Sacrifice

While reading the Boundless blog, a link in today's post made me weep.

It happened 2,000 years ago. The innocent Lamb of God died in my place. I plan to read the account in at least one of the Gospels today. I just read Isaiah 53 this morning. But some things must be seen to feel their weight and horror.

Passover Sacrifice

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

~Isaiah 53:4,5

A brief list of today's doings

Today, Rael did the following:

-made bread, cinnamon rolls, chicken stock, and chicken salad
-ran an errand for Zach and retrieved Whit from MCA
-washed lot dishes
-tinkered on the piano a tad (which is more than she usually does)
-discussed the myth of preditory pricing, and how the government owes people green bubble gum
-inspected seedlings sprouting outside
-dumped compost
-anticipated the P&P-watching night
-listened to Mossflower
-washed more dishes
-laughed in pity when The Old Clunker (my old laptop which needs a better name) died on her twice in three minutes
-read a few promising parts of my novel
-laughed when the Mother brought home left-over food consisting largely of...chicken salad
-amused herself by lazily posting a list instead of a well-crafted series of sentences and paragraphs
-had so much fun writing in third person, she decided to leave before the Gollum-speech catches up to her, precious

The Widow's Might

Here's the opening of another recent independent Christian film. This won Best of Festival at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Fest, and is simply a great movie. Quality stuff this is, excellent in many ways. It's unique, honest, and hilarious. Family-focused, God-honoring. And most of the characters actually play themselves, which strikes me as simply refreshing. :-D


Preview from John Moore on Vimeo

Pendragon; Sword of His Father - Reflections

Sierra, you asked what I thought of the Pendragon film, so I think I'll devote a whole post to it!

It was with great excitement back in December that I unwrapped the cellophane from the movie and finally began to watch it with my family! Procrastinator that I am, I've been meaning ever since then to do a review. For now, this is not really a proper review - it is, rather, some recollected thoughts.

What an ambitious film! An epic, historical story like this usually takes millions of dollars to make, and Pendragon; Sword of His Father was done on a fraction of that (about $80,000, I think) These folks (two families of cousins and some friends) raised lots of the money, and did a great job with what they had. While the production qualities still had room for improvement, the story was well-thought-out and biblical, and I was caught up in it, only jarred now and then by little things.


Things I liked:

Costumes - They did a great job on these! The weapons in the mass-battles looked a bit fake, but decent knowing some of them were made from cardboard!

Sets -Much of it is outdoors, and of course God's creation is beautiful. ;) But the other sets were well-done. Marvelous details. I love the distant shots of the fortress of Arfon!

Plot - I was surprised by the challenges presented to the characters, especially near the end, which went so much deeper than most action flicks these days! Hard questions were asked, which, in different forms, Christians still struggle with today.

The last sword fight between two main characters - Effects during that were amazing, and the choreography looked much better than some of the slower ones earlier on.


Things that bugged me a little:

Accents - Only a few characters tried to have anything near a British accent, and that only occasionally. I know, it would be hard to get so many volunteers to work up good accents, but I wish they tried. Loving accents as I do. ;)

Some of the acting was very well done, some needed a little work. Cadeyrn and Brotus were probably my favorite, as far as convincing me they were truly the characters.

Other odd little things here and there, which I don't remember at the moment, still announced that this was a low-budget film. Probably one of these is the large-scale battles, though the stockade battle was pretty well-done. They handles the violence tactfully (this is not LotR), but the scale just didn't seem quite big enough...


Conclusion

So, if you don't mind some production flaws in independent films, and if you have a good imagination, and if you love to get caught up in historic epics made by and about Christians with vision doing hard things for the Lord - you'll probably enjoy this one. I liked it, and look forward to what Burns Family Study will produce next!

Sierra, I think you'd like it. :-)





Spoilers Ahead!!!!!


A funny side note. There's a moment when Artos emerges from burning rubble, after two intense fights, miraculously alive but wounded (at least his arm and side are bloody, and he would have to have some burns too). The second time I watched the film, with some good friends of my family, Cate mentioned in laughing frustration that, in that scene, Winneveria seems more interested in hugging Artos than in tending to his wounds. Perhaps it's a bit understandable, because he seems fairly alive. But later that night (we were being crazy and stayed up too late) while watching another very good film (beginning with the initials TOoD), we noted this phenomenon reoccur in almost the exact same way! A young man is wounded in a desperate sword fight, and afterwards the young lady stands by and lets him declare his love for her instead of hurrying to staunch his wounds.

Hmm. If a godly young gentleman were about to propose to me, but was also badly hurt, what would I do? Hopefully I'd help him, and he wouldn't lose his nerve to ask later. Hopefully...

(Edited March 12 :-) Thanks, Channah, for the correction!)

Gearing Up To Write

After babysitting several times a week for a little over a month, on top of all the family stuff and ministry and activities I'm doing, I think things are finally slowing down a bit.

Time to dive back into fiddling with stories. Muhahaha!

My most recent manuscript, which I finished in rough-draft form in November, is currently being edited by my youngest brother for a school project. So I think my first story to attack in my spare time is Melod's Song.

Melod's Song is about a young orphan boy with a great sense of humor, a cheery outlook on life, and an overwhelming store of corny jokes and off-key ballads. His ambition is to be a famous bard and entertainer, but his quieter, deeper hope is for home and family. Fleeing the evil Shamen, he accidently finds himself in a hidden stronghold called Stormyrock, where dwells a community of friendly, seemingly-harmless, book-loving outlaws of all ages and types. Melod feels this might be his new home. But on the wild coast, more dangers loom than the perilous cliffs. Melod must dig out the mysteries behind Stormyrock, discover who doesn't want him there, and find his place before more lives than his own are distroyed.

How was that? I'm still working on writing gripping and accurate summaries. ;-)

It's strange work, trying to edit and re-write and smooth out one's own novel. Ideally, re-reading it all through should be the first step, but it's very hard not to get distracted and start re-writing the first chapter. For the fifth time. And things like flow and pacing are tricky little critters to pin down, examine, and fix. But I'll have a go at it, and see if I can't fill in some narrative holes and smooth out inconsistencies.

Too bad the scones are nearly gone! I ought to try my hand at biscotti. That would go well with tea and writing.

Scribbled Thoughts by Light of the Tree

My older brother, Sam, is flying in tonight. Little-big brother and mother dear just left for the airport to pick him up. I would have liked to go, but I must stay here and be ready to be another brother's ride from work. But Sam will be here for somewhere around a glorious week, I think, and I'm looking forward to many quiet cups of tea, good conversations, and watching the new Pendragon film with him.

Our Christmas tree lights are LED, blue-white, and very bright. I like them. I also like our live tree, about 5-feet tall not counting it's potted roots.

Earl Grey and Panattoni bread go wonderfully with black-and-white Robin Hood episodes.

This is turning into a thankful post. Why ever not?

Our cat, Bella, was meowing very insistently to be petted, and proceeded to be quite lovey, without a bit of her usual propensity to lovingly bite.

Oh, and books! How could I forget?

There's Dickens, for starters. I just finished Great Expectations yesterday, and though I still liked Bleak House better, any Dickens novel is bound to be brimming with hilarious, lovable, ridiculous, and despicable characters, not to mention such writing and wisdom!

Though tempted to go straight into A Tale of Two Cities next (on Muglin's recommendation), upon studying my bookshelves my eye landed on Five Children and It. I read somewhere recently that Lewis or someone else I admire was fond of its authoress. I love a good children's book, so into its pages I fell. What a treasure! A bit of slight language is all I've seen wrong with it so far. The sparse, naratorial style of children's experiences reminds me much of Lewis, with plenty of common sense tucked into the tale of five siblings and their encounters with the sand fairy. Hilarious, charming!

And whilst my dear mother finished a project, I found it a perfect opportunity to read aloud to us both from Lorna Doone. Now there's a good book! A whole post, or series of posts, ought rightfully to be dedicated to this epitome of the manly virtues. It doesn't take us many pages to grow heartily attached to the refreshing, honest, young English farmer, and I for one want my boys (if I am so blessed with them) to grow up to be very much like John Ridd. But the merits of the story go far beyond even that of its main rough-but-humble character. Adventure, romance, and humor of some sort leaps from every page. We've been eating this one up.

Aside from devouring good stories, I have been so blessed to have brothers come home, and to be able to help cook for them, and fix their coffee (almost regularly) in the mornings, and to be able to drive to the duck pond with Little Big Brother in an attempt to catch "wee beasties" in a jar of water for his observation under the microscope. One a quiet day, I never imagined how much noise scores of lively ducks could make only by thapping the water with their feet!

About time now to get the Next-youngest Brother from work now. Littlest just called, and said the airport is crowded. I'm thankful the Lord of all Mercies is watching over all the travelers this

night.

(Added Later) Because I hate posting without a picture, and I'm woefully inept at keeping batteries in a camera and said camera handy along with necessary card reader and all such accouterments... here's another lovely old painting from my computer files. Isn't it pretty? To tie it into this post, I'll add my long hair to my thankful list. Mine may be just a hair shorter (ha ha, that was painfully lame) and sometimes wavier, but as often as I've been bemoaning it's sameness, I should just be nicer to it and thankful it can grow this long. :-)

Frozen Fingers

This morning I drove out to some friends' house (who have been out of town) to feed their animals, and was greeted by freezing temperature and a cold wind. I hurried to feed the goat, sheep, chickens, chicks, and dog, having to break the ice in their water containers, and hauling water from the house because of the frozen pipes outside. I often long for a farm and critters of my own... but I seem to forget about this side of chores. I felt like whining like a little kid about my stiff and throbbing fingers, they hurt so badly from the cold! My fingers still ache, twelve hours later.

Over the past few years, I've noticed something strange. I love this season, this month of December, but I find myself wishing the day itself would not come. It's always disappointing. Christ is born, yes, for which I rejoice! But the pain remains. The waiting is what tears my heart, and draws me to a glorious hope, fulfilled in part, but still waiting. "Rejoice, rejoice, Immanuel has come to thee, O Israel!" If Christmas is a time of hope, we still wait for something not yet here, and we will keep waiting after the presents are opened and forgotten.

It seems fitting to celebrate our hope in the cold and dying year.

Lately I've felt keenly my failings, my sin, my stubborn refusal to grow and mature. Like the silly guinea, shrieking, running against the chicken wire and the corner of the barn as if it could sqeeze through a hole two inches wide. As if it were a camel desperate to fit through that needle's eye. Foolish and rebellious enough to think everything's against it.

Left to myself, I run the wrong way constantly, going from one wrong extreme to the other, driving myself into desperation and constant worry. Fear drives out hope, hope for the husband and family of my own I long for, hope to have the character of a noble, wise, godly woman, hope to make a difference for eternity in at least one life. Left to myself, I wander off into mindless distractions. Left to myself, I am alone and dying

But now, in the cold darkening nights, remember! In the shock of cold, in the bitter pain of frozen fingers, remember! In the selfishness and grasping around me, which creeps into my heart and leaves only loneliness, remember! Remember that into the humblest of families, in the lowest of places, the God of the universe came down as Man. The Word came in humility to whisper in my ear, "You are not alone."

My Maker knows, and sees. And He did not leave me to freeze into stone forever. The change is started, and the pain only proclaims it. His death rescued me from Hell, His life rescues me even now from my sinful flesh. He left, but will come again. And with that final coming, neither fingers nor heart will ever freeze again.

~

Look up, you whose eyes are fixed on this earth, you who are captivated by the events and changes on the surface of this earth. Look up, you who turned away from heaven to this ground because you had become disillusioned. Look up, you whose eyes are laden with tears, you who mourn the loss all that the earth has snatched away. Look up, you who cannot lift your eyes because you are so laden with guilt.
 

“Look up, your redemption is drawing near.”

Something different than you see daily, something more important, something infinitely greater and more powerful is taking place. Become aware of it, be on your guard, wait a short while longer, wait and something new will overtake you! God will come, Jesus will take possession of you and you will be a redeemed people!

Lift up your heads, you army of the afflicted, the humbled, the discouraged, you defeated army with bowed heads. The battle is not lost, the victory is yours—take courage, be strong! There is no room here for shaking your heads and doubting, because Christ is coming.

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer ~

Saving by Organizing

"Instead of thinking of staying at home as a prison sentence, think of it as another job to help save you money, reduce family stress and add more family comfort."

This quote is from the article The Cost of Clutter, which I came across through the LAF website. I'm still working to be better organized, and this is very motivating. It explains many of the practical ways I count staying at home as a job. An interesting read!

What Am I Up To?

Isn't this a painting by John Everett Millais lovely? I personally love seeing autumn leaves on the ground. I don't get tired of them until, oh, maybe February or March.

For those of you who might be new to my blog (dare I hope I might be attracting new readers, with my pitiful irregularity of postings?), and just 'cause for others, I thought I'd do an update on what I'm doing with my life these days.

I consider my main job to be helping my wonderful mom, artist and homemaker, who is single and teaches Latin at a small Classical Christian school. She's done more than her share of housework raising and teaching me and my five brothers over the years. Now I'm glad to be able to help out with the endless dishes, laundry, cleaning, cooking, errands, and keeping house for her and my three brothers still at home. With two brothers still not driving, I also get to take them to school, work, and church and sports stuff. I have so many hats which I'm still learning to juggle, and sometimes it turns into a humerous mess! But what better practice for being a patient wife and mother of a big family someday! ;)

As to cleaning, I should mention I don't do this nearly as much as I should - mainly enough to keep things in somewhat decent order. So I'm not in too much danger of being like Mrs. Joe (see previous post) just yet, except in attitude, as when I just cleaned the bathroom mirror to find it covered with with water splatters! Tell me, reader, if you have ever cleaned a bathroom mirror or metallic faucet, do you not sigh just a little to see the shine covered with spots?

Once a week I help out with a Bible memorization program for kids at our church, called AWANA, and have enjoyed getting to know my group of third-grade girls this year. After the Christmas break, I'll be helping with a Good News Club, which involves sharing the gospel, Bible stories, missionary stories, and songs at a public school after classes once a week. I'm excited about that!

Aside from reading and writing, I've been doing all sorts of fun and crazy things, like learning how to make a kilt when my bagpiping brother needed one (those things are tricky to make, but so expensive to buy!), sewing tea cozies, making my family cheesecake just because, and helping my youngest brother compose a limerick about Spam for his teacher. :-)

I never know what I'll be called on to do next with such an artistic mother and creative, off-the-path brothers!

The Wrong Sort of Clean

I've just started reading Great Expectations (after a disappointing disguised-as-fantasy-but-actually-a-"Christian"-romance book, which I stopped halfway through). This will be the second longish book of Dickens for me to read which is not for a class. I like it already, though it does start out drearily. Poor little Pip. He's an orphan, and his older sister and husband are bringing him up, though she's not the motherly sort at all. She's a good example of what I do not want to be like, either as a housekeeper, sister, or mother. She says some very mean things to poor Pip, but here's a quote I found convicting regarding housekeeping:

"Mrs. Joe was a very clean housekeeper, but had an exquisite art of making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than dirt itself. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, and some people do the same by their religion."

~Charles Dickens~

Great Expectations

I must remember that the very purpose of cleaning house is for the comfort and blessing of those around me. Sometimes I forget. And my life lived to God should also be a blessed and joyful thing, as inviting as a welcoming house which, though best kept clean (or godly), must firstly be filled with love.

I did it!

Jane Austin vs. NaNoWriMo

(my inner debate) "What about that novel over there? Why don't you finish it" "It is...tolerable. But not Austin-ish enough to tempt me."

Oh dear. Today and tomorrow are the last days of November, and thus the last days of NaNoWriMo. I have about 6,000 words to go. It might be pulling teeth to get them.

It was probaly a bad idea last night to start watching the A&E Pride and Predjudice... "Just a litte," said Rael. Ha.

Now, the problem was not that it took much time. After a full day of writing (I cranked out almost 5,000 words yesterday!), it felt like a well-earned treat. I didn't even finish the first disk before I started dozing off and had to hit the bed.

But now that I've already written the turn of the climax in my story, I'm feeling rather unmotivated. Sure, the heroes are surrounded by hordes of evil minions, but we know they'll get out of it. Then it's all happy ending stuff.

At the moment, I'd much rather keep remembering why the long P&P is my favorite, savoring the lines, and chuckling at the humor. A cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows would go along nicely.

But no! Must keep writing! Must must must!!!!!! Lizzy and Co. will still be there when I'm done! Hmm, maybe if I can get out 3-4,000 words starting now, I'll be able to watch more, guilt-free.

I needn't be thrilled to death over my story at the moment to write it, I suppose. Maybe I'll fall into it again as I write, but otherwise, the main thing is to get my words on paper and get my characters out of trouble. And then to get back to Lizzy and Co.

NaNoWriMo Exerpt

I think I'm going to finish my novel this year! 6 more days! My printed chapters are making quite a pleasingly thick little stack in the blue notebook. :-) Just to attest that I am still writing, I thought I'd share a small sample. My characters are walking in a huge, gloomy, evil forest, almost as horrid as the nagging feeling in my head trying to tell me I won't get 50,000 words by midnight no November 30. Ahhhh!!!! But with such an opportunity to write quick corny songs, how can I not finish? ;-) It's most definitely far too much fun. Muhahaha!

~~~

"We are walking in a strange web of darkness that can only have been made by Ukka the Ma’lae.”

“Ah, well, we know we’re on the right trail, then!” said Melod brightly. Looking around at the gloomy faces, he added, “I think this calls for a song!” No one answered, so he took out one of his smaller whistles, piped a little intro, and began,

“When the woods are dark, and the sky is black

And the shadows sneak behind your back

And the scheming Demon lurks ahead,

We know we’re headed true!

When the sun don’t shine, and the wolves attack,

And the food’s all eaten from each pack,

And we’ve forgot – what is a bed?

Our journey’s nearly through!”

Somehow, this song didn't have quite the cheering affect Melod was looking for...

~~~

I can still invite anyone to read the tale thus far, but to do so I must have your email. And your word that you shan't try to steal my wonderful prose and poems.

Come What May

Thanks to the suggestion of my friend Charity, I watched a grand film last night when I probably ought to have been writing. Of course it wasn't your fault, Charity - but I do tend to snap up distractions rather easily when I should be working on big projects ;) I highly recommend it, especially if you love to see well-done, epistemologically-sound films done by homeschooled Christians. The acting was great, the story compelling, and the issues the characters struggled with vital. It is an excellent pro-life story, and an excellent character-affirming story. Again, I say to you, I highly recommend it. :-)

Watch the film in five streaming segments here.

Visit Advent Film Group's home page here to learn more about the film and watch trailers.

I think it would be grand to get to help directly with one of these sorts of films some day. If nothing else, I can cook, and I hear food is a much-needed necessity in such endeavors. ;)

"NaNo what O?"

"What have you been up to, Rael?"

"Well, I'm doing this thing called NaNoWriMo..." Thus I begin, and is it any wonder I'm met with confused stares?

National Novel Writing Month is an event, a challenge, a crazy and frantic month of scribbling or typing, wherein the participants attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in November.

That's approximately 1,667 words a day, roughly 2 and 1/2 pages (single spaced, 12pt font).

I attempted it last year.

Here's the official site explaining it.

Though this year I don't have a school work load, I do have my family and various responsibilities to think about. As much fun and as useful an excercise as NaNo can be, I'll need to be careful not to put sacrifice more important things on its alter. But handled carefully, it could be a monkey barrels of fun. Muhahahaha!

Three days in, I am on track so far, wondering if this will be the year of a completed NaNo novel. If anyone is interested in reading what I've done thus far, I am posting it on a private blog, but can send you an invitation to read it if you promise you won't steal all my clever plot ideas and stunning prose. ;)

This year my story is about a boy who has been a slave nearly all his life, but must set out on a quest to find and rescue his father, who has been turned into a monster. It is very deffinitly fantasy, and I'm sure will at some point contain all the stereotypical and overused elements of that genre. But maybe some original stuff will show its face now and then.

That's rather one of the points of NaNoWriMo. You just focus on writing lots, and once your inner editor stops hyperventilating about all the hokey things you actually let stay on the page, the stage is set for refreshing and surprising things to begin happening.

And if anyone wants to do this with me next year, or jump in now (you'd only need to write about 5000 words today to catch up), let me know, and I'll do all I can to badger- excuse me, that is, encourage you to join the madness- er, I mean fun. ;-)