"180" Movie Review

A few weeks ago, our family heard of a documentary called “180” filmed by Ray Comfort. My Dad was the first one to watch it online for free. I walked into the room a few times, and hardly wanted to leave! I made sure that I watched it later that evening, and Ben saw it as well.

For those of you who are not familiar with Ray Comfort and “The Way of the Master,” he is known for witnessing to people through his surveys. This movie is no different. While it is a short clip at only 33 minutes, it is extremely powerful. Comfort starts by interviewing people on their view of the Holocaust and Adolph Hitler. This was one reason I was so interested in the film, because I was in the midst of writing a semester research paper on the Holocaust.

After discussing the Holocaust, Comfort changes pace completely and asks a question about abortion. People’s reactions range from indignant, to shocked, and surprised. Most people he interviews are pro-choice. But then Comfort points out similarities between the Holocaust during World War II and the current Holocaust happening in America against our unborn children. Since Roe vs. Wade, over 52 million unborn babies have been killed in the U.S.

By the end of the documentary, the pro-choice interviewees have turned 180 degrees towards confessing that abortion is wrong. I highly recommend this film to viewers 13 and older, due to the themes of the film and some graphics on the Holocaust. But please take the time to watch this impacting film today! It is powerful!

Piano Lessons

Ben has always been passionate about playing percussion instruments, like the drums. He took lessons for awhile, but stopped for different reasons. But lately, he’s been wanting to pick up other instruments like the saxophone. There was only one problem: he doesn’t know how to read music. Having almost 7 years of studying music under my belt, we decided that I would teach him the basics of piano playing and how to read music. So far we’ve had two lessons, and they have gone very well! It also works out well for me to earn a little bit of money by teaching him. I’m hoping to purchase a violin and continue learning more music!

*Have any of you had experience teaching music? Are there any recommended books or advice that might be helpful? Please leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!*

By Memory

“How blessed are those whose way is blameless,
Who walk in the law of the LORD.
How blessed are those who observe His testimonies,
Who seek Him with all their heart.
They also do no unrighteousness;
They walk in His ways."

Psalm 119:1-3

Only 173 more verses to go, and I will have this passage memorized! A challenging goal for 2012…can she do it? YES, SHE CAN! J

~ Posted by Betsy

Recipe--New and Improved Pizza Recipe

For as long as I can remember, Friday has been pizza night in our family. We take early showers and get into pajamas. Then we enjoy pizza, popcorn, raw veggies, and dessert on an old shower cloth spread on the living room floor while watching a movie together. It’s our favorite way to end the work week!

In an effort to save money—and also eat healthier pizza—we have recently switched to making homemade pizza every other week versus eating frozen pizza. I have become the official “pizza maker” of the family and have been on the search for pizza recipes. I’ve tested several, and so far, this recipe combination has been my favorite. The dough doesn’t require long rising periods and I can make the sauce and toppings in advance. That means throwing things together quickly on Friday evening!

Click here if you would like to see the original recipe (as usual, we modify things slightly to fit our tastes!)

Pizza

The crust ingredients.

2 Tablespoons yeast

1 generous pinch of sugar

2 Cups warm water

4 Tablespoons olive oil

1 Tablespoon salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

About 6 cups of flour

Some of our favorite toppings: spinach, homemade pizza sauce, parmesan cheese, bacon bits, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, and feta cheese. In the summer we love adding fresh peppers, nasturtium blooms, and herbs! *Time/Money saving tip: We buy our cheese and pepperoni in bulk and measure it into freezer bags that hold enough ingredients for one pizza. On Friday morning, I pull out the ingredients that I need.*

Preheat oven to 425°F. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast with the pinch of sugar, in the cup of warm water. In a larger bowl, measure in the oil, salt, sugar, and a cup of the flour (above photo.)

Add the dissolved yeast mixture and stir well. Add the rest of the flour (above photo.)

Knead the dough until it is soft and elastic. Let it rest for at least five minutes before shaping into a pizza crust. While you wait, you can grease the pizza pan and chop up any toppings you want to add.

Spread the dough out on your pizza pan.

If the dough is stubbornly shrinking from the edges of the pan, a rolling pin will help you spread it all the way out.

Spread on your favorite pizza sauce. Our recipe is below:

Pizza Sauce

2 Cups tomato sauce

1 6-oz can tomato paste

6 oz water

½ an onion, chopped

¼ teaspoon of basil

½ teaspoon of thyme

1 teaspoon of oregano

1 ½ teaspoons of garlic powder

½ teaspoon of rosemary

½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Mix together and store in a large canning jar. Makes enough sauce for approximately 5 large pizzas.

After you’ve added your cheese and toppings, bake for 15-20 minutes.

And voila! Here we have beautiful spinach, bacon, and feta pizza.

Or pepperoni with parmesan cheese! Add whatever toppings you like! Makes 2 large pizzas.

Friday Flashbacks: The Library

Roma, Bianca, Ben, and Rubia on the couch in the library.

Back at our old house in mid-Michigan, we had a library. It wasn’t a large room, and was most likely intended to be a formal living room. But in our family, we use every room of our house, and so we repurposed the front room. Daddy’s desk sat in the corner along the windows, and there was a bookshelf in the other corner with a couch along the opposite wall. The Library was the perfect room for studying in since it had doors leading into it that could be closed. It was a wonderful extension of the living room for the games we played as children. Mommy enjoyed curling up on the couch at night while Daddy worked away on the computer.

When we moved, we faced a difficult dilemma: the office room in our new home was barely big enough to house the desk, much less a sofa for Mommy. Thankfully, the laptop is fixing that problem so that they can both work in the living room. But we will always have special memories of our library room!

January Pictures

I have challenged myself to take some sort of nature pictures every month. This will be a good way for me to keep my eyes open to the beauty of creation and look for creative shots during all seasons. To keep me accountable, I thought I would post them here!

This past weekend we received a couple inches of snow. It was beautiful and sparkly! I took the following shots just before breakfast. . .

Sunshine!

The dormant bird bath.

“He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes.”

Psalm 147:16

Snow covered flowers. We’ll see what next month’s pictures bring! J

Faith

(posted by Rubia)

For some time, I have been thinking about faith and trusting God. I have been reading through my Bible for the past few months, and a couple of months ago, I read Genesis 22, the chapter when God tested Abraham. In verse 2, God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

If I were Abraham, I would be very confused. “God wants me to do WHAT?” I’d probably ask myself. But Abraham did not hesitate. In verse 3, the Bible says, “Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.”

Later in verses 7-8…”Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

            “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

            “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

            Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

Abraham had so much faith! I wish that I could have as much faith as Abraham did. It turned out that God did provide an offering. Just when he was about to sacrifice his son…

Verse 11-18:  But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

            “Here I am,” he replied.

            “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

                The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Abraham was rewarded for his faith. In this story he is a great example of having faith in God. I have been praying that I will trust God and have faith like Abraham did!

 

Roller-Skating!

Once a year, the youth group at our church goes roller-skating. This weekend was the time! Daddy took us four older kids along with many others from church. We had a very fun evening filled with food, laser tag, roller-skating, and fellowshipping together!

Eating a slice of pizza at the roller rink.

With my good friend C from church.

Rubia and Roma with their friend B from church.

I especially enjoy roller-skating when I have the opportunity. It’s very good exercise! We will probably remain sore for a few more days, though! JThankfully nobody was seriously hurt even though we took a few tumbles! But we had LOTS of fun, and look forward to our next opportunity to go to the rink!

A Visit with Friends

This past weekend, we had good friends over who live in another part of the state. We have been wanting to get together with them for awhile, and it worked out that they came over to our house for dinner as part of a birthday trip.

We enjoyed a dinner of pizza, popcorn, vegetables with spinach dip (provided by our friends), salad, and soda pop. Here, Josiah enjoys his meal.

And then we sang happy birthday to B! He was able to blow out all the candles in one shot! We enjoyed the triple chocolate cake and carrot cake with vanilla ice cream.

We had LOTS of visiting together, discussing everything from travel, to photography, to chemistry, to homeschooling, and much more!

We especially enjoyed a presentation by our friend’s daughter B who spent several weeks in Asia on a special trip recently. It was fascinating listening to her experiences!

We had a wonderful and encouraging evening together! We hope to see our friends again soon!

The Power of Prayer

“The center of power…is not found in summit meetings or in peace conferences. It is found when children of God pray for God’s will to be done in their lives, in their homes and in the world around them.

We cannot pray and remain the same. We cannot pray and have our homes remain the same. We cannot pray and have the world around us remain the same. God has decreed to act in response to prayer. He commands us to ask. And Satan trembles for fear we will.”

Ruth Bell Graham, “More Letters from Ruth’s Attic”

~ Posted by Betsy

Recipe--Celery Seed Bread

With the fresh snow and cold temperatures we’ve received this week in Michigan, it is time to eat lots of hot soup! There’s nothing like a hot, crusty, buttery piece of bread to go with it. We like this recipe because it’s very quick, easy, and tasty!

There are a few notes on this recipe that I will mention. The first is that if you don’t have celery seed on hand, dill seed works well too. We found this out when we had to make an emergency substitution. J The recipe calls for hot dog rolls, but any thick bread that you have on hand should work. I think we used hoagie rolls which worked fine.

Celery Seed Bread

6 TB butter, softened

½ teaspoon celery seed

¼ teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon parsley

¼ teaspoon garlic powder, optional

4 hot dog rolls, split

Combine the first four ingredients. Spread on rolls. Broil until golden brown. Makes 8 single servings (We split our hoagies in fourths, to get more). Enjoy!

Friday Flashbacks: The Penny Church

This week Roma has been packing away the penny church. I suppose a statement like that deserves an explanation! J

When Ben was younger, he LOVED playing with our 1000+ penny collection. His favorite pastime with these pennies was creating a church. He would line all of his pennies up in rows and hold services for them.

For several years, the pennies have not been used as Ben has outgrown his penny church. So we finally decided that it was time to say goodbye to the thousands of pennies we have accumulated, and Roma has been packing them in rolls this week. But Ben will always have many wonderful memories of having his “own” mega church in our living room! J

"Candle In The Dark" Movie Review

As I’m sure you can tell from Monday’s post, and yesterday’s post, we have been enjoying lots of good movies lately! J We are always looking for family-friendly movies that are purposeful and have a Biblical message and application. We are developing quite an extensive library!

This past Friday, we enjoyed the movie “Candle in the Dark: The Story of William Carey.” William Carey is my Dad’s favorite missionary to study, and he received this movie for Christmas. We were curious as to what it would be like.

We were very pleased with the movie, especially since—to the best of our knowledge—it is the true story of William Carey with little else added. His story is incredible! He sailed to India in 1793 with the purpose of preaching the gospel. He overcame many hardships including the death of a son, moving about the country, finding work and providing for his family, learning the language, and breaking through the superstitions held for centuries by the people of India.

We all enjoyed watching the movie together, but there were a few parts that are a bit scary for young children. One of these is during a scene depicting sati (widows being burned alive with their dead husbands), and the other is after Mrs. Carey goes mentally insane. Aside from these two exceptions, the movie is family-friendly and is very inspiring. William Carey persevered through so much, and didn’t see fruit of his labors for many years. It was 7 years after he came to India that he first brought someone to Christ. Because of his perseverance, India is still benefitting from his work even today. I highly recommend watching this movie!

"IndoctriNation" Movie Review

As a Christmas gift this year, my Dad received a documentary called “IndoctriNation.” The film is produced by Scottish filmmaker Colin Gunn, who is a homeschooling father of seven children. The film deals with public schools and the decline of Christianity in America. It is an unflinching film that has become quite controversial.

But I believe this film is important to anyone who has children or will in the future. While traveling across the U.S. in an old school bus, the Gunn family investigates the public schools, interviews many educators, and answers the following questions:

*Who established the American public school system?

*Are children physically and morally safe in the schools?

*Are the public schools religiously neutral?

*Should Christians try to be “salt and light” in public schools?

*Can the public school system be fixed or redeemed?

The film features interviews with John Taylor Gatto, Ken Ham, Erwin Lutzer, Doug and Howard Phillips, Geoffrey Botkin, R.C. Sproul Jr., Kevin Swanson, and others. My favorite interviews are the ones with Christian public school teachers. They are very revealing of the hostile nature towards Christian students.

‘Though this film isn’t officially rated, I don’t believe it is appropriate for children under the age of 13. I was shocked and saddened to see footage from actual classrooms and the type of materials they were discussing. Footage from 1995 shows a young elementary class discussing an alternative definition of marriage.

I believe this is a very important film that all Christians should see, and I hope that it will cause them to seriously evaluate how and through whom they educate their children! I hope it will also encourage us all to look to scripture for guidance in every area of life, including education.

Sola Gratia

This is the third installment of a series I’ve been sharing with my Sunday School on the Five Solas (click here to see the post on Sola Fide, and here for Sola Scriptura.) Here is a little bit of what Sola Gratia means. . .

Over the past few months, I’ve been sharing about some theological doctrines called the five Solas: Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solo Christo, and Soli Deo Gloria (By Scripture Alone, By Faith Alone, By Grace Alone, By Christ Alone, and to God Alone Be the Glory.) As a review, the five Solas are five Latin phrases that refer to the doctrinal beliefs that came about during the protestant Reformation (1500-1600 A.D.) Some of the fathers of the Reformation were Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, and Ulrich Zwingli to name a few. If you have a chance, there are great biographies out there on these men and others that I would highly recommend reading!

The third Sola is Sola Gratia, which means “by grace alone.” The definition of “grace” according to Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary is “the free unmerited love and favor of God, the spring and source of all the benefits men receive from him. Favorable influence of God; divine influence or the influence of the spirit, in renewing the heart and restraining from sin. The application of Christ's righteousness to the sinner.” To put it simply grace is goodness from God that we have done nothing to deserve.

The principle of Sola Gratia is that we as fallen human beings are totally depraved, which means that we are completely incapable of earning salvation by works (Sola Fide) and completely incapable of turning towards God and accepting His salvation. It is only by God’s grace—which we don’t deserve—that we can accept God’s gift of salvation. Without Him opening our eyes and drawing us to Him, we could never come to know Him as our Savior.

The New Testament speaks often of grace. Acts 15:11 says, “No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” Romans 3:22-24 says, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” One of my favorite verses on grace is Ephesians 2:4-9, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

The apostle Paul gives us several warnings in his writings, not to abuse the gift of grace that God has given us. Romans 6:1-2 says, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” Jude 1:4 echoes another warning, “For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”

So what do we do with this incredible gift of grace we have been given? Second Corinthians 12:9 says, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” And 2 Timothy 1:8-10, “So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

God has given us grace through His son Jesus. It is only by this divine grace that we can be saved. In return, we are called to live humble, holy, obedient lives joyfully serving Him. There is no greater calling we can have. What an honor that He has chosen to bestow his grace on us, though we didn’t do anything to deserve it!

NEW! Recommended Resources Page

We are pleased to announce that after being “under construction” for several months, our Recommended Resources Page is here! We hope that this will be a helpful page for you, as it lists many of the books and movies we’ve reviewed here on the blog as well as other favorites. We will most likely be adding to this page over time, but here is what it currently looks like:

Recommended Resources Page

Welcome to our Recommended Resources page! Here is an index of our recommended books, family attractions, music, movies, and websites. We hope that they will be helpful to you, but please remember to use discretion. We do not agree with everything on/in our recommended sources, but have generally found them useful. We also recommend that parents use their judgment on age recommendations!

If you have any resources that you have found helpful and would like to share, please contact us via email or leave a comment!

Books:

Beautiful Girlhood by Karen Andreola (Young Ladies 10 and up)

Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris (12 years and up)

Emotional Purity by Heather Arnel Paulsen (Young Ladies 13 and up)

How Should We Then Live? by Francis A. Schaeffer (12 years and up)

Joyfully at Home by Jasmine Baucham (Young Ladies 12 and up)

Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends by Sarah, Stephen, and Grace Mally (All Ages)

So Much More by Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin (Young Ladies 12 and up)

The Bible (All Ages)

The Backyard Homestead (All Ages)

The Devil in Pew Number Seven (13 years and up)

The Family by J.R. Miller (All Ages)

Unshaken by Dan Woolley (13 years and up)

Family Attractions:

The Creation Museum (Kentucky)

Movies:

A More Perfect Union (G)

Agenda (12 years and older)

Divided (G)

End of the Spear (PG-13—Intense Sequences of Violence)

Fireproof (PG—Marital Discord)

Homeschool Dropouts (G)

Left Behind 1 (PG-13—Violence)

Left Behind 2 (PG-13—Violence)

Left Behind 3 (PG-13—Violence)

Pamela’s Prayer (PG—Thematic Elements)

Return of the Daughters (G)

The Mysterious Islands (G)

The Penny (PG-13—Thematic Elements and Violence)

The Perfect Gift (G)

The Perfect Stranger (G)

The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry (G)

Time Changer (PG—Thematic Elements)

Underground Reality: Colombia (PG-13—Thematic Elements)

Underground Reality: Vietnam (PG-13—Thematic Elements)

Music:

You Deliver Me album by Selah (calming and quiet music with several beautifully arranged hymns)

Today by Brian Doerksen (worship songs sung in a classic style)

Peace Like a River by Chris Rice (beautifully arranged hymns with piano and vocals)

Michael W. Smith music (his albums range from pop, to worship, to instrumental. We love them all!)

Websites:

Vision Forum (great homeschooling, discipleship, and theology resources)

Visionary Daughters (encouraging website for young ladies)