O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

Yes. I. am. excited!  I can't wait to take Walt to see Nemo in 3D!  It is one of our favorite movies!  In preparation of the moving coming out on September 14th, we are going to begin doing little Nemo activities .  Walt has never watched the movie, but he knows Nemo.  After Magdalena passed away a friend sent me a Nemo stuffed animal as a sweet reminder because that was the first movie she watched.  The colors got her attention!  This stuffed animal is one of Walt's favorites now, which is always warms our hearts.  Not only do we love Nemo, but it has such a sweet memory for us.  

Noah surprised me one morning with a download of the new Rascal Flatts c.d.  It's funny because he thought that I had said that I wanted it.  Although I like Rascal Flatts, I don't quite remember saying that....one of us is definitely having memory loss.  Our ages are catching up with us...ha!  The song changed left me all emotional as I listened to it on the way to work. There are so many mistakes that I have made and continue to make, and each time I am thankful for God's grace.

Between the title of the book and the fact that the author,  Tullian Tchividjian, is the grandson of Billy and Ruth Graham, my expectation of what I would gain from this book was low.  Many people get book deals with their familiar connections.  I know Jesus is everything, and I know the gospel.  After being blown out of the water when reading the first chapter, I found myself realizing how much it is that I need to be reminded of the gospel.  Like Tullian, I too grew up in the church.  Jesus' name and the fact that he died to save my sins is a part of my everyday language.  This book really caused me to reflect on whether or not my life is lived to know the gospel to be true.   "We recognize that the gospel ignites the Christian life, but we often fail to see that it's also the fuel to keep us going and growing as Christians." (page 37) I "know" that Jesus died so that I could have freedom on this earth because there is nothing that I can do t...

Noah and I finally added a little entertainment to our lives by subscribing to Netflix, and so far, it has been proven to be an incredible value!  I have been wanting to see quite a few of the movies, but we have never wanted to buy them, and one of those was Letters to God.  Since God is incorporated in movies in ways that I don't agree, usually, I only looked at the cover of this particular movie.  I finally put it on my queue, where it didn't remain long before my curiosity had peaked.  I was blown away by this movie!  It is so strong in value and God!  I cried good tears for most of the movie, and, yet, I was still happy at the end of it that I had watched it.  A young boy fighting for his life with a terrible cancer impacts all those who encounter him through his relationship with God.  No one can look at this suffering boy without thinking of Jesus.  It was a boy who chose to live his life by glorifying God in all that he did, and in o...

Noah and I have begun two Christmas traditions.  One it to complete a Christmas puzzle together.  It is kind of addictive, and has taken a much shorter time than we imagined!  The other is to go through the book Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room by Nancy Guthrie to prepare our hearts for advent.  Both have given us a sweet time together as we have been so busy with Noah getting ready to finish seminary.  Yes...that is right...we are on our last semester!

My mom and I have watched The Christmas Cottage since it came out in 2008, and with the help of Netflix, I was happy to share it with Noah last night.  It is based on the life of Thomas Kinkade, who we all know as a famous artist.  Thomas and his younger brother return home from college for the holidays to find their mom swimming in bills and a broken house.  While working to save their family's cottage, Thomas spends time with his mentor, a famous artist.  Without giving too much away, let me say that this is a sweet movie, which left us in tears at the end in a good way.  The famous artist is attempting to leave the world with a painting of his wife so that she can be remembered by all.  He finally realizes that he is only painting the pain that is caused by his longing to be with her, and that she should be remember through light.   Glen, "I have been trying to paint my sorrow, to show a bleakness of a world without Nicole, but then you came with...

I have let The Healing Path  by Dan Allender sit on my heart for a little while now, and I am still unsure of how to write a summary in just one blog post.  It was like nothing I have read before.  So many books on suffering deal with the heart, which is the main part of it all, but this book takes it to the next step.  It takes the reader through dealing with the issue.  Right above Dan Allender's picture on the back of the book it says "Don't Waste your Pain.", and that is the book explained in it's simplest form.  God has used Dan Allender's words to make me reflect on how I act and make decisions on my loss.  Most days it has been easier to turn off my mind off to a situation so that it will not acknowledge what my heart feels.  By ignoring it my life seemed normal, but it wasn't. I can only cover it up for so long before my actions show what my heart truly feels.  It is so hard to find a balance in dealing with loss and still living ...

While in high school I read Wuthering Heights for the first time.   The plot caused me to finish the book before its due date.  Since then I have read it multiple times, and each time I read it through "new eyes" with my life experiences affecting my understanding of the book.  It is still one of my all time favorites that I would recommend to everyone!  If Magdalena had been a boy, I would have been stubborn about using the name Edgar, a character from the book and a family name.  Noah was thankful not to have to deal with it because that is not one of his favorite names.  I still can't convince him to consider it as a possibility!  My mom had named one of her dogs Edgar, so he always associated the name with the dog.   Edgar is one of the few kind characters in the book because everyone is so selfish that they are driven to wild actions that cause others to suffer.  Although there are strange situations and mean characters in the book it ...

One of my first downloads onto my Kindle was the play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.  After looking at many Kindle covers, Noah and I decided that we liked best the one designed after this play.  I knew that I could not pose as someone who has read it when the truth is that I had never heard of it prior despite the fact that there is a movie based on the play starring Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth.  I paid 89 cents, but it was definitely worth more.  After laughing throughout the reading, I watched a few of the movie trailers where I laughed even more.  It is a light-hearted play about two men making up friends so that they will have an excuse to go to a different area where they are able to have fun with their made-up names.  However, it comes to haunt them when they find true love using their false name, Earnest, and their loves say that they knew they would always love someone by that name.  I definitely recommend this quick re...

Tim Keller's book, King's Cross , takes us through the life of Jesus by the accounts written in the book of Mark. One of my favorite things about Tim Keller's style of writing is that he explains passages in a way that an ordinary person can understand, but at the same time I think he takes too many liberties with the Bible's wording. If you read the book knowing that they are Keller's words and not God's words in many cases, a lot can be gained by reading the book. It is divided into two parts with "The King" describing who Jesus is and "The Cross" explaining what he did and why he did it. "The gospel isn't advice: It's the good news that you don't need to earn your way to God; Jesus has already done it for you." (Keller, pg 20) At the end of each chapter when he was nailing his point, I truly became aware of my sinfulness. Yuck! I am not perfect nor is God asking me to be, but he is calling me to run to the one who is...

The Rabbit Hole was recently released, and since that week I have considered reviewing it. This was something that I had to do alone. Before Noah left we went to the grocery store together, which was the first time in a VERY long time that we have been able to go together. One of our favorite things to do as newlyweds was to go grocery shopping together. While there shopping Noah was renting a movie on red box for me, and it was at that moment we decided that I would watch it tonight. I was pleasantly surprised with the fact that it wasn't focused in on the death of the child. I don't think my heart could have handled that tonight. The theme of the movie was that everyone deals with grief differently, and in The Rabbit Hole you see a few versions of what could happen. I didn't think that the movie was entertaining in a sense that it is a "must see" movie, but it was so well done that I would recommend it to everyone. Even if you are the closest friend of...

I have a tendency to read multiple books at one time, but I always finish all of them. To me, not finishing a book is like leaving a friend waiting for you in a restaurant never to really come. I love to read, and my parents always encouraged it by giving me books. Here are the books that I began in the last month and finished over this past weekend. This was my second time to read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and it won't be my last. It is probably my second most favorite book below Wuthering Heights . It is a story of strong, noble character in a time when ignorance about race was popular, and you see the truth as it exists through the eyes of a child. Here are a few quotes and sections of the book that are worth pointing out. "The world's endin', Atticus! Please do something--!" I dragged him to the window and pointed. "No it's not, he (Atticus) said. "It's snowing." "The one thing that doesn't abide by majori...

It seems so strange that they made a movie about grieving parents. I found out about it through an article in WORLD, a Christian Magazine. Although I am not sure that I could sit through the movie, I am curious to know how the parents survive and how much they bring God into the movie. Grieving without God is grieving without hope, and that would be the most painful grief. "If knowing the answers made it easy to escape the land of sorrow, none of us would spend time there. There is no right way to navigate this foreign country, no magic incantation to find release. The only way out is through. This film beautifully and heart-shatteringly demonstrates that fact." WORLD Magazine, January 9, 2011 If you choose to watch the clip, don't forget to push pause on the blog music at the bottom of the page!

The reason we read books by those who have lost a child isn't so that we can cry more, although we do, but it is so that you can feel understood. We read that someone has the same emotions, so we are not crazy! Also, it is encouraging to see how those who have lost deal with the pain and that they do in fact survive. Mary Beth Chapman's Choosing to SEE isn't just for people who have lost a child, it is encouraging for anyone who is struggling with God's plan for their life when so many "bad" things come with it. She definitely lets us all get a peak into the closet that so many of us, including myself, try to keep the door locked. I was thankful to have received this book as a Christmas gift so that I could take my time reading it, and although it will bring tears to your eyes should you choose to read it, it will leave you feeling hopeful. That is why we read books written by grieving parents. I too need to be reminded of the hope that I have in Chris...

Sometimes I am guilty of learning the words to songs without really considering the meaning of it all. But the older I get, the more aware of what I let sink into my brain. The space is limited there so I have to consider what I want to fill it with! I am definitely a Lady Antebellum fan, and when I got their newest c.d. their song "Hello World" was not one of my favorites, so I skipped over it a lot. But one day I listened to the words, and I thought that it was beautiful, a simple reminder of waking up. We get so busy in today's society that we let all of the beautiful gifts of God pass us by, and sometimes it takes something big happening in our lives to realize how much the little, daily life things mean to us. Magdalena's life and death made me realize my immortality and selfishness, and I hope that God will continue to open my brain so that I can soak up the small things that he gives me. My small things sometimes consist of coffee and quiet time before W...

First, don't forget that the GIVEAWAY winner will be announced this Thursday! Look HERE for more information to put your name into win!! I finished my second Lewis book in a quest to finish 800 pages of his writings by the end of the semester. A Grief Observed is not written in a book form with how people should feel when they lose someone they know, but it is written in a blog format with short small writings of his feelings. He didn't claim this book when it was first published, but wrote under a pseudonym. His feelings were open and honest. Some days he wrote when his heart was running this thoughts, and on other days he writes of what God's word and what he knows to be true. It was beautifully written, and I recommend it to those who have lost a dear one or anyone who wants to be reminded of God's truths. A few quotes from the book that I highlighted and wanted to share: " Getting over it too soon? But the words are ambiguous. To say the patient is ge...

You know how there are movies that you want to see, but you aren't sure if it will be worth it to pay money for curiosity's sake? After much interest, I finally was able to watch The Nativity Story, which tells the story from the point when an angel visits Mary to bring her the news that she is with child to Jesus' birth. It does assume some of the character's feelings, but they were not too extreme and probably safe assumptions. For example, Mary and Joseph share that they both fear what lies ahead for them carrying this child, but, yet, the honor that they feel is obvious. What I really liked most about the movie were a lot of the culture aspects that you have to study beyond The Bible to know. To see a very pregnant woman on a donkey was painful! However, the traveling to Bethlehem had to have been a difficult journey for Mary. Also, the wisemen journeying and the king's quest for full power were connected in the story too. I would definitely recommend th...

The wives of seminary students have the privilege of taking classes for a grade or auditing them for free. Since Noah has been in school, we have not had the time for me to do this, but this semester we are "taking" a class together, our first class. Noah is completely focused on it because he will be taking the tests and writing the papers, but I get to enjoy the fun part of it. We have an incredible seasoned professor who is teaching a class on the life and works of C.S. Lewis. One of the assignments of the class is to read 800 pages of his works. Unfortunately, the option does not include the Narnia series, but I have just completed my first book of the list, The Screwtape Letters . I was so happy to begin with this one because it was intense because it was so personal. The novel is written in the form of letters between two devils in which the uncle is trying to train his young nephew on how to truly win a person for their side. It goes through all of the little t...

The wives of seminary students have the privilege of taking classes for a grade or auditing them for free. Since Noah has been in school, we have not had the time for me to do this, but this semester we are "taking" a class together, our first class. Noah is completely focused on it because he will be taking the tests and writing the papers, but I get to enjoy the fun part of it. We have an incredible seasoned professor who is teaching a class on the life and works of C.S. Lewis. One of the assignments of the class is to read 800 pages of his works. Unfortunately, the option does not include the Narnia series, but I have just completed my first book of the list, The Screwtape Letters . I was so happy to begin with this one because it was intense because it was so personal. The novel is written in the form of letters between two devils in which the uncle is trying to train his young nephew on how to truly win a person for their side. It goes through all of the little t...