Matthews Family Herald

Hello out there! Here's your media update review from my family. I'll cover three media sources of inspiration in this blogpost. I'll introduce them to you and then give you the Amazon Editorial Review. I'll throw the front cover photos in wherever I can as well. Lastly, I'll include the Resolution referenced in the movie "Courageous." Ready?

1) I thought I'd update you on the latest movie series we are enjoying as a family. You remember the Little House on the Prairie t.v. series by Micheal Landon? Well, he had a son named . . . Micheal Landon, Jr. You don't say? Yeah, and this guy has made some outstanding Godly movies. There were some things about the t.v. series I did not agree with, but the movie series seems to be right on track. I call them the "Love" series because there are 6 movies, to my knowledge, in the storyline and they all start with "Love." The first is 1) Love Comes Softly. Then there's 2) Love's Enduring Promise and so they go. I've included a photo of the front cover of the first movie. We found all six of them at our local library. If you are looking for a Godly story, about men and women of faith, setting out to start a new life rich in God, family, working hard, and being together, then this should prove to be inspiring.

The Amazon Review is very brief. It looks like a movie only for women, but this is not so. An excellent example of a truly Godly man, husband, and father exists within this movie and is a must for all serious, Christian men. "A young woman recently widowed on the American frontier agrees to a marriage of convenience for survival and finds love." And she finds God, our God, I'd add.

2) Also, we watched "Courageous" as a family this weekend. Rented it at the local video store here and, wow, what a great movie. (We really do more than just movie watching, by the way.) Another great adventure for the whole family, but focused more on men being Men of God, Husbands, and Fathers. God made us to be the heros for our wives, families, and communities. This movie will help you believe God can do this through you and encourage you to get back on the ball.

Movie summary on Amazon: "Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. As law enforcement officers, they are confident and focused, standing up to the worst the streets can offer. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge they’re ill prepared to tackle: fatherhood. When tragedy strikes home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering. Sherwood Pictures, creators of Fireproof, returns with this heartfelt, action-packed story. Protecting the streets is second nature to these law enforcement officers. Raising their children in a God-honoring way? That takes courage. Starring: Alex Kendrick, Kevin Downes, Ken Bevel, Robert Amaya, Ben Davies Director: Alex Kendrick Producer: Stephen Kendrick"

3) As I seek to be more active in the lives of my children, I'm listening to the audio book "The Dangerous Book for Boys" and I'm also looking for Contenders for the Faith ideas while listening. My sons warned me to watch out for the evolution parts, so sadly, it looks like there's "pooh in the brownies" with that one. By the way, there is a version of this book for girls called "The Daring Book for Girls."

Amazon Review: The bestselling book for every boy from eight to eighty, covering essential boyhood skills such as building tree houses, learning how to fish, finding true north, and even answering the age old question of what the big deal with girls is. In this digital age there is still a place for knots, skimming stones and stories of incredible courage. This book recaptures Sunday afternoons, stimulates curiosity, and makes for great father-son activities. The brothers Conn and Hal have put together a wonderful collection of all things that make being young or young at heart fun—building go-carts and electromagnets, identifying insects and spiders, and flying the world's best paper airplanes.

That's the latest though, on the media we are gleaning as of now.

Here's the Courageous movie resolution for we men:

Courageous Resolution

I do solemnly resolve before God to take full responsibility for myself, my wife, and my children.

I WILL love them, protect them, serve them, and teach them the Word of God as the spiritual leader of my home.

I WILL be faithful to my wife, to love and honor her, and be willing to lay down my life for her as Jesus Christ did for me.

I WILL bless my children and teach them to love God with all of their hearts, all of their minds, and all of their strength.

I WILL train them to honor authority and live responsibly.

I WILL confront evil, pursue justice, and love mercy.

I WILL pray for others and treat them with kindness, respect, and compassion.

I WILL work diligently to provide for the needs of my family.

I WILL forgive those who have wronged me and reconcile with those I have wronged.

I WILL learn from my mistakes, repent of my sins, and walk with integrity as a man answerable to God.

I WILL seek to honor God, be faithful to His church, obey His Word, and do His will.

I WILL courageously work with the strength God provides to fulfill this resolution for the rest of my life and for His glory.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. – Joshua 24:15


Love,
James

Here's something to get you started on thinking for yourself as it concerns the food you may be eating, and the water you may be drinking. It's 20 minutes long and worth the watch, all the way through. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMwXlikoFrM

And here's the thing on much of this, you might think there's nothing to it but if you watch, mainstream article and references are cited. I had a skeptical attitude for a long time on things like this, and I still maintain a healthy sense of wanting to verify what I hear, but I did my own research. I followed up on claims like those mentioned in this video, and I have to say verified the accuracy of most claims like this I've read. All you have to do is look it up yourself, and then dig deeper into it. Goodness, just research Planned Parenthood thoroughly. Research it's founder, research what Darwin had to say about it. The key names involved in Planned Parenthood's beginning. Go far and deep and then expand it into other areas. You won't want to believe it, but it's true. The founder of PP is remembered fondly in our own Smithsonian museum but there's no way Black Americans, for example, would allow it were they really informed as to what she did and stood for. That's just one example of where my honest and indepth research led me. Check out the King James Bible versus the NIV and other translations. Research who all greatly contributed to the NIV's formulation and the forming of other versions, you won't want to believe it, but you'll see it's true and, if you have any sense after that, I submit, you won't allow other versions into your heart and mind. The same thing with this food and water research. Sounds a bit much, outrageous even if you're not familiar. But please, please. Same thing with the assault on the marriage, religion, family, parental rights, and on and on. Follow up, do your own research, go deep into it, and you might not like it, but you'll see what I'm getting at. It will change your view on food. So, "enjoy" a better and informed life.

Hi Family, Friends, etc.

Great to update you very briefly here.

The kids have started up in Gymnastics again for most of them. Jacob is taking a mixed martial arts class instead. Micah was going to take some guitar lessons from an American but local legend here, Billy Goodman. This guy toured around with some of the major rock bands but then became a Christian. He's active musically and evangelically now, and also gives lessons at affordable rates. Check out Billy Goodman here:

http://www.homegrownmusic.de/billy_goodman.40.html#BILLY

So, although you can tell I think Micah would really benefit from Billy Goodman :) he's going with the martial arts now as well. That's great too, though, and I support him in that decision.

Micah has opened his website and continues to offer spray paint artwork custom made for you, if you make a donation to cover his supplies, shipping costs, etc. Comes out to about $20 a pop and well worth it. He's already had several orders and so he's pleased, but looking for more ways to get himself out there. Waiting for the summertime to offer more opportunities. He may up his price a bit, as this amount doesn't quite cover all he spends. But again, if you want to see his amazing work and consider getting him to paint you something awesome, his site is:

http://www.spacepainters.blogspot.com/

Speaking of Micah, he just about broke one of his toes trying to do a martial arts kick recently. And just about the time his toe was "all better," he and I were fooling around doing martial arts in the driveway, and he injured his pinkie. Good grief!

Heather and many of the other local homeschool moms have picked back up with regular weekly co-ops again. We had another great home fellowship meeting last night and we are starting a series by James McDonald. http://www.jamesmacdonald.com/

The keepers and contenders groups are going to have an annual planning meeting this month and then get that going again.

Heather's natural, herbal class materials for certification have not yet arrived but we await them eagerly. I continue reading my second Joel Salatin book and learning otherwise about argriculture as much as I'm able (which isn't much). Of great influence in our family right now are The Duggar Family in matters both practical and relational. http://duggarfamily.com/

Our oldest, Rachel, has had gall stone troubles. She had surgery to remove some of the stones and now it looks like she may have a second surgery to remove it entirely. Their family is set to move to Japan sometime early this year. The great news, though, is that they have started a family blogsite. http://www.meerkatfamily.blogspot.com/

Mary Ann is doing well but has a bit of a fever today. She is saying "Mama, Ninny, Da Dad" lately. Or some very close variation of those, and at the appropriate times you'd imagine a child saying them. She's gotten heavier recently, and of course, always cuter. She smiles a lot and laughes a lot. What a cutie! Heather has gotten so good at reading her body language, etc., that Mary Ann ends up "going potty" in a baby toilet that Mommy holds her over almost every time. It's pretty amazing. A definite head start on the road to being potty trained. Mary only fusses when something is wrong (imagine that) and something is normally not wrong. One funny thing I've noticed, if she needs a diaper change and is fussy about that, she'll calm down and smile if I come and say "change your diapie? Change your diapie?" with a smile? That's often how I know what the problem is without needing to actually check her diaper.

As for us, we spent a big chunk getting the van fixed but still have "miles to go before we sleep" in getting it back to standard. We have temporary tags for now. A friend, however, has loaned/maybe given us his car when he left Germany and so I now have something to drive. This may turn into the only car we have if the rest of the van problems are not taken care of.

I'm sure there's more news but that's about all I have for now. I'm here on MLK day, at work unfortunately, trying to catch up on some large projects.

Back to work for me and hope to hear from you soon.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS.