Jamie’s Car Buying Experience

So the used car shopping is quite the experience. Thankfully we were not rushed to make a decision. We waited for the right car and after the first two months of car ownership, Jamie still loves it. God came through and I am very thankful.

I wanted to document our resources in case we ever have to do this again:

My brother pointed us to kkb.com which is the Kelly Blue Book site. That was very helpful and also carcomplaints.com which also took a lot of the guess work out of knowing one bad model or year from another. A friend also gave us Edmunds.com which is a site the used car salesman use to find internet deals from other dealerships. I contacted AAA because they have a car buying service for their customers but they didn’t deal with car in the price range we were looking. I may use them if I ever need a different car.

Congratulations to Jamie for another giant step into adulthood!

TED Blog: 25+ apps to make your everyday life easier

Here’s the link to the blog article.

First Class Finished

I just finished my first class at PVCC.  It was a Career Exploration Class and I learned a lot about myself. I had many assessment to complete during the semester.  They were interesting to take and to explore my own personality, strengths, work and personal values, as well as skills I enjoy and already possess.  We did several occupational interviews with people in positions we would like to explore further.  The class was challenging and fun and I highly recommend it for any one, any age if you would like help finding your areas of strength and enjoyment to pursue.

Grief Support

I just finished a 12 week grief recovery support group.  It was helpful and gave me tools I can use for other losses in my life and also in being able to help support others with grief.  The Grief Recovery Handbook was the book we uses to walk through the process.  I wound up in this group because of the pain I’ve been in over a lengthy broken marriage, and going through that I have been reminded of the death of my mother in 1981 which I know now I was unable to grieve completely at the time.   Banner Hospice was the group sponsoring this support group, it was free, except for the cost of the book, and met at Banner Hospital.  I high recommend this program if you need help with any kind of loss in your life, whether current or in the past.  The facilitator was good and kept the meetings safe and productive.  Check out this link to Banner Grief Support.

Seabiscuit: a review

The family watched this movie tonight.  What an insiring and soul touching film.  It really spoke to me, especially in the moment of time that the Lord has our family in.  Brokeness is all around and part of each of us.  There is hope of a better future. Although God was not invoked it was evident to me that his grace is at work even when we don’t recognize it for what it is.  I highly recommend this film.

In an era when Americans were in great need of heroic figures to help them forget their troubles, SEABISCUIT comes to the rescue. The picture relates a moving story of friendship and devotion in rehabilitating the main characters’ fractured lives, as it interweaves the interactions between horse, jockey, trainer and owner and their adoring fans. The film accurately portrays the real people and events of those troubled times and how Seabiscuit “fixed us, every one of us.”   Written by Dale Roloff

*caution – Seabiscuit is rated PG-13 for some sexual situations and violent sports-related images.

October Baby, Movie Recommendation

When Hannah collapses during a college play, she’s rushed to the hospital, where medical tests reveal the underlying cause—trauma suffered at birth. Soon afterward, she discovers another shocking fact: she was adopted after a failed abortion attempt. Bewildered and angry, Hannah goes in search of her birth mother. Will the truth set her free?

This movie is rated PG-13.  Our family finally rented it last weekend after wanting to see it since missing it at the theater.  I highly recommend this well made movie.  It handles the sensitive issue of abortion with great care.

Obama’s America 2016: the movie

from the website:

2016 Obama’s America takes audiences on a gripping visual journey into the heart of the world’s most powerful office to reveal the struggle of whether one man’s past will redefine America over the next four years. The film examines the question, “If Obama wins a second term, where will we be in 2016?”

Across the globe and in America, people in 2008 hungered for a leader who would unite and lift us from economic turmoil and war. True to America’s ideals, they invested their hope in a new kind of president, Barack Obama. What they didn’t know is that Obama is a man with a past, and in powerful ways that past defines him–who he is, how he thinks, and where he intends to take America and the world.

Immersed in exotic locales across four continents, best selling author Dinesh D’Souza races against time to find answers to Obama’s past and reveal where America will be in 2016. During this journey he discovers how Hope and Change became radically misunderstood, and identifies new flashpoints for hot wars in mankind’s greatest struggle. The journey moves quickly over the arc of the old colonial empires, into America’s empire of liberty, and we see the unfolding realignment of nations and the shape of the global future.

Emotionally engaging, 2016 Obama’s America will make you confounded and cheer as you discover the mysteries and answers to your greatest aspirations and worst fears.

Love him or hate him, you don’t know him.

———————

We ventured into the theater this evening with the whole family.  The movie was very well done and the ideas and thoughts work well together.  It is worth the time to view and see for yourself who Obama is, in his own words, and where he wants to take our country.

-Beth

For Greater Glory (the movie)

What price would you pay for freedom? In the exhilarating action epic FOR GREATER GLORY an impassioned group of men and women each make the decision to risk it all for family, faith and the very future of their country, as the film’s adventure unfolds against the long-hidden, true story of the 1920s Cristero War -the daring people¹s revolt that rocked 20th Century North America.

I saw this film on Saturday.  Production was great and story was even better.  Although it was rated R (mostly for violence) it is one the girls will need to see.  Based on the Cristero War 1926-1929 in Mexico.  What a great portrayal of the faith and sacrific of many Catholic Mexicians. 

Cannon Press

Douglas Wilson, Pastor of Christ Church, Mosco, Idaho, has just finished a wonderful series entitled Father Hunger.  It is a 8 week series on Fatherhood.  Wow! what powerful stuff, in a day and age when most of us don’t have earthly fathers to look to and be cared fpr by.  Pastor Wilson does a great job definiting much of what a father should do for his family, of course,  it will only happen by the grace of God.  Here’s hope for the next generation.

Find the book, free sermon downloads and a free study guide for this series here.

Let Me Be A Woman

Hi, it’s Jamie here. Mom asked me to give my thoughts here on the family blog about Elisabeth Elliot’s book, Let Me Be a Woman. It is the first book which I’ve completed in my ‘for graduation’ pile.

I actually really enjoyed reading this book; the chapters were very short and I made myself read five a day. Her writing style was interesting and not dull, which made for easier reading. While not every single chapter was phenonmenal, there were many that were very good. Her chapters which touched on marriage were especially helpful and eye opening. I now have a much better idea on the gift and beauty of marriage than I did before reading the book. Her thoughts on singleness was also enlightening.

Overall, I found the book educational to me as a young woman but was nothing like a boring ‘school book’. If you’re a young lady, I would highly recommend reading this. :)

~Jamie

Monumental, The Movie

Monumental is the story of America’s beginnings. Presented, produced, and starring Kirk Cameron, the 90-minute true story follows this father of six across Europe and the U.S. as he seeks to discover America’s true “national treasure” – the people, places, and principles that made America the freest, most prosperous and generous nation the world has ever known.

Monumental is heralded as “inspiring,” “beautifully executed,” “powerful,” and “one meant to teach.”

Long regarded as “the land of opportunity,” there’s no question the tiny band of religious outcasts who founded this country hit upon a formula for success that went way beyond what they could have imagined. How else can you explain the fact that they established a nation that has become the best example of civil, economic and religious liberty the world has ever known?

What formula did they discover? What motivated them to come here in the first place? More importantly, how can we apply these same foundational truths today?

Take your family on a new adventure to discover the true national treasure of America. Monumental is playing now in select theaters.

From the Monumental website, see more here.

Our family went to view this movie on Friday night.  It was very well done and received a 2 thumbs up from us.  You can go to the website and request the movie to come to a theater near you.  That’s what we did. 

Vacation: Day four: Outside the Museum

Here’s their cool bronze dinosaur that is just out front of the  main entrance.

There were 2 wooden bridges, this one swayed over the water and further into the grounds was a suspension bridge very similar.  The kids liked jumping on these.

There were beautiful flowers scattered through out the grounds.

Kayla with her new camcorder just entering the petting zoo.

Jamie’s favorite part of the Museum was the petting zoo and especially the brown zebra pictured here.

Here are the goats, they have found a friend in David.  He is quite the animal lover.

I thought the flowers were very pretty, here’s one on my better shots.

Here’s their front entrance, on exiting we jumped out of the car for a picture of the sign, dino and family.

Vacation: Day four: Inside the Museum

This was fun to see.  We had done the 7 C’s curriculum with the kids in Sunday School one years.  It has a really fun song that goes with it.

Here are Isaiah the Prophet and Moses in the Walk through History section.

Martin Luther hanging his 95 theses.

Kayla, of course with her camera, and one of the many scripture and Biblical truths plastered everywhere in this museum.  Yay!

David, Nathan and I in the Garden of Eden.  The dinosaurs are still eating vegetation.

This was one of many models in the Noah’s Ark room.

Here’s Jamie in the dinosaur room.

Nathan posing for a picture.

We actually saw Buddy Davis from a distance but didn’t get to meet him.  Here the girls are posing with his cardboard cut out near their huge bookstore.

A Lesson from a Book

Right now we are reading through the ‘Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends’ book. Today we read a section about being servants to our siblings.

Here is a servant checklist…

Knows that all assignments are actually from God

Will be quick to volunteer

Considers his assignment important

Takes orders

Does not desire to have authority

Will do what others do not or will not do

Enjoys meetings needs

Doesn’t need recognition

Will voluntarily serve with out pay

Doesn’t seek higher status

Will do more than is required

Does not have his own selfish ambitions

Will serve anyone- even those whom others don’t like to serve

Is willing to be treated like a servant

Does not seek the ‘big’ and ‘important’ assignments

Will serve with a joyful attitude

Will put his whole heart into each task

Thinks of others before himself

Desires that his master receives the credit

Desires that God receives the glory

Here’s a scripture from Matthew 25:21:   His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Good Quotes

Here are some good quotes….

St. Augustine: “I toss upon the waves; but Thou dost steer – Thou Who standeth at the helm of all things Thou hast made.”

Johann Bach: The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. If heed is not paid to this, it is not true music but a diabolical bawling and twanging.

From Ben Franklin’s list of 13 virtues for lifetime goals (no 13 is not an unlucky #, :P) :

1. Temprence: drink not to elevation

2. Silence: avoid trifling conversation

3. Order: Let all you things have places

4. Resolution: Perform without fail what you resolve.

5. Frugality: waste nothing

6. Industry: lose no time; be always employ’d

7. Sincerity: use no hurtful deceit; think innocently

8. Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries

9. Moderation: avoid extreme’s, forbear resenting

10. Cleanliness: tolerate no uncleanlieness in body

11.  Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles

12. Chastity:

13. Humility: imitate Jesus…