I love fall! It is my favorite season. Although here on the central coast of Cali, it feels more like summer. We get lots of fog and cool weather in July and August then it warms up in September and October. But now that November is here the chill is slowly moving in and anticipation for the holidays gets stronger. I am especially excited because we always spend a week in So Cal during Thanksgiving and I am sooo ready to see my family again – some of who have yet to meet John-Paul! Only 17 more days! WooHoo!

I tried that recipe for minestrone soup that my sis EL recommended. It was so tasty! Lots of veggies and flavor. Here’s the link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Jamies-Minestrone/Detail.aspx

Brian and I recently saw two movies with a Catholic theme. The first was Ostrov (Sold at http://www.notofthisworldicons.com). “The story begins in northern Russia during World War II. A Russian coal barge with a two-man crew is captured by a Nazi patrol boat. The Nazis force the young cowardly Russian furnace stoker, Anatolii, to shoot his captain. The Nazis blow up the barge but Anatolii is rescued by monks from a nearby monastery. Anatolii spends the rest of his life repenting in sorrow, and through this repentance becomes a God-bearing Fool-for-Christ who, with his God-inspired insights into human hearts, gives miraculous help to suffering people who come to him for aid. Nearing death Anatolii’s own suffering is resolved through a miraculous manifestation of forgiveness.”
It is a beautiful story and heartbreaking to watch Anatolii’s sorrow over killing his captain, but he never gave up hope on God’s mercy. In his humility and wretchedness, Anatolii became completely dependent on God and grew in holiness. God was then able to do marvelous wonders with the “little fool.” (ie. He could read souls or knew when something bad was going to happen.) The story is in Russian but with subtitles.

Speaking of where we bought the movie, if you are looking for icons, check out Not of This World Icons.com. It is our favorite place to shop. So beautiful!

The second movie we saw was 2008’s Henry Poole Is Here with Luke Wilson. It is not a religious movie but it had a surprisingly positive portrayal of the Catholic Church. Wilson plays Henry, a stand-offish loner (with a bit of mystery about him) that buys a house in his old neighborhood. His desire to be alone is thwarted by a friendly (and persistent) Catholic Hispanic woman who believes that a water stain on the side of Henry’s house is actually a miraculous imprint of Jesus’ face. During the course of the movie Henry must deal with his neighbors’ faith, his own disbelief and anger, and his growing friendship with a single mom and her mute daughter. The movie is low-key and never preachy but there is a definite underlying message of faith and (physical/spiritual) healing. (Note: The movie is rated PG, mostly for language. Watch it when the kids are asleep.)

I also really enjoyed the soundtrack on the Henry Poole movie. There were some cool songs; however, there are two from the movie that are missing from the official soundtrack. If you get it from iTunes you’ll have to download the Bob Dylan song (I didn’t mind skipping that one) and the Blur (Song 2) separately. (I did download the Bur song – I hadn’t heard them in years!)

Okay, Andrew is up and ready for breakfast so I need to get off the computer. I’ll end with a pic of the kids from Halloween. Have a blessed weekend!