Family Friendly Friday (Movie Ed.)

If you’ve been reading my blog very long, you’ve probably figured out I have a love for old movies. I came by this love naturally because my mom started me out watching them at a young age. My parents were very selective of what our family watched and I am extremely thankful for the caution they exercised. It has resulted in a concern over what my own family invites into our living room. As Christians, we should be very concerned over what kind of entertainment we put in front of our children, as well as what kind we allow to fill our own minds. As I explained in a past post, for me, Fridays often meant family movie night. I am still a huge fan of it, but it can be hard to find “movies worth watching.” To that end, many of my Friday posts are just a list of family friendly movies to give you ideas, if you’re stumped on what to watch or (if you are a lover of the silver screen like me,) to reminisce some of the true classics. So whether you’ve just stumbled upon my page in search of a Friday night movie for the family or if you’re simply a kindred spirit who is familiar with Hollywood’s golden era, welcome and enjoy!

Up first…

 The Absent Minded Professor

Fred McMurray is one of my favorite actors. I mean, what’s not to like? Whether he’s portraying a dad to three boys or, as in this particular film, a bachelor that can’t remember his own wedding date, he does so fantastically.

State Fair (1945)

Midways, campgrounds, judging, concerts…I’m in heaven just writing about it. I love this movie with all the fair hoopla. After you watch this one, you find yourself Googling to find the fair nearest you (if you don’t already know that is).

Last but certainly not least…

On Moonlight Bay

Doris Day is another one of those timeless actresses. Paired with Gordon MacRae in this film, they are a vibrant duo. This is a beautiful love story with an ending that will leave you teary-eyed. I have a feeling you’ll also recognize several other characters from this picture such as Leon Ames (you just watched him in The Absent Minded Professor!), Ellen Corby (Grandma Walton anyone?), and Mary Wickes (carrying on her role as the good-natured, humorous housekeeper from White Christmas).

Tradtitional Thursday (Recipe Ed.)

Popovers

                  I love making these, mainly because they are so versatile. They can easily accompany a small casserole dish at a ladies’ luncheon or act as a substitute for cornbread at dinnertime. And the best thing about them is how easy they are to make!

Ingredients:

2 cups self-rising flour

3 Tblsp. Mayo

1 cup milk

1 tsp. sugar

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix thoroughly. Spoon into well greased muffin tins (I grease mine with Brummel and Brown yogurt-found in the butter isle-or with coconut oil). Bake in a preheated oven at 350° for about 20 minutes. Yields approximately 1 dozen regular size muffins. That’s it! 

Tough Truth Tuesday - Shine Your Light

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                  I’ve heard it discussed a lot lately. I’ve pondered it myself. How can we make the church stronger? The number of faithful Christians seems to be on a steady decline. We see more and more empty pews on Sunday and classrooms left vacant on Wednesday. It’s discouraging. We want to know why. We want to know how to turn things around. How do we build a strong church? You probably won’t like my answer. I’ll be honest-it steps on my toes as much as yours.

                  The secret to strengthening a congregation is not hiring Superman to be your minister. The secret to strengthening a congregation is not expecting the elders (or deacons for that matter) to do everything. It is not giving away door prizes each Sunday morning. It is not making worship service appealing by offering entertainment.  The secret involves asking ourselves how convicted that man sitting in the pew is. The secret to building a strong congregation is having the member’s hearts devoted to God. Now, if you’re like me, you’re reading this thinking, I’m devoted to God; I’m a New Testament Christian and I am whole-heartedly devoted to serving God, but are you really? I think it would be wise to ask ourselves some tough questions here. If we’re really honest we seek excellence in nearly all aspects of life (i.e. athletics, academics, careers, material possessions). We even set our children up for these same goals and accomplishments. Is there anything wrong with that? Absolutely not. The problem arises when we strive for excellence in all areas except the one that truly matters-walking with God.

                  When we become New Testament Christians we undergo a transfer of ownership. God becomes our Master. He reigns over us and we seek to serve Him faithfully. If we faithfully serve Him, others notice it. They notice a difference in us-a light that shines amidst a dark world. Jesus told us to let our lights shine that others might see the Father through our good works (Matt. 5:16).  We want to be lights, but sometimes we let any and everything get in the way of striving to be excellent lights. We allow our lights to grow dim, but Jesus said, “Let your light so SHINE …” Shine. We must be focused on letting our lights shine. We must constantly be praying for opportunities to serve the Lord. We cannot afford to get sidetracked. We cannot afford to be distracted. We cannot allow our lights to dim or go out. The strength of the church depends on it.

Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build.

So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

Nehemiah 2:18 KJV

Mention Worthy Monday (Links Ed.)

Christ Is Being Persecuted In Our World - I listened to this podcast recently and I have to admit, I was shocked at some of the information I heard. I guess, like many of my fellow Americans I thought that the horrible things of this nature would be on our national media outlets if they were going on, but remarkably the media has remained silent. So I share this with you to raise your awareness and to encourage you to add our brothers and sisters in Christ enduring this persecution to your prayers.

 Ex-HGTV hosts: 'If our faith costs us a TV show, so be it' - "HGTV’s statement is insufficient. They owe it to their viewers to explain why “Flip It Forward” was canceled. There may very well be another reason why they pulled the plug. But right now, it appears that they caved in to pressure from gay activists. If that’s the case, it would make HGBT not only cowardly, but also bigoted."

 Preschool Graduation Bonus Feature - On a lighter note and in honor of graduation season, I'm directing you to this cute clip of a little guy who took advantage of his mic time...

25 Beloved, Time-Tested Read Alouds for Young Children - "Charlie Tremendous Jones once stated, 'You’re the same today as you’ll be in five years except for the people you meet and the books you read.'" I absolutely love the concept and tips given by this blogger. I am familiar with most of the books she's listed, but a few were new to me. You can bet, they've been added to my to-read list.

15 Plants That Forgot They Are Plants - You just have to see these to believe it.

Memorable Moms

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        We all have a list of our favorite TV and movie moms and in honor of mother’s day, I’m sharing a few of mine (in no particular order).

Tess Coleman (Freaky Friday 2003)

 Whether it's Mrs. Andrews or Tess Coleman, Freaky Friday is a classic. 

Lorelai Gilmore (Gilmore Girls) - The quick-witted mom who shares our coffee obsession along with our love for Casablanca.

Rebecca Boone (Daniel Boone) - The American frontier woman whose strength and courage we can't help but admire.

Queen Clarisse Renaldi (The Princess Diaries) - Reminding us how cool grandmothers can be-in an elegant sort of way, of course.

 

Marilla Cuthbert (Anne of Green Gables) - taught us that you are never to old to impact the life of a child, or to have them impact yours.

 

 Leigh Anne Tuohy (The Blindside) -The strong Southern woman who taught us how to open our homes along with our hearts as we have opportunity and find that we just might be the ones whose lives change.

Olivia Walton (The Waltons) - The ever-present, ever-patient rock her children so often needed to lean on. She taught us to use what you were given, dare to dream and value family heritage.

 Ruth Martin (Lassie) - knew the importance of allowing children to make lifetime friends of the four-legged kind.

Carol Brady (The Brady Bunch) - A lovely lady who somehow managed to keep six kids, a housekeeper, a husband and a dog in perfect order-most of the time anyway.

 June Cleaver (Leave it to Beaver) - The maternal picture of perfection with her ever present string of pearls. Our society could take many lessons from her.

Endora (Bewitched) - Alright, maybe this is a rather poor example of a mother-in-law, but you have to admit the tests and torments she constantly put Darrin through were entertaining.

 Samantha Stephens (Bewitched) - Life couldn't be easy with a child who could make their favorite toys float over to them, but Sam made managing the chaos of mixing the witch and mortal world look relatively easy.

Clair Huxtable (The Cosby Show) - The lawyer who showed us how to effectively (and seemingly effortlessly) do it all, including tips on how to put your husband and kids on the witness stand.

Jill Taylor (Home Improvement) - Forever endearing to us simply for putting up with Tim-the-tool-man Taylor and his constant projects.

Marion Cunningham (Happy Days) - Most commonly known to us as Mrs. C, she harbored one of the biggest hearts we've ever seen.

Lucy Ricardo (I Love Lucy) - We often forget that our zany yet loveable redhead had a beautiful maternal side, which we were privileged to see with the introduction of little Ricky.

Caroline Ingalls (Little House on the Prairie) - Lovingly referred to as Ma, was probably my first "TV mom influence." She taught us a great deal about patience, hard work and family values. With her recent appearance on the Today show, we learned just how much Karen Grassle took that role to heart as tears rolled down her cheeks during a clip of "her" girls.

Laura Petrie (The Dick Van Dyke Show) - showing us how to make the best out of rather unfortunate or embarrassing circumstances.

Ma Kettle (Ma and Pa Kettle) -Who can ever forget Ma's unique way of letting everyone know when dinner was ready? "Come an' get it!"

 Donna Stone (The Donna Reed Show) - must have been a sister to June Cleaver, because they shared the same housekeeping gene.

Kate Bradley (Petticoat Junction) - effectively running a business while managing a household and an Uncle Joe.

Amy Duncan (Good Luck Charlie) - BAH BAM!

 Jane Jetson (The Jetsons) - made living in the future look so easy, but then again, she had Rosie...

 

Mother to Mother

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What Young Christian Moms Want

from a new mom’s perspective

We want the older, more experienced mothers to put their arms around us and tell us things are going to be okay. We want to know you also took thousands of trips in and out of the auditorium when your children were small. We want to hear that your (now) teenager tried the lay-in-the-floor-screaming-fit thing too. We want to know your 6-foot-tall son wouldn’t eat meat or vegetables when he was five either. We want to hear that it’s not the end of the world if we have frozen pizza night once (or even twice) a week. Basically, we want to know that things are not as bad as they may seem to us right now. We want to know that “this too shall pass.” We need to hear that you lived through this, we can too.

We want occasional praise. I don’t mean we expect you to stand on the rooftops and proclaim what great moms we are. We don’t want to see our good deeds posted all over Facebook, Twitter or any other social media site of your choice-that isn’t the reason we do them-but we could use some encouragement from those of you who are older & wiser. Send us a card to tell us that you’ve noticed the good manners our children have. Tell us you appreciate us for bringing our children to class and that you can tell we’re working with them at home on memory verses (or just sitting still in their seats!). Commend us for being modest examples in the way we dress. The list of ways to encourage one another is endless!

We want you to back us up. We need you to encourage our children to respect us. When you teach them in Bible classes or when you talk to them in the halls, remind them they are blessed with parents who are trying to bring them up in the Lord.

We want to know your secrets. Please, please, please share these with us. We need to know how you found time to spend in Bible study when you had young ones. We want a copy of an easy casserole or soup. We want to know ways you found to save money. Tell us about games you played with your children. Remind us that dress-up costs nothing and that sandwiches are much more appealing when sliced with cookie cutters. Share the fact that you have a special chair only for reading books to your grandchildren in. Give us a book that helped you get through bed rest when you were pregnant. You might think it insignificant, but it just might be the difference between a good or bad day for us.

We want you to pray for us and then tell us when you do. Pray that we will be the kind of mothers God wants us to be. Pray that we are able to set godly examples for our children. Pray that we are able to help our husbands be the leader of the home God designed him to be. Pray that you will be able to be an encouragement to us in word & deed-and pray that we can be the same for you.

Finally, we want reminders. Remind us that there is no such thing as Supermom. Remind us when we are frustrated because we cannot accomplish everything we want to that we’re accomplishing what is most important-the years to come will bring plenty of time for new projects. Remind us that although we find it hard to believe right now, one day we will miss repeating one sentence ten times. We will miss those millions of “why” questions. We will miss naptime snuggles and clean baby smells. We will miss being able to hold them in our arms. We will miss being the center of their whole world. Remind us to treasure every second we are blessed to spend with our little ones, so that when we become the ones able to give the advice we have no regrets, only precious memories.

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To the many Christian moms I have been blessed to learn from-I am forever grateful.

Mentionworthy Monday

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The Problem of Pain & Suffering Debate Roundup- As of yesterday, one month has passed since the Butt-Erhman debate, where Kyle Butt did an outstanding job explaining why pain and suffering do not prove the nonexistence of God. If you didn’t have a chance to listen/watch/attend, I encourage you to access it here and then listen to the wrap-up by TLN’s Torrey Clark. Torrey interviews, Kyle, his coworkers and then gives his own take on what happened with the debate. It is well worth your time.

Wifey Wednesday – Speaking to wives and wives-to-be here…if you haven’t checked out Wifey Wednesday via The Light Network yet, you are missing out. My collection of wifey wisdom is growing substantially as each episode is released. Emily Hatfield does a great job (as always) gathering wisdom from her guests on a variety of subjects-from how to keep your balance while ministering to others to dealing with the unexpected. Each guest brings great tips and insight to the table and (if you’re like me) you’ll find yourself going back for a second-or even third listen!

ThredUp –Let’s be honest, shopping for modest, affordable clothing is not for the weak hearted. This is why I am so excited to share one of my clothing secrets with you today! When it comes to style, I love that our society is all about piecing items together to suit your own needs and taste. What I hate…that to actually put a modest outfit together, it often ends up costing an arm and a leg! Here’s where my new best friend comes in…aka ThredUP. ThredUp is basically a high-end online consignment store (I say high end because they prefer to accept name brand clothing in almost new condition) with reasonably priced items. I have found great deals & I hope you will too!