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Yesterday afternoon my husband I ventured out to our favorite theater to catch a showing of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in 3D. That gimmick usually doesn’t work on me and I was really okay with sitting this one out like I did with The Lion King, but BATB is one of my favorite Disney films (explained here) and my husband managed to coax me into going. Like I said, the idea of 3D has never appealed to me and knowing how prone I am to headaches (hello, predicting the slightest change in barometric pressure!), the idea of the 3D hangover wasn’t something I wanted to chance.

I made it out alive and free of pain, other than my back (that’s another story though), having enjoyed the hour-and-a-half love story. While the 3D aspect didn’t pull me in, the idea of seeing a movie I have loved for a long time on the big screen did. I was in 1st grade when BATB came out. I never saw it in the theater so viewing the whole thing so BIG yesterday was neat. The opening sequence was my favorite, when we get our first look at the castle. I think the setting for BATB may be my second favorite next to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (that creepy moat and dungeon are spectacular). The forest is beautiful and there is so much to notice about the castle. Another big I picked up on were the gorgeous landscapes in this feature. There aren’t many, so you have to watch closely (now I want to break out the DVD and get my pause button ready), but the bit where Belle’s father heads off to the fair has a lovely shot of a valley with a tiny house and lots of pasture/farmland around it, surrounded by mountains in the background. Such a lovely scene. I wish they did more expansive animated landscape shots like that. There I go — I love landscapes, but I know most folks (kids) don’t go to an animated movie for the fields and forests.

The details that I noticed were too numerous to count. There was so much more to soak in seeing this in its intended size! When Belle arrives at the castle for the first time, looking in the misty background behind the gates you can see a large shadow that takes up most of the height of the screen — the Beast’s shadow. I’m going to have to look this up on the DVD to see if it’s in the original version or if this is something they added. I thought it was really cool and kind of ominous. Definitely something I never noticed before.

Inside the castle there were more tiny details that I caught. The paintings in the hallway! Oh my goodness. There was so much famous artwork. I caught a Rembrandt or two and in one scene Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is very clearly showcased in the background. In the West Wing we see the Beast’s elaborate four-poster bed that is completely wrecked, but the detail is remarkable.

I could gush over this for days, but it really makes me want to rewatch so many of these animated films on the big screen when I get the chance. For now, I settle with my TV.

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As promised, Jennifer and I got together and talked about Downton Abbey. Hopefully it’s a little bit entertaining for you all! The next episode should have the kinks worked out. And I’ll bring my own notes.

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This is Sarah. Well, part of Sarah. She is a mule that has been living at my parents’ house for a little while now. She’s just visiting though, as far as I know. Dad borrowed her from a friend to take on a hunting trip. I visited her when I was home a few weeks ago. Mom told me that if I would just walk out to the south gate Sarah would hear me and greet me.

Greet me, she did, with a loud whinny. I gathered up a bit of dry grass and fed it to her, flat-palmed like Paw Paw taught me when I was little and he had those three huge white horses. Sarah is a friendly mule and has a lot more personality than some that I’ve dealt with in the past. We used to have mules at the house, but it’s been a while since Dad owned one. When I asked him, “Why mules and not horses?” he explained that a mule will not walk you off the side of a mountain. I don’t know much about riding and I’m certainly not going to ride a mule to the edge of a cliff to test this theory, so I’ll just go with what he said.

Dad and I are “phase” people. We get into hobbies in phases, stay there for a little while, then move on. Sometimes we come back to them, sometimes we don’t. With my dad I can think of a few phases that he went through in the time that I lived at home. Mules, noodlin’, sheep, backhoes. Me…crochet, collage, shadow boxes, hydroponic gardening. It’s funny. Okay, maybe just to me. But in this way I am definitely more like my dad than my mom, who can stick with a few hobbies for a lifetime and be absolutely content — and semi-professional at them.

I like Sarah and hope she sticks around. She’s the perfect subject to photograph because she stands there, eager to be rubbed on the neck, and doesn’t complain about the snap snap snap of my camera.

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Forgive me for being a bit late with this, though still appropriate I suppose since we’re in the middle of Christmastide, but I did want to share it sometime before July. I wasn’t as quick to put up our Christmas decorations this year due to health issues. They’re still up though. Ornaments have been removed from the tree, but that’s about as far as I’ve gotten. (The packing up and putting away I leave to my husband.) Our tree next to our fake fire made for a cozy scene this Christmas. With John Rutter music playing in the background it was a peaceful time.

This year we kept it pretty simple, however, I did manage to set up my new nativity that I bought at a craft show a few months ago. I got a white pearl version of the same set that my granny had while I was growing up. Next to it I placed the hymnal that I grew up with (got one for myself a few weeks back). All together it’s very nostalgic for me and perfect for Christmastime.

The shepherds and animals are out of sight in this photo.

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This is our…uh…much talked about Christmas card. To clarify — we are not currently expecting a baby. Sorry for any confusion. I just liked the card!

And here is Mom and Dad’s Christmas card. Wishing you all the best this season!

Link up with the 4th Annual Bloggy Holiday Card Exchange!

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THANK YOU, LORD!

I was really worried that I might have some lingering problems, but within a day of starting the regimen I was feeling a slight difference and within a few days it was all but gone. It’s been nice not to be afraid to eat.

Thank you all so much for your prayers, kind words, and offers to help me out. I won’t lie — this has been and continues to be a rough holiday season, for reasons other than health issues.

I consider myself pretty empathetic and very understanding of most human behavior, be it behavior that I agree with or not, but sometimes I am stumped. Being an eldest child it is very hard for me to let go of control or to go on living life without knowing what is coming next. This is an area where I see God working on me constantly and I’m not anywhere near learning whatever lessons He has for me, apparently. With that I must say that this is looking like a season where God is teaching me and several other family members to let go and let Him take care of things. It is difficult, but I am trying. My heart aches, I am angry and defensive of my family. I want to lash out at the gossips and their family members that encourage their behavior, I want to say something against the people who call my family names and ridicule us — all of this being done behind a facade. But I can think of no way to do this without making myself or my family look like the instigators and melodramatic teenagers here.

So I hold my tongue. I work on learning the equal importance of nothing said when so many words want to come out. I will let God mend the pieces of my heart — my heart that aches so in the present circumstances. There is something much bigger going on here than my conflicting emotions. In the end, I know all will be right, though I have no idea what the path to that place looks like.

⁶ Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. ⁷ Don’t participate in the things these people do. ⁸ For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! ⁹For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

¹⁰Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. ¹² It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. ¹³ But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, ¹⁴ for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,

“Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.”

¹⁵ So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. ¹⁶ Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. ¹⁷ Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. ¹⁸ Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, ¹⁹ singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. ²⁰And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²¹ And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:6-21 NLT)

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are you graduating this may or next december?

Well, just cut to the chase, why don’t we? It started a little conversation about what my plans were. This was exactly what he wanted to know and it turns out that it kind of helped him along in his plans. He was invited to Heather’s birthday party later that week along with the rest of her Facebook friends and he checked on the time that it started with me before showing up.

And show up he did, bald head and all. I had absolutely no intention of dating a guy without any hair on his head. None at all. And let the record show that I never did.

He sat diagonally across from me at the table and moved one of the menus because it was blocking his view of me. This I remember. He stole glances at me all evening long and even though we had been chatting on AOL Instant Messenger a lot, there were few, if any, words between us that night. I didn’t know it, but I was working on developing a case of strep that would leave me sick with lingering effects for weeks. My throat was scratchy and I was in a bad mood, but luckily he didn’t let that dissuade him.

We continued talking over the following weeks. He would randomly show up somewhere that I was and just…hang out. One day I was studying at the BSU and he walked in and took a seat at a table behind me. I was working on an exercise for one of my writing classes where you just write whatever is in your head for a solid chunk of time without stopping. Somewhere in the midst of that he decided to pull the 4th grade version of letting a girl know that you like her — he threw a pencil at me. In that notebook (which is somewhere in this house) I scrawled, I think he just threw a pencil at me. What does this mean?

I turned and asked, “Does this belong to you?” and he grinned.

Chris, Kevin’s mentor, walked up and asked, “Is this man bothering you?”

Anyone who knows Chris knows that that is sort of his line, but I’m sure he had no idea how spot on he was at the time.

–

In the middle of all of this, I had been meeting with Cindy, one of the ministry team leaders at the BSU. As conversations between women are wont to do, the topic turned to boys and how lately I was feeling so absolutely content with where I was in life. How finally the big, white wedding was no longer the huge goal I had in sight. It wasn’t that I had given up on it…it just didn’t define me. I was loving the life that God had blessed me with in this moment — a life full of friends and creativity, writing classes and early morning Pilates, teaching 3 and 4 year olds and living life on God’s terms…not my preconceived notions.

That was where I needed to be. I had to find contentment with where I was in my own life — just between me and God — before I would ever be able to handle someone else in the mix.

–

A month later was my 22nd birthday party, fondly referred to as Liz-A-Palooza. There was mild stalking, a Milk Bone incident, and for the first time in my life, I was going to get asked out on a real date.

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Please note that my dad is not actually choking my mother.

He is, to her horror, picking her up.

I am doing the same thing I did at my wedding rehearsal.

Then it looks like my husband thought about picking up my mother. I don’t think he actually did it. Probably in his best interest not to.

Meh.

Trying to get out of the sun.

My little brother, Ryan, doing his best to ruin family photos since 1988.

Oh, so that gets a laugh out of you guys.

We eventually got a couple of good photos. The Christmas cards are finished and ordered and should be here in a few weeks. When I mail them out I’ll post the finished product here! Thanks again to Jessica. These wouldn’t have happened without you.

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Here’s your chance.

You can close the page.

Or go on to the next thing in your reader.

Just know that’s it’s not nasty.

I mean, I can handle it and I’m a weanie.

And I’ve seen Bambi.

Last chance.

I knew ya had it in ya.

Saturday, my dad got a 29-point buck that he’d been stalking for weeks. Wahoo! It was a proud day for him, that’s for sure. He says he doesn’t figure he’ll ever get another one like it in his life, so you better believe this fella is going up on the wall.

The other fabulous thing about this? DEER. JERKY. Mmm.

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