It has been an extremely busy two weeks for us since I last posted on my blog. I have so much to write about and lots of photos to share of my brother's wedding and other things going on around here, but I have to start with this.
We had our national election 4 days after the American election (and I thank God that I live in a democracy), and while I have not been a political person at all in the past, when the government we have had for the last 9 years started to march through my front door I was woken up out of my apathy. I blogged about it here not long ago.
Last Saturday night we saw a blessed change to the right and we now have a new government with a man called John Key as our primeminister. He's married, has children, is proud to remind all of New Zealand that his wife is the love of his life.
He has good people with him in his party and I'm just so relieved that now we don't have to sell up and move to Australia - which is what we were contemplating if the Labour government and Helen Clark got into power again. I'm just so relieved! I feel as though now I can settle back again into my apathy and enjoy life and the simple pleasures of my family and home without having to worry about what the government is going to do next.
But I know it would be irresponsible to relax completely. I don't trust any politician, even the ones I like, but I do feel as if the pressure has been lifted somewhat.
And Helen Clark - our former primeminister - that woman who I have lost sleep over in the past because she worried me so much, who dared to march into my kitchen with her social agenda, has gone. Gone! She has resigned, along with her deputy who was just as bad.
John Key is a self-made millionaire who was raised in a poor home by his Austrian Jewish mother after his father died. His mother escaped Nazi Germany during the war. His wife is a stay-at-home mother and they are a close family from all accounts. He is very family-oriented and his ambition is to make New Zealand what it once used to be - the envy of all the world. He is a young politician who has only been in government 6 years, but I like that about him. He is not a career politician.
I have been reading with great interest all the entries on Sarah Palin. And I've decided to write about it from my perspective - here on the other side of the world.
Over the last few days our radio talkback shows have been full of Sarah Palin, because like it or not, whatever government America elects it will effect the other Western countries of the world. Also, I am interested in this election myself because I love America almost as much as I love my own country of New Zealand.
Whatever Sarah Palin's role as a wife and mother should be in the opinion of many here, I can tell you this much, that if I had the power to vote for her and John McCain, I would be the first one at the polling booth on election day, and I would be strongly urging every person I came in contact with to do the same. I might even be driven enough to help in the campaign.
I speak from 9 years of the experience of having a woman primeminister of my country who is the very antithesis of Sarah Palin. In fact, our woman primeminister makes Hilary Clinton look like a saint.
Our New Zealand primeminister is a woman - she is a career politician, conveniently married, no children (by choice), and is a feminist. She has done more to damage my country than all of the former primeministers put together. Her goal has been to change the moral fibre of what used to be one of the more conservative, most God-fearing countries in the world, and she is succeeding.
In spite of the fact that she has no experience whatsoever with babies and children, she has almost self-appointed herself to be what we New Zealanders say with tongue in cheek, our 'nanny.' Here are some of the laws that she has encouraged and has allowed to be voted in.
* Legal Prostitution
* Legalising Civil Unions
* Parental discipline is now illegal - even 'timeout' is dubious.
* She threatened to curb freedom of speech for the Press
* She has curbed freedom of speech for poitical parties during election year
* She persecuted a fundamental Bible believing (albeit slightly cultic) religious organization
* Sex education in primary schools
These are just a few of the many dangerous and anti-family laws that she has allowed.
We are facing an election this November too, and me and many other christians that we know are getting down on our knees and pleading with God to get this woman out of government before we lose all our freedoms.
I felt compelled to write this, because I was getting frustrated reading many of the blogs about Sarah Palin and whether or not it was right to vote for her and support her. When you are confused or under dilemma, think of the situation we have here in New Zealand. Be grateful to God, cry out and thank Him with all your heart that you have such a woman to vote for. As a caller to a talkback radio show said yesterday, "if only we had a Sarah Palin here in New Zealand."
Last night I was thinking of all those old western movies we used to watch when we were children, and how so much of the trouble was over water rights. It seems nothing ever changes - mankind still fights over water. We have a bit of a fight on our hands at the moment with our local council, the head of which is the Mayor.
I was awake in the night writing letters to the mayor or trying to think up a new way we neighbours could band together to take on the local government. It's also incredible to realize how gullible some people are in thinking that the local council will always be there to help them.
I don't think that a letter will make any difference, nor will any action taken on our part - so this is my little protest right here. In spite of our so-called democratic society, it really is in name only - we the people don't appear to have any power over the powers-that-be, whether it is local government or central government. They're all 'tarred with the same brush', as my grandfather used to say.
We have a water problem in our new neighbourhood. It's not a lack of water, but too much water. With all the rains lately a new Spring sprung in a back pasture, and overflowed through two properties (almost flooding my friend's house), and rushed down the road, covering the road with water in two places, and creating a flowing stream of water outside our driveways.
This is a new subdivision, and the original owner has copies of letters he wrote to the council when the subdivision was being planned to explain the risk of this Spring which pops up every now and then. His letters were ignored and the council have failed to do anything about it, creating this problem now and threatening our homes.
A meeting was held by the council in our street last night to discuss the matter - or I should say tell everyone what was going to happen. My husband went along. The council will not admit that they were at fault, they want to dig a great big trench right across the front of our properties and under our driveways to carry the water away. We want to know who is going to maintain that trench, and we want some accountability shown by the council.
Several of the neighbours raised the issue that the council are at fault, and the man had the temerity to suggest that if we wish to take the matter further we will need to contact our lawyers! This is fighting talk, if you ask me... and they jolly well know that they're at fault. I would like to know if the Mayor knows what his little nazi is suggesting. One thing I learned when I lived in the USA from the man I used to work for, is that it's always better to side-step these little powerhungry beurocrats and go straight to the top. I also now realize why my grandfather always used to swear (unusual for him) when local government or politics was mentioned, and why my father-in-law only lasted one term on a local council. It is not a place for men of integrity, it would seem.
My husband said that the little council man was trying to drive a wedge between us neighbours last night, but thankfully, due to our little bonfire and the fact that we have all met socially, we are all friends, and we're all on the same side of the fight. We will see today what is to be done about it - we are thinking of calling a meeting with the neighbours again to see how we can get the council to admit responsibility and show some real solutions for us. If nothing comes of it, we might just have to settle for a letter
Arggghh - it almost makes me mad enough to march down to the council buildings myself and demand an audience with the mayor. An outraged pregnant woman is not something he would deal with everyday, I think.
We are Royalists, my husband and I. We love the Queen of England and the Royal family. We might not like some of the things they do - in fact we might not like an awful lot of the things they do or condone alot of their behaivour, but we still love who they are and what they stand for and what they are to us historically.
We still have the Queen on our money here in New Zealand. We are still part of the Commonwealth and we still sing God Save the Queen. We love watching all the pomp and circumstance on the tv too. If there's one thing that the Brits know how to do properly, it is that they know how to put on a show with class and style, and with the grandeur that alot of these traditional ceremonies deserve.
I read this yesterday and heard this, and I say "Bravo Prince Charles". It's great that there is someone left in the world who is fighting to be the voice of reason among the armies of the insane and wicked multicorporations who are fast-tracking the world to food shortages and famine.
One day I would love to visit Prince Charle's garden at Highgrove. It's on my list of things to do before I'm too old to get out of my rocking chair. I also have his (very expensive) book about Highgrove on my birthday/Christmas gift wishlist. He's the organic, self-sustaining wannabe guru, and I want his garden. His money and his staff would also be a big help.
My husband and I are reading through it together and we are really enjoying it. It is written by an Australian woman - Adrienne Langman. She and her husband- in their 50's - uprooted from their little townhouse in the suburbs of busy Sydney and bought a 15 acre farm miles away from their family and friends with the goal in mind of becomming self-sufficient.
The book is revealing in the way that she outlines how the rising cost for oil is going to ultimately effect the cost of our food - not only food, but other vital resources that we rely on. She mentions how one day she wrote down every single little thing she did in a day, and at the end of that day added up which of those things, items used, activities etc, involved oil at some stage, either in the making of the product or the carrying out of its use, and just about everything involved oil at some point - even down to the headache medicine in her cabinet.
As an ex-city girl myself, this is all fairly new to me, although my husband and I have been slowly moving in this direction for awhile - but this book makes us feel that we need to fast-track our plans... today would be good!
She makes me realize how much a part of the consumer-driven society I have become. I love one of the quotes in there where she discovers that we are "wonderful mice on magnificant wheels". How financial security and affluence is driven by the idea of confidence, whether or not there's much money around or not. As long as people believe there is financial security, then it will remain stable, that this idea is driven by big business and governments.
I feel as though the light-bulb is only just starting to go on in my head. Before I had a vague notion of this - I was fumbling around in that direction, but this book somehow has made it all come together in my mind. I'm a daily reader of Rhonda's blog Down To Earth, and it was she who happened to mention this book only a week or so ago. I enjoy Rhonda's blog for the practical and simple ideas she has on getting back to basics and how to slowly erase the impact and the brainwashing that our materialistic society ingrains on our life and lifestyles.
It made me realize how mankind went wrong way back in the beginning of the 20th century. How all those industrial inventions were seen to be so wonderful and labour-saving, and how mankind gave himself a big pat on the back for being so clever, and I thought how very stupid we reallly are, because the making of alot of those inventions and so-called modern conveniences are now draining our earth of resources and causing wars and famines and misery and have only given a few of us such a short period (barely 100 years) of affluence and the easy life. Our ancestors had it the right way with their daily, back-breaking lifestyles, but a happier and longer- lasting and sustainable society.
As a result of all this study and revelation, my husband and I are at the crossroads of our future, I think. We have several options open to us, and it is just a matter of choosing the right path.
Adrienne Langman writes in such an interesting and easy-to-read way. It's an easy book to read - chatty, almost. I don't think it's available on amazon, but I asked at my local library and they had a new copy just in. I think Random House have it availble for sale as well.
After reading the news this morning, I think I'd like to stay in bed.
I think I'll just pull my curtains, lock all the doors, and as Ree from Pioneer Woman is often want to say, I'll crawl under the table and suck my thumb.
The world has gone absolutely and completely MAD - of this I'm convinced - even more so after reading this:
and our national talkback radio station and the national headlines are flooded with outrage over this sentencing in our courts yesterday in the area near to where we used to live:
This following opinion column appeared in our largest national newspaper this morning. As far as I know this man is not a christian, but from what he says there have been other columnists writing recentlyon the same thing.
I'm sure that this is not unique to New Zealand only, and I was pleased to read it. This article almost made me think I was reading the book of Revelation about the lawlessness that abides during the last days. Does anyone else see that parallel?
I'm not sure if I can post the article in it's entire length - I tried and all the photos came up as well, so just to err on the side of caution, I've extracted a few excerpts and if you want to read the entrie article, you can go here:
(If someone can please tell me how to link properly I would be ever so grateful).
Garth George: Love can save us from this moral vacuum
"Things must be getting really grim when two newspaper commentators - Wellington veteran Rosemary McLeod and former Listener editor Finlay Macdonald - on the same day opine that the increasingly parlous state of our society is the result of the collapse of traditional morality rather than social dysfunction.
McLeod, writing last Sunday, suggested we have lost our moral compass. Not quite right. What we have done is take a secular humanist hammer to it and, over the past 30 years or so, smashed it bit by bit into smithereens.
For centuries our morality, and to a large extent our law, was based firmly on the Ten Commandments. But since the 1960s the precepts of the commandments have been corrupted, altered and even nullified by the liberal propensities of the state, which has assumed the right to decide what is morally acceptable........"
.............." "You shall not covet."
But we live in a society in which covetousness is rampant. We want more money, bigger houses, flasher cars, label clothing, sumptuous food, overseas holidays ... Instead of loving people and using things, we love things and use people.
So we have finance company collapses, a huge increase in mortgagee sales, repossessions, billions spent on gambling, voracious profiteering and increasing poverty - and scores of thousands of Kiwis living empty lives of quiet desperation.............."
If I keep a book, it is usually becauseI have read it, and it has become a friend.
I'm not one for romances or scary thrillers. Mostly I like the classics and old children's books and a few modern books, like the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith.
I have to tell you about one of my favourite children's books, and it is from the series, "The Family From One End Street" written by Eve Garnett. My treasured first edition was published in 1937.
Last night I was wanting something to read in bed that was light and easily picked up and entertaining. I don't get much time to read in bed at night, so when I get a few moments it is a rare treat. So I went into our library and picked out my old friend, Holiday At The Dew Drop Inn by Eve Garnett. It is the third book in the Family From One End Street series.
I love books that are innocent. No bad language, no insinuations to a less seemly side of life, and a book that transports me back to a world which was cleaner, healthier, friendly and sensible, and these books do that for me. They are essentially children's books, but I discovered them as an adult and love them. It is an English book, but if you know Milly Molly Mandy or the Miss Read books or the Just William books, or the Swallows and Amazons books, then the One End Street books are of the same genre.
It is about an English working-class family. Their father, Mr. Ruggles is a dustman. Their mother, Mrs. Ruggles is a washer-woman who's richest middle-class client is Mrs. Beasley who hands down her neice's cast off clothing to the little Ruggles, of whom there are seven. They live in a small tennement flat at the end of a street which I would say resembles that of Coronation Street (not that I watch that programme). The parents are proud of their children "all-growing-up-fine-and-strong-one-behind-the-other-like-steps-in-a-ladder-and-able-to-wear-each-others-clothes-right-down-to-the-baby, so that really it was only two sets, girl and boy, summer and winter, Mrs. Ruggles had to buy, except Boots. A great deal was heard about boots in the Ruggles household..... Nearly every week one of the little Ruggles could be seen running with a boot in either hand to the shop, or returning with a bulky parcel badly wrapped in old brown paper." (excerpt from the first book). The books follow the adventures of the family in their struggle for survival and their collective love of life. Every character in these books is charming!
The children are:
Lily-Rose
Kate
James and John (the twins)
Peg
Jo (junior)
William (the baby)
Kate, the second daughter is found to be 'bright' and wins a scholorship to go to the grammar school. The second and third books are mostly about Kate when she goes to spend her holidays in the countryside at the Dew Drop Inn (a thatched cottage), with Mr. and Mrs. Wildgoose. Holiday at the Dew Drop Inn is my favourite of the three books.
Here is a charming excerpt I read out last night to my husband. Sometimes there are just some sentences I have to read out loud.
"They were hardly out of the taxi before Mr. Wildgoose, in his shirt-sleeves, green baize apron, and one of his gayest pullovers, appeared in the porch and came towards them throwing up his arms in greeting.
Kate, who had prepared to shake hands, was a little disconcerted - no hand being available to shake. She had never kissed Mr. Wildgoose. Was she expected to? She rather hoped not, though she could not have said why, for she liked him very much! But Mr. Wildgoose solved the problem himself by clapping both hands on her shoulders and lightly kissing the top of her hat!
"Well! Here we are again!' he exclaimed, "but no less welcome."
Here is another excerpt from when Kate goes up to her old little bedroom. Mrs. Wildgoose is giving her the choice of the big bedroom or the little bedroom she had before.
"both beds is made up so it won't make no difference which you choose.'
'Oh, Mrs. Wildgoose, the little one! I'd like the little one, please!' said Kate.
So the little one it was - the dear little white-walled room with its deep-set window framed in thick thatch and through which the sprays of roses and honeysuckle were now almost climbing into the room itself. And outside the row of orangy-coloured cottages, and behind them the fields, the little wood, and the bare faraway hills. Everything - just as she had remembered it!
Kate stood gazing out, entranced, and it was some time before she became aware that insistent voices were calling from below.
'Tea! Tea! Come along down!'
You can still buy these books, and I found new editions by Penguin on www.amazon.com. I found mine in second-hand bookshops years ago.
For a little taste of old English life and sweetness, I recommend them whole-heartedly. They'll become your friends too, I guarantee!
After reading all my favourite blogs this morning, and posting on my own, I thought I would check out the New Zealand news headlines on www.nzherald.co.nz
One of the main headlines said:
Public React to the Idea of Parents Choosing Their Babies' Sex
I am truly shocked by this. It takes a lot to shock me too. I have seen enough of the world in my 36 years to know there are some pretty evil things out there, and I was raised in a conservative household where proper, polite behaivour meant that you did not show overt emotion or shock at things said or done around you.
And to think that the current government is considering making legislation on this! 4 more months until the election - what else are these socialist, liberal-minded, evil politicians going to do in that time to destroy my beautiful country?
I think it's still legal to speak my opinions on the government, though I'm not sure, but I'm beyond caring, actually.
The book 'Cranford' by Elizabeth Gaskell is actually one of my favourite reads. It's even up there with Jane Eyre and David Copperfield for me. When I first read it I fell in love with Miss Matty and all the dear ladies (and men) of Victorian Cranford.
I had heard that they were making a movie of it (produced by the same people who did Pride and Prejudice), and I was patiently waiting for it to come out on DVD, because I knew that our national TV stations would not play it anytime soon. I don't know who does the programming for our tv stations, but they need serious help. When they put a classic like Bleak House which has received unprecedented praise in Britain on at a time like 11.30pm on a weeknight, I just know they are not going to oblige us with Cranford.
And then I got pregnant, and then I got bad morning sickness, and then I discovered YouTube and that some dear kind soul has uploaded beautiful movies in segments for the impatient classic-loving minority who can't wait for the DVD.
And so I watched Cranford, and so I fell in love all over again with dear Miss Matty (played by Judi Dench).
It is beautiful. It made me laugh and it made me sob my little, hormone-driven heart out - it is quite sad, but it is also wonderfully uplifting, and hillariously funny and heart-breakingly sad and just....... beautiful.
I love it even more than Sense and Sensibility. And it has a happy ending, which I like.
There are just two things in it that disappointed me greatly.
One of the minor characters blasphemes once (I'll be deleting it off when I get the DVD because as usual, it's completely unnecessary), and there is a scene where something immoral is insinuated. Others might not mind it, but I am fussy. Otherwise it would be perfect.
They have actually combined three of Elizabeth Gaskell's books into the one movie, but the Cranford book is the main theme and I didn't mind the other two being in there either - it kind of added to the story and made it almost Dickensish with it's interweaving plots and fascinating characters.
I love Mr. Holbrook, played by the same actor who played Squire Hamley in Wives and Daughters. I love kindhearted Mr. Carter and I've always admired Francesca Annis since she played Tuppence. She plays a haughty, sad Lady Ludlow in Cranford. Mary, Sophy and Jessie are my friends, and Captain Brown won my heart over with his love of Dickens. Miss Deborah Jenkins is delightful in spite of her conservative ways. I love Miss Poll and Mrs. Forrester and Martha and Jem Hearne.
The story weaves around the elderly lives of Miss Matty and her sister, Deborah - both spinsters and their terribly victorian town of Cranford - a place run by cordialty and convention in spite of the rest of the country rushing to modernise. Customs must be upheld and the old ways adhered to. It is about sacrifice - Miss Matty's sacrifice of her happiness to help her family - it is about love won and lost and sought again. It is about the right thing to do - following your duty rather than your heart. It is about the harsh realities of the world - about survival and charity and kindness. That the rich and poor suffer in much the same way. It is about family and friendships and doing good to your neighbour. It is human and real - I think that is why I loved it so much - I know that the world could be like that - maybe it once was long ago before we forgot how to live that way - that we're all like that really, or we want to be, underneath all our busy, rushed, complex lives of our modern world.
But Miss Matty is my favourite - I hope I will be like her when I am an old lady.
My christianbook.com catalogue arrived in the mail today which was nice. Particularly nice just at the moment because I have plenty of time to read it. However, as I was flicking through the pages I actually realized that there is probably very little in there that I really want to read. Some of the subject matter of the books I just get a little frustrated about - books that try to prove the Bible is real, for instance, or books that expostulate on the 'real Jesus'. These just annoy me.
There are some authors in there who I won't consider reading at all, because once I worked for a christian leader and 'encountered' these people in the flesh.
And there are other books that I just consider 'fluff'. Very nice, but probably a waste of time.
Now, you may think I'm being quite critical and judgemental, and in fact I probably am, but I've spent my life in christian environments and have been privileged to know many wonderful christian leaders both from my hometown in New Zealand where my parents were well-known and where my little town actually produced quite a few dynamic speakers and christian leaders for such a little place, and I've met other international leaders as I spent 10 years working in christian ministries.
So what I do know is this - they're all human, we all make mistakes, sometimes God directs someone to write about to encourage, teach, help, and minister to other believers for various reasons and that's great, because we're all at different stages in our faith - still learning, still growing.
Now alot of this probably doesn't make much sense actually, because I'm trying to be careful in how I put it, but what I'm trying to say is that there are actually very few christian leaders that I trust to interpret the Scriptures correctly and accurately and to speak into my life. There are many, many wonderful writers and speakers, but how do I know they are telling me the truth? Can I rely on my own knowledge of God and His Word, to help me discern what is right and true? David Wilkerson said once that the Holy Spirit will tell you if something is of God or not in these last days - but how can I be sure that I am listening properly with a pure heart? One thing I do know is that Jesus told us to keep things simple - to have faith like a child. I loved it when He showed me this many years ago when some close friends were getting into the whole Calvanism/Armenianism arguments. I couldn't understand the fervency of these people in what they were studying on this issue - it sounded good, but it didn't seem right, and that's when I believe God brought that verse to my mind. But that's just an example of what I'm trying to say.
As I was looking through the catalogue I thought to myself, what books would I recommend? I'm more of a classic literature lover and old children's books lover than spiritual teaching books - but which ones do I absolutely trust beyond a doubt - and actually most of the ones I do like aren't even in the catalogue. Let me share them with you.
First of all - the one person who has impacted my life since childhood is David Wilkerson. I love his ministry and the way he speaks passionately about God with messages that are relevent to me and my life and faith and future, and are not, in any way, 'fluffed up.' His website is www.tscnyc.org but here are two of his books which I have loved.
The Vision - I used to read this over and over as a child - practically memorized it, and when I read it 20 years later it is frightening and exciting how much of it has occured already.
God's Plan to protect His people in the coming depression. This is a wonderful book - for all of us who are thinking ahead to the perhaps not-so-distant future when food and money might not be as plentiful as we have it now, this book addresses the absolute need for a good relationship and faith in God in the days to come.
Another author who I absolutely love - she has changed my life, and I have had the privilege of meeting her in person, is Elisabeth Elliot. She is a straight-talker which I like. As an unmarried woman I read her book,
Let Me Be A Woman which changed my attitude towards marriage.
When I was serving on the mission field I read her book,
A Chance to Die - a biography of Amy Carmichael who is my own personal Hero of the Faith. I have loved Amy Carmichael since I was little, and
He is a New Zealander now living in America and has a wonderful way of teaching christians how to witness effectively and also showing us exactly what true repentance is. In the old days - when I was a child - he used to stand up in Cathedral Square which is in the center of my city of Christchurch and tell the lunching masses about Christ - often with strong opposition from the resident wizard and other hecklers. If you have never heard of him, or seen him in action, check out this clip from YouTube - it's inspiring!
I absolutely love this new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. When it comes to the classics I love I am a severe critic and I began watching this movie with a somewhat cynical mind that it would not live up to the older version with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet which is a favourite. But I have to say, and I'm happy to say, that this new version far exceeds the old one.
I am not able to do much these days due to the severe morning sickness, so I had a few hours escape yesterday while I watched the entire film on YouTube. Some dear soul has uploaded it to youtube in segments so you can watch it for free.
Sense and Sensibility is my most favourite story of Jane Austens. I prefer it even to Pride and Prejudice. I don't know why that is, but I just do. I think my personality identifies with Elinor - I am reserved and think much of public conventions, but I identify with Marianne too, as I am a romantic and I think like a romantic and I have an idealistic view of what the world should be like.
I think they have done a much better job with the actors in this movie. The men are nicer and more realistic as far as age goes, and the scenery and sets are exquisite. At first I didn't like the mother, but she grew on me as the movie progressed, and I loved the little girl who played Margaret. They go more into the story of Willoughby and Brandon, and it follows the book almost to the letter - which I like, including the scene where they dine with Mrs. Ferrars and are insulted. I always enjoyed that scene in the book and was disappointed they left it out in the older version, but it's in this new one, so I am satisfied. There are a few diversions from the original but it doesn't matter as they are inconsequential, and it actually added to the story, I think, though I can't believe I'm saying that. I think I still prefer the scene in the older version where Marianne goes looking for Willoughby's house in the rain and quotes 'Love is not love...." while the wind and rain whip around her face. She strikes you as such a tragic figure in that scene, and they haven't done that quite as well in the new version, but it's still ok.
There are only two parts in this new version that I don't really like - the beginning and the ending. Use caution with the beginning if you have younger viewers. It's only about 1 minute long, but it focuses on Willoughby and the young ward of Colonal Brandon's, and it puts into pictures what Jane Austen disguised in words - if you get my drift. You can fastforward the 1 minute and it will not take anything away from the rest of the film. It is completely unnecessary, but from what I have read before Andrew Davies (the screenwriter) has always looked for places in Jane Austen's writings where he can sensualise it - I believe he has had difficulty in the past, so I guess he found an opening for something like that in this new film.
That said, the only other part is the ending which didn't quite sit well with me. I liked the ending. It was satisfactory, but I felt that in a movie which is essentially melencholic, they made the ending comedic. I would have liked to have seen it handled better.
All that said, if you have a spare few hours, or are bedrid like me, and have access to the internet, this is a superb, wonderful wonderful adaptation of a beautiful Jane Austen story. I think you will like it.
I am about to have a rant - please forgive my full-of-pregnancy-hormones-I'm-feeling-sorry-for-myself- moodiness. I am not bitter - just jealous!
I was thinking about the different types of morning sickness this morning as I dragged myself out of bed to have a shower. It has just taken me exactly one hour to eat my breakfast - a small plate of cornflakes and peaches and a tall glass of water with my SuperMom vitamin, and a small glass of freshly squeezed carrot juice, which actually was the only thing I enjoyed.
There's the type 1 morning sickness - where the girls say they feel sick, they're off their food, they don't have much energy, they might throw up once or twice, but - and this is the one that really gets me - if they just keep busy and distracted - they'll get through. Good for them - that's really great, and I'm really jealous.
Then there's the type 2 morning sickness - where you roll over in bed and you throw up. Where your husband has to put his aftershave on in the laundry with all the doors shut, or you'll throw up. Where brushing your teeth makes you throw up and just lifting your eyes from one spot on the bed makes the world go woozy., where your midwife, in a past pregnancy, thought about sending you to hospital to put you on a drip because of dehydration. Lucky me - that's the type I get - and I'm only 5 weeks along - it's not supposed to get really bad until 6 weeks.
Then there's the type 3 morning sickness, and those are the ones who don't get it at all. Now, that makes me really, really jealous!
I love babies - I'm so grateful that I can have babies when there are so many who can't. I've already bonded with my baby, and I can't wait to see who he or she is in January 2009, and I know all of this morning sickness is worth it in the end,
but I do not like the first 4 months of pregnancy - at all!
One of my favourite hymns is one that you don't hear so often anymore.
There's A Wideness In God's Mercy
In fact, I didn't hear it at all until I was in my 20's and living in the USA. I heard it being played by Rudy Atwood who used to play regularly on the Old Fashioned Revival Hour Radio broadcast in the USA.
Here are two of my most-loved verses of the hymn.
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in His justice,
Which is more than liberty.
For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of our mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.
While I think that you haven't heard the best of this hymn until you've heard Rudy Atwood's piano version, here is a link to a youtube site where it is being played on the organ.
It's a beautiful sunny morning here - I have a pile of things I want to get done during these school holidays, but right now I'm just enjoying having a slow, relaxed morning and enjoying the different places in my house where the sun is pouring in. I love sitting on the carpeted floor against the window with the sun on my back. The children are exploring my wool bag at the moment and trying out 'knitting' child-style.
Last night Robin and I, (sometimes I can bribe him into watching a chick flick with me), watched the movie Becoming Jane for the first time. Last year when it first came out one of my movie-loving girlfriends and I indulged in an afternoon to go and see it. When we got to the theatre and lined up to buy our tickets, we saw that the movie Miss Potter was still showing, and we both looked at each other and knew that we woud not be watching Becoming Jane that day! The two of us and two elderly girlfriends were the only 4 in the theatre - we loved Miss Potter - all 4 of us were crying by the time it finished, but it was a good, sad, but happy ending sort of cry.
I must admit I have put off watching Becoming Jane because as a lover of classic english literature, I am a purist, and I had read a review of Becoming Jane by another purist that was very critical of the movie. I hate the way some of these modern writers change these beautiful old stories and modernise the language which takes the beauty from it, I believe. I mean if you think about it, what arrogance to think they can improve on the genius of these writers!
As an example of what I mean I have to compare the BBC 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice and the more recent version. The proposal scene in the new one makes me cringe! They've updated the language and made it sound corny, whereas in the BBC one they stuck to the original script. I know lots of people love the new one and I do think it is a visual feast, but remember I am a self-confessed purist on this topic and that's why I can't stomach the script.
But back to Becoming Jane.... I got about 20 minutes into the movie and just about turned it off. I thought they took great liberties with her. I knew before watching it that the movie would draw a rather long bow with her story - a Hollywood version, as we would say here in NZ. I hate that people who are not familiar with her writings or her biography will think that this is a true account of Jane Austen. There were elements of truth in the movie, but it used great artistic license which made it an interesting tale but not necessarily an accurate one. I thought the script writing was poor as well (although who am I to critique on that really), but some of the one-liners they gave Maggie Smith (one of my favourite actresses) were terrible. They complicated the love of writing that Jane Austen had, turning her passion of writing into some expert on English grammar that completely lost me, the viewer.
As much as I love Jane Austen and her writings she is not my favourite classic writer. Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte have that place. I have all the Jane Austen books, and all the good adaptations that have been made (Sense and Sensibility with Kate Winslet, is my favourite although I hear the new one is good too), but I will not be purchasing a copy of Becoming Jane for my own library. I didn't like it enough to watch again.
When we were away on holiday, I re-read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. The last time I read this book I was about 13 years old, and I remember being fascinated at that age by all the details of the concentration camp. I haven't read it since then, partly because I don't really like reading about all the horror of the camps and the sad things that happened to people there, but once I opened up the book again, I couldn't put it down.
This time I found that I came away with such a different impression of the story. It wasn't so much the details of the camp that had me 'captivated', but I found myself being drawn to the actual Ten Boom family and feeling like I was right there with them in their dining room, or shop or visiting family. There is one story in there where they had a mother and new born baby come to them for refuge, but they could only shelter her for a few nights while they searched for a more remote place, as the walls of the houses were paper thin, and there was a danger that the neighbours would hear the baby. They asked a visiting minister to take the mother and baby back to his farm house, but the man refused and was horrified that the Ten Booms were 'breaking the law', and said that he and his family might lose their lives through the crying baby. Mr. Ten Boom replied that he and his family would consider it a privilege to lose their lives for another life - even this baby.
The one thing that struck me the most about this family was their love for everyone God brought across their paths. As I was reading the book, I thought of the verse in Proverbs 31, "and in her tongue is the law of kindness." This seemed to be their motto - even towards the horrible guards and cruel men and women of the camps.
This is the lesson I learned from this book reading it again 23 years later. It is so easy in our modern world to get caught up in the narrow vision of looking out for self and looking down my nose at others who are not as well off or as educated or as well bought up, or even as pious as me. Of thinking about my survival or my future or my comfort or my wants and needs over those of others. It was such a challenge to me! Me, who is really at heart quite a selfish person, I think.
I think the Ten Booms had learned to look at other people, even the vilest, most unloveable people through the eyes of Jesus - stripping away the layers of the world and seeing them as eternal souls.
So I am trying to cast off my pretended sophisticated air and worldly world view and just be kinder to people that I meet. I was ashamed of myself recently when out at a public place, and I saw a group of muslim women and children taking a break under a tree, and I know the Lord prompted me to go up and introduce myself to them and say hi and welcome to NZ or whatever, but I looked at them with hostile eyes and ignored them and just drove off. I wish I could turn back time and undo that - but it was a good lesson to me.
I really loved reading this book again. I don't even own a copy (I read the copy that was in the bookshelf at the holiday home we were staying at), so I will be looking out to buy one soon.
We have been busy here over the last few days, but nothing really worth blogging about, so today I thought I'd write a bit about me for those of you who read this, and get to know a bit about my past and my present.
Here in NZ we have something we call an 'O.E.' which is short for (NZers are good at shortening words), Overseas Experience. It's usually for teenagers who have left school or university grads who are going to experience the world for a while before settling down. Typically they go to England or Australia as we have close associations with those countries and it's easy to get work visas.
Well, when I left school I decided that I wanted to be a missionary. My parents were in ministry at the time and we had taken numerous missions trips growing up if it was just witnessing on the corner of the local town street, singing in churches or visiting foreign countries. This is something my dh and I want to do with our children too. It's a really great way of putting faith into practice.
So after leaving school I worked for a year to raise funds and then went off to a missionary training school. That was a springboard for me to many different areas of missions over the following years. When I think about those years - which were about 10 years in total from when I started to the day I got married, I'm amazed at how many times God was faithful to protect me, provide for me and give me such rich experiences that enhance my day to day life now.
When I first started out it was at the grass-roots of missions work - working in Indonesia with unreached people - Jungle villages where the people had never seen a white person before, let alone heard about Jesus. Trusting God as non-English speaking men drove us over a dirt trail through dense bush while we jostled around in the back of an open truck. Eating snake and dog and goodness knows what else. Sleeping on floor boards in houses that looked like the house on Little House on the Praire (though not as homely), having rats run over us in the night, learning how to be modest while taking a bath in the river with the entire village looking on, but loving the gentle, intelligent, unselfish people who lived there, and who were just soaking in the living words of God's Bible. We were followed by secret police everywhere we went, but they left us alone as long as we didn't do 'street witnessing'. We spoke with dear Christian believers who had suffered much at the hands of their families for converting to Christianity. God delivered us miraculously many times from tricky situations. I have experienced life in the northern villages of Thailand and crossed the border into Burma to encourage the Christians there who were being persecuted and who ended up encouraging us. Refugee camps, the sound of war in the distance, hostile men, hostile border guards, threat of prison, trusting God for the next meal - when I think of those days, and how God never failed me, I wonder at my lack of faith sometimes over trivial matters happening right now.
After my time in the field, I changed to a different role of missions - and worked closely in an administrative and support role with a well-known christian leader in the USA. This was a wonderful time for me too - I learned so much, and saw many wonderful things happen, and met many wonderful well-known Christian leaders who were friendly with the man I worked for. Meeting Elisabeth Elliot Gren was one of my favourite encounters. She has impacted my life in an amazing way. I was privileged to experience that. When I came back to NZ, I continued working in full-time ministry.
So, I did not go and have the 'normal' OE that my peers and friends were having, neither did I gain a qualification in a vocation. There have been times where I've regretted that, but on the other hand I am grateful for the experiences I have had that can't be bought or exchanged for anything better, and I am privileged to say humbly that I gave my best years to God in this way.
To be honest, when I first had children I struggled with the sheer monotony of the day to day grind of nappies, feeding, training, cleaning, cooking, even the conviction to homeschool. Where was the excitement in this? I, who had had so many dramatic events happen in such a short time that most people never experience in a lifetime. It took me awhile to recognize that this was now my new missionfield. God has entrusted me with 3 souls on my little missionfield of home.
I still struggle with the day to day grind sometimes - I'm writing this more for myself actually than for anyone else's interest. I'll come back and read it when I need motivation and encouragement. LOL!
But only God knows what the future holds, and I am learning to enjoy the everyday happenings of my children and our home, and looking upon this season in my life as a missionfield too - teaching them about God's faithfulness and God's provision. It is something I am still learning myself. I am having to learn to trust God all over again for something that is happening with us right now, and which I am finding difficult to do. It's an other long story which I'll leave for another time. So I thought I'd write this today for my own encouragement too, as a reminder of what God has done in my life, and that He will not leave me forsaken and forgotten.
Welcome to my blog. I'm glad you dropped in. I'm a wife and mum to 3 children. We are blessed to live in the beautiful South Sea islands of New Zealand, and I love to write about our life and the things we do on our homestead of 10 acres, our adventures with animals and homeschooling, and the little things that touch my life and those around me. I hope you'll enjoy visiting.
The Vision - I used to read this over and over as a child - practically memorized it, and when I read it 20 years later it is frightening and exciting how much of it has occured already.
God's Plan to protect His people in the coming depression. This is a wonderful book - for all of us who are thinking ahead to the perhaps not-so-distant future when food and money might not be as plentiful as we have it now, this book addresses the absolute need for a good relationship and faith in God in the days to come.
Let Me Be A Woman which changed my attitude towards marriage.
A Chance to Die - a biography of Amy Carmichael who is my own personal Hero of the Faith. I have loved Amy Carmichael since I was little, and
Loneliness is a beautiful book.
