Monday, March 31, 2014

There goes Sunday School.... Noah is not right.

Movie Review: Noah

Hollywood has done it again. A biblical story in disturbing proportions. It's unbelievable how a simple story like Noah and the Ark can get so blown up out of proportion. The latest in Hollywood bunk has opened this past weekend in the form of Noah and I'm afraid this movie will be believed as a true account from the bible.

It's not!!!  The only similarity from the bible account and the movie is that Noah builds an ark, has a wife and three sons and it rains to flood the earth.  All portrayals are so out of wack....this is not a movie for families to watch.

From Plugged In (http://www.pluggedin.com/movies/intheaters/noah-2014.aspx) we read:

From PluggedIn.com
"Noah goes pretty far off the Sunday school flannel board to tell its story, beginning with 'the beginning.' Noah recounts the story of creation to his children, reciting what happened on each of the six days. Using time-lapse photography, his account blends the Bible with Darwinian evolution, as animals change into other animals in rapid-fire sequence. (And most of the creatures on the ark appear to be evolutionary forebears of the ones we live with today.)

 Unlike the direct commands issued by God to Noah in Genesis, His will is obscured in Noah. The titular character receives only visions, their meaning never fully clear to him. And because Noah and his family deeply desire to do God's will exactly, this exacerbating lack of communication creates some serious conflicts—an echo of sometimes our own uncertainty of what God would have us do now."

It is a dark portrayal of  what really happened.  Noah is a prophet of God. He has the light of goodness in him and is not at all the way Russell Crowe has portrayed him. Although it's not really Russell Crowe's fault. I really like his work most of the time but with Darren Aronofsky as director (also directed Black Swan-another disturbing movie) he didn't have much of a choice.

In the biblical story all three sons are married which is one of main points of having a family get on the ark to start a new life....each son has a wife so they can  have children to populate the world.
 
When I see a biblical story on the movie screen, I expect the story to stay true to it's original writing such as The Ten Commandments or Jesus of  Nazareth not misconstrued as a fairy tale although anyone can produce a movie with their own take. This might be a compelling story but it's not what really happened in my eyes. It was too dark and misleading as to the integrity of it's main character.

I'm sure many curious seekers will watch Noah for the entertainment.  I just wouldn't believe it as the truth...which is what I'm thinking the rest of the world will do.


Saturday, March 8, 2014

Feelings of a tender heart as a parent....

In all my driving around recently, I have had the opportunity to think about the effects my children have had in other lives.  I have always felt that if my children thought enough about another person to marry them, then I would accept that person as my own child.

So far so good--all of my married children have married well and I feel that their spouses are one of my own.  So my plan is with nine children is when they are all married at sometime, I won't just have nine children, I will have eighteen.

Recently I have had a discussion with someone I have known for a long time but his family situation had changed and his opinions of family life were way different than I had expected.

This friend and I have discussed many topics of family importance going around and around in discussion so we could not agree.  I finally had to concede to "agree to disagree" because aligning ourselves to each others opinion was not going to happen. The whole discussion centered around parents making decisions for their children and then I found this little gem from Michael Ramey of parentalrights.org  (http://www.parentalrights.org/ )




Two Great Stories of 'Parents Know Best'
                                                                                                                                                             "We turn to 

experts every day for insight and guidance because 
they are, well, experts. They know more on the subject at hand than we do, whether it’s “What is making my faucet drip?” or “Why is my car overheating?” Experts can be, if you will, a helpful diagnostic tool.

But when it’s time to make decisions about your child, you know the real expert is you.

That proved especially true in two heart-warming stories in the news this past week, as parents defied the experts and saved their children’s lives – one figuratively and one literally.

At age 2, Jacob Barnett was diagnosed with autism when, after learning to talk, he suddenly and irreversibly went silent. Experts recognized that his attention had turned inward, and they prescribed what would become a 60-hour-per-week therapy regimen. One specialist warned he would never even learn to read.

Then one day, mother Kristine realized that while she was playing with other children in the daycare she ran from her home, her own son was losing his childhood.“I knew in my heart that if Jake stayed in special ed, he would slip away,” Kristine later told a 60 Minutes interview.

That’s when she decided to focus not on what he couldn’t do, but on what he could. She halted his therapy and instead invested time in what he liked – which appeared to be the stars. They would lie out at night and look at the sky, and make occasional trips to the planetarium.

On one such trip, a university lecture was taking place, so mother and son decided to sit in. At the end of the class, the professor asked if anyone knows why Mars’s moons are oblong. Jacob’s hand went up. “How large are the moons?” he asked when called upon.

When the professor answered that they’re quite small, Jacob correctly responded, “The gravitational effects of the moons are not large enough [compared to that of Mars] to pull them into complete spheres.”

Jacob was 3 years old.

Today, at age 15, he is involved in an international study program for post-graduate level physicists at Perimeter Scholars International in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He has developed his own theory of relativity, expanding on that of Albert Einstein. His level of genius is literally off the charts – and he can share all of this with the world that so amazes him because his mother decided to counter the experts and take an unconventional approach.

In a similar vein, young Congresswoman Jaime Herrera-Beutler of Washington recently faced a parental dilemma of her own. Five months into her first pregnancy, doctors discovered that her baby, suffered from Potter’s Syndrome: the baby had developed no kidneys, and could therefore produce no fetal urine. Without fetal urine, she would have little or no amniotic fluid, which would ultimately keep the baby’s lungs from developing.

Doctors told Congresswoman Herrera-Beutler and her husband, Dan, that there was zero chance that their baby would live.

“As the doctor was giving us the diagnosis (Abigail) was kicking,” Herrera-Beutler 
told FoxNews. “We were totally broken, we’re sobbing, we’re asking, ‘What can be done? Is there anything that can be done?’ And she’s moving inside of me, and the doctor is saying, ‘No, there is no option. This is fatal.’

But the Beutlers refused to give up, and instead located a doctor at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore who had an experimental treatment he was willing to try. There was no pre-natal fix for the absence of kidneys, but perhaps injecting saline solution into Jaime’s abdomen would provide the fluid the lungs needed to develop.

Miraculously, Abigail was born on July 15 with a healthy set of lungs – the first known survivor of Potter’s Syndrome anywhere, ever. She still needs special care, and won’t be ready for a kidney transplant for about a year. From that point, however, doctors are hopeful she can have a normal, healthy life.

And the difference between no chance and full life was in the decision of loving parents who dared to defy the odds and prove the experts wrong.

Both of these stories feature a variety of experts, including those who "got it wrong" – and those who ultimately helped these parents to save the children they seemed destined to lose. There is nothing wrong with experts.


But there is a powerful, natural reason why parents, not the experts, should make the vital decisions that will ultimately shape their children’s lives. The proposed Parental Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution will ensure that the right to make these decisions remains with parents for generations to come."



  I couldn't have said it better. Thank you Michael Ramey from Parentalrights.org for saying it so well.....
 


Monday, March 3, 2014

Blog Tour for: The Roilden Stone of Elf Mountain...

 If you are an Anna del C. Dye fan or a fan of elf stories (who isn't)  then you are in for a treat. The newest Elf story comes as a pre-sequel to all of Anna del C Dye's books and it's number seven of the series.

The Roilden Stone of Elf Mountain 
    by Anna del C. Dye


Here is a blurb of the story:
Liberty … or Monarchy? Should the wisest of races choose such a path, or return to the traditional council? Their queen has lost the Roilden Stones of Elf Mountain to a power-hungry wizard. After all, one can be deceived, but twenty?
With the stones missing, a fatal drought grips Andoriah, the new elfin home. Death to all is imminent. Who will retrieve the Stones when the Gold Elfs won’t act? Will heroes arise before Andoriah burns in eternal fire?  Can the missing elf queen and her daughter be found?
The Roilden Stones of Elf Mountain is the long awaited prequel, and final installment in Anna del C.’s elf series. Discover the Elfs, an eternal race who chose to live in a world of woes away from their motherland. Love them, feel their pain and their happiness in a land that will test the core of their beliefs and bravery. Written in the genre of The Lord of the Rings and the Shannara series, The Roilden Stones of Elf Mountain comes alive with battles, heroism, action and romance.



About Anna:

Anna del C. Dye was born in the extreme South along some famous beaches. She is the third child and twins with her sister Elena. She grew up with four other siblings being placed in the middle. Her mother died when she was six years old and her father never married again.
The green eyed, brown haired author found a mother in her husband's mother and loves her dearly. She accredits her mother-in-law with teaching her many things in life.
Anna loves reading, but had few opportunities to do so while growing up. Once married she was introduced to the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books that she admits to having collected, which collections she still retains. They were the ones who wet her appetite. A few years ago she was introduced to Tolkien's Lord of the Ring's and to J. K. Rowling's writings, which she loves. She also loves romantic music that she listens to every day, plays that she attends at least six times a year, and cats (when they are not shedding.) She likes her clothes to be very feminine, with lace being one of her favorites. "I am afraid that I do not follow fashions," she was heard to say. "I wear what I like."
Early on in her life she showed an affinity for sewing and took classes that rewarded her with the opportunities of taking care of the costumes for the cast of four different plays, which she enjoyed immensely. She is fluent in both English and Spanish and understands Portuguese.
At twenty-one she moved north to marry Rodney and has resided in Utah since then. Her husband, a native of Idaho, met her in her hometown. They fell in love and she came to Utah on Christmas Eve to be married two weeks later. They are the parents of three princes and a princess.
With her husband and his family she has have the opportunity of traveling to many of the states in USA, most of them camping, and to three other countries, something she enjoys very much. Soon, she would like to visit the castles in Germany and other European countries.
Anna possesses a great mind and imagination, which, with the encouragement of her husband, she set to writing. The creation of her two series of books The Elf Series and her Medieval Romance series; are the result of many years of daydreaming and now, her own laptop.
Anna del C. has received numerous awards like “First Page” “First Chapter” in three of her books. A bronze Medal for book three in The Silent Warrior Trilogy and honor place for others.
Anna is fluent in Spanish and English and loves to travel the world.

You can fallow Anna in her website at: http://www.annadelc.com

Anna is sponsoring an Ebook Giveaway  today until March 8th:  You have a chance to win The Roilden Stone of Elf Mountain. After you "Like" the book trailer.

Trailer is located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C79Nc2ZjcXs&feature=youtu.be

Remember to leave a comment with your e-mail to receive an ebook. One ebook will be given in each stop in this tour and the entries can be international.

You can find The Roilden Stones of Elf Mountain here: