Archives for 2011

Top Ten Tuesday: Introducing Four Stones

September 6, 2011 by Amy 1 Comment

I attended a Creatives Meet-up this summer when Ben Arment and Sarah Cunningham came through Charlotte. Ben and Sarah are part of STORY. It’s a creatives movement in the Christian space. At the meet-up they spent a lot of time talking about movies and while I love a good movie, I’m not really the techy-movie-geek-behind-the-scenes type. A lot of it went over my head. But as I’ve left there I realized what a huge (and awesome!) project they were launching. 1,000 Premieres is an attempt to finance a movie retelling David and Goliath in a fresh, current way. Think of this as a David and Goliath version of 300. No bad actors or corny visuals here. Here are 10 things you need to know:

The movie is called Four Stones
The rating is expected to be PG-13 for the battle scenes
The movie will NOT be launched in theaters.
The movie will be financed by churches and individuals that buy the right to be a viewing host. They are hoping to have 1,000 sites by January to get to $2 million so the film can be filmed next year. The more money they get, the better this movie will be.
If you host, you will get a DVD or link to a live-stream the weekend of October 12-14, 2012.
Here are the costs for the viewing sites:

Large Event (200+) – $999
Mid-Size (100 to 199) – $699
Group Event (50 to 99) – 349
Small Group (14 to 49) – $199
Living Room (1 to 14) – $99

They are working on International Subtitles
Here is the link for the promo: https://onethousandpremieres.com/watch-promo
I hear The Rock is going to play Goliath
I hear Taylor Lautner is going to play David

What else do you need to know??
For you church-folk, get your church on board! If they aren’t interested, you just need 14 of your friends to pay a $7 ticket and you could view this in your own living room with them. Or heck, fork out the $99, pop some popcorn and give 14 of your friends a fantastic movie night. This is going to be awesome!!

This post is linked to ohAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday

Weekend Recap

September 5, 2011 by Amy 3 Comments

Source: awelltraveledwoman.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

(Nothing to do with anything…just like this post)

I started doing my Weekend Recap in Polyvore and realized I had not one iota of interesting things to share. Friday evening I was wiped and the girls were too apparently as they were in pj’s by 6:00. Saturday we were up first thing and spent the day in a rotation of running errands, cooking, cleaning, hanging out at my parents’ house. Sunday was nearly the same thing. And for that matter, so is today. We did have family over for Labor Day but in between has been either cleaning, organizing or resting. So, apologies for the lack of posting the last week but I’m saving you from a bunch of posts like these. Just wanted you to know I’m still out here and doing well. Here are a few random thoughts with which to leave you:

I wish you could get a replacement DVD when you scratch one you own. So sad how many Dora DVDs have to go to the trash this weekend.
I wish you could get a Kindle version of all the paperback books you already own.
I’m pretty sure Scott got the dog not for companionship but I would be forced to keep a straightened house at all times.
Do not buy the cheap wireless keyboard at Walmart. Doesn’t connect well and loses battery power fast.
Consignment sales always sound like the right thing but are a lot of work and are very disappointing when you go and they immediately hand you back items that didn’t make the cut. Even ones you dry cleaned *just* for the sale.
It’s even more disappointing to watch those items go on the dusty floor of Goodwill’s 18’ truck.
The movie The Tourist did not live up to the hype. The end was smart but it did not justify the means.

How’s that for random? Hope you enjoyed your Labor Day weekend!

Drink Machine Magic

August 30, 2011 by Amy 14 Comments

OK, so in all my 33 years tonight at Moe’s I met the biggest advancement in soda machines I’ve ever seen. This machine claims it has 100 different choices of sodas. Many were different flavors of the same drink. My choice was Vanilla Root Beer, my soda kryptonite. I’m not a big proponent of sodas but it sure was fun. And the machine also included at least 8 different flavored waters.

The line for the drink was longer than the line for the food. First, no one was sure how to work the thing. Second, people (kids especially) had a horrible time deciding which of the 100 choices to drink. I couldn’t help but steal a little video of Emma refilling my drink.

Tell me, do you have these where you live? Have we been living in the dark ages or would you be as mesmerized as us?

On Grace

August 30, 2011 by Amy 2 Comments

Amy Beth, a young single lady fostering children, posted this excerpt that has stayed with me for days. I do hope she doesn’t mind that I’m sharing.

“I went home that day aching with the reality of undeserved pain. I used to think that suffering came to other people […] not to people who opened their hearts to the orphan. The stories swirled in my mind of families who’d dared to love the least of these and had been worn down by the ceaseless, thankless reality of disability and brokenness. It was tempting to be angry at the unfairness — and yet I’d learned through my own trials that there was another way to understand the suffering.

You see, each of us had wanted to live the gospel… and God had answered our prayers.

The gospel life is an invitation to come and die. It is first of all a story of brokenness. Before the beautiful redemption there is misunderstanding, rejection, loneliness, disappointment, frustration, and betrayal leading to a painful, bloody death. There is sorrow, burial and mourning. Yet somehow, though we prayed to be like Christ, we were surprised when the pain came to us. We were surprised when the gospel story was repeated in our homes, in our hearts, in the children we thought to rescue.

[…]

What my friend needed to know is that her troubles are not the marks of failure, but of Christ-following. Christ’s love leads us into places that no one else wants to go, where the stench and the mess and the heartache push out the well-dressed and the well-behaved. She and her family have been invited into the mysterious blessing: to suffer the reality of sin just as Christ suffered. […] It brings the foul-mouthed, rule-breaking, rage-riddled, impulse-driven, broken-hearted, least of these, right into our homes. This love works and tries and believes when everyone else has given up and slipped back into something more comfortable. It aches and bleeds, it is misunderstood and rejected and lonely.

And if we will surrender to it, this love teaches us to sing and to rejoice as the blessed of God.” — A Song Almost Heard, Tonia Peckover (all emphases mine)

That coming to learn to die and live the gospel? That is grace. It is giving the undeserved gift. Grace comes from the abundance of God’s gifts. First and foremost it is the giving of the forgiveness that we do not deserve. I get that grace. But then I try to apply the giving of God’s grace and it feels pretty and simple; a sharing of the abundance we received and we easily give to others. Our finances. Our love. And grace can be that. But many times grace is not pretty. When someone hurts you and you must give that forgiveness you realize that grace is pain. That although the other is the offender, the responsible one for the sin, you are the one not only offended but also the one that must be broken to forgive. Grace is not an easy calling. Grace is beautiful but it’s not pretty.

But it’s in the grace that we find life. Just as in God’s grace of forgiveness we find eternal life, it is in the giving of grace now that we find life. Today Ann Voskamp is sharing of her book (READ IT IF YOU HAVEN’T) and Shaun Groves’ new CD (GET IT). All so timely for me this week. I love this quote from her book

That fullness can grow foul. Grace is alive — living waters. If I dam up the grace, hold the blessings tight, joy within dies … waters that have no life.

In God’s upside down economy it is only in the brokenness of ourselves that we find life. It’s easy to give in the abundance of God’s blessings but it’s exquisitely hard to give in the face of pain from others’ sin. This brokenness doesn’t seem to lead to joy but Christ’s brokenness is our example of the only way to joy. If we hold forgiveness back, the grace, we lose our joy. But when we let grace rain (or reign, as it were), we find joy and they find joy and then both together, we rejoice in God’s grace.

So as Ann concludes in her book and Shaun sings, All is grace. He gives to us, we give to them, we are healed, they are healed, we give thanks back to Him. A beautiful, painful, cyclical picture of grace.

Please go watch the video on Ann’s post. If you only knew what these two people have seen and experienced (and some of you do) and yet still offer God praise, it’s truly God’s grace at work.

Weekend Recap

August 28, 2011 by Amy 5 Comments

Weekend Recap 8/26/2011 by bennettaj featuring a floral shawl

Mother Hen

August 25, 2011 by Amy 1 Comment

Source: flickr.com via Amy on Pinterest

Today was I felt like that mother hen, not quite getting it right but trying awful hard. Still working through Emma’s issues. Not too many details but for drama’s sake I’ll tell you I ended up in the principal’s office crying. Thank you, PMS. I’ve never been so close to homeschooling as I was today. And y’all, that is serious. Not to say it was the school’s fault. Its just my fight or flight syndrome was kicking in and wanting me to run from the problems. I think we have a game plan though from the school and I’m hoping this was just the first full week of adjustments. Cross my fingers and praying like crazy.

In other news, we passed the fire inspection for the adoption. We officially have the home study next on the list. So exciting!

In other, other news Tucker has eaten through cords of TWO of my keyboards within TWO days. I got smart today and bought a wireless keyboard. It’s really made for a laptop or travel or something because it’s small and cute and I just have to say I love it. It’s the little things, folks.

And in final news, Scott did NOT have to go to Charleston for Irene. Praying for all our other East coast friends but I have to say I’m thankful he didn’t go.

And in final, final news, tomorrow is FRIDAY!!

Emotional Chat

August 24, 2011 by Amy 3 Comments

Emma ended up coming home from school today and went with Scott to pick Lexi up from school. Scott let Emma chat with me from his phone while they were waiting. So many emotions in one little chat…awww…ewwww…what?!?!? If you pay attention to the times, it helps make it make sense.

Translation of Emma’s 2:37 comment: “We’re going to the pharmacy right now. Daddy didn’t mean to but somehow he hit the gas and bumped into my friend’s grandma’s car. No damage but it scared us.” And just for the record, we did have some damage to our bumper :( Very thankful no damage to my family. Except perhaps some spelling related travesties.

Two Things

August 24, 2011 by Amy 5 Comments

Two things have consumed my brain the last two days.

1 – Hurricane Irene. I’m not scared or worried about it. We live waaayyy off the coast and it’s not coming anywhere near us. But Scott got the dreaded call he might be deployed to Charleston to help evacuate the city in case it hit there. But no one ever gave us deadlines or a hint to when we might know. So for the last 48 hours we’ve basically been on pins and needles watching the projected path trying to figure out if he might be gone for up to 5 days. We thought he might be leaving yesterday but he’s still home and this morning it’s looking like it might not affect Charleston in the least so I’m hoping it gets called off today.

2 – Emma. Without embarrassing her we’ve been dealing with stomach issues the past few days. She’s barely wanted to go to school and we’ve been back and forth with the nurse on whether to send her home. The mama bear in me wants to keep her home and defend her to the teachers but I know it may not be as bad as she’s letting on. In any case, it’s taking up my brain space on what to do.

I posted this verse last night because it just reminds me when I want things like this to overtake me that He wants to know about it. He doesn’t want us to fret and worry. He controls the weather and Emma’s little body. Not a lot gets accomplished by me getting worried over it. And just like I want Emma to come to me when she’s hurting, He wants us to tell him when we’re worried. He cares for us and even if He won’t “fix it” like we want He’ll be with us through it.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. http://bible.us/1Pet5.7.NIV