More than a year ago my husband called me from working out of town to tell me that he’d just seen a movie in the theaters that was all about God. He couldn’t stop talking about the movie called Facing the Giants–a low-budget film produced by a church in Georgia not much larger than our own. Our whole family enjoyed it and gladly overlooked the less-than-Oscar quality acting.
When I heard the church had produced its second film, I knew I would see it, but honestly my expectations weren’t high. I guess I was thinking “The sequel is never as good.” Even when all the emails came pouring in encouraging me to see it, I wasn’t thinking it was going to be great. I was happy when a friend invited me to see the movie through her church for just $5 and happier still when her church provided FREE childcare for all six of my children AND dinner! But again, to be honest, I was thinking that all of that to see a sappy, poorly acted movie would make it that much more disappointing. Sorry! I was just in a mood yesterday. LOL
Then I saw it and I was blown away. Yes, there are still some less-than-Oscar-quality moments. But I would give it more stars than offered on any chart. I hesitate to write that knowing that now your expectations will be TOO high and you WILL be disappointed. So let me say this. It’s funny. It’s touching. It’s real. And to top it off, the church who provided the $5 tickets also gave us a free book to go along with the movie. I won’t elaborate on the book or it will ruin the movie for you. If you are a married Christian or someone who is not a believer who is ready to try anything to save your marriage, you will WANT this book. The church is also offering a Fireproof Bible study for couples–a product that uses the movie to help couples get their marriages on track. I couldn’t be more impressed by the resources that have been put together to help save marriages. As someone who has worked for many years to help married couples, I am very moved by how God has used a little church in Georgia to do a mighty work.
See the movie. Recommend it to your friends. After all, you can offend people by recommending therapy. But who is ever offended by a movie recommendation?
More than a year ago my husband called me from working out of town to tell me that he’d just seen a movie in the theaters that was all about God. He couldn’t stop talking about the movie called Facing the Giants–a low-budget film produced by a church in Georgia not much larger than our own. Our whole family enjoyed it and gladly overlooked the less-than-Oscar quality acting.
When I heard the church had produced its second film, I knew I would see it, but honestly my expectations weren’t high. I guess I was thinking “The sequel is never as good.” Even when all the emails came pouring in encouraging me to see it, I wasn’t thinking it was going to be great. I was happy when a friend invited me to see the movie through her church for just $5 and happier still when her church provided FREE childcare for all six of my children AND dinner! But again, to be honest, I was thinking that all of that to see a sappy, poorly acted movie would make it that much more disappointing. Sorry! I was just in a mood yesterday. LOL
Then I saw it and I was blown away. Yes, there are still some less-than-Oscar-quality moments. But I would give it more stars than offered on any chart. I hesitate to write that knowing that now your expectations will be TOO high and you WILL be disappointed. So let me say this. It’s funny. It’s touching. It’s real. And to top it off, the church who provided the $5 tickets also gave us a free book to go along with the movie. I won’t elaborate on the book or it will ruin the movie for you. If you are a married Christian or someone who is not a believer who is ready to try anything to save your marriage, you will WANT this book. The church is also offering a Fireproof Bible study for couples–a product that uses the movie to help couples get their marriages on track. I couldn’t be more impressed by the resources that have been put together to help save marriages. As someone who has worked for many years to help married couples, I am very moved by how God has used a little church in Georgia to do a mighty work.
See the movie. Recommend it to your friends. After all, you can offend people by recommending therapy. But who is ever offended by a movie recommendation?
My fellow blogger, Gregg, asked me to complete a meme. Okay, I will admit I have no idea what a meme is, but I do know six absolutely unspectacular things about myself. I think.
1. I prefer to wear grandma-like jammies. You would think I was saying I am not a good customer of Victoria's Secret, but the jammies I am wearing here are VS ones that I got an amazing deal on. 2. I am a technology addict. I start trembling whenever I hear the latest gadget is out because I am just sure it will change my life. I will spend hours researching the best gadgets and finding the best prices. The gadget in the picture is an Epson MovieMate. I love it! We've watched movies theater-style at home, outside, and used it numerous times for Bible study groups. Yep, I got a great deal on it, too! 3. I am very uncomfortable in social situations where I don't know many people. When I get to know you, you can't shut me up, but when I walk into a group my old grade school rejection issues rear their ugly head and I feel fairly paralyzed. I am greatly relieved when someone talks to me first so I don't have to pretend like I am completely engrossed by one of my gadgets. 4. Before I had them, I never really liked children. I wasn't dying to babysit anyone else's children (though I did sometimes) and I had no interest in child psychology. When other people brought their children over to my house, I was more concerned with what their messy snacks had done to my white carpeting than I was with how cute they were. Things change. LOL 5. This is a really big one for me. I was baptized in the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints, the church my mother attended growing up, when I was 18. No, it isn't the Mormon church, but it was an early off-shoot of it. I loved the humble, generous people who attended this tiny church. They were so good to me! But I didn't like the persecution I experienced because of my connection with that faith. I honestly had no idea what the doctrine was in comparison to other faiths. I just knew they were wonderful people who cared about me. I attended an ELCA (Lutheran) college and when some of the students in my worship class found out I was a member of the RLDS church, they attacked me en masse. It was a horrible experience that added to my reticence to speak first in groups. I learned never to mention it. I have been a Missouri-synod Lutheran for 16 years and I STILL never mention my early church association. So now I have! The RLDS church has since changed their name because of its association of its previous name with the Mormon church. By the way, I attended a Presbyterian church until I was in first grade. 6. I love to sing. Most of my life that was my primary hobby. I sang to the cows at home. They weren't gone so I didn't have to sing until they came home. I sang the lead role in several musicals, sang in the choir, and earned highest honors in vocal competition in high school. I dreamed of being a professional singer. But I got busy doing other things and over the years I lost a lot of my range. I think allergies made it hard for me to sing, too. Recently my voice has improved and I had a lot of fun singing karaoke at my mom's wedding. Actually, I think they had to pull the mic out of my hands. I hope to try out for one of our church's musicals in the future.
Okay, so now the meme's rules are I have to tag six other bloggers. So I tag Barbie, Wendy, Robin, Mell, Dana, and Jena. If you don't want to do it, then we won't be friends anymore. Just kidding!
Meme terms & conditions
1. link the person who tagged you 2. mention the rules on your blog 3. list 6 unspectacular things about you 4. tag 6 other bloggers by linking them
I have wanted to take the kids to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum ever since it opened. Had I known how truly wonderful it would be, I would have gotten there before now. But since we are doing a government study, it seemed like a great time for the field trip. You may notice some new faces in our co-op. Some of our dear friends aren't co-oping this year so we asked some new friends to join us. Note that they're all boys! It's funny to me now that I once bemoaned having no friends with boys. Now I have very few friends with girls.
I have long admired President Lincoln–more so after reading his biography with the kids a few years ago. I really respected the fact that the museum acknowledged that Lincoln has become larger than life such that we don't REALLY know him anymore. But what I learned about him I loved. He reminds me so much of Moses–a humble man whom God used to release the slaves. The museum is everything you'd hope it would be and much more. The staff were easily the most friendly and engaging people I have met anywhere! They were constantly talking to the kids, rather than being miffed that they were there as so many museum staff are. The gentleman in the playroom was like the nicest grandpa!
Abraham Lincoln said, "I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day." I have been there, too. I tell people all the time that my Ph.D. in psychology has had no power to save me from my own problems. God and His Word have been my life saver time after time. I hope and pray my children learn that. My ultimate goal is not to see them proudly walking across a stage to get a diploma, but to see them on their knees before God acknowledging they know nothing.
I have to admit that I am afraid of the toddler paint combination. You've probably seen those horrible photos that get sent around the 'net of the kids who dumped interior latex all over the leather furniture and television. That doesn't help my phobia at all!
When I turned 40 (please don't think that was a long time ago!), I determined to stop living in fear. After all, the Bible is full of Fear Nots. Giving in to fear is actually sin because we are not trusting our Super Power God to handle things. Or we trust Him to handle things; we just don't like the things He has planned! So in the spirit of fearing not, I let the kids use the second most terrifying kind of paint (house paint still takes first prize). And nothing big happened. Yet. The kids just played and didn't get it in their hair, on their clothes, or on me. But I must mention that I store the finger paints right next to the leftover latex. Will they follow the rules and not use the paint without Mommy? Let's hope so.
Until then, join me in declaring a Fear Not zone. Do something you've always been afraid to do and trust the Super Power to come to the rescue if you get into a mess.
We’ve been back to school for four weeks now, but last week was our annual Back to
Homeschool picnic that the kids love. It was quite chilly, but we had fun anyway.
Miss E won the sack race in her age group for girls and won a fabulous prize package
that kept her busy for hours. She said, “Mom, know how I won? I jumped like crazy and
I just won!” That pretty much describes how we’ve been welcoming back school, work, and exercise into our lives. We are just jumping like crazy! Hopefully we’ll win at meeting our goals. On Wednesday I put my hip out of place at the gym, but with the help of an amazing chiropractor, I am good to go back already! Hope everyone has a crazy wonderful welcome to a new week and doesn’t have as many difficulties as I have had formatting this post! I give up already!
I’m a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. My life can be a little crazy, so I look for sanity-saving ideas to use and share. I hope you’ll read my About page to learn more.
