Posted by Posted in Family, God, holidays, Jesus

Movie Review: The Nativity Story

It’s Chrstmas time! I sit and listen to Celtic Christmas CD as I write this post. There are some Christmas movies we like to watch as a family. Last night, we watched “The Nativity Story”. Here is my movie review on it!

Rating: PG for some violent content

Age: 12 and up could watch the whole movie. My little brother (7) watched it, he just covered his eyes in some parts.

Things to watch for: The first scene in Herod killing the babies, it doesn’t actually show a baby being killed but it gets pretty close. There are also two births (Mary and Elizabeth). Mary’s birth scene is pretty mild but the one with Elizabeth is a little more vivid (again, nothing too bad). The last thing to watch for is it does show John (the Baptist) getting circumcised but it is not too vivid.

I really liked the movie. It is not biblically correct on every point but I think it does capture the nativity story very well. Joseph might be my favorite character. He was really portrayed as a noble, strong man who thought of others before himself. When he, and Mary are traveling to Bethlehem he takes good care of her, protecting her and keeping her safe.

The scene where Mary has Jesus is very sweet and special… It might make you cry. 🙂

Mary’s character was overall played well. The one thing I wished is that she would have been more joyful in some parts. But I think the scene when she tells her parents and Joseph she is pregnant with Jesus she shows lots of character and stands strong in her faith even though it might mean her death.

I also liked how they showed how the townspeople shunned Mary and Joseph after finding out about the baby. I don’t usually think of that part.

The wisemen were good. They added just a touch of humor to the movie but not enough to take away from the beauty and seriousness of the story.

In all I think it was a great movie and it really brings the story to life. Perfect for Christmastime!

Merry Christmas!
Priscilla Joy

Posted by Posted in adventures, Family, Fun Stuff, holidays, journal entries, me, memorys, Nature and the Outdoors

Journal Entries- My Birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 16 years old. I sometimes can’t believe I am that old but I like the sound of both 15 and 16 so I am still happy. 🙂

I had a really fun time yesterday so I will reveal what I did in this journal entry blog post.

When I woke up I had my devotions like usual. I had been reading in Isaiah but I took a break from that and read Phillipians because that is one of my favorite books of the Bible and you always do your favorite things on your birthday, right?

We had breakfast together (my dad and Jace took off work) and looked at my baby book. I always love looking at that. It is fun to see our family when I was born, my little brother Jace (almost two at the time of my birth) is SO cute! I opened gifts and then we all got ready and dressed for the day.

We headed out on the road to Stone Mountain about 9:30 a.m. We arrived there at about 10:45 a.m. I like to go hiking on my birthday because it is something I love to do but we don’t get to do a lot. We had never been to Stone Mountin before so we were all looking forward to it.

I decided we should do the Stone Mountain Loop Trail. It was 4.5 miles but we probably hiked about 5 miles in all because you had to hike .3 miles to get to the trailhead.

Stone Mountain Summit

Stone Mountain Summit

It was very pretty. Not too long before we started there was this HUGE stone slab that we stopped at and just hung out and explored and ate lunch at. It was cool. We hiked up some more (up and up and up) until we reached the Stone Mountain Summit. It was 2,305 altitude! It was sooo high up!

The view from Stone Mountain summit

The view from Stone Mountain summit

We saw lots of Hawks (maybe 100?) circling in the air right about our height. It was cool that we were the same height as the birds. Also the mountains around us were about equal with us. We were high up. After experiencing that awe inspiring work of God we continued.

This next leg of the journey was through the forest so it got cool and damp in there. We went down lots of steps and we were all very glad that we were not going up the steps! It was about 1.5 miles between each attraction. We stopped at a “comfort station” (a wet bench) and had granola bars and apples. Then we got to the Hutchinson Homestead. It was pretty cool. There was an old barn, cabin, corn crib, outhouse, garden, smokehouse and more. You know me… I love the pioneer/frontier times!

Hutchinson Homestead

Hutchinson Homestead

After that the trail went through a field and then into the forest again. There were a lot of gurgling brooks on the side of the trail and we soon came to the source! The Stone Mountain Waterfall! It was a huge slab of stone with sheets of water just careening down it! William, Celia and I went to the bottom of it and watched it for a bit. The trail then went up the waterfall so there were lots of stairs. Lots and lots and lots.

Stone Mountain waterfall

Stone Mountain waterfall

There wasn’t too much more. After the waterfall there was only less than half a mile to go. We went back to the car and headed back to Statesville where we stopped for dinner at Crackerbarrel. It was a really good time as a family. Very precious.

We went to a friends house for dessert. We played Risk and had ice cream sundaes and brownies. Then we came home and since we were all very tired went to bed soon after.

I stayed up and looked at my baby book one last time and then I went to bed. I had a great day! Thanks to all who made it special! I look forward to see what God will do in me this next year!

-Priscilla Joy

Posted by Posted in character, Family, myth of adolescence, teens, teens doing big things

On Teenagers and One in Particular

Me and my beautiful thirteen year old sister, Celia.

Me and my beautiful thirteen year old sister, Celia.

Last Saturday was my sisters birthday. She turned 13. Wow! My lil’ sister just turned thirteen! This post will be half about how great God made my sister and half about teenagers.

First off, I made a C-E-L-I-A acrostic for Celia.

C- Creative: You are such a talented young lady and even though you don’t think that you are very artsy or musical I do think you have a creative side to you.
E- Eclectic: You define this word, Celia. I don’t think of this word in any way but with you in mind. I love your stars, stripes and polkadots and who but you would put red and pink together. Although it makes choosing a color for our room difficult I love this crazy quality of you.
L- Loving: On the toughest days you are there with a kind word of encouragement or a thoughtful note. You give great gifts and the people you love know that you love them, which is great knowledge.
I- Interesting: If a stranger started talking to you, they would come away amazed. You are such a cool person. With your cupcake business, love for kids and special needs kids and other things you make a very interesting young lady.
A- Always smiling: Or in other words very cheerful. Your disposition is always sunny and you brighten peoples days.

Second, I want to say 13 quick things I love about Celia.

1. your laugh
2. your hugs
3. your gifts
4. your initiative
5. your verse 4 the day
6. your loyalty
7. your cuteness
8. your ease around people
9. your love for others
10. your thoughtfulness
11. your joy
12. your faith
13. your love for Jesus

So there you have it. And a big hearty HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER CELIA!!!

Now on a different note I want to tell a quick story and move on to the topic of teenagers.

When someone was talking to our family and found out it was Celia’s 13th birthday the next day, this was her remark. “A teenager! Now I can’t talk to you until you are 20!” She quickly recovered with a quick…”Not ALL teenagers are bad, but…”

This story saddens me. She could have been joking but the main truth remains. Our culture doesn’t look too fondly on teenagers. Why?

First, let us start with the common perception of teenagers. (Fun fact: the word teenager was originated rather recently… in the past 65-75 years)

When people think of teenagers what do they think of? Some popular answers may include: lazy, rebellious, sleeps in, adolescence, punk, drugs and many others. Why does our culture think this?

Lets look at some history…. Think of some of the great people in the Bible and world history. Lots of them were young. Here are some examples: Daniel, David, Esther, Mary, Josiah, (moving into history) Joan of Arc, George Washington, Clara Barton and Alexander the Great.

Your average young person say on the frontier could manage a household, protect thier family, go on long hunting trips and more in thier early teen years. They were mature and responsible. Hard working and not wimpy.

I am not saying that all teenagers were perfect then and horrible now. What I am hinting at is that the culture back then (frontier as my example) expected more of their teens. Nowadays as we learned from the above conversation the teen years are expected to be bad.

Lets take a final look at how the Bible talks about teens (young people).

“Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
1 Timothy 4:12

Teenagers are supposed to set an example!

What about this one?

“The glory of young men is thier strength.”
Proverbs 20:29

The teenage years are special years to serve the Lord. You are young and strong and God wants you to use your teen years for something special!

the teen,
Priscilla

P.S. A lot of the ideas about teenagers I got was from the book “Do Hard Things” by Alex and Brett Harris. If you are intersted feel free to read that book to learn more. Or go on their blog: therebelution.com

Posted by Posted in Family, holidays, Home, memorys

Thanksgiving!

First off, I am sorry this is late. I am writing this ater thanksgiving. But hey thats ok. 🙂

Second off, I want to tell you about my thanksgiving. We went to our grandparents house in Asheville NC. We slept in on thanksgiving morning and then watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. Then my mom took our school pictures and we had the big lunch. We had all the classics plus zuchinni casserole (a new menu item).

After the meal we ususally go on a thanksgiving walk and take family pictures. It is such a pretty area! Most of the family watched the Panthers game but I read a book. We served the pie (I made an apple pie) and then played a game of family football. We also shot off the bb gun in there somewhere. We had leftovers for dinner (of course) and all in all we had a great day.

Next I want to tell you five things I am grateful for:
Nature and beautiful weather on Thanksgiving!
I love the beautiful nature God made and it continually shows me the awesome power of God, the Creator!

My amazing family and friends
Celia, Jace and William, you are the best siblings a girl could ask for. Mom and Dad, you guys are the best parents, teachers and friends in this whole wide world. My friends, you know who you are and know that I thank the Lord for our friendships!

Books and stories
You all know I am a book-lover! I am so grateful for the good stories and books out there that enrich my life and give me a window into other worlds.

A Bible
I get updates from Wycliffe Bible translators and every time I see an update I thank the Lord that I have a Bible in my languaage that I have the freedom to read. My faith always grows stronger when I am in the Word!

The Grace of God
I saved the best for last. 🙂 I thank God that I do not wallow in my sin anymore but I am saved by grace and this is not my own work but it is a gift from God.

There you have it! Five things I am grateful for. Comment below with five things you are grateful for!

Lastly I want to give you some ideas for how you can celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving.

1. Make placecards/placemats.
We have a tradition of making the placecards or placemats each year. It is really fun to do fall crafts and you can make simple ones to do with little kids or more complicated ones to do with older kids. Maybe I will post about some ideas later…

2. Study the Pilgrims
So the Pilgrims started the first thanksgiving. They worked really hard to get there though! It is always fun to study the Pilgrims and thier hard journey to that Thanksgiving day. We can learn a lot from those amazing people.

3. Sing a hymn
Sing a hymn around the table. We chose “For the Beauty of the Earth” this year.

4. Start a gratitude journal
Thanksgiving is a great time to start a gratitude journal. Just get a memo book and write down a few things you are grateful for each night. It will help you develop the habit of gratitude. I think it is a great way to really focus on the true meaning of Thanksgiving- giving thanks.

Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving!
Priscilla

Posted by Posted in Family

To My Younger Siblings: On Growing Up

Celia- I saw you yesterday go on a long shopping trip with a friend. Perfect because you come from a family of no-shoppers. 🙂

I saw you come home and talk about how you eye-bounced through the mall.

You are so wonderful and I love you and I am so proud of you. You are growing up.

(read this girls blog! celiafaith.com)

William- I saw you hosting your friends, wrestling with your buddy and I smiled. I love seeing you being a boy with other boys and being a boy with other girls. You are respectful with girls and tough with boys.

You are sweet, tough and funny. A perfect combination. You also are leaning so much and growing so fast. You have a deep sense of conviction and I love that.

To both of my siblings: I love you!

Love,
Priscilla