Just add...

"Movie Reviewer" to my repertoire of talents.

Last night, we got to attend a pre-screening of Soul Surfer, the movie based on the story of Bethany Hamilton.

Christian movies are usually low-budget. They typically have no-name casts. Words that I have heard used to describe Christian movies:

Cheesy

B- acting

Obviously very low budget.

Bland.

Let's face it, as an emerging entertainment market? It's been lagging.

So you can imagine that our hopes weren't exactly "up" as we walked in the theater.

We were not only pleasantly surprised. We were COMPLETELY surprised!

Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, and AnnaSophia Robb round out the main characters in this story. The acting is fantastic. The special effects (Remember Bethany Hamilton lost her ARM in a shark attack) are incredible.

It was inspirational.

It was tense at times.

It was compassionate.

It was emotional.

Overall, it was really good!

I mean it....It was REALLY good!

It premiers on April 8th. We'll be back. Because as Christian soon-to-be-parents? We NEED this type of entertainment to be available! We need great actors signing up for wholesome movies. We are hungry for entertainment that we don't have to worry about language, explicit behavior, or plot lines with questionable values.

This is a movie I encourage you to support. It will be opening in 2000 theaters nationwide. Movies like Soul Surfer need solid opening weekends to support and promote it. Movies die without big premiers!

Go see it! Take your friends and families!! We can't wait to check it out again!!!!!

This weekend....

I have to:

Do three loads of laundry.

Clean the kitchen and dining room.

Make 5 onesies, a hat, and a blanket for orders shipping Monday.

Study 'Lean Six Sigma'.

Go grocery shopping.

Paint my toenails.

Crawl into the fetal position and call my mommy.

Convince friends to come do 1 and 2 for me.

Plan a vacation. Somewhere tropical. With drinks that have umbrellas and come in coconuts.

Think about quitting soda.

Put "quitting soda" in the "maybe column"

Completely forget about quitting soda.

Send pictures of me drinking soda to all my friends who have "quit" the good stuff.

Make myself a new headband.

And stay up too late watching Anne of Green Gables.

"Chrysathemum: c-h-r-y-s-a-t-h-E-m-u-m"...Take that Gilbert-smarty-pants!

Then end.

What's on your agenda this weekend?

Helpful tips in "Adoption Talk"

5 Things on my mind. Some kind of record.

5 posts this week already?

This has to be some kind of record. right?? ;-)

1. Last night's State of the Union address got me thinking about what my first job was (What? Were there other things mentioned?). I was 9 (Yes, Nine!) and I seriously wanted a job. My mom was great and totally fed into this completely irrational desire of mine. She knew some people [Don't ALL moms "know" the right people?] and got me a job folding t-shirts at a fudge factory on Spring Street in Eureka Springs. She worked it out where the Trolley would pick me up in the morning (What a wonderful memory!)--I had an 'unlimited rider' pass---and I could walk down to the Trolley Station in the afternoon and find the route time that could take me home. My mom knew the Trolley drivers. My mom knows everyone. I remember one specific day when I got to meet a friend for lunch. Let me tell you, I was Gah-rown.

I still get queasy at the smell of cooking fudge. 

I don't actually remember getting paid.

2. Yesterday, I learned that I have too much on my plate and let the wrong things slide right off the side...I learned that I can forsake glory and fame for the ability to work with strong people. I learned that, if given the chance, I will eat an entire bag of Hershey kisses...I don't even like chocolate that much so this was a serious revelation.

3. The vending machine at the office was out of Pibb Xtra. Un. Acceptable.

4.  I need a sewing class.

5. I finish grad. school in 8 weeks. The day before my birthday. I am shamelessly reminding my co-workers that it is completely appropriate to bring gifts when we present our projects to the board [people come and watch that boring nonsense...I'll never understand it]

You can feel free to send gifts too. Amazon gift-cards are especially appreciated ;-)

Character (Not the Sesame Street kind).

Say it with me 10 times.....

"I am not defined by my job. I am not defined by my job...."

It's true. But it's impossible to believe.

Okay, maybe not *impossible* but it certainly feels impossible sometimes.

I have struggled with this for as long as I can remember. I would like to think that it's simply a spirit of excellence. But the reality is, my "spirit of excellence" is a short jog away from "perfectionism"

Oh yes. Not far at all, my friends.

When things are difficult at work, I immediately feel like a failure. Its usually a mixture of ingredients that make "crap soup" and if anything, my input is minimal...But I can't help it. At least not on my own.

I think sometimes, we take control of what we think success is. Of why we think people love us. Of why we love ourselves. I have always been an overachiever. It's who I am. Down to my core.

I work hard. I am dedicated. And I will always give 110% to everything I put my hands to. But, I won't be good at everything. At least not from man's perspective. Sometimes, it's just not going to go the way I think it should. The way I think I *deserve* it to go. The way I am certain God intends it to go.

But maybe that's because my perspective is skewed.  And if I fail at my job, or at something else, it isn't those things that gain or lose God's approval. It's my heart in the face of those things. It's my character that matters.

Sarah, Abraham's wife, she had this problem too. In their culture, it was customary for a woman to give her husband children, even if that meant a servant bore those children. She couldn't have children. That was her *job* and she felt like a failure. I get that.

And she tried to change the situation (by means that were completely *culturally-acceptable*)...She tried to "fix" what appeared to be "crap-soup". She wasn't trying to "play God" or anything, she was trying to please God. To please her husband. To give them all what she was *certain* they all expected from her. I get that.

And she was so consumed with her "way" of fixing things that she forgotten to listen. She was so caught up in the situation, that she forgot to hear what the Creator was saying. I get that, too.

And she no longer believed in what He would do through her. Yep, totally get that.

But God didn't see Sarah as a failure. Maybe a little impatient. Maybe too much of a perfectionist. Maybe a little "caught up" in the situation that by man's perspective, made her a failure. But God never saw her as a failure.

His promise, while outside of what seemed acceptable, was to make Abraham the father of many nations. Through Sarah.

I have mentioned before that our lives are like a beautiful mural God is painting....There may be patches of black paint and rough strokes (90 years of black paint in Sarah's case) but if we trust that He only makes beautiful paintings. If we believe that it truly is our character that defines us...NOT  our jobs, our successes. our esteem....Then we can trust that, in the end, we are not failures. We are children, trusting our Father not to lead us astray.

"The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Sam 16:7 (b)

So the next time the world tells you it hates your stinkin' guts? That you make it vomit? That you're the scum between its toes?  Remember that God hasn't discounted you just because man has. Remember the things you are called to. Remember that there is a way to bring glory to God in the worst of situations.

 That's character, my friend.