We got a phone call tonight. It was so good to hear 23's voice. So good. They have had power for just over 24 hours. During the aftermath of the quake, 23's team has been hard at work, doing what they originally went to Chile to accomplish. And they have almost completed what they set out to do. Now that power is back and places of need are becoming clearer they will probably head south and do what they can to bring relief to many who have lost much.
The four Americans feel absolutely blessed to be in Chile. More and more stories of miracles thrill them. 23 said that there was an moment where a sparse gathering of church members voices singing praise in Spanish gave her goosebumps. Beautiful to God's ears and hers. There have been light-hearted celebrations as they people have discovered another friend or relative is safe. 23 has moms, aunts and sisters insisting that she must meet this young man or that young man. She even has a dog she can visit and cuddle with.
I feel absolute freedom when trusting God. The words of this prayer are so powerful, and so beautiful when sung. It blessed me and I hope it blesses you. My thoughts and prayers are with 23 and her Chile team as they are in their 4th day post earthquake.
My bladder woke me at 6:45 Saturday morning. Not unusual. What was unusual was getting a text message in the wee hours (pardon the pun). Who would be texting me that early I wondered as I opened it. Nice. A relative telling me she was praying for 23 and her Chile team. But this relative already had told me she would and why would she be doing it at 6:45 a.m? Odd. Then I noticed another envelope on my screen. 18 had texted "Please tell me 23 is okay." at 2:00 a.m.
That's when my heart jumped into my throat and the claws of dread wrapped around my stomach. What was going on.
Minutes later I knew. Chile had experienced an 8.8 earthquake and my daughter was smack dab in the midst of it.
I rushed downstairs and found Rob who had huge eyes and a cautious expression on his face. " Do you know?"
He nodded. "I just listened to a message Pastor left for us."
We stared at each other for a second and then both teared up. "Do we know if she's okay?" I managed to ask. He shook his head. We started to pray. For her, for the country, for our other friends that traveled with her. Panic almost suffocated me. What would I do without her? How could I even begin to face the possibility that she might not come home.
And then the panic was gone, replaced by a complete and total peace. Our daughter is in the hand of God Almighty. We gave her to Him when she was a wee little girl.
We love her so much, delight in her completely and we consider her a friend. She means so much to so many. Yesterday someone told me that a smile from 23 is a gift. I can't imagine life without her zany sense of humor, her absolute zest for life, nor her big, soft heart. But. In those seconds we had to process our panic, two things jumped out at me. One. If I was to no longer have my daughter it would break my heart and rock my world, but, it would not devastate me. Our relationship is honest, rich and full of "I love yous" and mutual understanding. I have no regrets about what we have between us. And that is so freeing. I would miss her with every breath, but it would be sadness, not despair.
And number two. I want nothing more for my children than for them to fall in love with Jesus and to follow Him where He asks them to go. 23 obediently said yes to God when He asked her to go to Chile. She knew and I know that that is where she was supposed to be. So many things worked out too perfectly for this trip to be anything else but of God. And if I love her, I have to know that He loves her more. And if she is doing what He asked her to do, then she is living life to the absolute fullest.
By 8:15 a.m. I had heard that they were okay. She texted yesterday, borrowed a phone to do it, said that she loves us, that she's okay and that she will e-mail when there is power. She is far, far from home in a country where she barely understands what's being said, in the midst of a huge natural disaster. Many have died, the ground continues to quake. The arrival home is uncertain and all the plans they had carefully made before they left American soil have been changed. My daughter is facing an adventure of faith and endurance and I'm so proud of her for saying Yes to God.
This film worked as a study in grief. The characters were sensitive, tried real hard, and worked through some heavy stuff. The idea of a bestselling author/speaker running seminars on grief when he had a few not-so-hidden bones rattling around in his closet was very intriguing. And I really liked the way it all played out.
What didn't work for me was the Eloise (Aniston)/Burke (Eckhart) romance aspect. I didn't understand why, in the midst of his struggle/depression, he became so passionately fascinated with her. I also didn't understand much of their relationship overall and why there was such interest on both sides. Many of their moments together just felt painful.
There was no sex but there were a few token comments. Overall pretty clean with some moderate language. If you like introspective relationships or exploring the fascinating world of mourning, or Eckhart or Aniston you might like it. I'd suggest a rental first if you are unsure.
Did You Hear About the Morgans.
This film is a solid three-star, middle-of-the-road film. Adequately entertaining, charming and amusing in some spots and predictable and annoying in others.
I viewed it with four twenty-something girls. They all liked it better than I did and thought it was funny and sweet and all thought that the negative reviews were overdone.
The negative reviews I've heard were mostly about the lack of spark between the Morgans, Paul and Meryl. I thought Grant (Paul) and Parker (Meryl) did okay with the subject matter. Not great, but okay. For starters, this isn't a cutesy chick-flick where boy meets girl, they fall in love, one of them does something stupid or misreads the other followed by the sweet scene that pulls them back together when they discover they can't live without each other. This is a film that deals with a very broken marriage with some pretty hefty issues. The lack of spark was understandable the first half or so of the film. The issue for me was the quick resolution and some roller coaster emotional backlash. Didn't quite make sense and the challenges faced by the couple kind of sucked the funny potential out of it.
Beyond the relationship issues is a life and death plot and the secondary characters. Neither made the film a must see either. Again there are moments of attention grabbing or humor, but moments of blah to frustrating, too.
The film was pretty clean, with a few curse words and a bit of sexual conversation. Mild stuff for the most part. If you love one or the other of the actors, you will probably want to see it. I'd recommend a Red Box rental before buying. If you need a fun chick-movie, this one could scratch some itches, but again, you might want to give it a rent before buying.
30 days of Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred later I'm reporting results.For the record, I did not follow any sort of diet or dieting rules and didn't go to her website. If I wanted something I pretty much ate or nibbled or shared it, including a small Blizzard and some boneless buffalo wings. Of course, on the flip side I often ate low-fat yogurt, oatmeal or Cheerios for supper or lunch. But that was because that's what I wanted at the time. Also, I didn't follow any other exercise program or add additional workouts to Shred. Any "success" is likely from doing Shred alone.
Shred kicked my booty on several different levels. An exercise buddy and I committed to doing it all 30 days with each of the three levels lasting ten days. We just methodically did them and when it was time to move on, we did, whether we were afraid or ready or whatever.
My buddy didn't do all the days so I'm just going to report my results. I lost 2 inches off my hips, 2 inches off my waist and an inch from my chest. Not only did the tape measure report that, I feel it in my clothes. Now. As I've discussed this with others and we laughed about Jillian's level 3 comment "You should be seeing that six-pack right about now." we've decided that under the "bubble wrap" I've got hanging around, that there is definite change and toning in those abdominal muscles. I can feel them move. My core is much stronger and the moves have gotten easier to do.
Definition and strength clearly happened in my arms, legs and behind as well. Overall I lost 3.3 pounds. Not significant, but not awful either. I'm not trying to break weight loss speed records, just get in better shape and working on becoming healthier. So I'm very pleased with that for 30 days of 20 minute work-outs.Now.
Here's the nitty gritty.I hated listening to Jillian's explanation every day. You can't cut to the chase, you have to go through her 2-3 minute intro. Annoying. Sometimes the comments got a little annoying as well. The visual was nice because the camera hit mostly full body and traveled from the high-intensity model to the lower-intensity model during each move while Jillian explained what was going on and why. I loved that Jillian explained why some exercises were Level 3 and how they worked the muscles, and what was being accomplished etc. The music was a little annoying, too, but I was able to ignore it most of the time. I would've liked to see some different cool-downs because the warm-ups were different for each level.
Many of the exercises are high intensity and I felt a lot of them in my knees both during and after. Level 3 is really high intensity with plyometrics (explosive movements, i.e. jumping) like jump squats, rock stars, sumo squats, jumping jacks with weights, mountain climbers, jumping lunges. In the 10 days we did this level I was not able to do the entire session at the higher level intensity. My body got used to it and my knees aren't barking anymore but be warned. I had a shoulder that yelled at me the first few days I did Level 1 but it hasn't bothered me since. I really felt the squats and other intense moves in my rear-end. So much so that the only relief I got in Day 3 of Level 3 was to do Shred for the day. The ab workouts were mostly painful and did their job, covering every stinking muscle (according to my complaining abs anyway).
I loved, loved, loved that this is an intense 20 minute workout and it's a keeper. I can always put in 20 minutes. No excuses. I am going to give Jillian's Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism DVD a shot. It's 40 minutes and I'd like to see the difference in results.
