Mood:  a-ok

This one is from "Pilipinas (Philippines) Got Talent". And, again, it's not in English but Tagalog. I did manage to find a little bit about his story. He's 16 years old and comes from a very poor family with five children. He sells siomai (a Filipino dish) after school to try to help his family. The part that makes the judge cry is when he says that it's OK if he doesn't win as long as he shows everyone what it is to be a true Filipino. Enjoy!

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Mood:  incredulous

First of all, I know it's in Chinese, but I think you'll get the idea . Second of all, get the tissues ready. Oh, and by the way, he won!

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Mood:  a-ok

You might think that this is one of my "I've got a secret" posts. Well, it kind of is.

A few weeks ago a group of us dads was invited by Mom Central Blogging to take part in a blog tour promoting the new television movie "Truth Be Told". Truth be told is a family movie, and we love family movies, so I jumped at the chance to participate.

Now, here's the secret part. I'm old enough to remember days before cable television. No, I'm not old enough to remember days before T.V., but I do recall times when we only got two clear stations on the old "Boob Tube". We did get a third, but it was usually too fuzzy to watch. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed getting together as a family to watch shows like "The Waltons", "Mary Tyler Moore". "Carol Burnette" and "Apples Way".

That tradition has carried over to my young family today. Unfortunately, T.V. has changed and there aren't quite as many family shows to view. Most of our living room time is clicking through the channels trying to find a suitable show to watch with young children. Most of the time we end up turning it off completely.

There just doesn't seem to be many good, family, movies anymore. Well, P&G and WalMart are aiming to change all of that. They are producing a series of films for what they are calling "Family Movie Night". The first one is going to be shown this Saturday on your local FOX station at 8/7c (check you local listings).

"Truth Be Told" is about Colorado's top romance expert (Candace Cameron Bure) who doesn't always follow her own advice. You see, this romance expert isn't married. In fact, she doesn't even have a boy friend. When she is approached by a wealthy eccentric rancher (Ronny Cox) about a new television show, she jumps at the chance. The only problem...he thinks she's married! Not wanting to ruin the opportunity, she convinces an old high school friend and recent widower (David James Elliot) to accompany her (along with his cheeky two children) on a visit to ranch of her soon to be boss. As you can imagine, hilarious events are about to happen. Can she keep up appearances? Tune in Saturday to find out!

I was able to preview this move and loved what I saw. I can't wait to watch it on our big screen this Saturday (the preview was on my computer). So, get the popcorn and soda's ready and join me! Remember, it's this Saturday, April 16 at 8/7c on FOX. To find out more about this movie and "Family Movie Nights", by clicking on this website - http://www.familymovienight.com/about-family-movie-night/ or you can click here - www.facebook.com/familymovienight to get to their Facebook Page. Have fun and save me some pretzels!

 “I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of P&G and received a movie kit to facilitate my review and a gift code to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

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Mood:  a-ok

About a month ago, I reviewed The Key to the Kingdom by Jeff Dixon for First Wild Card blog tours. Unfortunately, it was at the same time as Joshua's illness where we had to rush him to the emergency room with breathing problems and I couldn't write the review I really wanted to write.

Well, Joshua is all better now, and now is the time for the review. But...with a twist. I'm not the one who wrote the review, my 14 year old son, John Allen, did. John Allen became very intrigued with The Key to the Kingdom when I was reading it. I liked it so much that I would relay different things about the book as I was devouring it. Of course I tried not to give away any secrets in case another member of the family would want to read it. Well, I soon found that on the rare occasion that I had to lay the book down, it was never in the same location when I wanted to pick it back up again. It was always someplace in the vicinity of John Allen...usually in his hands! I almost had to fight him over it.

Being the good homeschooling father that I am, I decided to turn it into a learning experience and had him write a book review of his own. I must say that I was pretty impressed. He asked me to help him tweak it a little, but it was really an excellent review on its own. So, without further adieu, here's John Allen's review of The Key to the Kingdom by Jeff Dixon.

The Key to the Kingdom is probably one of the two or three best books I’ve ever read. This book (like many of my other favorite books) is filled with adventure, romance, mystery, action, and probably the biggest twist in the history of books thrown in there. It also has something most other books don’t have, Disney magic. The Key to the Kingdom is the dream book for any Disney fan (and even for people who aren’t fans of Disney). While reading it, you learn many secrets about Walt Disney and Walt Disney World. This novel takes you on a wild adventure through Walt Disney World, as you meet friends and foes it grabs your soul making you want to read more and more each chapter.

Dr. Grayson Hawkes, the pastor of Celebration Community Church, is invited to a place he never even knew existed by a good friend of his, Disney Imagineer, Farren Rales. Little did he know that his life was about to be changed forever. That night Farren Rales gives him something he says to be The Key to the Kingdom, and tells him to “do what Walt did”. Then he disappears in the middle of the night. I really encourage parents and their kids to read this book as you take a journey to a place where dreams really do come true.

By John Allen Tinkel

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Mood:  hug me

Yes, I know how to spell celebration. I just wanted my title to look good.

Sadness 

It truly has been a week of sadness, sickness and celebration though. It all began last Wednesday night. While out with some friends, Sarah got a call from another friend about a terrible accident that had happened in our small town. Five youths from the church that we used to attend were on there way to evening service when the drive lost control of his truck and crashed into a tree. In an instant five families were changed. Two families are with out their son and daughter tonight. One family has a daughter that will be hospitalized for some time and have a long road to recovery. Two other families have children to hug, but those children will have emotional scars for the rest of their lives. We knew four of the five teens. We are friends with their families. We hurt with them.

John Allen put it best the other night when he and I were talking about the accident. He told me he knew why God allowed the accident to happen. When I asked him why, he said so that more people would be saved through the testimonies of these young people. He said that if he ever had to die so that even one person would be saved it would be worth it. Sometimes I wonder if my kids are really "getting it". I thank the Lord that in this case John Allen did "get it".

Sickness 

Then, on Friday, I took Joshua and Jacob to therapy in Cookeville. Soon after Jacob went back his therapist came back out to the waiting room to tell me that he was sick in the restroom. Sure enough he was white as a ghost. He slept much of the day.

That night John Allen caught the bug and had to miss a big shooting match on Saturday. I was upset because he missed it. I was wondering if he was just nervous and that is why he was ill. Until the next day.

That's when Sarah got sick with the exact same symptoms. So, I had to swallow crow and apologize to John Allen for doubting him. Ah well, even fathers have to learn from their mistakes sometimes.

Celebration

On a lighter note! We are blessed with two boys that are very good at shooting. Both are on a competitive BB gun team. Since John Allen is older, he is obviously the better shooter. He's expected to make the national team this year and perhaps win the state match.

Although, Joshua is probably a much better shooter than John Allen was at this age, he seems to get caught in the shadow of his older brother. Well, because John Allen was sick and couldn't compete, Joshua was out of the shadow and able to shine. And shine he did! Although he still doesn't have the score to qualify him for the shoot off (top eight overall), he was able to make the top five in the prone and sitting positions and...get this...he WON the GOLD MEDAL in the sitting position!

Really, he only had one really bad shot in the standing position and one bad shot in the kneeling position. Otherwise he could have been in the top five in each of them as well. It's the fifth component of the score that really drags him down...the dreaded test.

Each competitor has to take a test on the rules and other gun safety items. Sometimes the questions can get tricky. It might be a two part question with the first part true, but the second part false. In that case, the shooter should mark false on this fifty question true/false test. Joshua often doesn't listen to the complete question or gets mixed up and ends up marking the wrong answer. If we could get him to slow down and listen, I know he could score higher on the test. Well, in two weeks it's the state match. Prayerfully John Allen will be able to compete, and we can practice some test questions with Joshua. Who knows what might happen?

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