Martian Child Recommendation

We don't go to movies much. We rent movies a lot. We saw the previews for this movie ages ago and couldn't wait for it to come out.

Yesterday I rented MARTIAN CHILD. We watched it last night. Go get it.

To be fair, I like John Cusack anyway. Something about the way he talks is funny to me. So the fact that the story revolves around his character and a little boy instantly was intriguing.

The gist of the story is as follows (don't worry I'm not giving anything away that the trailer doesn't give you)... Cusack plays a successful science fiction writer who decides to adopt a little boy (around the age of 8). The boy believes he is from Mars as a way to deal with the struggles and abandonment he's experienced through his short life.

Basically the movie really gets to some of the issues surrounding adoption and children in general. It's touching and funny. It is really captivating. Cusack draws you into his feelings and frustrations with this little boy.

We obviously didn't adopt domestically. We also got a little boy who was pretty reliant on us for everything and couldn't really talk when we got him. However I think that there were definitely some things that resonated with us here.

One thing that Cusack's character says toward the front of the movie when he's trying to decide if he should adopt or not is this......(to the best of my memory) "Should I have a child of my own...probably not, but open my home to one that's already here...why not?" For some reason I found that pretty powerful.

Yes it's Hollywood. But this is based on a real story. Did they dramatize it a bit? Yes.....but the documentary afterward is pretty powerful. The little boy is a young man (I"m guessing early 20's now).

I'm not big on telling you what to see or read, but when I come across something really good I feel it's my obligation to let you know. Go spend 3 bucks and rent this movie!

Why Facebook?

So Marjorie has been on Facebook for awhile now. She keeps saying things like "you really should join."

Progressively more and more people are saying similar things to me. "So do you have Facebook?" "You don't have facebook?"

So this morning Mari left for work and accidentally left Facebook open on my laptop. So out of curiosity, I started poking around trying to figure out what it is that I'm missing out on.

So after about 1/2 hour I"m sitting here still wondering....what is it that I'm missing?

I know several of you reading this are Facebookers (is that a word?). Please tell me what it is I"m missing. Why are you on Facebook?

Here's what I'm seeing. I found a bunch of people from college etc. who I haven't talked to in a long time. Some of whom, the reason I haven't talked to them, is that we never talked much when I lived 150 feet from them....so why would we now? I saw some people that I haven't talked to in years and genuinely wouldn't mind reconnecting with....but what does Facebook really do for me along those lines? I guess I"m really confused by the layout.

So tell me. Why should I/shouldn't I join Facebook? Am I the last 30 something without Facebook?



Can you say two blog posts in one day?

Tube

I'm so glad we don't have TV. We have a TV, but it's not hooked up to anything other than our DVD player. In most of the country that means you get 3 or 4 channels.....but not in Warren. Because of all the hills around here, you get no channels at all.

We haven't had TV since Mari and I got married. We used to spend a lot of time reading quietly. Now we spend time chasing around a 3 year old.

So for Easter we went to my parents house. They don't have cable, but they do have 4 whole channels! This let me watch some of the opening rounds of the NCAA basketball playoff. Fun. Good.

Problems arose.....first of all, I'm a sports junkie. I never fill out a bracket, but I always have some teams that I'd like to see win. This year I was really pulling for Georgetown. (WAS is the key word there.) That being said, I found myself on occasion watching games that I didn't give a hoot about.....Indiana vs. Arkansas...who cares????

Then when there was a commercial I was clicking to the other 3 channels to see what else was on. Which was always nothing. There are only 4 channels.....but I still felt the need to click to the other channels!

I distinctly remember when I was a little kid and we got our first remote control for the TV. I thought it was the craziest thing ever. "You mean you don't have to get up from the couch and turn the nob?" Since that moment I've been hooked. I'm like a junkie. I can't get enough.

I'm really glad we don't have TV.

And this is love.....

I apologize ahead of time for the gross factor.

We are working hard in our house to make potty training permanent. Corban is usually pretty good about it, but he really doesn't care about the potty.

So today he had an "oops".

So I'm in our basement cleaning poop off his "big boy underwear".....and the only thing that ran through my head was......"Man, this is true love."

Adulthood

There are lots of bummers about being an adult. Taxes. Responsibility. No more recess.

There are some advantages. When I was a kid, sugar cereals never happened in our house. Ok, not never. Just not regularly. That's cool. I get it.

I do the groceries in our house.

Last week there was a special. 2 boxes for X bucks.
Daddy got himself some cereal he always wanted!
I know it's bad for me. I won't let Corban even see it.
There are some things I like about being an adult

Here

Ok here's a new post. About stuff.

-Corban has been a pain in the neck lately......except this morning. Right now he's jumping around in the living room and being cool. However said that there are "terrible two's" was an idiot. Three is SOOO much worse. He has been rebellious, defiant, and not very nice either.

The worst part is that he's so dang cute.

-For those who have been asking....we have no new news on our second adoption. We are waiting to hear from our agency. Basically the next step is that we'll get to know who our child is and get pictures. From that point, things should move pretty smoothly and we'll be headed to Ethiopia to bring our little guy/girl home.

-Since my two weekend retreats in a row I've been sick. I don't like doctors so I tried self-medicating for awhile. I then realized I wasn't going to get better so I actually went to the doctor and got an antibiotic. HOWEVER....I've still been coughing and having issues....the latest of which is a stabbing pain in my sinus. So, I think it's time once again for a trip to see the MD.

-Last week I had the honor of speaking at a friends 30 Hour Famine for his students and another church. I take speaking at the Famine pretty seriously. As you may know I'm a big fan of World Vision, particularly after going with them to Brazil and seeing first hand how they operate. While on one hand it's easy for me to talk about WV, it's also hard to make sure I don't talk non-stop and miss the point.

During the Famine time, my friend played this song for the kids to meditate on. Maybe I'm pretty far behind the times these days but this one blew me away. Here's a cool YouTube video that puts images to the song.