You watch a heck of a lot of TV... read a lot of books... and take lots of naps. (then there's the ridiculous amount of laundry I've done since this whole ordeal started, but we won't get into that)
Movies:
Everything's Illuminated. My husband and I love quirky films (Mystery Train, anyone?), and this one had more than enough to keep us entertained. It stars Elijah Wood as a young Jewish man who travels back to the Ukraine to find a woman who helped his grandfather escape during WWII. Any review I would try to write would be disjointed and dry, so I recommend you visit the website and see the trailer for yourself.
Mother Teresa. I wanted to like this movie... I really, really did. I was so excited to hear that this movie had been made, and that Olivia Hussey would be starring as Mother Teresa. What a wonderful combination!
However, the result was, for me, a very bland, disjointed movie. It was like taking a book on Mother Teresa, thumbing through it quickly, trying to catch snippets of phrases as they whizzed past, and then saying, "Ta-da! The end." It was a chopped-up mess, and I'm so sorry to have to say that. I would have liked for them to have slowed down, and taken the time to focus on the woman herself -- specifically her calling that she received from the Lord Himself, her passion for her vocation, her struggles with the "silence" from Heaven, etc. I didn't feel like I knew any more about her than I did before I watched the film.
In spite of the choppiness of the film -- and my general dislike of it -- there were a few moments that managed to break through. In particular, the scene where she prays before the altar and says:
If my pain and my darkness console You, do what You want with me, my Lord Jesus. If my separation from You puts others on your path, and if their love brings You joy, then Jesus, I readily suffer that which I am suffering. Your will is everything I desire. Now I know that You have never abandonned me.
I can only assume, in a movie like this, that this is a direct quote from Mother Teresa. I find myself totally in awe that she did what she did for 50 years with no spiritual comfort that she could perceive. God had such an amazing eternity planned for her, and I can't even begin to imagine what her first day in Heaven was like, as she saw what all her pain and suffering accomplished.
To find out more about Mother Teresa I found so many wonderful articles, such as this one by David Scott, and this from Catholic World News.
Books:
For the kids, we read through The Fairy's Mistake (a truly fun read! We've read through this several times before, and I still enjoy it each time), Three Tales of My Father's Dragon (again, a great read for the younger crowd!) and The Penultimate Peril -- book 12 in the Series of Unfortunate Events.
For me, I went the "quick and uplifting" route, reading Where Angels Walk, Angel Letters, His Mysterious Ways, and started Voices Behind the Veil.
In addition, we've played games, snuggled, drawn pictures, played more games, and laughed... a lot. My husband has the ability to make almost anything fun, and this has been no exception. God bless that man!
So, until we recover, I ask for your continued prayers...
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