Awesome Stuff

Yesterday was kind of awesome, and I'll tell you why.

First, Daughtry is finally coming to Utah! Last time I saw them in concert, Troy and I had to drive 10 hours (each way!). They kept announcing tours, and there were never any stops in Utah. But they'll be at the E-Center on April 22nd. Just in time for my birthday. We got seats on row 12, which is further than I'd like (if only I would have gotten on my computer earlier, darn it), but closer than Troy would like, so I guess it all evens out.

The second cool thing was that I got this Word of Promise New Testament Audio Bible in the mail yesterday. And guess what? I didn't have to pay for it. I review books for Thomas Nelson publishers, so it was free! I feel incredibly lucky for this opportunity, because this audio Bible is regularly $50.

What I've listened to so far is wonderful! It's not just someone reading the Bible, it's told in different voices for different people, with background music and effects. I really love it so far. I'll be reviewing it in full on my book blog after I've finished listening to it all.

What difference do it make?

I received a book for review from Thomas Nelson Publishers (if you read my book blog, you'll have read my review already). It's the follow up book to one called Same Kind of Different as Me, which I haven't read, but plan to. You can read more about what the book is about here.

I felt like this book was talking directly to me--like I just got a good smack upside the head from God to get my attention. I needed it! Here are a few good quotes from the book:

After talking about how some people go out and serve the homeless on Thanksgiving or Christmas, one of the authors (a former homeless man) says this:
"I ain't got no way to read the mind a' God, but I 'xpect part a' His business is makin it Christmas for somebody ever day. If all the Christians--I mean all of 'em-- got outta the pews on Sunday and into the streets, we'd shut the city down.
We'd shut down hunger.
We'd shut down loneliness.
We'd shut down the notion that there is any such of a thing as a person that don't deserve a kind word and a second chance."

"A lotta homeless folks has been hurt and abused since we was little bitty. At one time or another we loved or was loved by somebody. We had hope. We believed. Then hope flew out the door, and everything we had was gone. For a lot of us there come a time when nobody was willin to take us in. Nobody was willin to help in no kinda way. All the doors was slammed in our faces, and next thing you know, we just sittin on the curb with everbody passin us by, won't even look at us.
Even though you is still a human bein inside, even though you mighta been a little boy once with a mama, even though you mighta been married once with a house and a job, now you ain't nothin. And once that happens, people rather come up and pet a stray dog than even say hello."

This book seriously broke my heart. But I think that's a good thing. I think God's heart is broken over all of the poverty, the hurt, the people in need. I want my heart to be broken over the things that break God's heart.

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
(from Hosanna by Hillsong United)

Hmm . . .

I watched American Idol for the first time this season. The Biggest Loser is over, so I had nothing else to watch, and I was feeling too lazy to do anything besides sit on the couch. Not to mention both the boys were ornery, and Kevin was laying on my lap because he didn't feel good.

Anyway, it really, really wasn't my style of music, but it wasn't too bad. It didn't make me want to shoot the TV, or myself, so there was at least that. Apparently David Cook sings my kind of music, from what I hear, so for his sake, I hope he doesn't win. I got all invested in the show when Chris Daughtry was on it, and I really hoped he would win, but then when he got out, and went on to be, well, awesome, I realized it's probably better to not win and have a little more freedom.

Other than that, some of those singers are not very good. Maybe it was just the theme, but if you can't at least sing a broadway tune decently, you have no business being a singer. I should know. I have experience. In the no business being a singer category, I mean.

Good Reading

After a recommendation recently from a friend, I picked up A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. I've since read Rebel Angels, the second book, and am now reading the third, which is The Sweet Far Thing. What I'm wondering is, why have I never heard of this author? Everyone is raving and raving over those Twilight books, which I thought were kind of crap (at least the first one, which is all I could make myself read), but these books are so much more well written, without the "cold, marble skin" and the whining.

Granted, the characters can be a little annoying at times. But I guess since they're teenage girls in a finishing school, that's to be expected. Anyway, the books take place in the late 1800's. There's a little bit of fantasy, which I love, of course. It's young adult, and I'm finding there are a lot of good young adult books out there. But what I'm also finding is that I don't like the ones that everyone else seems to love. The ones that receive all the hype. I didn't like Eragon (couldn't even finish), didn't like Twilight (made myself finish). Oddly enough, A Great and Terrible Beauty was on the New York Times Bestseller list, yet I still never heard of it. I wonder what other good books I've never heard of.

Facing the Giants

The kids and I watched this movie today, and it's one of the best movies I've seen in a really long time. The acting had some rough patches, but the message and the heart that was in this movie far surpasses any weaknesses it might have.

If you don't really like football, don't let that scare you away from it. It's really not all about football, and there is a nice side story with the coach and his wife.

When you have a free night, make a run to the video store and rent this movie. It's absolutely wonderful!

Heroes

We have Netflix, and they have a "watch instantly" feature, where you can watch some movies right on your computer. So I've been watching the first season of Heroes. It seems like I always come into shows late, and never watch them while they're on. It's really interesting, although I'm not sure if I like how every single week is to be continued. In a way, it's nice because it's long one really, really long movie. But then sometimes I like TV shows that you can catch here and there and not be lost.

Anyway, I've spent a lot of time watching it, because I want to finish season 1 before I cancel Netflix (which will be tomorrow, I think). We are not very happy with Netflix. Overall, it's cheaper to get movies from the library (if we can avoid late fees), and then sometimes Redbox.

Portable Sounds

My most recent CD purchase was tobyMac's newest CD, Portable Sounds. It's so good, and the kids love listening to it in the car. Below, you can listen to my favorite song on the CD (Stoopid thing isn't working. I'll leave it on in case it decides to work later).

Get this widget Track details eSnips Social DNA

Also, if anyone would like to pay for me to fly somewhere and see Jeremy Camp and tobyMac in concert, since they're not coming here, I won't say no.

Becoming Jane

**WARNING--If you have never seen this movie, or don't know much about Jane Austen's life, but are planning to see this movie, and don't want anything given away, skip this blog post**

I really loved this movie. The acting was excellent, it was very well cast, and the story was engaging. I really like Anne Hathaway, and thought she made a great Jane Austen. The two main characters had awesome on screen chemistry. When they looked at each other, you just knew they were in love. It was also interesting to recognize little bits and pieces of different Jane Austen novels thrown into the movie. It was so well done, but I don't know if I ever want to watch it again.

Why, you might ask? Because it was incredibly depressing. Yes, I knew that Jane Austen never married. So I knew that some point, things were gonna get sad. But for some silly reason I was hoping for it all to work out. For the love story to have a happy ending. And, failing that, I didn't really expect that I would care about the characters so much. I really, really wanted things to work out between Jane and Tom Lefroy. It was one of those bawling movies for me.

It did all end okay. Jane obviously went on to become a great writer, as she had hoped, but it was just a bit of a melancholy ending. If the impossible could have happened, and she could have ended up happily ever after, this is a movie that I would buy and watch quite often.

The Prayer of Jabez

Originally posted 10/15/07

I just read this book tonight, and it really touched me. It's pretty short, and it may be simplistic, but it's something I needed to read right now. I know God has a plan for me, and I'm sure there are opportunities and things that He wants for me to do, but I need His help finding them and then doing them. I will be praying the prayer of Jabez starting tonight. What a wonderful book!

Staind

Originally posted 10/11/07

So, awhile ago I bought Staind's most recent CD, and I absolutely loved it. It's one of my very favorite CD's. So I thought I'd buy more, and BMG happened to have one of their older ones. I'm not sure if it was their first CD, or what, but I'll tell you, it sucked. It was barely passable as music, if you ask me. It sounded so different from the CD I had, that I almost couldn't believe it was the same group. It was a huge disappointed. The older one I bought was called Dysfunction, I believe. Don't buy it!!!

Finished Knowing God 101

Originally posted 10/4/07

Last night I finished Knowing God 101. It's going on my list of favorite books, and is one that I'll be keeping on my shelves. I loved this book as a starting point for learning more about God. It is pretty much what the title suggests--a beginner course for learning about God. Excellent book!

The Faith Club . . .still

Originally posted 9/26/07

I'm still working on The Faith Club. While I really liked the idea of three women from three different religions getting together and learning to understand each other, I'm having a hard time getting through this book. To be honest, it's just not all that interesting.

Also, something the pastor at my church said last Sunday really resonated with me, and it's especially timely considering issues in this book. He said you can't pick your religion buffet style. You can't pick which of Christ's teachings you'll follow, and which don't really work for you. And I guess the same would be true of the Muslim and Jewish religion. And although I don't think religions have to be followed with such rigidity that there's no room for personality or wiggle room, I do think if you're going to claim to be a follower of Christ, you need to be so completely. No buffet style religion. You can't say, I'll follow Christ telling me to love my fellow man, but I won't follow Christ when he says "no man comes unto the Father but by me".

Knowing God 101--the creation

Originally posted 10/1/07

I'm currently in the middle of Knowing God 101 by Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz. I have to say, this book is absolutely awesome! It's really informative, yet really simple. It's not the kind where you're reading information, and your eyes start to glaze over, because it's just too much. I know some people like to read details upon details upon details, but most of the time, I'm not one of those people.

I just finished the chapter called Creation: A Likely Story. It didn't just say, here's what the bible says, believe it or be damned. It gave information on how the creation story in Genesis actually gels with science. That was a cool part for me, because I've never really seen it laid out like that. And I'm sure there are books that go extensively into this (and maybe I'll read one someday), but this was just short and right to the point, but I feel like it laid out enough information that I could understand it.

They briefly touched on the "when" of creation. How the debate used to be between creationists and evolutionists, but now the debate is between Young-Earth and Old-Earth creationists. I've read theories for both young earth and old earth, and I have to say I fall into the old earth camp. And evolution without creation just doesn't even fall onto my radar, because I think it's ridiculous.

There was a quote in the book that I especially liked. It said: "What can be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth could come by chance, when all the skill of science is not able to make an oyster." (Jeremy Taylor)

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone, although there are a couple of things that I have disagreed with so far, such as the part where they referred to the Jehovah's Witness religion as a cult. Also the part where they said there are two worldviews about how the earth came about, and that's the Christian or the Secular view. Off the top of my head, don't the Jewish people and the Muslims both believe that the earth was created by God? I can't say I'm an expert on religion, but I would think that they do. Other than that, though, I think this book is excellent.

The Biggest Loser

Originally posted 9/19/07

I watched The Biggest Loser last night. I enjoyed the first season of this show, and then after that I kind of stopped watching it. Or I'd catch bits and pieces of it when I was flipping through channels, but I never made it a point to watch. I am liking this season a lot, though, and it has been motivation for me to be more active. I figure if these people, who are very out of shape, can do this, why can't I?

Sometimes I think I'd like to go somewhere, exercise that much in a day, have a trainer to help me, and just get in awesome shape. They need to make something like this for people who aren't really overweight, but who just want to get into really good shape.

As for the particular show last night, I was glad that the red team lost the weigh in. I think the boys on that team are fine (and thank goodness the only boy available to be voted off wasn't), but the girls are really annoying. You signed up for the show, stop your darn complaining! It was also kind of funny how the black team thought they were sooooooooo tough, and doing so much better than the other teams. I don't know the percentage of weight they lost the first week, but only a couple of them did great. I mean, one of the ladies has only lost 5 lbs so far. If it weren't for the men on that team, there's no way they would have won the weigh in.

Despite that, I like the black team, but I think it's cause of the trainers, I like Jillian best. If I were just looking at the teams, independent of their trainers, I'm rooting for the blue team.

The Faith Club

Originally posted 9/19/07

I've been reading The Faith Club, which is a book about a Christian, a Jew, and a Muslim woman. They originally got together after 9/11 to write a children's book, mostly to promote understanding between the religions. It turned into more than they thought, and they ended up writing a book about it.

I like it mostly, but sometimes these women are really whiny, and it's not enjoyable to read. Also, it seems at times that they are hypocritical, and that's annoying too. I guess both of those traits are human nature, especially when dealing with others who you feel don't understand you.

I'm waiting for the part where they reach their understanding of each other and stop squabbling and whining. I think it must be coming, else why write a book about your meetings together? Despite all the annoyances, I am enjoying it, because it's also been a way to learn about the Jewish and Muslim religions.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Originally posted 9/4/07

I've heard so many good things about this one, and never heard much in the way of criticism for this book. I'm over 100 pages in now, and I can't see what the hype is about. I'm still waiting for something to happen. Right now it's just a story about a girl in high school. I mean, I know there is going to be more to it. I'm just wondering if this book really needed to be 500 pages. I'm hoping it gets really good really soon, because everyone says it's so good, and I don't want this to be another book that is raved about that I can't get into (such as Eragon).

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Originally posted 9/4/07

I finished reading Blood Bound the other day. It was excellent. This was the second in a series by Patricia Briggs. I thought the first was one (Moon Called) good, but it seemed to get less good by the end of the book. Almost like the author ran out of steam or something. So I can't say that I was too excited about reading Blood Bound. It turned out that this one was interesting and fast paced the whole way through. It looks like this is one of those series that just gets better throughout. I'm really looking forward to the next book, Iron Called. I'm not sure if this is just going to be a trilogy, or a longer series.

How I Met Your Mother

Originally posted 9/4/07

I recently heard about a website that has tons of different TV shows that you can watch from your computer. So I decided to see what How I Met Your Mother Was Like. And boy, am I glad I did. I've seen bits and pieces of this show when on TV, and it never looked very good to me. It was slightly funny, but nothing that I'd make it a point to watch. But after starting from the beginning, and actually watching whole shows at a time, I'm definitely changing my view. This really could be the next Friends--I think it was advertised as that when it was just starting. It's hilarious, the characters are likeable and fun, and it's just a darn good time.

I've almost finished watching the second season, and will absolutely be tuning in to season 3 when it starts this fall.

300

Originally posted 6/21/07

Ooh boy! This was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time, and easily goes on my favorite movies list. There was a lot of violence, but I really think that's to be expected since it was a movie about a war. It wasn't really what I thought it would be; it was actually so much better. Sure it's probably not historically accurate (at all). It almost was more like a fantasy movie than a historical epic. It was based on historical events, though, and if nothing else makes the watcher want to find out more about the history of the Battle of Thermopylae. And okay, so there were a ton of hot guys with rock hard abs, but that was just a bonus. This is definitely one to see on the big screen, but I'll be buying the DVD as soon as it comes out.

JR Ward

Originally posted 8/27/07

I just recently discovered J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series. At first I was hesitant to pick these up, because the covers were just really offputting to me. Waaaaaaay too romance-ish. And while there is definitely romance in these books, they almost remind me of a Vin Diesel movie. And if you know me at all, you know this is definitely a good thing. I wouldn't recommend these books to everyone. There is quite a bit of sex in them, and if you don't like that kind of stuff in your books, you probably won't like these ones.

I'm really looking forward to the next book out in the series, since it's about my favorite character. Counting down the days until it comes out in September.