One of my lovely sisters and my brothers

Dreaming

Such a cutie

Climbing up scaffolding

One of my little hens

another hen

I am selling this plant on facebook and you are really only meant to comment to buy or inquire... but people have commented on this photo and others saying how pretty the photo is :D

I actually enjoyed it. Well I enjoyed it once it was happening but not for the days before. Yesterday A few days ago our Bright Lights group went to a nursing home and sang for some of the residents. I was the eldest (of our group, not the old people) and responsible for the nine other young ladies, all but three of which were taller than me. I drove seven of the girls there (our car only holds eight people), that was slightly scary. Then we went into the nursing home. It was a little awkward because it took a while to actually find any of the staff. Then we were take to the dementia ward. Because we had forgotten So we could sing for the residents there. 

I had already worked out where everyone would stand and all the girls remembered so that went smoothly. Jane stood at one end and played the flute. After a few song one of the women asked if we could bow or something at the end of each song so they would know when to clap. So I curtsied since I had a long skirt on. I always knew it would come in handy to learn to curtsy properly back when for some reason I did.

I was moved while singing "Trust and Obey" as we got to the chorus I could hear a few quiet voices in other parts of the room and looking about I could see the many of the residents mouthing the words to the song. As we finished one woman said "It has been years since I heard that." We were thanked many times.

As we got to the sixth song I said "This is the last song" and whatever it was called. We were asked to sing again, we managed to sing all six songs again, I figured most of the residents would have forgotten we had just sung them before so it would be as though we were singing new songs each time. The only problem with singing them again was the breathing factor. Despite what you may think breathing is slightly  important. After the six songs I felt a little light headed, but when I curtsied for the second last song I stumbled and nearly fell right over because I was so dizzy. 

Still everyone enjoyed the experience and we were asked to come again next school holidays. One of the staff mentioned how amazing it was that a group of young people would give up their free time for others. It was just a wonderful feeling to be able to do that, young people can make a difference. And those that do really stand out because they are so different from other people their age.

No that photo has nothing to do with singing at the nursing home except it happened on the same day. Later that afternoon an epic sword fight raged from our front yard up to the neighbors a few houses away. And there a knife thrower joined in.

Swords got dented, scratched, chipped. They parried and whacked at other swords and shields. Watchers were randomly stabbed. Missing limbs, and how dead people were were debated. And after all that I was the only one who did not get shot... as it was me doing the shooting. People (like me) were pronounced dead two seconds after a minor slash in the leg, even though I had been "shooting" the knife wielder the entire time she was charging at me. The epic battle raged. 

 Until eventually one of the throwing knives got sorta smashed.  

Quite a fun afternoon really. If you are interested in the making of the swords, have a look at this post on the master craftsman's blog. For a more detailed account of the epic battle, and from one of the sword master's point of view check out this post on my sisters blog.

And here is the last part. If you have not read parts One and Two then it would make much more sense to do so before reading part three.

To refresh your memory; Turning, she gazed a moment at the children. Jill stepped up next to her, “They are so sad. Can we help?” she whispered. The lady’s eyes sparkled. Keeping her voice low the lady replied, “Yes, help me get their halters off.” Her eyes went to Col’s pocket.

I thought this photo I took yesterday would go well! I did edit a little horn in...

Jill held out her hand with the shining figure in it, “Are these yours?”

“No dearest, but they are a sign. Keep them, and guard them well.” The lady’s pure white hair fell glimmering over her shoulder as she bent and closed Jill’s fingers around the unicorn.

Jill, Col and the white lady moved among the carousel beasts, and the harpist played. Col struggled with a silver buckle, but finally it undid and he slipped one halter off. He put it over his arm and slipped another off. Jill watched the woman, she had only to touch a halter and it slid off or broke with a tinkle. She placed each one into a pouch at her side.

As the last halter jingled into the bag, the lady spoke again, “You may hop on if you like, they won’t mind.” She motioned to the carousel beasts.

Who won’t? Jill wondered, but she did not intrude on the sound of the music which now swelled, humming along shafts of moonlight. The carousel began to spin, faster and faster. Wind whipped saddle cloths and tassels and gripped at the children’s delighted grins, the mystical unicorn appeared. This time something different happened though. The creature galloped forwards. Loud cracking and snapping noises pierced the night. Both children felt a strange warmth under them. Hair blew into Jill’s face, and she lost grip of the twisted pole. Her hands found only soft hide of an animal and hair, long thick, silver hair. Jill’s teeth clacked together as hooves hit the ground. Wide eyed, Jill looked at the moonlight shimmering all around her. The moonlight had hair and legs, hooves and bodies. Jill felt herself slipping and grabbed larger handfuls of the hair. The saddle fell to the ground, but Jill stayed astride. Col, on one of the inner unicorns had not yet broken free.

All the beasts that had transformed cavorted around, making it hard for Jill to see exactly what happened. In a moment all the creatures were free. Shouts came from the town, focused illumstones flashed out into the moonlight. Jill noticed that the music had stopped, and the black haired minstrel completely disappeared. People came running. The unicorns ran too, with the same speed that the carousel had turned at before. The last coloured saddle and blanket thumped to the ground. Forty nine gleaming unicorns disappeared into the trees. All glowed white except for the one which had a mane and tail black as the deepest shadow. That one had a different horn to the rest and also still carried a pack of some kind, very oddly shaped.

Col and Jill found themselves standing just outside the entrance of the inn they had crept out of only minutes before. The white lady touched each of their heads. “Guard your charges well, they are not living but they have power, when you are older you may find it. Peace now, in you go.”

The twins crept back into the inn. Out the window they thought they saw a last flash of silver hair and heard hoof beats, yet not a trace of the lady that just bid them farewell. “Unless,” Jill and Col whispered in the same breath, “Unless…” They both looked at each other sharing the thought. As sleep pushed their eyelids closed, a fiftieth unicorn, whiter even than the others, and with a smooth horn, galloped in the direction of the others.

A sketch I did with some other randomness added...

I hope that finished in a "finished" way, but after all it is just a small story set in a greater one..... the greater one is just not finished yet. If you have any questions though I'll answer them if there are answers to them. So ask away and tell me what you thought.

If you haven't read part 1 then do so here. If you have then here is part 2 that you have not been waiting all that long for, but hopefully part one was good enough that you really wanted to know what happens next.

To refresh your memory; Jill had just been chucked off the carousel and "One drop of salty water trickled slowly down her face followed by others."

From where Col sat he had a good view of the whole event. For a moment he looked at his sister then back to the beautiful white beast. His little hands twisted around the pole that held up his steed and made it fly. He bit his lip then swung his leg over the unicorn and slid down. Giving it one last pat he wound his way between the other elegant creatures towards his sister, just as the music began again.

They sat together; Col wound his fingers around Jill’s. Together they listened to the music and watched the unicorns dance around again, whirling faster and faster. Clothes and tassels flapped, children screamed, some in joy others with fright at the speed, and again the mysterious beast appeared just for a moment galloping on the spot.

Children tumbled off and more ran to get places. Col and Jill went back to their parents. Jill whispered, “Somehow it would not be the same, maybe later we can ride it.” A strange sadness filled the hearts and minds of the two youngsters, it may be thought to have come from the fact that they were taken from their ride, that is not so, it came from something much deeper, they themselves had no idea. Jill could not dispel the look in the unicorn’s blue eyes from her mind.

Stalls were set up everywhere, banners rippled out from poles and trees. The glow of illumstones became more noticeable. The family walked into a nearby stall. The children forgot their sorrow upon seeing the beautiful trinkets. Jill at once moved over to look at an unusual object which, upon inspection, turned out to be a miniature carousel, with only four unicorns prancing around it. They were encased in a hard substance. Jill lifted it carefully, as she moved it, silver and gold sparkles floated around the animals, her mouth parted in wonder. “So beautiful,” she whispered.

A small round man, the stall keeper, hurried over and snatched the carousel from her hands. “That, my dear, is not for sale. That, little one is real gold and silver it is made from, and the stone casing, well, no one except a great lord,” The man gestured vaguely northwards and flung his arms wide.

A magnificent crash made everyone cringe; Jill jumped back as fragments of the tiny carousel hit her. The man’s dark face grew darker. He glared at his hand which still held the gold and silver base, and then back towards a tent pole behind him. His mouth opened and shut a few times, Jill backed further, and her foot kicked something as she ducked behind Father. Stooping she picked the small object up. At the same moment Col gazed in astonishment at the piece of carousel that had literally flown across the room into his hands. A tiny white figure of a unicorn decked with gold and silver lay shining on his palm.

Mother and father never noticed the little figures in their son’s and daughter’s hands as they pushed them out of the stall before them. They all wandered around the fair looking upon many wonders and great sights, but soon it grew very late and they went to an inn beside where the fair sprouted. The distance to their own house was not great but dark cloaked men roamed the roads at night.

Col and Jill looked out the window; they could both just glimpse the carousel. Then they slipped off their shoes and snuggled next to each other, listening to their parents breathing and the minstrels at the fair. A model unicorn lay with fingers curled around it; the other poked its head out of a pocket in Col’s shirt. Many parts of the fair grew silent and were packed away, ready to travel off the next day. All the inns and drink-houses in the town overflowed. Of the minstrels by the carousel only the harpist played, softly, ever so softly. The music wound it way into the night, calling.

The greater moon rose up, closely followed by the second. Silver light spilled through the open window and splashed down onto the children’s bed. Jill sat upright as something prickled at her hand, light shone from between her fingers. She nudged Col, and pressed a finger to her lips. The two tiny unicorns glittered in the moonlight, glowing of themselves.

Four little feet pattered across the floor and slipped into shoes then out the door. Two faces peered into a lighted room then backed away and padded out a different, smaller door, out onto cobbles that reflected back the moonlight. Not a word passed between the children as they crept through the trunks of great trees towards the fair.

One illumstone shone white into the shadows. The minstrel sat near it and another lady moved noiselessly towards the carousel. The minstrel jumped as Col stepped on something, her music, though, did not falter. Jill and Col followed the other lady onto the carousel. A white light reflected off the young lady’s silver dress, she moved among the carousel poles running her hand up each creature’s horn.

Turning, she gazed a moment at the children. Jill stepped up next to her, “They are so sad. Can we help?” she whispered. The lady’s eyes sparkled.

Keeping her voice low the lady replied, “Yes, help me get their halters off.” Her eyes went to Col’s pocket.

This is my entry (with a few changes) for this months future home school authors writing competition. There is still a week to go to enter if you want. I will post it in parts because a 2340 word blog post is just to long. This story happens in the world and time of the story I am currently writing. (Called "The Relinquished") The world, or the known part anyway is called Elsewhere. 

I have been making this picture for a long time and finally got around to finishing it so I could use it on this post.

So here is part one of; Carousel

Eyes wide with excitement and mouths agape the twins walked towards the carousel. The moment they had wished for all their short lives had come. They stood with many other children in front of the greatest carousel in all of Elsewhere. A week ago their lives had changed in a moment when Father walked into the room announcing that the fair had arrived in town and he had bought tickets for the last night. Gillian had dropped her book with a thud and Colin had been gabby about the fair ever since.

The sun lingered in the sky, glinting off the magnificent scrollwork and shining on the smooth carousel creatures. Everyone knew they did not really exist, but one could almost believe that they could, or did once, the two young children found it especially easy. These creatures, unicorns some called them, were so beautiful, nothing like the camels everyone rode, or the twargs and goats. They were daintier, nobler, than any real creature. The colour of the twisting pole of each beast corresponded to their one twisted horn that glowed in the sunlight.

Children clambered onto the carousel, the line grew rapidly shorter as children left to choose a mount, Colin glanced at Gillian with eyes shining. “We’ll be on next round Jill; will you take one on the outside row? I want one on the inside that moves up and down as well as round.”

“D’know Col, any’ll do, I just wish they were real, that we had creatures like that in Elsewhere. Wouldn’t riding one of those be grand, one that really moved.”

“How would you stay on though? There’s no hump to hold onto and their horn is too far forwards,” Col replied.

“Oh I think if they were t’let us, then we wouldn’t fall, they’d make sure of that,” Jill whispered.

The unicorns began to spin slowly around, the inside two rows rising up and down again. Faster and faster they spun, until if you watched just one place a creature could be seen, white, striding along tossing its head, moving through the poles as if in a dance. The laughter and shouts of children’s joy echoed out, mingling with the song and strings of a jet black haired harpist sitting against a nearby tree. Watching adults smiled, listening to the music while their children enjoyed the carousel.

All too soon the music faded and the mysterious unicorn disappeared. The carousel became still once again, except for the children swarming off it. Col grabbed his sister’s hand and ran towards the carousel.

Col twisted between the unicorns until he came to one wearing green. A light green saddle rested on a darker cloth with silver tassels hanging from the edges. Col smiled and ran his hand over the beast’s neck feeling the hard smoothness and then touching the real leather and cloth.

“I wonder why all your outfit’s not made of the same cool, hard stuff as you are? Perhaps to make it feel more real. I would think that having real tack makes you much harder to clean.” Col thought back to the many evenings he spent beside his father polishing metal buckles and rubbing fat into leather until it shone.  Col settled himself into the saddle and reached forward to touch the headstall. Fine chains of what looked almost like real silver and the softest shimmering cords made up the headstall. He sat back and straightened his shoulders. Fitted out with such finery, he could be a lord riding on a steed.

Jill likewise sat upon an elegant beast. It had a delicate halter of gold thread and chain, with pink flowers twined into it. A real beast, Jill thought, would snap such delicate straps in moments. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, a slight fragrance wafted through the air. Jill glanced around with narrowed eyes. Why, she wondered, should she smell flowers, here in the middle of a fair? She looked again at the flowers in the halter, in the dusk light they could be real, leaning closer to them she thought the smell grew stronger. Jill climbed up and stood on the saddle, leaning along the creature’s neck she breathed in. The smell certainly came from the flowers. Yet how could it?

She leaned out further. Music started and the ride jolted forwards. With a shriek Jill crashed down and landed beside the pearly pink hooves of her unicorn. Yells came from watching adults and children around her. For a moment she just lay there, and then a hand grasped her arm, hauling her up. She caught a glimpse of the unicorns soft blue eyes, then found herself looking into two beady brown eyes.

“Young un get off now, we can’t have the ride disturbed.” The tall, beared man in long boots hauled Jill off the carousel and dumped her a fair distance away before she even had time to protest. As the man marched back to the carousel Jill called after him, “Wait please Sir, please.”

The man did not even turn around. Jill fell to the dusty ground. One drop of salty water trickled slowly down her face followed by others.

Did you like it?

Do you want to read more?

I should really call this post "weeds" or something of the like, because I think every one of these plants that are flowering at the moment are weeds.

Box-thorn bush

We call these carpet plants, because they spread allover the ground.. and are really hard to pull out.

Farmers Friends otherwise known as stickybeaks

We are really getting some beautiful coloured leaves now. As we were walking down a friends driveway I spotted these trees and just had to stop and take some photos of the beautiful leaves. The colours were so beautiful even on that cloudy day. I got a more golden look by telling the camera to use a "In the shade" white balance. The ones with a proper white balance did not capture the colour like I wanted it too. Of course I had the camera on manual mode. I like manual cameras, but not manual cars!

Well today I have decided to enter a photo into this months I Heart Faces photo challenge. The theme is Pastel. There are a ton of lovely photos already entered in it, but anyway I shall put one in too.

To see more entries go here.

Yes it is only Autumn, technically, but yesterday Winter pushed her away and arrived in a gale, weather (yes that is deliberate) to stay or not I don't know, I suspect Autumn will return for a while though, before winter truly takes hold. The day before we had a lot of rain but only yesterday did we get the winter air... I couldn't really get a photo of the wind or Winter so here is my best with words and some photos of the rain and hail the day before. 

This is not really a poem, but neither is it quite normal prose either.... but hopefully it will paint a picture with words for you anyway.

Winter Came Today

In a wall of rushing wind winter came in, no slow creeping cold, but with full force he charged in to claim victory. Autumn fled. Winter roared; sounding like the pounding of a great waterfall. He came howling through the leaves, thrashing at the world, beating it to pieces, like a waterfall beating at the rocks it falls upon, wearing them away. Trees tossed their heads branches flying, manes of battle chargers, standing against the onslaught. 

Grass bends, ripples, as though rank upon rank of light footed, invisible, soldiers pass over it. Winter tugs at the chargers manes, bits of hair tear loose, branches come crashing to the ground. Leaves and strips of bark fly through the air, shrapnel. 

Like plumes of smoke, or gas, clouds scud across the troposphere. Grey and green tinged they fly, obscuring the sun for a moment. Light flickers, a morse code, sun flashing out from the clouds and being hidden again. Bright, bringing a little warmth, off, on again, off longer this time, cold settles, clouds part, they come together. Long, long short, short long, dazzling light, then obscured by grey. 

Trees sway as Winter stretched out his long fingers, groping at the trunks until they bend, and bend. They straighten trying to stand, then bend towards the ground, hunching like old, crooked backs. Bark and leaves are stripped away leaving trees standing bare and naked to face the tempest. The cold of winter returns with the clouds.

The great tall ones reach out their arms as if to hold back Winter, but instead it rushes, past and through, an insubstantial, uncatchable thing. The cold sets in, biting wind. It rasps through trees, around houses, down throats, so cold it makes me catch at my breath, lest it take that too. I stumble as Winter hits.

One of my chooks went a-wandering so I went off into the paddock after her and came across this plant. I could not remember what name eblonged to it but after searching "Bush tucker ground cover" and looking at pictures I eventually found this plants name; Winter Apple or Eremophila debilis. I much prefer the English name.

I can often find the Winter Apple growing in places around our property, it is easiest to spy now though because its fruits are ripening. They become a much brighter pink than in these photos. They are a ground cover plant and native to Australia. I found these two plants growing under a box tree and it turns out that the Winter Apple prefers to grow in Box and White Cypress tree forests.

The fruits are edible, but there is not really much to them. I will eat a ripe one or two if I come across them, but nearly all of the fruit is seed and what skin and flesh there is can sometimes be bitter, you never really know until you have eaten it. 

The plant can get up to 1-2m in diameter but I have never found any that big, the ones pictured are around 30cm. There is also a white variety, whose fruit goes white and it is said to be sweater, but I am not sure if that one grows wild or not. I suspect that if grown in a garden they would grow a lot bigger.

I find it rather fun though to be able to go walking in the paddocks and be able to find bush tucker and to be able to pick eat it as I go. 

Have a wonderful day, He is risen! We have reason to celebrate.

Jesus Came

To bring healing and wholeness to the hurting

To bring faith to the doubting

& life to the faithful

Three Welcome Swallows darted through the air circling then flying into the distance. I watched with a little sadness, it is the time of year to say farewell to them. But instead of them we should be seeing more of the kookaburras. At least around where I live, they are more prevalent at this time of year. We have Laughing Kookaburras, here. Early in the morning their laugh echoes through the still air and during the day it sounds too and often one can follow the sound and find the bird siting in a branch of a gum tree. 

I walked quietly towards the tree trying to keep behind other trees so the bird would not be alerted of my progress towards it. Finally I got close enough to take a decent photo and I poked the camera around the side of a tree. The kookaburra spied me and shifted uncomfortably then flew off. I followed. I continued to trail after the bird as it led me a-dance from tree to tree, trying to get a photo of it. 

Rosellas are even more shy than kookaburras, both photos are cropped, but the one of the rosella I took with a zoom lens. (meaning I was a lot further away). Often if a rosella even glimpses a person, that will be enough of an incentive to fly off calling every other rosella nearby to fly with it. The above photo involved much soundless creeping and multiple failed attempts to even get a terrible photo of a rosella before it flew off. From the slightly patchy feathers of this bird I guess it could be a young one, therefore not as scared as older birds, yet.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a book. How could I give this any less than 5 stars. I want to give it 100. The perspective is so amazingly unique, which makes this book unlike ANY other ever written (at least as far as I have read). The copy of the book I read was beautiful too, soft pages, tons of white space, and I really liked the little different snippets that are in amongst the book, it feels more real than just a story.

But even the story is amazing, and the people; they are real. The description is amazing and vivid too. The words, they are beautiful, each sentence is lovingly crafted, the power of words is definitely a theme of this book as well as being this book.

One really unique factor is that Death spoils the story all the time, (he tells us who eventually dies, then constantly reminds us until they do). I kept thinking hey you can't do that in the book, you need to heave the readers wondering to create suspense. Still it worked, and it was in character with the story, with the narrator. In this case breaking rules of writing worked well, very well, and added to the story. The story which was interesting enough not to need that suspense, of possible deaths and other things, even the end of the book.

I often read books fast, but I couldn't do that with this one. A lot of thinking must be involved and though I had to know what happened, it wasn't an edge of the seat roller-coaster ride, It was more like a drawn out farewell at a grave side, that must be done for someone you love, because you want to but it is painful. I loved this book all the way through. Certainly everyone won't like it, but give it a try because you could be missing out.

View all my reviews

“One was a book thief. The other stole the sky.” 

So those are my thoughts on the book right after I finished reading it, not always the most unbiased time to review, but I remember the most. There are probably problems with it. Like the fact that I didn't really understand "The Word Shaker" I assume it did have some meaning, but I didn't really get it. I also like any story.... well not any, but I am drawn to war stories (stories set in war times). I also liked the descriptions of the sky all through the book. 

“People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spot blues. Murky darkness. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.” 

Another thing that makes the book stand out is the beautiful, unusual descriptions. The descriptions in the book are almost like analogies. Hair the colour of a lemon, hair like feathers, dry sticks, the descriptions were like poetry.

You could say the book was a slow read, but I don't think that is a bad thing. It certainly was not the most cheerful book. And then ending was sad, but at least it was not devastating, I was ok with the end. 

“She tore a page from the book and ripped it in half.
Then a chapter.
Soon, there was nothing but scraps of words littered between her legs and all around her. The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn't be any of this. Without words, the Führer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for consolation or wordly tricks to make us feel better.
What good were the words?
She said it audibly now, to the orange-lit room. "What good are the words?” 

The power of words, the love of books. 

Have you read The Book Thief?

Did you like it? 

A few evenings ago my family watched the newest, bestest, christian movie ever. It was "God's Not Dead". I think I shall start by saying that the first line in this post is sarcastic. I had heard just how great this movie was from a lot of people who had gone to see God's Not Dead when it first came out. Since then I had read a few reviews on it that made it look not so good, and more reviews that sang its praises. Naturally I wanted to see the movie and judge it myself. So my family and I watched it, then ripped it to shreds. The poor movie didn't survive very well. 

I do not mean to offend anyone, but these are my honest thoughts on this movie. You may very well think it is a great, really good movie, I am not asking you to change your mind, but read this and think about what I have said. I am not just bashing this movie because I want to, but because I want to give my honest thoughts on it. Just because a movie calls itself christian does not mean it is all good, there are good bits, some.

~Warning: This review contains spoilers~

What I didn't like

~First off the movie is very confusing. The first scenes introduce so many characters, way too many characters in fact. As with any story it is important to have the right amount of characters, the shorter more simple the story, the less characters.  Through the movie we get to know that almost every character has some complicated relationships with another, and we get to follow all their stories as well as the main Josh one. Most of the characters are actually completely unnecessary to the story. 

~Flat characters, they don't change much except for becoming christians.

~Stereotypical story line for the "Bad Guy" he is a jerk and in the end he finds God and is no longer a jerk... Spoiler...... he is dead... the no longer "bad guy" that is, not God.

~All the non christians are villainized, they are not HUMAN. This is probably one of the worst bits. They are portrayed as monsters. Which is just not true. So often christian books and movies have these stereotypes in them, that aren't even real.

~It is unbelievable, as in any story there must be a suspension of disbelief. We can only go along with so much before we say that is just not realistic, it could not happen. Seriously how realistic is it to convert a whole class.... half might be believable.... but no way all of them. And the main characters power-point! How much did he spend on that... he put it all together in a week.... where did he get those amazing graphics from? Sorry I just can't believe that. Even while I was watching the movie I wondered how he knew exactly what questions the professor would ask. Sometimes the MC/Josh paused to think about it for a while but then he has his amazing power-point graphics to show his answer. 

~The professor just let Josh talk and said nothing till he finished. (this was not a point I noticed about the movie but my Dad did) A real professor would be constantly interrupting and not letting Josh sway the class. He possibly may not have even given Josh the chance to.

~I am not entirely sure on this point, but when Josh gives his presentation on God and how he exists because he created everything. Now I think about that it sounded as though Josh said God created the world and used evolution to get us to where we are now. I couldn't be sure, but if so that is no little thing.

~The dialog was not very interesting either.

Finally think how the movie would look to a non-christian, it does not put them in a good light, aggro, unthinking, selfish to an inhuman extreme. They would not see the message past all that if they even did sit down to watch it.

I was not impressed.

See there is the evil villainous professor with a personal vendetta against God
and the young persecuted christian making a stand ......

What I liked (and other things I didn't)

Not much. There was one moment in the movie, that was almost completely unrelated to the rest, that I really liked; a scene in which an old lady with dementia has a clear moment and speaks some profound words.  I liked Martin the Chinese character. And the fact that "God's not dead", yes we should all be able to give an answer for the hope we have.... 

I'm not sure that Josh did the right thing though. Especially at the end, it struck me that he was being very rude to his professor. A soft answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger. Also, there were lines in the movie that said something about the class judging God... or putting him on trial.  In Luke 4:12 it says;  And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Maybe I'm just being hyper sensitive though. Personally I think I would have dropped the class after writing "God's Not Dead" or "God said, 'I died, and behold I am alive forevermore.' Revelation 1:18" on the piece of paper. 

I'm not even sure exactly what the message is .... of course there is God's not dead,"  but that is not enough.... God exists, sure but "You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! James 2:19"

I think, God's Not Dead is also about a christian standing up for his faith, that is a great thing for christians to do. We are commanded to go and share the gospel and yes that can be anywhere, at home, school, college, we don't need to all be missionaries to other people groups. We are called to be bright lights every day wherever God has us. We as christians need that encouragement to stand firm. But wouldn't it be more encouraging if it were wrapped in a great story! 

I like a good story, God's Not Dead is not one.

A great story is what sticks with people and therefore the message that is enfolded in it, even if it only shows at moments.

Not that it is ever going to happen, but what I think christians should do, is buy the rights to a good book that has some christian bits in it. Then make a movie of it. 

I have found that some books I love so much because of their christian parts or morals, are then made into a movie by some secular person and it loses those amazing bits. The bits that really made the book. Just imagine if a christian person had made Lord of the Rings, it would have kept more of those bits about it not being just fate and those contrasts of hope in the darkness. Sure I like the LORT movie, but it is more about the war of the ring and fighting and all the handsome warriors and less of the hope, less of the light one day overpowering the darkness despite all hope.  

I would suspect the same has been done to the Divergent book series.... I have not seen the movies but I can guess that it is now all about the action and violence and relying on yourself or something. 

What we need are some christian writers to write a great story, and tell it in a great way, have it full of real humans. Letting the message be secondary to the story. If we want to hear a message we will download a sermon, that is not what people want when they watch a movie or read a book, they want a story.

We need christian screen writers who can craft a story, one that is good enough for publishes to accept. 

Anyway God's Not Dead.... I can think of one other scene I liked, when the car wouldn't start. Faith like that is rare. It was also a good reminder that sometimes when things don't go our way and our plans are spoiled God has his bigger better plan in mind. 

So after all that, I would not recommend this movie. Instead go and study your bible or go witnessing for 112 minutes that would be something worth your time.

I just don't believe that this movie is a good as it is made out to be.

Day 22 Sunday: God’s day of rest.

Day 23 Monday: Well while hanging up a load of washing I pulled out one rubber glove…. I don’t think it belonged there, a cupcake wrapper…. And a toy phone.  The phone has a little history…..The toy phone had never worked until someone dropped it in the bath a few nights ago. It began to work… you know annoying toy sounds. The problem being that it had not worked for so long that it decided it would continually make the sounds and not stop, until it got dropped on the floor. But a few minutes later it began again so I got a screwdriver… The batteries were scary… rusty and jammed in. Eventually they came out and I didn't smash the phone with a hammer in the process. (I was not actually the person to get them out).

Day 24 Tuesday:  When I went out with the basket of washing the little black ants were all asleep, but after a few minutes they were well and truly awake. By the time I neared finishing I had to pretty much dance around to prevent swarms of ants getting all over me. They don’t even seem to have holes they come from, they just appear all over the ground and climb up and bite me…

Day 25 Wednesday: Well I did more washing today, surprised? No I guess not, less than a week of this month to go. Not that I mind doing the washing but I have pretty much exhausted most of the things that could go wrong. Except for a few like the washing machine breaking, ours did once and the one we got after that was similar except it plays a tune instead of beeping when it finishes. Our old one used to leak…. All-over the floor occasionally. And it ate things. It ate small pieces of clothing and zips mostly, finally it ate a piece of wire and that was why it went bye, bye. I have never known our new one too refuse to spit out I none piece anything put in it that way. 

Day 26 Thursday: Ages ago I started writing this 12 stanza…. Or was it 24 stanza poem. I wrote two stanzas each month while hanging out washing… maybe I shall try find it. Does anyone want me to? It could be funny… or terrible and embarrassing…. And it would depend on if it could be found, or at least the notebook in which it is written.

Day 27 Friday: I didn't actually write anything today and I don't remember anything about doing washing though I suppose I did.....I may have even done two loads....

Day 28 Saturday: somehow washing did not happen today…. I forgot to put a load on before breakfast, we went out for half the day after that….

Soon enough will come the time when I shall have to do the HPT, otherwise known as the Hazard Perception Test. I have printed out the handbook and am reading it, so that I can Lord willing pass and get my green Ps, my P2 license. I must say when I had a go at the practice/example tests I was not impressed. 

 I could move a car on a sliders around and if I moved the car to where it would not be safe for me to turn while it was there, the screen flashes red and does not stop until I move the car back. You can see in the pictures... except they don't flash.

The "Scanning for Hazards" was almost worse. It moves.... so it looks like I am meant to be driving along a highway. You are meant to click on any hazards. The problem is (apart from some of them being ridiculous, like a kid bouncing a ball in the middle of the freeway) that you can actually click on everything that appears on the screen even if it is not a hazard. Though it does only tell you that "You have safely avoided a hazard" when you actually click one of the hazards.  

Two of the hazards are sneaky though as they come from behind but the biggest problem with them is just to actually get my mouse to where they are to click on them fast enough.  (Anyway when I am driving I sit in the drivers seat, not in the middle of the second row.) I also hope that someone would be holding onto the steering wheel..

See the hazard in the mirror? 

Yes and apparently the real tests are not animated, but are clips of real live situations. And apparently it is also touch screen..... I have a great dislike of touch screen.... there are no nasty screens to touch and leave fingerprints all over when I drive....

I am not afraid of failing, for the reason of failing, because I know I drive well and sensibly, doing that test won't prove anything to me. But I don't want to have to pay to sit it again..... or have to sit the test again for the simple reason I hate sitting tests. That is why I don't want to fail..... But Lord willing, it shall be as easy as the practice tests for South Australia......

The scenario of having to turn right and
never being able to seems their favourite...

I found them too. They seem much more like what the real thing is described to be like. I did those... and afterwards wondered what happened if you got one wrong. Naturally I had to find out. So I have done the South Australian Practice Hazard Perception Test, and done it well.... I have also done the NSW Practice thingys for the Hazard Perception Test..... I also did them fine.... well the one that could be done.... and I made the others flash.....


In the SA HPT I also found a way to make it do a different lot of questions the normal URL ends in "hazard-perception-test/1/1" with the last 1 changing to the number of the next question, but if you change the first 1 to 4 for example you will get a new lot of questions.