Bella and Amazing Grace

Jamie and I watched two excellent movies this weekend, Bella and Amazing Grace. I'll start with Bella. Everything about this movie was wonderful, starting with the actors, ending with the cinamatography, and everything in between. I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone that hasn't seen it yet so I'll do my best at not giving too much away. The majority of the story follows two characters, Jose and Bella, as they spend a day together. They both have a lot of baggage from their pasts that they carry with them each day. Through some very real and frank discussions both Jose and Bella begin to help each other cope with their demons and move on with their lives. What I really loved about this movie is that it didn't play out like every cookie cutter Hollywood movie. Most movies are predictable and after 15 mins you know how the movie will end. There were so many times where I found myself saying, "oh, he's going to say this now...", but he didn't. Or, "okay, she will have to do this now," but she didn't. It completely blasted out of the mold of old stale Hollywood and like many arthouse movies, it left a lot of situations open to allow the viewer to come to their own conclusions. CAUTION: there are some moments when tissues may be necessary.

Next on tap was Amazing Grace. I was tipped off to this movie by Chuck Colson on his Breakpoint commentaries. This movie focused on the life of William Wilberforce and his efforts to abolish the English slave trade. (Breakpoint actually has a Wilberforce Forum setup to deal with these same issues today). It took Wilberforce two decades before he saw any fruit to his labor. Yet he never gave up, he never quit. I personally was more moved with this movie than I was with Bella. I think because I was struck by how utterly hopeless his task was and yet he never wavered. To see how God can so mightily use one man to change the very course of history was humbling, and at the same time inspiring. It left me asking questions like: "what is my legacy?" "what am I doing to change the world?" "how does God want to use me to accomplish his ends?" If you are like me, by the time you get to the end of this movie and realize the impact one man had, you may, well, see the note after "CAUTION" in the previous paragraph.

Uncle Part 2

Early Friday morning Jamie and I became an aunt and uncle for the second time. My sister had a beautiful baby girl. I have no pictures yet, but as soon as I get some I'll be sure to post them. They named her Lydia Grace, and because she was just over 4 weeks early, she is just a little peanut. She was 19in long and only 4lbs 13ozs. We can't wait until January when we get to go out to Pennsylvania to see her. This now means I have two nieces to dote on. It is a very tough job, but I think I'm up to the task. I've got plenty of love to go around :)

The other "big" news is that Jamie finally got her fireplace! After much hard work and toil (and nearly losing my left thumb) all the work is complete. We had Haley's Comfort Systems come and hook up the gas line and exhaust. I didn't feel like being responsible for blowing up our house. After they did that work, I finished everything else. It will definitely be nice since our TV is in the basement. Its typically about 8-10 degrees cooler in the basement, so in January that means its about 60 degrees down there. Give me a blanket and I'm fine, but my wife prefers the 35,000 BTU firebox.