This is my new favorite book, outside the scriptures! Every morning and night, I read from it. It’s this delicious way to start and end my day, putting a smile on my face. I got to spend some time recently with the author and his wife Tamara. They are both such wonderful, Christian, fun people, full of light and love. Guy’s book is a compilation of stories about personal revelation. He tells stories from his own life, using journal entries, as well as stories from friends, relatives, his wife, General Conference talks, and the magazines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These stories delight me and fill me with hope! Here are some summaries of the stories within the book, for your sampling pleasure:
-Tamara felt prompted to pack a big first aid kit for a road trip, then Guy felt a prompting from the Holy Spirit to stop driving on this same road trip to go looking for something amiss. They found four foreign tourists who were stranded after an accident and saved their lives.
-Guy felt a prompting to leave his comfortable Sunday afternoon setting at home to go to the emergency room at the local hospital and found a friend in the waiting room who desperately needed help.
-Tamara felt prompted to talk to a man on the airplane, so she did, going outside her comfort zone. He turned out to be an expert in energy medicine, a topic she is passionate about, and they talked the whole flight.
-Guy and his family received the blessings for three family members that he and his immediate family and extended family fasted for.
If you love stories of following the Holy Spirit, people helping people, angels helping people, and receiving answers to prayers, you will love this book! It’s over 540 pages, and more than 700 stories. These are are so wonderful! When I read this book, it’s like eating potato chips, it’s hard to stop at just one.
Here’s an endorsement from the back cover:
“Spiritual promptings, orchestrations, and miracles are personal and often guarded, cherished, and protected like the rose in The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1943). In Tender Mercies, ordinary people of faith reveal their spiritual experiences, extolling God’s guidance and blessings in their lives. Like the rose, each story is unique and special, motivating the reader to give more care to his or her own obedience to promptings.”
Another endorsement from the back cover says, “A superb collection of true stories that are uplifting, edifying, and encouraging. I could hardly put it down to eat or sleep!” LOL, that’s how I feel about it!
I highly recommend this book for Christmas gifts for your adult friends and family members, even for teens! Get it here on Tamara’s website (scroll to the bottom of the site) or on amazon. It’s also available in Kindle format. (Note: I was not paid to write this review and receive no commission if you buy the book. It’s just such a lovely book full of heartwarming stories that I want everyone to read it, 🙂 )
Have you noticed how much better you remember phrases that go with a tune? I can still sing commercial jingles that I heard when I was 4! Like the song about all the ingredients in a Big Mac. What a waste of brain space! Many wonderful people have capitalized on this phenomenon and created some cheery songs to teach facts that everybody should know to have basic American cultural literacy. That’s not a waste of brain space! So here is my top ten list resources for such songs, as well as some songs from my religion to teach spiritual truths. It’s too hard to pick my top ten favorite songs, so I’m listing them by the name of the composer, or the resource. I love them all! Maybe my older kids who have graduated from my homeschool can comment on their favorites. Two of them honored me a few years ago by getting the Singin’ Smart songs onto my iPad somehow, a feat I can’t even imagine being able to do.
I’ve used most of these songs through the years in my homeschooling. The younger kids groan when they hear them, because I haven’t played them enough to endear the songs to them, I guess. The older children appreciate them. My second oldest son told me just a bit ago how grateful he is that I exposed him to all these educational songs. They still pop up in his head from time to time, giving him much enjoyment. Hopefully the younger ones will appreciate them when they are old too, when time tends to make wholesome things beautifully nostalgic and not irritating in any way. A few of the resources are new to me and I want to start using them with the younger kids. Hopefully also the grandchildren when they come to visit. ( My idea of heaven is being able to homeschool them.)
So, I present to you, “Tree of Life Mama’s Top Ten List of Resources for Songs That Teach”:
On top of the list is Janeen Brady, of course. Pictured above, she is a legend! How could I not mention her? I remember her songs as a child myself. She is the master of educational tunes. For decades, her company, Brite Music, has distributed her music to thousands of kids, teaching them about character traits, good hygiene, personal safety, phonics/how to read, animals, seasons, nature, holidays, weather, multiplication facts, the US Constitution, and much, much more. She has written dozens of songs. All of the music is so catchy! the video at the top is her song to teach the 3 times tables, from her album, “Time to Times.”
2. Next, we have Singin’ Smart by Pamela Peterson. She’s the aunt of a childhood friend of mine. These songs aren’t nearly as well-known as Janeen Brady’s songs but just as catchy. You can get Volume 1 here and Volume 2 here. These songs teach things like US states (see above) and capitals of the US, the planets, the US presidents, the countries of South America, Europe, and Africa, the bones of the human body, the explorers of the world, mountains of the world, good table manners, the muscles of the human body, the Dewey Decimal system, the preamble to the US Constitution, the branches of the federal government, and more. I learned about these from LaDawn Jacob. Some of her children are the vocalists, and my amazing brother-in-law is the guitarist. My husband got these for me when I was a young mom of two children ages 1 and 3. This was decades ago, when you couldn’t buy whatever you wanted on the web. They were my favorite Christmas presents that year. That’s just how nerdy I am. He definitely scored the husband points!
3. Geography Songs Sing Around the World by Larry and Kathy Troxel. I played these songs back when the format was cassette tapes, just like my Singin’ Smart songs were on cassette tapes. That’s how long I’ve been homeschooling! These are all so much fun to sing. Buy here where it’s cheaper, or on amazon here.
4. Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans Songs
Somehow I found these during my Layton UT homeschooling years and played them a lot for the older kids. They are from the 60s and have that funky, 60s-ish vibe to them.
Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans Space Songs are here. “Zoom a little zoom in a rocket ship,” longitude and latitude, and more.
Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans Weather Songs are here. You’ll be singing about clouds, the sun, hurricanes, the water cycle, etc.
Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans Energy and Motion Songs are here. It’s the song about kinetic and potential energy that most recently appeared in my sons’ brain as he was taking a test for one of his college classes. the Ballad of Isaac Newton is especially fun.
5. Beethoven’s Wig by Richard Perlmutter. These songs get you and your children familiar with classical music. Each songs has funny lyrics for the song. They don’t teach facts, other than the composer’s name of that song, like Grieg for the “In The Hall of The Mountain King,” from Peer Gynt Suite. I discovered these at the public library years ago. So fun! Get them here. I’ve daydreamed about getting a group of homeschoolers to do a zany show with a skit for each of these songs. How fun does that sound?!
6. Primary Songs from the Children’s Songbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I can’t forget mentioning these songs. You can learn the Articles of Faith, the presidents of the Church, and gospel doctrine, plus invite the Holy Spirit into your heart by singing these songs. (I love too all the “other songs” not in the Songbook by many composers in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have compiled links to all the songs published in the Church magazines in my Celestial Family Devotionals Ebook, free over here. These include songs about the mom being careful about what she bakes for her family, (I especially love that one…”When mother goes to shop for food, she chooses carefully…the Word of Wisdom is her guide, to help her family,” Noah’s Ark, temples, the stripling warriors, Melanie Hoffman’s Gethsemane song, the same one sung by Claire Crosby below, and much, much more.)
7. Scripture Scouts Songs by Roger and Melanie Hoffman, Marvin Payne, Janice Kapp Perry and Steven Kapp Perry. These songs teach scripture stories and the principles contained therein, like the Golden Rule, priesthood power, and temple ordinances. The volumes are Old Testament, New Testament, The Book of Mormon, Articles of Faith, and the Proclamation on the Family. My older children have such fond memories of these songs! Have you ever wondered what the donkey thought when he carried Mary, the mother of Jesus? That song is in the NT album. We sing it every year when we act out the Nativity on Christmas Eve.
8. US History Songs by Larry Troxel. You will learn dates and the description of historical events with these songs, like when the Pilgrims came in the Mayflower, the settling of Jamestown, the U.S. Revolutionary War, the War of Northern Aggression, the Great Depression, the World Wars, and more. Go here to scroll down and see the dates and hear samples of the songs. You can also buy the book and CD from there as well.
9. Mathusee Skip Count Songs. These cover the same topic as Janeen Brady’s Time to Times: the multiplication tables. Janeen’s are more musical, definitely, but these are still fun. When I asked my 23 year old what songs to blog about, he insisted I include the Mathusee songs. I love that they have a religious version that uses Bible stories. At least it used to be available to buy, 20 plus years ago, I can’t find it now. You can listen to the secular version here.
Photo Credit: paolabrown.com
10. Paola Brown’s Teach Me Health and Homeopathy Songs, written by Paola Brown and Jayna Ray. I’ve been listening to these songs a lot lately as I’ve been teaching the Teach Me Health and Homeopathy course for children in Zoom and to my own children. I also use them for the Homeopathy for Moms Book Club. I love these songs! They help me remember what homeopathic remedies go with what symptoms. Because of these songs, I’ll always remember that belladonna is for “symptoms that are red, hot, angry, and throbbing” and “a sudden high fever of 103 or more,” and staphysagria is for “slow healing of knife-like cuts, honeymoon cystitis, symptoms of suppressed anger.. ” Sample here and buy the CD or get the digital version in iTunes.
Bonus Resources: Songs I Haven’t Used Nearly as Much or Not At All But They Look Promising
Schoolhouse Rock was a staple of my ’70s childhood. Just search it up if you’re too young and don’t know what I’m talking about. The songs are about grammar, history, and government mostly, as I recall. “I’m just a bill, just an ordinary bill, and I got as far as Capitol Hill…”
My homeschooling friend Camille McCausland wrote Musical Notebooks, to teach the planets, the days of the week, the months of the year, the bones of the body, money value of U.S. coins, and more. Many of these are the same topics as in Singin’ Smart. We got these later than the Singin’ Smart volumes and just didn’t play them as often but they are fun too. Sample here and buy here.
Years ago I got the Lyrical Life Science book and CD of songs, in “used condition” at some homeschooler’s yard sale. I maybe played the CD once, which surprises me, because I love biology, and then it got buried with two moves since then. The songs are here in YouTube.
Kathy Troxel has some Grammer Songs here. She helped create the Geography Songs above so they’re probably just as great. She also has math songs.
Classical Conversations has many songs to teach about science, history, grammar, Latin nouns, and more. I haven’t ever used these songs but I’d like to.
Happy singing everybody! You remember what you sing, especially if you sing it often!
I’m excited to share this nifty new tool for your scripture study! This is the most robust scripture study software ever. It’s the brainchild of my friend Oak Norton. The video above gives you an hour plus of what it’s about. The video below shows it in a nutshell.
Here are some endorsements of it:
“I had been receiving Scripture Notes email, but this was the first webinar I had attended and I was amazed at how much Scripture Notes has grown!! Oh my goodness!! I am really excited about it and have now registered and will begin exploring it!” -B.S.
“I can’t wait to study Isaiah. With what you showed me, we ought to become Isaiah wizards! So exciting! Next I want to study all the Jesus categories like the prophet suggested. Thanks for following your inspiration and creating this for the world.” -H.H.
“Thank you SO MUCH for the EXCELLENT webinar. I would LOVE to see MORE. The entire presentation was well laid out. The slide show was perfect; loved all the graphics. You explained everything with precision. My husband kept saying, ‘I didn’t know I could do that.’ He was VERY impressed. Love the ? that links to the Topics and Resources.” -S.B.
“Thank you for a very informative presentation Oak. The biggest take away for me were the examples shown of using the search engines. I will however need to go over it again a couple of times so I can take it all in. What wonderful progression you have made. I would have to say that using Scripture Notes with study is one of my favorite pastimes now. I love the gospel, and Scripture Notes has enabled me to get so much more out of it, and I have a long way to go yet.” -L.S.
“I especially love the new capability to do a concordance for every single word in all the scriptures, and turn it on and off. This is critical for doing searches in Isaiah, no other software package I’ve seen can do it.”- Ken Krogue
Watch the webinar above at the top to see the many cool details of ScriptureNotes and then go sign up here! You can try it free for 14 days. Make an alarm on your phone to go off on the 13th day to evaluate your satisfaction with the program. Then cancel if you like, and revert to the free version, or do nothing and you will be billed for $4.95 a month.
FTC Disclosure: That is an affiliate link. I receive a small commission if you sign up for the premium version. The basic version is free.
I also love the webinars that Oak does with different presenters. Here’s one below that involves Hebrew symbology in the Book of Mormon. The presenter, Natasha Pizorno, discovered that each of the books in 1 Nephi corresponds with each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. I’ve been studying Hebrew alphabet symbology for years and I never made that connection. This is amazing! If you are into the alphabet, and the Book of Mormon, you will love the presentation below.
Today’s story is about revelation to children, and the power of praying unceasingly. It happened in an October so I’m sharing some of my fall photos.
This story, called, “Save My Life, Comfort My Children” comes from the September 1987 Ensign magazine, and it’s by Mette Hansen. In this story Mette was coming home from work on a rainy October day in 1968, in Denmark. Maybe it looked like the picture above, with leaves turning colors to brighten up the drizzly landscape. She rode her bicycle to and from work every day. As she crossed a crosswalk on this rainy day, while walking her bike, a car hit her bike causing it to go sailing in the air, smashing it to half its original size. During this catastrophe, her life and thoughts of family flashed before her eyes as she said a prayer asking God to save her life. Amazingly enough, she was not knocked unconscious with the impact even though she immediately felt a ton of pain after falling on the road. She noticed that the car’s tire that hit her bike was just inches from her head as she lay there on the pavement. She knew a miracle had happened to spare her life. She felt an angel had stopped the car from hitting her head. Then she was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
The visit at the the hospital, with all the tests, took 5 hours. This was in the days before cell phones, so she could not call her children’s daycare center to tell the people there to relay a message to her children what had happened and why she did not come to get them.
Eventually she was released and got home that same night. She asked her son what happened when she did not come to pick him up with his sister. He said that when she did not come he decided she must have had to work late so he and his sister walked home. Upon arriving home, when they discovered they were locked out, he pondered what to do. He decided to pray and ask for help.
Then he said:
“I felt a big, warm hand touching the top of my head, and I heard a friendly voice saying, ‘Your mother is well, she has been taken care of. It will be a while before she comes home, and it will be dark outside, but just stay calm. Take your little sister by the hand and stay near the apartment and play peacefully. If you do, the time will go by quickly until your mother is with you again.’”
He looked up to see who was saying this, and could see no one, yet he was calm.
Before this happened, the mother had prayed unceasingly while in the hospital. She asked God to comfort her children, to tell them what to do, and not panic. I see that her prayer was richly rewarded. I wonder, if she had not prayed unceasingly, but had just uttered a rushed prayer only once, would she have received the same blessing? The mom, Mette, writes that in years to come, her son sometimes struggled with his faith. She often reminded him of this time when he heard a voice telling him what do. It always confirmed his belief in the truthfulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Mette concludes with the scripture:
“I have also learned how important it is for us to teach our children to pray and to remember the words in Psalms 94:9: “He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?”
I went to an amazing multi-day retreat last week with a bunch of friends. Oh what a glorious time we had! I feel refreshed, renewed and invigorated. As my dear friend Joyce said, “I walked in Zion!” We took turns presenting to each other topics we are each currently passionate about. One of our presenters talked about the timeline of the last days, leading up to the Second Coming of Jesus. When I was telling another close friend about this today, a friend who couldn’t make it to the retreat, she mentioned these videos I’m showing here. She said she likes them because the presenter includes Hebrew months and holidays. So I’ve been watching these today and have enjoyed them. I’d love to hear what any of you think about them.
I’m a bit melancholy this past week, what with one day of gray skies, chilly weather, and then hearing the news that a dear friend’s husband died this morning, because of COVID complicating his cancer. Interestingly enough, just the day before news of the death I got some info about COVID at a meeting. it will help you if:
-you want to prevent COVID
-you test positive and want to know what you can do at home to treat it
-you test positive and your doctor does not treat COVID
Please go here to check out all of truthforhealth.org’s resources, including info on vaxx mandates and vaxx exemptions. Click here to get their “Patient Guide to Early COVID Treatment.”
What if your employer is pressuring you or your loved ones to get the vaxx? Go here to get educated about what to say and do. It’s written by Kristen Chevrier of Your Health Freedom. Be sure to click on the slides in that post from Dr. Paul Thomas MD, full of questions, starting on slide #5, to ask your employer. If you don’t need this info, please pass it on to someone who might!
I love to read picture book biographies all year round, but especially in October, as I focus on heroes for Heroween, my substitute for Halloween. Here are some new picture book bios I’ve found recently that we’ve enjoyed, plus some other fall-themed books we’ve read.
If you ‘d like more fall-themed books, please go here to see what we read October 2020. For more picture books biographies go here.
Another principle for this week’s Come, Follow Jesus reading, besides blessings flowing from paying tithing, is that “My sacrifices are sacred to the Lord.” We see this in the story behind Doctrine and Covenants 117. Newel K. Whitney was asked to leave his home and business in Kirtland and go to Missouri. Then Oliver Granger was asked to give a different sacrifice. The Lord asked him to stay and settle the finances of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I love this story by Marian Pond over here, about a mother’s sacrifice. As a young woman who grew up in the 70s when feminism was totally blossoming with talk of women’s rights, Marian always thought she would have a career in the biochemistry world. She writes that she made a huge sacrifice when she decided to be a full time stay-at-home mother.
Early on in the throes of motherhood of young children she found herself saying, “I hate kids!” That was a turning point for her. She sought counseling. She studied principles of righteous parenting. She followed the still, small voice. She learned how to be a better mother who set boundaries. She got to the point where the joy flowed. As she writes, “Motherhood surprised me with its opportunities for great personal growth. By keeping a gospel focus, I’ve been able to embrace my role as a mother and discover the joy of it! Experiencing this kind of joy has filled me with gratitude to Heavenly Father for the role He has prepared for me.”
If you would like more stories about people living the gospel, please go read my Celestial Family Devotionals ebook over here.
I enjoyed this past week’s assigned reading for the Come, Follow Jesus study for Sunday School. I also listened to the above video. One of the truths for this week’s study is that paying tithing opens up the windows of heaven. So much so that you will have more things than you have room to receive. The part about tithing in the above video is at the 47:56 mark. See also Doctrine and Covenants 119. I know this is true! We have paid tithing our whole marriage, and I’ve seen the blessings happen. Repeatedly we have given boxes and boxes of material stuff away because we don’t have room enough to keep it all.
I love this story by Charlotte Arnold, a single mother, about how she put this promise to the test. She had only enough money to pay tithing or buy groceries. Which did she choose? Go here to read the story, so you can find out!
To continue with the theme of “spiritual treasures” that I blogged about last week with a story about seeking for riches, I’m sharing another story about treasure today. My story today relates to spiritual treasures, told by Elder Enzio Busche. You can go here to read it. He tells of a business client and friend who tried to get him drunk for evil purposes. Elder Busche prayed and was guided the Holy Spirit as to what to say to totally turn the situation around for good. You will be cheering for both of them in the end as the client apologizes and they embrace.
My favorite paragraph from the whole story:
“It is really necessary that we as members decide day by day whether we want to allow our fears to direct our actions or to live with a constant prayer in our heart to be able to analyze all feelings and emotions that come to us. Thereby we learn to draw upon the powers of heaven, which will enable us to overcome and to stand on holy ground, guided and directed by the Holy Ghost. What does this really mean? What is this real treasure that will enable us to stand in happiness and joy, in confidence, and with power each day of our lives? It means that we have to develop a close relationship with Christ, the Savior, the Redeemer, the Messiah, Jehovah, the Only Begotten of Elohim, and let him and his Spirit take possession of our lives. That means learning to accept, appreciate, and to always follow the promptings of the Spirit. It takes courage and commitment to follow the promptings of the Spirit because they may frighten us as they lead us to walk along new paths, sometimes paths that no one has walked before, paths of the second mile, of acting totally differently from how worldly people act. For instance, we may be prompted to smile when someone offends us, to give love where others give hate, to say thank you where others would not find anything to be thankful for, to accept jobs that others would be too proud to do, to apologize where others would defend themselves, and to do all the seemingly crazy things that the Spirit prompts a righteous, honest, listening heart to do. Being led by the Spirit enables us, as the scriptures say, to build up treasures in heaven, ‘where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal’ (Matt. 6:20).”
Tree of Life Mothering 