Love of Literature Review Series: Epic: The Story God is Telling

All I will say, is that if you have not read Epic, you must. This has to be one of our favorite books. John Eldredge, using Scripture and quotes from various famous books, shows the magnificent story God is writing for all mankind. At 104 pages long, it is an easy read, and one amazingly worth the hour or two you will put into reading it! One of the things I love is how he uses examples from other famous books to illustrate the faintest shadow they resemble of God's love story for us! :) Instead of describing the book to you, I'll just list several quotes from it, to give you an idea of it!

"And they lived happily ever after. Stop for just a moment, and let it be true. They lived happily ever after. These may be the most beautiful and haunting words in the entire library of mankind. Why does the end of a great story leave us with a lump in our throats and an ache in our hearts? If we haven't become entirely cynical, some of the best endings can even bring us to tears. Because God has set eternity in our hearts."

"Christianity, in its true form, tells us that there is an Author and that He is good, the essence of all that is good and beautiful and true, for He is the source of all these things. It tells us that He has set our hearts' longings within us, for He has made us to live in an Epic. It warns that truth is always in danger of being twisted and corrupted and stolen from us because there is a Villain in the Story who hates our hearts and wants to destroy us. It calls us up into a Story that is truer and deeper than any other, and assures us that we will find the meaning of our lives. What if? What if all the great stories that have ever moved you, brought you joy or tears-- what if they are telling you something about the true Story into which you were born, the Epic into which you have been cast?"

"Then Aslan turned to them and said, `You do not look so happy as I mean you to be.' Lucy said, `We're so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often.' `No fear of that," said Aslan. "Have you not guessed?" Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them. `There was a real railway accident," said Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are--as you used to call it in the Shadowlands--dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.' ....All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before." (C.S. Lewis "The Last Battle")
"If a story has been true to life in all its sorrow and hardness and longing, to life as we know it, and if it also offers that turn at the end in hope beyond hope, then our eyes swell with tears and we get a glimpse of Joy-- Joy, as Tolkien called it, beyond the walls of this world..."

Sorry to run on, but this books is *so* great! :) You have to read it! Please! It will, to quote Dad, "Bless you socks off" :)

Plot: ******************
Characters: ***************
Recommended age: 16+ (younger readers would not relate yet)

The Child: America's Battle For The Next Generation Premier! :)

Listen up everybody who reads this post!!!! This Saturday, November 20, 2010, is the National Premier of "The Child: America's Battle For The Next Generation". This is the documentary that Watchman Cinema has made this past summer, and that Daniel went on the filming tour for. If you could find a showing near you, take your whole family, your friends, anybody, a watch it! parentalrights.org has a page of showings (around 350 of them nation-wide!) here.
(Not all the showings are on November 20, so if Saturday wouldn't work for you any how, that's perfectly fine! :) We are really trying to get people to see this documentary, so please, please try to get to a showing! :) Thanks so much! ~Rachel and Sarah! (Below are a trailer, and the promo! Please watch them!!!)

A New Take On The Noble Woman

At Daughters of Destiny camp, we had been reflecting at one point in the week on Proverbs 31. This is a classic picture, as we all know, of Biblical femininity, and, to be honest, at times I have felt I have gotten all I could out of it without totally tearing the passage to shreds. But of course, God's word is never "figured out" entirely, and He brought something to mind as we read the chapter. But we got home, and I got busy, and I forgot the observation, until yesterday when I was at a Bible study, and it was once more brought to my attention. Here is the verse that caught my attention: "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness- Prov. 31:26" I had always taken this verse to mean, as it does, that a godly woman's speech should be wise and kind. But I also was struck by a bit of a deeper meaning. "She opens her mouth with wisdom..." This points out to me, upon closer inspection, that she knew when to speak, and when to keep her mouth shut. Notice this verse did not say: "Her mouth opens with wisdom.." No, it said, "She opens her mouth with wisdom". This is a conscious decision on the woman's part to speak. Which denote a conscious decision on her part to be silent too! :)
Let's face it girls, we all like to talk. At least, more than guys generally do! Half the time, I don't think we make a conscious decision to speak, the idea just pops into our head, and the words come out easy as a wink! :) Haven't you been talking to a friend before and after-wards thought, "Wow! I can't remember what it was we were talking about, but I had fun!" :)
We girls just like to talk for talking's sake. Everything must be discussed from saying we went to a certain place, to when we went, why we went, who went with us, what we wore, what she said, what they said, what happened, what you ate there, etc. :D
I just wonder, what would happen if, just for a week, we each tried to say only things that really mattered? Not that you couldn't have a pleasant conversation, but we could take a hint from the Proverbs 31 woman, and, instead of telling the ins and outs, and whys and wherefores thereof, of every detail of what we have been doing, we could answer any inquiries pleasantly, and ask someone else a question, giving them some talking time for once! :)
I'm sure our brothers, fathers, and even our other friends would enjoy the brief respite from chatter! This afternoon I could hear a flock of noisy blackbirds flying through the woods far before I caught sight of them! I hate to make the comparison but...don't we girls often sound like that? :D Anyway, this was just a musing I had over a verse I had assumed had one meaning, and God showed me differently! Hope it was some good to another fellow-chatter! :D ~Rachel

More Costume and Hair Inspiration! :)

Recently, I've been inspired with recreating hairstyles and costumes from movies I love! (I mean, with the idea of recreating them...haven't really done it yet! :D) Some of the sites that have helped inspire me, are these:

Rapunzel's Resources: (Particularly her movie-styles. She looks at a movie, and recreates the hairstyles! The one I linked to is Esther Summerson's hairstyle in Bleak House :) It was based off of this hairstyle below :) (Yes, I know the photo's kind of dark! :)

Another blog I already spoke of was The Story of a Seamstress:This girl is so amazing with her reproduction clothing! I have loved browsing through her blog! :) So what costumes and hairstyles do I really, really, want to recreate? :) I'll tell you!

We all remember Mrs. Bank's "Suffragette" dress in Mary Poppins! I don't like the subject of the song, but this dress is just so fun! It always reminds me of a daffodil against a spring sky! :)


Another view of the same dress...the yellow would NOT work on me so close to my face, but this would be a super fun dress to make! :)


And I know this is a bad picture, but way in there, you can see the lovely yellow underskirt-my favorite part of this dress! :)

Another dress I'd love to make is the "afternoon dress" that causes Meg March so much embarrassment in Little Women! (1994) I could not find a picture of it online, but this is the dress that reminds Belle Gardiner of "forgetmenots" and is blue with little black stripes- very pretty! :)
Here is one of the many hairstyles I'd love to do! Bleak House did have some lovely ones! :)



Lady Dedlock's hairstyle is so elegant...I'm sure a lot of it is a wig, but I would love to try it!

Another view...


A closer view of the side....

Anyway! I have to go, but hope that was interesting! :) ~Rachel

Planning a Tea! :)

Hello! Sarah and I have been doing a literature-based unit study on the Victorian era called "Where the Brook and River Meet" available at Cadron Creek. We have had such fun doing this in-depth study on the era! I am sure I would never have grown to love Sir Walter Scott, John Greenleaf Whittier, and so many others unless I had dissected and poured over long poetry, learning to find the beauty in it! :) I'm also sure that we would never have been able to quote famous poetry, know about the men and women who wrote it, learned about such "obscure" people as Erasmus of Rotterdam and legions of Greek "great ones" unless we had gone though this study! Already, the information we have gathered has been profitable- since the Victorian Era is one of my favorites, I read a lot about it, and now I have a deeper understanding of that time-period; it is SO much fun to be watching a movie and recognize a quote, or two read in an old diary about a certain author and know about that author and his life...it's amazing! :) I'd say that my knowledge about the era has quadrupled at least...this is a super thorough study, and I highly recommend it! I mean, if an author so much as made a reference to a poem in a chapter title, we read that poem, researched the author, wrote a paper about the author, then if in the poem it mentioned something about a classic ancient Greek person, we researched them....it's really great!
But any how, as a final send-off from this study, Mama commissioned us to host a Victorian tea party for a couple of friends! :) We are so excited! We plan to make a meal with all the proper courses and dozens of eatables, then have a "parlor-party" where we will play, sing, and recite anything Victorian, before going outside to take a brisk walk or play croquet! Sarah and I had great fun designing the menu! We are going to have, among other things, Beef Wellington, French lemon tart, and we are going to make Petit-Fours!!!!!!! :D I love those things! They are so...Victorian! :) I wish we girls could get "The Society For The Suppression of Gossip" down in time to perform it for our guests! That is such a funny play! (And one that Anne Shirley and her friends performed at the school concert! :) But Sarah and I are trying to learn "Night of Stars" from "Tales of Hoffman": a truly beautiful song! (The Charlotte Church version anyway! :) Well, I have to go help with dinner so goodbye! -Rachel