Tree of Life Mothering

I just got word from my friend Shauna that Janeen Brady, master composer of bouncy children’s music (see http://britemusic.com), is starting a choir! How cool is that! Here are the details…

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving! I found some cool resources to learn more about Thanksgiving but I’m too late. I will to have post them next year. Now it’s on to Christmas. Let’s talk about Christ-centered traditions.

To help my family have a Christ-centered Christmas, we are memorizing “The Living Christ” as part of our homeschool devotional each morning. You can get study aids here http://bookofmormondiscovery.com/livingchrist.html
The document has been broken down into 12 sections, so that 1 section is memorized for each week for 12 weeks. Since Christmas is less than 12 weeks away, you will have to memorize at a faster speed. That’s totally doable if you print these study aids and then learn a section every other day by presenting it at mealtime. I love the ideas at this site.

This site http://velluto.com/ccc/ has a book for sale with a devotional to day each day for the days in December up to Christmas.

If you want free ideas, check out http:///christcenteredtraditions.blogspot.com/,

I have to confess, I m not big on baking. I don’t do special Christmas treats because just getting three meals a day on the table is all the baking/cooking I want to do, plus I don’t need extra calories. I don’t have the money to buy neighbors gifts, or Christmas cards. I am into simplicity and frugality. So one free, very rewarding and noncaloric thing I like to do is to get Christmas picture books. I have a small collection and then I augment with those at the public library. I wrap them up like presents and then put them under the tree. We unwrap one a day and read. It’s a lovely way to slow down and be cozy together. Please see the discussion forum to see the list that I’ve compiled and contribute other titles..Ever after Christmas day we continue reading. I like to spread the season out through the dark winter.

I am thinking of combining that tradition with what I just read in an email, “One of our most cherished traditions is ‘Candle Story’. We put 24 dots down the side of a taper candle each year and each evening we pray, sing, read scriptures, read Christmas stories, and ponder or visit quietly by the light of the candle until it burns down to the next dot. It brings our hearts back to what matters each day and we LOVE it!”

Another one of my friends, Audrey, who lives in Mesa, does the following, “One thing we have done to center our Christmas on Christ….bought
several packages of little apple
ornaments….sprayed gold to match my tree decor & to better fit my mental
image of the tree of life :)…..put apples in little Christmas basket under the
tree…..in the evening when gathering for family prayer
by the tree (to start off, read from Nephi about Lehi’s dream & what the fruit
meant & how he wanted to share it w/ his family, etc), go around & share
how you felt the love of God in your life TODAY
& then hang an apple (fruit of the tree of life representing the love of God)
on the tree…can hang more than one if you have more than 1 story 🙂
Christmas tree becomes tree of life….all day you are watching, looking
seeing the hand of God in your life & then sharing that with your family….also
knowing that all good things come from him- it can come through just
recognizing those things without having had some big spiritual experience
that day :)”

I don’t have the time or money to make those decorations but I m thinking of just using the red apple ornaments handed down to me years ago. . I love it when I can use resources I already have.

What are some of your Christ-centered traditions for Christmas? Please share at the discussion forum. I wish you all no stress and much peace this holiday. Remember it doesn’t take a lot of money, just sharing and the spirit of Christ to have a merry and peaceful Christmas.

On Thanksgiving Day I read this article http://www.mormontimes.com/article/18582/Mayflower-trivia-facts-and-resources?s_cid=search_queue&utm_source=search_queue

Then I asked my mom and my sister-in-law, who is also a distant cousin and totally into family history, “Are we descended from any of the Mayflower pilgrims?”

“Shhhh,” my sil said. She took me aside and told me that we actually are, through my mom, and that she was planning to surprise her with the news on her upcoming birthday.

I found out that my Pilgrim ancestor is John Howland, also ancestor to Joseph Smith, FDR, Humphrey Bogart, George Bush. I’ll claim the prophet and maybe Bogart but not those rascally politicians.

You might have a Pilgrim ancestor too and not know it. Read the above article and start asking around. A common myth amongst Mormons is that your parents know everything about your family history and there’s no more research to be done. Baloney! Start reading and asking and learning and go to http://new.familysearch.org.
Ask your family and ward members, there’s bound to be a family history mentor among the bunch who is burning with the fire of the Spirit of Elijah and more than happy to do most, if not all, of the research for you if you just say the word.

This tree is the lovely view that I get to look at every day from my kitchen and dining room windows. I caught this picture before the storms came in November. The tree is a constant reminder to me that women, especially mothers, are trees of life to their families. Men are trees of life too, just in a different way.

I’ve known for a while that I should blog about birth control. The spirit’s been nudging me. I know it’s a touchy subject. Please let the Spirit be your guide after reading this.

The reason I told the story of how I started going to Veggie Gals in my last post is to lead up to NFP (natural family planning). It’s because of Veggie Gals that I started doing NFP. One of my Veggie Gals friends gave me a subscription to the Couple to Couple League (CCL) Newsletter years ago. (CCL is an organization that promotes NFP with a Catholic emphasis. It was founded by Sheila Kippley, a fellow La Leche League Leader, and her husband John. They have since left that organization and started another NFP organization, NFP International. See http://nfpandmore.org )

I liked what I read. I left the newsletter lying around the house and
pretty soon my husband started reading it. That convinced him that it
was the way to go and so we switched from using artificial birth
control to NFP after baby #4 and haven’t looked back. Since then, NFP has become a passion of mine. I have studied it thoroughly and even got to meet Sheila Kippley, the author of the Bible of NFP, The Art of Natural Family Planning, the Bible of how breastfeeding can regulate fertility, Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing, and Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood, which I consider applicable to Mormon motherhood.

NFP is one of the ways of getting off the conveyor belt culture of modern life so a woman can be totally in touch with her body and honor her fertility signals instead of covering them
up or ignoring them, which causes health and marriage problems. Artificial birth control has so
many side effects, both to a woman’s body and a marriage. In my
research for the book I have written on natural LDS mothering, I
found out that when the Pill was being studied to see if it was
“safe,” two women died. Yet the FDA still approved it. The study
happened in Puerto Rico and nobody hears about it. What an outrage!
Where were the feminists to decry this destruction to women when it
happened?

When the Pill first came out 50 years ago this year, many people thought it was a miracle. But LDS prophets counseled LDS women not to use it, along with other forms of artificial
birth control. Read here http:///institute.lds.org/content/languages/english/Institute
of Religion Materials/Student Manuals/Religion 234-235, Eternal
Marriage Student Manual~eng.pdf. Do the research yourself and you will see the statements. Why would they say that? What does it
mean today? Should LDS couples avoid birth control, or just artificial
birth control? These are questions every LDS couple has to answer.

Last spring one of my visiting teachers couldn’t come visit me one month because her partner said she was at the hospital seeing her granddaughter who had blood clots. I thought
to myself, “I wonder if it’s from taking the Pill.” Sure enough,
I asked Carol later and found out that it was. Her granddaughter
almost died from the severe blood clots she got from taking the Pill.
And she wasn’t even taking them for birth control, but for weight
loss! Her doctor had not told her that blood clots were a risk if you take the Pill. This angers me, that doctors don’t tell patients about side
effects. I know my doctor didn’t warn me when I first started taking
the PIll as a new bride. Some doctors, even LDS doctors, hand out the
prescriptions for the Pill like candy.

Since I have switched to NFP, I love it because I feel that it builds my marriage, unlike artificial birth control. That’s because it calls for enhanced communication. It allows my husband and me to honor ***, instead of
treating it casually. I like learning to relate to each other in
romantic, nonsexual ways. I like the self-reliance aspect of it,
knowing that I am not dependent on products that come from the store
or a doctor in this area of my life. I learned about NFP through CCL
publications and by reading books, such as Your Fertility Signals
and Taking Charge of Your Fertility.

I am convinced that Heavenly Father designed women’s bodies to be like trees and go through seasons. NFP, and its companion, ecological breastfeeding, are the only BC
method/infant feeding method
that allow a woman to naturally go through the God-given seasons of
life. A real fruit-bearing tree has to go
through seasons in order to bear fruit. That’s a lesson for women,
who are figurative fruit-bearing trees. (Men are like trees too, only
evergreen trees.)

NFP is the only BC method that doesn’t treat a woman’s body as a *** object. That’s part of what my book on LDS natural mothering is about. (I’m waiting to hear back from a publisher
about my book. Expect it sometime next year! I know I’ve been telling
people it’s coming soon, but you know how life as a full-time mother is.
Projects like a book take a back seat!)

I believe that ideally, a woman’s fertility should flow like a tree’s does, if she is thoroughly and completely nourished with fertile soil, a proper environment that is conducive to mothering. That means letting breastfeeding
be the sole regulator, or season-changer. If her environment (mental,
physical, and social conditions) doesn’t allow her fertility to
freely flow, there’s a place for birth control, but it’s best for our bodies, our marriages, our emotions, and the environment, for it to be
natural birth control.

Last summer, I started using the Creighton method, which relies solely on the signal of cervical fluid. If you or someone you know, (think of your daughters, friends, or
sisters) is dissatisfied with artificial birth control, I encourage
you and them to look into NFP and especially the Creighton method. In my older days of using NFP I would take my basal body temperature, but that’s so hard to do first thing in the morning before doing anything else (anything else will make it rise) when you have a cosleeping nursing baby. With the Creighton method I can ditch the temp taking. The Creighton people have studied how only the cervical fluid gives signs of fertility.

If you are or someone you know is wanting to achieve pregnancy, The Creighton method is for them as well.

Dr. Joseph Stanford, an LDS doctor who refuses to prescribe artificial birth
control (hooray for him) is part of a study that teaches the
Creighton method and its effectiveness. Dr. Stanford wrote an article years ago that helped
convince me to go totally natural in regards to birth control. See http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/264/stanford.htm

You or someone you know could be part of Dr. Stanford’s study. (The study is only for those wanting to avoid pregnancy at this time.) You or they can learn the Creighton method, get paid a small amount for the study, and increase the health of your or
their marriage and increase respect for a woman’s body. I love it that the study uses a tree as the symbol for it. The tree of life motif is everywhere. Please go here for
further information.
http://http://medicine.utah.edu/dfpm/Research/CEIBA/

Despite the stormy weather that it usually brings, November is a happy month for me. We celebrate my birthday, my daughter’s birthday, Thanksgiving, the anniversary of my first attendance at a La Leche League meeting, and the anniversary of my first attendance of Veggie Gals.

Veggie Gals is an informal bunch of Spirit-led women who meet together not quite monthly for wholesome, fantastic-tasting food and enlightening conversation. The group started amongst some women in the Provo/Orem, Utah area. Most of them were attending La Leche League meetings. One of the LLL Leaders, Joyce, decided she wanted to get together outside of LLL to socialize with the women. at a restaurant. This happened about a year after my daughter was born fifteen years ago. I didn’t go to those first meetings because I felt too poor to eat out. Fortunately, then Joyce decided that she wanted to avoid restaurant food so she started having these meetings in her home. My first attendance was 12 years ago this month, at Joyce’s home, the same night as my sister-in-law who had studied to be a midwife had her wedding dinner at a restaurant in Orem, close to Joyce’s home. I went to the wedding dinner with my baby boy, now 12, and then over to Veggie Gals.

This is a picture of my daughter, born fifteen years ago, and my baby, who looks a lot like the baby I took to my first Veggie Gals meeting, twelve years ago this
month.

Over the past 12 years we have met almost monthly over lunch or dinner at different homes. I have met so many beautiful, gracious, charitable women in this group.

Some have come and gone, others are still coming, and new faces are joining. Here’s a photo from the latest gathering, where we celebrated my friend Becky’s birthday. Becky and I both turned 40 this month!

. We have shared a passion for healthy food, made from whole ingredients that you can recognize and pronounce. We have conversed over topics as far-ranging as colonics, the molecules of
emotion, the building of Zion, and iridology. We always have our
meals be potluck, and I eat the best-tasting and best-for-me foods
when I go to Veggie Gals.. I have to admit that I don’t always agree
with them on what is a whole food , such as canola oil and xylltol. I
remember when I first announced that I didn’t like Braggs liquid
aminos and would no longer be eating it. With the stares I got, you
would have thought I just said the Book of Mormon wasn’t true.

From these meetings, I met Jonell and heard her splendid story of her recovery from a chronic disease that doctors couldn’t help her with. Jonell is an amazing woman who is the
picture of perfect health. Her symptoms got worse with each pregnancy, but she is totally symptom free and has become a mother of nine who is willing to have more. She fully recovered from her disease by
changing her diet. (See http://myfeelgoodfoods.com to learn more and order her cookbook. You
will love it. It makes a great Christmas gift for yourself or a
friend. Jonell’s mission has been to go to every gourmet restaurant
in Utah County and then copy their best fare at home in a whole foods way so she can put
the recipe in her cookbook.)

I met Becky, who has a passion for organizing and meal planning and energy work. She is such an angel, and was the only person I knew for sure when I moved to Davis county from
Utah county. I met another Becky, who has homeschooled along with me since our oldest children were babies. It’s because of Becky that I got to meet and sell for Andrew Pudewa, and his Institute for
Excellence in Writing. (See http://excellenceinwriting.com) I will be forever grateful for that. I met
Shauna, who tells so many funny stories, loves to have speakers
present at her home, and has a self-employed husband like I do. We have commiserated together over the bumpy road that a wife of a
self-employed man has. Thanks Veggie Gals, for all the great memories! This has been a group that has mentored me in natural living since I was a young mom.

We have had our share of adventures lately, including my son finding a ward member dead in his home when he and his friend went to do their priesthood duty by administering the sacrament.to a shut-in. How coincidental that it was Halloween.

I took my younger kids to the Tree house Museum last week and that is always fun. If you haven’t been yet, google it and go. It is the best-kept secret for moms in Utah.

Sometimes I think that if I ever live through life with seven kids it will be a miracle. Maybe Maria von Trapp felt the same way. So many things happen at once all day every day in our homeschooling life that I feel like I need to put up a traffic light in my home to regulate events, including conversations, temper tantrums, and tears. Thoughts go into my head and then promptly out. I feel so grateful to God that the gloomy, stormy weather hasn’t kicked in. This fall weather is gorgeous! We finally picked our huge pumpkin from our garden today, even though it still has a little bit of green on it. No we just have to figure out how to get it inside and when to process it. It is heavy!

I hosted an online colloquium to discuss a paper written by my friend’s son about the myths of Abraham Lincoln. Secession was not illegal, the South was totally
provoked by Abraham Lincoln to fire the first shot, and the war
wasn’t about slavery, but money and power. I don’t think Lincoln was
evil, just wrong. I even found this great quote by him, towards the
end of the war, where he admits that the war didn’t turn out the way
he wanted it to (meaning, “I made a mistake.”) and he feared more
for his country than ever, even though the war was almost over. He sold his
soul to the radical Republicans. The unconstiutional things he did
greatly expanded the idea of our nation being an empire of doing
whatever the President says, not a republic of law. We suffer from that today. I am doing a monthly online discussion about this with readings. If you want to join, let me know.

A few weeks ago we surprised the kids by taking them to Toy Story 3. We hardly ever go to movies so this was a huge surprise for them. I noticed at least two lines that were off-color but I am sure they went over kids’ heads. Christian symbolism: In the movies, the characters that are toys get their value and self-esteem totally from
their owner. The toys that are cast-off at yard sales or left behind
feel worthless. The value of the toys is not necessarily how often
they are played with but whether or not they have an owner who cares
about them. To be unattached is a fate worse than death. Not only
that, but the toys realize that it’s an unwritten law that they
should follow their owner’s wishes. Woody is even willing to be put
away in a box of memorabilia, instead of staying with his pals,
because that’s what his owner Andy wants. If only we as people could
get this! Our value comes from our owner, who is Christ. He bought us
with a price, his atoning sacrifice. It’s OK to do what He says to
do, that doesn’t diminish our value any, contrary to popular opinion.
Woody has his owner’s name written on his body, and we should
figuratively have Christ’s name written on ours, in the form of how
we dress and behave.. So after seeing this I went to a meeting with
my homeschooling friends and it was all about Christianity and the
Constitution. My friend Lynda, pointed out that Christians can’t be sold
into slavery because they already have an owner. As Truman Madsen
says, “We can’t know who we are (that would be our value) until we
know WHOSE we are.”

One of the greatest things about homeschooling is that I get to learn all the fabulous things that I didn’t get to in public school, (when I was a wandering nomad
learner without a mentor for a guide), such as how beautiful and
peaceful Gandhi was. I remember my brother watching the movie about
Gandhi when I was 13 or so and it just seemed so long and boring, about some
esoteric guy who wore a diaper. My daughter’s TJYC class is studying
him this week and we got to watch the movie at her mentor’s home last
week with her class. Gandhi is so incredible with his peaceful ways.
Ben Kingsley has nice eyes. I never knew Candice Bergen had a role in
the movie and I had forgotten how pretty she is.

Sunday night we went to my husband’s cousin’s home for a family fireside. Here’s the depressing news. A shirttail relative actually asked me if I was expecting or just
putting on weight. UGH! The natural woman in me wanted to either burst into tears or slug her. And this, after months of going running
almost every day and building up my time. Maybe I have a metabolism
that just won’t budge. It’s time to get those HCG drops like my
daughter’s TJYC mentor did, causing her to lose 30 pounds.

Anyway, at this fireside, the speaker was a filmmaker from Utah County who is making a movie about saints at war. It’s all about the wars of the world and how they tie into
the Mormon idea of the pre-earth life, and now earth life war against
Satan to preserve our agency. He isn’t done making the movie. Thank
goodness. I agreed with a lot of it, but towards the end he implies
that World War II and the Iraqi war were fights for freedom. I am
hoping he will get a bigger picture and learn that since the Spanish
American war the U.S. has taken the role that Great Britain had in the
revolutionary war, that of wanting to expand its empire and force its
way, abusing people’s rights. . I want this guy to read Jack Monnett’s books and do some more
research before he finishes. Positively providentially, the next day I found out
my friend Shauna read my mind and set up a fireside with Jack Monnett
as the speaker at her home on November 18. Get the details at an
upcoming blog post. I am going to invite this guy to come and hear
Jack.

Williamsburg Academy is really cool! My son is learning a lot, although I wish his physics class were a lot harder. I need to bug them again about giving him more story problems. The really cool thing is that James Ure and Andrew Groft
mentor the parents on how to mentor the students. We are required to
have weekly mentor meetings with our students where they set
commitments and goals and we hold them accountable. Can you imagine
how much you would grow and learn if you did this every week for the
rest of your life? Maybe that’s why we have God and friends, but we are afraid to use them as mentors.

Sorry this is late notice but:

Announcing a family costume dance on November 5th!

We will be doing some square dances, folk dances, and contra dancing (as in the
dances in Jane Austen movies) along with the regular ballroom dancing. It will
be a blast!

When: Friday November 5th from 7:00- 10:30 (feel free to leave earlier if that’s
too late)

Where: The Shumway Home, email me celestia_shumway at yahoo.com to get the address
Why: To celebrate fall and the blessings we have received

Dress: Semi formal to formal costumes or if you prefer to not where a costume
that’s fine. It will be outside but the weather’s been graciously warm this week
and dances are always really stuffy anyway so dress with all that in mind. Also, the
house will be open for anyone who wants to be warmer.

Cost: 1 dollar per person or 4 dollars per family to cover expenses


There will be ballroom dance instruction beforehand from 6:30-7:00. We will
teach Cha-Cha and the Waltz.

Please spread the word and hope to see you there!

My online discussion about Lincoln tonight was sooooo fascinating. We discussed the myths of Lincoln, which was a paper written by my friend Amy’s son Brad. Amy said during it that she is reading a book by Ludwig von Mises called The Treatise of Human Action. It’s over 700 pages so if I start now maybe I can finish before I die. She is reading it to help her understand why Lincoln did what he did. I don’t think he was evil, just wrong.

I just found out that you can watch a free class given by a great man who has a PhD in Constitutional studies from GWU every Wednesday night. Scott Bradley’s Constitution class is live every Wednesday night from 7 – 9 PM MT here http://tinyurl.com/scottnbradley

I went to my friend Shauna’s home last Sunday night to hear Scott Bradley speak at a Preserving Freedom Fireside. He is running to win the election for the Senate in Utah as a Constitution Party candidate against Mike Lee and whoever the Democrat is, Sam Granato I think. He is like a modern day Moroni. Last January I heard Phyllis Schlafly speak in SLC. She said that we should not vote for third party candidates because they have never won and they never will basically. She also said that the only intelligent thing Joe Biden has said is that if the Republicans win control of Congress everything he and Obama are fighting for will go down the drain.

So at this fireside someone asked Scott why we should vote for him even though that risks splitting the conservative vote and getting the Democrat it. Scott said that Mike Lee has three fatal flaws. He wants term limits, he wants a balanced budget amendment, and those two things will lead to a new constitutional convention.. Anyway, he said to go to his site to study the issues and understand them. http://scottbradleyforsenate.com and click on the issues. Study the term limits and the balanced budget ones.

He also pointed out that we will be accountable to God for our decision as to who to vote for. I’ve changed my mind. I am going to vote for Scott. If you are in Utah, I encourage you to vote for him too!

What I have learned lately:
-if you ask your older son to make a gingerbread cake be sure to specify what size pan to bake it in.
-if the cake spills over the too-small sized pan onto the floor of the oven, remember to clean it up the next day. If you don’t clean it up it can catch fire. If too much lands on the heating element it can eventually burn the element through and break it. I am forever grateful that I already knew how to put out an electrical fire. Important: turn off the source of electricity and use baking soda not water!

-it is fun to observe your young son “carve” a crayon with a K’nex piece during schooltime, and decide maybe he would like something bigger to carve, then get him some ivory soap to carve. The process is definitely more important than the product.
-it is fun to have a closet for your homeschooling where you keep things that you only do during school. My kids actually ran to the closet when I announced that it was school time! Thanks to applying Mary Ann Johnson’s “Rules of Engagement.” You can read all her fabulous tips and see my pictures on her blog at http://home-school-coach.com
-A great chapter book that reminds me of the power of maturity in young children, like in Little Britches, is Stone Fox. I can’t wait for our schooltime to find out what happens next.

-I can actually go jogging for 30 minutes now. Woo-hoo! Maybe a marathon is in my future after all.

-I now have a daughter who some would officially call a “teenager” because she now tells me when clothes are out of style. I was relieved that it wasn’t something I was wearing but rather it was from a hand-me-down bag from the neighbors that I was considering for her. It’s been well over a year now that she can wear all my clothes, including my shoes. We are still working on asking before she takes things. Generally though she is a GREAT young lady who I call a youth and not a teen. See Michael Platt’s article about the difference at http://tjedforteens.com/bonus-gifts/

-Kim Simmerman’s recipe for roasted Mexican potatoes is really yummy! I will post it soon.

-The annotated book of Pride and Prejudice is better than the movie. I learned what Elizabeth Bennet meant when she said that “four ruins a picturesque.” I am sooooo enjoying having these obscure references explained.

-My scholar son doesn’t have enough homework in his Williamsburg physics class. That is going to change for that boy! Loads of story problems like I had in my college physics class, here we come!

-I have a great group of friends in my homeschooling community. I already knew that though. What I didn’t know is that these people actually believe in many of the lifestyle choices I do, like not vaccinating and the importance of reading the Uncle Eric books.A lot of these friends have read more than I have about history and politics. One of them even keeps up with Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief, which I gave up years ago because it is so depressing and hard to understand. See http://worldaffairsbrief.com I don’t feel so radical when I am with them. Another friend started reading Jack Monett’s books at my and this other friend’s suggestion.

-After you read some books you almost wish you hadn’t read them because of scary things they say. Let’s just state the scriptures are true and God’s side will win. Isaiah gives me a lot of comfort. In chapter 4 he tells us that the covenant people of God in the last days will have protection that was like the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day in their homes, their assemblies (church meetings) and their temples. that gives me a lot of peace.

-it’s uncanny how the law of attraction works. I was just thinking about an old friend of mine from my YW/Girls’ Camp days who I haven’t seen in over 20 years. Then just a few days later she friended me on Facebook and told me she was at the Knights of Freedom summit that I went to last month. I also attracted some new white tops that I have been wanting since all my old white knit tops have either stains and/or holes.

-I am learning more from the Story of the World CDs/downloads while listening with my children than I ever learned in 2 years of AP U.S. and art history classes in high school and my honors world civilization class at BYU. A lot of famous historical people aren’t so great after all. It’s amazing how kings and queens killed their own flesh and blood or wives for political purposes.

-the Civil War was more complicated than the typical story that the North fought the South to get rid of slavery.
-most of the cool things in our nation come from the South.
-Alexis de Tocqueville was right. The reason slavery started in Jamestown is because of the lazy men there who didn’t want to work. They were not family men of principled character like the Pilgrims of Massachusetts.
-one of the first slaveholders in the U.S. was actually a black man.

-my life is full of blessings and more are flowing to me!

–