Dear ones, here’s my nephew’s music video. I’m thankful for the heart for God that both my older nephews have. Be blessed & remember email sub. to come to my blog to see the video. God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Kelby Dover~ Create in Me
Hello dear ones! This song blesses my socks off so I hope you’ll enjoy it too. Email sub. remember to come to my blog to see the video.
Multiplied by NEEDTOBREATHE
God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Welcome my friends to Media Saturday. Next Saturday is my son’s pirate birthday party. I may get a chance to review The Hunger Games movie but I may not. So I’m going to go ahead and post these piratey ideas 😉
Wow, this has been a busy week and the next may be just as busy. Not only are we gearing up for Passover & Easter but also Michael’s 6th birthday pirate style. I am a homeschooling mommy and I always try to tie in holidays and such with our school…..Easter crafts and such….Pirate books. Also, I had to have piratey music for the party. Here’s what I found.
#1 Pirate books
“Pirate Bob” by Kathryn Lasky
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Bob is an interesting pirate. He loves the adventure of sailing the seas but he longs for a true friend. This book shows the life of a pirate well, the ups and the downs 🙂
“How I became a Pirate” by Melinda Long
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Jeremy thinks he knows everything about being a pirate. When a crew takes him aboard, Jeremy is ready to live with the pirates forever. He doesn’t have to use table manners or eat spinach. It’s great…until he realizes pirates don’t tell bed time stories or tuck you in. They can’t even play soccer. And when a big storm comes no one holds Jeremy and tells him he’ll be ok. In the end Jeremy would rather be a normal boy.
#2 Piratey movies
I’m not going to go in depth but these are great family movies with Pirates 🙂
Veggie Tales: The Pirate’s Who Don’t Do Anything (has a great lesson to teach & several funny moments)
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Muppet Treasure Island (the muppets spin on the classic)
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Peter Pan (I love this version.)
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#3 Piratey music
This is the playlist for the party:
1. He’s a Pirate (from Pirate’s of the Caribbean soundtrack)
2. We live on the Seas (from The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking soundtrack)
3. Under the Sea (from The Little Mermaid)
4. The Ballad of Jonah (Gilligan’s Island Theme) ~from Veggie Tales
5. The Life of a Pirate by Joe Thompson
6. Yo Ho Hero (Veggie Tales)
7. The Pirate Song (Ray Stevens)
8. Yo, Ho! A Pirate’s Life For Me! (Disney’s greatest volume 3)
9. Part of Your World (The Little Mermaid)
10. The Pirate’s who don’t do anything (Veggie Tales)
11. A Pirate’s Life (The Jud Conlon Chorus)
12. There’s a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea (Veggie Tales)
Well, I hope you have an inspiring weekend 🙂 God bless and remember The High King Lives!~Amber Dover
This is one of my favorite bands. No review today. You can listen for yourself and decide. 🙂 I love how they did the video…very kewl.
Remember The High King Lives!~Amber Dover
How He Loves by David Crowder* Band
He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.
And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.
We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…
He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.
Whoa! how He loves us.
Whoa! how He loves us.
Whoa! how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.
Happy Media Saturday! 🙂 Tonight I just want to share a beautiful music video. Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars teamed up to do a song for “The Hunger Games” soundtrack. I already love alot of Taylor’s music and I’ve just become acquainted with The Civil Wars.
“Safe and Sound”
Here’s a link for The Civil Wars. I love their folksy sound. They have some beautiful love songs. They are most famous for “Poison and Wine”. “Barton Hollow” makes me want to clap my hands and stomp my feet. There is a lovely instrumental piece called “The Violet Hour”….gives me chills. Anywho, I am now a big fan :).
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thecivilwars.com/
God bless and remember The High King Lives! ~Amber Dover
Hello hello friends! It’s Media Saturday :). Today I’ll be reviewing Rhett & Link from Youtube, the hit tv show “Once Upon a Time”, and singer Christina Perri. I am excited about today’s reviews. I believe many of you will be familiar with these shows/people. Once again I hold a Biblical world view and that will affect my reviews. Let’s get started!
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#1 Once Upon A Time (warning a few spoilers)
What can I say? Most of you probably already watch this show.”Once Upon a Time” quickly became one of America’s top shows. “Once Upon a Time” is about a group of fairy tale characters who are cursed by an evil queen. Now the characters are stuck in the real world in Story Brooke, Maine. No one ages and no one remembers their past except the evil queen who is now Mayor of Story Brooke (& maybe Rumpelstiltskin).
Before the curse hit, Snow White and Prince Charming put their only child in a magical tree that transported the child to another realm safe from the curse. This child was Emma (who is now 28) and the prophecies say she is the one who will break the curse. Emma has a 10 yr old son, Henry, that she gave up for adoption. Henry was adopted by the evil Queen (Regina-they all have new names in the real world). Henry finds Emma and asks for her help to break the curse. Henry has a book that tells the story of all the characters including why Emma was seemingly abandoned by her parents. Emma of course is skeptical but she agrees to drive Henry back to Story Brooke. In the process, Emma sees Henry did not get the best life through adoption and she finds she wants t be apart of Henry’s life after all.
Emma has no family life or friends really. She was passed along through the foster system and now she’s a bail bondsman/ bounty hunter. So Emma has nothing to lose when she moves to Story Brooke. Regina (the evil Queen) is very hostile towards Emma and tells her to stay out of Henry’s life. At first, Regina seems to be a normal overprotective mom. Why would she want some strange woman who agreed to a closed adoption, to show up and confuse her son? But as we continue in the series we see Regina is a hateful and controlling person who doesn’t understand true love. We find out that she took her own Father’s heart to make the curse. Strangely her Father’s name was Henry as well. Regina will do anything to take out her revenge on Snow White ( Mary Margaret now & Henry’s school teacher). We still don’t know what Snow White did to the Evil Queen and I have a feeling it will be awhile before we find out. The series just started after all.
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What makes this show so addictive is how they take fairy tales and portray them in real life. They go back n forth between what happened to the characters in the story world and what’s happening now in the real world because of the curse. At the heart of the stories is the character Rumpelstiltskin. He is Mr. Gold in the real world. Mr. Gold is the one character who has control over Regina and this is because Mr. Gold gave Regina the curse with a price. Rumpelstiltskin (Mr. Gold) repeatedly says “Magic always comes with a price”. Regina (evil Queen) has to give Mr. Gold whatever he asks when he says please. Mr. Gold’s back story is interesting. He wasn’t always evil but now he makes deceptive deals with the storybook characters.
For instance, in the “Once Upon a Time” story of Cinderella, Rumple destroys the fairy Godmother for her wand. Then HE is the one to send Cinderella to the ball….but with a price. She now owes him. When the time comes we find out Cinderella must give up her first born child (Rumple has a thing for babies). Cinderella tricks Rumple and he is locked up but now she is cursed. In the real world Cinderella (Ashley) is a single 19 yr old pregnant maid. Her prince isn’t around to help and she feels she must give the baby to Mr. Gold to be put up for adoption. Emma convinces Ashley to keep the baby and Emma ends up making a deal with Mr. Gold so he won’t take the baby. In the end, Cinderella and her Prince are together in the real world along with their baby. Emma acts as savior for many storybook characters in each episode.
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The one story that is constant and full of surprises is Snow White’s story. Snow White and Prince Charming are the main characters and Emma’s real parents. But in Story Brooke they are the same age they were when Emma was born. At first, Prince Charming (David) is in a coma. Mary Margaret (Snow White) volunteers and visits him. After Emma’s arrival, Snow White brings David out of his coma with a kiss. The bad news is that they are still cursed. They don’t remember they were married in the storybook world. Then Regina (evil Queen) finds David’s wife Kathryn (King Midas’ daughter). David tries to stay faithful to his real world wife Kathryn but David and Mary are drawn to each other. This part of the story is confusing. Is it really adulterous for Snow and Charming to be together? After all, they were married first in the world they are from. The curse has turned morality upside down on it’s head…making it hard to determine what is right and wrong. For this reason I strongly caution parents if they let their kids watch this show.
I personally let my son watch some episodes and others I ban. A few times I’ve had to cover his eyes. Little Red Riding Hood (Ruby in real world) dresses like a hoochie and works at the local diner. There hasn’t been any sex scenes but some things are implied (with the evil Queen). If you don’t let your children watch magic then this is a no no. I personally allow my son to watch some magic and we discuss the difference between reality and fantasy. I’m very open with my son. We don’t do Santa Clause or the tooth fairy. If you do that’s up to you. I’m not telling anyone how to parent. We do use our imagination alot and pretend but at the end of the day Michael knows whats real and whats fantasy. Anywho, “Once Upon A Time” is supposed to be a family show but like I said there are some instances where you have to be careful. Some episodes may be too scary for children as well. Plus I get sick of the commercials especially ones for Desperate Housewives ( I hate that show…just being honest). You can watch episodes of Once Upon a Time on ABC.com and decide what’s best for your family.
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As an adult I love this show. It is one of the few decent shows on televisions. It is more moral than most shows. Fairy tales don’t bother me at this age. When I was a young kid I was very impressionable and my magic intake should’ve been limited or atleast discussed. Now as an adult I am very grounded in my faith as a Christian. My dad was a minister and he educated me very well on other religions (including Wicca which he experienced BEFORE he became a minister). So when I watch magical shows I can pick out what is fantasy and what’s based on real life magic. I’m not going to watch “Harry Potter” and decide to become a Wiccan. I know what’s behind that stuff. I know demons are real (I’ve seen a few) and I know the spiritual battle in this world is very REAL.
My Son on the other hand is young and sometimes movie characters become role models instead of mom and Dad……..especially when they seem so much cooler. Fantasy and television can really have a powerful grip on a child. I’ve never let my son watch Spiderman (I don’t like the movies) yet he thinks Spiderman is SO cool. We homeschool too so it doesn’t make sense. But I can’t shelter my son from everything. I can on the other hand provide him a safe zone where he can mature and be trained for battle. Seriously this world is like a warzone. I’m not sending my kid into it without some wisdom and combat training (figuratively speaking). I’m glad my Dad prepared me or I probably would’ve been drawn to the occult. Education is a powerful thing.
In conclusion, (sorry I bunny trailed) Once Upon a Time is very entertaining and one of the cleaner shows on tv. I love how the writers give the fairy tales depth. There are so many surprises and twists and turns. This show comes from the writers of “Lost” so it’s bound to be interesting. Do you like Once Upon a Time? Please leave me a comment with your opinion. What’s your favorite aspect of the show? What do you dislike about it? Who is your fav. character?
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#2 Rhett and Link     http://www.youtube.com/user/RhettandLink
Ok, this review will be short and sweet (I know you’re thankful lol). My awesome hubby introduced me to Rhett and Link on youtube and I laughed myself silly. In fact, I used one of their videos in this week’s Laugh Yourself Silly Thursday post. Rhett and Link have been best friends since grade-school. They are some goofy guys who love to make people laugh and they do it well..very well. My hubby says Rhett and Link now have their own cable show.
These guys are well liked by many. They have 854,055 subscribers and their channel has 121,565,657 video views. So I am not alone in my love for Rhett & Link videos. These guys make funny advertisement videos like this:
They do goofy stunts like this:
I just have to SHOW you these videos…I don’t know how to describe the greatness of Rhett and Link. You have to EXPERIENCE it lol 🙂
I even like their homeschool song. Yes my son WILL take over the country. I promise he won’t rob you though lol
Other hilarious videos include their Surrogate Sharers series, Caption Fail series, and their dating advice.
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#3 Christina Perri
Christina Perri is a lovely artist who sings and writes her own music. She can also play the guitar and piano. I enjoy artists who have diverse creativity. I’m not sure what genre I would put Christina’s music in…….some blues….some folk maybe……definitely not pop although one of her hit songs “A Thousand Years” could easily rival any Taylor Swift song.
Christina Perri writes songs based on her own experiences with romance. There are happily ever after songs and there are songs about being lonely. Her voice is haunting and hard to get out of your head.
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Christina’s album “Lovestrong” has several lovely tunes. “Jar of Hearts” is the song that brought her to fame. It is a song about a charming man who steals women’s hearts then discards them. Here are some lyrics:
[Chorus:]
And who do you think you are?
Runnin’ ’round leaving scars
Collecting your jar of hearts
And tearing love apart
You’re gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
So don’t come back for me
Who do you think you are?
She also says she’s not his “ghost anymore”. The music video is very unique artistically. The man is seen as a “dementor”, a creature from Harry Potter that sucks the life out of his victims. Well, this player sucks the life out of these girls when he kisses them and then leaves them all heart broken. I like how she used that concept. I personally don’t like some of the dancing in the video. But I give Christina lots of creative points 🙂
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As a person, Christina seems to be more of an emo/steam punk chic. I can’t imagine her wearing Abercrombie and Fitch. She reminds me of Lacy from Flyleaf. I myself have never been a preppy kind of girl (though I do have my “Pollyanna” moments and I love pink). I would so wear a tutu over my jeans if my hubby let me. I don’t care for tattoos but I’m not going to judge someone’s character because of them. In fact, one of my best friends has a tattoo. Moving on, I really like how creative Christina is in her videos. My favorite video is “Arms” in which her guy is tattooed and just not your average model for a chic video. In “Arms” Christina talks about her fears of being loved because she doesn’t want to hurt her lover. She feels that if she leaves him then she can’t make him “bleed”. The video is gorgeous. She starts off lying in bed next to her man. Christina falls asleep and then dreams she’s flying away. She falls into the ocean at one point…climbs onto a boat that is full of her band mates and rocks out in the rain. Perri does alot of flying in this video. She actually floats away with some balloons too. In the end she runs back to her man and chooses love despite her fears.
Enjoy for yourself:
Ms. Perri also has some beautiful lyric videos. I haven’t seen other artists do their own lyric videos but I’m also getting old and out of the loop lol. My favorite lyric video is “The Lonely”. She personifies loneliness in this song. The video is enchanting yet a bit chilling.
You can find her song “A Thousand Years” on the “Breaking Dawn” soundtrack from “Twilight”. I would have walked down the aisle to this song had it been around about 8 years ago. I leave you with a few lyrics:
Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave
How can I love when I’m afraid to fall
But watching you stand alone
All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow
One step closer
[Chorus:]
I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don’t be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I’ll love you for a thousand more
God bless and remember The High King Lives!
~Amber Dover
Welcome friends! Today is Media Saturday. I bring you three reviews (movie, music, and books). So pull up a chair and join me! Just so you know, all of my opinions will be filtered through my Biblical world view. Moving on….
Review #1: Hugo (the movie)
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IMDb gives this synopsis: “Set in 1930s Paris, an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton. ”
Hugo was breath-taking! I felt like I had seen my first REAL movie. It didn’t have gun fire and silly bodily humor. This movie showed intelligence. My f ive year old actually sat through the whole thing and enjoyed it! We have a saying around our house that too much tv & video games will melt our brains. Well folks, THIS movie gave us an education. We learned some cinematic history and now my son, Michael, knows what an automaton is. Plus, he thinks it’d be really kewl to live in a train station. I’m just glad he still wants Mommy and Daddy to come along too. So if you get a chance I really hope you can see Hugo on the big screen. The colors just pop in this movie. It really is a work of art.
PS: I’ve yet to read the book but I’m definitely interested.
Review #2 Leeland (the band)
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Leeland is a Christian rock band from Baytown, TX. Their lead singer is Leeland Mooring, hence the name. The have four great albums out. I fell in love with this band’s music from the get go. Their first album Sound of Melodies just had a Celtic feel you rarely find in this genre (atleast in my experience). When it comes to their faith this band is honest and I like that. They are a Christian band that’s not afraid to actually say “Jesus” in their music….imagine that.
I was recently blessed by Leeland’s song “Follow You” with Brandon Heath (another awesome artist). The music video shows them on a missions trip. You can just feel the compassion. This band is the real deal. There’s no doubt their love for Christ is genuine.
Here’s a line from “Follow You”
You lived among the least of these
The weary and the weak
And it would be a tragedy for me to turn away.
Their new album “The Great Awakening” has some awesome tunes that’ll make you ponder what’s important in life and will also draw you to worship. My favorites from the album are “I Wonder” and “While We Sing”.
So if you want to hear real talent that glorifies Jesus, give Leeland a try 🙂
Review #3 Francine Rivers (The Author)
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Francine Rivers has been an author since the 80’s. She is most known for her book “Redeeming Love”, a western retelling of the Biblical story of Hosea. My favorite series “The Mark of the Lion”, has sold over half a million copies. Francine’s novel “The Last Sin Eater” is now a movie. Mrs. Rivers has so many amazing books. I could recommend them all. She is by far my favorite author (besides God) and her fiction really teaches lessons we all need to know.
I love how her books are so real. She doesn’t hide from the big issues. Her books deal with things like abortion, prostitution, and homosexuality. Mrs. Rivers takes you to the very heart of her characters. You’d think they really existed. I especially love the rich history The Mark of the Lion series is based upon. This series takes you to Rome, Jerusalem, and Germania. It tells of Jerusalem’s fall, gladiators, and the beginnings of Christianity. It also touches on subjects like slavery and how small sins grow into a big problem.
Mrs. Rivers also has some lovely series on women in the lineage of Jesus. These books make you think of what it would really be like to be Mary or Ruth. Anywho, if you get a chance hop on over to your library and pick up a Francine River’s book. Then leave me a comment with your opinions and also your opinions of Leeland and Hugo if you will 🙂
Well have an inspiring weekend! God bless and remember The High King Lives!
~Amber Dover
Welcome! My name is Amber Dover. I am a homeschooling mom, happy wife, and a devout follower of Jesus Christ. I am also a writer. I am currently working on "The Truth Seeker's Chronicles" (an inspirational fantasy/allegory). You will find everything from craft ideas to writing tips on my blog. So please pull up a chair and hang out :)
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