My Favorite Place

 

   On Saturday my family and I went to visit my sister's grave for Memorial Day.  We do this a number of times a year and many times after we visit the cemetery we stop to see my uncle and aunt who live nearby.  They have an apple orchard and it is my favorite place in the world. My mother grew up there and after my grandparents died my Uncle John and his wife Nadine took it over.  They are getting older now and have had to cut down some of the trees because they can't take care of it as well as they used to when they were younger. Someday they won't be able to take care of it anymore and then they might have to sell it...but let's not dwell on sad thoughts.  Let me tell you the things I love about it.
     I remember growing up and visiting Grandpa and Grandma there.  The house is situated on 3 acres of land.  There are huge poplar trees in the front year (which I understand cause some problem as they continually shed tiny branches that have to be picked up before the lawn can be mowed).  There's a white fence that surrounds the property and a white trellis opening in front that when I was little had climbing flowers.  There's a gravel road that splits off first to a parking area then to the apple cellar and finally ends winding around back to the big red sheds containing farming equipment.

The willow tree

Part of the back yard

   One of my favorite things is the old willow tree.  My grandparents planted it in memory of my great grandmother and it has grown to huge proportions.  It provides perfect shade in the summer and as youngsters we used to get in trouble by grabbing the low hanging branches and swinging on them.  We would try to climb up it, which we did sometimes accomplish, but the first branch is far enough off the ground that as an adult I don't have the energy to try anymore.  My uncle and aunt a number of years back installed swings beside it so you can swing to your heart's delight, enjoying the breeze on your face and listening to the sounds of the country.
     The backyard is big and has enough room for games.  There was plenty of room to run around as children and we even sometimes ended tiring ourselves out by playing out back (sometimes running into the orchard to play hide and seek).  A few times we took our sleeping bags and slept outside and I was always amazed at the amount of stars I could see there that I couldn't see in the city.  I even remember waking up to an actual rooster crowing (some neighbor's I'm sure).

The attic

     The house has multiple levels and I have fond memories of it.  It has a specific smell that reminds me of an old fashioned era.  The attic was where we as kids slept.  It's finished and open but has a 2 beds at one end and a fold out sofa at the other.  The roof angles up so in the attic you could be in bed next to the side wall and could touch the ceiling easily, which for some reason as a kid was really fun.  There was an old rocking chair and a little horse glider for very small children that we used to fight over.  The cellar was the other fun place...though as a child a little bit creepy.  A long staircase descends into the depths of the cool basement where the refrigerated apple cellars are.  There's a bedroom down there as well, which belonged to my grandparents and I can still remember going down to that room to visit my grandpa, who was for part of my growing up years, bed ridden.  They also have the apple press down there.  I think I only saw them operate it once or twice, but it was very interesting.

Uncle John on the tractor with Annie, Paul and Josh pick up the piles of grass

   When we went to visit on Saturday, we found that Aunt Nadine and Uncle John needed help.  This has happened over the years.  Sometimes we would help move big sprinkler pipes to help them water different parts of the property or sometimes it was apple harvest time and we'd help them pick apples.  But this time they had mowed the grass in the orchard and needed help raking it all into big piles and picking them up and putting them on back of the empty flat trailer.  Then they'd take them to the back property behind the orchard and lay them out there to compost.  I, having an allergy to grass, helped a lot with the raking.  It's amazing how long it takes and how little of the property we actually worked on.  But it was fun nonetheless, and I hardly need say a good workout.  It made us feel good to help out and it was a beautiful day to enjoy being outside.  We all took turns doing raking and picking up (except me picking up the piles of grass since I would break out in hives if I did) and it was so much enjoyable being together.
     I love this place.  If I had the money, I'd buy it.  But regardless of what happens in the future, I will always treasure the memories I have of my favorite place.

Mom and Aunt Nadine

The house from the front

Annie riding on the trailer

Lyle on the swings

Lyle and I doing a poor 'farmer and his wife' impression.
 He said 'look solemn', I just look pouty.

A random sign we saw at Chilis where we had lunch.
I've never been crushed and melted before...I think I'll pass

Home Videos

And here's me embarrassing myself by putting videos of me on my blog.  The ones with Annie are okay.  She's super cute.  As far as the ones with me, enjoy my innate dorkiness.

Video #1: Annie and me playing That One Song That Every Kid Knows

Video #2: Me playing Chopin (I hate seeing myself on video- I prefer to close my eyes and just listen)

Video #3: Annie playing Fur Elise

Video #4: I finally did it...here's me Just Dancin' to Pink's 'So What'.  It's a good workout.

Things I Don't Know

1. Why it seems to be so hard for my wonderful kids to clean up all their crumbs off the counter after they've eaten

2. Why the toilet can't clean itself

3. Why money can't grow on trees

4. Why my husband can't just know what I'm thinking and feeling without me having to tell him (am I right, ladies?)

5. Where to go on our next family vacation

6. What to put on my next blog post to make my life sound interesting (which of course it is...)

7. How to teach my kids the things they need to know

8. How to figure out what I want to do with my life

9. Why I had to learn geometry in junior high

10. How insurance companies can be so exasperating

11. How to have a baby

12. What the capital of Madagascar is

13. Why home ownership must come with the occasional flood

14. Why it's hard to be patient when you're hungry, tired or hormonal

15. How to clean the house and take a nap at the same time

16. What to fix for dinner

17. When the next season of Sherlock is coming out!

18. Why exercising is so hard to do (oh, come on, I can't be the only one!)

19. How to give myself a back massage

20. How to do anything regarding fixing a car

21. Why I have to get sick sometimes

22. When to tell my husband that I bought something new (that he usually thinks is unncessary...and which sometimes is)

23. How to wake up happy, refreshed and excited to start the day rather than grumpy and responding mostly in grunts

24. Why I have a compulsion to eat ice cream instead of celery sticks

25. Much more than I ever thought I did

Here's a random picture of Lyle with chopsticks behind his ears.
I love Annie's expression!

For Cynthia

     Another Mother's Day has come and gone.  I'm not going to pretend that part of me isn't glad.  But I tried focusing on the good things that happened this Mother's Day and here's what I came up with.
     Annie made a mother's day letter for me.  In it she reminded me that mother's day is to celebrate all the women in your life who you 'appresiate' (I love it when she spells things wrong, it's so cute) whether they're mothers or not.  Then she included the following:

Part of Annie's mother's day letter to me

     Bless her sweet little heart!  I love that kid!

Lyle, Annie and Paul

Josh and Reed

Tempura veggies.
 Lyle was real sad to have an
excuse to buy a deep fryer!

     Second thing that made me feel good is that my siblings and I coordinated a surprise mother's day dinner for my mom.  Allie and Paul came up with the recipes for a Japanese dinner, Paul helped me cook it, Mike and Wendy brought the flowers and Kurt kidnapped mom and brought her to my house the night before mother's day.  Reed and Heather, Josh and Landon came too.  We had yakisoba noodles with mushrooms and garlic and butter sauce and edamame and tempura vegetables for appetizers.  Mike brought a German chocolate cake for dessert (yeah, so it wasn't Japanese, but it was still good).  Oh, yes and I can't forget about the rice candy!  It was so much fun to see each other and talk and celebrate my mom.  She's the most fantastic mom ever (not that I'm biased)! 

        Cynthia was born not so many years ago in Massachusetts to my grandparents who already had 2 sons and a daughter.  Their oldest son had contracted polio so they decided not to have more children.  Then they met the missionaries and were baptized and felt that their family wasn't complete.  Thank goodness!  My mom and her younger sister were added to the brood.  They moved to Utah.  My grandpa was a chicken farmer and he continued to do so after they came here.  But the demand wasn't the same that it was back east so he ended up having an apple orchard.

     Mom went on a mission to Japan (hence the Japanese dinner) and married my dad a few years later.  They had 6 kids together and a year or two after Kurt was born they divorced.  During the divorce proceedings, my mom's mother died.  Now she was grieving and a single parent of 6 kids.  She worked full time and for a while went back to school.  We as kids took care of each other (Amy did a lot of being mom when mom was gone).  We all had some growing pains and hard years.  My mom almost single handedly raised us which meant that she was the only parent who dealt with kids who had depression, got into drugs and other trouble.  Her house burned down in a fire and she buried a child as well and all while trying to take care of us on jobs didn't pay nearly what she needed.

     The thing I love the most about my mom is that through it all, she's been a rock.  She's been so faithful and trusting in the Lord and has shown me what a Christlike person really is.  My mom is a giver, she's constantly trying to do everything for others, even when it makes her life harder.  Currently she works a full time job, works at the temple on Saturdays, visit teaches 10 women (part of those are voluntary because they were sisters she was concerned about who weren't being visited) and has 3 church callings: organist, visiting teaching coordination supervisor and youth Sunday school teacher.  She's given a kidney to someone she didn't know, donates blood on a regular basis (and has for years and years) and still manages to check with all of her kids and help them with whatever's going on in their lives.

Landon and Paul

Mike and Wendy

     My mom may not hold much value in the eyes of some; she's never made much money or had any real power or worldly influence, but I've never seen someone who loves people more genuinely than she does.  She's my angel.

Heather and Mom

I love you Mom!  Happy Mother's Day!  

Me and Kurt

Mom and Harper

No Words

     One thing that has always been important to me is music.  I haven't talked about that much on my blog other than to mention that I play the piano.  But music has always been something I feel connects me to the divine, something that has an indescribable healing property and, gosh darn it, it just makes me happy.  As Victor Hugo says, 'Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.'  So here are my favorite classical expressions without words.  Enjoy!

Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev- 1936

Prokofiev was commissioned by the Central Children's Theatre in Moscow to write a new musical symphony for children.  He wrote 'Peter and the Wolf' in 4 days.  It includes text spoken by a narrator along with an orchestra.

Piano Concerto No. 1 by Pyotr Tchaikovsky- 1875

This one is one of my mother's favorites.

George Frederic Handel's Hallelujah Chorus from 'the Messiah'- 1741

Contains scriptural text from the King James Bible

Here's a fun flash mob version!

Frederic Chopin's Raindrop Prelude-1838

Side note: Chopin is my favorite classical artist.  My dad used to play his music all the time at home when I was growing up.  I've learned to play a few of these as well (just not very well)

Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu- 1834

This is the ultimate for me.  I would love to be able to learn to play this!

Clair de Lune- Claude Debussy 1890

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Franz Liszt- 1847

'Queen of the Night' Aria from Mozart's Opera 'The Magic Flute'- 1791

Scott Joplin's 'The Entertainer'- 1902

Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin- 1924

This one's long (16 min.) but amazing!  It combines classical with jazz. 

Flight of the Bumble Bee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov- 1900

This clip comes from the movie 'Shine'

Serenade by Franz Schubert- 1828

Fur Elise by Ludwig van Beethoven- 1810

Another Beethoven favorite: Ode to Joy (Symphony No. 9)- 1824

By the time he wrote this he was quite deaf and as he conducted this for the first time, he was conducting an orchestra that he could not hear and was not in time with.

I found another good flash mob scene for this one.

Franz Joseph Haydn's Serenade

Minuet in G Major by Johann Sebastian Bach

Something Divine

     There is someone in my life right now who really challenges me.  It's been years since I first met her and not much has changed since then.  In her good times, she doesn't mean to be a problem, but in her bad times, she turns into someone else...someone less pleasant.  She becomes someone who seeks to hurt others, who brings up old offenses, who blames others for problems she is creating herself and requires an extreme amount of patience and care, which I don't always have to give. I sometimes feel myself strained to the extreme in trying to kindly speak with her when she's upset.  I have had a very hard time knowing how to handle someone who has been, at times, a toxic influence in my life.  I should mention the fact that due to specific reasons not mentioned here, she is not someone I can't eject from my associations.  Though in the bad times, I try to have little contact with her, I can't always avoid it.  I've thought many times about what the right way to handle this situation is.
     When I first met her and started to realize what a problem she brought to me, I prayed about knowing what to do.  I thought about Luke 6:27-28: 'But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.'  At the time, it seemed like a fairly good description, since I really didn't like her.  So I started praying for her.  I put her name on the temple prayer roll and started fasting for her.  I wasn't happy about doing it.  In fact, sometimes I was really resentful of it.  But I would continue to do it anyway, banking on the fact that if Heavenly Father really meant what he said, that he darn well better help me out.  I'd remind myself of D&C 64:10 which says, "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men."  This would kind of make me mad, to be honest.  After all, I wasn't doing anything wrong and I was required to forgive someone who was being nastier to me, with no provocation, than anyone I'd ever known before.  Still, I tried to put my feelings aside since, honestly, I didn't know what else to do to feel better.  And it worked.  My heart started softening toward this woman and we were able to start bridging the gap for the first time.
     What I didn't know then was that she wouldn't change and many times didn't even feel bad for her behavior.  Since those first couple of years, I've had a different challenge.  How do you forgive someone who continually abuses you and may never stop?  One occurance of offense is something hard to forgive, but multiple, seeming unending offenses?  Especially when that someone doesn't think they've done anything wrong and aren't sorry at all?  I learned that was a different kind of situation.  It gets harder to forgive someone when you know they'll keep hurting you the same ways over and over again.  I think of all the times I've let go of my anger and helped her out, even though I'd get metaphorically slapped in the face for it, only to have her beg for forgiveness later on when she realizes how she's acted.  Then I'd frustratingly watch as she'd repeat the very same behavior.  I'd start wondering, does she really feel bad when she's apologizing or does she just want me not to be mad at her?  It gets more difficult to mean it when I accept an apology from her, and to be able to say, 'it's okay'.  I used to think I could keep forgiving her over and over but I'm starting to doubt my ability after years of continued bad experiences.
     So I thought I'd do a blog about what I've learned about forgiveness and hopefully it will help me reconnect with my desire to show forth this attribute which I truly hope I still have.  One thought that has helped me a little bit is that forgiveness isn't given because it's deserved.
     I will admit, I'm a stickler for everything being fair.  I am constantly annoyed that life doesn't dish us all out what we deserve, so this was an eye opening realization for me.  The simple fact that you've done something wrong, makes you unworthy to receive the very thing you need: forgiveness.  This goes for relationships between each other and also for our relationship with God.
     Huh...that sure made me think, and honestly it took some of the wind out of my self-righteous pride and martyred heart.  Forgiveness is given for the very fact that it isn't deserved.  As C.S. Lewis says: 'To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you."  Well, I certainly hope for God's forgiveness for my many wrongs, which funny enough seem to be REALLY small when someone else has hurt me and I'm required then to turn and pass that forgiveness on to them, which I usually do unenthusiastically.  I guess I better try to change my attitude and do it with a little more charity.
     Another thing that is quite profound to me in dealing with forgiveness is that it's very act many times has little to do with the actual person who's offended you.  It's something that happens between you and God in my experience.  Somewhere deep in your heart, you eventually have to find the will to humble yourself to God and say, 'well, this isn't really fair, but if you want me to forgive so-and-so, I will.'  In one way it makes sense to make this promise to God as well as to the one who hurt you because God is the only one who can make you feel better about it.  There are many times that the situation is such that even if you forgive the person who's hurt you, it cannot change what has happened and therefore may not bring peace.  But by involving the Father in your act of forgiveness, you are obeying his commandments.  And whenever you are obedient to God's laws, his Spirit, or the Comforter, cannot be kept from you.  And peace comes.
     One of Michael McLean's songs called 'Let It Go' has made me think deeply about my struggle to forgive.

There's so much of life that can't be lived

If you're holding on to hate and anger deep inside

Let it go

Letting go

It opens up the heart

There is a new day that's hungry to start

Well, you can't change

What has hurt you so

But you will heal if you'll just let it go...

Only love

Nourishes the soul

If it's not love

Simply let it go

     Sometimes, I've been able to let go easier than others.  Sometimes, I can refocus myself and know that the only problem I really need to worry about is not what someone did to me, but what I'm going to do about it now.

     I learned over the years that I have much more power in me than I thought I knew.  This has been a boon to me at times when I feel scared and frustrated about situations I've been put in that are completely out of my control and that I don't know how to handle.  I may not have a choice in the experiences this woman brings to my door, but I CAN control what I do once I'm put in those situation, even if the only thing I can do is forgive.  It's still my choice.  And the fact that I have the power to forgive is something no one can ever take away.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade.

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how straight the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

     Remember, Laura, that ultimately if you're to have the happiness you desire, you need to forgive and let go of the anger so you're open enough to receive the joy that comes afterwards.  The act itself can be painful, but like most things in life, the things that are the hardest to do, are the ones that are worth it.  To err is human; to forgive, divine. -Alexander Pope

     And after all, isn't becoming divine the ultimate goal?

Let's Go to the Movies, Part 3

Today's selections are from movies that have inspired me

     1.   The Prince of Egypt- (1998) voices by Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock and more.  This is the classic story of the baby Moses who is found by Pharoah's daughter and adopted into the royal family.  He grows up to find out he was born a Jew, fleas into the desert because he caused the death of an Egyptian, and is called by God to be a prophet to lead his people out of slavery.  I feel a true sense of awe when I watch this.  I loved the burning bush sequence and a new look at the huge task Moses was given to do with God as his guide and support is a bit mind boggling.  This movie helped remind me of being able to accept that life isn't always what we thought it would be and that sometimes we are meant for much bigger things that we could have ever imagined.
     2. Field of Dreams- (1989) Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Amy Madigan and Ray Liotta.  An Iowa farmer follows a voice he hears in his cornfield to mow down part of his crop in order to build a baseball field so that Shoeless Joe Jackson, a dead baseball player, will come has comedy and drama and somehow moves the soul.  Through Ray's journey, he deals with everyone thinking he is crazy, baseball players only he and his family can see, loss of income and near foreclosure of his farm, kidnapping a cranky former peace activist and his ongoing conflicted feelings about his relationship with his late father.  This movie inspires me to be willing to take risks sometimes, even if you can't see the end result and that sometimes the journey you think you're on takes you somewhere completely unexpected, but worth all the effort.
     3. Tuck Everlasting- (2002) Alexis Bledel, William Hurt, Sissy Space, Jonathan Jackson and Ben Kingsley.   Winnie Foster, wanting to escape the restrictions of her mother hides in the woods and meets Jesse Tuck, a boy her age who's family has a huge secret.  Many years ago the Tuck family came to the area to settle there.  Stopping to drink from a certain stream, they later found that they were impervious to harm, disease and even aging as an effect of the spring water.  Now they are immortal and must keep it a secret from all the world.  Winnie becomes close friends and learns about them.  Now her parents think she's been kidnapped because she never returned from the woods and Winnie must make a choice.  Does she want eternal life or not?  I love that this movie shows the downsides of one of man's deepest desires: to live forever.  I agree with Winnie's decision in the end and hope I'd make the same choice.
     4. Pay It Forward- (2000) Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, Haley Joel Osment and Jay Mohr.  One dark night a journalist is given a new car by a complete stranger.  He is baffled by this act of generosity in a time of need and decides to research the motives of this man for a story.  He traces it back to a middle school boy named Trevor who in response to a challenge by his favorite teacher, thinks of a way to positively change the world.  His plan is to 'pay it forward'.  He chooses 3 people and does one act of kindness for each of them.  It must be something they cannot do for themselves and they must promise, in turn, to pay it forward and choose 3 people each to help.  To be reminded that the positive acts we do are sometimes much farther reaching than we could ever see is something to think on; so too is the knowledge that even though sometimes we never see the effect we have on other people, that doesn't mean we didn't make a difference in their lives.
     5. Saints and Soldiers- (2003) Corbin Allred, Alexander Polinsky and Kirby Heyborne.  It's based on a true story about a band of American WW2 soldiers who escape execution and are stuck behind enemy lines when they meet a British soldier who has important and crucial information to the war effort.  They decide to help him and the information to safety and so doing risk their lives in the process.  I like war movies, though I can't watch them often and this is my favorite; they tend to have a high emotional impact since the situation they are in leads to profound thoughts about life and the existence of the human soul.  There are some things that these soldiers find worth dying for.
     6. Amazing Grace- (2006) Ioan Gruffudd, Romola Garai, Albert Finney and Benedict Cumberbatch.  The well known song 'Amazing Grace' was written by John Newton, a man who gave up being a slave trader, repented of his sins and became a clergyman.  William Wilberforce, who knew this man, is the subject of this film.  Based on Wilberforce's true life tireless and seemingly never-ending efforts which finally led to the abolishing of slavery in England, this film details his long journey and I love seeing the sacrificial efforts he went to and the bold, subtle and clever approaches he used to eventually achieve his goal.  This movie leaves me with a strong desire to do the right thing, even though it may be very difficult and take a long time.
     7. Finding Neverland- (2004) Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie and Freddie Highmore.  Playwright James M. Barrie has yet another bad review for his latest play.  Then one day while in the park he meets Mrs. Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and her boys and dog.  He befriends the widow and her family, much to the chagrin of both her mother and his wife.  He finds inspiration in the children, especially Peter, who is unfriendly and reluctant to care for anyone new after the death of his father.  But slowly Peter comes out of his shell and Barrie finds himself thinking of a new play, something that makes his producer very nervous.  It's about a boy who doesn't want to grow up and includes pirates, fairies, lost boys and mermaids.  In creating what will later be one of the most beloved tales of our time, Peter Pan, he and the Davies family are changed in ways they did not expect.  I love that this movie shows sadness; that not everything may work out the way you want in the end, but still there is hope and inspiration and peace in taking care of those you love.
     8. The Five People You Meet In Heaven- (2004) Jon Voight, Ellen Burstyn and Jeff Daniels.  Based on Mitch Albom's book by the same name this movie is unique in that it takes place almost entirely in the afterlife.  Eddie works at Ruby Pier.  He'd been there his whole life.  One day a ride breaks down and in order to save a little girl, Eddie throws himself in the way and dies.  He is greeted in the afterlife by 5 people who had different roles in his life.  Some of them he knew well, some he didn't know at all.  Their job is to help him understand his life better.  One by one, and step by step they take him through his life.  Not knowing the complete story about those who changed his life or those who's life he unknowingly affected helps Eddie gain perspective and learn to forgive and accept that though his life didn't turn out how he wanted it to, it turned out exactly as it should have.
     9. A Walk to Remember- (2002) Shane West and Mandy Moore.  Landon Carter is good looking and popular.  Jamie Sullivan is a self-assured preacher's daughter.  They're as different as night and day.  But when Landon messes up and ends up being forced into the spring musical, he and Jamie are thrown together.  The more he gets to know her, the more Landon notices how extraordinary she is and does anything he can to spend more time with her, even be ostracized by his old friends.  Jamie makes him see himself in a new light and he now believes he can do anything he puts his mind to.  But there are tough times still ahead for the couple.  Jamie's sick and now they wonder how much time they have left to spend together.  I love this movie because it reminds me of the people in my own life who I want to be like because they are good and bring out the best in me.  I also love Jamie's constant faith, even when the hard questions of life go unanswered.
     10. Forever Strong- (2008) Gary Cole, Sean Astin, Sean Faris.  Based on the collected stories of real life rugby coach Larry Gelwix, Forever Strong is the story of a young man heading for trouble.  Rick is the son of one of the best rugby coaches in the country and never passes up a chance to have a good time.  One night while drunk there's a car accident and his girlfriend is hurt.  As punishment he is sent to a juvenile detention facility.  There he meets Marcus, a past rugby player who runs the facility and was an inmate once upon a time as well.  Marcus sees something in Rick and recommends him to play rugby on Rick's father's rival team in order to lower his sentence.  He grudgingly accepts and the decision is one that changes his life.  His new coach is completely different than anyone he's ever met.  In addition to strenuous practices, the team donates their time to help people.   They also have very strict rules on behavior that's considered acceptable.  Though these restrictions first chafe at Rick, he slowly comes to see a new way of life in the fellowship of good teammates and the guidance of a coach who cares about the success of each of his players,  both on and off the field.
     11. Soul Surfer- (2011) AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt.  Bethany is a competitive surfer and a Christian.  She has spent her life in Hawaii on the beaches, perfecting her talent which is encouraged by her surfer parents.  Unexpectedly, one day Bethany is attacked by a shark and loses an arm.  The story of her recovery and her journey to learn to do things again, including surf, minus one limb is at times heart wrenching and inspiring.  I related to a confused and saddened Bethany asking her church leader, "This is what God wants for my life?"  But her determination and faith win out and she is able to appreciate what good she can do, with her renewed faith.
    12. Courageous- (2011) Alex Kendrick, Ben Davies, Ken Bevel-  The tagline for this movie says it all, "Honor begins at home".  This is the story of 5 men, 4 of which are police officers and their devotion to their families.  Adam Mitchell is a good man but like many fathers he sometimes doesn't make as much time for his kids as he should.  That changes the day his young daughter is killed by a drunk driver in a car accident.  As he strives to come to terms with his grief, he realizes that he needs to be a better dad to the son he still has alive.  He makes a pact which contains all the promises he wants to make to become a better father and spiritual leader in his home.  His friends also decide to take this challenge seriously, each of them having their own challenges with fatherhood.  I was amazed to find a movie that puts so much emphasis on the role of the father in a child's life.  This is a very touching story.  Bring your tissues.
     13. Charly- (2002) Jeremy Elliott, Heather Beers.  Charly is a vibrant and bold young woman who comes to visit Utah and her parents who just moved here.  Sam is a religiously observant and anal young man who is assigned by his father to show her around town.  Unbelievably, though they get on each others nerves at first, they end up falling in love.  But Charly is not of Sam's faith.  She learns about God and forever from him and he learns about how to let loose and have fun from her.  They marry and have a child.  Then they learn that she has cancer.  Will their faith be enough to sustain them through the separation of death?  I bawl at this movie every time I see it.  The ability of love life for what it really is can be priceless.  And to be able to step back and look at the bigger picture, that existence extends beyond this life and to have faith that all will be will in the end is a true challenge, but one that can sustain us through anything.