December 25: Longfellow

MERRY CHRISTMAS! For our final day in 25 Days of Christmas, I've saved the poem that is the basis of my favorite Christmas hymn:

I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play;

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had roll’d along th’ unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bower my head:

“There is no peace on earth, “ I said,

“For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men.”

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This is my favorite Christmas hymn because of the hope it conveys. Also because of the story behind it. I invite you to watch this beautiful performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir telling Longfellow's story and singing the hymn. How sweet to experience his own personal realization of peace and hope through the words he penned! May your hearts and homes be full of this joy and the blessings of our Savior Jesus Christ on this day and always. Merry Christmas!

December 24: Luke

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
Luke 2:6

It's Christmas Eve! A wonderful day, but also a busy one! For today, I invite you to read Luke Chapter 2. If you have time and want to study more, check out the Bible Dictionary about Luke. Have a wonderful day!

December 23: Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The Holy Night
We sate among the stalls at Bethlehem;
The dumb kine fro their fodder turning them,
     Softened their horned faces
     To almost human gazes
     Toward the newly Born:
The simple shepherds from the star-lit brooks
     Brought visionary looks,
As yet in their astonied hearing rung
     The strange sweet angel-tongue:
The magi of the East, in sandals worn,
     Knelt reverent, sweeping round,
     With long pale beards, their gifts upon the ground,
     The incense, myrrh, and gold
These baby hands were impotent to hold:
So let all earthlies and celestials wait
     Upon thy royal state
     Sleep, sleep, my kingly One!
~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an English poet in the early 1800s. You probably know her Sonnet 43: "How Do I Love Thee?" She led an interesting life! And had a well-documented courtship (574 letters!) with Robert Browning. Much of her writing conveyed Christian beliefs through a variety of literary forms. Read more about her here!

December 22: Isaiah and Handel

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
~ Isaiah 9:6

Isaiah and Handel... What a powerful combination these two make! Handel's Messiah is an English-language oratorio (kind of like an opera but with different structure to the lyrics and melodic lines) and is perhaps one of the crown jewels in the greats of Christmas. The libretto (words) were drawn primarily from the King James version of the Bible and were put together by Charles Jennens. Much of the text in the first part of Messiah comes from the writings of Isaiah. Handel composed the music. Interestingly enough, he would usually tweak the score at each performance to suit the exact ensemble he was working with, so there are many different versions. Mozart also made an arrangement changing some of the instrumentation. Bottom line, this is a great one! Click here to listen to "For Unto Us a Child is Born." Or here to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performing the Hallelujah chorus!

December 21: Christina Rossetti

Love came down at Christmas;
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Stars and angels gave the sign.
~ Christina Rossetti

I love these sweet words as they remind me of the pure love of Christ. How much we have to celebrate at Christmastime! Christina Rossetti was the author of many children's works and other Victorian novels and poems. You may not know, however, that she was the original author of the words to the song "In the Bleak Midwinter." To read a brief summary of her life, click here.

And here's a video of the University of Utah Singers performing three Christmas Carols. It's about nine minutes long. "Love Came Down at Christmas" arranged by John Rutter is the last one, starting at 6:17. Enjoy all three! (The first, "Baby, What You Goin' To Be?," is another one of my favorites!)

December 20: Martin Luther

Good news from heaven the angels bring,
Glad tidings to the earth they sing:
To us this day a child is given,
To crown us with the joy of heaven.
~ Martin Luther

Many of us know Martin Luther as the leader of the Protestant Reformation but he was also a prolific writer and hymnologist. The Friend published a great summary of his life and efforts. Click here to learn more!

December 19: President Thomas S. Monson

Today I invite you to read an article by President Thomas S. Monson entitled The Best Christmas Ever. This wouldn't be 25 Days of Christmas with the Greats if we didn't include President Monson! Check it out and enjoy! Click here.

December 18: Sir Walter Scott

Heap on more wood!
The wind is chill;
But let it whistle as it will
We’ll keep our Christmas merry still.
~Sir Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott was a Scottish-born author and poet. He is said to have been one of the first English-language authors to experience international influence in his lifetime. He is known for his works Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, and The Lady of the Lake. He is credited with starting the concept of the historical novel and was very popular in America in the 19th century (though some American authors did not appreciate it -- Mark Twain among them!) To read more about him, click here.

December 17: Robert Louis Stevenson

A Christmas Prayer
Help us rightly to remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the Wise Men. Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift, and good desire with every greeting. Deliver us from evil by the blessings that Christ brings, and teach us t be merry with clean hearts. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be Thy children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts; forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson was a prolific Scottish author, best known for his novels Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He now ranks in the top thirty most translated authors in the world. Wow! To explore an entire site dedicated to his life and works, click here.

December 16: Thomas Hardy

The Oxen
Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
“Now they are all on their knees,”
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.

We pictured the meek mild creatures where
Thet dwelt in their stray pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.

So fair a fancy few would weave
In these years! Yet, I fell,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
“Come; see the oxen kneel,

“In the lonely barton by yonder comb,
Our childhood used to know,”
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.”
~Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy was another Victorian poet and novelist. I first came to know his works when I read Tess of the d'Urbervilles. He is also author of Far from the Madding Crowd, among others. He is considered to be part of the naturalist movement, a movement which used realism to depict social conditions and other environmental factors that were thought to shape human nature. Hardy tried to deal with several difficult social norms in his books (morality being a big one), and though he is considered highly now, he met with heavy criticism when he first began writing. To learn more about him, click here.

December 15: Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber

Silent night! Holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin, mother and Child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace; sleep in heavenly peace.
Hymn No. 204

Says Karen Lynn Davidson in her description of this hymn, "As we sing [this hymn], our hearts and memories fill in what is missing, and our sense of that sacred night is complete." How right she is! She goes on to tell the story of this hymn:

It is amazing to realize that this best-known of all Christmas carols was virtually an "instant hymn." The words were written, set to music, and first performed all in a single day.... On December 24, 1818, Father Joseph Mohr, the assistant parish priest at the st. Nikolaus Catholic Church in Oberndorf, Austria, decided to write a new hymn for the evening service. Because the church organ could not be repaired in time, he needed a Christmas hymn that the organist, Franz Gruber, could accompany on his guitar. He took the words to Franz Gruber, who wrote the music, and the two of them sang the hymn at the evening service, with the choir joining in on the last two lines.
--Karen Lynn Davidson, Our Latter-day Hymns: The Stories and Messages, 216

The hymn went on to instant fame and success and was eventually translated into English by John Freeman Young. The verses we sing now were the 1st, 6th, and 2nd of the original.

December 14: Alexander Smith

Christmas is the day that holds all time together.
~Alexander Smith

Alexander Smith was a Scottish essayist and poet. He lived only a short life from 1830-1867. While his work received varied praise, he is quoted extensively. Check out this link to read some more of his statements.

December 13: Henry Van Dyke

I must confess, this is one of my favorite Christmas quotes of all. It's long, but it's worth it! Keep reading!

Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellowmen are just as real as you are; and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going tog et out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness – are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.


Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desire of the little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to near on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open – are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest ting in the world – stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death – and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas.

And if you keep it for a day, why not always?

But you can never keep it alone.

~Henry Van Dyke

Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933) was a poet and storyteller that lived through many of our nation's pivotal events. He was known for several famous Christmas stories, among them The Other Wise Man and The First Christmas Tree. He also authored The Lost Word, a book my family enjoyed reading at Christmas time while I was growing up. To access a collection of his works online, go here.

December 12: President Uchtdorf

Today I invite you to take the time to read President Uchtdorf's Christmas Message in December's issue of the Ensign / Liahona. I love this thought he shares:

Do you remember what the angel told the shepherds? “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” And they said to themselves, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass” (Luke 2:11, 15).


Like the shepherds of old, we need to say in our hearts, “Let us see this thing which is come to pass.” We need to desire it in our hearts. Let us see the Holy One of Israel in the manger, in the temple, on the mount, and on the cross. Like the shepherds, let us glorify and praise God for these tidings of great joy!

~President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Ensign, December 2010

December 11: Shakespeare

Ever 'gainst That Season
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Savior's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
~Shakespeare

We have all probably had to read some or much of Shakespeare's works in school, but have you ever taken the time to go back and try it again as an adult? Maybe you can start with his sonnets, or if you're feeling bold, try one of his longer works. But don't be scared away... check them out!

December 10: Marjorie Holmes

It comes every year and will go on forever. And along with Christmas belong the keepsakes and the customs. Those humble, everyday things a mother clings to, and ponders, like Mary in the secret spaces of her heart.

~Marjorie Holmes

Marjorie Holmes was the author of several fictional books based on Christ and the Christmas story. Her first work, Two from Galilee, has been featured in our evening book group! To read a short biogrpahy of her life, click here.

December 9: O. Henry

The story The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry tells the tale of a young husband and wife who sacrifice their most prized possessions to buy a Christmas gift for the other. I encourage you to read the entire story here. But enjoy this quote in the meantime:

The magi, as you know, were wise men – wonderfully wise men who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days, let is be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.
From The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

December 8: John Rutter

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the MUSIC! And one of my favorite composers of our current age is John Rutter. Rutter was born in London in 1945 and studied music at Clare College in Cambridge. He is the founder and conductor of the Cambridge Singers and composer of a vast body of works. Many of my favorites are his Christmas carols. Click here to watch a beautiful recording of his composition "What Sweeter Music" by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Enjoy!

About Christmas, Rutter said the following:

"For me, first and foremost, Christmas is happy memories of the way it was celebrated when I was a kid. As everyone would probably say, it revolves around the family and gatherings. But it also revolves around my school chapel. I was at a school in north London that happened to have a chapel with a fine choir. And our Christmas carol service was the high point of our singing year. So I actually developed a love of the whole music of Christmas, along with the message of Christmas, from when I was a kid. With music, your Christmas can always be perfect. With real-Iife Christmas, there's always something that's going to go a bit wrong. You're hoping it's going to snow on Christmas day, but it doesn't. Or your turkey smells absolutely gorgeous, but it turns out that it's a bit burned when you come to eat it. But the music of Christmas is always perfect, and so I love to remember and celebrate Christmas in music and song."
--John Rutter

December 7: Washington Irving

I love Christmas because it gives us all an excuse to reach out to friends and neighbors we may not usually take the time to connect with. Here's what Washington Irving had to say on the subject:

Now Christmas is come,
Let's beat up the drum
And call all our neighbors together,
And when they appear,
Let us make them such cheer
As will keep out the wind and the weather.
--Washington Irving

Perhaps most famous for his tales "The Legend of Sleep Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle,"  Washington Irving was a famous American writer and historian of the early 19th century. Read more about his life here.

December 6: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time. 
~Laura Ingalls Wilder

One of my favorite authors growing up was Laura Ingalls Wilder. As I read the "Little House" books, I especially loved picturing the scenes of her family enjoying special traditions and holidays, so this quote was one we had to include in our 25 Days of Christmas!

Full of fun information, games, and illustrations, be sure to visit this fun website about her books and her life. (And share this one with your kids!)

December 5: The First Presidency

Tonight we will have the opportunity to enjoy the Christmas Devotional from the First Presidency! So in lieu of a quote, I invite you to enjoy hearing from them: men who are not only wonderful speakers and writers, but also inspired leaders! Click here to go to the Broadcast page on lds.org. Enjoy!

December 4: Benjamin Franklin

Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure three, no ambition corrupt thee, to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; so shalt thou always live jollily; for a good conscience is a continual Christmas.
-- Benjamin Franklin

Who doesn't have a soft spot for Benjamin Franklin? Involved in the founding of our nation, author of Poor Richard's Almanack, a great inventor, and so much else. I've recently gained a new appreciation for his accomplishments as my son has been learning about him in school. To learn more about his life and work, click here and explore a great compilation of background and facts put together by PBS. Also, try this site for some of his best aphorisms!

December 3: Helen Keller

Today features two beautiful quotes from Helen Keller. Although there has been some debate about her life history, you can visit this website to explore her birthplace, look at photos, and read about her story. Enjoy!

Blessed by the Christmas sunshine, our natures, perhaps long leafless, bring forth new love, new kindness, new mercy, new compassion.

~Helen Keller

The only real blind person at Christmas-time is he who has not Christmas in his heart.
~Helen Keller

December 2

Day 2! Today let's enjoy a lovely little poem by John Greenleaf Whittier....

Somehow, not only for Christmas
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others
Is the joy that comes back to you.

And the more you spend in blessing
The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart's possessing
Returns to you glad.

- John Greenleaf Whittier

How true it is! It's always been better to give than to receive. Let's try to make this a reality this year!

For Your Information...
Whittier was an American poet of the 19th century. Born in the Quaker tradition in Massachussetts, he was also known for his involvement in the abolitionist movement. He was considered to be one of the Fireside Poets, a group which also included Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes. To learn more about his life and view a collection of some of his other poems, click here!

December 1

Today is the first day in our 25 Days of Christmas! To get us started, here is a wonderful quote from none other than Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol:

...I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.

May we make our own Christmas celebrations this year kind, forgiving, and charitable. Merry Christmas!!

For Your Information...
Charles Dickens was a Victorian-era author of many, many books. Some of his best known works include Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and David Copperfield. And of course, you can't forget about A Christmas Carol! To learn more about Dickens, his life, and his works, click here.

Stay Tuned!!

Tomorrow kicks off our 25 Days of Christmas! Be sure to check the blog daily to enjoy a brief moment of reflection on the wonders of Christmas. We will be featuring quotes from great literature and influential authors about this lovely season! And we'll learn a little about the authors themselves along the way. Don't miss it!

Five Days, Five Different Ways

Last week's post focused on ways of using the tools in the Ensign General Conference issue. Now that the November issue has arrived, I thought I'd take one more week to give you one more idea! Call it Five Days, Five Different Ways. Before I had kids, I taught language and literacy to people of all ages. In the field of language learning, we talk about the four skill areas: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The ideas below build off the idea that each of these skill areas is essential and will help you learn in different ways. Choose a talk you'd like to study, and then here's what you can do:

DAY 1: READ the talk for general themes and principles. Underline the ideas that stand out to you the most. Choose one quote (or more!) and write it on an index card. Place it where you will see it often during the week!

DAY 2: READING EXTENSION. Read the scriptures listed in the footnotes of the talk. Look for connections between the various references. If you have time, go further with each passage by reading the cross-references specific to those verses in the scriptures. You might be surprised where they take you! (Try doing this online where you can more easily follow a trail of hyperlinks.)

DAY 3: LISTEN to the talk on lds.org. Hearing the voices/inflections of the various speakers helps you glean more about what they are really trying to convey. Also, listening engages a different part of your brain. If you are an auditory learner, this may really help! After you listen, skim the talk and underline the comments that stood out to you differently.

DAY 4: TALK. Find a study partner or willing family member/friend. If you have family/friends with whom you can share your insights, talk to them and share your ideas! Bring up the questions you wrote down on Day One. Learn from each other! This is where our focus area of "Reading Together" really come into play!

For another spin/approach, think how you would teach from the talk. Outline some ideas for a Family Home Evening or other teaching context. What would you emphasize? Why? Is there some kind of object lesson you're familiar with that conveys the main idea? Or do you have a personal experience that underscores the theme? Save your notes for the next week's FHE or otherwise!

DAY 5: WRITE about it. Read the talk one more time. Write for a few minutes in your journal about what you have learned, how it has changed your understanding, and/or what you take away from it to influence your own life.

Even if you don't want to do five days in a row, some of these ideas may give you a new way to study and learn from the General Conference talks. Whatever you do, don't miss out on the wondeful wisdom and direction they offer!

One last thought: you may have noticed that some of the features listed in last week's post are not outlined in the same way in this issue. Check out the General Conference website and the For Youth Today link for similar resources online!

The Conference Issue

It's just me this week, so I hope I can be as engaging as all the others who have contributed of late!

If you recall my posts back in May and June, you can probably guess what I'm going to say this week.... the Ensign is coming!! The May and November issues usually arrive a little later than the other months, but I look forward to to them like no other. It's a little like Christmas! Why? Because the May and November issues contain the talks shared with us in General Conference. I often liken General Conference to drinking straight from the well of Living Water. I can't get enough! And though I enjoy listening to or studying the talks again digitally, there's something magical about holding real paper with printed words. These are truly the living scriptures! I know that the principles we are taught in these discourses are true, that they give us light and security and guidance in a world where there are so many voices pulling us in different directions.

So how can we let that vitality of living scripture from inspired leaders influence our daily lives? Since our focus area on the blog the past two months has been about sharing the literacy experience, here are some ideas for sharing these talks in a way that they may come alive for YOU and those you share them with, family or otherwise.

First, the Conference issues have a wealth of tools already in them! You can refer to May's issue right now until the November one comes. Note the topic index listed at the front of the issue, right after the Table of Contents pages. If you want to learn or ponder more about a certain topic, this is a great place to start. But don't stop there!

Next, check out the back of the issue. There's a two-page spread titled "Making Conference a Part of Our Lives" (p. 128-129). Right there, a lot of the work has already been done for you! The editors do a survey of the talks and pull together common threads/themes that apply to broader groups. They break it out for children and youth especially, but grown-ups, too! I love the list of scripture stories and where they were referenced in talks. It can really bring the scripture story to life in a  new way for you, and the talk will have better meaning too!

If you keep flipping after that spread, there are pages focused on additional youth topics. The New Era and Friend usually have articles this month, too. 

Finally, before the News section, there's the Conference Story Index. What a great reference! This is the perfect place to find a story to share in family home evening or to just to enjoy for yourself!

Beyond these tools, try out some of the ideas below to keep the Conference talks alive in your hearts. I know you won't regret it!

GENERAL

• Take notes as you read. Keep them in a journal. Or if there's a specific talk that really resonates with you right now, print it out and keep it handy. Keep a binder of your favorite talks over the years. When you're struggling with something, you can always go back to these talks and find wonderful comfort!
• When you read one of the talks, take time to discuss it with someone. Be it around the family dinner table or on your daily walk with a friend, discussing it will not only make it more personal for you, it will strengthen others as well.
• Read a talk and then take another day to study all the scriptural cross-references listed at the end. You can learn so much about the scriptures by doing this!
• Have a study partner! Decide on a talk you will both read then keep each other accountable and discuss it later. It will strengthen your relationship AND your understanding. Not a bad investment!
• Depending on your personality/reading style, you might like to sit down and read it all, but my guess is that most of us don't have the time or energy to do that. (Or, it's ok to admit it! ..maybe you just feel overwhelmed by so much content and never get around to it?) Make a plan or set aside some time for yourself to read. Maybe Sunday afternoons? Or Tuesdays at lunch? Whatever works for you. Spreading it out over the next few months will keep that living water pumping happily through you!
• Always try to read the talk selected for the fourth Sunday of the month in Relief Society. The "Teachings for Our Time" lessons are always some of my favorite!

FOR CHILDREN

• While you read for yourself, look for object lessons that you can turn into a family home evening lesson. One that comes to mind for our family was a talk from a long while ago by President Hinckley about the Four Cornerstones of Our Faith. If your kids love (or ever loved) blocks, they'd love building and learning about these ideas!
• Tell one of the stories from the Story Index and have your children draw a picture about it.
• Have your children flip through the issue and pick out one of the photographs. Talk to them about how those people look/feel in the picture. Why do they think that? Use their ideas as a bridge to bearing testimony -- about Conference, our prophet, leaders, music, whatever! OR, talk about where the people live and what's interesting or beautiful about that culture, how we are all God's children.
• Play a matching game with the pictures of the General Authorities! Or have them count how many times President Monson spoke. Think of the issue not just as a reference for articles but as a fun tool for games and familiarizing them with the Church. If they learn to love it now, they will be more inclined to want to read it later.

FOR YOUTH
Obviously, I do not have teenagers yet, but I have taught them plenty! (And I like to think I still remember what it was like to be one?)

• Let them be the teacher. Either choose a talk and have them teach the family about it, or let them find one themselves and report on it. This can be in family home evening or just at breakfast or dinner. Trust their judgment! And don't be surprised if they push back at first. :)
• Cross-reference with seminary. Look at the scriptures listed at the back of the issue that are scripture mastery verses (see the yellow callout box on p. 129 of the May issue, for example). Focus on those that correspond with this year's scriptures.
• If you have sons who will be joining Dad on home teaching, maybe they can be involved with the preparation of the message.
• Again, don't miss the Youth pages at the back!
• Consider making the talks part of your family scripture study. You don't have to necessarily put aside whatever it is you're already reading together, but maybe take one or two days a week to read a talk instead.
• Design some kind of family challenge for the older ones in your house to read this issue!

Last but not least, just keep this issue out and available until the next Conference issue comes. Try to make it a habit to look and see what the most recent addresses have said about something you are pondering. For your families, you can set the example of following the prophet -- not just out of duty, but out of the love of his words. He is the mouthpiece for our Savior Jesus Christ. Let your children (and friends!) catch you reading! And when they are working through something themselves, don't forget to pull out this issue!

Happy reading!

Family Reading

This week's post is brought to us by our very own Jennifer T. She may have moved away a few months ago, but she still is one of us! Not only is her background in literature, she also invests a great deal of time and energy enriching her children's education through reading. Check out the resources and recommendations she lists below. Thanks, Jennifer!

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One of my favorite activities is family reading in the evenings. This is when we try to block out all non-essential activities (as much as possible), so that we can have good quality and quantity time together to sit and read a good book aloud. The books are wonderful, but that’s not why I love family reading time. This is a time, set aside, where we SLOW DOWN. We have great discussions, and we bond as a family. A good book will have many springboards for great discussions. This is often where our inspiration for delving into new subjects of study comes from—it is where our imaginations are sparked—where we are inspired to try things that might initially seem scary or too difficult (like pursing our dreams or changing a habit we don’t like in ourselves). Are we focusing on all of the artistic elements in the books—the ones our English teachers loved to point out and make us write pages upon pages of reports? Not really. We just focus on what stands out to us as we listen.

What do we read? We try to focus on classic books. These books are timeless. To us, a classic book is one that is worth reading over and over again because you can get more understanding out of it each time you read, according to what experiences you have had since the first reading. Obviously, scriptures are our first classic, but there are so many others. I’ve found a great list of books for children from nursery age up to 8th grade that we are focusing on reading just now. It was compiled by John Senior (1923-99), who was a classicist professor at the University of Kansas. You can find the list here. I do not necessarily read one book right after the other; I use this list as a guide for acquiring my personal home library. We think it is fun to just pull a book off the shelf that looks interesting to us. If it isn’t right for us to read at the time, we have no problem setting it aside and choosing another one.

Another place that I go to for recommended readings (for adults and older youth) is a site for George Wythe University. They list the books they use for freshmen on up to PHD courses. They have a classics-based curriculum. Their website is http://www.gw.edu/. I like looking for books that an English educator in the Victorian times (her name was Charlotte Mason) coined “living” books. These books are written by those who love their fields of study—books where enthusiasm shines through. A good guide to choosing your own list of classics could be summed up in the 13th article of faith, “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”

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With these great lists and recommendations, all we need to do now is make reading a part of our family time. Try taking the time to explore one of these books with your family -- and enjoy!

The Value of Book Clubs

This week's post is brought to us by Katie M. As you may know, she has taken over coordinating the daytime book group for Shallowford Ward, so she has a valuable opinion on this subject! Read on for her fun thoughts and ideas! And consider coming to one of the book clubs if you aren't already! Thanks, Katie!

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If you asked my husband if I like to read, he would probably roll his eyes and tell you about the time that I stayed up all night to finish one of those "vampire books" (Twilight series). I wouldn't wish to excite you (or disappoint you, depending on your feelings toward Twilight) by commenting on whether or not that particular account is true. What I would like you to know is that I LOVE to read.

Like many of us, I read independently regardless of what the Shallowford Ward Book Club is doing. However, I happen to feel strongly that meeting together often to discuss fine works of literature is edifying to our intellect and, just as importantly, to ours souls. Some of us get caught up in the "fine literature" phrase and might argue that most of the books we read in Book Club do not qualify as great writing. But here is what is really significant about Book Club: regardless of the book, this amazing group of sisters can find a way to make any book club discussion interesting and instructive. There may be differences in opinions, and most certainly we will have someone who really liked the book and someone who hated it, but that is why it is so fun! I love hearing from our reviewers to know more about the author and to find out more about the historical background. I love hearing others' thoughts and ideas about why a character acted in such a way or what their favorites parts were. We all interpret the books differently, and that just adds to the excitement of the discussion. I find it fascinating to know that someone else would actually have chosen Jacob for Bella over Edward!

The point is, many of us love to read, but we are afraid or skeptical of the Book Club experience. What I have discovered at Book Club is something akin to what Diane Lovey describes in her fun guide "The Book Club Companion":

"Our clubs may not always be the stuff of dreams, but the characters we meet seem to become the ones we cherish the most. Maybe it's because we are all in this together and it's a busy, portentous road we're all on. Being in a club makes the experience of reading deeper, more magical, and when you really stop to think about it - positively inspirational."

Give Book Club a chance. We'd love to have you join us. November 9th is the next meeting of the daytime book club. Suzie Connell is reviewing a fabulous book - one you DON"T want to miss! The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Hope to see you there!

P.S. Susannah mentioned that I could also dedicate some blog space to book recommendations, but if you want to know what many of the sisters in the ward are reading (me included) - join Goodreads. It is the best place to get a recommendation on what to read; I always check out my sister-in-laws' suggestions as well as friends from around the country.

Loving reading ... and favorite picks for upper elementary!

This week's post is brought to us by Amy K. She shares some great ideas and resources for helping our kids love reading. Plus some recommendations for the upper elementary crowd! Check them out! Thanks, Amy!

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I was never a big reader when I was young but I always knew that I wanted my children to learn to love reading. I knew that their love for reading would benefit them in so many ways. Not only is reading the basis for every academic subject, but it also improves one’s creativity, comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills.

So how did my children grow to love reading? As I thought about this question it took me back to the late toddler years. Early on we set a structured bedtime routine that included reading to our children every night before they went to bed. We enjoyed reading some of the popular children books but also found a couple of newly found favorites. Shortly after Natalie began to read, her kindergarten teacher reiterated how important it was to continue to read to your children. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, children whose parents read to them tend to become better readers and perform better in school.

Shortly before Kyle and Natalie began kindergarten a good friend told me about a book called “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons”. We worked on this book every few days and gradually increased their reading ability during the summer leading up to school. I believe the lessons they learned from this book and their consistent effort contributed to an increased understanding of how words are pronounced and laid the foundation for future reading.

Each summer between school years, we try and make reading fun and challenging. We usually set a goal to read so many books each summer to help them retain and build on their reading skills from the prior year. If they achieve their goal, Kyle and Natalie are able to pick a small prize. Another fun way to introduce reading is to read books that have a related movie. We will read the books first and then watch the movie. It is fun to compare and contrast the difference between the two. For one of Kyle’s school projects last year, he did a video book review of his favorite book and movie counterpart.

Below I have included some of our children’s favorite books. Their favorite series to date is Percy Jackson and the Olympians. A friend of Kyle’s recommend these books to him and my children have read these over and over.

Favorite Series
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson
How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

Favorite Authors
Kate Dicamillo
Roald Dahl

Cultural Literacy

 This week's post is brought to us by Susan P. We have recently been looking at how sharing the literacy experience enriches our lives... and this post points to the very core of the shared experience! Read on for some great ideas and a fantastic link at the end. Enjoy! Thanks, Susan!

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Last week, my daughter Jaclyn was writing an essay like you might write for a college application. She wanted to include a phrase from Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road not Taken.” She wondered how much of the line she needed to use to communicate her point, whether the reader would understand the idea behind the words “…and that has made all the difference.” What followed was a discussion of the idea that some things are known by just about everyone, that they are such a part of our culture that we need no explanation of the background or meaning.

The concept of “Cultural Literacy” was first presented to the public in 1987 in the book Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. When I heard the book discussed, the idea made sense. There are things that tie us together as a culture, as Americans, that make it easier for us to communicate with each other. There is some basic cultural knowledge, from literature and art to science, math, history, and geography, which promotes clear communication.

And this knowledge is constantly evolving. When the book first came out in 1987, there was a list of about 4,700 points of data that a literate American should understand. In the 1988 paperback edition, they dropped about 25 items from the list, but added close to 300! But don’t despair. Over 80% of that list of 5,000 has been in use for over 100 years. That constancy in our culture makes it easy to communicate across generations, geographic boundaries, and racial differences.

As an example of how this cultural literacy helps us, let’s imagine I’m giving directions to my husband’s office. If the new patient has lived in the area for a while, I can tell them the office is one mile east of the Big Chicken on Roswell Road. In fact, I said this once to a resident of Roswell. His expression was priceless. His eyebrows reached almost to his hairline as he said “The WHAT?” Even though he lived less that 20 miles away, I needed to introduce him to that local landmark that is a part of Marietta’s culture and gives us an understandable shorthand, but is totally unknown to an relative outsider.

So we share a common literacy as Americans. But we are each part of multiple smaller groups that have their own literacy. The language spoken at my office is different that Principal Griffeth would speak in her workplace or Sister Mason might use in her work, but we each understand others in our workplace or our field. We have cultural literacy in our families: stories, sayings, or gestures that mean something only to the closely related. These inside jokes and shared history help us feel a sense of belonging, a part of a larger whole that loves us.

We also have the shared culture in the church and in our ward. Members of the church speak the same language no matter where you go. Relief Society and Fireside are the same here or in Canada or in England. We sing many of the same songs throughout the world, and while you may not understand the words in another language, you can still sing along in your own. But a newcomer to our midst, someone who hasn’t been exposed to the lingo and weaned on the culture, may have a hard time breaking the language barrier. We need to be aware at church, just as we do in our other associations, of terms and ideas that may exclude the new member, and make them feel that they don’t belong.

It’s a fun thing to do, to pay attention to our communications and see what cultural references we use without even knowing about it. Hirsh stated that this cultural literacy helps us to promote the general welfare and insure domestic tranquility. Can you name that source?

And if you want to see the whole list of 5,000 things YOU should know, go here. Scroll down to page 152. The list starts there.

Simple Strategies for Helping Emerging Readers

This week's post is brought to us by Jana H. Not only is she a trained teacher, but she's also a mother of young children herself! Whether you have young children, grandchildren, or no children, the strategies she provides below are excellent for improving reading. Check them out! Thanks, Jana!

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Last night, Evan, my Kindergartner, brought me the book Little Gorilla, by Ruth Bornstein. It is the latest book he has brought home from the school library. He was excited and said, “Let me read it to you mom!” Okay. I had read it to him the night before. I knew he was familiar with the story, but I also knew it was above his reading level. How was this going to go? We sat down together, and he proceeded to read. How wonderful it was to watch him. He struggled with some words, but others he knew and could read without hesitation. I was so proud, and he was just beaming. Evan sees himself as a reader! He has taken a huge step forward on his literary journey.

His journey started as a preschooler learning his ABCs. Like most moms, I spent a lot of time teaching letters to him. What do they look like? What do they sound like? These lessons taught him that the sounds we make when we speak can be represented by a letter. Soon we were talking about how letters can be grouped to make different words. E-V-A-N spells Evan. How exciting!

In the next few years Evan will shift from focusing primarily on phonics to developing reading comprehension strategies. It certainly won’t be enough to know what words say; he will need to know what they mean. How can I best help him to do this? By teaching him how to think while he reads.

Here are a few strategies that are effective in helping readers be active thinkers while they read:

          1. Previewing
          2. Schema – using background knowledge to find meaning
          3. Asking Questions
          4. Summarizing



Previewing
Take time before you begin reading to look over the book with your child. Look at the front and back cover. Flip through some of the pages. Ask your child what they think the story will be about. This provides a purpose for their reading. They begin the story already thinking about the predictions they have made. Are they right?

Schema
Schema plays a fascinating roll in our ability to understand what we are reading. It is a framework in our mind that organizes information from experiences we have had. We then apply that information to help us understand new things that we encounter. Help your child relate what they are reading to their own past experiences. For example, you may be reading a book about a regatta. If they don’t know what a regatta is, then use the child’s knowledge of car races to explain these boat races.

Asking Questions
Asking questions helps the reader to think actively while they read. Stop periodically during the story and ask them what they think will happen next. Ask them questions about the story structure. Who are the main characters? Where does the story take place? What is the problem? These questions give purpose to their reading and teach them to review the content they have read.

Summarizing
Summarizing challenges the reader to remember what they have read. It gives them the opportunity to retell the story in their own words. Through this experience they learn the difference between the main ideas and details of a story.

Remember to always model comprehension strategies with your children. You must “think out loud” so your child can hear how to properly think about their reading.

A great deal

This week's post is brought to us by Tonia A. She brings us some great thoughts on literacy and scripture study in our families. Enjoy! Thanks, Tonia!

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There is a certain blog I like to follow. As I read it, I feel inspired to be better but not discouraged because I don’t measure up. I feel good about what I am doing in my own efforts as a mother, a daughter of God, a wife and a regular person just trying to do her best. The blogger writes it in a way that helps me to realize that she is real and that it is ok for me to be real. Not perfect, but trying and failing, sometimes succeeding but always trying.

The other day Steve and I were talking about literacy. He mentioned something about health literacy. He said that even if you are very literate you may have low health literacy. Something about not being well read or having a good understanding of a particular health condition….never thought about it that way.

So does that mean we can be literate, but have low doctrinal literacy? In health literacy you can read a lot but if you don’t understand the words, good luck. Anyone know what a sphygmomanometer is? When I think of doctrinal literacy and not understanding the words, I think of the Old Testament and Isaiah. I read it, ok not that often, but when I have read it, I don’t understand it.

What about our kids? We are reading the large print Book of Mormon for Latter-day Saint Families with the kids in the morning. It’s a great copy as it has lots of teaching tools. This helps us to add interesting facts and to ask “insightful” questions to the kids. Trust me, we need to do anything and everything we can some mornings to capture their interest. One is worried about getting to the bus on time, another is still eating breakfast, a third is rubbing sleep from the eyes. Some days we just read….as quickly as we can just to get it in before the bus really does come. Some days we do miss the bus because we were a little slower moving. Other days we get started soon enough to ask questions. I think this is when we have a fighting chance of building doctrinal literacy. Steve said that helping patients become more health literate is vital in building a “healthy” (pun intended) self-reliance in the patients. They take greater ownership of their health status.

I bet the same applies to our kids. For them to take greater ownership of their “spiritual” status they need to understand the words. We’ve taken a lot of different approaches to family scripture study. Sometimes we have to adjust how we go about it because what worked once doesn’t seem to be working any more.

Elder Bednar taught that consistency is what matters. Even though our efforts may not be perfect, as we strive to have family scripture study, just like my “blogger friend,” we need to keep trying. Eventually our children will become doctrinally literate and it will build their testimonies. They will become spiritually self-reliant.

Perhaps this is where reading the scriptures helps with reading literacy and builds doctrinal literacy at the same time. Not a bad two-fer.

Devouring books

This week's post is brought to us by Sharon H. She gave us a five minute spotlight last Sunday related to continuing education and the joys of reading. It was great! And she was kind enough to write it up for the blog! Enjoy!

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I have always loved to read. What a great way to escape, learn and become somebody else. When I was a young girl, my girlfriend and I would walk to the library every Saturday (up and down hills - it seemed a long way). I always had an overwhelming desire to read all the books in the library. (My favorite scene in "Beauty and the Beast" is when the Beast gives Belle the library. Imagine a room full of books - floor to ceiling!)


As a mother, I think one of the best things we can give our children is the love of books and of reading. Our home has always been filled with books and my children have inherited my love of reading, for which I am thankful.

Reading is an excellent way to learn. It is important to recognize that reading to learn is different from reading for entertainment only.

There are several things we can can do to learn more from our reading.

1. We can choose our reading material wisely.
2. We can plan a regular time for reading.
3. We can have a definite objective in reading.
4. We can take notes as we read.
5. We can discuss the ideas that we gain.

When we discuss what we have read with others it helps us to remember what we have read. It also helps us to understand the subject more clearly.

Book groups are a great way to consider others' points of view about books and about life. It's a way to explore different ideas and pursue what the author is trying to convey. What a great way to learn in a relaxed, social atmosphere!

Doctrine & Covenants 130:19 states "If a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come." Let us all strive to learn while we are here on earth.

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And here are a few of Sharon's favorite reads for adults. Check them out!
 
The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Boom
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Mitford series - Jan Karon
Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
Timeline - Richard Crichton
Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maude Montgomery
All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot
Harry Potter series - J. K. Rowling

Authors:
Jodi Picoult
Dean Koontz
James Michener
Jeffrey Archer
David Baldacci
R. F. Delderfield

Reading you will love

This week's post is brought to us by Shauna C. Read on and enjoy her insights and great style. Thanks for your contribution, Shauna!

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When I was very small there was a story book purge at my home. Two piles were made; books that were loved and books that were not. Each pile was sorted into a black plastic garbage bag. One bag was thrown out, one bag was kept, the wrong one. Every book that had been most loved and cherished by both the reader and the listener was now in the garbage. And I, the sixth child, was left with the books nobody wanted.

Fast forward to about fourth grade, I could read. I was very good at it, I read the closed captioning on the T.V. (I have a deaf brother) I read the cereal boxes and the soup cans. I read it all. I didn’t like any of it. I told my sister I hated to read, which was like uttering blasphemy in my house. Instead of arguing with me she looked at the books my teacher had me reading and declared that I was right, they sucked. Then she took me to the bookshelf in her bedroom. I found reading magic in the pages of Trixie Belden. I literally felt that Trixie was a great friend. As many of you know, I now read quite a lot. Okay, so I make my family crazy.

The trick was finding something I could love. The books my teachers wanted me to read probably had their own value, but until I could find something I loved to read I couldn’t enjoy the act of reading itself. That is such an important part of unlocking the code. Last year Fiona hated to read. It was hard and not at all fun. I tried, but it just wasn’t working and both of our frustrations were poisoning the experience. So I kept trying, that’s when we found Ivy and Bean. And that was that. A couple weeks later as she walked through the kitchen with a book in hand AJ said “she’s going to be as bad as you.” With a smile I told him “I hope so.”

Cracking the code, for your children, or yourselves, can be tricky. The key is to keep looking, there’s so much out there. There’s this idea that it has to be the “right” kind of book. The right kind is the kind that you like. If you like to read YA (as I do) there’s nothing that says you can’t. If your child doesn’t get into books without pictures fine, there’s a ton of Graphic Novels and Manga. Shannon Hale (writer) has a great article about this on her blog here. Then, in her next blog post she lists some of their families favorite graphic novels here.

Part of helping a child learn to love it is reading out loud to them. I have felt that spell that can fall on a room full of children as they wait to hear the story unfold. It’s a hush with an electric kind of tension. Another blog I follow, “A Brain Scientist's Take on Writing” has an article that discusses a fMRI study stating that the reader and listeners brain waves show the same patterns as a story is read. Click here to read the article.

A fascinating quote from the article states: “Some regions in the listener's brain actually predicted the speaker's activity, as if the listener was anticipating parts of the story. Later tests of listener comprehension support this. The more predictive activity in a listener’s brain, the better she scored on comprehension questions after the experiment.”

I’ll let you take from that what you will as there are many interesting things to be gleaned from the article. I experienced this in my daughter’s class at school last week. I could see the children mouthing the words they knew would come next, even the squirmiest kids watching my face, listening intently. The whole room had been woven into a spell and held their breath to find out if The Gingerbread Girl would meet the same fate as the Gingerbread Boy. And the trick to winding up in a satisfying way? Slow it down. Slow it way down. Just at the end. Wanting more is great, expecting more and not getting it is no fun at all. Slowing down the 2nd to last sentence lets the child know they’re almost at the end. Slowing down the very last sentence to the point that you’re practically stopping let’s the child savor it all. Every. Last. Tasty. Word.

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Thanks again, Shauna! To piggy-back off her comments, here are the top ten authors named by all of YOU as your favorites for young children:
 
Authors:                              One of the Books They Have Written:
Stan and Jan Berenstain                The Berenstain Bears
Felicia Bond                                 If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Eric Carle                                     The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Bobby Lynn and John R. Maslen     BOB Books
Mercer Mayer                               Little Critter books
Jane O'Connor                              Fancy Nancy Books
Noel Streatfeild                             Ballet Shoes
Mo Willems                                  Knuffle Bunny
Karma Wilson                               Bear Wants More
Jane Yolen                                    How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?
 
Also check out Usborne books and the DK Discovery Series! Stay tuned for our early reader recommendations coming soon. And please leave a post with more of your favorites!

Reading and Learning Together

It's been a great two months learning about so many different topics. Thanks so much to all our contributors!

Now we're going to switch gears a bit and focus on finding the fun in reading and learning together. Whether it be with a book group, children, spouses, friends, or otherwise, reading is such a wonderful way to build relationships, share experiences, learn, and create memories. We have a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks! And yes, we will still have special guest contributors... and weekly treats. :) So stay tuned!

To get us started, here's a thought from The Family: A Proclamation to the World:

Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities [emphasis added].

Whenever I've read that section in the past, I must admit I've considered games and sports and other activities, but did you ever think about the beauty of shared reading? With our busy schedules, it really can be difficult, but I challenge you to find some time for reading in your home and with friends. Here's a final thought I love from President Monson:

Happy homes come in a variety of appearances. Some feature large families with father, mother, brothers, and sisters living together in a spirit of love. Others consist of a single parent with one or two children, while other homes have but one occupant. There are, however, identifying features which are to be found in a happy home, whatever the number or description of its family members. I refer to these as “Hallmarks of a Happy Home.” They consist of:


1. A pattern of prayer.
2. A library of learning.
3. A legacy of love.
4. A treasury of testimony.

Take a few minutes to read the whole article: Hallmarks of a Happy Home. I love the idea of a library of learning. Let's try to make it a hallmark of our own homes... see you next week!



*One small item of business: Today I handed out bookmarks to everyone as a fun reminder to enjoy reading and "let literacy light up your life"! If you were out of town or didn't get one, please let me know! I made a new batch.

Designing Tips from a Pro!

This week's post is brought to us by Jen N. about interior design! You want to take the time to read these great tips. Thanks, Jen!

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Are you sick and tired of all your furniture? Do you appreciate good décor, but feel like you don’t know how to pull it together yourself? Do you want to change the look of your home’s interior, but just don’t know where to start? Décor can be so important, as it sets the stage for the feel of your home and provides the backdrop for your family’s life. When you’re satisfied with your home’s appearance, you want to spend more time there, you feel more relaxed, and even cleaning becomes more enjoyable! But if you’re unhappy with your home’s interior, it can be something that bothers you every day and makes you less likely to entertain or otherwise enjoy your home. Here are some simple design tips to help you improve and love your home - on any budget! I’ve also included some different resources that you might find helpful or inspiring in your quest for a beautiful home.


1. DON’T START WITH PAINT! A common mistake a lot of people make when trying to redecorate a room is to pick their paint color first. This should literally be the LAST item on your list! It is so easy to find a paint color that will complement a grouping of furniture and accessories, but it can be very difficult to find furniture (particularly upholstered pieces) to match a specific paint color. It’s okay to have a color in mind, but leaving the specific paint color for last lets a room evolve - you don’t want to find a piece you love and have to pass it by because it doesn’t complement the paint you chose at the beginning. Instead, be willing to adjust the final color to accommodate the choices you make along the way. This is true even if you think you’ve chosen a “neutral” color. There are very few true neutrals; most “neutral” colors are still either cool or warm to some degree, and the tones may not work with items you find for the room. (Can’t-Fail Color Schemes by Amy Wax)

2. FIND INSPIRATION. Inspiration for a room can come from anywhere – photos from a magazine or website, a friend’s room, a painting, nature, a piece of fabric, a TV show, books, clothing, one item you love that you know you want to include in the room, or even a piece of scrapbooking paper. If you don’t have any inspiration yet (you just know you want a change!) then look for some. There are endless websites with endless photos of gorgeous rooms (another good place for photos is your local bookstore)– look through them until you find at least 20 rooms you really like, even if you don’t know why you like them, and even if they’re not the same type of room you’re redecorating. Then compare – what are some common themes you see? Do you favor rooms with a lot of dark wood? Incorporate some dark wood pieces in your own room. Are you looking at twenty photos of blue rooms? Maybe blue is a color you should consider . . . Are all the rooms light and bright? Work on achieving that feeling in your own room. (hgtv.com; getdecorating.com; home-designing.com; Pure Style by Jane Cumberbatch; The Illustrated History of Textiles by Madeleine Ginsburg; Secret Gardens by Jennifer Potter)

3. GET SHOPPING! While shopping for your home is fun, there are a lot of things to keep in mind. First, everyone’s on a budget. It’s easy to redo a room from top to bottom in a short period of time if you have a large amount of money to spend – you can find almost anything if you’re willing to pay enough. However, for most of us, that’s not reality, and when your budget is small, bargains are your best friend. Here are some tips for redecorating affordably:

• Be patient. If possible, expect to redecorate your room over a period of time – perhaps a few months – so that you can buy good deals as you find them, instead of forcing purchases just to get the room done. That means if you want the guest room to look awesome for the in-laws at Christmas, start working on it now! You’re never going to find a whole room’s worth of items you love and that you can afford all at one time, unless you have a sizeable budget to work with. If you need to get a room redecorated more quickly, expect to either make some compromises or spend more. To save, wait for items to go on sale or clearance – almost everything does, eventually. Also, keep checking back again and again (and again!) at places like thrift stores – your diligence will pay off!
• Stay open-minded. It’s great to have an idea of what you want to do with a room, but be willing to adjust that vision as you find pieces you love – you may surprise yourself!
• Don’t tempt yourself. Shop only at stores where you know you can afford to buy. Getting inspiration from pricier stores is fine, but there’s no point in seriously falling in love with something you could never purchase – you’ll just be disappointed with what you do end up buying, feeling it’s “not as good.”
• Be thrifty! Thrift stores are an awesome resource. Be open-minded and look at the lines (not the color or fabric) of pieces. Would that hideous purple table be really cute in white? Would that old flowered armchair look beautiful when reupholstered or slipcovered? I bought a large armoire at a thrift store a couple of months ago that was actually labeled “badly painted cabinet” by the employees – and it was! But once I got it home and painted over the hideous blue paint and magenta diamonds with a nice cream color, it was beautiful – and it cost me all of 9.95! Also, be willing to make minor repairs to pieces and to change out hardware, and you’ll find some great deals. Or . . . “shop” in your own home – do you have pieces that could be repurposed/refurbished so that you love them again? (Book Recommendations: The Complete Photo Guide to Slipcovers by Linda Neubauer; Painted Furniture Decorating Ideas and Projects by Better Homes and Gardens)
• Don’t forget the internet. There are so many places to get great deals online, so make sure you comparison shop when possible. Online garage sales and auctions are a particularly fabulous resource – all the selection, none of the driving! (Great Websites: atlanta.craigslist.org; ebay.com)
• Don’t buy everything at one place. Rooms look much more sophisticated and tasteful when there’s a good assortment of “found” items – in other words, don’t go buy a matching set of furniture all at one store, and all of the matching accessories to go with it. Instead, find individual items at different places whose tones, lines, and scale provide a nice balance of complement and contrast with one another. I could go on for a whole other article on how to achieve this type of balance, so if you want to discuss that, just ask me! (Book Recommendation: Home Design Ideas: How to Plan and Decorate a Beautiful Home by Clifton-Mogg, Simmons, and Tanqueray)

4. CONSIDER GETTING SOME HELP. If you still feel like you can’t trust yourself to put together a room you would love, or if you’re really struggling with the functionality of a room (furniture arrangement, accommodating traffic patterns, etc.) think about hiring a professional. In general, a good interior designer can accommodate any budget by offering either guidance or full decorating services. Using a designer can easily save you money in the end, since you won’t end up with a room full of purchases you regret.

Most of all, don’t be afraid to try! Have confidence in your choices – you can’t go too wrong with a room full of things you love!

History 101

This week's post is brought to us by CarrieAnne D. Check out her great tips on how to learn more about history. And thanks CarrieAnne for your thoughts and insights!

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As a classically trained historian, I LOVE History! Musty libraries, brittle documents and speaking about dead people really gets me excited. For those of you who have also caught a bit of the history bug here are a few hints that will help you find quality historic information as quickly as possible.

It goes without saying that in the age of the internet anyone can write and publish anything without having to prove its merits. There are a few simple things to keep in mind when doing historic research to avoid the pitfalls that are so rampant on the web.


There are two types of sources for historic information:

PRIMARY SOURCES: This is actual evidence from the time period or subject in question. It could include diaries, photographs, actual artifacts, items of popular culture like posters or movies, court documents, old maps, government records or anything else which was created by or related to the topic you are studying in the time and place you are studying.

For example, I study British women who traveled to Jerusalem in the 19th century. Two of the types of primary sources I rely on heavily for my research are diaries of the travelers and the travel guide books they wrote and sold to the public.

How can you find Primary Sources?

1. Check out the Bibliographies of Secondary Sources (see below). Where did these authors find their primary materials?

2. Do a Google search with the topic that interests you and the word "archive" in the search engine. Archives are stashes of materials on a the same topic and can often be found in University libraries, museums, or private collections.

Also many archives can now be found online. I once wrote an article on Gertrude Bell and based almost my entire research on the photographs and original letters that were scanned and uploaded by her library to this website: http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/. Before the internet I would have had to travel all the way to England for that privilege.

3. Check out your local museums. You might find artifacts of interest on display or could even request access to documents and artifacts they have in storage. Curators LOVE to talk about their collections so don't be afraid to get friendly.

SECONDARY SOURCES These are books or scholarly articles written about the topic you are interested in. Secondary Sources normally involve a historian or lay person examining a bunch of Primary Sources and creating a theory about them. This doesn't mean their theory is correct or that they have used Primary Sources in a valid way. Bad or what we call POP history (what you find a lot of on the History Channel) doesn't always use Primary Sources - in these instances it is just a guy or gal spouting their opinion without backing it up with hard facts.

How can you find GREAT Secondary Sources?

1. Check the author's credentials. Does the author have a PhD or at least a Master's degree in the field in which they are writing about. What other books have they written on the topic? If he or she is not a traditional academic are they a journalist or someone who has worked in a related field and has practical experience of the topic? All of this information is normally available on the jacket cover of the book or can be quickly Googled.

2. Who published the book or article? Though in many cases general publishing houses like Penguin or Random House do publish legitimate works of scholarship, you are almost always safer if the book you are referencing was printed by an Academic Press. These are signified by the name of a University in the Publishers name - for example: Rutgers University Press, New York University Press, etc.

3. Paying expensive tuition for your beloved son or daughter to attend BYU or another University? Get something back from this investment. All Universities extend to their students library privileges and these privileges extend to online scholastic journals that non-students have to pay big bucks to access. Some schools even let students print articles for free. JSTOR is an excellent and commonly use database for scholastic articles. Have your student search JSTOR for articles which interest you. Articles have a much shorter publication process and so are often much more current in their theories and discoveries than books. University libraries also have inter library loan privileges. Get your little cutie to order a hard to find book for you that you just can't get in your local public library which has a much smaller book purchasing budget. You can even get great primary sources in this way. If you student balks at such notions as entering the library or doing these little academic favors for you I suggest withholding home cooked meals and laundry privileges when they come home for a visit.

I hope this brief tutorial on basic historical research gets the Indiana Jones in you fired up. Whether the topic that interests you is how the rolling pin was invented or why WWII was started, doing a little research to learn more about the world we live in, inevitably teaches us more about ourselves.

Dinner Delights!

"What's for dinner?" That age-old question that we sometimes meet with dread. But what if it wasn't just about food on a plate and sitting at the table? What if the question really sparked some fun, and some simple activities that liven up an occasional meal?


It's vital we meet together at meal time to re-connect, to talk, to teach and learn from each other. How about if we jazz it up with the unexpected sometimes? Our family has loved doing these kinds of things through the years. It builds memories and brings laughter and warmth when we share good times together; it should be positive and delightful. A little zany is a good thing!

Be creative. Become the adventure coordinator; what you serve is secondary. HOW you do it, now that's the key. Enjoy!


Some Ideas for "Dinner Delights": 

• Treat them to a "Sdrawkcab" (backwards) dinner!
• everyone turns their clothes inside out or wears them backwards
• serve dessert first/main course last
• try to say a few phrases backwards; try some words that are the same backwards and forwards (example: "wow" (which upside down is also "Mom")
• pass things the opposite way you usually do. If you discuss things about your day always starting with the oldest, start with the youngest, etc.
•  Use crazy utensils
• set each place with serving pieces like slotted spoons, toothpicks, chopsticks, straws and everyone has to eat with whatever they have been given
• make up limericks about your experience while you eat (example: "There was a young lady from here, who ate with the wildest gear. . . " etc.)
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  Have a progressive dinner in your own house!
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  have a picnic on the living room floor for the salad
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  use the dining room for vegetables
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  eat the main course outside
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  perch on stools for dessert
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  if you're really feeling adventurous and your kids are into it, have them set up a different area with "decorations," etc.
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  Go camping inside!
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  put a big sheet over your kitchen table and sit on the floor
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  eat by the glow of a camping-type light
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  make s'mores in your microwave for dessert
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  sing camp songs
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  Get a "Round" to it!
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  make everything you serve round in shape
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  sit in a circle to eat
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  play a name-everything-you-can-that's-round game
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  play ring-around-the-rosie afterwards
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  talk about ways we "circle up" today for strength and protection just like the pioneers did
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  Use a color to build your dinner theme
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  for example, how about "orange?"
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  have everyone wear whatever they have that's orange
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  serve chicken with an orange sauce, orange slices, orange Jell-O, carrots, and food coloring in the milk or water
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  ask "Orange they glad they came to dinner?" and then you can ask "What else do you think of when I say 'Orange you glad about __________?" and they fill in the blank with things they're happy about
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  Celebrate wacky things! For example:
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  Sept. is National Potato Month, National Honey Month
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  Oct. is National Popcorn Month, National Pizza Month
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  Nov. is National Peanut Butter Lover's Month
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  each month has some national item like this; or make up your own!
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  use balloons, posters, noise makers, whatever you have on hand to celebrate the food!
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  we've even had the kids bring bits of info. on the featured food (how/where it's grown, where it originated, etc.)

When family time equates to fun time, kids want to be there, to be a part, to join in and participate. Soon, they'll even come up with their own ideas for "Dinner Delights!" Have fun!

Thanks so much to Melanie M. for her contribution this week! Can't wait to try some of her ideas!

How to find what you're looking for!

This week, I wanted to tip you off to a great resource for finding materials about subjects that interest you. Have you ever explored the Cobb County Library website? There's a fabulous network of databases and search engines that allow you to look for just about anything! From biography to history to finance to ... you name it! You can just go to the main page for the Cobb County Library System, then look at the links in the left column under "Collections." Do a little exploring! GALILEO is the main resource you'll find, a database of resources maintained by the University System of Georgia. You can search by topic, category, type of publication, etc. And it's free!!

To make it happen, you'll need your library card and PIN. If you don't know what your PIN is, stop by the library to get that set up. Then you can sign into your account on the Cobb County Library site and gain access to GALILEO's password... then search to your heart's content! Here's the Library's "how to" description for accessing GALILEO:

http://www.cobbcat.org/HowDoI.html

Alternatively, if you're actually in the library, you can access it all there!

Have fun! Go find something new!

And thanks to Stephanie D. for her experience with this resource!

Codependency and self-help -- brought to us by Charlyn C.

This week's post is brought to us by Charlyn C. She has put together an excellent book review for the book Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself by Melody Beattie. Charlyn writes,

I began counseling in December 2009 to deal with issues I was struggling with. After a few sessions, my counselor asked me to get this book. I started reading it in February and have been reading ever since. Now I’m not that slow of a reader, but I have been reading, rereading, doing the assignments, rereading sections, and pondering and praying since then. I have used this as a “textbook,” and I feel like I am in class with focused studying and assignments each step of the way. A lot of the information I have learned or heard before, but because I am in a different stage of life, I am looking at it, hearing it, and internalizing it differently. Some of the information is new to me and is helping me look at things in a new way.

I started my reading at the Preface and Introduction -- even there I was learning. One of the biggest things I learned is that even though I grew up in an LDS family where alcohol was not present, I grew up with the same dynamics and dysfunction that adult children of alcoholics do. Who knew I was from an alcoholic family where not a drop of alcohol was consumed? It gave me so much clarity and understanding. The reading stirred up a lot of emotions -- sometimes I could only read for a short time, become overwhelmed, cry, have to take a break, then start again. Sometimes even days later. I also have been doing assignments from my counselor that are specific to me but go along with the book, so it has been hard work, but a wonderful revelation for me.


In John 8:32, it says, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Then in Ether 12:27 it says, "And if men [Charlyn] come unto me I will SHOW UNTO THEM their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." This is made even more powerful by the words in verse 37 of Ether 12: "and because thou hast seen thy weakness, thou shalt be made strong."

These scriptures give marvelous promises of being free from, for me, incorrect values and views. And that if I am willing to look, Heavenly Father will show me my weaknesses, the things that I need to know and change. If I choose to have faith, I can instead be healed and become strong in these areas of my life. I am grateful for the windows of understanding that this book has opened in my life. I know I have been given this book at this time for my good. I am grateful because I have been so blessed.

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Thank you so much to Charlyn for sharing these personal and insightful comments. Mental and emotional health is so important and this is just one book that may open doors to better understanding. (We could go months learning about this!) Bottom line? If you are struggling, you do NOT have to go it alone. Seek the help you need, whether through resources like this one, through priesthood and Relief Society channels in the Church, professional counseling, or otherwise. For a little additional reading, check out the website for LDS Family Services. They offer professional counseling, and their website has an excellent collection of articles related to a wide range of topics for emotional and interpersonal well-being. As they state on their website,

No one is immune from challenges in this life. When social or emotional challenges arise, help is available.

Let the Spirit guide, trust in the Lord, and get the help you need! Thanks again, Charlyn.