I can't believe I liked it!

Rusty was surprised, but I am most surprised.
I really liked it. I have always been repulsed by the Star Trek TV show. I think it's those scary, monster-looking people they have. Creepy. They did have one woman in the beginning of the movie with freakishly large eyes. I think I had nightmares about her last night. I just don't like that sci-fi business. It's not for me.
But I had heard that the Star Trek movie was really good, and that J.J. Abrams did it.
That man is a MAGICIAN!
(He's the creator of LOST and Alias- two of our favorite shows ever.)
J.J. Abrams can take a show I HATE and make a movie I really liked out of it.
It wasn't deep, dark, and fraught with religious overtones like LOST, but it was entertaining.
Who knew?
I actually liked it.
I especially liked being on a date with my husband and seeing a movie. That was the best part.
Next stop at the movies: Night at the Museum 2, and then Up!

Kung Fu Awesome

I have not blogged in forever. Not because I haven't wanted to.
My blog's been calling my name. There have been many times I have been
on vacation the last few weeks, and I've been blogging in my mind,
hundreds of miles away from my computer.
Instance #1- When I was in Hot Springs Arkansas, at a "swimming hole"
that was adjacent to a trailer park...IN ARKANSAS. The Arkansas stereotypes
were completely fulfilled, and then some, and I was just blogging away in my mind,
sitting on the shore of the lake, filtering cigarette butts out of the sand
for my kids to dig in. Where was my computer then?
There is much to catch up on, and at least two slide shows to make:
1. Camp Ozark
2. Seay Family vacation in Galveston
But tonight, all I am here to tell you is that Kung Fu Panda was awesome.
Jack Black is the best. The absolute funniest guy ever.
My favorite quote of the whole movie was in the first 30 seconds.
"There is no charge for awesomeness...or attractiveness."
It was great. Granted I missed bits and pieces so I could take my three-year-old
out to spank him, and I was tag-teaming with Rusty taking my one-year-old out
who is, for some reason, totally opposed to movies.
But it was great. Worth the dent in your budget to take the kids.
Slide Shows to come...I promise, even though it takes me three weeks to make them.
I will get it done after I catch up on my life, 3,000 e-mails, about 6 loads of
laundry, a white board full of to-dos, etc.
I'm glad to be home!

*Emma started her own blog tonight and she wrote about Kung Fu Panda also. (We haven't ironed out all the kinks yet, but it's a blog in progress.) Check it out and give her a comment! www.emmasblogging.blogspot.com

The Great Debaters and MLK day

Really, there are just not many movies worth my $7.
This one is!
I am always compelled to see a true story. Especially an inspiring true story.
Anyone can write a fictional, inspirational tale.
But when history, or rather the Author of all history Himself writes it, I'm there.
This is a true story that takes place in 1935 in Marshall, TX.
It gives you a very real picture of what it was like to be black in the South in 1935. The fear...the oppression...the hopelessness.
The desperation for change to take place, and equality to prevail.
You feel it, as they weave a beautiful tapestry with words in this movie.
But that change didn't come for a long time. It was some 30 years later before schools became integrated. Before black people were even offered a fair education in this country. That was not very long ago! When our nation, especially in the South, was set on fire by racial hatred and division.
I don't think our generation can even grasp what that was like.
We need to. White and black culture today is greatly impacted by our past.
Racism still lives today, in a somewhat more sophisticated manner, but there are embers of it still burning all around us. Every now and then I catch a whiff of it, and it stinks, and makes me a little sick.
Praise God, change has come, and all people have the same rights under our government. But it was slow. Generations of people who ached for that change never saw it in their lifetime.
Do we even appreciate it?
I don't think so.
Most people were out of school today for MLK day, or off work. But did you give a second thought to why? Did you teach your kids about it today?
We have been talking about it for a while, and the kids, Erin, and I went to the Freedom March in Bryan. It was so cool! It made me wonder what it might have been like to be apart of that famous march on Washington where Dr. King gave his "I have a dream" speech.
I am thankful that I don't have to fear for my children like the people in this movie did. We don't see or hear very often of violent racial acts today. But no matter what our behavior, our hearts must be right before the Lord. That's what He sees and cares about. Is there anything in our hearts, hiding, lurking, that shouldn't be conerning other races? I find that if often rises to the surface when talking about interracial relationships or trans-racial adoption. Would you feel 100% at peace if your child wants to marry a black person someday? Can you think of any reason in the world that you would exclude the option of adopting a black baby if you were going to adopt?
If there is hesitation on those questions, would you examine why?
Rusty and I obviously did much soul searching and asked God to clean the yuck out of us before we started the adoption process with Justus. He did. You know what, sin is passed down generation to generation, and many of us have inherited racism because we haven't let the Holy Spirit come in and do the work. Convicting us of sin, calling it sin, repenting with much sorrow and grief, and letting Him make us new.
I will post pics soon from our MLK Freedom March.
Happy MLK day, and run, super fast, to the movies before this movie is gone and see it! It's FANTASTIC!!!!!