Many years ago, I was trying to figure out what to get my mother for Christmas. One thing I knew about her was she was a planner, she loved to write things down. She was old school. She loved to schedule things. She loved to have things right in front of her face for the week. I found the almost-perfect gift: A beautiful National Geographic weekly engagement calendar. She loved it. It became an annual gift of choice from me to her for at least a decade. I purposely said “almost-perfect” because I figured out how to make it perfect.

For the past nearly half-a-century, I have been carefully photographing the church history sites, including Palmyra, Kirtland, Missouri, Nauvoo, Vermont and everything in between. In the past few months I have carefully created The Nauvoo Diary & Weekly Engagement Calendar. This would have been the perfect gift for my mom, but I just lost her this past year. I wanted to find something that would daily and weekly remind us of our sacred roots. This is it.

On each spread I have placed a stunning image of Nauvoo (or, in a few cases, of Carthage) and then I’ve included a week at a glance and an inspirational thought from our ancestral heritage.

Read that quote carefully in the picture. It will surprise and delight you.

In addition to the beautiful spreads on the finest paper, I’ve created space for you to write special thoughts, inspiration, quotes or ideas as you go throughout your week.  I’ve also included a full spread at the end of each month with beautifully-lined paper to write the thoughts and desires of your heart and spirit.

Yes, use this diary to write down appointments and events. Use this to write a quote you heard you don’t want to forget. Use this to capture a fleeting idea or flash of inspiration. Use this to write down birthdays. Write down events or thoughts from the day to use as a resource for writing in your journal. A phrase can trigger a memory, so when you sit down later to write in your journal, you don’t have to think, “What happened today or this week?” You made a note that took only a few seconds, and it’s right there.

I’m trying to step back from the parts of our modern social networking that I have come to not like. I don’t want to be in the same room with someone and decide to text them. I don’t want to be with Maurine and one of our children and her spouse at a restaurant and have all four of us be on our phones and not engage with each other. I don’t want to be completely dependent upon Google Calendar or Outlook or appointments plus or Apple Calendar—I want to physically write some things down. I really like pens and I want that organic experience that I grew up with.

Order your Nauvoo Diary & Weekly Engagement Calendar today. Click here.

There is something wonderful about writing thoughts and ideas down on paper in a permanent location that can’t be taken out by a surge of electricity. There is something wonderful about lines on a page ready to be filled with your thoughts and ideas. There is something delicious about photographs from Nauvoo that bring us back to our roots and tie us even deeper to the Restoration and the Prophet Joseph Smith and the great heroes and heroines of that amazing era. This is what I’ve tried to capture in The Nauvoo Diary & Weekly Engagement Calendar. As soon as you get your hands on this, you will know what I’m talking about. This is a beautiful book—a heritage piece. It is a diary keepsake, a small journal—a catalyst for your other journal. It is a book that will give you the ideas and thoughts for your personal history. You will love the look and feel of this. You will want other members of your circle of friends and family to have one too.

Purchase your Nauvoo Diary today for you and copies for your gift list by CLICKING HERE.

Why Nauvoo? I can tell you why: I love Nauvoo. I grew up near Nauvoo. I’ve been visiting Nauvoo and Carthage for the past more than 50 years. I know Nauvoo really well. Nauvoo flows in my veins, and, in fact, if you look deeply, Nauvoo flows in your veins as well. It is the City of Joseph. It is something we’ve thought about a lot in our studies of the history of the Church. Nauvoo binds us to the stories and people of the past. If we have visited Nauvoo, many of us have done research to see where our own people used to live or own property.

I remember more than twenty years ago leading a tour in Nauvoo. We had two retired couples with us and the men were brothers. They had researched to know where their ancestors had lived and they asked for special permission to drive the bus past the lot. We did so and then we stopped. They got out of the bus and walked around on that lot for less than two minutes. The one brother felt something under his shoe on this empty piece of ground. He reached down and wiggled the obstruction back and forth a bit, and it was a part of a brick that he pulled out of the ground. With tears in his eyes he picked this up and he said, “This belonged to my ancestors! This was part of their home!” This was one of the highlights of the trip for these brothers. I want every page of this Nauvoo Diary to feel like that moment for you.

Come and look at and order your Nauvoo Diary now. Click here.

This gift is old school. It is reaching back to our sacred roots. It is a touch of the past, but it is also practical and useful. It will be a place to record and remember the birthdays in your family. It will give you space to capture a fleeting thought or stroke of inspiration. It will help you remember appointments and upcoming trips. It will be a great addition to your desk, your end table, your kitchen work area, your office or den. It is the perfect, sophisticated, beautiful gift for everyone on your list—especially to that person who is so hard to find something for.  When you see this and hold it in your hands, you will know you’ve made a really great decision.

A gift of this quality, with more than 120 full-color images, and printed on this level of paper would normally be priced at $24, be we are selling it at only $18. This is the perfect gift for each member of your family, young and old, for ministering families, even for special neighbor gifts. This coming year’s Come Follow Me curriculum is the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History—what a perfect addition to this your everyone’s studies!

Order your Nauvoo Diary & Weekly Engagement Calendar today.