Beauty and the Beast Alternate Ending

Caeli is spying on Brilyn while she sleeps.  You can see a bit of the castle behind Caeli's head.

Beauty and the Beast

Cogsworth: Enchanted?  Ha ha ha ha.  Who said anything about the castle being enchanted?  

(To Lumiere)

Cogsworth: It was you, wasn't it?

Presley (not pictured) hasn't been feeling well.  She's been coughing a lot and stayed home from pre-school today.  We watched Beauty and the Beast and I couldn't help but wonder what the story would have been like if the Beast would have welcomed Maurice into his home.
  

Think about the parallels.  The Beast became The Beast after he denied an old beggar woman shelter.  She morphed into a fairy princess after the rejection and administered the beastly curse until he could learn to love and be loved in return.

So, instead of putting Maurice (Belle's father) in the dungeon (or wherever it was) he could have taken the lead of his enchanted servants and chosen to be hospitable.  This would have been his chance to get it right.  The old beggar woman asking for shelter = Maurice asking for shelter.

Surely Belle would have found her father and started falling in love with the Beast even sooner.  (Especially if Maurice was being cared for in the castle while recovering from his illness.)

Gaston wouldn't have had the power of the townspeople behind him because the Beast might have turned back into a human before anyone outside of the castle knew about him.  Then maybe he wouldn't have been led by jealousy and disgust because Belle would have been in love with a worthy prince instead of a hideous beast and his (Gaston's) life would have been spared.

Anyhow, those are the sorts of things I think about while watching cartoons.

Then it makes me think about all the times God has given me chance after chance to get it right and I wonder if there are any similarities between myself and the Beast.  (Yes, there are.)  

I just hope that God will give me the strength to overcome anything that's not of him and I'm happy to know that in the end love will show the way and break the curse.
 

Love,

Serving and Stuff

Brilyn, Caeli and Presley

Thomas has his first residency interview next week on Wednesday.  There will be many more to come after that and we're so excited to end the medical school chapter of our lives.

At this point I keep asking myself if everything we've gone through for this M.D. is worth it.  I guess I'll know later after we've paid off our student loans and life (hopefully) isn't as crazy.

The first year was really hard.  I really didn't think I would make it because I was so sick.  I don't know what I would have done without my friend Sarah who showed up every day to pick my kids up and bring them home from school.  (Among countless other things.)  Knowing that she would be here every day helped to give me the extra strength to get out of bed and keep the house clean.  She was always so kind, hopeful and upbeat.  (Still is.)

 I know it wasn't always easy to be around us and there were many mornings (when the kids were particularly difficult) that I thought she might never come back but she always did!

Her willingness to go where God sent her is what helped me survive and she's one of the reasons why I hope that one day we'll be in the position where we have extra resources (health, time, money) to serve others. 
 

She's not the kind of person who likes recognition or praise so I usually refrain from these sorts of things when she's concerned but today I really felt compelled to send out a special thank you for all that she's done for us, and the friendship and love she continues to offer our family every day.
 

She's offered herself as a servant to us and has become a part of our family.  We love her.

Sarah, Brilyn and Caeli

To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others.

Pope John Paul II

Dear God, 

Help us to be your hands and feet.  Please bless Sarah, her family, and everyone who reads this.

 

Wishes

Brilyn

Presley

Things I've been wishing for:

That all real cakes could be as healthy as watermelon.

A cool gap in between my teeth.

The ability to freeze time like Evie on Out of This World.

Un-chapped lips.

The last has inspired this poem:

When I'm out in the cold and my lips are chapped
I start to feel sad that the warmth is gone
Then I remember what I should have said which is,
Use Balm and Carry On.

Sorry, that's all I have for now.  Lately I've been bored with myself because I don't have major hurdles to jump over in regards to my health.  Things have been steady and I can't get rid of this weird uneasiness inside me.  I keep reminding myself that just because things are going well, it doesn't mean that something bad is going to happen and it doesn't mean I have to wear myself out with stress so that I'll feel as tired as I use to feel.  That's it!  I almost feel guilty for feeling good.  So, I'm trying to remember what Paul said in Philippians 4:12 because I want to be like him.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

(So much nonsense in my brain because I don't want to be unoriginal but even that thought is from a movie most everyone has seen.  Maybe if I leave out the title I'll seem a little more mysterious and if you happen to know what I'm talking about we can both know we have a secret connection.  If not, sorry.) 

Love,