A few weeks ago, I discovered this delightful book at the Draper UT Savers. The store had so many great books that day! I took advantage of the buy 4, get 1 book free sale and had to say no to other books. Here’s the haul below.
It was a delightful mix of functional and beautiful storage solutions as well as homeschooling happiness, plus a hat for summer fun. I’ll use the baskets for toy storage for the grandchildren, the plastic bins for either my homeopathy medicine bottles or first aid stuff, and the books for homeschooling or delighting my heart (the glamping book by Mary Jane Butters is for that). I finally got some shelves for this bungalow since our move a year ago to house all my cardboard boxes and plastic bins of toys that I’ve kept for the grands. Gradually, I’m replacing these boxes and bins with baskets.
Moving on, let’s talk about my featured picture book of the week. I don’t remember where I had heard about this book, This is the World a Global Treasury, by Miroslav Sasek, but as soon as I saw it, I thought, “Oh, I’ve been wanting this book! I’ so lucky to find this today!”
I probably heard about it from a homeschooling vlogger. I had looked for it my local public library and was disappointed that it wasn’t there. That disappointment dissolved when I discovered this treasure! With my 20% off coupon, I paid $4, instead of the current full amazon price of $37.
The author/illustrator is Czech and has such a fun vintage style full of 1950s-60s vibes. The video below shows what the book looks like inside.
.
Here is the history of how he came to write these books.
This book is a compilation of excerpts from the following titles done by Mr. Slavek: This is New York, This is Paris, This is Greece, This is London, This is Australia, This is Texas, This is Munich, This is Rome, This is Britain, This is Hong Kong, This is Israel, This is San Francisco, This is Edinburgh, This is Venice, This is Washington D.C., and This is Ireland. Below is the New York book.
It’s such a simple format and great idea! With this book, you can travel the world with your child and see the most iconic landmarks from each of the above places. The simple succinct text tells you why each landmark is important. It’s a great primer for geographical literacy. I’m excited to add it to my homeschooling Morning Basket! Starting in the fall, we’ll probably do one city a day. I’m also excited to read this to my grandsons as well! Hooray for thrifting! This book almost fills the void I have this summer of not traveling anywhere. Almost, but not quite. I got to go to NYC, Boston/Concord, and Maine last summer. (Go here about NYC, here about Maine, and here about Boston/Concord, if you want to see my posts about that.)
Go here if you want to read more about my thrifting treasures.
Go here if you want to learn more about what Morning Basket is.
Go here to my other website if you want more picture book recommendations, arranged according to seasons. Picture books, thrifting, and homeschooling are some of my many passions!
Happy Pioneer Day! Today is a state holiday in Utah in order to honor the pioneers who, under the leadership of Brigham Young, settled the territory that would later become the state of Utah. My husband’s 4th great-grandfather, Charles Shumway (pictured above), and his son, Andrew Shumway, were in that vanguard company that arrived even before Brigham Young. They entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 22, 1847. In the video below you can see Charles tell the story, thanks to the power of AI. I wonder what his voice really sounded like?
If you want more pioneer related stories, I’ve got some posts from past year’s Pioneer Day times.
Here is when my family visited Cove Fort UT on Pioneer Day. I wish the photos would show up but they are so old that when I switched blogging platforms the photos disappeared. Darn, they are so cute. Two of my kiddos in the photos were of the age, 5 and 6, where they loved to wear a cowboy/cowgirl hat everywhere they went. They looked so cute perched on seat of one of the wagons at Cove Fort. I absolutely love Cove Fort! The place just feels so magical to me. Go here to see photos of it and explore an interactive site. If you ever drive from the Wasatch Front to Southern CA, stop there on your way! It has the cleanest public restrooms you will ever find!
Here is a story of one of my ancestors, Anson Perry Windsor, who lived at Pipe Springs AZ, which is now a national monument. Brigham Young asked Anson Perry to run a cattle ranch and telegraph station there.
Here is a post I did full of lots of pioneer stories. Some involve pioneers trekking to the west, and other stories are of pioneers who were the first to bring the restored gospel or live the restored gospel in other lands, like Austria and Africa. Julie Mavimbela, shown above, is one of the pioneers in Africa.
Then over here I tell the story of my 3rd-great-grandmother on my dad’s side who was a pioneer in leaving her native Denmark to join with the saints of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in moving west. She endured persecution and left her uncommitted husband to follow her conviciton that Jesus Christ had restored His church to the earth again. She became a midwife and Utah
May we each be a pioneer in living the truth that God calls us to live. See my post about that here. Happy Pioneer Day!
Remember when I blogged about the Happy Caravan? That’s the name of a big happy musical family of 11 children and 2 parents, aka the Marc and Amber De La Motte family. They are leaving NYC and moving back to CA right now. 45 years ago, this summer my family did a similar move. We also moved from New York to the West.
If you need more of the backstory of the move, including what brought them to NYC and why they just moved from NYC, go here.
The differences between my family’s move and the Happy Caravan move are: 1. We left upstate NY, not NYC, 2. We moved fewer people (7 instead of 10, with 3 of the De La Mottes out of the nest and not moving with them) and 3. Our destination was UT, not CA. The other two similarities are 1. Moving in the summer and 2. Camping along the way. Except the De La Mottes are using a camping trailer, and we did tent camping, if you can believe it. Of course, I just thought it was fun, at age 9, but my parents carried a burden of stress and daily chores with that camping-along-the-way move. They deserve a medal!
Anyway, I just love big families, homeschooling, road trips, and music, but not moving LOL. Since this family is into all those things right now, I’m having fun sharing their videos. I’m interested to see what path their musical journey will take after the return to CA, which they left a few years ago. Will they return to the music teachers they left? Will the children leave one by one on their own to go back to NYC to Juilliard or the Manhattan School of Music? How many of the children will end up being professional musicians? Will the family stop paying for all the music expenses (instruments and lessons) until they get out of debt? I’m curious about all of it.
I wish them all the best on this new chapter of their big musical family adventure!
The video above shows their arrival coming back home to San Diego! They made it! Yay!
The ones above and below show them settling them into the new/old house, and who actually owns it.
In the video below we see them having their first birthday party in the new/old house.
How did they get the trailer into the driveway? Watch below!
Here’s some good news and bad news about the new/old house.
These wildflowers that my son picked yesterday and brought home to us from a high mountaintop here in the Rockies are gracing my dining room table now. Their beautiful delicacy reminds me of the delicate workings of the Holy Ghost. Just like flowers need watering, a relationship with the Holy Ghost needs care.
I had an experience with the Holy Ghost recently. It was such a blessing to me. Over a week ago I had a cold. It started on a Monday. My nose started feeling so clogged in the evening I started feeling run down and draggy. The next day it got worse to the point that I decided to skip the evneing barbecue social I was planning on attending. The next morning, Wednesday, I canceled all my planned activities and attempted to take a nap but couldn’t ever fall asleep. I tried three different homoepathic medicines but never hit on the right one. For me and colds, it’s usually essential oils that works for me. Over 15 ago, when I had a really bad case of spring allergies that lasted for two weeks, with constant horrible running of the nose and weeping of the eyes, it was the trifecta of lemon, lavender, and peppermint essential oils that worked for me to dry me up. Even though this was a cold and not spring allergies I wanted to use that trio again but couldn’t find my peppermint. I used the lavender and lemon but without the peppermint I didn’t get the curative action.
I went to bed Wednesday night hoping I could sleep without having to go to the trouble of pulling out the humidifier, which is a pain since it’s in a high cupboard on a top shelf. (Do you have stuff like that that you dread having to go to the effort to unearth, LOL?) Fortunately, I slept well and without interruption until 5:30 AM or so. I was in that state of halfway between full wakefulness and sleep. In that fluttery state, I heard a voice in my mind tell me, “I know you looked in the kitchen cupboard for the peppermint oil and couldn’t find it, but if you will go and pull everything out of the cupboard you will find it.” It was such a distinct impression, that when I woke up, I did not forget those words. I knew the voice was God speaking to my mind through the power of the Holy Ghost. Often, I’ll be having a dream right before I wake up and as soon as I wake up, the memory of the dream is completely gone. In this case though, I distinctly remembered what was going through my mind right before I woke up.
So, after my morning prayer, I obeyed the voice. I dutifully walked to the kitchen and pulled everything out of the cupboard and what do you know, sure enough, I found the peppermint oil! It wasn’t the container I had pictured in my mind, one that I bought last year, but a different bottle of oil, one that my dear mom gave to me years ago that I had forgotten I had. I was so grateful to find it! Peppermint oil works for me on my colds by opening up all stuffiness in my stuffy nose. I went and got my lemon and lavender oils and used all three, internally and topically. Within a few hours, the cold was gone. It’s something about the three working together synergistically that knocks out my colds. When I was done with the oils, I made sure to put the peppermint back with the others for next time.
So, to return to the flower metaphor of the Holy Ghost, the way I “water” my relationship with the Holy Ghost involves a few things. 1. Drawing close to Jesus through daily prayer, scripture study, and following the truths of Jesus, i.e, keeping my baptismal covenant, 2. Repenting and asking forgiveness when I goof up, 2. Recording the impressions I get from the Holy Ghost daily, and 3. Acting on the impressions and then writing down the results. Rinse and repeat. If I don’t do these things, the delicate relationship withers away like flowers drying up, and I don’t feel ALL the bounteous, joyful, beautiful blessings of having the Holy Ghost in my life that I otherwise could.
I’m so grateful that we have this opportunity, this potential, to know the truth of all things through the power of the Holy Ghost. Granted, it probably won’t happen all in mortality. God knows everything. I don’t think any mortal has ever attained or ever will attain all the knowledge that God has. We can, however, tap into the mind of God, and know the things that He wants us to know, everything that is expedient for us to know, through the power of the Holy Ghost. It’s such a tremendous gift!
“[The Holy Ghost is] The third member of the Godhead (1 Jn. 5:7; D&C 20:28). He is a personage of Spirit, not having a body of flesh and bones (D&C 130:22). The Holy Ghost is often referred to as the Spirit, or the Spirit of God.”
“The power of the Holy Ghost can come upon a person before baptism and witness that the gospel is true. But the right to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, whenever one is worthy, is a gift that can be received only by the laying on of hands by a Melchizedek Priesthood holder after authorized baptism into the true Church of Jesus Christ.”
“To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, D&C 46:13.”
“Whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, D&C 68:4.”
“The Holy Ghost shall be shed forth in bearing record unto all things ye shall say, D&C 100:8.”
“The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, D&C 121:45–46.”
Want more stories about the Holy Ghost?
Here is a story of the Holy Ghost working in my life when we visited NYC. Skip to point #4 if you don’t want to read the other stuff. Point #4 tells the story of the Holy Ghost directing me when I almost got lost with my son and two little grandsons in Manhattan. The Holy Ghost saved us from getting lost!
Here is where I shared two stories from members of my church who shared them at one of our church meetings where they felt the power of the Holy Ghost.
Over here is where I share a story from the mission for one of my sons, the same one who brought home the flowers at the top of this post. He served in Texas and felt the Holy Ghost prompt that he and his missionary companion were to take their laptops to a teaching appointment. In the same post I share a time when I felt someone responded to the Holy Ghost to minister to me after I prayed desperately to God for help.
Then over here I repeat that story about my neighbor ministering to me, plus share a bunch more stories of the Holy Ghost working in my life.
In my Celestial Family Devotionals Ebook, found here, you can read stories of other people feeling the power of the Holy Ghost, in the January section.
My favorite carnivore vlogger, Kelly Hogan, just dropped this video talking with other carnivores about trying out the sugar diet. Have any of you heard of people losing weight eating only candy? Kelly has not given in to the diet but these three ladies whom she interviewed did to see it it would work for them. They are all seasoned carnivores and share their experience in the video below. I can tell based on what they say that the results would be disastrous for me just like it was for them. Thanks for “taking one for the team,” ladies, as Kelly says. I won’t even be attempting that diet.
It’s been over 20 years since I’ve been to the Magic Kingdom. I visited it in 1985 for the 30th anniversary. I was 14. My parents, my older two brothers, my two younger sisters and I got to go as part of a week-long summer vacation in CA. Then I got to go again in 2004, when I was a mom of 4 and 7 months pregnant. I’ve also been to Disney World twice, which has a Magic Kingdom, similar to Disneyland. The park and the company sure have changed. I wonder what Uncle Walt would say about all the changes? Today I’m celebrating the original Disneyland, the way it was when Walt first opened its doors on July 17, 1955.
Here are some fun videos to watch to celebrate.
It’s interesting to note that the Happiest Place on Earth was also the most unfinished place on earth on Opening Day. Despite that problem, it went on to be a worldwide tourist destination. Just goes to show that if we aren’t done with our goal on deadline day it’s ok to keep working at the goal. Things will get better if we keep working. Perhaps another lesson is to be more realistic about deadlines for a huge construction project and place them further out.
This video below shows what became the inspiration for Disneyland.
Here are some secrets of Disneyland.
This video below shows the new show at Disneyland with an animatronic Walt telling what his greatest reward was, after you see footage of his story. The animatronic part starts at 16:30. It’s not as creepy as I anticipated.
OK, because I love to list resources whenever I do birthday mentions of people, places or books, here are some other resources besides videos.
I mentioned a site in my blog here that reviews old Disney movies so you can know which ones are worth watching. Some are duds and some are golden.
Here is a blog by a homeschooling mom with different Disney-themed curricula, from an Imagineering course involving physics and math, P.E., art, and language arts.
I can’t end this post without mentioning two of my passions, board games and thrifting!
Here’s a fun game to bring out your inner Walt. It’s the Disney Animated board game. You get to work cooperatively on a Disney animation team, seeing if you can get some classic Disney movies done by the deadline.
The five movies involved are Snow White, Aladdin, 101 Dalmatians, Fantasia, and Alice in Wonderland. This game is definitely worth paying full price for. It’s currently only $20 on amazon. (Not an affiliate link.)
It uses transparent cards with full color animated figures that you put on a background with scenery. Such fun!
I enjoy playing Disney Codenames but feel like I need a Disney character encyclopedia when I play because I’m not up on all the new movies. Fortunately, I found this book below when thrifting. It’s a house rule that we can check this book when playing the game.
Image Credit: amazon.com
Finally, keep your eyes out for this game below when thrifting. (Of course, I like to bring up board games and thrifting whenever I can!) You could keep your eyes out for the games above too but you’re probably less likely to find those. Anyway, I found this game below last fall when thrifting. We played it as a big family group when the married children were in town for Thanksgiving. It got everybody laughing. It’s great for a big crowd because the box says it’s for up to 99 players. Most people know something about Disney movies so will probably play, especially if placed on a team. One of my daughters-in-law won because of her vast Disney knowledge. I wouldn’t pay full price for it but at $4 or less it’s totally worth it.
I can’t let this day pass without mentioning that on this day 24 years ago my third son was born, at home. He was born around 8:30 AM into a birthing pool. He was my second home birth and fourth child. My husband, my mom, my midwife, her two midwife assistants, my doula, and my three older children welcomed him into this world. What a happy day that was! He and his brother on either side of him were each big babies, over 9 lbs. All born at home.
I felt ready to have the baby. I had done my visiting teaching for the month (what is now called ministering). I had organized our storage room the Saturday before, getting out all the baby things. I had cleaned things and felt my nesting was done. I had gone to bed the night before with contractions about 5 minutes apart, after we watched Anne of Green Gables as a family on a Sunday night. I told my husband that this might really be labor and not just Braxton-Hicks contractions. The plan was to see how long I would sleep and if the contractions were still there when I woke up. Then I felt it would probably be the day we had all been waiting for.
My daughter found all these baby boy outfits while thrifting! She shares my love of finding great deals on cute stuff!
I woke up around 5 AM to use the bathroom, with the contractions still coming around 5 minutes apart. After walking around and then lying down again, the contractions stayed strong, so I knew this was it. I sat in a rocking chair by the bedroom window, rocking during some of the contractions. I remember my husband taking my hand, looking out the window with me at the sunrise. “The sun is rising, and you are giving birth to our new son today,” he said as he smiled at me. If anybody ever did a Hallmark movie showing a home birth, that scene would be in it. Everything felt perfect.
I had read an article about the power of vocalization during labor in the previous few months. The article said that vocalization helps to open up the cervix and helps the laboring mom feel stronger. I had also just read an article about the power of sacred hymns in everyday life. I decided to combine the two ideas. When the contractions got super intense, after rocking, I decided to start singing in a super low voice. I decided to combine that with getting my body in a low position as well. So I went into the living room and got on all fours. When the next contraction came, I lowered my body to the ground, sinking into the contraction as I moaned the hymn I was singing in a super low guttural voice. It felt good to ride the waves of contractions this way. Nobody could tell I was singing, or what I was singing. I’m sure I sounded like a cow, but I didn’t care. I labored this way through a few contractions. My method worked a little too well as the contractions got back-to-back, with no break in between. I then got into the birthing pool with a lot of help. Baby Boy Shumway #3 was born shortly after that, after about two more contractions and one or two pushes.
One of my nieces made this carrot cake. It was so good! I decided it was worth it going off my keto diet to eat it.
Just writing about it all brings back the ecstatic feeling of having just given birth naturally. It’s such an indescribably incredible feeling. Having given birth naturally five times and with medication two times, I can definitely testify that the feeling I had after the natural births was better. It’s such a sense of accomplishment, peace, relief, joy and new beginnings, all rolled into one.
I’m so glad that my baby boy is now 24 years old and the wonderful young man that he is. We later moved from that home, but it holds such a dear, precious spot in my heart. It’s only about a few miles from where I live now. I gave birth to another son in that home 3 years later. I have two sisters-in-law who each gave birth to a son in that home. Anytime I drive by it I get such happy feelings.
Now I have a daughter who is planning on a home birth with a son, next month. The photos in this post are from the party we just had for her, a “Blessingway” since she didn’t really need any material things for a baby. It was more to give her emotional support. This is the first time I will be living close by for one of her babies being born. The previous two were born out of state.
My niece took flowers that we picked out, because of their symbolic meanings, and then assembled a flower crown for my daughter.
The circle of life continues, as I will be doing the same role my mom did for me during the labor I just described by watching baby’s older siblings while my daughter labors and gives birth. I’m so excited! There’s nothing else like childbirth. The room feels like heaven when it happens. It’s an honor and privilege to give birth, and a quadruple honor to see my daughter choosing to do a home birth.
If you want to feel all the feels about the gift of giving life, check out my review of the book, The Gift of Giving Lifehere, and then go read the book. It’s so good!
It was on this day, July 15, in 1868 that Louisa May Alcott finished writing Little Women. She started in May 1868 after the publisher of her previous two books, Moods, and Hospital Sketches, asked her to write a book for girls. She resisted at first and then relented. I’m so happy that she did! I love Little Women. It’s the longest-running book for children in print. That’s because it’s a true classic, with wonderful truths in it to resonate with everyone, including boys and men. It’s not just for girls and women.
Here are some things I’ve written about LW:
–Finding God in LW, or why the book is better than the modern movies
-a review of a book about LMA and her mother, Abigail May Alcott
If you’ve never read the book, you owe it to yourself to read it! If you’ve already read it, read it again! A free audiobook version is above. Then go watch the movie. The 1994 version is the best one. A clip of it is below.
Credit for Image Above: Unshaken Saints YouTube Channel
Wow! I have thoroughly enjoyed this past week doing a deep dive into learning about the true nature of heaven. I’m so grateful for the vision of heaven that the Prophet Joseph Smith recorded as Section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants. That was the scripture reading assignment for this week of Come Follow Christ. I’m grateful because Joseph Smith learned that the true nature of heaven is much more liberal, generous, fair, welcoming, beautiful, marvelous, glorious, and wonderful than any human before him had ever known. We are so blessed to learn this. It’s all because Christ is so much more than people knew about before Joseph came along.
I watched several videos about all this as I multitasked to enrich my scripture study. They were all so marvelous!
My favorite was this one below with Jared Halverson. He said the most romantic thing about his wife ever. Oh my!
He said that after he married his wife, he told her basically the following:
“Dear, I’m sorry. I doubted your existence. I didn’t think that people like you existed in the world. So, I have to break it to you, honey. You’re not the girl of my dreams because I never dreamed that good.”
Isn’t that just the most amazing, most romantic line a husband could ever say to his wife? Swoon!!!! I heard this as I was driving home from grocery shopping. I almost had to pull over to the side of the road and calm my beating heart. It’s just so lovely!
Then Brother Halverson went on to say, “And to think that heaven is not the heaven of our dreams because our dreams fall short. It is greater than that because Christ is greater than that.”
In other words, Joseph learned in this vision in D&C 76 that heaven is grander than any apostle, saint, prophet, philosopher or writer had described or written about before.
Watch above. It’s all so good! This vision shows that before Joseph Smith revealed these words about heaven, man’s view of heaven was too small. Perhaps our view of heaven is still too small today. Reading Section 76 will definitely expand your view!
Then I watched the commentary of Sister Lili De Hoyos Anderson about the same section 76. It’s in two parts, above and below.
Then below we have the commentary of Farrell and Rhonda Pickering. They share the chiasmuses that are in Section 76 and how it all relates to the plan of salvation. It’s so amazing how God works in so many layers of patterns. It’s all so gloriously rich and beautiful. I’ve also included screenshots from their video.
They shared that the moon is more than 25K times brighter than the stars, and the sun is 398K times brighter than the stars. That helps us gain perspective of the glories of the different divisions of heaven. Even the stars have glory.
Below are more screenshots from the video. They show that the plan of salvation relates to the stars, the ancient tabernacle of Old Testament times, and the temples of today.
I’m so grateful to know that because of what Joseph Smith revealed in this vision, as well as with the vision of the dead that Joseph F. Smith beheld in D&C 138, that heaven allows space for all people who want to be there. It’s not as restrictive and small as people taught about for centuries, based on Jonathan Edwards’ sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” That sermon taught that only a select few will go to heaven. Neither is it as long in duration as Dante’s Inferno had led people to believe for even more centuries. At least for most of us. Only the sons of perdition will suffer hell eternally. Jared Halverson explains that those people are those who willfully choose not to accept Jesus, even after they have had the testimony burned into their hearts. He says that very few people are that evil. As I’ve heard before, it’s like staring into the sun and declaring that it’s not shining.
People who die without knowing anything about Jesus will have the chance to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ in the spirit world. As Doctrine and Covenants 138 teaches, they will have the chance to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and be baptized by proxy by those on earth. That is one reason why temples exist on the earth today.
Even people who are evil will receive a lower degree of heaven after they have repented and suffered in hell for a time. They won’t be in hell forever. They will be redeemed from hell after Jesus has finished His work, through the end of His Millennial reign. See D&C 76:81-86. They will receive a glory of heaven that is likened unto the glory of the stars.
To see the vision in poetic form, check out what William W. Phelps wrote here. Lynn Johnson explains the poetic parallelisms/chiasmuses of D&C 76 here.
Here are two more videos about “The Vision,” what Section 76 was commonly called when it was first publicized. The top one shows more the historical context of The Vision, including shots of the John and Elsa Johnson home where it took place, in Hiram Ohio. I’m so grateful we have this knowledge to inspire and comfort us. Heavenly Father, with His Son Jesus Christ, truly extend to us the perfect balance of mercy and justice, as seen by this plan of heaven. We can know this is true by the power of the Holy Ghost.
P.S. I just love this vision of heaven so much that I also blogged about it four years ago. Go over here to see what I shared with completely different videos.
Here’s a fun book and movie pairing for this month of July. Even though it’s summer, I still like to homeschool with Morning Basket. It’s basically where I read aloud to my son books to share with him what is good, true, and beautiful. We read books about history, Shakespeare, math, science, art, and the gospel. (You can go here to learn more about it.) We do a shorter MB time than we do the rest of the year, and then math from Mathusee, for our homeschooling on these summer mornings.
Just this morning we finished The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence after watching National Treasure. It’s a fun picture book that tells the history of the Declaration of Independence. National Treasure came out a long time ago, so you’ve probably already seen it. In case you haven’t, here’s a synopsis. Skip and go to the next paragraph if you know about it. It’s a fun adventure movie about a guy who gets a seed planted in his mind by his grandfather that the Declaration of Independence has a map on the back that leads to secret treasure. He grows up to be a history buff and gets caught in another guy’s evil plan to find the treasure. It’s a great movie that shows early American history sites in the context of an intense story involving a race. You see Washington D.C., with some of the famous things there like the Washington Monument, the Library of Congress, the Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall, and the National Archives building. Then you also get to see things in Boston, like the Old North Church, and in Philadelphia, namely Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell.
After each of my 7 children finished the Key of Liberty class by LEMI, they got to watch the movie. It’s one of the few movies I’ve seen over and over. It’s such a fun story! It can generate a lot of questions for the curious mind, like, who are the Knights of Templar, who are the Freemasons, why did Ben Franklin write as Silence Dogood, and is there really a national treasure?
We rewatched it the other night for our Family Home Evening activity since we just celebrated Independence Day last week. (You can go here to see about that.) Usually we watch episode two of the John Adams HBO series that shows the drafting of the Declaration, but I decided with my nephew visiting us it would be more fun to watch NT and then do John Adams this Saturday or Sunday. It pairs perfectly with the book.
After watching National Treasure, it’s easy to think that the famous document has been sitting under glass for hundreds of years. When you read the above book you will learn the real history of what the picture book calls “The One and Only.” The marvelous piece of paper has only been under glass, in the National Archives building, since December 13, 1952. It was interesting to read about how many times the original Declaration of Independence changed hands before that. Since its birth in 1776, it hasn’t always been treated carefully. Most people knew to roll it up, and not fold it, but it was folded sometimes, leaving creases. It also had some glue and Scotch tape on it. Some experts fixed all those problems before its final resting place at the National Archives building. The document has been carried by horseback, wagon, carriage, boat, handcart, train, armed truck and Marine Corps tank through the centuries.
I love that the book says, “No effort was too much to keep the Declaration of Independence safe. It declares the birth of a new nation. It celebrates the value and dignity of every human being. Though it doesn’t declare that all people are created equal in ability, talent, or brains, it does declare that all people are created equal in their basic rights, including ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ “
Tree of Life Mothering 