There is much that could be said about Calvin – his life, his theology, and his enduring legacy (which we benefit from today). Calvin was arguably the most influential man of his millennium! And his doctrines of God’s sovereignty, human depravity, and Grace STILL edify and instruct Christians.

I recently bought Calvin’s definitive work, “Institutes of the Christian Religion”, and have found it very good! The pages are loaded with meat, and packed full of scripture.

Sola Scriptura! (By Scripture alone)
Sola Fide! (By Faith alone)
Sola Gratia! (By Grace alone)
Solo Christo! (Through Christ alone)
Soli Deo Gloria! (Glory to God alone)

Well, it was an EXTREMELY busy weekend, and the sewing went “down to the wire” – but we made it! Here are a couple videos for you to enjoy…. Pictures are coming soon. OR, if you don’t want to wait, check out the Greene Co Civil War Ball flickr photo pool.

(Note, if you receive these posts via email, you’ll have to visit the blog in your browser to watch the videos).

I wanted to write a short post honoring St. Patrick, but I also wanted to post some pictures of my sewing progress. There’s not enough time for both – what to do!

Then I came up with this amazing plan: combine the two! Many people associate St. Patrick’s Day with green, my ballgown is greenish, so… vuala! Brilliant! isn’t it? I’m a genius, I know. “I flatter myself…”

Here are a couple of teaser pictures of my dress, which is almost done! All that’s left is to trim the bodice and put on sleeves. YES!!

~skirt bottom

To find out how to make the cutest rosettes ever, go here

~button details…

It’s all getting there! Perhaps later on this week I’ll post pictures of our other projects; the guys’ vests, Angie’s gown, and Mom’s.

Concerning St. Patrick, if all you know about this guy is Ireland and lucky clover, check out his incredible story! It’s amazing to see God’s hand of Providence on his life. Wow!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day y’all! There’s the end of yet another random post. Cheerio!

-Kasie

1. Revival begins with seeking the Lord, and personal reformation.

2Ch 34:3a For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father:

We pray for revival, but we rarely take time to truly seek the Lord, and reform our own hearts. Yet, this is where it all began – A young man with a heart for God.

And not just any old “God”. It appears from these passages that true understanding of Jehovah was virtually extinct! This is why the writer of II Chronicles points out that Josiah “began to seek after the God of David, his father”.

2. Take action – radical action!

2Ch 34:3b And in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.

2Ch 34:7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

As king, Josiah had the unique opportunity to destroy all the pagan alters/groves in Israel. I might not be king but I do have areas under my influence – we all do. Family, work, friendships, etc.

Do not suffer or tolerate wickedness if you have the power to stop it. Fear not! Tear down those idols and alters.

3. Repair the house of God

2Ch 34:8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God.

Only after the first 2 steps are completed does Josiah move to point 3. It is here where he gathers faithful men together to repair the house of God, which had fallen into gross neglect.

There is so much I could say about this point. We see that this job is way bigger than one man, and requires many people from all walks of life and skills to get it done. We see that the workers were faithful in that precious work – which probably took a few years or more.

We see a return to the Word, and its ordinances and doctrines. We see a healthy fear of the Lord, and also his great mercy and kindness.

4. God worked revival and reformation in the hearts of His people.

Josiah was humble and obedient to the Lord. As a result, God worked a miracle in the hearts of the people of Israel. In one generation they went from “worse than the heathen” (2Chron 33:9) to “departing not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers” (2Chron 34:33).

Only God could do that!

They covenanted before the Lord to follow Him alone – and they kept it. They had the holiest, most joyful passover celebration that Israel had known since the days of Samuel!

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Our game plan for Sunday was to #1: take advantage of the free continental breakfast, and #2: see the historic sights of Franklin. After completing our first goal , we learned about the Battle of Franklin, enjoyed some more sights and tours, and even frolicked about a playground. Check out the pictures!

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-Kasie

“The One who gave the vision still calls”.

We excitedly ripped open the package, and held the DVD case in our hands for the first time. Pendragon was here, it was finally here! At last, the moment of truth had come. Would this ambitious independent film project live up to its trailers, posters, and our own expectations? It was time to find out.

The Story

The film begins in 411 A.D. The Romans have left Briton, leaving the door wide open for barbarian invaders. We are introduced to Artos, son of a valiant and wise commander known as “Pendragon”. He and his family live in a small village near the coast, and face the full brunt of the Saxon barbarian attacks. It is here that Artos’s father dies in battle, leaving the young man a prisoner of the Saxons with the certain knowledge that his family (and younger sister) had been killed.

These events set up a classic historical epic woven into a pronounced Christian theme – An escape, a wise mentor, rising through the ranks (very “Hentyish”), good ol’e fashioned fight scenes, a girl, and of course, a power hungry bad guy that you love to hate. There is honor, there is duty, there is saving the kingdom and said girl from destruction, there is persevering even when all hope seems to be lost.

What more can you ask for?

The Technical Stuff

This is not Lord of the Rings, people. Don’t expect that level of production quality. I could point out minor technical and acting flaws, but for what purpose?

I will say that for a movie produced mostly by small donations and the rest out-of-pocket, the Burns Family did an incredible job! They have set the bar high.

Nick Burns as the the evil Caderyn gave the best acting performance in our opinion! You don’t get any more “classic bad guy” then that.

The cinematography was excellent, especially during the night village attack scene. Although post-processed very well, the video didn’t seem to have that “Hollywood theater” look. It’s probably just a difference in video camera settings (number of frames per second, I’m thinking).

The soundtrack was not as memorable as, say, the Pirates of the Caribbean theme – but it did its job, and was integrated into the film nicely.

Conclusion

Pendragon ends with the stirring reminder – “What God has called us to, he gives us the grace to complete it”. (OK, OK, I’m paraphrasing…)

Some might call the film “preachy” or “very Christian”. My response would be, “What’s wrong with that!?” I only wish that we had more of these “preachy” movies around!

(Especially good quality, historical epic “preachy” movies!)

You can buy your own copy of Pendragon by clicking here.

- Walter

I was rather nervous with the first group that trudged in, but I think my story came across. They were very impacted at what “I” had to do every day. “Chamber pots? Yuck!” I was a lot more relaxed with the second and third groups, and to use the cliche’, and I really felt like I became my character. If I could change one aspect of the job, there would be a roaring fire in the kitchen.  It was quite a task to keep warm in there.
Not enough pictures as I would wish, but here are the two that Mom snapped soon after we got there. One of these days, I would love to take many pictures of the old beautiful house.

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Hold it! Did you say a ball? I’m in!

The Civil War ball is what first caught our attention (some of our readers remember the reenactment we attended in VA, and on another occasion a Vintage Ball). But the ball is open only to reenactors. We had to fix that somehow…

Our homeschool leader, a long time Civil War reenactor, gave us and the rest of the group a crash course on what everyone needs to know about reenacting. After a few weeks preparation, everything was officially set – we would be reenactors (along with fellow our homeschoolers), and we were going to the ball!

We invited our friend Emily to join us for the occasion, which added greatly to our enjoyment those few days. We talked and played games in between meals and driving to Blue Springs, and even watched a bit of Spiderman3 at an indecent hour of night. Ah, what fun we had together!

So here is a batch of pictures from the first day of the reenactment, “Education Day.”

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Saturday morning found us girls bustling about all the bedrooms in the house; “Have you seen my snood?” “No, I thought you put it on the windowsill. Where’d you put my hat?” “It’s in the closet. Em, can you tie my bow please?” “Sure. Kase, is my skirt covering the hoop?” “Oh, there’s my snood!” “Careful not to trip over my dress please…”

Over in the boys’ quarters, Walter couldn’t decide if it was better to wear a cravat or not, and Nate declared that he looked like a monkey in his costume! But it is my opinion that, in the end, we all looked super. Don’t you agree?

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My favorite part of the entire weekend was the ball. During the reenactment we walked all about the sutlery isle and both camps, and got our pictures taken more times than I can count. But nothing compares to the vigor and excitement that took place Saturday evening at the ball!

And can you guess who we saw there, amidst all the Union and Confederate soldiers and Southern Belles? Captain Jack Sparrow, from Pirates of the Carribean! No, ’twas not Johnny Depp, but there was a man there who was just like Jack in his dress, voice, and mannerisms.

Complete and absolute randomness, right? But I have to admit, Jack Sparrow added more fun to everything we did and danced, and was the life of the party!

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I know, we should have taken more pictures. But see, that’s how much fun we were having! We were so busy dancing, talking and laughing we didn’t have time to think about our camera.

At any rate, it certainly was a weekend to remember. It was wonderful having Emily over; reenacting for the first time was a neat experience, and I loved the ball!

-Kasie

Well everyone, we are about to do something here on TheWilli.com that we’ve never done before! It involves history, research, mystery and code-breaking. It incorporates fact and fiction woven together in completely new (and hopefully enjoyable) ways.

Immediately some of you JT400 veterans might be smelling a treasure hunt – but there is no treasure to be had. Others among you may suspect a historical fiction novel in the making – but alas, this story has no specific plotline, nor a tidy ending. Instead, it is a story and hunt that you uncover…. And the amazing, little-known history that you’ll encounter, and the fun you’ll have learning it will be your reward!

Welcome to the Story of the Land!

The Story of the Land is:

• …A fun way to learn some little known history about our new area
• …Meant to be enjoyable, somewhat challenging, but not frustrating
• …An activity that any and all are welcomed to participate in!

The Story of the Land is definitely NOT:

• …Anything near as complex as the JT400 (please don’t compare…!)
• …Anything near as hard as the JT400
• …Something that requires a lot of time (remember, this is supposed to be fun!)

So are you ready? This is how to get started! (In 3 easy steps! )

Step #1: Subscribe to TheWilli.com via RSS or email subscription.

Step #2: Give us comment down below to let us know that you’re following along in the story.

Step #3: Watch and wait! There’s no telling when the “mystery posts” will come, so pay attention to all our bloggings. The only thing I can tell you is that the first special post will appear within the next couple of weeks – maybe tomorrow, maybe several days from now. So stay alert!

[Note] The “Story of the Land” will kind of reflect our blogging style and family circumstances, i.e., if our family is busy don’t expect anything new in the story!