RIP Pres Nelson, Black Swans, Pray for the Victims of Today’s Michigan Shooting, and a Tender Mercy Involving a Picture Book

Posted on September 28, 2025 by treeoflifemama
Image Credit: byupathway.org

After I got in bed last night, after my nightly prayers and before I did my nightime reading, I got a text from a friend saying that President Russell M. Nelson had died, around 10 PM, that night. He was 101. So rest in peace dear President Nelson. When I think of him, I think of the fact that he had nine daughters and one son. I think of his career as a heart surgeon. I remember how he studied Mandarin Chinese after hearing President Kimball ask the people in attendance at a meeting where they both were to learn Mandarin, so they could serve Chinese people. I think of my grandmother who was particularly fond of a talk that he gave at BYU, in 1987, called “The Magnificence of Man.” She was so enamored with it that she made copies of it from the BYU magazine for alumni for each of her grandchildren. You can read it here or watch it below. It’s all about the wonders of the human body.

My favorite talk of his was the talk he gave at a RootsTech conference, where he shared the story of his grandfather being visited by the spirit of his deceased father. You can read the talk here or watch it below.

I am grateful for his emphasis on temple work. I am grateful for his example of dedication and service in Christ’s name to God, family, and others. How happy he must be to be in heaven with his dearly departed wife Dantzel and his daughter who died at a relatively young age of cancer.

How interesting that his death happened the same month as the Charlie Kirk assassination and the shooting in a Michigan chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, right during a church service. I am so saddened to hear of that horrible violent event. I’m praying that the victims and loved ones of the victims will find healing and peace despite this trauma, especially those little children who witnessed it.

We are living in times where Black Swan events are coming closer and closer together. Watch this video below of Rod Meldrum with Michael Rush explaining what a Black Swan event is. Charlie Kirk’s assassination definitely counts as a Black Swan event.

Despite the Black Swans that will probably keep coming at a faster rate, we have the assurance from President Nelson that the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ will continue. He told Church members “Wait till next year, and then the next year. Eat your vitamin pills. Get some rest. It’s going to be exciting.”

I also love that he said the following:

“But, my dear brothers and sisters, so many wonderful things are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen. Between now and the time He returns ‘with power and great glory,’ He will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon the faithful.” (see the full talk here)

I just love that!

I had a mini-miracle this past week, a tender mercy. About a week ago, I read aloud the book Prayer for a Child by Rachel Field and illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones as part of our Morning Basket time for homeschooling. The book has a page in it with an illustration of children from all around the world, representing different races. I saw it and thought, this image is just so lovely. I wish I could turn this page into a framed piece of art for my wall, but I don’t want to take this page out of the book. I wish I could have another copy.

Here’s the image of children around the world that I want to frame from the book Prayer for a Child and hang on my wall.

Then for the last few days of this past week, I babysat my grandson who lives in TX (the one who was born 18 months ago, right before the solar eclipse in April 2024). His parents have been in town for a few days to go to the Faith Matters Restore Conference. I agreed to babysit the little guy for Thursday night, all day Friday and all day Saturday while they attended the conference. So I thought of stuff to do with a little toddler in tow. My first idea, after playing with some toys with him, reading to him, and taking him on a walk, was to go thrifting! I texted my married daughter and asked her if she wanted to go thrifting with me. She said yes so we met at the Springville Deseret Industries (DI). Guess what I found? The above book in a board book edition! It’s big and so beautiful! Only $1.50! So now I can break apart the other book and frame that page, plus any others I want to! When we got back from our thrifting jaunt, the first thing I did was read aloud my new Prayer for a Child board book to him. It’s such a gorgeous book, published in 1941. and winner of the Caldecott Medal, for its beautiful illustrations. When I read this book, I picture my mom a as a little girl because this book was written when she was turning 2 that year. I’m recalling a photo of her at that age, where and she looked like the little girl, with blond hair and soft eyes. I just love the glowing, comfy, warm, cozy adoring family life it depicts. It features a prayer worth repeating today, in the midst of all that’s going on, one I hope will resound in the home of every family during this pivotal time of earth’s history.

Another exciting thing is that I found out today that this same son and daughter-in-law are expecting another baby in April 2026. I’m so happy about that!

I pray that we may each find peace, hope, healing and strength in our Lord Jesus Christ to move forward in faith, despite the scary things going on. May we choose not to give into fear. May we all remember that truly the best is yet to come, because of Christ!

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Tree of Life Mama’s Podcast of the Week: Jessica Smartt on a Welcoming Home with Jennifer Pepito

Posted on September 26, 2025 by treeoflifemama
Images Credit: amazon.com

I absolutely love the book by the author, Jessica Smartt, shown below. I reviewed it here a few years ago. That’s why I’m excited that she was on the Restoration Home podcast this week with Jennifer Pepito. (I love Jennifer’s book that I reviewed over here too.) You can listen to the podcast with Jessica and Jennifer here. Jessica just came out with a new book, shown above, so I’m excited to read it.

Here’s the back of Jessica’s new book to let you know more about it.

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9/25/25 Tree of Life Mama’s Product of the Week: Drawing Textbook by Bruce McIntyre

Posted on September 24, 2025 by treeoflifemama

Today is an amazing, splendid, historic day for me!

Why?

Because I just finished all the 222 exercises in the Drawing Textbook by Bruce McIntyre. Actually, I think I skipped two of the exercises because I wasn’t interested in drawing those particular things. OK, so I did 220 of the exercises.

I started this book so long ago, I’m not really sure of the date. At least ten years ago, back in 2015. Probably before. I started using this book when most if not all of my children lived at home, to be used as a homeschooling topic of study to enjoy together. Watching my mom and my sister develop drawing skills always intrigued me. Both studied art in college, with my sister earning a bachelor’s of art degree in illustration. I’ve always wanted to develop my artistic skills but have hardly taken the time, always feeling like I had more urgent things to do. In high school it was to study for and pass 7 AP tests (not art, but art history was one of the AP tests I passed), then in college it was to graduate with a degree in zoology premed emphasis, then it was have a job at a medical school, then after getting married, it was to rear and homeschool seven babies.

Life somewhat settled down somewhere after 2010 when I started drawing from this book with my children.

Below are the earliest pages I can find, but they aren’t dated. I started dating my exercises later.

I read about this book in the lovetolearn.net catalog, with the description below written by Diane Hopkins, veteran homeschooling mom of 7.

“The concept taught in this book is incredible! Everyone, not just the artistic, can learn to draw realistically just as nearly everyone can read or write. 222 lessons clearly and simply teach hands-on such principles as alignment, perspective, foreshortening, shading, etc. You and your children can master the skill of drawing just like you learned to read—through simple lessons teaching basic skills and practice. I draw the lesson (such as a box in 3-D) step-by-step on a paper or chalkboard and have the children draw along with me on their papers. You will see unbelievable improvement in just a few lessons! Paperback, black-and-white drawings, 60 pages.”

So Diane sold me on the book! I probably bought it when I only had three kiddos, back in 1999 or something. I read the intro and hung on to it for years until I finally dove into it. I loved the introduction that says most anyone can learn how to draw, just like most anyone can learn how to read. Reading is not a skill for the select few. Neither is drawing, argues the author of the book, Bruce McIntyre. He used to be an animator for Walt Disney and has taught many people how to draw. You can check out his site here. He says that the ability to draw is a great way to learn to communicate. I agree!

The outside of the book is not very impressive. It’s just a thin flimsy book with a cardstock cover, and the binding is stapled. Looks can be deceiving! It’s a book that can change your life if you do the exercises!

Anyway, I think I started maybe in 2012? It was an effort to do some study of ” ‘you’ with them,” a variant of the one of the Keys of Education from Thomas Jefferson Education, which is ” ‘you’ not them.” Every day, for a brief time, we did one exercise together, my four younger children and I. But then life happened. I forgot about doing it every day and/or got distracted. Then we moved, and unpacked, picked it up again, then moved again, and then again! If any of you have moved three times in 9 years like I have, or even more frequently, you know what I’m talking about, am I right?!

It was last fall that I got more into it, working on it at least weekly. I asked my son, my last remaining child in my homeschool to do it with me. He balked so I finally agreed to not force it on him, and just do it by myself. Then this past summer I pretty much did an exercise every day.

Anyway, one of my children really took off with drawing. I like to think it’s because of my exposing her to this book, with that brief time over ten years ago when we did it together. She never finished the book on her own but went on to teach herself by studying a variety of other drawing books and YouTube tutorials. Now she draws amazing sketches of human figures.

I highly recommend this book. If your children are interested in learning how to draw, they can learn with this book. If you are interested in learning, you too will learn how to draw. Even if you are like me and take over ten years to get through it!

Here’s the author, Bruce, doing some of the exercises.

I find so much joy in drawing! Making the pencil draw straight lines, meeting in a corner exactly, with another line gives me such a noncaloric dopamine hit. Then using a straightedge, to learn to draw parallel lines to show depth and perspective of realistic objects, is just so satisfying. Then to use my electric eraser, from Daiso (the little blue thing in the photos I show in this post) like a little wood chipper and redraw lines just makes me feel like I’m some kind of carpenter, refining the wood I’m working with, or even a sculptor chiseling away some marble to create a thing of beauty. It just all feels so good! Perhaps it is a way to feel more peace and some bit of control in this crazy world we live in. I feel like I’m following in the steps of my favorite illustrators, including Robert McCloskey, Eloise Wilkins, Jessie Willcox Smith, my artist mom, and my youngest artist sister Emily.

You too can learn to draw! I’m excited to move on to two other books I have in the wings. Even though AI can draw anything I want, I valuable being able to draw the old-fashioned way, by myself.

Here’s a review of the book by my great friend Audrey and her daughter, Avery, below.

I do hope you check it out and learn how to draw too! If you are a sincere seeker of truth and beauty, I know you’ll enjoy this book!

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Patterns and Connections with Charlie Kirk’s Memorial: Coincidence or Not? Are these Significant? Listen. Read, Research, and Then You Decide!

Posted on September 23, 2025 by treeoflifemama
Credit for Image Above and Three Below: Christian Fire Poppy YouTube Channel

Wow, it’s been an amazing three days! Let me explain. It all has to do with connections and patterns through time.

Are there connections between the place and time of Charlie Kirk’s assassination with Judeo-Christian meanings? What was going on in the heavens the day Charlie was shot?

Look at these screenshots above and below and then watch the video that the screenshots come from embedded further down below. I invite you to listen and read and research with an open mind and decide yourself.

Today is September 23. You can write that another way: 9/23. Let’s talk about that set of numbers: 9/23. Charlie Kirk stood for the traditional nuclear family as promoted by the Bible, the source of Judeo-Christian values. Is it coincidence that he was shot at 9:23 Jerusalem time, as shown in the image above?

Is it coincidence that the Proclamation on the Family to the World was released on September 23, 1995? That’s a proclamation issued 30 years ago today by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Proclamation on the Family affirms traditional Biblical teachings regarding the family and gender roles.

OK, now let’s talk about two days ago, September 21, the day of Charlie Kirk’s memorial service. It was on September 21-22 (the visit took place before and after midnight) 1823 that Joseph Smith saw the Angel Moroni, according to what Joseph wrote (you can read it here) and was told about the plates that he would eventually translate into the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Moroni told him that he plates were buried in the Hill Cumorah, near Palmyra, New York. Every year for four years after that, he met up with Moroni where the plates were, on that night Sept. 21-22, for a check-in interview. Finally, on the night of Sept. 21-22, 1827, God knew that Joseph was mature and ready. Moroni allowed Joseph to receive the plates after the annual meeting on the Hill.

Is it a coincidence that Charlie Kirk’s memorial service was held on the anniversary of this date, on September 21, 2025? I don’t think so.

The same day that Charlie’s loved ones held a memorial service for him, September 21, 2025, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rededicated the Hill Cumorah Historic Site. Here are Elder Bednar’s remarks below from two days ago.

Is this all a coincidence?

Also, that day September 21, in 1823, it was the Jewish holiday the Feast of the Trumpets. Learn more about that here. I invite you to ponder what the connection is between the Feast of the Trumpets, Joseph Smith, Moroni, and Charlie Kirk.

Here is more symbolism connected to Charlie Kirk. Look at these asteroids in the image below.

Could it be that this September 21-22-23/the Family Proclamation/Charlie Kirk death and memorial service all point to a revival across the world to add momentum to the gathering of Israel? I invite you to read, listen, and research, and decide for yourself.

Here’s another video to add more insight.

As the Happy Lady in the video above says, “The Shofar (trumpet, from the Feast of the Trumpets) is shaking up September!” Are you listening? Is this part of the gathering of Israel? All coincidence, or not? Please decide for yourself only after you do the research.

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9/21/25 Tree of Life Mama’s Product of the Week: Daiso’s Electric Eraser

Posted on September 20, 2025 by treeoflifemama

This is such a fun product! It’s an electric eraser, battery operated. You just push the button and the little eraser rotates so you don’t have to rub as hard on the paper as you normally do when erasing. It just takes a light touch to put the spinning eraser on the paper to clean away your mistakes. Here’s a video to demonstrate.

I recently got one of these for my 16-year-old son for erasing his math mistakes, just to make his math time a little more fun, one for my pencil sketch artist 19 year-old daughter, and one for me. We each got one of the different colors in the image above so I love that we won’t get them mixed up. I’ve been learning how to draw using this book over here, and shown below. This tiny little eraser is perfect for fitting in between lines to erase a line in the middle when it’s time for a do-over. I just love it!

In my picture above, see how the eraser tip on the Daiso eraser is so much smaller than the big eraser on the end of my pencil? For tiny areas, this electric eraser is perfect. If you have bigger areas to erase then a bigger eraser will do the job easier of course.

It’s only $2.25 at your local Daiso store, or you can find a different brand in amazon. You can also get refillable erasers once the original eraser runs out. (If you want to know more about what a Daiso store is, find out here. You’ll want to go, so many fun stuff awaits for you!)

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Part 2 of How to Go Thrifting for Books Without Going to the Thrift Store

Posted on September 19, 2025 by treeoflifemama

I didn’t get up a #thriftingthursdaypost yesterday. That’s OK, we’ll just pretend it’s Thursday. This is part 2 in a series of how to thrift for books without going to the thrift store.

In my Part 1, I talked about going to addall.com to find the best price on used books. So it does involve money to use this method, but you don’t have to leave the house. If you want to know all about that, go read Part 1 here. You will be entering a whole new universe of used book shopping!

Now suppose you want to go thrifting for books, but you don’t have any money to spend on books, but you do have some gas in your car or some energy in your legs to go walking. I’ve got you covered!

This time my suggested method involves no money, but it does involve travel. Depending on where you live, you might even be able to walk to these locations to get used books. They aren’t free, rather, you exchange a used book of yours for each book you take from The Little Free Library. Here’s a sample one above and below. Every one is unique! Each library is typically at a private residence, so be respectful.

Here’s what you do:

  1. Go to the website littlefreelibrary.org
  2. Type in the location of where you want to go looking for books in the search space on the world map page of the site. Whatever time slot you have for this outing, and however close or far the little libraries are to each other will determine how many little free libraries you can visit.

3. Make your plan for where you are going. You might want to walk to all of them, you might want to drive and then park at a central location and then walk to all the little libraries, or bike, or you may just want to drive to each one.

3. Go through your home and find some books you want to exchange. However many books you want to get, that’s how many books to bring.

4. Walk or drive to the Little Free Libraries you’ve mapped out.

5. Peruse through the books available and put a book in the library for however many you take out.

That’s it!!! Enjoy your new-to-you books that you didn’t have to shell out any money for.

Here’s a huge hint: have your smart phone handy so you can quickly do a search for any books to see if they are a good fit for your tastes and standards. Check the synopses, ratings, and reviews, on amazon and goodreads.com.

Here are some of the books I’ve found from some of my Little Free Library jaunts lately. Quite the variety, right? Ooops, I didn’t mean to include the Ben Franklin book twice.

In the top photo, the Ben Franklin book is covering up this book below. My copy has no pictures on the cover but an amazon copy looks like this. I’m excited to read it! It’s by the wife of famous music composer Irving Berlin, Ellin Duher Mackay Berlin.

Here’s the synopsis from goodreads.com:

“THE CAMERON GIRLS…
…there were four of them. They grew up in New York’s fabled world of wealth and prestige… in the golden, bittersweet era that marked the end of one century and touched the beginning of another. There was Julia, who married almost too well; Maud, who defied convention and lived to en-joy it; Nell, the youngest, perhaps the most sentimental, certainly the happiest; and Esther, whose love brought her little happiness and a life-long scandal.”

Sounds fascinating right?!

I’m looking forward to going on Little Free Library jaunts this fall with my married daughter, and maybe my mom and/or girlfriends. We could spend all morning going to as many we can fit in between 9-12 noon, and then go to the park, and read for a few hours while snacking and sharing what we learn. If these had been around when my children were little I would have loved doing this as a monthly trip! Happy exploring and reading!

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Happy Constitution Day!

Posted on September 17, 2025 by treeoflifemama

On this day in 1787, the Constitution of the United States was ratified. It’s not just a piece of paper. The Lord Jesus Christ said in a revelation to Joseph Smith:

“And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.” Doctrine and Covenants 101:80

It’s a set of laws that Jesus has not only endorsed but allowed to come forth by “the hands of wise men” who He brought up for establishing it. Why did He want the Constitution established as the law for the U.S.A.?

For “the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles…” See Doctrine and Covenants 101:77.

If you are an American citizen, it’s important to know it, to live it, to teach it, and to hold your representatives in Congress accountable to it. If they don’t vote according to it, then vote in people who do, so that the Constitution is maintained for the “rights and protection of all flesh.”

Here’s how you can celebrate it today and every day!

  1. Read the above picture book by Jean Fritz to get the history of the Constitutional Convention.
  2. Read the book below to dive into what every paragraph means.

3. Watch these videos about the Constitution by Robert Brown. The first one is below and the playlist of all the videos is here.

4. Read this article here by Ezra Taft Benson called “Our Divine Constitution”

5. Play the board game below.

6. Watch A More Perfect Union, below.

7. Take this quiz about the U.S. Constitution here.

8. Watch the Schoolhouse Rock video of the preamble to the Constitution.

9. Take a quiz about the Bill of Rights, the first Ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, here.

10. Read this book below.

11. Go to this voting record, the Freedom Index, here, and look up your Congressional representatives to see how Constitutional they are voting. Then send them a note thanking them or asking them to improve. One of mine had 100% for this past session. Amazing!

12. Counteract the movement to eradicate the Constitution with a call for a convention for a new constitution. Go here to learn more and let your Congress people know that you want them to vote no on a new constitutional convention.

13. Lastly, play another board game related to the Constitution. My review of it is here.

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9/16/25 Tree of Life Mama’s Picture Book of the Week: Doctor Esperanto and the Language of Hope

Posted on September 16, 2025 by treeoflifemama
Credit for all images in this post: amazon.com

Since the 2025-26 school year is in full swing, I’ll be blogging about a few picture books involving learning and/or school over the next few weeks. I love this time of year with the spirit of new classes and discovery in the air!

Today’s book is shown above. It’s all about the back story of Esperanto, a language that was entirely made up by one person, instead of evolving organically amongst a group of people over lots of time.

Who is the guy behind Esperanto? His name is Leyzer Zamenhof. The book shows young Leyzer Zamenhoff, a Jewish boy growing up in a small village under Russian rule (it never says where but an Internet search tells me it is in what is now Poland). He felt frustrated that the villagers spoke different languages instead of everyone speaking the same language. People talked sharply to each other and got into arguments. Leyzer wondered if this was because they didn’t know and speak the same words. The languages represented in the book spoken in his village are Russian, German, Polish, and Hebrew. Each speaker naturally thought his or her own language was the best. Leyzer studied Latin, Greek and Hebrew in school but discovered these were hard to learn, so the implication is that he gave up learning to speak them.

So he decided to make up his own language. At first he made words from scratch. Then, in what sounds like an attempt to make a Lego language of duplicatable, predictable, buildable parts, even though Legos weren’t invented yet, he made up words borrowing pieces from many different languages and made them fit together into a beautiful thing, like a Lego castle.

So for example, as a double-page in the book shows:

-a fish is “fiso”

-a little fish is “fiseto”

-a big fish is “fisego”

-more than one fish is “fisaro”

-a fish container is “fisujo”

Then we have the following for another object:

-a flower is “floro” in Esperanto

-a little flower is “floreto”

-a big flower is “florego”

-more than one flower if “floraro”

-a flower container is “florugo”

Do you see the common building blocks to represent the different aspects of an object? Big, little, plural, singular, etc. The different words have different roots but then the same ending to represent the same aspect. It’s a Lego language!

Young Leyzer didn’t have the support of his father to publicize his Lego language. His father told him to go to medical school and leave his Lego language behind. On a break, Leyzer came home to discover his father had burned all his papers about his constructed language. But it was all still in his mind! He wrote everything down again and refined it to be even better, simpler and more beautiful. With his friend Clara’s help, he published his invention of a language into a book and called himself, the author, “Doctor Esperanto.” In his language, “esperanto” means “one who hopes.” He hoped for peace from a universal language.

People read the book and wrote him letters and eventually invited him to a conference about Esperanto in Paris. He attended and met his fans. He realized his dream had come true, that people from all over the world could meet together and talk in one language, Esperanto!


I highly recommend this book. The illustrations are beautifully clean and crisp, the story never lags, and it’s about a real person following a hero’s journey, a call. My favorite kind of picture book! So go find it at your public library and read it!

I have a funny story to share about Esperanto. Years ago, when my husband and I were the parents of three little children, we attended our first homeschooling conference together. It was a Charlotte Mason philosophy conference presented by author and veteran homeschooling mom Catherine Levison. We went with two other couples who are dear friends and enjoyed sitting by them. Maybe it was the fact that my husband had some chummy people with him that egged him on to be in a humorous mood. Catherine was up there, going through each subject for a typical homeschool family and talking about who Charlotte Mason recommends each subject should be taught. So for the foreign language topic she said that Charlotte Mason recommended teaching a foreign language by getting a fluent, native speaker to talk to the child regularly. My husband, ever the clown, raised his hand and asked “Now how does that work with Esperanto?” My friends and I all laughed. He got the desired reaction from us, and to Catherine’s credit, she didn’t let the fun-inducing question derail her and she moved on.

Anyway, if you want to learn something new this fall, go learn Esperanto! A website for it is here, and you can find it in Duo Lingo.

Guess what? I just learned that I guess because Esperanto has been around for over 100 years, the world now has about 2000 native speakers of Esperanto, according to YouTube. Fascinating! Here’s one of them below. Dear husband is skeptical, maybe because it ruins his joke, LOL.

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God Wants Non-victim Christians

Posted on September 14, 2025 by treeoflifemama
Photo Credit: Lili Anderson/Choosing Glory YouTube Channel

This past week was so interesting, heart-breaking, and also peace-giving. I had a painful experience last Sunday night where I desperately reached out to God in prayer, seeking for help. I was led by the Spirit as to how to find sleep and comfort, despite the pain. I’m so grateful I was able to sleep soundly. Then the very next morning I received the answer I asked for. I know God doesn’t always reply so quickly, nor does He always give me what I ask for. I don’t always ask for what is best so I don’t always get what I ask for. God always knows what is best and He answers with what is best for me. In this case God answered me right away with what I asked for and I feel extremely gratified. Regardless of the answer or the timing of the answer, it is my job to always find peace in God by following Him. Just that day, earlier Sunday, in church I had heard one of my congregation members tell the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. He quoted them as saying, to King Nebuchadnezzar, “If it be so, our God whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” -Daniel 3:17-18 KJV

I remembered that when I said my prayer Sunday night. It game me comfort to face not getting my prayer answered the way I wanted.

I have been learning to sing this song, below, by Sally DeFord, with my choir at church. We got to sing it today, for the general church congregation meeting for everyone (sacrament meeting). It’s so beautiful! I feel so blessed to know it. It captures my thoughts perfectly. It’s in the new collection of hymns over here, as #1030.

Then later in the week we had the Charlie Kirk shooting. I listened to this podcast above in YouTube format two days after Charlie Kirk’s assassination and it gave me a lot of comfort. It wasn’t a response to the assassination, as it was recorded before. It is for the Come Follow Christ scripture reading for last week of Doctrine and Covenants 98-101. It’s just so positively Providential that the scripture reading for this past week involved the basic question of “What should our response be as Christians when bad things happen to us?” It’s all about when the Saints were living in Missouri and were persecuted and then exterminated. Not a fun time.

C.C.A. Christensen (1831–1912), Saints Driven from Jackson County Missouri, c. 1878, tempera on muslin, 77 ¼ x 113 inches. Brigham Young University Museum of Art, gift of the grandchildren of C.C.A. Christensen, 1970.

Like I wrote, this recording was filmed before the shooting and it’s about D&C 98-101 but it had answers about what to do when violence disrupts peace. She elaborates on the principles outlined in Sections 98-101, about forgiveness, and when to fight back when being attacked.

I thought it was interesting that Sister Anderson mentioned the books above and below. When she first started her therapy practice she was asked what she thought about these books. I have read both of them. The book below I bought years ago and read as a young mom of 3-4 kiddos. It’s about healing relationships by noticing collusions with others and stopping them. I read the one above, later, after I had 6 children. I enjoyed both of them. They are great books.

Sister Anderson said that both books are great, but they only work for terrestrial relationships. Those are relationships between people who aren’t perfect but aren’t intentionally doing evil. Meaning, they work for people who are generally choosing to live by the Ten Commandments. So these books don’t apply to being a victim in a telestial relationships, that is, being abused by someone who is not living on the level of generally following the Ten Commandments. She said that when you are a victim by someone telestial who is choosing not to live at the general Ten Commandments level it’s important to establish boundaries so that the abuser-victim cycle doesn’t keep happening. She calls this being a non-victim Christian and said God wants to be this way. When we are victims we have to spend time healing and aren’t in a place to be leaders and build Zion. So he wants us to be non-victim Christians. If you are a victim you need to establish walls between victim and abuser. She said she’s working on a book about boundaries to teach all about this. Let’s all pray that she will finish it soon! I so look forward to reading it!

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R.I.P. Dear Charlie

Posted on September 10, 2025 by treeoflifemama
Photo Credit: independent.com

I am so sad beyond words about the death of Charlie Kirk today here in my beloved home state of Utah. He died in a senseless act of violence, the victim of a shooter, while at Utah Valley University (UVU), while sitting on a stage to participate in one of his Turning Point USA events. Ever since I learned about him, I have admired that he is so bold in standing for truth as a defender of the sanctity of life, the traditional family, and what is right. He wasn’t afraid to have civil discourse with opposing viewpoints, and stand for truth, and yet be diplomatic. He was so articulate and quick to think on his feet. He was about to turn 32, next month, so he is the same age as my oldest child. He was definitely a true hero of the Hero Generation. We have lost a great man today. My favorite quote I remember from him was something to effect of: “If you want to have the greatest adventure, and do the boldest most amazing thing of your life, get married and have children.”

This is my friend Karianne conducting the vigil service. Image Credit: KSL News YouTube Channel

Here is a wonderful video below showing a vigil at the Utah Capitol that was held tonight. As my sister-in-law said, Charlie would want us to pray for his enemies, including his assassin. Lord, please help us to forgive and remember Charlie and follow him in standing for truth and righteousness. Please bless his dear wife Erika and two little children to feel Thy peace and comfort to ease the pain of this horrific loss. Please protect them as they move forward. May we heal from this traumatic event, Lord and please save our republic.

I agree with my homeschooling mama friend Karianne Lisonbee’s speech in the video below. She conducts the service, and then her sentiments are at the 15:44 mark. Another one of my homeschool mama friends has a daughter, Christy, in the video below, who says that Charlie was a missionary for what is right. So true! May his legacy live on. May God bless America as we all recover.

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