Strength in Joy
Jun. 5, 2008 - The offense of the cross
Last night in our bible study we were discussing the cross and pastor mentioned that the cross was offensive. one man asked 'why" so we discussed it. It was brought up how humiliating the cross was and even now people (out of due respect) don't picture Jesus on the cross as he really was, completely unclothed, beaten and bleeding. It was brought up how the cross was the first century equivalent of the electric chair. The scuzziest of criminals died a horrible public death on the cross. (and our Savior chose this.) someone else mentioned that it is hard for humans to beleive that they cannot do something to help in their own salvation. that is certainly an offense of the cross. but pastor reminded us of an even bigger offense. here was someone who gave forgiveness to those who had hurt you. everyone wants forgiveness for himself, but imagines his enemy is beyond redemption.
and I rememered. When I was a new Christian we were on our way to a ladies conference. As we passed over Tiger Mountain another new Christian asked if we thought ***** (the serial killer who hid his victims there) could possibly be in Heaven. Pastor's wife assured her that if he had realized he was a sinner, and accepted Christ as his Savior before he was executed, then yes he would be in heaven. She and a few others could not accept this. Not because he was a murderer, she was willing that he be allowed in, but because his price was the same as hers! how dare!!! God forgive her sins at the same rate as those of that evil man. He ought to at least have to prove that he was a changed man before he got to go into heaven, or perhaps spend some time in purgatory (or some such thing) to pay for his sins, since they were so much more horrible than hers.
The offense of the cross is this. our sins, our little tiny, barely worth mentioning sins, Count the same as the sins of the most vile murderer. Our gossip, or "little white lie", or anger at our brother, any resistance to God, Earns us the same death, the same hell as the worst evildoer we can imagine. And the price, the blood of the Great I AM, the death of the one perfect lawkeeper, is as sufficient for the most noxious criminal, as it is for me. Nothing more is required of either of us. we are now equally right with God. we now share the same inheritance.
If that isn't offensive, I don't know what is.
Mrs N
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Aug. 22, 2007 - Free Kittens!
So, a friend of Mr N's gave us a "barn cat" what he didn't tell us was that she was expecting kittens. If we had known we would have prepared a place for her. instead she ran down to the neighbors and had her kitties under their house. They were, less than thrilled. so now we have 4 kittens about 6 weeks old. and one very sweet mother cat who is more interested in the neighbors crawlspace than in the mice in our garage. She keeps getting loose and running away to their house. the Irony is they already have a cat, which they keep on a leash because she runs away. I'm thinking the mother cat wants a new home too.
well I'm going to keep writing, even if it's only drivel about cats.
Mrs Nehemiah
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Jul. 26, 2007 - And the winners Are...
1. homeschool_mommy
2. melissa-snapshots
3. Sarina
I've e-mailed the winners and will be sending out prizes as soon as possible.
Thanks for participating.
Mrs. Nehemiah
Most of the drawings are closed now, but there's at least one who's offering something special today! (you really want to see this) Heather at Desperately Seeking Sanity is giving away a nearly new garnet ring! (just the thing for kindred spirits) and she promises some nice prizes next week too. so hop on over to continue the fun!
Mrs N
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Jul. 24, 2007 - Dog days of summer blog giveaway
I figure I'd better use this blog or drop it instead of letting it take up internet "space" with last years ramblings. I think I really lost my passion for writing for a while there when my friend went through her tragedies.
but lets focus on something fun
I'm joining in the madness over at Rocks in my Dryer's doggy bloggy giveaway.
I don't have a camera so I'll have to be very descriptive.
I'm giving away a box of Partylite tealight candles. this is an 18 count box of tealights with 6 different scents. three each of Ginger Apple, Cedar Patchouli, Cinnamon&Bayberry, Nordic Ice, Champagne Pear, and Holiday Spices.
Likely I'll find something else to give away as second prize so don't be suprized if there's more than one winner.
I'll pay shipping, open to US Addresses. you have to leave me some way to get ahold of you, your blog or email is best.
Just leave a comment and I'll draw a random winner on Friday July 27th
Oh and check out all the other free drawings (last count was 410) .
Update*** I will be closing comments at 6:30 PST so that I can announce the winner (s) first thing Friday morning. After comments are closed I'll remove any comments without contact information, and any double comments. If you already commented and forgot to put in your contact info, just re-comment. I'll trim the comments down to 1 per person before I hold the drawing. *** Update
More Updates ### I finally decided that I have way too many candles to EVER burn before I grow weary of the scents. so I have two more boxes of partylite candles to give away. The FIRST name drawn will get the box of tealights mentioned above. The SECOND will get a box of 6 vanilla/ivory Votive candles. and the THIRD will receive a Grab-bag style box containing 4 square votives in Honeydew, and 2 regular votives in strawberry rhubarb. ### More Updates
Comments are now closed. I'll announce the winners Tomorrow!
Mrs. N
Dec. 20, 2006 - Hmm, I lost an entry
my fault, I should have saved it on my computer since I knew HSblogger was upgrading.
Oh well.
for those of you in the Northwest, How did you weather the storm? when did you get your power back? were you prepared? did you stay warm? safely? what will you do differently for next time? and what safety tips do you have for us now?
We did pretty well, I'm very thankful for the gas stove, it made heating water a breeze, so much faster than putting it on top of the fireplace-insert.
we lost power for a few hours on Wed 13th (from 2:30-7:30 pm) and again on Thursday 14th at about 3:30pm, then we didn't get it back until Sunday about noon! tough, but some people didn't have power on Monday.
we used our fireplace-insert to heat the house (somewhat less efficiently without the fans) we cooked on the top of the stove, soups & spaghetti, I even made "cowgirl coffee" first you make cowboy coffee throwing your grounds into a pot of water and boiling it until its muddy looking, then I poured it through the filter section of my coffee pot , thus making it into cowgirl coffee. we girls for the most part don't prefer to chew our coffee.
Next time I'll remember to fill the pitchers with water before the storm, and perhaps the tubs also. and next week DH is going over to the neighbors (widow who owns our community well) to fix the generator and have it ready to run for next time. it ran for a few hours then got gummed up because it had not been maintained properly.
A few bits of advice
1! never ever ever use charcoal grills indoors Carbon Monoxide poisoning claimed more lives than any other danger during this storm.
2! Never ever ever run your generator indoors, see above, it is better to have it stolen than to lose your family to CO poisoning!
3. if you have been without power for a few days you might consider testing/replacing the batteries in your smoke detectors. especially if they usually run on household power and the batteries are designed as a "backup"
Mrs N
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Nov. 21, 2006 - Now we're cookin' with gas!
so my oven started mis-behaving. I think the element was giving up. I figured I'd mention it to DH and he'd replace the element for me. instead he figures this is a great excuse to finally switch over to Gas. LP in our case since we live in the backofbeyond. Perfect timing, sears was having a sale. with 30% off our gas range cost $10 less after tax, than a comperable range at the scratch and dent store before tax.
so now we're all happy, Dh has wanted a gas stove and hot water heater for almost 10 years now, and I've wanted a gas stove for at least the last 6 months or so (I'm really not hard to convince, provided I already agree with you
)
when the hot water heater dies, or Dh is given a gas hot water heater by a client. (lots of people ask him to get rid of perfectly usable items) we'll switch that over to gas too. Dh is hoping to reduce the electric bill. & someday (when we no longer have as much laundry, nor as many hands to help with it) we may get a gas dryer.
so I had to test out the new oven and made up a batch of homemade rolls & cinnamon buns. I think for the rolls I take to Thanksgiving dinner, I'll reduce the heat by about 5* and see if that helps them to brown more evenly.
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Nov. 1, 2006 - Help me help a friend
I have a young lady friend (12yrs) who is a writer. She's having a difficult time finding anyone who shares her interests (God, Writeing, Dolphins, and Guitar) and is in her age range.
If you know any young person who's interests would mesh with hers would you please direct them to her blog?
www.homeschoolblogger.com/Godsauthor
I know that they would be making a wonderful friend.
also if you have an "in" with a publisher, she has written a book, I've yet to read it, though I've seen her other work, and I have every reason to believe that it's wonderful.
Mrs. Nehemiah
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Sep. 28, 2006 - Vision Forum Contest
Do you find yourself drooling over the Vision Forum catalogue? or in your house is the Vision Forum catalogue impossible to find because the children have taken it off somewhere to ooogle over it themselves?
How would you like to win something from vision forum? I sure would.
Kim of Life in a Shoe is running a great contest. Vision forum is giving away 4 prizes, two worth $700 each, then 2 $50 "consolation" prizes.(that's $1500) I'd be pretty well "consoled" by $50 to spend at Vision Forum.
It's a rare treat when we can buy carefully chosen Items from our favorite supplier.
I don't know about you but I'd have to win the lotto (a rare trick, since I don't play) in order to ever spend $700 (at one time) at Vision Forum or anywhere.
That's "Purt Near" a house payment. Boy, it sure would make for a super Christmas, and a very full gift closet for the upcoming birthday season.
be sure to hop over (please tell me if the link doesn't work, I'm not very skilled at this) and join in the contest.
Mrs. Nehemiah
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Aug. 18, 2006 - If you give a Mom a Computer...
If you give a mom a computer....
She's going to want internet too.
If you get her an internet connection.....
She'll start "surfin' the web."
If she spends much time "surfin"...
her computer will contract a virus.
If her computer contracts a virus....
some essential file will be corrupted.
If some essential file is corrupted....
her computer will not work.
If her computer will not work...
She cannot get online.
If she cannot get online...
she will become bored.
If she becomes bored...
she may try to clean the carpet.
If she trys to clean the carpet...
She'll get frustrated and tear it all up.\
If she tears out all the carpet...
she'll want to wash the walls.
If she washes the walls...
the nasty 10 year old primer will melt and so will the texture.
If the paint and texture melts off the walls...
She'll want to re-paint.
If she begins to re-paint...
she'll notice 10 years worth of wear on the walls and need to tape and patch.
If she begins to tape and patch...
she'll need to sand it smooth.
After she sands it smooth...
she'll need to re-texture.
when the texture is dry..
then she gets to paint.
And when she's done painting...
she'll want to tell all her internet friends.
But to tell all her internet freinds...
she's gonna need a computer.
And if you give a mom a computer....
so anyway the living room walls are terra cotta. (for all you men out there that's a shade of orange)
I'm gonna paint the floor also. until we find a laminate that we like/can afford/have time to install.
Mrs. N
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Aug. 10, 2006 - Just when you think "This isn't working"...
With all the preparation for a new school year I've been re-evaluating how we do school. (Otherwise known as looking at other families' plans.) One thing that's been weighing me down a bit is how many workbooks everyone else does, and here we are workbookless. Now ordinarily I don't like workbooks. I may, in fact, HATE them. But some years, at the begining of a new season, I start to look around and think "Family B is doing so well on their ACE Paces." it looks "so easy" (for me). I wonder if I should change from the eclectic Charlotte Mason-y approach to something "a little more structured." Not that we are unstructured, it's just that I don't have a lot of workbooks and paperwork to "show for it"
As usual God is gentle with me, He reminds me that I am not teaching Family B. I'm teaching the Nehemiah's and what is good and healthy for one part of the body, is silly and useless on another. For instance if family B were the "mouth" (apropriate since they are a pastor's family) and the Nehemiah's are a hand (with a sword and a hammer) then the Ace Paces would be akin to toothpaste, a wonderful necessary thing for the mouth, not so good (& kinda silly) for the hand. Now this example starts to break down a bit since the intent is for individual Christians to make up the body of Christ. and there are different "parts" inside each family. I'm aware of the flaws in my metaphore.
The point, however, is that I need to stop compareing my family and our school to other families and their schools. because in comparison someone always comes out looking "better" and then we think we have room to criticize the "worse". and anyway "who am I to judge another's servant?" If these families know God, and they choose to homeschool their kids (or send them to public or private school
) then I'm to assume that they are hearing from God and being obedient to Him. If they are not, He is a VERY BIG God who can take care of it without interferance from wee misguided ME! The corralary to that is, I should not look to other families to see "what we should do this year." I need to look to God and trust, that as He has supplied all things, all relationships and has not yet left me (and promises to Never leave me) He whom I already trust as Jehovah Jireh will also provide an education for my children. (this has never ment that I don't have to do my part)
Then just to show me that we're on the right path (from where we are to where He want's us) He showed me this.
Ds9 just finished reading The Sign of the Beaver , he asked me about "that other book, Robinson...something," Robinson Crusoe? yes I have that. Did you want to read it? It's about a man who gets shipwrecked... "I know" we found it and he's starting.
He is so hungry for books and now the classics.
he's starting to take charge of his own education (shh don't tell him it's school) I can't wait till he asks if we can grow "corn". and what is breadfruit anyway? maybe we'll go from here to Treasure Island. Hmm we'll see what the "Superintendant of schools" has for us next time we visit the used book store.
Mrs. Nehemiah
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Jul. 25, 2006 - Finally a break in the wather
Yech the weather has been just nasty lately 90+ degrees for a whole week!!
my poor little brain is so fried I can barely spit out an intelligible sentance.
But today is absolutely beautiful!! 65 and overcast! I can breath again.
Can you tell I'm a native "Wetside" Washingtonian??
Mrs. N
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Jun. 7, 2006 - Home at last!
It's so wonderful to be home! It kinda gives you a glimpse of the sort of joy that we will have when we are finally in our eternal home.
We arrived home at 8:30pm on Saturday after leaving Ohio at 5pm (2pm Pacific) on Tuesday. I tell you there is nothing in the world like the sight of Mt Rainier when you come over the crest of [a hill] there it is in all it's splendor, yelling "WELCOME HOME!" and everyone lets out a deep sigh and settles in for the final 20 min of driving before finally sleeping in our own beds.
I'm so glad we didn't try to bullet train home like we did on the drive over 49hrs from WA to NW Ohio.
5days from NW Ohio to WA.
Could somebody please explain Chicago to me? what is up with that? do they just let anybody build a tollbooth and collect money for no appearant reason? how do they know how long you've been on the road? And the puddles, I didn't know you could call it a highway if there were puddles more than 12 inches deep across 3 lanes! I mean what's navigable at 20-25mph is deadly at 60!
I did like the train or tram tracks right in the median of the highway, it's wasted space anyway so there might as well be train stations there (where do you park though?) and judging by the steepness of those offramps there's not a lot of space to spare in that city.
Minnesota, Wisconsin, SouthDakota, Wyoming and Montana sure made up for the space issue tho. NO ONE can convince me that the world is over populated. we're as crowded as we want to be. OH yeah, and on the way to Ohio we went through North Dakota! we had to play games to keep ourselves awake "look a bridge, a berm, a hill........look a berm, a bridge, a hill.......look a hill, a berm, a bridge" etc.
Hey what dead animal was that! and What does that piece of farm equipment remind you of?
South Dakota was just as long but they had billboards to read at least. No less than 3 Wall Drug signs per mile (and not one was repeated)
Mt. Rushmore was Awesome! "Beautiful Rushmore Caves" was neat but a bit of a letdown. we did the presidential Slide. stopped at Walmart for souveniers. and bought a blue rock at Keystone. then it was off to Yellowstone.
Warning to all, if you are entering the East entrance of Yellow stone be prepared to wait. there is construction going on (this is a good thing) but it takes about an hour to get past the construction area. appearantly it isn't bothering the wildlife, so if you're at the front of the line the flagger may ask to get into your car if it becomes necessary (fortunatly it wasn't necessary)
People watching can be just as fun as wildlife watching. you would be amazed at the way some people just can't handle being stopped. and at the way people will park in huge bunches to get out of thier cars and take pictures of the hind end of some animal
we saw a bear and lots of buffalo, some elk, a few deer, and a fox. I saw a cow moose in the woods.(ugliest elk I've ever seen
) oh, and a yellow bellied marmot (well I didn't see that one, I was driving)
We saw the hot pools and the Petrified tree. then we saw beehive geyser and old faithful (aprox 92 min between blasts now) we got sunburn and heat rash we learned what sulfur smells like (actually we learned that in Ohio, Sil has well water)
We had a grand old time, DH bought the kids souveniers (I just couldn't find anything I couldn't live without) so when we were in MT he surprised me by stopping at a use book store (so sweet) the funny thing is that he bought 3 books to my 1
Well I need to make sure the kids work on their I-90 states unit study.
Later if I can figure it out I have pic's I'd like to post. of course this is the third or fourth time I've written that and still no pics so we'll see.
Mrs. N
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May. 15, 2006 - We brought it with us!
Well we made it to Ohio! and it seems we hooked onto the local weather pattern and brought it with us. (no wonder the tranny went out in Montana.)
The real reason that Ohio is having an unnatural rainy May is that at the last moment I talked my Dd15 out of bringing her coat telling her the weather was going to be in the 80's. and we all brought "new" shorts.
Those of you in Western WA, I expect applause and maybe a key to a city or something for sweeping out the rain and allowing your beautiful 80 degree weather(obviously displaced from Ohio)
we ended up skipping all the historical sites & such because of the transmission trouble, so Dh plans to take a few extra days to get home and maybe even stopping at a hotel for a night or two. that way we can still see Mt Rushmore and yellowstone, & maybe a dino museum.
the good news is that I've yet to be homesick for "my mountain" (Rainier) because we never see it on rainy days anyway. I'm not sure where I'll rest my eyes when the rain clears up.
Got to go.
Mrs. N
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Apr. 11, 2006 - Busy month
March was crazy busy for us. on the 18th my DD met her birth mom for the first time in 13 years, the 22nd was my birthday, tragically on the 24th my grandma passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack, she was 70 going on 35. on the 26th was my Mil's b-day, and on the 28th my DD turned 15 then we had grandma's funeral on the 30th. my mom has lived with grandma for the past 5 years and she seems a bit lost without her, please pray for her. and for me. I held it together for everyone for the last couple weeks and now I'm having a very strange grieving process. I'm tired all day & can't sleep at night, and I'm just spoiling for a good fight with someone. I just want to yell and scream and beat something then have a good cry
. but instead i behave like an adult, get the kids working on school and plan and pack for our trip in May
the day before grandma passed on we were talking about taking my daughter to the ceramics shop where grandma and I used to take classes together, I hugged her and told her "I love you, see you tomorrow" I've no regrets for my words or lack of them, but I wish I had taken DD to the classes with my grandma so she could have those wonderful memories that I do. a friend told me a few years ago, "never leave anything unsaid" tell your friends and family that you love them, I would add, don't leave those memory making activities undone. I have a really neat picture of her here somewhere, I'm going to post it when I find it,
Mrs N
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Mar. 6, 2006 - Prayers
I've been to Dandelion Seeds blog quite a bit today, and have been praying for Candace, Emily and for Missy's family. I was amazed with how much Candace has been through, and now to have a reaction to coming off of the pain killers, dear child. Pray that she will be completely healed of all withdrawl symptoms and will be able to go home & thrive.
I think I'll try to put up buttons on my sidebar, but tomorrow when I'm more lucid, as it's 10:30 and I'm feeling a bit loopy.
Mrs N
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Feb. 15, 2006 - Something to be Thankful for
I was thinking today, about how tired I am of being everybody's Scheduler I have to tell my kids "eat breakfast, take a bath, put on clean clothes", kinda tired of being everyone's brain also, I mean why is it MY job to remember where you left your shoes? (by the way they're on the back porch with your jacket in the rain)
I'm also their conscience "don't talk to your brother that way, Is that your toy?, do you need to apologise?"
It seems no one really wants to be in charge of himself.
I'm getting kinda tired of making the day to day decisions, Of course Mr. N makes all the big decisions (and I'm so very thankful for that) but he leaves the day-to-day stuff to me. and sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed.
I don't wanna be in charge either
Enough whining, here's where the thankfulness comes in.
I'm so glad that God is in charge!!
He doesn't make me muddle along on my own. and He doesn't need me to keep track of things for Him, and He doesn't need my help with His schedule. (what a relief for the mommy brain) He has given me a whole big book (and His Holy Spirit) to show me what He wants me to do in ANY situation. and it's pretty thourough. if it ain't covered in the Bible, and if I don't hear a "still small voice" then it's not something I can mess up because all the important stuff is in there, and He'll never leave me (He promised) so He'll tell me,if I'll listen, when He wants me to do something differently (even if it's not a "doctrinal issue")
Wow do I ever feel better, like a whole load has been taken off me.
Excuse me a moment while I go get my son's (soaking wet) coat off the back porch before it freezes there.
Mrs. N
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Jan. 31, 2006 - Yikes
Behind again! I can't believe this is my only post for January! boy has It been busy. Mr Nehemiah has been blessed with a boom in the business. and We've been scrambling to keep up. Two of my kiddo's are with Grandma and Grandpa N today, looking at a puppy. so we may have a new little snout around here. (we live next door to Mr. N's parents)
It seems I can't keep this blog up the way I'd like to AND do everything else so the blog is the first to be abandoned. (which is only right) however I have a few minutes left on my lunch hour before I have to get back to home-keeping so I'll do this update real quick like in order to not lose my blog. (feel free to insert punctuation in that run-on sentance)
Well that's the buzzer. I'll try to think of something interesting to write about in Feb.
Love In Christ
Mrs. N
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Dec. 30, 2005 - Christmas traditions
I was thinking about some of the traditions that bring joy to our celebrations
Each year the Items I’m most excited about bringing out of storage and setting up (and the last to be packed away) are the Nativity scenes. I'm beggining to get quite a collection of them.
My Mom is a gifts person so it brings her great pleasure to give gifts that have meaning & tradition. The first 8 or 9 years of my marriage she bought us a different piece to the “alpine town”
What I really wanted for Christmas Décor were Nativity scenes.
First off I wanted one where Baby Jesus was not forever glued to the manger, I wanted to set the stable up under the tree and have Mary and Joseph get closer all through advent, then on Christmas Eve night the Greatest Gift to humanity from our Loving Creator would “appear”, with the help of mom and dad, in the manger. In the morning before gifts we talk about why we give gifts (in short: because every good and perfect gift is from God, and as Christ’s followers we want to emulate his character qualities to the best of our abilities.) Next we read the Christmas Story from Luke, and sometimes other passages as we feel led. After all this we open gifts.
Secondly I wanted multicultural Nativity scenes, I know some people think that it is somehow “sacrilegious” to imagine or picture Christ as anything other than what they are familiar with, however, these same people may not realize that their picture of the Nativity is as much culturally influenced as the cute “Eskimo Nativity” that my mom bought for me when she went to Alaska. Certainly the “classic” nativity is far from identical to the first one. Two “for instances” here, 1) many believe it is likely that the “stable” Jesus was born in was little more than a cave, or even an overhanging stone ledge. 2) Though the bible indicates that he was wrapped in swaddling clothes, most “manger babies” are nearly “nekkid.” Maybe the artist wanted to show his or her skill in making tiny fingers and toes, or perhaps it is a foreshadowing of the time when he hung upon the cross, with his clothing being gambled for at his feet, either way it is never challenged. It is simply accepted as “artistic license.”
My view of multicultural nativities is that they are more than just artistic license; they are a picture of how accessible God made Himself by coming to earth as a helpless babe. Who is more approachable than Baby Jesus? Yes, we must avoid the folly of, in a sense, chaining him to the manger. Of never allowing ourselves to acknowledge that he was anything other than a baby. But we must also avoid the opposite mistake, of assuming that His ministry would be unchanged if he had simply appeared as a man. If he had walked full grown out of the desert, how would he be able to sympathize with our humanity?
Cultural Nativities help us to realize that, indeed, God made himself fully man. (at the same time was still fully God, mind boggling ) He made himself man to redeem all men. Just as we cannot take Jesus, strip him of his Jewishness, and offer him back to the Jews as an acceptable Messiah, we cannot expect people of other cultures to accept as fully theirs, a Jesus that they cannot imagine as a baby of their own people. So to me, the value of a cultural nativity is to make Jesus accessible to the minds and hearts of those within that culture and to remind me that these are no less precious to Him than I.
This year the Dept 56 stuff stayed in it's boxes, and the Nativites were placed throughout the house. To remind us that we do not have a judge who cannot sympathize with our weakness.
Mrs. Nehemiah
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Dec. 29, 2005 - Merry Christmas and happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a merry Christmas. We were woken up at 5:30 and again at 6:30 by the scampering of little feet.(and Ds7 who "makes enough noise for 6 boys" according to Mr N) we did drag ourselves out of bed at 6:30. I had prepared the coffee pot before bed so it took just the push of a button to get our caffiene fix started. It's funny but this is the first time in 3 or 4 years that the kids have gotten up on Christmas morning before us.
We enjoyed watching each other open gifts, then had our semi-traditional Christmas breakfast of "strawberry Waffles" except that we didn't have strawberries so it was blueberry or peach waffles, there are LOTS of leftover blue berries so Maybe I'll make blueberry muffins later.
After breakfast we lounged around for about an hour then went to church, came home and went over to Mil & Fil's for Christmas dinner & more presents Thankfully it's not a long trip (about 1 acre) so we walked ;)
We had been to Mil & Fil's for her parents "christmas" on the 23rd. there is a lot of tension between that part of the family, so 2 hrs on the 23rd was the most stressful part of our celebration (not bad considering)
On Christmas Eve we went to Brunch at my Mom & Grandma's that was pleasant, we saw several old friends and relatives who stopped by to say merry christmas, and eat some goodies. We ended up eating only 1 meal all day, however we did eat it ALL day! And my Mom got her favorite gift all year, the Seahawks Whooped the......other team (is it the colts?)
As you can tell, I'm not all that into football. But I can watch it and make intelligent comments when I need to. Mom, on the other hand, puts the "atic" in fanatic. Especially when it comes to her beloved 'HAWKS. She even has pet names for the different players. Imagine, this ordinarily mild mannered woman screaming, No, SCREEEEAMINGGG!!! "Come on, Come on Sweetheart, go go go!" (offense) and "Kill him! Kill Him!"(defense)
When we were kids we used to warn the neighbors, when we lived in an apartment, that a game was on. Because one time our beefy downstairs neighbor heared the yelling (kill him) and came to "rescue" us from whomever mom wanted to kill.
well that was a different (read : weird) way of ending a post that starts with Merry Christmas :)
Mrs. Nehemiah
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Dec. 13, 2005 - Narnia
We finally saw "THE MOVIE" and then we went back and saw it AGAIN, this time with the kids.
I have to say it was way better than I ever expected a movie, based upon a book, could be.
That said it was NOT identical to the book. but have you read the book lately? notice all the narrative? how boring would that be as a movie?
What I'm trying to say here is that Books and Movies are two very different types of media. A style that works for a book, ie. Narration, would kill a movie. and it works the other direction also.
We finished re-reading TLTW&TW (for the third time) on Saturday, then we took the kids to see the movie on Sunday.
There were some minor changes. Personally I liked the Explaination of Aslan's sacrifice better in the movie version, it really gets to the heart of the issue. The kids were a bit disappointed that they didn't get to see Aslan leap over the gates into the witch's castle. (Whatever) The scene where He blows on the statues is Awesome!
I'm rambling!
Make sure you stay past the credits (I had too much soda in my system the first time we watched it) there is a suprise scene at the end.
Also Douglas Gresham has an Audio Cameo, see if you can find it.
you may wish to let your kids know what some of the creatures are before you see the movie, especially if they are unfamiliar with fantasy/mythology. just a few that my kids (& DH) didn't recognize, Gryphons, a Phoenix, Minotaur,Sylphs or Tree people.
There is a scene with all the nasty creatures(werewolves, hags, other things that Lewis spoke of, saying "if I were to describe them the grownups would probably not let you read this book") if your child is very young he or she may not be comfortable
The Sacrifice scene was well done, no gore, most of the violence in the scene is implied you see it coming and you see the effects, but you often don't see the actual blows.
All in all, I think it was the Best Narnia Movie, and I know we all love the book and most of the time I say "the book is Always better" and even now I would NOT say the movie is "better" than the book. HOWever, we are compareing two entirely different media, and the movie stays true to Narnia, Just as the book stays true to Narnia. they are each the best in their class, and I hope we have done our part to encourage another episode(our family of 5 has bought 7 tickets)
Mrs. N
