1.  Name five things that Emma Smith enjoyed and was good at.  

2. Name several pastimes Joseph Smith enjoyed.  

3. How many children did Joseph and Emma have (including their adopted children), and how many lived to adulthood?  

4. How old was Emma when she became a widow, and how many years more did she live?  

5. What were Emma's last words at her passing?

1. Gardening, singing, practicing medicinal herbalism, riding horses, rowing, caring for lots of cats in her old age.

2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon butter
1 cup simple syrup (corn syrup)
Pinch of salt
1 cup water
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 pound of peanuts

Boil sugar, syrup, and water to soft ball stage. Add peanuts, butter, and salt. Cook syrup until golden brown, move from fire, stir in soda, and drop on a greased cookie sheet.

When making, use a heavy pot, such as a cast iron. Stir with wooden spoon. Do not touch after having dropped the cooked mixture onto the cookie sheet. Pour mixture evenly over the cookie sheet and tip cookie sheet side to side to even it out further. The trick is learning to watch and recognize when it has reached golden brown. When it is over-cooked it is hard-when under-cooked, it is sticky.

1. Why do so many marriages and relationships fall apart when difficulties or selfishness arise? 

2. Think about what perspectives lead us to anger and resentment in our relationships. In what ways are those feelings initially based on fear or on hurt? How are the two emotions related, and what do we fear?  

3. Consider the scripture "perfect love casteth out fear" (Moro. 8:16). How is that relevant to our interactions with family or spouse? 

4. What strategies help us keep a soft heart? How do we keep our hurt from turning to anger and instead use it to teach us about ourselves, to teach our loved ones about themselves and our hearts, and to teach us about God's love, compassion and understanding? 

5. Consider experiences in which "a soft answer turneth away wrath" (see Prov. 15:1).  What tools are available to keep our answers soft along with our hearts? Think creatively as well (for example, my husband and I use a "conch shell" (taken from the Lord of the Flies) in stress-producing conversations or when we start to disagree and are prone to maybe raising our voices in frustration. Only the one holding the conch shell can talk (the shell can be anything we grab and call a conch shell-a pen, a rock, whatever's nearby). We have to wait to have the shell passed to us in order to respond, which prevents us cutting each other off or doing other things that contribute to contention. 

6. In times of great family difficulty, how do we draw upon each other's strengths rather than become shattered under the pressure? List books or talks, or confer with friends on such sources that have been particularly helpful to them in working out healthier relationships or in learning to rely on the Lord in such a way that we are of good cheer and calm though tossed by winds.

1. What led you to begin writing this book?
I have a book in my office full of love letters between famous couples in history. Though lovely, the letters were mostly full of infatuation, unrequited love, and drama of the scandalous nature. I started thinking about how such definitions of "love" are about the only thing broadly modeled in our culture today through Hollywood and novels. Young people grow up not knowing what real love should look like or that mature love has much more meaning than the excitement of infatuation. Directly across from this book on my bookshelves is my Church history and Joseph and Emma collection. I have a deep love for the Prophet and his wife and all they did that has given my life direction. I started wondering about their romance-because they were both very passionate people, but had a much greater depth to their relationship than many famous couples in history. That curiosity is what led me to write this book.  

2. What do you most enjoy about being an author?
I enjoy sharing my thoughts and feelings with other people who are equally passionate about the subject matter, and I enjoy being able to meet new people because of this book. It's very touching to me when my efforts to bring these beautiful sentiments from Emma and Joseph to readers have helped other people with their own struggles. Being reminded of how our progenitors dealt with the difficulties of life and yet still had hope, faith and love is very important in today's hectic and unsure world.  

3. What do you hope people come away with after reading your book?
I hope they are able to gain more perspective, and consequently peace, when it comes to their own trials. If Joseph and Emma could endure all they did and learn to rely upon the Savior and each other and still have joy and patience, then so can we with our sometimes lesser fares of pain and difficulty. Many of us have tremendous trials, but I'd be hard-pressed to find anything that Joseph and Emma can't relate to or didn't go through directly-often simultaneously.  

4. What kind of research did you do for this book, and how long did it take?
We (my assistant Desiree Johns and I) read many books and also searched through the LDS Church Archives as well as contacted the Community of Christ Archives in Missouri. It took six to eight months or so to do the research, and the book took around a year for completion and acceptance for publication.  

5. How did your love for writing begin?
My love of writing began with my love of reading. My parents read a great deal to me when I was a child, and the "magic" of how writing opens up new worlds and new ways of seeing my world began with the Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis). From there I grew to love the imagination captured in books and started writing "novels" as an elementary student. To this day I am still moved to tears when I read beautiful writing or come across a particularly well-phrased snapshot of truth.