thanks for your input...

Well, Caroline went to the movie, enjoyed it and had a great time afterwards getting pizza with all the girls. I think they had a better time after the movie, laughing until they couldn't laugh anymore! I think she is smart enough to understand when something is fictional in relation to being the way things really are. But... I will be checking out a couple websites the next time she or Nathaniel want to see a movie I haven't seen before. Terri suggested this one: plugged in which is done by Focus on the Family and Craig remembered this one: the USCCB site with movie reviews. I always wonder if the reviewers bring in paper pads and make tick marks for each bad word said. I think they do! I appreciate knowing exactly what's in the movie so we can talk about it if it's something I think would be wise to discuss. Actually I think movies and books are a good way to discuss life issues with kids. It's a neutral story that is easier to talk about the pros and cons of actions and decisions versus talking about something that really happened and is harder to be frank about. There can be direct parallels. It's funny that Olivia suggested that we get sushi and rent a movie ourselves and that's exactly what we did! We ended up watching "Slumdog Millionaire" (I always see things way after everyone else!) and it was good but honestly it disturbed me. It's easy to forget about all the suffering of children in third world countries. I guess that's why the earthquake in Haiti was such a wake-up call. It just made me remember when Craig went on a mission trip there, how much devastation he saw before the earthquake. It is one of the poorest countries in the world and they had barely anything prior to this terrible tragedy. "Slumdog Millionaire" ended up being a love story, showing how love brought Jamal through many life tragedies as he searched and found his childhood love Latika. This movie portrayed a better ideal of love than "When in Rome" and the two sites I mentioned would agree with me, but I don't think my kids will be seeing Slumdog anytime soon for it's violence.

As trying as it is to make good decisions as a parent, I think it just makes us evaluate our own choices as adults and in that sense, it makes us better people. Caroline is at a Youth Retreat today with our church. I hope she comes back inspired and a little wiser. In the meantime I will be working on cleaning out her bedroom (still!) and thinking about how lucky we are to have what we do, especially when so many have no warm place to sleep at night.