One Last Time

Holly and Kelly: Dear readers, we apologize for not updating in a while. It has been a very crazy month of going here there and everywhere. But we are fine, all is well and now we are back. Thanks for hanging tough and bearing with us.

Yesterday was the final hurrah. The big finale. The movie to end all movies. The Battle of the Five Armies. And it was glorious.  It was also a time of gathering. As you all know, in September we attended ALEP (see our post on ALEP weekend here!) and met some pretty awesome people during that time. It was discussed at that time that there was a group who usually met up in December to see the current Hobbit movie in Nicholasville (about an hour from Berea). This group met up at Shaker Village the night before for a merry gathering, since it's almost Christmas. So needless to say we jumped all over that! We stayed at the village Friday night and got to meet up with some of the folks we met in September for snacks, conversation, laughing, a long slideshow and a little bit of tasty wine. Come Saturday we rolled out to Brannon's Crossing in Nickyville and gathered at the theater for pictures and a bit of singing, such as Misty Mountains and I See Fire- which was pretty incredible. Before we knew it there were other people taking pictures and videos of all of us, as the majority of the group were in costumes. It was awesome. Truly awesome. We kept saying "I love us." This group, these movies, as Kelly said, it was a celebration of the Christmas season, the love of Tolkien and Peter Jackson's work, how the books/movies have impacted us and our lives, and celebrating each other.

Now for our movie opinion; we LOVED it!!! We don't want to give too much away, because that's just not nice and we went into this movie having read no reviews, not viewed any clips, or seen anything else other than just the trailer.  We expected a few things, naturally, just because we're fairly familiar with the book, but it far surpassed our expectations!  There were quite a few moments that really surprised us, and of course, there were things that we weren't too thrilled with (but that's the case with the previous 2 Hobbit movies, and even LOTR too).  But what really made this movie special, aside from it being the last Middle Earth hurrah, was the company that was able to witness this cinematic adventure with us.  Many we met from AL3P, but we didn't get to have as many in-depth conversations and fellowship as we had wished (though there was still plenty!!), so it was really memorable to share life with these people.  We all come from such different walks of life, such different parts of the world, and when we all come together united by this love for Tolkien, wonderful things happen.  Now every time we see Five Armies, we'll think of this group, this family that we've been so fortunate to be welcomed into.  Plus...Billy Boyd's closing song is complete perfection to the end of an incredible movie series...and to our parting.  We will see each other soon, though.  There is no such thing as goodbye!

So ends this day
The road is now calling
And I must away
Over hill and under tree
Through lands where light has never shone
By silver streams that run down to the Sea
Under cloud, beneath the stars
Over snow one winter's morn
I turn at last to paths that lead home
And though where the road then takes me, I cannot tell
We came all this way
But now comes the day to bid you farewell

One Last Time! (Photo c/o Kelly Gable) 

"Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Kelly: I just read on Yahoo! that the main front runner for Westboro Baptist church passed away today. If you are not familiar with WBC, please spare yourself the images and their viewpoints. To sum them up in the Kelly Korb fashion, Westboro Baptist Church are a family based in Kansas who's websites displays "God Hates Fags." They picket at soldier's funerals, thank God for the death of soldiers and other individuals and preach in my opinion messages of sheer hate and intolerance. But yes, the main church leader has passed on. Without a doubt he has met Jesus face to face and has gotten what God will give him. I will be completely honest, when I first read the news I had mixed feelings. Anger, relief, pity, the lot. I'm ashamed to say at first I thought to myself that perhaps this guy got what he deserved. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought of this; it doesn't matter what I think or feel about this guy and this "church" and their views of others and the world. This guy claimed to follow Christ, as I do. He read his Bible, prayed with his family and went to church every Sunday. I do the same thing. So really, we are the same, but perhaps not. I think it's our understanding of God that makes us different.

I have ZERO tolerance for hate or disrespect of any kind, because the God and Jesus I know and have read about does too. I also know that God is a vengeful and jealous God and He hates sin and sinners...have you read the Old Testament? But here's me; I will flat out say that picketing the funerals of soldiers and saying God hates "fags" is wrong. Flat out wrong. The Bible says Jesus loves all of us, each and every one, right down to the hairs on our heads. I will not picket this guy's funeral or parade around Berea holding signs that say "God hates Westboro Baptist Church," because frankly God loves them too. But I will continue to spread the love of Christ in what I say and do to others, no matter who I meet. I will continue to show the world of the God that I know and love. I will pray for WBC not that they would be changed, but that they too would learn or re-learn of the same love that God has extended to the "fags," the soldiers they protest and to them.

Holly: I'll admit, the first thing I thought when I read of Mr. Phelps passing was something like "I imagine he and Jesus had a pretty interesting conversation."  Then again, I can't claim to speculate what our own encounters with Jesus at the end of our lives will be like.

Straight up, I do not agree with the views of Westboro Baptist Church.  I think it's even a bit of a stretch to call Westboro Baptist Church a "church".  I don't think Mr. Phelps was leading a church; I think he was leading a cult.  But that's just my opinion.  Some of the things he said were just downright frightening.  It's frightening to go on their website and see "God Hates Fags" as plain as day, plastered all over it.  That is NOT the love of Christ I've learned about.  That is NOT the love of Christ which drew me into a relationship with Him.

He and his church were notorious for picketing and protesting funerals of soldiers, celebrities, and others.  I've read numerous comments saying his own funeral be picketed.  But how does that make us any different from them? We're "fueling the fire", so to speak, and you and I both know that that doesn't solve anything.  The truth is that people, ALL people, are going to think, speak, believe, feel, differently than we are.  Perhaps that message never quite got through to WBC.  Maybe it did.  I'm not really sure.  On the flip side of all of this, my human, Christ-following, compassionate side comes out: Mr. Phelps was a father, a grandfather, a leader of a church, someone's friend.  This father, grandfather, leader of a church, someone's friend, has passed away.  Death is a sad thing, regardless of your immediate feelings.

Having said all of this, I will say that because of WBC, I will strive to further spread the love of God, the God who is a God of LOVE.  I will show love to my neighbor: my gay neighbor, my Hindu neighbor, my male neighbor, my black neighbor.  No exceptions.  I will pray for WBC, that they would come to know the God of love that I love.

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.  But the greatest of these is love. -1 Corinthians 13:13

Happy Birthday blog!

Kelly: So here we are! Today is the 1 year anniversary of The H and K Chronicles!!!!!! *insert cheesy applauses here* It's hard to believe that this tiny tiny idea has blown up into THIS! Doesn't already help that I am beyond excited and happy already today! I still remember the conversations Holly and I had before starting this blog. We jotted down some ideas, were thinking of titles and all sorts of things. Didn't really know what was going to happen once we started; sis and I were never the greatest at keeping diaries or anything like that. Too many things would happen and it'd be months and months before it would be picked up again. But hey...this blog hasn't done too bad.

Looking back now, I had no idea we would still have this. I was worried that we would run out of things to write about, but our ideas have increased ten fold. I enjoy the time that Holly and I devote to this blog; it gives us a chance to relay our thoughts to not only each other but to all of you who read this. Then I think about how much I have changed since a year has gone by. I know it's incredibly cliche and somewhat corny, but gosh. I have grown so much as a person, a Christian, and a fan. My interests have changed and the way I see life has changed. I've had so many struggles but way more joys and happy moments. I've made better life choices that have already started to reap positive results. I've grown to love things I never thought I would love (ahem Lord of the Rings and Sherlock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). But yeah. We've made it! This blog has made it to one year. It's just...really awesome for a lack of a better word. It's still kind of strange to me; the idea of this blog. When we first started it, I just gave it to God and it has blown up and grown up. Yeah it isn't splashed all over the internet. Yeah thousands of people don't read it every day. But it's ours. It's mine and Holly's piece of the internet world and I hope that those who have read this or just skimmed it find something they love. Something they can relate to. Something they can appreciate. Something that touches them or makes them laugh. So this is also not for us but for all of you. THANK YOU for sticking it out with us, because without all of you who read this we wouldn't have gotten anywhere with it. Cheers for one year of blogging and hopefully there will be many more years of blogging to follow!

Holly: It's kind of hard to believe that one year of this silly little thing has already passed! So much has happened in a year, now that I look back on it.  I mean, a year ago today, I was still in school, preparing to start my senior year, I lived in a shoebox with a crazy person (sorry Amanda, I still love you!!), I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I had never seen/really heard of Lord of the Rings or Sherlock.  In between that time I did some more growing up, reeled from an AMAZING summer in England, met two of my comedic idols (ahem, hi Colin and Brad *waves*), roared through my last semester of college, said "see you later" to some pretty amazing Biology people, graduated, moved out of my folks' house, moved into my first apartment, got my Bachelor's degree, learned how the unemployed feel, got introduced to Lord of the Rings and Sherlock (though not at the same time) and was HOOKED,  got to know some really old and sweet Beagles, spent some more time with two pretty awesome friends who live nearby (now that we have a car!!!!!), learned a few lessons in customer service, and.....

Now I'm here.   And there were many others in between.

It's hard to say where I'll be in another year from now.  My life is not anything close to where I  imagined it would be, and yet I've never been happier.  I'm relishing in this time now, where I'm just working and putting myself out there, praying that something better (and maybe a little closer to home) will come along.  But in the meantime I will gladly continue to drive 90 mins each day and dance with the sweet old Beagles in the hallway.

Like Kelly, I also didn't know where this blog would end up, and to be honest, I'm amazed it's been a year.  This is the longest we've been able to keep up with.....well, anything, really.  We just get so busy sometimes. But we stuck it out and I'm glad we did.  I love looking back over what God's brought us through, where life has taken us, and I look forward to reading these entries again 20+ years down the road.  I wanted to close by thanking all of those who take the few minutes every time we update to read over these entries.  You are the reason we do what we do, and most of the time, you readers inspire us.  So thank you.  Here's to another year of chronicling! :)

One year ago: right after we published our first blog post! :)

One year later.  Taken about 10 minutes ago.  Cheers! :)

Man, these times are hard

Kelly: It started with church today...the topic of this blog. But before I delve into the real purpose of this blog, I must say watching very....oh ok, cute Danish gymnasts perform in front of our very eyes was definitely worth getting out of my room for! Mmmm mmmm...good! Ok enough about that; time for what is really on my mind. It actually started in Sunday school; our class is doing a video series by a pastor named Andy Stanley (he is FANTASTIC!!!) called Twisting the Truth. It is exactly just that; how an invisible world (Satan) is attacking and twisting the truth of our visible world...here. Folks, this is such true stuff; we cannot ignore it! Anyway, today's discussion was about exactly how twisted this world is. For real.

One particular example I could not get out of my head was Westboro Baptist church. If you don't know who they are, then you are a blessed individual. I'd rather not explain all it is that they do, because thinking about it makes me physically ill. But I mentioned in my class that sometimes people can try to twist God's truth, and so on and so forth. Then came to the message...titled Stronger Together. Over the past year or so, our pastor mentioned that there have been several issues regarding our church unity; basically there are tensions that are keeping some of us congregation members divided. It just saddened me actually; was I just naive or was I completely unaware that these issues were even going on?

Even if it's not what you believe in, just hear me out; the world is so full of....crap. Crap that is threatening to change our views on culture, race, and each other. So many of us are hurting day after day, but all this world seems to be worrying about is who to blame for the next financial crisis, the next recession, or finding the next predictor of Earth's tragic demise. In my honest opinion, this world needs more than just us good-hearted people; it needs a Savior. Readers, I am not trying to preach, but please don't misunderstand me. It's up to us to combat this evil in the world and hold true to what we believe in. Because honestly, in this day and age, for some people it's all they've got.

Holly:  I really have nothing to add, except this: Whether or not you pray, believe in God, it doesn't matter: please be thinking/praying for our beloved church.  It has changed my life for the absolute better and the fact that there is so much hurt going on that I didn't know about hurts me.  And if there is anything that any of you are going through that you feel comfortable enough to share with us, please do.  Let me know if I can pray for you or help you in any way.  :)

I was introduced to this song today.  Yeah, I know, it's about birthdays...but really listen to it! It's so much more than that. 

Just Another Birthday- Casting Crowns

Sixteen finds me
Blowing out candles and making wishes
And all around me
Is everyone but the one I'm wishing for
And he sent me flowers
And gift-wrapped excuses
From a daddy whose daughter
Wants to see him again

And I know, I know
It's just another birthday
But I guess I thought
This would be the one
When he would call me, see me
Hold me and free me
But it's just another birthday

And I'll be fine
I'll be fine

Nineteen finds me
And I'm wild-eyed and wide open
I gave myself away to love
But backseat promises fade like a mist
I'm screaming at the midnight air
Everyone hears me but I don't care
My heart's clenched just like a fist
Cause, people, I didn't ask for any of this

And I'm not fine
I'm not fine

In the company of strangers
In a cold and sterile room
All alone with a child inside me
And I don't know what to do
Jesus, can You hear me
Come and heal my brokenness
Put the pieces back together
And be a Father to the fatherless

Twenty-one finds me
Blowing out candles and making wishes
And all around me
My barefoot princess twirls and sings
It's so amazing
Looking back at all God's brought us through
You are my happy birthday
And you were born to break the chains

Now I know, I know
It's not just another birthday
Cause I'm here, shes here
And look how far we've come
Since you've called me, saw me
Held me and freed me
Thank you, Lord, for another birthday
And we'll be fine
We'll be fine