Merry Christmas from the Nysetvold Family! Elissa is Supermom. She’s running Rivendell Academy, our home school, as well as teaching at the South Houston Area Performing Arts Co-op (SHAPAC) and playing piano for their choirs. SHAPAC is a one-day-a-week deal that gives the kids some social and artistic exposure, and the rest of the week, […]

The 2023rd year of our Lord has been good to the Nysetvold family. It has sure been wild for Elissa. She gave birth to Elanor Eve Nysetvold in May; a medical scare resulted in her getting induced a few days early, literally the day after Dan and Will’s school let out. Then she decided to […]

Merry Christmas! This has been an exciting year for our family. Elissa is a domestic ninja. She’s been teaching Dan piano, helping Dan and Will get way ahead in math, making sourdough bread, sewing dresses for Marie, instigating a new tradition of Sunday post-Church family board games, and more. Not to mention moving from San […]

Ten years ago, I got home from my mission to Brazil for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I served in the São Paulo South Mission, in cities including São Vicente, Ribeirao Pires, São Bernardo, and the Zona Sul of São Paulo itself, speaking Portuguese. I had previously studied Spanish and Latin and […]

Public Square Magazine has just published my essay on my ancestors’ experience with political repressions in general, and religious freedom specifically. Give it a look!

Public Square Magazine just put up a piece I wrote, on Israel (the religious concept, not just the country) as an institution. This is what I came up with as I took President Russell M. Nelson’s challenge to study what the Lord has promised Israel, in light of my prior reading and interest in how […]

Hello world, this is Tom. Normally Elissa does our Christmas letter, but I’ve hijacked it this year. Executive summary: we’ve actually had a pretty good 2020, pandemic notwithstanding. Marie was born on April 18, with a thick head of black hair. She is now babbling and crawling around like crazy. She brings out the best […]

In this Thankgsiving week, I’m taking some time to reflect on the things I’m grateful for. I am grateful for my family. My wife Elissa is awesome. She is smart, beautiful, creative, funny, makes amazing food, and writes great stories. She is also an incredible mother for our kids, nurturing them along, teaching them, and […]

As the tide goes out, institutions that were swimming naked get revealed. Think about the Centers for Disease Control (so under control!), or any number of businesses that have apparently been operating with no capital cushion, within spitting distance of bankruptcy. Meanwhile, some other institutions ought to be gaining status, for being particularly well prepared […]