Twisters and a Movie

I got off work early today, picked Emma and Lara up from school, and took them to the movies!  We chose to see “Soul Surfer.”  (I think *I* chose it; if I had left it up to them, it would have been Hop or Diary of a Wimpy Kid!)  I had heard a lot of good things about the movie (the Christian radio station I listen to has been talking it up A LOT), I was looking forward to a wholesome, Christian family friendly movie to take my girls to, it was NOT animated (or in 3D), and it was rated PG.  Fit all my criteria - plus this was the first day it was out so E&L's friends couldn't ruin it for them yet!  We had a GREAT time – even did a little shopping after it was over before meeting up with Dad and Jake for dinner!

I really, truly enjoyed this movie!  I love “true stories,” and having known the story behind the movie beforehand, I was pretty sure I would like it.  I had prepared the girls for the “shark attack” scene by telling them this is just a movie, and we know she ends up OK or there wouldn’t be a movie to go to!  (We did see a friend of theirs from school leave soon after that scene and he seemed a bit upset, so know that it is an intense scene!)  Some of the young actors were not great by any stretch of the imagination, but once I got past that, I was OK.  There were also more than a couple of times where the editor forgot how to edit out the arm that was supposed to be missing.  They often filmed the actress from the “other” side so they wouldn’t have to edit out the arm, or that side of her body was covered somehow, but a few times, you could see a shadow of her arm, or the pixilation showed more that it was probably intended, but again, when I stopped looking for it and just watched the movie, I didn’t notice it so much!  Dennis Quaid and Helen Hint did a great job, as did AnnaSophia Robb who played the main character.  She was an amazing surfer, and really made us fall in love with Bethany Hamilton!  Carrrie Underwood played the youth minister from the Hamilton’s church, and I almost hate to say it, but she wasn’t very good.  She looked beautiful, though!  And the church scenes were well done.   I really think they handled the faith aspect very well, and showed how the Hamilton’s faith brought them through this terrible time in their lives.

But my favorite part of the movie? HAWAII!  It is so beautiful!  And it was really cool to learn more about surfing and the competition circuit.  I visited Hawaii 11 years ago, and I hope someday to be able to make it back.  But for now, the pictures I see in movies will have to hold me over – and this movie did a great job of that!

I really had a good time with my girls today!  The best part of the whole evening?  At the end of the movie when Lara leaned over to me and said, “This movie was so cool!”  Then again sometime later when we were in Old Navy and she saw a T-shirt with surf boards on it and said, “That movie INSPIRED me!”  It was a great time for us girls!

Unplugged: Blessed!

Last night’s Unplugged was simply delightful!  (I promise I won’t bore you every week with an update, but last night was so nice!)  There was such joy – in the midst of typical chaos!  We like to start at 5:30, when #1 child gets home from tutoring, and Britt and I are both home from work.  But last night, due to Pre-K enrollment for #3 and a Parent teach conference with #2’s teacher, Britt and I wouldn’t be home until after 6pm.  The babysitters (Nana and Grandpa) were in charge…  I had left a note on the dining room table with a chore for each Twister, and a reminder that Unplugged started at 5:30.  #3 got a bit of a pass from his Nana, as they were having a “date” for Nana’s birthday to watch Tangled on DVD and it was not over at 5:30 (closer to 6:15, even), but #1 and #2 (as well as my dad), were in the living room -- electronics silenced --  reading and doing homework when we got home shortly after 6!  The rest of the night was just blessed!  I even forgot about the $50 bill I seem to have lost – until this morning…

•  Emma and Lara were SO EXCITED about playing games

•  You have never lived until you have played Toy Story 3 Yahtzee with a 4 year old!

• Jake still didn’t quite understand, but there was much less whining!

•  Although the weather STILL wasn’t nice enough to be outside (30 MPH winds with gusts to 40, and COLD), we found a way to make it work

• Taco Night!

•  The girls stayed up 30 minutes past their bedtime, because they wanted to go outside and plant seeds (I let them, but I was NOT going out in that wind and cold anymore!)

• Jake stayed up 45 minutes past his bedtime – bringing me book after book after book to read to him (and I just let him!)

•  After the kids were in bed, Britt read another ENTIRE book – Heaven is For Real (Todd Burpo) (I read it last week - AMAZING story!)

• I read 1/3 of Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen) – gearing up to go see the movie with my Movie Crew

• We went to bed sleepy, happy, refreshed, and WEIRD!

…because normal isn’t working

We all know people that are weird in a weird way.  And people that are weird in a good way.  But, what about people who are weird in a GOD way?  Craig Groeschel started a new series at Life Church this weekend called WEiRD.  Matthew 7:13-14 says “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

I am really excited about this series.  Pastor Craig is going to teach about what it means to be WEiRD!  Many people can walk the broad road and live a “normal” life, but only a FEW can be on the narrow road, be weird, go against the crowd, and live for God.  “If you want what normal people have, do what normal people do.”  What is normal?  Stressed, hurried, broke, in debt, broken relationships, troubled marriages, tension, messed up values?  “If you want what few people have, do what few people do.”  BE WEIRD!

Britt and I are sure people think we’re WEIRD because we start each day in a quiet place reading and studying the bible with youversion.com.  And I KNOW people think we are WEIRD because we are doing the unplugged Monday nights with our family (I know this because of the feedback we got on facebook!)  We are weird – we don’t have any credit cards or credit card debt.  If we don’t have cash, we don’t buy it.  And we sacrifice!  But you know what’s even weirder?  We are passionately in love with our Lord and Savior, each other, and our family.  The joy in our lives is deep and rooted in the truth of the Word.

You want to know more?  Ask me.  You want to hear the message?  Go to Lifechurch.tv and watch part 1 of the series, WEiRD!

OH – and Craig Grosechel wrote a book to accompany this series as well, also called WEiRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working – it comes out on this Tuesday (but we got advance copies at church this weekend!) and can be bought at Amazon.com. 

Are you going to be WEiRD?