Heritage Farm

Learning New Things :)

Blessings!

   As always, we continue to learn new things :) As promised, I am here to share our experiences and adventures and keep up this blog once again:) Sooooo, here goes!

   Our newest little adventure since coming here is tapping Maple trees! I can tell you, I was nervous about the whole thing. Like anything else we learn for the first time, we began our in depth research to make sure we were doing it all the right way at the right time. We searched and searched and searched but each place we found sites with printable pages only to find that it would make a booklet with no more than 4 pages. Surely there is more to it than this? So we searched more and more and more, always coming up with the same enemic information. Little pictures identifying the bark of Sugar Maples, Red Maples, Silver Maples and Boxelder trees. All tappable and all edible. Drill a hole, tap a spile in until it flows (or drips quickly), hang a bucket with a lid to keep out the debris and rainwater and empty once a day! It CAN'T be that easy!

   After weeks of searching and coming up seemingly empty handed we made a trip out to talk to a fella in BRF that runs a place called Buzz and Brew...he has supplies and information on keeping bees, tapping trees, wine and beer making etc. I asked him what a good book for the information I needed would be and he walks over and picks up a little 4 page pamphlet sized booklet, hands it to me and says..."there ya go!" Huh? I laughed so hard cuz it was exactly the pages I had printed out a few weeks earlier! I asked him if it was really this simple and he said, "yep! It's so easy the trees could do it themselves!" :P He gave me little hints about boiling off the water to make the syrup when we are done and it's simple as that! Soooooo... here's some pictures of our tapping adventure :P I do warn you though...my daughters have teased me ruthlessly about how "girlie" I look when I tapped MY tree :P

   For all their teasing though...my tree is flowing fastest :P

Papa drilling the trunk with a 3/8 inch auger bit to just about 1 1/2 inch depth. The debris is nice and light colored so it's a good tree.

The girls armed and ready for the task.

The buckets were purchased used but  the lids and spiles are new.Miss Mary-Ann tapping her tree (in all fairness if I have to reveal my inept attempt then they have to suffer right along with me:P)Miss Sarah gets hers tapped in.Then girlie me :POnce we got the spiles in just the right place, it starts immediately pouring out. Some faster than others, of course:DJiggle the wire to attach the lids on to keep out rainwater and debris from the trees...bugs get in it anyway but you just strain them out when you pour them into the waiting buckets.And there you have it!I must admit, we do tend to check them every few hours just to see how much we have:P Our first day we must have checked in a couple dozen times to find the next morning that we only got about 1/2 a cup of sap :D

   Since then we have found that it varies by day. The temperatures have a lot to do with it. If it's too warm at night then it won't flow as well in the day. If it's at least 30 at night then the daytime makes a lot more.

   Just yesterday we pulled in over a gallon!

   Oh and don't let it fool you. It sounds like a lot of sap but in reality it will take approximately 40 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of syrup! There are many more trees on the property that we intend to tap in hopes of speeding up our gathering time.

   According to the experts, a single tree can give you between 15 and 20 gallons of sap and still keep the tree safe for next year:) It is our hope that we will be able to add this to our list of self sufficient and self sustaining life on the farmstead:)

   Hope you enjoyed it as much as we have!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

It's Time!

Blessings!

   Well, after nearly 5 months of trying to settle into our new home and so many things happening in between...it's time to get back to my blog! I am going to make a concerted effort to get back to regular blogging now that life is slowing down. I have truly missed it and I've missed visiting with all of you. How thoughtless of me to ignore my blogging friendships and slip away without a word. Sooo, I ask forgiveness from all of you and I hope to be more diligent and consistent in the future:)

   Having said that...I want to share some wonderful and exciting news for us:)

   As you all know, we moved to Wisconsin back in October. You also know that in that move we had to leave behind our son and his little family:( It was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do but decisions like these are something that must be prayed about and sometimes the end result is to do things that are difficult and not what you want.

   Well...here's the new news...Matthew and his beautiful family ARE HERE!! Yep! They moved here near us. In fact, they have moved into an uncles house who is a long haul trucker. He offered his home to them not only to insure his home and cats are safe while he is on the road, but to help Matthew to get back on his feet again:)

   Matthew lost his job back in January and after really trying hard to find a new situation, things just weren't working. There were no jobs and no prospects. Even Kristina's parents were having trouble after her father also lost HIS job.

   It was a terribly difficult decision to make but after prayer and lots of discussion, they decided to give it a whirl! Matthew drove their things out (with a few little mishaps) and arrived here on the 9th. Then Kristina and Little Miss Shea arrived on an airplane the next afternoon to join him.

   We are busy this week helping them to get settled into their new home, which is just in the village where we live! They are less than 1/2 a mile away:)

   And did I mention that Kristina is expecting in May? Yep...Little Miss Shea is going to be a big sister! Little Miss Shelby!! We are all so excited:) God is good.

   I know this was terribly difficult for Kristina, leaving her parents to make this move. I know it was terribly difficult for them to step back and let them do what they felt was best for their growing family. It's always difficult for us mom's to let go and just be there for them as they make their own decisions and feel so very blessed as we watch them grow and learn. Oh if only we could just give them a manual to follow to avoid all the pitfalls we experienced before them. But, just like stereo instructions...they wouldn't read it because they already know how it works :P

   So that's our news :) I'll be back! I have some pictures to share and want to just keep up with my dear friends here at the blogger:)

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

What do we do on a cold winters day?

Why BAKE and COOK of course!

Blessings All!

   We are adjusting rather well to our new surroundings. Although it tends to be a bit colder than Oregon had been, it's really not that bad :) We've heard stories but so far nothing close has happened yet. I am hoping that one day we will have stories of our own to tell :P

   In the meantime we have done some experimenting with some new cookware that Brother Craig purchased before we moved here to Wisconsin. He wanted to save it until we moved so we could get rid of all the old stuff, except for my beloved cast iron, and have pots and pans that matched and had lids that fit and didn't look like we raided the second chance shoppe...of course that IS where we got all that old stuff :P

   Well, the cooking part of it went well...then there was the promise of the included cookbook for this wonderware that we could bake in it as well! So, why not? Seems easy enough. We can watch a timer, turn a dial, lift a lid...so lets give it a shot...um...maybe pineapple upsidedown cake should have been tried after simpler things were perfected...I think Miss Sarah wanted to cry. :P She might not be able to do the cookware thing but she sure can bake pies with the flakiest, most delicious crusts! And Voila!!!

Then there is the PotPies she creates:Then there is the Anything Goes Casserole...YUM!

There is more but this will have to do for now. I will be posting progress on the house here as time permits! It's exciting!

Have a very blessed day in the Lord!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

Coming right along:)

Blessings!

   As with all things, whether it be fast or slow, it's coming right along:)

   We did manage to finally have our gathering with brother, wife and niece. It was such a wonderful time and some pretty tastey food I might add:P We exchanged gifts and just spent time talking and enjoying each others company:) It's been a very long time since we've been together for any holidays and this was such a blessing:)

   Things are getting put away slowly and just as soon as I think I've organized something to my liking, I go and change it again! Do I keep doing this because like the work involved? or maybe it's a control issue:P Controlling my environment seems to be the only thing I do have some say in these days:) God has control of the rest and one day I might just give this over to Him too:P

   Our sewing projects that we have had on the ready for the last several weeks are...finally...STILL IN THE READY POSITION! Hehe! I found so many other things that needed doing instead and so, as usual, it all got put aside. Ugh! Perhaps this week I'll get around to more of that and less of the distractions:)

   The girls started new jobs today so I'm all alone! It's odd to be alone. I am not sure I'm enjoying it so much as enduring it. Well, it's only until 3 so it isn't so bad I guess:P I sure do miss them though. They can fight like cats and dogs and sometimes make me feel like pulling my hair out but you know, I just don't know what I"ll do with myself when they one day leave my nest:s

   Miss Sarah's room is coming right along (hehe). For all of our hopes and wishes, time is what we have and slowly but surely is far more productive than quick and messy:) My brother comes over nearly every weekend to work on the room (and some other to do's) and it is slowly coming around to looking like a real room again! Yay!

   I have pictures of it but I want to wait until we have it completed and then I can show you from start to finish what it looks like! It's so exciting and Miss Sarah is thrilled! She has been working side by side with the men up there from the start and she feels like she's contributed in a big way (which she has) to helping get things done and settled here:)

   The girls went skating on the lake yesterday and last night were feeling it:P With the pending job this morning they weren't looking forward to having to be on their feet all day. But with a little slow achy push this morning they were off and running:)

   We woke up to the most beautiful display of Gods artistic work that I've ever seen. The frost on the treest was crystalized and has everything looking like a frozen wonderland! It's so amazing! Those beautiful branches just sprouting with the most intricate designs of crystalized ice! Absolutely stunning! Thank you God!

   Well, it's just after noon and I need to get some more things done before those two get home. I have to "stage" some things so they can help me with the heavy parts since I can't do that part myself:P Oh and I am redoing the kitchen...again! Always reorganzing that place. One day I think I'll be done with that just in time to move again! hehe!

   The kitchen is just wonderful and big and I am trying to make the most out of my workspace. I still have some things that need unpacked in there but I ran out of steam a few weeks ago and of course the boxes just sat on the floor in the kitchen (out of the way) while we began to live life around them. I can't stand it anymore! I need organization...it makes me crazy! :P

   Okay, I'm done ranting...off to make use of my time:)

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

An Indoor Day!

Blessings!

It is a brisk -11* this morning! So indoor day it is!

Yesterday we got all the Christmas decorations down and put away except for one lone wreath that needs a home:( I was hoping to find another wreath box this year but after searching yesterday at two differen WalMarts I'm pretty sure those are all sold out! They were going for such great prices that I knew I should have purchased one more but thought I had enough:( Oh well...we'll figure it out:)

It's nice to reclaim the house though! This means that now after all the holiday stuffs is over for another year I get to turn my efforts back to the house:) Thank you Jesus!! Our goal is to be completely finished with unpacking (with the except of Miss Sarah's things) by the end of this week! Of course we are also praying that Miss Sarah's room can be finished up this weekend, in which case her thing will be unpacked too:)

I have several sewing projects that need doing and I am hoping to get back to those by next weekend:) I have a wool coat to make, three dresses, 3 flannel blushers, half dozen flannel undies and two flannel under slips to do. Doesn't take long (except the coat) and the girls have their own list of "to do's" that we will all work on together:) It makes my sewing time much more pleasant when I have someone to share it with:)

I'm not sure if we'll be seeing my brother and his family this weekend afterall. I'm sad about that but we have a "chill advisory" that came in last night until noon on Sunday. We decided that if we do go, we'll take a motel room near them so we don't have to try to drive this at night when the temps are expected to drop to -25*. Yikes! They do expect a high of 4* today though hehe!

We spent our New Years Eve, playing some games, eating lots of unecessary snacks and reading together:) We were going to watch a couple old movies but we ended up getting sidetracked with the games instead:) Always a welcome thing:) We much prefer just playing and being together anyway:)

Well, I suppose I should get breakfast up. I let Brother Craig sleep in a bit as he had a very late night last night (twice in a row makes for a grumpy hubby) A good breakfast after a nice sleep always seems to help:) I think the kitchen is warmed up enough now:) I turned the cannon on at 7 and then huddled under my blankie in my room on my lounge:)

Have a very blessed weekend!
God be with thee!
Sister Lori

Who need botox?

We have ICE STORMS!

   Blessings!

   There is nothing more invigorating than a brisk walk in brisk weather:) However, there is something to be said for getting to the end of your drive and finding that you can no long feel your face! I say we get rid of all those needles and just send wrinkle faced people out into the ice storms (temps at 31 with a windchill of 2!!) and I guarantee they won't be able to move enough muscles in their faces to smile, scowl or blink! haha!

   Ever since the blizzard a few weeks ago, we've been walking into town (maybe 1/2 a mile away) and getting a little chilled. We would fog up our glasses as we walked because we were talking incessantly and seeing our breath before us. We had fun trying to make rings of steam from our mouths. We could warm up our hands by breathing on them. We would walk past the lake and see if it was frozen enough yet for skating (not yet:() and get to my husbands work to shake the snow off the boots, buy a drink, get a hug from him and then walk home:)

   All these things aren't even remotely possible when there is a windchill of 2*!!! You see, by the time you get 30 feet from your home, you cannot feel your ears anymore. They are covered by your headscarf but the wind is so fierce that it's blowing right through...you might as well not have anything on your head at all! Once you have realized you cannot feel your ears, you begin to feel a pinching at the ends of your gloved fingers. These gloves are rated for -30...but I don't think they meant WITH A WINDCHILL FACTOR! You make it out to the main road to cross it and walk over the bridge (which has no sidewalk or human lane), but are held up by fast moving big rigs that don't know there's an ice storm happening around them! They slip and slide across the bridge and, without slowing, rush past you spraying you with muddy snow and ice and MORE WINDCHILL!

   Now you are across the bridge, and can still see your house across the little river that runs between you and the main road. By this time you realize that your glasses have stopped fogging over! This seems great and when you open your mouth to comment you notice that not only is there no steam coming from your mouth but you are speaking in tongues...because your lips are frozen in place and your tongue can't get past your chattering teeth!

   Once in town you reach the market and open the door to greet your sweet husband and grab something warm to drink before heading back home again:) He takes one look at you and asks...what have you done to your face? hahahahahaha! Completely expressionless (your face is literally frozen in place ergo no wrinkles, no sags) you look at him and ask..."why whatever do you mean?". His boss comes around the corner, stops and looks you square in your frozen face and asks, "You didn't actually WALK here did you?" I try to nod but my neck seems slightly stiff. He says, "are you nuts? Who in their right mind would come out in an ice storm and walk across town?" I say through clenched teeth (remember my mouth is still frozen)..."An Oregonian?" hahahahaha!!!

   Having taken this short trek out I announce that I am NOT walking home I am stealing the car! I have no intentions of going back out in that to walk ANYwhere! What was I thinking? I run to the car (nearly breaking my neck which is too stiff to look down and see that there's ICE forming on the pavement) and get inside to find that the snow from my husbands shoes 4 hours earlier hasn't even melted yet! In fact, I could still make a snowman out of that! It's so close to home that bothering with the heater is completely ridiculous but I turn it on anyway...why? Because I MISSED THE WINDCHILL FACTOR!!! :D:D:D

   I finally get home, drag the girls and the dogs into the car and run a single errand. It was quick, it was much warmer doing it in the car and it was over! Home again, inside a warm house, trying to thaw out! In fact...my ears started hurting about a half hour later so I knew they were finally thawing and I can finally raise one eyebrow.

   If you don't have to be out in something like this...DON'T :P Botox...what a silly concept...just stick your head in a freezer and you can have it even on the hottest of days!

Have a very blessed and God filled Christmas!!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

Ice in the Kitchen?

Blessings!

   Okay, I'm on to do much complaining but when it's THIS cold...who can help it? haha!

   Last night, Miss Mary-Ann took the dogs out the front door (bad idea) where there was a buildup of snow drifts against it. Thus the snow fell into the foyer on her way back in. No big deal...in fact I figured it would meld and I would just mop it up shortly. Well, we had decided to watch a movie, so after supper and all, we went into the frontroom and set up the projector and watched it. Several hours later all of us were tired and ready for bed so out of the nice warm frontroom we went and into the foyer to go upstairs...I looked down and sure enough...THE SNOW WAS STILL THERE! Yikes! I knew that room was cold but cold enough NOT to melt a little snow? And yes...it was still there UNmelted this morning:P

   Brother Craig was on his way to work early and I hadn't quite woken up just yet. I've been a little under the weather (no pun intended) and was still to my bed. Anyway, he came in and said he had to walk to work because the car wouldn't start...huh? Why not? He says the car sensor says it's -11 out there!!! Wow! Soooo, the car wont' start (which means our planned outing today won't happen) and if that wasn't enough he says he had the gas stove on with the vent heating out into the room because there was ice on the windows and counters in the kitchen! Wow again! It seems that when the kitchen freezes that the water spills from doing dishes the night before become skating rinks for the ants and mice! hehe:P

   Now I'm not really complaining here, but what about the basement? I have to go down there today to put up some more boxes of glassware from the move. With my legs not liking to do much moving around in the cold, the girls are going to have to go down to be sure there's no ice for me to slip on. Sounds mean, doesn't it? I send my children down to break their legs first? hehe! Not really, it's just that they are able to get down there and back up without having their legs seize up on them:P

   This is all new to us. We have lived in snow before, we have lived in cold before, we have had to deal with frozen pipes and icy windows before, but it never got down below 0 and only for a short time:P

   We experienced our first blizzard AND real snow here at the same time. By the way the blizzard was AMAZING! We watched it intently (from inside the house of course) and really enjoyed the power of it. The result was a stunning display of white covering even the most hideous of things turning them into a masterpiece! God is an awesome artist!

   Today? They are ice fishing! I didn't think it would be that quick before the lake was frozen over enough to do that! Ice skating is next! I can't wait to get into the city and visit the Mississippi. I cannot fathom the idea of that river actually freezing solid! To think, folks drove their covered wagons and did cattle drives across that frozen river! What a sight that must have been.

   Well, that's it for now. Just wanted to share my awe at this new experience in our lives:) God has surely brought us to where we are to be and to experience new and different things in His Name is more than I could have hope for:)

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

Blizzard Alert

   After all this time waiting for a little snow, it appears we are expecting a blizzard instead! The blizzard alert was announced by the National Weather Service in La Crosse, WI.

   We already have about 6 inches of snow on the ground and they expect the blizzard to begin around midnight, accumulating another 12 - 16 inches by morning. This will continue until Thursday morning. Lord willing it won't be too bad for folks.

   If you think of us, please pray for safety, warmth and calm hearts:) It's my first time out here for a winter...and to think, I thought Oregon was snowy! hehe!

   We have plenty of food, plenty of lanterns, plenty of alternative heat sources and plenty of lapwork to keep us busy:)

   Today, the girls went to their uncles house to feed his cats and check on the corn furnace. On their way they got partway across the bridge at the end of our road when a semi hauling two trailers came across. It bounced it's cab a little against the guardrail and then the second trailer fishtailed and tapped the guardrail too. The girls were on the other side of the bridge and they said he never even slowed down. He just drove on! Yikes! They have been forbidden to cross that bridge unless it is completely clear in both directions with no cars or trucks in sight! Once the lake freezes, they can take that as a shortcut and avoid that bridge for the rest of winter.

   Praying that ya'll are safe, warm and out of harms way:)

God be with thee!
Sister Lori

Getting Acclimated

Blessings!

   We are getting ourselves acclimated to our new surroundings and boy is it going to be a bit of a challenge:P

   As you know, we moved to Wisconsin and arrived here on the 22nd of October. Of course, we fully expected (and had been told) to expect snow within just a few days and that it would get heavier as Thanksgiving approached. I have this to say about that...WHERE IS THE SNOW?!! :D I told my Sister-in-love that she lied to me. She said it snowed just to lure me here as she had intended these many years! She just laughs at me and says...be grateful cuz once it does start...you are going to wish you'd stayed in Oregon! :D

   The temperatures are dropping daily (and quickly) and although we've had a few dustings, nothing really to speak of. The lake is freezing up and yesterday it was solid enough that the dusting of snow we got last night has stuck to it! The stuff on the lake is sticking around but the stuff in the yard and roads is melting away.

   I have also noticed a very fine white powder accumulating on my car. Didn't think much of it until yesterday when someone at the fueling station asked me if I was going to "let that eat through my car"? Huh? It turns out that it's not just icy ick...it's SALT! ugh! I had forgotten that they salt the roads out here. It will be something to keep up on for sure. Brother Craig wants to get the garage cleaned out so the car will fit (it's a pretty big car...an Excursion) so it can be out of the elements when we aren't using it. He also wants to find some old rusty beater for winter use so the Excursion doesn't get ruined TOO fast:P

   Weather issues aside, we are also learning our demographics. Getting from town to town. Finding out where things are. Taking little drive here and there to see what little treasure can be found:) We are a little over an hour to anything "real" (like a large market, walmart, hardware etc) so we have to really plan our trips carefully. I got a little spoiled in the last town in Oregon that we lived in. Although we were in the country on 10 acres,  it was a short drive (less than 5 minutes) into town which had LOTS of conveniences. This is more like when we lived in Elkton (in Oregon) and had to drive 1 1/2 hours to anywhere! When you live that far out, you plan your trips so you don't have to make them often:) I am glad for that though, because I'm a homebody and the lure of places to "hang out" is too strong for me when it's too convenient:) So this is good for me:)

   I had always wanted to see the Mall of America, so we decided to make the trek out there last Monday. It wasn't quite as big as I had imagined, but it was big enough. I had read about it and seen pictures for many years. My father told me about it and said it was quite a place. (He had apparently seen it when he lived in Pennsylvania and travelled through there many years ago). Anyway, as I said, it was big enough. We made it through the bottom level and walked through to see the amusement park in the middle of it. I am thankful that I'm not a mall rat so I won't miss it:D Aside from taking folks that visit us to see it (just because it's novel), I can't think of why I would go back:P But it was worth the trip so I can now say I saw it before I died:P

   We have discovered little towns that surround us that are quaint and have a few interesting things in them. Our own town has all we need in a pinch so we don't really need to go anywhere unless we need something big. We are going back to our old way of marketing so we don't have to do that more than once every three months! That is so much less aggravating and we can stay home and just enjoy our own little town.

   We have a lake in the middle of town that will freeze over and they will put out public fishing shanties and rope of an area for iceskating. In the summer, we can do some travelling to see places that we have wanted to visit. I would like to visit the Statue of Liberty, see my Aunt in Georgia, visit a few online friends that I've known for several years and now live close enough:), I want to visit Virginia Beach and go to a beach in Florida (my mother told me of one that we should visit but I can't remember the name offhand:P), I want to take a ride down the Mississippi and sail on the Great Lakes. I want to visit Manitoba and Toronto and Prince Edward Island. And I want to visit North Carolina:) I'm sure I'll come up with more places, but that will do for now:P

   The house is coming right along. We are still unpacking slowly as we are finding places for things. My books are still in boxes because I had to give away all my shelves before the move:( It's alright though because Brother Craig has some beautiful birch wood in the garage that he is going to make me shelves from:) Probably a spring project:) Thankfully there are plenty of big storage areas in this place so my books are safe and sound:)

   We decorated the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving morning and have been putting up decorations ever since:) My diningroom is going to be done this week so we can then decorate that area as well. I'm going to need a big sideboard in there though because it's HUGE and I would like to have something to store the dishes and silver and tablewear in so we don't have to keep shlepping it from the kitchen:)

   The sewingroom is nearly together (it always seems that room is in need of finishing:P) and we can get started on the sewing projects that I packed up at the last minute in Oregon:) I had things cut out and ready to go and the box was marked "open first sewing projects":) It's all ready to be unpacked and started:) And just in time too because I'm going to need those winter dresses for certain:P

   Miss Sarah and Miss Mary-Ann have been sharing a room while Miss Sarah's room is being finished. They do alright most of the time but now and then they get on each others nerves for sure! The room will be finished this week and then we can get Miss Sarah moved into her own room and the girls can get them all nice and tidy:) It's hard living with construction going on especially when you are still living out of boxes! Needless to say their room at this time looks like the second chance shoppe exploded in there!:D

   We picked up Miss Sarah's new bed from the antique shoppe and she's thrilled with it! We still have to have a mattress custom made for it as it's very old and those weren't "standard" sized back then:P The average height of a man was 5'10" and a woman was 4'11"!! Now the average height for a man is 6'2" and a woman 5'8"~! A big difference for certain! We found a mattress place that will custom make the matress for a small fee of $70 over the price of the mattress...such a deal! So it won't be nearly as expensive as we had anticipated. This means she'll get it much sooner too:P For now she will have a fouton over it:)

   It seems very strange not having any animals to take care of. Aside from the dogs, cat and two rabbits, we are virtually animal free. I miss our goats terribly and hope to get some come spring/summer. And chickens, of course:P Some ducks would be nice...not sure if I can find any emu or rhea here but we'll be looking for those too. A llama would be nice to have again as they make such good watchdogs:) I miss ours. We had intended to replace our Llama's a couple years ago but never found any that were reasonably priced, nor that fit our personality needs. HOpefully we'll find something out here:)

   Well, that's all I have to share for now. I had intended to put up some photos but my computer was eaten by a virus! It took almost a month for them to fix it and I picked it up last week so I will have to reload all my pictures once again:) Once I get that done, I will share the pictures of our new home and town:)

   Praying you are all safe, warm and God filled!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

Family Values?

do we allow before we realize it may be too late?

We don't have television. We don't take newspapers. Mostly because the junk out there isn't worth watching or reading about. What we DO have is a projector and we watch DVDs on our frontroom wall:P

I am not saying that EVERYthing we have watched on DVD has been a good thing. Now and then something slips in and we begin to watch it and yikes! Off it goes and into the rubbish!

Now and then we go to a movie at the movie house. Usually because a movie has been recommended by dear friends who know what we would and would not appreciate in a movie:) While at these movies you see "previews" for other movies. Little teasers that get you interested in their new movie. It looks harmless. Could be good! The preveiws were funny or endearing or moving. Then you get to the movie house or rent it when it comes out and you find that it's not all that it was hyped up to be. Ugh:s

I promise I'm getting to my point...

We need to be careful of what our families watch. It's poison! ALL of it is poison to some degree. Adults are usually discerning, but children just haven't developed that part of themselves yet. Because of this we didn't allow our children to view anything before we'd seen it first. Yes I know, it sounds like overprotecting and "sheltering" the children from the real world, but the reality is that we don't HAVE to give our children the opportunities to experience debauchery, deceitfulness, covetousness, and all the other sinful human nature type things. They will experience it all on their own through the little daily things they experience anyway. And it's our responsibility to be sure they are pulled up short, shown what is right and what is wrong and help them to repent and NOT REPEAT IT!

Do WE repeat our sinful offenses? Sadly yes:( But not because we intend to, but rather because we have let down our guard again and allowed it to seep in.

Most folks believe that if a movie doesn't have "bad words" (those are always rated on a sliding scale with the "D" word being the least and the "F" word being the worst) then it should be alright. No nudity or sexual content is another goody. But what about the more subtle movies? Movies that "seem" wholesome and family oriented? Most won't notice (or remember) that there was anything wrong with it! Now I'm not saying that movies need to be all sunshine and goodness. In fact, a movie with some struggle and challenge showing in the end the reward for good and the punishment for evil is a good thing. But how extreme?

A point in case...just the other day, we pulled out our DVD collection (finally found the box and unpacked it!) and with the holidy season coming quickly upon us, we wanted to watch something more "seasonal":) Now, mind you it's been a whole year (and sometimes longer) since we'd seen these movies. Anyway, in our collection we had a movie called "Jingle All The Way". I only remembered a couple lines from the movie from seeing it several years ago (yes we haven't seen it for several years:P) Anyway, my "babies" are now 17 & 19 and we don't worry quite as much about some little things. Soooo, we watched it. OH MY GOODNESS!!!

After the movie we watched the "special features" and listened to the actors, producer and director and crew members give their take on the movie. What a huge difference in what WE got out of it! They touted it as a family value type movie. They said that it was a story about valuing our children, wanting to be good parents, loving each other and strength of family. Yikes!

Here's what we got out of it...:

The father is a schmuck! He NEVER keeps a promise, he lies to his child, wife and neighbor, he is a workaholic, and he doesn't seem to get into any trouble for the things he does.

He breaks into a radio station and assualts a DJ for a gift certificate for an action figure for his son, that he lied to his wife about (he said he already bought it), he promised his child that he would get it for him because he was trying to get his son to like him because he broke yet another promise by not attending his sons karate demonstration and award ceremony.

The wife treats her husband as if he's completely stupid and unworthy as a parent and husband (in front of their son on several occasions). She is obviously smarter and more caring than he is and superior to all the  men in her life (such as her carousing neighbor).

The son is disrespectful, rude, selfish and spoiled. No one reprimands him for his ultimate behavior. Although the father tries to, he is thwarted by the wife who thinks he deserves this treatment from his son. The father becomes a smoozy cupcake as he does all these illegal things to make his son happy by getting him this doll that he believes will make him happy and "anyone who doesn't get one is a loser"!

The authority of a police officer is made a joke throughout the entire movie. This "stupid" officer cannot seem to catch his criminal (and the father is definitely a criminal), he is cocky and gets himself blown up (not funny at all), always runs into things, drops things and is generally an idiot.

Divorce is glorified through a childs eyes when the sons best friend tells him that life has been great with his father ever since the divorce. Then tells the son that maybe HIS parents should get a divorce "it's don't wonders for HIS dad"...yikes!

The father phones to speak to the mother and the son answers the phone. He ignores his fathers request to speak to his mother and eventually ends up shouting at his father and accusing him of NEVER keeping his promises. The mother walks in just as the child says this and slams the phone down and runs upstairs...the words from the mothers mouth is to curse her husband and blame HIM for it all.

If that's not enough, there is a postman that is a completely hopeless idiot! He lies about letter bombs (until he blows up the officer), he assaults a woman, he drinks, he bashes his own father and so on.

The neighbor (the sons best friends father) is catting around to ALL the women in the neighborhood and it's alluded to in several scenes that he's probably having affairs with them as he ultimately tries to do with the mother!

And for those of you that do "Santa", it's depicted as a racket that takes advantage of human kind and exploits children (which I think is true but that's me:P) and paints Christmas out as the ultimate "gotta have it" holiday. Now I agree to some extent with this theory, however, NOTHING was depicted as tradition or godly or blessed about the season at all.

The message? ALL men are stupid and worthless, all women are superior and/or loose and all authority figures (parents, police officers, mentors etc) are not deserving of respect. It's alright to break the law as long as you are doing it for the right reasons (like trying to steal, and abuse others to get what you want as long as it's a gift for some poor spoiled child). Lying is alright as long as it gets you out of trouble and family has no value unless there's something in it for you (like a toy!).

Needless to say this movie will not be in our library of movies anymore:P

It was yet another lesson for us that we need to go through our movies once again and see which ones we let slide for whatever reasons.

I got to thinking about it last night...I wonder if it has become more apparent to us because we are prayerfully striving to have stronger family values, stronger faith and a stronger relationship with our Heavenly Father? I pray this is so. :)

Just another little morsel of food for thought:)

God be with thee!

Sister Lori