Year 6, October 4th-7th, 2021: Let's Go to the Movies!

 Movies! We haven't been to the movie theater since Covid hit. But this week, we should go three times! Because all of the good Christian ones are out THIS WEEK. Courageous: Legacy, the 10 year follow up to Courageous. That's the one Justin and I will see on Tuesday night with Kelli and Kya at the Ark Encounter at the Red Carpet Premiere event for free in Kentucky. And then there's God's Not Dead (number 4): We the People, where the pastor defends a homeschooling family, which is only showing in theaters for 3 nights, one showing a night, but it's important obviously, to boost sales on that one. And "The Jesus Music" documentary outlining the story of Christian music featuring Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant and all my favorite bands. So, decisions, decisions, decisions. Two obviously are time sensitive, while the third one can wait. But I have to either persuade Jared to take me out on Wednesday night or go by myself or go with a friend. The kids aren't even remotely interested in going to the movies with me. Killyjoys that they are. Just because it's my idea, they don't want to go. It's like my family hates me. Some days, I do start to wonder. And yes, it does bother me because not all teens hate their parents. It's a cultural myth that it's normal to hate your parents or to despise them. It's not normal nor should it be normal. It's not what God wants and I certainly did not feel that way growing up. Not one bit. I did not treat my parents that way at all. It breaks my heart. But I digress.

We finally hit the ground running, at least I did, after 9am. I ended up finishing Abishai's lessons after supper because I would get distracted by this or that. We read aloud our history on Adolf Hitler, compared it to our modern day crisis, and gave out assignments. I had a chiropractic appointment (thank goodness), while the kids had Grandpa class over zoom while he's off somewhere. I'm trying to get all caught up so tomorrow will run smoothly. I made a pork butt roast tonight, but we ate most of the vegetables. Jared will have to come up with maybe some vegetables and make the meat into sandwhiches for tomorrow night's dinner. Thankfully he was told to take the whole day off tomorrow because worked most of the day on Saturday. He has to go back to church by 6 so he can babysit for Rooted but because Leah doesn't have Lifebridge because of Fall Break, she can take over and handle the kids until he gets back again. Justin and I won't be back until midnight. I'm not sure how long it's going to take me to get everything ready for the day in the morning, but I'm going to be scrambling. I wish I had more time to figure things out and do the once in a life time errands, but I don't. I simple don't. Perhaps Jared can knock one of them off for me tomorrow. We'll see.

Ok, I'm starting to fade here. There's always more to do. That's the problem. And some don't see it. I work twice as hard to do half of the work because my body can only go 1/4 the speed. Or something like that. And now I'm done.

I didn't get a chance to take photos of Abishai and Daddy putting together Abishai's new Lego set, so I'm glad Daddy did. He got a microbuild of some Star Wars vehicles like a walker and ship or something.

Makes sense to me.

Oh good. I'm glad Monday night's showing was fairly full.

Oh yeah! I could totally see Abishai and I trying to do something like this! Maybe Keturah, too!

I've seen this a few times on Facebook. This is where I land. Someone has to stand up. Why not me?

My sister sent some clothes and shoes to us and although Abishai at first said, "Oh man, there's no toys! He did try on the TMNT rain jacket and liked it! I was surprised how well it fit. It looked way too big at first.

Abishai made a police garage to hold all his police vehicles. What a collection!

I totally say this one all the time!

What a day yesterday was! I didn't even blog it because we got in at 1am and went straight to bed. My eyes hurt on the drive home from Kelli's house. The signs looked very blurry to me, even with my brights on. I even went the back roads in case I had to slow down for safety. I didn't want to be on the high way going 70 mph and swerving. It was a wise choice. But that was the end of our evening. Let's start at the beginning.

We got up as normal, sort of. All I remember is that Jared made some breakfast and then he and Abishai went to the orange working store because he needed to get something for a project. I took the morning slow on purpose because I knew the rest of the day might feel a bit rushed and chaotic. And that did help. I didn't do any schoolwork with the kids either. I just made sure everything was kind of up to date, like laundry, dishes, checked meds, ate lunch, and then started putting myself together at 12:30pm. Well, closer to 1pm I think, which was a bit unwise because then I felt a little unwise. I found something ok to wear. Justin switched from wearing long pants to short khakis but I let it slide. Kelli wore black slacks and a nice top, hair and make up done. And Kya wore a simple black dress with 3/4 sleeve dark green shirt over it that they had bought that morning, lol. I tried to do my make up and hair, and well, I ended up looking like I came straight out of the 90's (see pics below). I did fix my hair back to more normal me, but wow, I was way out of practice on my make up. I need some make up sponges or something. I didn't have the right tools for the job! I did have some newish foundation type make up. Newish as in 2018, that I hadn't forgotten that I had bought from a Mary Kay friend. Thank goodness for that! 

Finally, we were on our way to Kelli's house! Thankfully, she knows her way around the southeast part of the state and we didn't have to look up directions that much. She's a great driver, too. In fact, by the end of the night, Justin and I agreed that her driving style is similar to Gary's in that she drives like she just wants to get there and don't get in her way. We ate a quick supper of Chick-Fil-A a few exits before getting off the main one that leads the Ark Encounter, which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere because they needed a large parcel of land to build it on (plus they wanted to put it up on a hill so it could be easily seen, kind of like on Mount Ararat). We made good time and got there a little after 5pm. Our event officially started around 5:30pm. There were ushers along the way, but because the Ark officially closes at 6 and I guess they assumed that everybody that was milling about was there for one purpose, they didn't even bother ask for our tickets. Most had lanyards on or some kind of identification for the conference that was going on as well. I was quite interesting and such a contrast to so many places I've been recently. So trusting. Not a mask to be seen either, nor a sign about them or to wash hands. Granted, the building we were in is brand new, and houses the Answers in Genesis part of the organization. It also serves as the drop off point for the buses and you can go through the new "Rainbow Gate" that leads to the Ark. I wish we had time to look around a bit more although we weren't going towards the Ark at all. I just wanted to see how different it looked from being there 5 years ago. I need to come back again with just an adult friend or two and take all day exploring.

But yes, I felt normal and free. That's always a great sign. We went in and there was hardly anyone around. Some were at a special dinner with actors. Some might have also been at their hotels or out to eat or whatever for the conference. But they did start trickling in soon enough. We had our choice of seats, too. I was thinking we would have been shoved into a corner, but nope. We all had the same oppurtunities to grab popcorn and pop and water or buy coffee and other refreshments at Noah's cafe. We could buy something at the mini bookstores and gift shops. We could have our photo taken in front of the official red carpet wall, which we did. And we could all get in line to do a quick meet and greet with the actors! I was the only one who wanted to do it, but I did it! I met the Kendrick brothers! How cool is that?! I saw Tara Bentley and her husband, too. Everybody was super friendly and it nearly felt like a church family with a little twist of a red carpet. It was so cool that way. 

I did my best to enjoy what I could, although I was in a lot of pain from sitting so much. The movie was actually the same movie with a couple of scenes sped up (at least that's what it felt like) and a scene tacked onto the end saying "10 years later." That part was disappointing. I thought they had shot a whole other movie with complete updates. Super bummed about that since I had spent an evening watching it. It felt just a little bit like a bait and switch to do a rerelease. I know it's relevant. I get it. And lots of Christian music artists do it, too. I get annoyed at them, too. It's an easy way to make a little bit of money when they've run out of ideas or something else is behind in production. Oh well. Whatever. It was reunion. I get it. 

But the fun part was having the actors on stage for their little testimony time. It was almost a q and a except really it was just them talking about filming the movie had an impact on them and their careers. Mostly, how it made them better fathers and strengthened their faith and resolve to only do movies that glorified God. And that's the best part. A few of them have gone on to do dozens of movies in Hollywood and have been shining lights there. Some have just stayed in their hometown doing their day jobs. And then hearing the Kendrick brothers share their passion for what God called them to do and how they were called from being pastors into this ministry, when they didn't have any previous experience, and how they bathe everything they do in prayer, almost 24/7, especially during the filming process, with tons of volunteer help from their church, that's a God thing. That's an ordained God's hand is all over this and they are as humble as can be, God will be glorified thing. You could hear it in their voices as clear as Dan or Gary preaching from our stage up here. No faking it. And none of the guys up there were faking it, too. That's the part I needed to hear. Now I can see these movies and this movie company and really get behind them. I haven't seen all of them. I knew they were less cheesy than Christian movies of the past. I knew the acting was better, all the script is still very obviously making a point. But I know why it is now. And it's not shirking away from reality either. It's either for me to get behind something when I know the heart of its creator. Sure I could have seen some more interviews, too. But it was good to see this in person where I could 100% of my attention to it instead of being distracted with everything at home. And just physically removing myself and engaging myself with the real world is good.

But it's also exhausting. Because Wednesday, as I type this, I've done nothing productive. In fact, I kept clicking on emails that would open up Facebook and then I would scroll through tik tok videos that were posted to FB for like an hour, just zoning out, not even realizing what time it was. I totally didn't nap or try to do any lessons with the older kids. I had them read the two lessons on the Holocaust because Abishai doesn't need to have those ideas in his head just yet. And I know we emphasized them 5 years ago. In fact, I think I read Anne Frank to them or they both read the Diary of Anne Frank or whatever. I think we watched some videos, too. So, I guess I want to focus more on Hitler's rise to power and why and how we live in a culture where we need to pay attention to the power grab we live in right now and how close we are to socialism today. If they want to go focus on the victims, they can go watch all the videos on that on YouTube and I can get them more books. Today, media focuses on the victims in poverty, from Africa to Afghanistan, to the Mexican border, to the slums of New York City. But why do we have this poverty and how can we fix it? Let's spend more time on actually fixing the problem, than just stating the problem and analyzing it in numbers. Let's not just give out blankets and food, let's get these people the means to get a job and provide for themselves. Anyway, so they read those things.

I did school with Abishai while Justin was at ASL. Keturah didn't go because she said she had a stomachache. She had Grandma's chili with sour cream and cheese and cheesecake last night. So she woke up with a stomach ache. And then she ate greasy potatoes and bacon and cheese roasted in oil. Duh! But what can I do? I left her home. And when we got home, she still wasn't done because she said she tried taking a nap. I'm wondering if she stayed up too late when I wasn't here to take her phone off her hands. They worked hard on Grandpa's Lego jeep with him last night and had some screen time there as well screen time at home while Jared worked on his project he wanted to do. I didn't ask for this project, but it was preapproved months ago. I tried not to get mad, but drywall dust was everywhere and it happened to be in the dining room, so I couldn't just leave it there. We had to eat. Sigh. I'm trying to stay calm, but now Jared wants to pick a fight. I can't win.

So, a whole lot of nothing. We found leftovers for supper and then Jared took Justin to meet hi friends at Skyline Chili in Greenwood. He took Abishai with him, so it's been quiet for a couple of hours. Yeah! I got caught up on the blog! The day hasn't been a total waste! I teased Keturah and said we should facials and paint our nails and rom coms or something, lol. She said, "Ew, that's not normal!" Ah, it is to most of the female population, lol. Actually, I did tell her to take a shower. That didn't happen. She watched more TV shows and I typed this long post after I ate a caffeine enchanced granola bar. But even that is fading already. Ugh! Only sleep can cure this issue! So let's get some tonight, everyone! Boys have haircuts tomrorow and I might go see a friend's boys in their play tomorrow night. 

Oh shoot! I meant to buy those tickets for the movie! God's Not Dead! Dang it! I didn't go because I would have fallen asleep! But I didn't have my credit card handy and didn't follow through with the sale. Bummers! I might still go to the Jesus Music documentary on Sunday maybe by myself or with someone. We'll see how the rest of the week goes. Ugh, I'm so bummed! I'll buy the DVD when it comes out though. First thing! Grrrrrrrrrrr. Sigh. I hate that I can get so easily distracted sometimes!

And that's Wednesday and Thursday.

Wait a minute! I was NOT going for a 90's look. What happened?! I'm way out of practice here! I didn't have time to think through how much hair spray to use, and should have put it on AFTER I did the curling part. And therefore, the curling iron was working right. And then I didn't want to comb through it so I didn't and then made a big rat's nest instead. I messed it up big time. And you can't tell, but the eyeshadow was totally 90's glam. I've watched loads of YT tutorials. Why is this so hard? What brush do I use for what? Why don't I have bronzer? And uh, I don't even have a sponge for concealer and/or foundation? Mama needs to update her make up bag or something!

Ah, that's better. I brushed it out some. I still used used the smaller clip and let the pony hang up and over the updo instead of putting it all up and clipped which is my mama style. Stupid hairspray.

I was handed these bracelets to board the bus, so maybe they for the bus or for the event. I'm not sure. The lady said we would check in when we got to the building, but we never did see anyone to check us in up there either. Oh well. We did ask where to go and there were ushers but no one asked to see the email or anything.

My only pics of the ark. Oh how I ached to go inside again. It's so pretty up there on the hill. It always amazes me how big it truly. The outside is starting to really look older now, but that's ok. I'm just happy to see it.

Tried to get a selfie with my date.

Me at the new "Rainbow Gate." I'm sure it has a different name. It's just what I like to call it. #takebacktherainbow

The new building at the Ark Encounter property I think houses the Answers in Genesis part of the organization and all I kept thinking about is how much they will be able to achieve in this space. So much education can be done here. Conferences galore. Video taping galore. Simple set up like a church with lights, stage, movable chairs, and screens. I'm sure there are classrooms above and below as I saw elevators. Premium education space. I love it!

Oooooo, the red carpet! Oh, btw, the guy in the red hat, he was an actor in the movie, too! I think he surprised the cast. He was one of the gang members in the movie.

Here come the actors!

Testimony Time!

I don't know all their names, but here they come. I also don't want to spoil the movie by identifying them by what they did.

The more talkative Kendrick brother that does the acting. The other more does the producing.

You can't see his face, but this is the Latino guy that is simply hilarious and has gone on to do lots of other movies in Hollywood.

Some of the black actors. Originally I think they wanted to have three sets of actors to take photos with but there wasn't enough room. So they ended up just walking through to take their seats.

The youngsters are all grown up now.

See, like a real red carpet with the backdrop and special lights and cameras flashing. It was more like a meet and greet. But they had a red carpet on the floor and red ropes.

Not sure how my phone managed this photo, but it did.

We weren't allowed to take photos or videos while we were up there because they wanted us to go through quickly, but there ya go. pretty cool!

A talented young man was able to voice or put together bits and pieces of how former President Trump's words to "bring us a message" about the these movies. It was so hilarious!

After the movie, Ken Ham quickly introduced the Kendrick brothers and the main cast.

Kendrick brothers who started the films.

The whole major cast sharing their testimonies as to how being a part of this film and Lionsgate production changed their lives. Such a different thing then listening to a q and a at a GenCon or something. And yet, similar enough to recognize that some of these guys have become legit actors in Hollywood who won't compromise their fair and will turn out roles that jeopardize it. That's pretty cool.

The young man, now 11, who played an infant in the opening scene. That's pretty cool!

The name of the pastors conference that this screening was part of.  They are putting on a homeschool conference of sorts here at this facility in the spring. IAHE, as well as the Ohio and Kentucky organizations are helping with that.

Of course they had a couple areas of their normal merchandise to sell from the Ark Encounter including these giraffes. We were tired, but Justin and I decided that the one in blue glasses is Abishai and I am the the giraffe with pearls.

Keturah is the one with pink hair and noise cancelling headphones.

And well, that just leaves Daddy giraffe.

Kind of late to being the Ark Encounter many hours after it closed.

Finally got in the car and ready to head home. This car is on military time so it's 12:30 am.

I was looking for weather and saw the fall foliage forecast for NH. Nice!

I think I heard this in our local news sources, too. I'm surprised, but not really. It does happen often enough, even in the Bible belt. That's why we need in person conferences to come, so we can be encouraged and go out there and take our stand like this day. There will be another job that will let him do things the way he feels is right. (And I agree with him, btw.)

Abishai doing his first word search for school! He caught on very quickly to the new activity.

I'm hoping to see this one this weekend. If not, then I don't. At least I can read through the book of it that arrived today. Is it wrong to read a book that you are giving yourself for Christmas before you give to yourself for Christmas? I kind of want to read it in bits and pieces now. Lol

Stephen and Alex Kendrick, me, and T. C. Stallings

Robert Amaya and the guy that sits next to him in the back of the squad car.

The Snake King

Stephen's family I assume.

The Snake King (you'll understand it when you watch the movie)

Ok, now Smile! We definitely could have been better posed and the cameraman could have positioned himself better without that pole in the way. Oh well. We did it!

Kevin Downes, Robert Amay, me, and Ken Bevel.

Looking good cast!

The "rookie" Ben Davies and his wife (due with their third baby next week), the youngest of the cast (current age 30).

Not sure about the boy on the left, but I'm pretty sure the boy on the right is the same 11 year old who was the infant in the first scene of the movie. Sweet!

Thursday, well, Abishai got to skip school again because I couldn't pull myself together fast enough between taking a shower, answering someone's questions about starting a homeschool group, trying to check my other email, and putting my other thoughts together for the day. Ugh. And the boys had haircuts at 1:30. So, we'll have Saturday school once again this week while Jared works on his chalkboard wall project I guess. Whatever. I've just given up already on having a normal school year at least from my perspective. I'll do what I can. The kids are learning. I'm counting the normal amount of school days. And we will finish whatever papers we finish. We learn every single day of the week. And that's that. It's all good.

In fact, we went to see some friends in their play tonight and it just so happened to be set in WWII which is exactly what we are studying right now! And it was put on by one of our local homeschool co ops! Checkmark that as part of our school day! Field trip! Actually, it was really, really good because most of the actors were the high school students from the co op. The director was none other than Lise Caldwell, our friend from church, and her son, Will was the lead because he is a senior in high school this year. The squirrely little 6 yr old who didn't want to go over the new songs during our piano lessons but would go home, figure it out on his home and then come back the next week having memorized it was the lead in this play and actually sang a short duet on his guitar with a young lady. Yes, that Will Caldwell. I had no clue they were going to be there. We were invited by the Wagars because Wolf and Thor were in it as well. But I recognized the faces of a few other homeschool families I've come across, too. And I knew the name of the co op, too. Great stuff. The play was an original play written by a previous co op teacher, so that was neat. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And Abishai actually sat still through most of it, so it was great practice for him, too. Keturah said she's done with the acting thing. Justin spent part of the time figuring out a message from Grandpa. Abishai did ask after each scene if we were done yet (it was a little over an hour long, no intermission). And it was warm in there. Jared didn't have Bible study because too many people were gone on break or out because of work. I'm glad we went. It was a lovely way to spend the evening instead of staring at a TV screen.

I would like to think the kids are learning that with all these field trips and weird times for play dates that sometimes these other activities are taking the place of their screen times and there's just not enough time to do both in the same day and that's ok. When I told Abishai that, he was not happy. They just feel entitled that we should cut corners somewhere else in order to squeeze in screen time and it should be totally the opposite. We should cut screen time in order to do these other activities. So instead of playing video games with Daddy, Abishai and Daddy watch a live play performance. Why not, right? I only knew about the play yesterday, so it was very impromptu. And I'm so glad we said yes and went. That's my favorite yes and that's why I like to keep the schedule as open as possible. Flexibility.

Otherwise, the boys had haircuts and I finally dropped off the recycling that was in the trunk of my car. The middles did their homework and I'll check in with them tomorrow or Saturday. I think some science experiments need to be done. Some vocabulary, geography, and history assignments need discussed. Hm,.....

I'm tired. I need some sleep, too. Park day and karate tomorrow. That's about it. Nothing too fancy. Normal day. 

64 years young!

My fall irises are blooming! Now, if we could just have a stretch of dry weather I could get in there and trim everything down and clean the garden up and think about transferring things.

This is how I feel. And those feelings have not and will not change. It just is. Most will not understand, nor do they need to. He's my first hero outside of my own family, and he came into my life before my husband. And he's been there throughout, I should say the music, his faithful Christianity, his example to many, his fatherhood, his endless pursuit of God, his example in ministry, and continuing to finish well. More than just a Christian music artist to me. A mentor and father figure. Just a part of me. Sorry, but not sorry. And the whole CCM industry. One of the most steady things in my life. I can consistently mark the seasons of my life with events linked to that industry and what band was doing what. It's just a major part of who I am. I don't apologize for that. Some follow sports. I follow music. It's how I cope.

Ain't that the truth! And he stays in 5th gear most of the day!

Speaking of which, he comes running into the house saying, "Mommy, mommy, mommy! Guess what?! There's a praying mantis on our deck! Come see!" We haven't gone over insects in detail, but I've shown him one once and I'm sure he's picked up on it in Kratt's Kreatures or wherever. And sure enough, here's this guy. Not as green as some of the other ones I've seen. He almost looks a little sick and dried out to me like it's the end of the season for him, poor thing. He was moving ok though. I love praying mantis' though. Good eye, little guy!

I just thought it was good time to snap a couple photos of Socks, too, since the lighting was good. You just never know when it will be the last time.

Stefanie sent me this from my hometown. Some people will walk across this old train bridge. We do have a regular bridge to drive over and what not in the town. Our first church we went to is just on one side of the bridge and Old Robbie's Store is on the other. It spans the Mighty Merrimack River, which goes north and south in NH. The River used to be a major thoroughfare for goods, too. There's a powerplant just north of there where we learned about using the energy from the river to create electricity. (or was that in Manchester, proper?) And if you go up on a hill and look down at this area, you can see how the river bends just so and looks like a hook, thus, our town is called Hooksett, aka, a hook is set in the river. So original, eh? Hooksett is a town of 10,000 people or so in between Concord, the capitol of NH, and Manchester, the largest city in NH (of around 100,000 people). My parents lived there for 18 years. We lived on a street that was very close to the river. There was only a swampy area and the railroad that was between our property and the river. The railroad still carries coal to the paper mills up north. Loads of memories in that place.

Go, go, Inspector Gadget, go!

The End