God's Not Dead Movie Review

First off you need to know that we don't go to movies, but 2 times a year. My husband thinks it's more entertaining to watch me as I watch the movie, than the actual show itself. I talk to the screen and really get into what is going on often blurting out, "what a jerk" or some such other exclamation. I certainly did that a few times during this movie.

A story of faith, and defending the faith, is what I would call this movie. Our hero Josh is a young Christian gone off to college with his girlfriend. He has enrolled in pre law, and she seems to have a fairytale dream of what life is supposed to be like. When Josh won't sign a paper his philosophy asks the class to sign, "In order to get God out of the way and move on to more important things", Josh says no. So the challenge is given for him to prove God exists, in three 20 minute segments of class. He puts his college career on the line, his so called sweetheart dumps him, and yet he still goes forward. There are a couple of sub plots within the main one that all tie together in the end. I liked that it wasn't a rabid view point from either side, and actually portrayed how people can either be for or against God.

There were a couple of hokey scenes, one in which Josh's girlfriend of 6 years gives him an ultimatum right off the bat regarding defending his stand on God. She dumps him far too quickly. Again when the young woman finds out she has cancer and her boyfriend immediately dumps her when she tells him, was a bit too fast. Over all we got the idea though, first, that Josh's girlfriend was more interested in not having her fairytale dream of life disrupted by actually having to stand for right, and possibly have that dream get delayed. When the young woman tells Mark that she has cancer, it shows the shallowness of many of today's relationships in the way he summarily dismisses her as a "toy" that was fun to play with, but now that the "toy" is broken he is moving on.

The movie over all was well done, with fantastic casting on the part of the characters. I don't want to give away all the good stuff, so I will just say, go see it. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I  was pleasantly surprised at how the over all topic of defending the faith was handled. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Whipped Coconut Macaroon Body Butter

I have a camp leaders meeting in a few moments so no glamor shots of my cream tonight. I wanted to share though, as I am already loving this new recipe I found and of course tweaked to my own taste using what I had on hand.
We had a Spa night last night for our young women at church. One of my counselors has a skin care business, and we both love to use natural ingredients as much as possible for a variety of endeavors. So she taught them how to make their own foot scrub, and I taught the girls a simple recipe for body cream that smells much like coconut macaroons. This is just a basic recipe, to which you can add 20-40 drops of your favorite essential oils, or fragrance. I rather like it as is, except that now I want to make some cookies...lol. All ingredients you can find at your local grocery/ pharmacy stores, or go online if you prefer. I used some today after my shower, and didn't suffer from the itching I normally do when using store bought lotions or creams. This is a much easier to put together cream than my normal recipe, and much less time consuming. Have fun and let me know what you think!

Whipped Coconut Macaroon Body Butter

1/2 cup coconut oil. (Do not melt, it whips better if you don't and whips up easily)
1 T. olive oil, avocado oil, or hazelnut oil
2 T. aloe vera gel  (optional)
1 T glycerin

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and whip until all lumps or grains are gone. Add your essential oils or fragrance and whip until well blended.
*Note- You can use a hand mixer, or a Kitchenaide with the wire whisk attachment, either work well, but the stand mixer is faster. It takes about 5 minutes to whip this up.
If your home is a bit warm and you find this getting a bit soft, place it in the fridge. It will work fine.

Tasty Tuesday - Butternut Squash Bread

So I get a little crazy sometimes, and got a wild hair to put some squash in my bread. I've not made bread for a bit because of family stuff going on. Anyhew, let's get to the recipe because it turned out so awesomely wonderful, and even Nature Guy loved it so much he was asking for more.

Butternut Squash Bread


1 cup butternut squash, cooked and mashed
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 cup honey
2 T. molasses
3 T. each applesauce, and oil
2 T. yeast
1 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1 1/2 t. salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
4-5 cups white flour

In a large bowl combine the warm water, honey, molasses, yeast, oatmeal and flaxseed meal. Let sit until foamy, about 5-10 minutes. Add the oil, applesauce and salt. Then add the whole wheat flour plus 1 cup of white flour. Stir well, then start adding flour a half a cup at a time, and when the dough starts pulling away from the side of the bowl put on a well floured counter, and start kneading. Knead for about 10 minutes until dough is no longer sticky and it forms a nice bounce ball. Let rise for about an hour and a half or until doubled in size. Divide in half to make two large loaves or make two medium size loaves and one small one. I turned the small loaf into cinnamon raisin bread, which is sooooo yummy. Grease your pans and form your loaves. Let rise until dough reaches the top of the pans and even an inch above. Bake in a preheated oven for 35 minutes for smaller loaves and 40 for larger loaves. Enjoy!