Movie Review: Facing the Giants DVD

We watched this movie for the second time this week. Had to write a review for the 2 people who may not have seen it.

Facing the Giants: DVD Rated PG
Starring: A Cast of Unknowns

The story line is a small, Christian academy with a losing football record adopts a new philosophy to honor God in all aspects of life. Great things follow.

Becky's Grade: A

Here's the deal. The acting is less than steller. You will not see anyone nominated for anything in this film, trust me. The story line is very simple. No big surprises. BUT - And this is a big BUT - this movie has quickly become one of my favorites. It is one of the best "feel good" movies I've ever seen. It does not hide behind covering the truth behind politically correctness. It just puts it out there, like it or not. And the best part for me: It's a true story!

Bottom line: Buy this and watch it over and over!

Sick Baby Blues

I have been so bad about blogging this week - Truthfully we don't have a lot going on noteworthy... Brandon started his fall semester. Was 20 minutes late to his first day of orientation and got the class rolling with the reason he was late to PT school was that he was in PT for his knee. Braylon started his first day of preschool today. He acted like it was no big deal - I mean after all, he's the big man on campus. He's in the 4 year old preschool class, not the 3 year old preschool class. He hardly wanted me to walk in with him today, much less touch him as I said goodbye. Mr. Independent! Blaine has been very sick this week - His usual. Ear infection, cold, with a side of croup. I wanted to ask the doc if he had anything else in his bag of diagnosis that we could exchange that for because I have had plenty of those things already this year. Ahhh.... If we can survive the ear infection years, we'll be A-OK!

Play Nice!

Granny, Blaine and Mommy were sitting at the breakfast table on Saturday. (Daddy and Braylon had gone to assist Papaw in getting the camper from Lubbock.) We were talking about various topics when Granny mentioned that sippy cups seem to migrate from the Davis house to the Hamilton house and don't find their way home. When Mommy disagreed, a friendly banter of where are the missing cups launched. After just a few seconds back and forth in this discussion, Blaine cut in and said, "Play nice!"

Laughter ended the banter and we still don't know where the cups are....

It's School Time

Today Brandon and I attended the parent's orientation for Braylon's preschool. This is his second year in the same program, so the information was not new to us. We sat through it and then afterwards wanted Braylon's new teacher to have our faces with Braylon's, so we went to the classroom to officially meet her. Braylon was standing at her desk - the rest of the kids were all sitting and eating their snacks. It appeared to me that he was entertaining the class to some degree. Braylon's teacher smiled warmly and said, "He's going to be such a helper in class this year."

Certainly a good way to earn bonus points with us!

I Like It!

Last night at the supper table, we were all sitting and chatting, having a good time. Towards the end of the meal, Brandon, Blaine and I lingered while Braylon rode off into the living room to color. Brandon started whistling children's songs while Blaine guessed what they were. It quickly became a game to Blaine, who would intently stare at Brandon's lips while he thought of the song. He was right nearly every time, too! After a dozen songs or so, Blaine stared at his Daddy with a very serious face and announced, "I like it!" That bought a series of laughter around the table.

Who Do You Ask?

Coming from a busy VBS week, our family took a "rest" over the weekend and we did very little of significance. Mostly just hung out and played. During one such moment on Sunday, the kids were watching their favorite show, "Dora the Explorer." I imagine most readers have seen this show, but in case you haven't, it's a cartoon that centers around a girl and her friends who explore the world. She runs through a series of questions during the show to mold kid's memory and thinking skills. Some questions are same in every episode, some are different.

We had a cute moment while watching. Dora asked, "Who do you ask when you don't know which way to go?" Blaine triumphantly said, "MAP!" (Which is the correct answer for the show.) Without missing a beat and in all seriousness, Braylon told Dora, "God!"

Out of the mouths of babes....

Movie Review: Evan Almighty

A bit delayed, but here it is:

Evan Almighty Rated PG; Starring Steve Carel and Morgan Freeman

This is a follow-up movie to the wildly successful Bruce Almighty from a few years ago. Steve Carel reprises his role as Evan Baxter, the one-time news anchor rival in the originial movie. In the beginning of the film, Evan Baxter leaves the field of journalism to pursue politics and quickly is elected as a United States Congressman. Soon after taking office, Evan is visited by God Himself, again cleverly played by Morgan Freeman. God has a big task for Evan and instructs him to build an ark, like Noah did before him, much to the dismay of his family and fellow Congressmen. Evan reluctantly obeys.

Becky's Grade: B

One of my very favorite movies is Bruce Almighty with Jim Carrey. This movie paled in comparison to that, so it's best not to compare them. The movie takes few twists and turns and you are left wanting to experience something deeper. However, the positive message of the movie overrode the simplicity of it. I enjoyed a positive, God-focused message in this cynical movie world. I left the movie looking for "opportunities." (If you see the movie, you'll get that.) And finally, I must say that the movie is good family movie - I would let my 4 year old watch this when it comes out on video. I imagine he'll enjoy seeing the animals and some of the slap-stick humor. I do not remember any curse words or overtly inappropriate jokes.

Bottom line: Rent it and watch it with your family with confidence.

Vacation Bible School

Last night marked the last night of our church's VBS and, boy, are we happy about that! The theme was Transformers - The kids had a blast. Blaine even got to participate a little bit after Mommy was done with her part each night and could devote to escorting him around.

I volunteered as the craft leader for the 4 and 5 year olds. I'm not usually a "crafty" person, but it was just up my alley because I got to tell a story before we put the crafts together and the crafts were simple.

Brandon volunteered as a crew leader also for the 4 and 5 year olds. Now THAT was funny to watch! During one moment of frustration, he grabbed a little boy off the slide after he told him several times to get off of it and said, "I am not afraid to spank another man's kid." Boy, that got him in line quick! Then he told the kids that if they took their hands out of the loops of the rope that was used to guide them from one station to the next, he would put it around their necks instead. The kids knew he was kidding, of course, and soaked up the male attention.

Braylon asked if we were going to Bible class again after his daytime school. I said, "Not until next year!!!" And I said it with a smile....

Daddy's Home

Brandon got home this weekend and, boy, are we all glad to have him home! The kids almost don't know how to take him in, they missed him so bad. Braylon asked him, "Dad, when do you have to go back to Lubbock?" This almost broke our hearts to hear it, but Brandon proudly said, "Not for a looooong time!"

No, Braylon...

Yesterday in the parked car, Braylon saw me looking at an Enfamil coupon I am planning to give a friend. He sincerely asked me, "Mom, are you going to get another baby?" I said, "No Braylon...I like the two I have already..."

A Wife's Prayer

Dear Lord,

I pray for wisdom to understand my man, love to forgive him, and patience for his moods. Because, Lord, if I pray for strength, I'll beat him to death.

AMEN

Blaine

I want to take a minute and write something about Blaine. Braylon is my out-going, funny child who struggles with the concept of a stranger. He is also lovable and empathetic, when the situation is appropriate. I look back at my blog to date and I spend a lot of time writing about Braylon and his antics. However, Blaine is just as much of a presence in our house as anyone.

Blaine, 23 months, has such a loving nature and will sit in your lap anytime you are sitting. He wants to love on you all the time and always wants you to "hold me." Sometimes he will pretend to hit or bite you so that he can lean over and kiss you. And he doesn't like to see anyone upset or crying - He talks a lot about, "He's sad...She's sad..."

This morning, I had to wake the boys up because they were both snoozing in and we needed to leave. I woke Blaine up first and he groggily got ready with me. When his big brother woke up, Blaine slowly walked to over him, still in a tired stupor, and gave him tight a morning hug. This touched my heart in a sweet way...

Follow the Leader

While on our last venture to Lubbock (hopefully for a good while) Braylon was sitting in his seat watching his DVD. Out of the blue, he asked me, "Mom, is God following us?" Trying not to be too deep, but still wanting to teach him a spiritual foundation, I simply said, "No, God is the leader and we follow Him." Braylon quickly spied the car ahead of us, pointed and said, "Is that God right there?"

Green Eggs and Ham

My dad says I needed to post this ~ Here it is, Dad:

Saturday evening we were at Granny's house to let the kids play a bit. We ended up staying for dinner and after seeing a picture of himself on St. Patrick's Day, Braylon wanted Granny to fix green eggs and ham like she had done on that day. While Granny was cooking, I decided it would be fun to read the Dr. Suess book with the same title. Braylon loves that book - He could listen to it all day if he could talk someone into reading it. His mommy likes to get into it and act out the characters, being as silly as possible while convincing him that the main character does NOT like green eggs and ham. Well, immediately after reading the book, we paraded into the kitchen. Granny had applesauce on the table already and Braylon was most happy to eat it. He looked at me and said, "I WILL eat my applesauce with my brother. I WILL eat my applesauce with my mother!" Of course, we got a good laugh from him...

Stormy Night

The Hamilton clan did not have a restful evening, I'm afraid to say. There was a strong storm system that seemed to hover over Midland for several hours last night. Complete with cracking thunder and frequently flashing lightening, it was a doozy! Of course, paranoid Mommy kept checking the weather channel for possible tornado alerts until the wee hours of the morning. The electricity went out three times and clocks had to get reset each time. Blaine, the light sleeper, kept waking up crying out for Mommy until he was reassured.

And then there was Braylon, who slept like a log the entire night - I'm sure he didn't even notice it had rained!

Happy August Ya'll

Is it just me, or has 2007 flown by so far? Perhaps I'm getting older and this is a true sign - the years are just whizzing by!!!