Tree of Life Mothering

We miss being able to go to the public library soooo much! Founding Father Ben Franklin, is surely up in heaven commiserating with all of us missing out on his invention, part of his amazing legacy.

Here are two substitutes we are using until we can get there again. One of my friends says the library is opening in her state soon but I don’t see any opening on the horizon here yet.

1. Libby

image credit: apple.com app store

Libby is an app you can get to access digital books from your public library. Even when we regularly went to the public library in person, my daughter would use this. She had to teach me how to use it, LOL! This post explains all about it. So far I’ve found a bunch of picture books to read aloud, but not nearly as many as the public library has in real, hard copy, print books. You can’t expect to find a copy through Libby of every hard copy book the library has. Still, it’s an awesome resource! Yay for being able to still check out books in some form, albeit only digital, from the public library! Digital has its advantages. They can’t get torn, spilled on, or lost, right?

Here’s a sampling of what we have found though Libby (all book cover images below come from amazon.com):

and lots of oldies but goodies like Corduroy, the Encyclopedia Brown series, the Little House series, Chronicles of Narnia, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, and Half Magic, for example. It has a ton new books too!

2. Scribd

Scribd.com is a collection of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, newspapers, podcasts, documents, and sheet music. It has a TON more than Libby. It’s also much better than Audible, because you have unlimited access to all those resources for a low flat monthly fee, around $10. I have Audible too and love them both! Audible sometimes has books scribd doesn’t, although it’s rare. Just like Audible, it has a website with an accompanying app so you can access the books on the go on your mobile device. I can’t tell you how incredibly fabulous it is to have in audio format all the Little House books, and Anne books, and so many other books, like the ones below, all on my phone to access whenever I want!

Here are some books I have found in Scribd.com:

Those are just some of the many, many book for adults. It has tons of fiction and nonfiction, including self-help books, like Dave Ramsey’s.

Now, here are some I’ve found for the kiddos:

The one above is in audio. You can find a lot of books both as ebooks and audiobooks,

My ten year old is really getting into these books right now, as audiobooks. The whole series is in scribd in both formats..

All of Andrew Clements’ books are there. I’m finding some fun picture book autobiographies like the ones below:

Like the ones above, about Ben Franklin and J.R.R. Tolkien, or the ones below about Jacques Cousteau and Emily Dickinson.

Scribd has lots of picture books by one of my favorite authors, Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

And lots of other fun books:

Plus some religious books too:

You can buy these all in amazon of course during this lockdown, but if you are like me, you don’t have the shelf space to store every book your huge literary appetite craves. Or…you can read them all for free by signing up for a free two month trial of scribd.com over here, using my affiliate link.

After all as Francis Bacon wrote:

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few are to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.”

I’m sure he would agree that some are to borrowed, as hard copies, from the library, some are meant to be read through an app, and some are meant to be bought and kept forever as books you can grab off your physical bookshelf whenever you want.

Disclosure: if you sign up for scribd after your trial is over, and start subscribing with the monthly fee, I get a free month. You pay the same whether you sign up through my link or sign up another way. It’s a win/win!

In my scripture reading this morning I noticed how the time of the prophet Abinadi in the Book of Mormon parallels our time today. Abinadi called upon the people, King Noah and his subjects to repent. He warned them that if they didn’t repent they would come under further bondage.

Just as Abinadi was a prophet for his day, just as we had prophets in the Bible, I testify that President Russell M. Nelson is the prophet of God for this day. We as a people, both in and out of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have strayed from what we know to be true. We see this everywhere with rotten fruits all around us: broken families, broken governmental forms, a culture of death, governments and societies that kill unborn babies, crime, unrest, addiction, bondage, and illness. I can’t help but think that this pandemic is a consequence of us all straying from whatever truth we have known, collectively as families and nations, for generations.

By asking us to “Hear him,” he is asking us to repent. Repenting means turning to God. So when President Nelson asks to “hear Him,” he is asking us to turn to God or repent. Just as Abinadi did with King Noah and his people. He is asking us to pray to Heavenly Father, in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Then Jesus Christ will speak to us, most likely through the Holy Ghost. As we listen to the Holy Ghost after earnestly seeking Heavenly Father through prayer, we will “Hear Him.” We will hear Jesus tell us what we need to do personally to change and be like Him and feel His peace.

It is no accident that President Nelson is the prophet today. He has led the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to prepare for the worldwide crisis of the pandemic with prophetic leadership. I testify he is a prophet of God, just like the prophets in the Bible. He is God’s anointed servant to speak and lead for Him right now. President Nelson, (and the prophets before him) prepared the saints for this pandemic in a number of ways. You can see those ways here. The major ones are:

1. Preparing the Saints to have church at home, during the pandemic, and beyond. He did this by reducing our church meeting time from three hours to two hours back in 2019, and introducing the Come, Follow Me Study Guides, to be used chiefly at home, and in a supplemental way at church meetings.
2. Preparing youth and children to be “stuck at home” during the pandemic by introducing the Children and Youth Initiative so they are not dependent on Church leaders for guidance in achieving and learning on the covenant path. Instead, they are dependent on themselves, to seek God in prayer to know what He would have them do to achieve and become like Him, with the parents’ vision, guidance and support, and less support from Church leaders outside the home.

I know this pandemic has been horrible. People have died. People have lost jobs. Businesses have been ruined. My friend’s brother-in-law committed suicide because of COVID-19. This has all been so tragic. Yet we are told to be grateful in all things. “Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things.” (D&C 59:7) All things?! Even death and suffering?!

How can we be grateful in all things, even during a pandemic? Despite this horrible time, I am grateful for it. It has been a “dress rehearsal” to help us practice and get ready for further tribulation ahead. It has been a time to assess where we are in terms of family closeness, neighbor closeness, emergency preparedness, self-reliance, and knowledge of the proper role of government.

As we each individually seek God in prayer, ask to know what He would have us do each day, and then #hearHim and act on it, we will do things to help lift this bondage of the pandemic. As we continue to do this each day, may we be released from further bondage. I hope this means we will repair broken relationships, broken families, broken neighborhoods, broken businesses, broken economies, broken laws, the broken U.S. Constitution, and other broken governmental forms, to prepare for the return of our Savior Jesus Christ. As we do so may we face a much brighter future than King Noah and his people did. He was burned by his priests who turned against him. The people that King Noah left, King Limhi, King Noah’s son, and King Limhi’s followers, were brought under bondage and had to pay 50% tax. They also had to labor support the kingdom of the Lamanites for years (See Mosiah 19-21)

We can choose a better future than King Noah and his people did. We can choose freedom over bondage. We can listen to our prophet of this day and #Hearhim. We can each reach out to God and see His hand in all of this. The prophet is asking us to see what God would have us do individually to repent, to return to the truths in all areas of life (personal, family, business, education, and government, etc.) as we hear Him, and rebuild all these broken forms with our hands that become His hands, to have freedom instead of bondage, and prepare for His return and reign.

I really love this recent devotional by Sister and Brother Gay below that develops these truths further. It’s time for us to end our self-justifications.

This is a fun picture book bio of J.R.R. Tolkien. I didn’t know he was an orphan who met his future wife at boarding school. I read it to Bugsy for a bedtime story. I love that he put all his imaginations into his adult life to inspire a sense of adventure and heroism in his readers. The illustrations are amazing and detailed. The back of the book has a page with a key as to how they relate to Tolkien.

For my game of the day, I played Hero Double Ditto. I used the idea from this game and adapted it to my Hero class which met online. I just made categories relating to our class and tossed them out. I love this game because you can adapt it to any setting. You can research and learn how to play and then DIY your own cards.

image credit: amazon.com

This session from BYU Women’s Conference this AM was so yummy! So full of truths! My favorite was from Sister Kate Holbrook:
“Heavenly Father needs us to follow through on the questions He is waiting for us to ask.”

So true! I see this is a corollary to President Nelsons’ statement that the most important thing for our survival for these latter-days is to learn to receive revelation and act on it. We aren’t likely to receive revelation unless we ask questions, and then the revelations aren’t likely to benefit us unless we follow through.

How do we do this?

I have three helps for this, in addition to the four standard works (scriptures) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Doctrine and the Covenants).

First, Sister Wendy Watson Nelson’s book:

image credit: amazon.com

Second, my Veggie Gal girlfriend Becky Edwards’ Heaven Journaling program, to use with the four standard works:

image credit: amazon.com

The Eternal Warriors goal-setting and accountability class, written by my friends Maurice Harker and Aneladee Milne.

If you already know about those resources, go revive them in your life. If you don’t, I’m jealous of you, you have brand new worlds to explore!

I enjoyed the rest of the sessions today as well. Oh, so many, many gems! You can watch them below.

Since blogging the words that have the strikethrough below, the owners of the video I originally referred to took it down from YouTube. It was Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar being interviewed by Jessa Duggar Seewald, one of their daughters. Darn, I hadn’t even finished watching it. The bullet list I posted below was what I had noticed in it after watching just half of it.

But great news, guys! I found some videos from the YouTube channel of Jessa. These videos share a lot of what was in the original video

Video #1,  above is Jessa’s video she just made to share memories of her mother. So you can learn some mother mentoring tips of Michelle, via Jessa. In this video, Jessa talks about how as a kid she didn’t like going grocery shopping with her mom because it would take three hours, as her mom stopped to chat with people. So, true story: I have a friend here at church whose parents live in Arkansas. She says one time she was visiting her parents a few years ago and went to a Wal-Mart in northwest Arkansas. As she was using the restroom she heard a familiar voice outside the stall, in the restroom. It turned out to be none other than Michelle. Evidence of what Jessa mentions in the video, LOL!

Video #2, below is Jessa’s video of memories of her father. Both those videos contain tips on how to mentor and connect with children as parents. I’m hoping/thinking/wishing that everything I put in the bullet list is in these two videos. I haven’t watched them both completely yet.

Then next in this post I have a cute video, Video #3, about how Jessa’s father and the older boys remodeled the home he and Michelle gave? or lent? or rented? to Jessa after she got married to Ben Seewald. This is a home that Jim Bob’s mother, Mary bought. I believe the Duggars lived in it for a time, before they built the big house, and then Josh and Anna lived in it after they were first married. After Josh and Anna moved out, to go to D.C., Jim Bob remodeled it for newlyweds Jessa and Ben. I just think it’s so fun that the family was there to greet Jessa and Ben when they arrived home from their honeymoon and the family got to see them see the renovations. I guess some people would be mad about that to come home and have the house full of family but I think it’s sweet.

Video #4 is of the newlyweds after they get all their stuff in and decorate it, before the babies come.

Video #5 is of the home today, very well lived in by Jessa, Ben, and their three darling kiddos. Jessa and her son Spurgeon give a tour of the home, first when it’s messy, and then again after it’s cleaned up. Spurgeon is so adorable with his descriptions of the honey and the bathtub. He reminds me of my five boys when they were little, so full of explanations. So cute!

Here’s a brand-new video from the Duggars, some of the most experienced Christian parents on the planet. They gave this question and answer session with daughter Jessa Duggar Seewald last Monday, 4/27/20, as part of the annual homeschool conference they attend in Big Sandy TX. Because of the pandemic the conference didn’t happen person-to-person, but was livestreamed and then recorded. So watch above to see the one from the Duggars.  They have suggestions on the following:

• how to do family devotionals
• how to memorize scriptures with children
• praying with children
• helping children deal with electronic devices
• how to mentor children by talking heart-to-heart
• how to practice hospitality with a family

I don’t agree with all of the Duggars’ beliefs but I do believe we can all learn a lot from Jessa telling about these experienced parents of 20 children (19 biological plus one foster son/grandnephew).

Finally, here’s Jessa on how to have hospitality, which reflects what she learned from her parents. Her little baby girl sitting by her, oh my, she’s melt-your-heart adorbs!

Then here’s how to DIY the canvas prints  of her kids that you see in the background above the couch she’s sitting on. So beautiful!

This darling book above is so fascinating! A great tour of the many inventions and roles of Founding Father Ben Franklin. Wow America really got blessed by his brains and energy. We are enjoying his inventions over 200 years later. I got it through my Scribd app as we still can’t get books from the public library. So we read it on my iPad.

We also finished the Mayo Brothers book below. Boy those men were amazing. They donated $2 million to build the Mayo Clincic. So wonderful and inspiring!

We had a family game night with all the kiddos and my husband, playing Payday, a classic from my teenhood. The artwork and deals have changed a bit but the basic mechanics are the same. I’m sad that they did away the “Sweet Sunday” spaces on the 1975 game board that reflected honoring the Sabbath Day.

image credit: amazon

I picked it up for less than 3 bucks from Goodwill a few months ago after a fruitless search to find it, Therapy, and Mousetrap, at my parents’ home back in February. Apparently my mom is not as much of a packrat as I thought. The metagame turned out really well. I think we all had fun and learned. The video below explains the metagame.

Nobody got mad, bored to the point of asking to quit, or sad or on the verge of tears. Cowboy won, which I was pleased since he came in last playing Cashflow last week. We played a three month game which took about three hours for five people. We had to use the money from Cashflow after running out of $1000 bills. We played with five players; the game is designed for four so that’s probably why we ran out of the 1000s. We debriefed a bit after playing this game. Cowboy likes Payday better than Cashflow because he said it went faster. We are going to play Cashflow next week and I’m going to let everyone choose their own job cards, allowing for duplicates. It’s hard to win Cashflow if you start out with a high salary because you also have high expenses, which is what Cowboy had last week. We’ll see who wins when we all pick the card with the lowest expenses, LOL.

So we are still on a Tuttle Twins streak to learn principles of freedom based on freedom classics written for adults by great thinkers. The one we finished above is based on the book below. Another one to put on my “to-read” list.

The day before, I had dug out the game below from my stash of never-played games that I picked up while thrifting years ago. We went through a few cards over dinner. The kids weren’t that interested as they aren’t thinking about college right now (ages 15, 14, and 10). I cheerfully announced to the older two it’s time to start practicing for college entrance exams, and this was a gentle first step. We didn’t actually play the game using the official scoresheet, I just quizzed them on a few cards. Then I quizzed my husband, and when he lost interest, I quizzed myself. I played until I could ten right. I didn’t have time to finish as I came up into Family Night time so I continued the next day, Tuesday. So that counts as my game for the day. I just did the verbal reasoning cards and had loads of fun! Yeah, this was one of the few days when I just played a game solo. Sometimes I do that. I am the biggest fan of games here because the child who inherited my game-loving gene grew up and lives a few states away.

I’m realizing now it was a great game to play that day, as my fourth child started college, at BYU (online) on that day, Monday! Hooray for Mr. L! I’m super excited for him. Those tours of BYU that I took him on in the past few years to inspire him have paid off.

photo credit: Board Game Geek Forum

I found the above picture book on Libby. If you are running out of books to read to your children, check out Libby. Here’s a great post I wish I had written about it. How we miss the public library!

My two older kids here at home and I played an online game with their homeschool science/math class here. You can play it too! It was an escape room game for the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We used Zoom so we could speak to each other and see the mentor of the class’s screen, but then we could see our own screen of the game when we wanted to. We watched the video above to get started. Each of us had our own device to use so that made it better. No arguing over control over the mouse, LOL, and we could each go at our own pace and solve the puzzles on our own. The three of also used earbuds we wouldn’t have an echo. It’s pretty cool that we can play a game with people miles away and be looking at the same rooms of a museum thousands of miles away. What an age we live in! I don’t agree with all the “facts” presented by the museum but had fun anyway.

I got to play Jeopardy with some of my sibs and my parents, remotely, using Zoom. That’s the silver lining of this whole pandemic. My parents have been forced to use Zoom for my dad’s work. So now they feel comfortable using it for other things and have reached out to their children, inviting us to play games using Zoom. Yay! Now I don’t feel quite so lonely on weekends, which I used to feel, when I knew they were getting together for Sunday dinners without us. We played a General Authorities Jeopardy! game that one of my adult sons wrote, which you can find here.

That night I started reading aloud the book below to Bugsy. I love reading these ValueTales stories, they just are so fun to transport us to a different place and time about interesting people who pursued mission-based lives.

I read this book aloud to the kiddos while they did dishes, both the lunch and then supper dishes. It’s a great introduction to the non-aggression principle taught by the great Ron Paul. You can get the Tuttle Twins series here. (That’s an affiliate link so if you buy from it I get a small commission which helps pay for the cost of this blog.)

Then we played Cashflow, the money board game invented by Rich Dad Robert Kiyosaki, the third night in a row. This time we started at 6 PM instead of after 7. We finally finished it and I won! It “only” took us 6 1/2 hours, over a stretch of three nights, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. We took a picture every night of where the pawns were and stashed the game in a corner of the living room every night as a bookmark, so the table would be clear for schoolwork and meals. We can stash games in corners on the floor now that we don’t have toddlers around. My new goal is to play it as a family once a month to help solidify the wealth lessons.