wife just had twin identical baby girls three months ago! They were so darling! I caught a picture of one, lying next to her aunt’s leg. The other was asleep, esconced in the master bedroom. The twins’ mama also gets to keep up with an 18-month-old and a 4-year-old. “I didn’t know what busy was before I had twins,” she said to me. I apparently don’t know what busy is either, compared to her. Keeping up with homeschooling my brood and home management after baby#7 has been a challenge but I can’t imagine mothering twins and an 18-month-old and a four-year-old. She actually looked and sounded remarkably calm. I enjoyed hearing her tell me that she enjoys breastfeeding the twins.

It just felt so good to be with so many good people who believe in family and Christ. It felt like Christmas had come early, even though there were no presents. Actually, there were. It was also my mom’s birthday so I had brought a present and so did my sisters. Her grandson got baptized on her birthday. Interestingly enough, my son got baptized on his other grandfather’s birthday and my daughter on her other grandmother’s birthday as well.

This Christmas time I am actually doing and enjoying things I usually don’t. We went caroling, and I usually don’t like that because it’s always sooo COLD! But this year we went with my son’s homeschool group on that balmy Friday, with no snow on the ground, before the snow kicked in on the weekend, and it was 50 degrees. That morning I actually baked cookies with my children and had a fun time doing it. It helped that I had put my baby down for a nap.

We read some fun Christmas LDS stories tonight as a family from those little pamphlet-type books that Covenant Communications puts out. I can’t see enough about how fun it is to read aloud together as a family. It’s cheap, it creates family bonds, it’s better for your brain than DVDs, and it feels so old-fashioned and homey. (Although I do break down the week before Christmas, when we watch a few holiday movies every night, see my discussion forum on this site.) Yesterday I caught my nine-year-old son spontaneously reading Holly Claus to his younger sibs. I felt like he had just loaded in his plate into the dishwasher for the first time without being asked. Such an accomplishment! I can’t wait to reread The Read Aloud Handbook in January like my friend Shauna Bird Dunn does in order to renew my dedication to having reading time be the chief form of entertainment for this family.

I am working on a pilot project for the Closet Coach and feel a little stuck since I’ve been asked to write down my homeschooling schedule for one of the assignments. Sometimes I have a hard time being structured. I would rather have a rhythm than a schedule.  I just have so many good things going on in my life that sometimes I just want to keep doing some of those good things, multitasking, and I push other things down the schedule. We will have to see what I come up with.

What’s a parent to do when asked about Santa Claus by a child?

I don’t believe in lying. I also want to encourage a belief in goodness and delight in unseen, unknown forces that work together for our good. Santa Claus represents that to me. So I say, tell him or her that you are Santa’s helper. Recently I told one of my children when asked if Santa is real, “There’s really not a Santa Claus who lives at the North Pole. But the spirit of giving without being noticed or getting credit is real, and that’s what we call Santa Claus.”

Every child and parent can get in on the act of anonymous giving for parents, siblings, friends, relatives, neighbors and even enemies. This spirit of anonymous giving, the spirit of Santa Claus, comes from Saint Nicholas, a real person who followed the example of Jesus, also a real person.

(Here’s a picture from our ward Christmas party of my daughter and my baby, terrified of Santa. Poor baby!)

I love the way Tim Slover, a playwright, explains the story of Santa Claus. He has such charming explanations of how Santa does his work and how children can help in Santa’s work by becoming helpers after they know “the secret ” and become “signatories to the pact.” He creatively weaves a story of how all the elements of Christmas (the Christ Child, Santa, reindeer, Rudolph, elves, parents who act in Santa’s behalf) fit together to make a meaningful, spiritual holiday. It’s a holiday about giving and creating a better universe. This story is called The Christmas Chronicles. I’ve encountered different versions of the story of Santa Claus, and this is the best! It will leave you with a song in your heart and a spring in your step, and a belief in Santa. The story has so many fascinating elements from folk tales and history that you could easily spend a homeschooling month or more studying them.

Here’s what Classical 89, the radio station that helped Tim produce the story, says about the Christmas Chronicles, “The series originates in accounts of the astonishing life and activities of Santa, recalled and told by the author, Tim Slover, to his children. Richard Johnstone is the other primary performer. It all started with a strictly scientific answer to a child’s classic question: ‘How does Santa deliver all those toys all over the world in just one night?’ That’s the query that unlocked the grand adventure to keep the magic in, and the cynicism of the world at bay.”

You can listen below to each episode in podcast form (FREE!), or get the book newly published by Random House.

Listen here http://classical89.org/programs/christmaschronicles/

You can purchase the audio CD, mp3 download, or hardcover book here http://classical89.org/programs/christmaschronicles/purchase/

Sounds like a great Christmas gift for a whole family of relatives or that hard-to-buy-for person!

Have you ever thought about how the TJED philosophy (see http://tjedonline.com if you don’t know what TJED means) fits in with things like piano instruction?

I’ve discovered a piano method that jives with TJED. It’s taught by Scott Houston, the Piano Guy, who does a TV show. I took a fun course from him a few years ago and think it’s an inspiring way to learn piano for kids and adults. You start learning classics for piano right away instead of silly tunes that aren’t as musical. They key is that you are learning how to make full, rich music because you are learning chords.

This is a picture of Scott and me at the course I took. See how happy I am because of what I just learned at his course?

He’s coming to Utah this weekend! You can still sign up! He’s funny! Give yourself the gift of music for Christmas. Here are the details…

Last Chance … There are still a few seats available for Saturday’s workshop. Don’t let this opportunity slip by; let this be the time you
commit to knocking a life-long dream off your “to-do” list!

I am coming to Orem to give my 2 hour Play Piano in a Flash Workshop. The workshop will be given the morning of Saturday, December 4th, at The Piano Gallery in Orem.

Admission to the workshop is $25 ($50 at the door) and includes class materials of a book which attendees will receive the day of the seminar. To register or for more information regarding the live workshop
call (801) 489-8027.

Be sure to check out the “Testimonials” page for some fun motivation!

Hope to see you there …

If you can’t join us on the 4th please click below to find out more about our exciting 8-week Play Piano in a Flash Classes that are available in your area.

The 8 week course meets once a week for 8 consecutive weeks and includes all materials. You can use the link below to sign up for classes.

Play Piano in a Flash Classes

If you’ve been looking for a way to take lessons that teach EXACTLY the same content I teach, your search is over! I sincerely hope you will join in on the fun, and register for a Play Piano in a Flash Class
soon!

Warmest Regards,

Scott Houston
Emmy Award Winning Host of
The Piano Guy TV

P. S. Please find below a press release containing more information.

Play Piano in a Flash! Press Release

Emmy Award Winning Host of public television’s The Piano Guy coming to Orem!

Host of public television’s “Play Piano in a Flash” and “The Piano Guy” is coming to Orem to give a workshop! TV host, author & speaker Scott “The Piano Guy” Houston says he can teach anyone how to play the
piano! Sound too good to be true? Put those words to the challenge and
attend his seminar on Saturday, December 4th.

Admission to this workshop is $25 and includes a Play Piano in a Flash book which attendees will receive the day of the seminar. To register or for more information call (801) 489-8027.

Scott Houston has brought this seldom taught and highly desired information to over 15,000 people in person and to millions on TV over the last 10 years. Aimed squarely at non-accomplished musicians, this
highly comedic yet extremely educational look at learning to play piano
is a hit with all adult audiences.

Houston, best known for his role as the host of the weekly “Piano Guy” series airing nationwide on public television stations, has brought great awareness and interest from viewers continent-wide who simply
state: “I’m never going to play piano for a living … can’t you just show
me how to play a tune?”

In addition to his weekly series, Houston’s two pledge specials have raised more than 21 million dollars for public television stations nation-wide. Houston has made several appearances on Good Morning
America, and his best selling book, “Play Piano in a Flash” has over
250,000 copies in print. Scott’s brand new pledge special, Play Piano in
a Flash: 3 Steps to Piano Success, just began airing nationwide
Thanksgiving weekend.

His “Play Piano in a Flash” workshop teaches how the pros play. It reveals a secret that many are not aware of: You don’t need years of lessons to play piano. With Scott’s hilarious help, you’ll be playing
standards, jazz, pop, blues and rock in time for an after-dinner
serenade this weekend.

How do potential students know if this workshop is right for them?

• Did you take piano lessons as a child but still can’t play at all?
• Have you been dusting, but not playing, your family piano for years and years?
• Do you wish you could play carols for your family this holiday season?
• Have you always wanted to play piano but can’t read any musical notation?

If someone answers yes to any of these questions then “The Piano Guy” can help them jumpstart their musical dreams while having fun in the process! In his workshop he teaches secrets that all pros use, and
gives away many tricks of the trade. The good news is that these
“secrets” are easy enough for total beginners to use!

Scott will also share some details about his newest, nationwide program, Play Piano in a Flash Class™ which consists of 8 week group sessions also taught locally through The Piano Gallery.

You will not want to miss out on this once of a lifetime opportunity! Join in on the fun! Reserve your spot now! Preregistration is highly recommended.

Due to facility size, enrollment will be limited. Call (801) 489-8027 to register.

Hope to see you in person soon!

Scott

This is a picture of me and Leslie Householder. I found out about Leslie by stumbling upon her book Hidden Treasures: Heaven’s Outstanding Help With Your Money Matters three years ago this December. Then I got to meet her and discovered that I had “met” her years ago before I had kids. I signed up for her course on creating more time, money and freedom. The course is excellent and I recommend it to anyone.

Leslie is coming to Utah this Thursday for a free event. If you are feeling like you need more help to attract good things in your life, especially money, during this Christmastime, Leslie is the mentor for you. Come learn more at her event. Go to http://thoughtsalive.com/awaken-your-genius/ to preregister. See you there!

Awaken Your Genius

Salt Lake City, Utah

Thursday, December 2, 2010
7-9:30 pm
Holiday Inn Express
4465 Century Drive
Salt Lake City, UT
(I-15 to 4500 South, go west to Century Drive, turn north. Venue is on the right.)