Tag Archives: Middle Earth

A New Road

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Still round the corner there may wait

a new road or a secret gate,

And though we pass them by today,

Tomorrow we may come this way

And take the hidden paths that run

Towards the Moon or to the Sun. (86)

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

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We went to Lauritzen Gards yesterday, and I think I took a million pictures (including that one ^^).  We’re going to be pretty busy for the rest of the week, but I’m hoping to post the rest of them sometime soon.

Happy Wednesday! 🙂

The Birthstone Book Tag

Good morning, readers!  Today is my first official day of Summer break!  I celebrated by staying up way too late last night watching Star Wars and sleeping in this morning. 😉  I’m so totally crazy.

Anyway, I snagged this free-for-all tag off of my friend Savannah’s blog (which, unfortunately, is not public, so I can’t link to it), and decided to do it today.  I was tagged by two other tags recently, which I need to get to posting, but I decided to do the unofficial one first, because. . . me.  I think it will come together faster than the other ones though.  I’ll give myself more time to get those together.

Continue reading The Birthstone Book Tag

Catching up. . .

. . . because I seriously need to!

To begin with, my big sister is in Sicily!  And she’s going to be there all summer!  I seriously don’t know how I’m going to survive, but I guess I’ve gotten this far (exactly one week, to be precise), and she responds to my e-mails, because she’s awesomeness.

(Prepare for this post to be a lot of scattered randomness!)

Calling all you sweet Omaha people, I’m doing a fundraiser for our adoption!  You can read about it on the family blog here!  I’m selling made-from-scratch, chocolate chip scones.  I’ve gotten rave reviews on them at every party and gathering I’ve made them for.

We’ve been listening to this song a lot lately:

“Raise your thoughts a little higher,
Use your words to inspire,
Joy will fall like rain,
When you speak life with the things you say”

Little Brother loves it. 🙂  We’ve been saying “speak life” instead of “speak nicely” or something like that, and it works well.  Oh the magic of making something a song!

Plus, I had the best ever Middle Earth geek moment a few weeks ago, and I had to tell you all about it: I walked down to a playground in our neighborhood recently–because I have a “thing” with playgrounds–and wandered around and climbed on top of monkey-bars and walked on fence-rails.  What big kids do at parks.  It had rained the day before so there were some lovely puddles to splash in.  I was just paddling around when I looked down and there, half-buried in the sand, at the bottom of a puddle, gleaming in the sunshine, was a ring.  A ring.  I just stared.  Then poked it with my Aragorn boot.  Then picked it up.  It was silver–a little disappointing, but still cool.  Though slightly creepy.  I put it in my pocket and brought it home with me. 🙂

Happy Wednesday, folks!  What have you been up to?

Storms

I step outside, onto the wet grass, and look around the yard.  I’m shocked to see how much damage the storm did.

Nothing huge–thank you, Jesus!  The trampoline’s standing, and there’s no trees down.

But the plants are in tatters.

The ferns were so pretty this year; so tall, so green.

Now they hang in droopy shreds of frond.

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Still, I can’t help but feel that the air is clear and warm, and there’s a picturesque beauty about the yard still.  There’s a promise hanging in the storm-washed air.  It’s Spring–things might still grow back.

I plop down on the wooden bench and open my Bible, trying to stay focused on the small words, and not the nature around me, shiny with rain-drops.

I look down, and there on the ground, amidst the battered flowers, is a tiny egg-shell.  A bright blue robin egg.

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I find myself whispering, Oh God, don’t let it have blown out of a nest in the storm!

I catch myself–does it matter that much?

Suddenly, a Bible verse comes to mind, and a thousand songs with it.

A sparrow cannot fall without notice. . .

I begin to think.  What does that really mean?

He never promised that the sparrow wouldn’t fall.

He says when it does, he sees.  He cares.

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Jesus never promised us that He would keep the storms away.  He promised to weather them with us.

He doesn’t say He’ll keep us safe–He says that no matter what, He’ll be with us.

He came to earth, was born in human form, as a helpless baby.  He lived in our world, felt our hurt.  He experienced human hunger.  Human pain.  He experienced every thing we must experience–and things none of us need ever experience now, because of His sacrifice.

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As Christians, that is our job.  To come to the pain.

Establishing God’s Kingdom does not mean eliminating pain.  It means bringing Jesus to the pain.

Our job is not to hunker down and wait expectantly until Jesus returns.  To lock ourselves inside and close the shutters.

Our job is to run to the pain and suffering.  To step out, into the aftermath of the storm.

And bring Jesus there.

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In the second The Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug, the Elvish king hears threats of war and devastation from a goblin he captures.  He tells his son, Legolas, to order the closing of the gates to his underground kingdom.  Hearing that his friend, Tauriel, went out to track the rest of the goblins, Legolas goes in search of her in the forest.

Finding her, he tries to convince her to come back before the gates are closed.  Tauriel refuses to leave the goblins to kill and destroy through the other lands.

“It’s not our fight,” Legolas tells her.

“It is our fight,” she answers.  “Are we not part of this world?”

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We are a part of God’s Kingdom.

We are not to close up the gates and hide until the storm blows over.

We are to engage the world He made–and loves enough to die for.

We are a part of this world.  It is our fight.  It is our problem.

We cannot close our eyes to the war and pain and storms.  We must open them, and feel the sting of the falling raindrops.

We are called into the storm, and that is where Jesus is.  Is it not better to walk through the storms with Jesus by our side, than to hide from them–in temporary safety, but all alone?  We are not to fear what can harm the body, but what can harm the soul.

Do not be afraid, little children, you are worth more than many sparrows.

Mount Doom

I know, I should be posting The Sacrifice right now, but today is a big day in Middle Earth, and I need to post about it! Don’t worry, I’ll post Part 10 tomorrow.

Isildur took it, as should not have been. It should have been cast then into Orodruin’s fire nigh at hand where it was made. . . Fruitless did I call the victory of the Last Alliance? Not wholly so, yet it did not achieve its end. Sauron was diminished, but not destroyed. His Ring was lost but not unmade. The Dark Tower was broken, but its foundations were not removed; for they were made with the power of the Ring, and while it remains they will enure.” -Elrond, The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, page 273)

On March 25th the Ring was at last destroyed, and not by Isildur or any great hero, but by a group of unlikely hobbits.

It was the strangest event in the whole history of the Ring so far: Bilbo’s arrival just at that time, and putting his on it, blindly, in the dark.” -Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring, page 61)

Strange indeed, but was it stranger than the events at Mount Doom? In the end, it was Sméagol—seeking only to regain ‘his precious’—that brought about the Ring’s final ending.

Yes,” said Frodo. “But do you remember Gandalf’s words: Even Gollum may have something yet to do? But for him, Sam, I could not have destroyed the Ring. The Quest would have been in vain, even at the bitter end. So let us forgive him!” -The Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King, page 926)

Today, Sauron was defeated, the Ring unmade, and the Dark Tower completely destroyed, at last; by a poor greedy creature and two little hobbits. One of my favorite things about Middle Earth is the incredibly real battle between good and evil, and the way unlikely heroes can always do great things if they never give up!

Click here to read my friend’s great post about Middle Earth!

More Music Videos

So I found more music videos since my last post that I’ve been watching, and I thought I would share them with you all!

Once again, kids should check with their parents.  Especially with the last video, as it has several scenes from movies in it, including several fantasy creatures that are a bit creepy.  Thank you!

A friend of ours sang this song at her graduation ceremony, and I liked it so much I asked Mama to help me look up a video so I could memorize it!

I’ve sort-of known this song for years, but after hearing it again at aforementioned graduation, I decided I needed to find a version I could listen to!

Another song I’ve known for almost forever.  We sang it at church when I was younger, but I could never get the order right, and I recently decided to fix that.

Another Middle Earth song. 🙂  After memorizing “I See Fire” I realized “The Last Good-Bye” was the only Hobbit credits-song I didn’t know.  Needless to say, that was unacceptable.  Still, I didn’t expect to find something this good!  It has clips from all six movies, with video of Billy Boyd singing–and several behind-the-scenes shots!  Also, Billy Boyd acted in The Lord of the Rings, so he’s singing, but also in some of the movie scenes in costume!

So, there’s what I’ve been listening to lately.  The music videos I watch are actually a pretty good peek into what goes on in my brain! 🙂

Happy Wednesday!

All That is Gold Does Not Glitter

So, it turns out yesterday was Aragorn’s birthday, and I missed it.  (Not a mistake I’m planning to make next year!)  And, if my friend hadn’t posted about it, I still wouldn’t know.  Thank you, Ellen! 🙂  So I thought now was a good time to post my thoughts on him.

Warning–there are several story-spoilers below, for those of you who are haven’t read or are reading The Lord of the Rings.  Sorry, I can’t talk about Aragorn without giving things away. 🙂

Continue reading All That is Gold Does Not Glitter

Music

Hey, guys!  I found a few (or more than a few! 🙂 ) music videos recently that I’ve been watching, and I thought I would share them with you all!

Kids, please check talk with your parents first.  A lot of these are mostly just lyrics, but figure out what works best for your family.  I have had some trouble with Youtube bringing up unhelpful video suggestions at the end.

This song is soo pretty! We sang it at a Bright Lights conference this summer, and I decided I needed to find it somewhere and memorize it!

I had the opportunity to attend a concert by the Gaither band with my grandparents a while ago, and heard David Phelps sing this song.  It really stood out to me.  We looked it up so the rest of my family could hear it, and I’ve listened to it almost every day since then!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phJo1E94Yk8

It’s from The Hobbit.  “What praise could I say more?” 🙂

The picture at the end annoys me, but I like how the video is made!

For those of you who haven’t heard, I’m crazy about the new “Cinderella” movie.  I enjoyed it more than the old one, though it isn’t necessarily as good for younger kids.  “Have courage and be kind.” 

This video was very well made!  She has the original soundtrack playing, and only does the violin for the vocal parts!

Once again, it’s from Middle Earth.  Of course I love it. 🙂

Still Taylor Davis.  And still Middle Earth.  I love how heart-felt her playing is!  She really tapped into the bitter-sweet depth this song has.  And look at the violin she’s playing–I’ve never seen one like that before!

Can you tell I have an obsession with violins?  (No, I don’t play one.)  I love how she practically dances while she plays–she really knows what she’s doing with a violin!  And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched this, and I still haven’t gotten over her dress–or the scenery!  Actually filmed in New Zealand!

And that’s about it.  I just figured out I really like music videos, so I’ve been watching to a lot lately! 🙂

Happy Monday!