It was just this week that I asked my son “What is the difference between contention and conflict? And is contention always bad?” We were having Morning Basket for homeschool, and somehow that question came up after we read something together. After all, as I told my son, Jesus created conflict, and contention, when He cleansed the temple by overturning the tables of the money changers and chased them out with a whip. (See John 2:13-16)
Then I noticed that today’s video of Connor Boyack’s Sunday Musings addresses that very topic. God delivered the answer to me in the form of Connor’s video! I love it when I get answers so quickly, especially if I didn’t even pray about it.
In the video, Connor talks about the scripture, shown at the top, 3 Nephi 11:29, from The Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Then he gives other examples of scriptures that show contention as a negative thing.
He also gives the Noah Webster 1828 Dictionary definition of contention:
1. Strife; struggle; a violent effort to obtain something, or to resist a person, claim or injury; contest; quarrel.
Multitudes lost their lives in a tumult raised by contention among the partizans of the several colors.
2. Strife in words or debate; quarrel; angry contest; controversy.
Avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law. Titus 3:9.
Then he gives scriptures that speak of contending and contention as a commandment from God, as something positive to do. We are to contend against the church of the devil.
Have you noticed that the Book of Mormon says that the great godly hero Ammon went to “contend” with the bad guys scattering the king’s flock of sheep? I never noticed that before, until Connor pointed it out!
We are told to contend for faith in Jesus Christ, in the Bible.
So interesting! It’s OK to contend for truth, and not just OK, it’s godly, it’s a commandment, it’s something we must do if we are to follow Christ. As Connor says, if we are following Christ, spreading truth and light, it’s inevitable that we will have conflict with evil. We are not to give in to evil. We have to keep contending for truth if we are to stand for truth and continue to fight for truth. Watch and learn!
“Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation…”
Those words are from the revelation that Joseph Smith received from the Lord Jesus Christ on 27 February 1833. It’s recorded as verse 4 of the Doctrine and Covenants Section 89, commonly known as the “Word of Wisdom.” This is what members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints use as a health code. In this code, we are told by the Lord to avoid tobacco and alcohol. Tobacco is not for the body, but to be used as “an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill.” Alcohol is also not for the body. That makes sense to me, as another form of alcohol, rubbing alcohol, is great for cleaning, especially removing ink stains on clothes.
I’m grateful that the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith back in the 1830s that tobacco is not for the body, meaning, internal digestion by the human body. This is an example of the value of revelation from God. The Lord Jesus Christ knows everything. Man does not know everything. The Lord knew and knows that tobacco is not for internal consumption by human bodies before men knew. It is good for external use, for bruising, and for cattle. So the Lord revealed this knowledge to Joseph Smith. He taught it to his fellow Saints. Decades before the general consensus of humans agreed it it is toxic, generations of people were already avoiding its addictive nature, the Latter-day Saints, because of this revelation. Eventually, scientists caught up to revealed knowledge by discovered nicotine’s addictive qualities, and nicotine’s link to illness and death. This contributed to the U.S. federal government requiring a warning about the dangers of tobacco to be put on every cigarette package. The Lord not only knew that tobacco is toxic to humans, the Lord knew that “conspiring men” would exploit its addictive nature to make more money. So the Lord gave this Word of Wisdom not only for people to avoid addiction but to warn people not to consume it in order to avoid losing money to conspiring men.
Could it be that this warning was just the tip of the iceberg regarding conspiring men exploiting substances for human consumption in order to make more and more money? Yes, I believe so! The book, Salt Sugar Fat by investigative journalist and author Michael Moss gives compelling evidence for us to answer “yes” to that question.
Watch the video below to learn more.
Sister Lili Anderson refers to Salt Sugar Fat in her video below, in her commentary on the Word of Wisdom and Doctrine and Covenants 89-92.
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At the 39:08 mark, she mentions Salt Sugar Fat, saying that her whole family has read the book. She then tells a story from the book at the 40 minute mark. It’s the story of Jeffrey Dunn, who was an executive with Coca Cola. He was in charge of bringing Coke to Brazil. Here’s the story as told by Sister Anderson, paraphrased, using the transcript feature in YouTube:
“Jeffrey Dunn years later went down to Brazil because they wanted to expand the Coca-Cola market by creating a product that was smaller. I believe it was a 6 oz Coke and they thought, you know, these people don’t have a lot of money in Brazil, but if we make a smaller container of Coke and try to sell that, they might be able to afford it and we might open up a lot more customers there. So he went down and visited in Brazil and went around those areas and came back and concluded. He said, ‘You know, these people need a lot of things, but one thing they don’t need is Coke.’ And it kind of was a come to Jesus moment for him. He ended up quitting his job, his dream job at Coke, and he went to work for Bolt House Farms, which is, you know, vegetables and stuff. And in fact, I think he was involved in the production, he may have even spearheaded the production of these snack size packets of mini carrots, baby carrots for kids, like for their lunches or after school. And he’s really been on a campaign since then to try and he goes around and speaks about it and stuff that he’s trying to make, you know, it fun to eat fruits and vegetables, especially for kids because it really finally hit him that like what are we doing? You know, we’re just trying to grind the faces of the poor by giving them stuff that’s really no good for them and charging them money when what they need is like something so much better and healthier.”
Wow what an amazing story of someone willing to do a 180 degree about-face in his career and his food philosophy and probably his money-making! Good for him!! In the video above with Michael Moss, Mr. Moss must be referring to Mr. Dunn when he talks about a guy who used to work at Coke and now uses the same tactics he used marketing Coke for promoting carrots, as part of his karmic payback.
Here’s a video with Mr. Dunn below when he was with Campbell’s talking about how evil it is to put money over health, especially children’s health.
Want more stories from Salt Sugar Fat? Go read a few more here on the website of the Weston A. Price foundation then watch the video below.
I also highly recommend reading Sally Fallon Morrell’s Nourishing Traditions for even more juicy stories of conspiring, corrupt men in the manufactured food industry. The pages have sidebars with fascinating stories about nutrition and the food industry.
I hope this is enough to get your mama bear chemistry flowing at a tsunami level!!! Let’s take back the rightful job of mothers to nurture our children and not turn it over to Lunchables. Let’s protect them and ourselves from the “evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men.” These people put profits over our health by getting us hooked on manufactured sugar, salt, and fat that target our bliss points, making us sick and fat.
Here are some great sites to find yummy recipes from whole foods:
It’s not #thriftingthursday, it’s Saturday, but I just have to share about thrifting anyway. this post is all about my August thrifting hauls. I’m doing a happy dance here!! The Provo Deseret Industries opened again after over two months of remodeling, which lasted from the end of May to the middle of August. I did a lot of thrifting in June and July at other places and told myself I wouldn’t go thrifting again in August until the weekend of my wedding anniversary, which is August 17. Since then, I’ve been four times. Two times at the newly re-opened Provo DI, once at the Orem Savers, and once at the American Fork DI. So here’s what I got. I stuck to my commitment.
The two photos above and the one just below show my first haul of August, which was also my first trip to the Provo DI after it closed for remodeling in May. You would think that the floodgates of the Nile river had opened. So many people were there, looking for what we all thought was a pile of treasures that had accumulated in the warehouse during the remodel. On the Friday after the Monday that it opened I went looking for a flowing white skirt as part of celebrating my anniversary. I didn’t find it but instead find these fun little gems. A fun new bright floral top, above, and some other delightful goodies.
In the home decor section I found the sign about Christmas. It’s small so won’t be hard to fit into one of my Christmas decor boxes. It perfectly captures my sentiments about the holiday. I already have a TON of Christmas decorations for my small home, but this was just so perfect. The Ninjago book is for my grandsons. Then the board game was only $2 and looked fun. I love social deduction games where you write stuff from a prompt and you guess who said what. Then a book by Merrilee Boyack, who I love (mom of Connor Boyack of Tuttle Twins fame). These are fictional stories that are inspired by the Book of Mormon. I want to read these to my grandchildren. Then I opened it up and noticed Merrilee had dedicated it to her grandchildren. We think alike! I just read aloud the first one last night for bedtime to my two oldest grandsons and enjoyed it. You know how sometimes stories meant to teach and/or inspire can be tedious? This one wasn’t and I hope the rest of them are just as pleasant.
Then these church history trivia cards. The pack was $1.50. They are so beautiful! I love trivia and I love the story of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ so I had to get these. I love that the artwork is so realistic. Probably done by AI. I love the rendering of Lucy Mack Smith, she looks so lovely. You can play three different games with these cards: Saints, Timeline, and Trivia. The set is #1 of a series about Church history, done by the B.H. Roberts foundation. You can see all of the four sets of the series and order them here.
Here are some of the cards below.
You can also buy them on Amazon here. Below is an image below from amazon to also show how beautiful the cards are. Each of the four packs retails for $19.95 so $1.50 is a great deal! I hope to find the rest of the packs when thrifting.
Image Credit: amazon.com
In addition to all the above, I also got these things below from that first thrifting trip, which was also to celebrate my anniversary. I found a table runner for St Patrick’s Day! I’ve been wanting more decorations for St. Patty’s Day. Only $3. It will look great with my springy-floral tablecloths as well as my gray and white patterned white tablecloth. Then the two blue outfits are for my new grandson. $2 each.
Then we have some books I got when going to some Little Free Libraries with my husband on a date. This was part of our anniversary four-day weekend celebration of Aug. 15-18. I rented a tandem bike for my husband and me, and then we learned to ride it in our neighborhood park in the afternoon. I wanted to ride it to at least 5 or 6 Little Free Libraries after we learned how to ride, and trade out whatever number books we brought for new-to-us books, but by the time we got out, we only had time for two stops, before we had to get back for our family game afternoon and pizza and ice cream dinner before our night of temple sealings. So we drove to the first Little Free Library, bringing four books. We traded two books for two books in that first Little Free Library, and then rode the bike to the second free Little Library, where we traded in two more books. So we brought home four new-to-us books. The Mulberry Street book was in great condition, and I felt a bit rebellious in adding this sometimes banned book to my Dr. Seuss collection. Then the Ben Franklin book is a Landmark book, which I do collect. I’m just bummed it’s not hardback with the pretty binding to match the others on my shelf. Oh well. I hope to read it aloud to my last child I’m homeschooling as well as to my grandchildren. I’ll also use it for my Independence Day decorations. Then Expecting Adam is about a woman who gets pregnant and then finds out her baby is expected to have Down’s Syndrome. It looks so good. Then the Little Toot book looks vintage and fun.
Then the following Tuesday I went back to the Provo DI and found the above goodies. Yes, those are baby wipes in the bottom right. The bag is still sealed, Kirkland brand, so high quality. It was $3 so cheaper than if I bought them brand new at Costco. I had just been thinking in the past month or so that I had run out of baby wipes and wanted to replenish. I don’t have babies or young kids at home on a daily basis but I like to have these on hand for quick clean ups when the grand kiddos are here.
I just love the two shirts! One is super thick, high quality designer brand, by Isaac Mizrahi. Only $3! I’m always looking for the perfect plain basic white shirt and I think I’ve finally found it because it has a flattering fit and feels so soft and thick. The other one is a fun T-shirt with a theme I love: butterflies and nature. I can wear it with black pants, a black skirt, my red polka dot skirt, and my gingham checked black skirt. Word Flip is a Discovery Toys game. This is one game I like to keep in my baskets by the dining room for easy mealtime entertainment and connection. I got a copy of this game decades ago as a Christmas gift from my sister and we’ve used it a bit over the years at mealtime. Two of the tabs broke which was annoying because it meant that sometimes two of the letters on the card underneath where two tabs are supposed to be, showed through, if the word was longer than 7 letters. So then the game wasn’t as fun. So when I found this game at the Provo DI for only $2, and the game still had the original factory seals, I thought, “Hey I can ‘fix’ the old game for only $2 by simply replacing it!” Done!
Then here’s another rectangular basket to use for bedroom organization. One of these days I’ll get my all the toy shelves and my bedroom organized by baskets. I have plenty of thrifted baskets now, I think, I just need to take the time to do it! We shall see when it all pans out. Then we have two of my favorite things from that particular day’s haul.
First, a book about Jane Austen.
I’m so excited about it! Here’s the book summary from amazon.com:
“A comprehensive and entertaining celebration of the classic works of the nineteenth-century British novelist includes a host of offbeat trivia about the author, facts about Austen’s life and times, a detailed filmography and bibliography, quotations, sidebars, and information on literary themes.” I wish the cover art was better, it’s too cartoony for me, but the book will still be so fun! It’s amazing what happiness only $1 can buy!
Second, the Reader’s Digest Children’s Songbook. We had this book in my childhood home as I grew up and I don’t know what happened to it. I inherited most of my mom’s piano music but not this one. Our family’s copy was a different edition, it was yellow with red lettering, as shown below. All the songs, though, are the same inside with the same typography and illustrations, just green and gray and black instead of orange gray and black. So it was so fun to find this. I got it for $4, and it’s used on amazon for $4.05 plus shipping so not a huge savings, but still cheaper. It still has the audio CD inside the front cover and the lyrics booklet in the back. It looks like new!
It has so many fun songs, like The Rainbow Collection, Do-Re-Mi, The Muppet Show Theme, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, It’s Not Easy Being Green, We’re Off to the See the Wizard, The Good Ship Lollipop, The Pink Panther movie theme, and so much more. Definitely worth $4! Just having the songs from the Sesame Street/ Muppets and the Wizard of Oz alone is worth the $4!
Image Credit: amazon.com
This was a fun follow-up to finding the Reader’s Digest Popular Classics Songbooks that I found this past summer, over here.
I already have the Christmas songbook, from my 16th birthday. It gives me a lot of joy to play piano music and sing along. We sometimes do family and friend singalongs as well. After I do walking or strength exercising I reward myself by playing a song or two. Playing music is just such a quick way to dazzle my heart.
The third week of August, I went thrifting twice. I dropped my 16 year old son off for the Heroic Youth Quest and stopped at the American Fork DI on the way home. Here’s what I found, below.
I just love, love the floral skirt above. It gives me all the gorgeous flowery Ivy City Co vibes without the hefty price tag! It was only $6. I felt blessed to find a matching top in exactly the right shade of hot pink for only $3. (I folded up the top in the photo to cover up the grease spot that came at my son’s birthday dinner party when I greedily ate the last bacon wrapped onion ring while standing in the kitchen instead of properly sitting at the table where the grease would have fallen on my plate.)
I’ve always loved Heather Farrell’s writings about women of the scriptures on her blog. So I was excited to find her book, Women of the Old Testament, for only $4. Then Katy and the Big Snow is a classic picture book I can add to my winter picture book collection and read to the grandchildren. It’s one of those books I’ve checked out from the public library every year from our Morning Basket and now I don’t have to any more, so yay!
The basic Scrabble game I’ve been wanting to find, in order to add to my Gardening Scrabble to see if it makes it more fun to make the game last longer. Last time I played it just felt like it ended too soon when we ran out of tiles. The Bob Ross game I already have, but this one was still factory sealed. My old one, which I also found thrifting a few years ago, has dried out markers so I figured this was a way to fix the game just like with Word Flip above by simply replacing it with a new one. The thing on the top called Loving Families is piano sheet music from 1976. It’s a lovely song about family togetherness.
Then I got a small rose gold picture frame, for only $1. I’m going to fill it with one of my 19-year-old daughter’s adorable baby photos and put it on my desk. The science book has a totally boring ugly cover but is very interesting inside with lots of photos, illustrations, and text about basic science concepts. Then the London thing is a card deck full of cards about walking tours in London. It was still in the shrink wrap, only $1.50. My firstborn moved to Ireland this summer with his wife. I hope to visit sometime and tour London with them. These cards will help me plan a walk or two in London. I can also just use them to tour via Google Earth. I might just put it in my stocking as a stocking stuffer for Christmas and act surprised when I pull it out, LOL. It’s from Chronicle Books and retails used on Amazon for over $16.
Then the background is a flat sheet which I bought for use as a tablecloth. My fantasy self wants to sew it into a cottage core/milkmaid dress, LOL, we shall see.
Then here’s my last thrift haul for August, from the Orem Savers, below. I went looking for some supplemental birthday items to go with my son’s main birthday gift. He asked for a double bass pedal for his drum set. So that was on its way, but I also wanted to get some some other things inexpensively. I was hopeful to find something he would love.
I found the books below. The bottom two were for him. The top three I added to my Dr. Seuss/Bright and Early Beginner Books for the grandchildren. With my 20% coupon I got them each for less than $2. they each looked brand new! I got the Merlin book because he loves knights, medieval times, and sword fighting. That’s why he loves the Heroic Youth Quest, where he was acting the role of a flag-bearer that day as I bought the books. I discovered by reading the back of the book that Madeleine L’Engle endorsed the book, so that sealed the deal for me buying it. I got the Schwarzenegger book because he’s into weightlifting. He goes everyday to the rec center with his buddies and lifts weights, as inspired by his older brother, now on a mission. Older brother went to the gym every day but Sunday for a few years before the mission and competed in weightlifting competitions. He was so good he joined the 1000 club, which means he lifted over 1000 lbs total in one morning’s competition in Idaho. I realize that bodybuilding and weightlifting are not the same thing but I figured he would love the book. I wasn’t going to get it at first. I had picked a different book for him, but when I got to the check out register, the Holy Spirit told me to go back and get the bodybuilding book and put the other one back.
I’m so glad I did! The book elicited a huge grin at his family birthday dinner party as soon as he pulled away the tissue paper around the book after lifting it out from the gift bag. We also had lots of laughter, from him as well as from his cousin, his aunt and uncle, and the rest of us. His Aunt Sally said that just the day before her husband had watched the Conan the Barbarian movie. The book even has a photo of Conan! I also got him two fun T-shirts, a BYU football shirt that I had picked up at DI the day before, and then this Subway shirt below, because he loves to eat at Subway, plus two of his cousins work at one in Maine so he talks about that with his boy cousin.
So that’s it for my August thrifting hauls! I’d love to hear what thrifting treasures you’ve found so please share below in the comments if you want.
If you want more thrifting juiciness, please go here to see all I’ve blogged about thrifting.
I missed my #thriftingthursday post yesterday which I’m hoping to make a habit. Ah, there’s always next week. Since we are in back-to-school time, go here to see what educational/school supply/homeschooling items I’ve found when thrifting, if you missed that post. Today’s post relates to thrifting too, even though it’s not about a thrift store. It is about a store that bargain hunters will want to visit!
It’s about Daiso, a Japanese dollar store. So if you are thrifty shopper, you definitely want to know about Daiso! Read on so you don’t miss out on some great deals!
If you live in Utah County, UT, you are sooo in luck!!! A new Daiso just opened up a few weeks ago in Provo UT. I got to visit just this morning. I was thrilled, and overwhelmed, to see the variety of offerings.
I’ll definitely be going back!! I didn’t even go through the whole store. So many cool things! Think of Dollar General/Dollar Tree meets Sanrio and TJ Maxx! It is a bit confusing when you first walk in. Everything is labeled in Japanese, with the prices in yen. So you have to follow the charts posted on the store to know the prices.
Basically, if there’s no price, then the price is $2.25. If there’s a price in yen listed, then check the price chart to translate the yen into US dollars.
When I was young, like 9-18, I used to go to the Sanrio/Hello Kitty store in the Orem UT mall. I spent my babysitting money on lots of Hello Kitty/My Melody/Tuxedo Sam stickers and doodads, plus Anne of Green Gables books at the BYU Bookstore. So a bit of nostalgia came back as I saw the Hello Kitty stuff today. As one Daiso YouTube vlogger mentioned, I’m still just a 7-year old girl at heart, bedazzled by all cute bits and bobs!
Below is what the outside looks like at the Provo Daiso. Such a modest storefront. You can’t tell what adorable, functional treasures await for you inside!
Below are some shots of what’s available. I only spent about ten minutes. I’ll definitely be going back!!!
Check out the glass food storage offerings, for all crunchy moms not wanting to store food in plastic stuff.
Lots of non-crunchy mom plastic stuff abounds, too, LOL.
Umbrellas!
Some baskets!!!
These zippered pen pouches are just so dang cute!! They remind me of the Sushi Go! card game.
Daiso abounds with lots of organization tools for office, home, and homeschooling. Look at those darling bookends!
All the sewing and craft notions will make any of you want to attempt some creating.
Believe it or not, I managed to leave with just some hair clips, for $2.25 each.
I’ll be going back for sure! I didn’t even get to the kitchen gadgets and dishes, the stationery, cleaning supplies, or the food.
I’m hopeful to get my Japanese sister-in-law to come with my other sisters-in-law and me for a fun girls day out. She can coach us on all the wonderful Japanese goodies, like the black cotton swabs shown in the video below.
This video shows some random stuff.
In the meantime, I have some YouTube videos to help me navigate all the offerings, so I can decide what I really truly need and want. Watch above and below.
This video shows a bunch of crafting stuff you can find at Daiso.
Who knew that I might need a case for a single banana, a Ramen noodle spork, an electric eraser, or a portable toilet small enough to fit in my purse?
Bonus blessing for me: the Provo Daiso store is just down and across the street from one of my happy places, the Provo Deseret Industries!!! So now I can hit both places on the same run. I’m excited to go there with my mom, my daughters, my grandsons and my Veggie Gal girlfriends. These items will make great add-on birthday gifts, stocking stuffers, and ministering sister gifts. I can tell Daiso will be increasing my hygge this coming winter by exponential factors!
I listened to this video below a few days ago and loved it. It features Stephen Jones interviewing Don Bradley about the significance of Joseph Smith’s childhood leg surgery. Don is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints now, but for a time he left the Church, after being a life-long member. He claimed to be an atheist. After coming back to the fold, his testimony of God the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and Joseph Smith is solid. Watch the video to hear his story, as well as all about a fascinating insight he shares into why Joseph Smith’s refusal of liquor during his excruciatingly painful surgery relates to Joseph Smith Sr.
Here’s the summary from YouTube:
“What would make a 7-year-old Joseph Smith refuse alcohol before undergoing one of the most excruciating surgeries imaginable—decades before the Word of Wisdom was ever revealed? Once an ex-LDS atheist, now a faithful Latter-day Saint and renowned Joseph Smith expert, Don Bradley shares one of the most powerful discoveries he’s ever made about Joseph’s life. This isn’t just another “Joseph Smith refused alcohol” story—it’s a window into his character and the cultural and historical context most people have never heard. Don opens up about the heartbreaking loss of his own young son—and how that experience gave him a deeply personal window into Joseph Smith’s life, particularly Joseph’s own experiences as a child and as a father. That shared lens of love, loss, and empathy adds a profound human dimension to both the history and the man behind it. We also explore Don’s personal faith journey—leaving the Church, the discoveries that shaped his perspective, and the path that ultimately led him back. From Church history to raw personal experiences, this conversation is real, unfiltered, and full of insights that could change the way you see Joseph Smith and the Restoration.”
I highly recommend you watch it! You will deepen your knowledge of the sacred eternal nature of family relationships, the noble character of Joseph Smith, the plan of salvation, and the grace of Jesus Christ.
Jessa Duggar Seewald dropped a video recently, announcing the name of her Baby #6! It’s Edward Owen. I got half of it right! Weeks ago I guessed Edward, but I didn’t get the middle name right. You can go watch the video here.
Above is big sister Fern Seewald loving on Edward. That and the photo below, so adorable! This baby is blessed to have three mamas!
Then here’s big sister Ivy Seewald loving baby Eddie too.
Then we see some of the Seewald siblings having fun at Grandma Duggar’s home. Cool tricycles! I want some!
Ben is such a loving dad.
I love seeing the art and craft projects that Grandma Michelle provides the older kiddos at her home while she tends them as Jessa adjusts to life with six children. This is the same atmosphere I cultivate for my grandchildren, by not getting rid of my arts, crafts, homeschooling books, and other supplies, and my Closet.
Want to see the rest of the story about Jessa’s labor and birth? Go here and here.
So here’s another post in my series for back-to-school. (If you missed my post on finding items for your homeschool when thrifting, go here.) It’s perfect because it’s about taking a virtual vacation before school starts, which I’m all for, since I’m still in summer vacation mode. It features Sarah Mackenzie of readaloudrevival.com. So if you are a homeschooling mom, please enjoy this little vacation that you can take anytime and anywhere. If you can’t be watching it with the waves rolling in on a beach, I hope you can watch it while sitting on a porch on a lazy summer evening, outside with your bare feet touching the grass, or under a shady tree, while the kiddos are happily playing or napping.
Watch below. This isn’t just a break but a time to recharge your homeschool mother batteries and get some truth to guide you in the upcoming school year. The main truth is to consider doing less in your homeschooling year to make room for more connections with your children. I love Sarah’s analogy that preparing for a new school year is like packing a bag or backpack for a trip.
I also love her “Rule of Six.” She says to focus on six foundational things in the coming school year.
She says she learned about this rule from homeschooling mom Melissa Wiley. It’s actually seven things, six things, plus prayer. So besides prayer, these are the six things that you want to get to every week in your homeschooling with your children. For her, it includes math, reading aloud, and going outside.
For me and my son, the only one left at home to homeschool, for last year, our six things besides prayer were: Morning Basket (which includes reading aloud), math, theater class, time at gym, Sword of Freedom/Hero Class, trip to the public library, and sometimes a a board game. As the year went on, I found that my old game a day rule made my backpack too heavy so I had to let the #bookandgameaday goin the fall, as well as a drawing exercise every day. That makes sense since he’s getting older and independent in his learning. He’s not into drawing and wants to focus on drumming.
She also suggests to start the school year out slowly with one thing, besides prayer, like attending co-op, and then gradually add in more things to your backpack for your homeschooling trip, like math. You know you are adding too much to your backpack or bag if you can no longer smile at your children and they aren’t smiling at you.
As she says, the curriculum doesn’t matter so much, as long as you are making these connections:
Connection to Christ
Connection to each other
Connection to ideas in books and lessons.
All we can do is offer invitations to these connections, and God takes care of the rest.
As a veteran homeschooling mom who has never used a box curriculum other than Mathusee, and LEMI projects, I totally agree! Such wise words, thank you Sarah! She also features a guest, Joy Clarkson, who says it’s so important to focus on taking care of our bodies. It’s so easy as a homeschooling mom to forget that we have a body. If you ever have a problem in your homeschooling, remember you have a body and take care of it with the right food, sleep, exercise, and time outside. That will help you deal with the problem better. More wise words, thank you Joy!
Over here you can read about how you can homeschool with just a math curriculum, like Mathusee, and a public library card.
Want more of Sarah? Read her books below.
Want more of Joy? Here’s her book that Sarah mentioned in the video.
Today at church, I got to play such a beautiful song! I am the pianist for Primary, the children’s organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The primary chorister asked a man in my ward (congregation), impromptu, to sing this new song in front of all the children, to introduce the song. She knew that the man used to be a professional opera singer and would be OK with being asked at the last minute. I hadn’t ever played the song before, and the good brother hadn’t ever sung the song before. But we made a great team! We both made mistakes but we both knew that was OK, especially since it was new to both of us. The children were absolutely mesmerized by his resonant voice and the gorgeous melody and harmony intermixed. I thoroughly enjoyed playing it as well.
Yes, the Savior is coming again! Lift up your voice! Rejoice!!!
Here’s the song below, two versions.
It’s so beautiful! I love the lyrics and the flowing, rolling tune, both by composer Lane Johnson.
Then this video below shows the lyrics.
Here are some of my favorite images from the video above.
When the Savior Comes Again…
Note: the song doesn’t say “the lamb and the lion” will feed together. The composer learned by studying the scriptures that nowhere in the scriptures does it says the lamb and the lion will lie down together, or do anything together, in the Millennium. The scriptures do, however, talk about the wolf and the lamb. See Isaiah 65:25.
Here’s a wonderful interview with the composer, Lane Johnson. The song started as a dream, decades ago, when he dreamt that he would someday write a hymn about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. In the video he tells how the song came to fruition after his dream. Then he tells a tragic yet beautiful story of how he came to have a family of 11 children.
Thank you Brother Johnson for this beautiful, inspiring song! You can get the sheet music here. It’s one of the new songs from the new collection of Hymns: for Home and Church.
Jessa Duggar Seewald dropped a video this morning announcing the gender of her newborn, Baby #6, born on July 26, 2025. Watch here to find out! I have to hand it to Jessa, she really knows how to milk this blessed event for views! The announcement of her labor, birth, gender, and then name are drawn out into four different videos. In today’s video we find out the gender, but not the name and have to wait for Part 4 to be released!
Here are a few screenshots from the video. Above, Jessa’s other children enter Jessa’s hospital room and Grandma Seewald is holding the baby. Big brother Henry asks the gender. Grandma S tells says that Mom and Dad will tell them.
Above, Grandpa Jim Bob Duggar asks the older siblings what they each think the gender is. They got to come see the new baby after going to church. In the previous video, announcing the birth, Jessa explained that it’s their tradition for her husband and her to find out the gender before birth and not tell anyone. Then they let their children come to the hospital to see the new baby and find out the gender, and then the siblings get to tell the rest of the super-sized Duggar family.
Here are all the siblings, with Aunt Josie Duggar, running to the hospital room to meet the new baby and find out the gender. I love the joy of anticipation on big sister Ivy Jane’s face. So sweet :-)!
Contrast Ivy’s face with two-year-old big brother George’s above, LOL. He is ready for a nap and only thinking about that!
Ivy’s caressing of the baby’s face is so motherly and precious!
Here’s big sister Fern holding the baby. She says they should name the baby “Rainbow Print” and then Ivy suggests “Bunny.” So funny! Ben and Jessa say that they haven’t decided the name yet. I relate. With one of my babies, actually it was also Baby #6 for me, DH and I didn’t come up with a name until six weeks had passed!
I just have to say, I called the gender!!! See my previous post here. Way back in Jessa’s video of packing her hospital bag, when she showed the baby’s clothes, I decided it was a boy. Supposedly they were gender-neutral clothes (green, beige, and brown) but I just felt by seeing the clothes she picked out that she was anticipating a boy. Then when I saw him in the birth video he definitely gave boy vibes. Now I’m guessing at the name. I actually had predicted Edward before I watched the video. Just because the Seewalds already have a Henry and a George. Edward fits with those. So does Charles but the baby has a Duggar cousin named Charles already, the son of John-David and Abbie Duggar. All of the Seewalkd boys are named after theologians: Spurgeon, Henry, and George, so far.
I think the name will be one of these five, based on what Ben says in the video:
Edward Calvin
Edward Jonathan
Owen Calvin
Jonathan Calvin
Calvin Jonathan
Congratulations Ben and Jessa!! I miss those baby-bearing days! (Today’s actually the birthday of my Baby #5, who is 21 today.) There’s nothing like giving birth to feel heaven come to earth and feel the power of God. It’s just such an amazing experience!
It’s Thrifty Thursday! Today’s Thrifty Thursday topic here on the blog, since we’re headed into back to school time, is thrifted homeschool items. Here is where two of my passions collide: going to thrift stores to find deals on things I want and need, and homeschooling. When I say “homeschooling” I’m talking about the long haul to bless generations of my family with items that support a love of learning. My adult children, if they ever read my blog, and as far as I know, only one of them does sometimes, might look at this list and say, “I don’t remember using any of these items in our homeschool.” That’s because most of these I acquired after they left, except for the Great Illustrated Classics, the Bright and Early Beginner Books, and a few board games. I didn’t really hit my thrifting groove until my youngest was 8 or 9, when we lived in AZ, and the three oldest had flown the nest. Even though my youngest is 15 now, and I don’t have littles living here on a daily basis, I keep these items for when the grandchildren visit, which does happen weekly so far. As I get more and more grandchildren I hope to use more and more of these items with them for Grandma Homeschooling Culture Time, regardless of the time of day or year, and regardless of whether or not my grandchildren are homeschooled.
Without further ado, here are my top 15 favorite items. Some of them are actually categories because I can’t limit myself to one favorite book or one favorite educational board game. 🙂 Everything shown in the photo above came from a thrift store, except for the apples of course, and I’ll talk about them all below.
Xacto Pro Electric Pencil Sharpener
I couldn’t believe my great fortune when I found the sharpener above. There’s a little story behind it. When I lived in AZ I worked for a company where I was paid to school a handful of children in my home. Part of being a teacher involved receiving a kit of brand new educational supply and resource items sent from Amazon. One of the items was an Xacto pencil sharpener. Well, that was exciting as we had had a hand-cranked pencil sharpener, and then had been gifted an electric sharpener by an uncle, but which got broken. One of my rascally children stuck a crayon into it and ruined it. So it was so fun to get a new electric sharpener replacement, but then it was a dud! It wouldn’t turn off unless it was unplugged. So every time you went to use it you had to plug it in, and you would immediately hear the blades turning, you’d put your pencil in, sharpen it, and then when you pulled out the pencil, the blades kept turning. So to turn off the noise you had to unplug it. That’s just a bit cumbersome. I know, know, First World problem. I reported the issue to the people in charge but they said they couldn’t replace it. So we lived with it for years. Imagine my delight when I found a replacement at my local Deseret Industries thrift store (DI)! I think it was $5. Definitely a Magical Thrifting Moment (MTM) where I felt my thrifting angels singing for me in the heavens above as I pulled the item off the shelf and smiled. Alas, I didn’t have a pencil with me to test it at the electrical outlet testing area provided in the store. I just prayed it would work when I got home and it did! So now we can sharpen our pencils so easily, without stopping to plug in and then unplug the pencil sharpener! Such harmonious function that didn’t exist for years in this home now does! I didn’t go into the store with the intention of finding this, it just fell into my lap. I love these serendipitous moments that involve God winking at me, as if He’s saying, “Hey I know you could use a replacement electric pencil sharpener for just a few bucks, so here you go! You’re welcome!”
2. Great Illustrated Classics
These books are fun because they present the classics of Western civilization in a more digestible form. That’s because they are abridged with simplified language and illustrations on every other page. I have found a lot of these at thrift stores through the years. You can probably find one in the next few months when you go thrifting at least weekly if you keep your eyes open. If you want to expose yourself and your children to the classics, this is a very inexpensive and easy way to go. When you are familiar with the stories you can all go back and do the unabridged versions. I view reading these instead of the unabridged versions the way podcaster Sarah Mackenzie of readaloudrevival.com says about watching the movie before reading the book. She says it’s OK to watch the movie first because it gets you familiar with the plot of the story. Then when you read the book your mind is free to catch the details and enjoy the storyline better because you know what happens.
3. Dorling Kindersley (DK) Books
I just looovve these! As a visual person who loves nonfiction and trivia, I love high quality photographs and illustrations about real things with simple explanations. I have found all these books above for $1.50 to $3 at different Deseret Industries (DIs) and one Savers through the years. Then I got the atlas below at Savers back in June, for around $3.50, which tends to have higher prices than DI. These books are just so fun and appealing with their explanatory text and beautiful photos. And the homeopathy book! It is such a nice complement to the Paola Brown homeopathy curriculum that we used a few years ago. I review the DK homeopathy book here. What a treasure!
4. Big Fat Notebooks
These are great, easy to read summaries of basic topics, at the middle school level. I have found them one at a time at different thrift stores. They are designed to look like notes in a notebook, handwritten by an 11-14 year old, with colorful diagrams. Then each chapter has questions at the end. I’m thinking this coming year we’ll go through them one at a time in our Morning Basket.
5. Chronicles of Narnia CDs
These CDs are all of the Chronicles of Narnia books by C.S. Lewis in audio format. They are fully dramatized with different voice actors along with fully orchestrated music. I found the set brand new, still in the shrink-wrap, at a Goodwill in Phoenix, AZ. For only $7! The back of the package says it retails for $59.99. We listened to these in the car driving to and from our homeschooling co-op 90 minutes each way for a whole year. So, soo good! The inside of the package is so beautiful, with the artwork of the package lined up with the artwork of the CDs, as I show in the photos below.
Isn’t it all just so gorgeous? So amazing!!! C.S. Lewis’ stepson Douglas Gresham was in charge of the whole project. He got the best and brightest talent in London to help with it. This is probably my absolute favorite thrifting treasure of all time.
Then gradually through the years I have found all the hard copy Narnia books, as shown below. My children have loved these books.
6. Bright and Early/Dr. Seuss Beginner Books
I’ve been collecting these since all the kiddos lived at home. I like to keep these especially for my grandchildren. When I give the grandsons a bath, it’s fun for the older one to get one of these off the shelf and read aloud while I’m bathing his younger brother.
7. Coloring Books and Activity Books, Especially Dover Coloring Books, Crayons, and How to Draw Books
The ones above were all $1 to $2 at thrift stores, except the Antietam to Gettysburg one. I think I got that on amazon, to add to my collection, when I was teaching LEMI’s Sword of Freedom class.
The idea is to let children color in these as I read aloud. I was never consistent with offering it to the older ones, when I had one or two. I’ve collected so many more since they left. So far my youngest two haven’t embraced the idea of coloring while listening to audiobooks or me reading aloud so I’m keeping them for the grandchildren.
I found the above case of crayons, pencils, and markers at DI a few years ago for $2. When my grandson saw it, he said, “This is the best day ever of my whole life! I love this!” Below is what it looks like closed up. This is a great reminder for me to have it more often when he comes to visit because we haven’t used it in awhile.
Then here are some how to draw books. I am almost done with my Bruce McIntyre’s Drawing Textbook, having done one drawing a day, off and on (years ago it was mostly off, but now it’s mostly on) through the years, and then I’ll advance to the book below on the left. I did the one on the right with my son for a bit and then he lost interest but I bet I can get my oldest grandson interested in it after he turns 8.
8. Card Decks of Quizzes and Conversation Starters, and Tiny Toys and Games, All for Travel, Read Aloud Time, and Dinner Time
I love finding Professor Noggins quiz card games when thrifting. All of the above were priced from 75 cents to $3. I also look for flash cards and Pomegranate brand card decks.
I’ve seen the Pomegranate decks in the BYU Museum of Art Gift Shop for the full price, around $13. At thrift stores I’ve found them for $1-$2. Everything but the After Dinner Trivia tin and the Word a Round game in the photo just below are Pomegranate brand quiz decks.
I was so happy to find a Kanoodle set for only $1 a few years ago. It’s a super fun 3-D puzzle.
I keep these card decks and some of the tiny toys and games close by in baskets next to the dining room table. Then during mealtime I pull out the cards and quiz the family or ask the questions on the conversation starter cards. The tiny toys and games are for the grandsons to play with after Sunday dinner. I keep the rest of the tiny toys and games in my game room/office to rotate through to keep interest high for the grandboys.
9. Board Games
I love board games and I love thrifting so the fact that I can find board games at thrift stores just doubles the pleasure! I’m always on the lookout for unique board games. I pass up on common boring, chance-based ones like Aggravation and Sorry! to find unique ones, especially educational ones. I use these for gameschooling. Here is a sampling of what I’ve found. (If you want to learn all about gameschooling, go here.)
Gardening Scrabble is so much better than regular Scrabble. It has cards that give you special powers, like the ability to “fertilize” your word and triple the score, or “rototill” your garden and get rid of all your tiles and get new ones. The game below is when one of my adult sons played the game with me over Christmas break. He was such a great sport to play with me when everyone else wanted to play Catan, which is not my favorite but another son’s favorite. I got it for $4! The seed packet cards with special powers fit in the pockets of this adorable gardening tools basket. Then you draw the tiles from the inside of the basket. So fun! Now I want to find Cooking Scrabble when thrifting!
A Jane Austen themed board game to test your knowledge of the stories and characters of all the Jane books! This was the thrifting treasure of the year! I got it in June for only $2.90. Another MTM for sure!
I’ve found so many other fun games while thrifting, for $1 to $6 each. Some of my favorite educational ones are Call to Adventure (storytelling), Funglish, Huggermugger, Code Names (which I got for only $1.50, brand new in the shrink wrap, story is here), Taboo (also new in shrink wrap), Periodic, Into the Forest, Spontuneous, Encore, and lots of history and geography games.
10. Little Golden Books
I find these for 75 cents to $2 at thrift stores and read them to my grandsons when they visit. They know right where they are. I keep them on a low shelf within their reach and when we do stories together they often pick from my LGB collection.
11. Picture Books of Seasons and Holidays and Other Topics for Morning Basket Time and for the Grandchildren
Above and below you see my different seasonal and holiday collections. So far I only have one book I thrifted for Valentines’ Day, Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch, which I was thrilled to find since it’s one of those I used to check out every year from the public library, and now I don’t have to. I have a bunch more for Easter and the other holidays, and just one for Halloween. I read these aloud during our Morning Basket time and to the grandchildren when they visit.
One of my books I display during June and July for Independence Day. For Morning Basket two years ago I read aloud about one signer a day. After years of checking this book out every year from the public library I found this at Savers!
Above and below are some of my picture books for Independence Day. (I just discovered this past summer that I can decorate my front room with books by using the ledges above my windows and doors!
This is the only Halloween book I have, which I found thrifting. I’m not super into Halloween and this is the only one I’ve found that approximates my feelings about the holiday.
Then shown above is my Thanksgiving collection. Two of the books were given to me by homeschooling mama friends and the rest I found at thrift stores.
The latest finds for my Christmas picture book collection. I have a lot more.
12. Baskets
I love storing books and little games and toys in baskets in our dining room/homeschool room. I didn’t have a true basket for years for “Morning Basket” time but now I do, with my bright yellow basket above which I found at DI for $3. I also found the Linnea book at DI. It’s a great book for Morning Basket to read through the whole year as it talks about little details about the four seasons and how nature changes by the season.
Then this basket below is in my front room for people to browse through when just wanting to lounge on the couch.
Both baskets above were thrifted, and all the items in the white basket above were as well.
13. Mother Culture and Education Items for My Delighted Learningof American and World Culture, Homeschooling Encouragement, As Well as to Give Direction and Enrichment of my Home Culture
I love books like those above, all from the thrift store, where I can learn more about civilization, culture and history, as well as just fun stuff. So here we have a book from Dr. Schaeffer, holiday crafts to do from Martha Stewart with those in my family who like crafts (my married daughter, grandsons, mom, and nieces) and the history of holidays and other days. I sometimes pull the books on the upper left and right when we are eating dinner and share the information. The Teacher’s Almanack is particularly fun with a list for every month of the interesting historical events that happened that month and days like National Dog Day or Pie Day. A Book That Takes its Time is a fun guide to creativity with little decorative cutouts and doodads and tiny cards. It was only $2. Then the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, below, I found at DI for only $2! It’s over an inch think and has everything any American needs to know to be considered literate and cultural!
Then I love picking up books about how and why to homeschool from other homeschoolers, like the one below. I read the book below from the public library years ago, and then saw it for $2 recently so picked it up. My review of it is here.
Speaking of culture, I also love family traditions books regarding holidays, seasons, Sundays, and everyday. So here’s my collection for that. All of these books above and below were thrifted except the Christ-centered Easter one from Joe and Janet Hales and Gathering Home by Emily Belle Freeman. (Fun fact: Janet Hales is my husband’s cousin.)
All three of these Christmas-themed books above came from either DI or Savers. They are guides to creating a magical, family-themed Christmas. Two of them are religious and one isn’t.
It’s just so important for we as moms to delight and dazzle our hearts with little things so our bucket is full and we can continue giving. Things like those in the picture above and the songbooks below are such inexpensive ways to delight and dazzle my heart.
14. Songbooks/Piano Music Books
I used to play a song from the Dr. Seuss songbook every morning as a rallying song to signal the start of our homeschooling morning. After the kiddos gathered around the piano we’d sing it together. The LDS songbook was only 50 cents at an estate sale and has a few songs new to me that I really enjoy playing. The rest I already knew and have already played a lot. Then this book below just so delights my heart every morning. I reward myself after doing my exercise routine by playing a song from it. The book has popular music from movies, operas, ballets, plays, and then famous classical songs like from Beethoven and Mozart. Some of the songs I’ve never heard before but a lot of them I have, and just didn’t know the name, like the waltz from the Copelia ballet.
15. Books About the Bibleand the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ, and my other Core Books
I just love books that help me understand the scriptures, my core books, and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. My son and I finally finished reading the Redeemer book which we read during Morning Basket time.
So there you go! I challenge you to go thrifting in August and/or September to see what you can find for your homeschooling. You’ll be surprised at what you find it you go at least weekly for a month. Here’s a fun video below of a cute married couple, the Knorpps, who show what great homeschooling things you can find at a thrift store. They talk about things I didn’t write about like chalkboards, notebooks, binders, a lap desk, even metal lockers! I like Mrs. Knorpp’s suggestion of how to make a chalkboard or white board from framed art at a thrift store. Great idea!
So go thrifting for homeschooling, have fun and let me know what you find in the comments below!
Tree of Life Mothering 