Easter

Easter is just around the corner. But what is Easter? Is Easter about the Easter Bunny, the egg hunts, the candy?
No. It's all about Him. It's about Christ. About what He did for us. His Atonement.


Christ atoned for our sins. He suffered for all our sins. But the Atonement isn't just for our sins; it's also there to help us with anything we need help with. It's there to help us progress.
In Gethsemane, on the cross and in between, Christ felt all the pain, loneliness, hurt, sorrow, everything that we can feel here on earth. He knows what it's like to feel alone, He even knows what it's like crush your fingers in a door.
Even when it feels like no one knows what you're going through, He does.

He has felt every pain we can feel here on earth. He suffered for us. He died that we might live again.
And because He did what He did, sacrificed Himself, lived, taught, everything, because of Him we have so much to be grateful for.

And what's cool is this: He lives! He really does. And because He lives, He is with us always. Wherever we are, whoever we are. He is there.

My thoughts on Disney's Cinderella (2015 live-action movie)

SPOILER ALERT

...You have been warned...
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So, I saw Disney's live-action Cinderella and I was, to tell the truth, a little surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I'm not much of a princess girl but I really enjoyed Cinderella. I liked the feeling and spirit that accompanied the film.

1) "Have courage and be kind"
This was kind of the motto of the whole movie; it was repeated many times. It's first told to Ella (Cinderella) by her mother. Ella ends up telling this to Kit who tells it to his dad. That's something I like, Ella is inspired by her mom, Ella inspires Kit and Kit inspires his dad. It's also interesting to look for whether Ella keeps this advice throughout the movie.

2) "I forgive you"
Personally, if I'd been treated like a piece of dirt but still expected to do everything by stuck-up, snobby people, I don't think I'd be very fast in forgiving them. But Ella, in the end forgives her step-mother. That's pretty amazing.

3) "Just because it's what's done, doesn't mean it's what should be done"
I love this!! This is another thing that Ella says that inspires Kit. I really like this because in the world, there are so many things that can keep us from doing what's right. Peer pressure is, I think, the big thing. That and "what will so-and-so" think of me if I do this?"

And that's what I thought was cool about Cinderella.

Ben Carson

I recently watched Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story and I really liked it. You have to be able to be okay seeing blood because there are some operation scenes but it's really very good.

Ben Carson is an African American man who grew up not very well off. But one day his mom set down some rules. She said that instead of watching TV all the time he and his brother could watch two shows a week and in their spare time they'd read two books from the library and write a report. His mom had been working for a man who was well off and she asked him once if he'd read all the books in his personal library and the man said yes. And Ben's mom realized that successful people read books. And I would add, good, meaningful books (that doesn't mean that's all they read). And lo and behold, Ben's grades went from the bottom of the ditch to the top in the class.
Later he was accepted into the John Hopkins Hospital and began an amazing career there. He preformed numerous surgeries and was able to save lives.

I think Ben Carson is a highly inspirational and very driven person who defied the odds in a time when African Americans were not really considered "real" Americans, so to speak.
Ben Carson stood up and stood out. He did things other people wouldn't. 

Interviewer: You have confidence. That is good for a neurosurgeon. But tell me something, why did you decide to become a brain doctor?

Ben Carson: The brain…its a miracle. Do you believe in miracles. Not a lot of doctors do. There isn’t a lot of faith among physicians. We study reports, it’s all very tangible. But the fact is there are so many things we just can’t explain. I believed we are all capable of performing miracles, up here (points to head). We are blessed with astonishing gifts and skills. Look at Handel. I mean, how can he come up with The Messiah in only 3 weeks. (pointing to head again) This is the key. The source of inspiration for unbelievable accomplishments.

~ Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story

Okay for Now

Warning - because this is basically a book review, there will be spoilers. Just saying.

Okay for Now is a book by Gary D. Schmidt. And it's really good.  I just recently finished listening to it on audiobook form and it really impressed me.
The book covers, I think, a lot of topics. It takes place in a small town in New York, during the Vietnam War.
Okay for Now takes place after Gary Schmidt's other book The Wednesday Wars, although I do not believe it's a sequel but don't quote me.


Doug Swiateck is a boy who is trying to find out who is is and what the meaning to life is (and how to survive it).

He moves with his family to Marysville, New York and there he finds himself. He meets great people and learns a lot about others.

I like how in this story, you meet people that you initially think, "I hope they get their comeuppance" or something like that, but then you learn something about them that totally changes your perspective. You just don't have enough facts yet and you can't judge someone without all the facts.

Doug lives in a broken family, you might say, and it's hard for him to settle in (which is not unusual). He has a brother in Vietnam and a brother still at home. His dad is, as it says in the book description, lost and his mom is sad but has the most beautiful smile on earth.

Another thing I really like about Okay for Now is that Doug meets a lot of people who end up being mentors to him. In most books the main character only has one mentor, which is fine, but in this book Doug meets a couple of them.
And he learns to draw. And drawing birds becomes his niche, his passion.
And by the end of the book he comes to really like Marysville which he had, up to this pointed, very much disliked.
And though his family isn't all the way fixed yet by the end of the book, it's on its way.

Like I said I was really impressed with Okay for Now and I think it was because Doug is going through so much and I'm not. Let me explain what I mean, Doug is going through so much that it makes it seem like stuff I'm going through is small.


Some other stats on the book (even though stats don't mean anything):
- Very little language
- Twists and turns around every corner
- Lots of feeling and excitement

I think another part of why the book is so good is, Doug is a real person. I mean, it's something that you can believe and see an actual person doing. It's natural and human.

It's fun watching Doug go through his life in Marysville and learn all about his different, and hilarious, experiences but also learn a thing or two yourself.