The Grail Quest

Wonderful series by Bernard Cornwell, comprised of 3 books
1.) Harlequin (renamed The Archer's Tale in the States)
2.) Vagabond
3.) Heretic


Harlequin
Guy Vexille aka the Harlequin comes from a family of Cathars. He brings mercenaries to Hookton to retrieve the Lance of St. George and the Holy Grail from his Uncle, the Count of Astarac.

Thomas of Hookton, watches as his village is destroyed by the Harlequin and the Lance of St. George stolen from the Church. Using his skill at archery he drives the Harlequin and his men off, and promises the dying priest that he will hunt the Harlequin down and retrieve the Lance of St. George. Thomas joins the army of King Edward III as an archer and goes to fight in French Brittany and Normandy (The beginning of the Hundred Years War). Unfortunately one of his enemies, Sir Simon Jekyll has him hung before the end of the book....................(it's really bad form to hang one of the main characters). Thankfully he is rescued by Eleanor. Eventually Thomas finds the Harlequin and destroys the Lance of St. George.

Vagabond
Philip of Valois, King of France turns Guy Vexille over to the Inquisitor, Bernard De Taillebourg. Guy tells how the Vexilles owned the Grail, and that it was last in Hookton in his Uncle's possession. They leave for England, to question Hugh Collimore an old monk who nursed Ralp Vexille.

Meanwhile King Edward III learns of Thomas' connection to the Grail and sends Thomas, his fiancee Eleanor (bastard daughter of Sir Guillaume d'Evecque), and Father Hobbe to speak with Hugh Collimore. They arrive in Durham in time for Thomas to help repeal the Scottish invasion, led by King David of Scotland. Thomas sends Eleanor and Father Hobbe on to speak with Father Collimore while he helps fight the Scots. Gux Vexille and Bernard De Taillebourg kill Father Collimore, Father Hobbe and the pregnant Eleanor. The only useful information they discover is that Ralp Vexille had a son.

Devastated by Eleanors death Thomas of Hookton, and Robbie (a Scot captured for ransom and with his own reasons for wanting Guy Vexille and Bernard de Taillebourg dead) journey to Hookton, so Thomas can speak with his Fathers old friend Sir Giles. Sir Giles gives Thomas a book that Father Ralph asked him to keep until Thomas was old enough to take care of himself. After receiving a summons from Sir Guillaume d'Evecque who is under siege from his liege lord for attacking Guy Vexille, Thomas and Robbie leave for France. After rescuing Sir Guillaume, Skeat and Mordecai they set out for La Roch Derrien.

Recalling his promise to Jeanette to return her son to her Thomas gathers some men in an attempt to kidnap the boy from Roncelets. Thomas is taken prisoner and tortured by Bernard de Taillebourg. Eventually he is ransomed for the book he was given by Sir Giles (after Robbie & Jeanette copy the original and make some changes to it).

During a battle between the French and English Skeat is killed trying to defend Jeanette from the Scarecrow. After the battle Thomas, Robbie and Sir Guillaume head south.

Heretic
Thomas and friends capture the Castillon d' Arbizon in time to keep the heretic (aka Genevieve) from being burned at the stake for being a beghard. Unfortunately Robbie comes to believe that Genevieve should have been burned at the stake and he joins Thomas' enemies for a time.

After being asked to leave Castillon d'Arbizon to prevent division between Robbie's supporters and Thomas' supporters, Thomas and Genevieve travel to Astarac. On the way there Thomas and Genevieve are attacked by bandits, when Thomas captures the bandit leader's son (Galdric), the bandit leader (Philin) offers to let them go in peace in exchange for his son. He also tells Thomas that Abbot Planchard will always take in a wounded man/woman. They travel to the abbey where Genevieve's wounds are treated. Abbot Planchard recognizes Thomas' badge, and identifies him as a Vexille. He shows Thomas a casket that once held the Grail.

Later Guy Vexile comes to the abbey looking for his cousin. Thomas and Genevieve hide in the ossuary, where they overhear a conversation between Abbot Planchard and Guy Vexille. Abbot Planchard's ancestor was one of the seven dark lords who took the Grail from Astarac and swore to protect it. Guy kills Abbot Planchard and sets out to find Thomas. Thomas and Genevieve in the company of the bandits make their way back to Castillon d' Arbizon which is under siege.

On their way into the Castillon they kill Charles Bessieres (the brother of Cardinal Bessieres) who was sent with Guy to plant a fake Grail in Astarac. They find the fake Grail, but when Thomas breaks it they realize it is a fake. Both side are overcome with the plague. Sir Guillaume and Jake die of the plague, but Sam, Genevieve, Thomas and Robbie survive and travel to Hookton where Thomas finds the Grail, exactly where he left it.

Whose moral compass counts?

A wonderful column in the Meridian Star by Steven Brody

Let's Teach History Not Fairy Tales

I have been looking for a good American History Book. You know one that actually teaches history and not some sanitized feel good fairy tale. It looks like my search will be getting harder.

California's many ethnic and cultural communities have sought legislation that requires school children to be taught about their "role and contributions" in a positive way and bans instruction that depicts them negatively. So instead of textbooks presenting the full story to today’s students written by fair-minded and authoritative historians, they are getting the politically correct sanitized version. And then we wonder why the students of today seem to have less knowledge of the world then those of my generation; who were actually taught history not some fairy tale concocted by those with enough political pull to get our history changed to suit them.

Frankly I am tired of special interest groups wanting to rewrite history and demonize historical figures. An example is two students who attend the Jeff Davis campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. According to Genesis Be and her brother Israfel Briggs, they are embarrassed to tell people that they go to a school named after Jefferson Davis. First since they were free to go to any college or university if the name of the campus was such a problem for them, they should have gone somewhere else. Secondly their reasons for demonizing President Jefferson Davis shows an appalling lack of historical knowledge.


Jefferson Davis was much more then the first and last President of the Confederacy. He represented Mississippi in Congress from 1845-1846. He resigned his congressional seat in order to serve in the Mexican War. He was the Senator from Mississippi from 1847 to 1851, then again from 1857-1861. He was the Secretary of War in the cabinet of President Franklin Pierce from 1853 to 1857. This was a man who served his country well during times of war and peace, and he certainly deserves the recognition of having a community college located near his last home named after him.

Sir Federick Kenyon Died 53 Years Ago, Archaeological Finds Didn't Cease

Apparently Abraham Smith has his own agenda, and is extremely biased. Bart D. Ehrman chairs the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina. His book Lost Christianities The Battles for Scriptures and the Faiths We Never Knew was scrupulously researched. He isn’t a so-called liberal scholar, with a hidden agenda as Smith maintains.

Even though we have numerous copies of text it is impossible to construct the exact words of the original as all the text differ. We are not talking about misspelling peoples’ names or having alternate destinations as Smith contends. Scribes made alterations that changed the whole meaning of the verse, in order to promote their sects beliefs. For example Jesus’ baptism, in the oldest surviving witnesses to Luke’s Gospel, the voice quotes the words of Psalm 2:7 “You are my Son, today I have begotten you” (Luke 3:22). Supporting the adoptionists belief that God adopted Jesus at the time of his baptism. Even though the potentially dangerous (“heretical”) form of the text is found in virtually all our oldest witnesses, it is the altered form of the text that is found in the majority of surviving manuscripts and reproduced in most of our English translations. So Smith isn’t actually reading what Luke wrote, he is reading what the proto-orthodox scribes altered the text of Luke to say.

And with all due respect to Smith, Sir Federick Kenyon died August 23, 1952. Many archaeological discoveries have been made since his death. Sir Federick Kenyon’s daughter Kathleen also became an archaeologist and began excavating Jericho the year her father died. She came to conclusions that differed from her dad's. Today, Frederick's conclusions are seldom mentioned outside Christian circles. (Christian History Institute )

District Soccer Competition

Sean's U16 team played in the Mississippi Youth Soccer's Southern District playoffs in Hattiesburg, MS April 22nd and 23rd. They came in 4th place in their bracket. Way to go Sean!

Sean played for the Ocean Springs Soccer Organization this year. His coach was Doug Bates.

Sean had a great deal of fun playing soccer this year, and hopes to play next year. Because of the disorganization of OSSO this year, we may play for another league next year. We are considering playing for either West River (which is Gautier's league ) or the D'Iberville Youth Soccer Organization. Although Sean would be very sad not to see his soccer friends on a regular basis, and he would miss Coach Bates a great deal. Luckily U14 and U16 players are "free agents" so we have that option.

Sean was very happy that his Grandma Hazel and his Grandpa Wayne were able to come see him play.

His MawMaw Jean was also able to come, unfortunately a soccer ball busted her windshield, so we didn't get to visit with her long.

Thanks to sunscreen we didn't get sunburned, but it was very hot this weekend, especially Sunday. Sean did a terrific job, even though he injured his knee Easter Sunday playing Ping-Pong with Mom (he'll do anything to keep me from winning). After the games Sunday, Bo took us out to eat at Sicily's Pizza. Which we all enjoyed a great deal.

Does Anyone Want Some Geese

I still think the baby goslings are cute, but I am so sick of the gander. He has taken to attacking us. Today was the last straw. I got home from the grocery store, only to find the Geese family in my driveway (why they were camped out there is beyond me - they had the poor cat trapped in the garage). Mr. Gander decided to attack the car. I didn't give in to my baser instincts and run over him; so everyone is fine. But honestly it's my yard, I would like to be able to enjoy it.

Homeschool Cafe

Pull up a chair, grab a cup of coffee and come join some homeschool Mom's for some frank conversation at the The Homeschool Cafe.

Geese Update

The geese family is on a walk about. They have started coming up to the house, which made it simple to take a close up picture I merely walked out onto my patio.

Whiskers (the great black hunter) and Socks (he who is afraid of his own shadow) enjoy watching them, but so far haven't offered to bother them. Luckily for one gosling as he tends to wonder off by himself, no wonder the gander was in a bad mood the other day. An angry gander isn't something I want to tangle with, I assume the cats feel the same way.

The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd

I really enjoyed the book. Although I am still horrified about the famine. It's hard to imagine so many people dying of starvation, and you can only imagine the agony the parents felt watching their children starve. If you enjoy historical novels I highly recommend this one, along with the Princes of Ireland.

We have Baby Geese

Just in time for Easter to boot. We had a pair of Canada Geese take up residence in our pond. The goose made a nest on the island. Today they hatched, and there are 6 or 7 goslings, swimming around in the pond with Momma and Poppa. As you can tell I am excited. If I can get close enough tomorrow, I'll try to take a picture. They are so cute!!!!!! http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/birds/canada-goose.htm

Didn't get close enough to get a really good picture. I don't want to scare them off. But if you look closely you can see the goslings in this picture. I got a really good look at them with the pair of binoculars we have.

Whose Version of Luke?

It's apparent that Abraham Smith isn't a theologian, if he was he would not put so much faith in the Gospel of Luke, which by the way the apostle Luke did not write (I am sure Smith wasn't trying to mislead anyone so I wanted to clarify that). The first four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written anonymously by well-educated, Greek speaking, Christians during the second half of the first century. The Gospel of Luke is believed to have been written by one of Paul's companions. We do not have the original of any of the New Testament books (including Luke); we don't even have copies of the original copies. It wasn't until the fourth century, nearly three hundred years after the New Testament was written, that we began to get complete manuscripts of all its books.


Bible scholars know that the words of the New Testament were changed in the process of copying them because they can compare the 5,400 copies that we have with one another. What is striking is that when they compare the copies no two copies agree in their entire wording. There can be only one reason for this the scribes that copied the texts changed them (Some thru human error, others did so intentionally). To put it simply there are more differences among the manuscripts then there are words in the New Testament.


The early Christian Church was full of sects with doctrines differing from one another. There is abundant evidence that scriptures were changed to promote the proto-orthodox viewpoint. (Lost Christianities The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths we Never Knew By Bart D. Ehrman)


Since Smith puts so much trust in Luke; perhaps he would be interested to know that in the oldest surviving witnesses to Luke's Gospel the scripture referring to Jesus' baptism reads "You are my Son, today I have begotten you" Luke 3:22; lending support to the Ebionites and the Roman Theodotians who believed Jesus was the biological son of Joseph and Mary, adopted by God at the time of his baptism because of the pure life he had lead.


Before Smith criticizes people for wanting to know more about the Bible and what the original texts actually said he should keep in mind that both Martin Luther and John Calvin were considered heretics whose views were considered sacrilegious by the Catholic Church. Today both Luther and Calvin's views are accepted as orthodox.

Also if Smith goes back and reads my original letter, he will see that I said “Jesus MIGHT have had a wife” not that he did. There is not enough evidence to be dogmatic either way; and I am sure Smith wouldn’t walk out of heaven if he got there and found Jesus was married to Mary (although if that’s the case I hope Mary sets him straight about being so close minded). As for me I’ll continue to study the Bible and read theological works to learn as much as I can and wait until I get to heaven to find out who was right.

PEAK Movie Day

Peak Gulf Coast was invited to view The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe at the CB base theater. We had a great time and look forward to future movie days.

New Book in Amelia Peabody Series

Sean and I have had a marvelous time reading Elizabeth Peters latest book, Tomb of the Golden Bird. While Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter are busy finding King Tut's Tomb, the Emerson's are busy protecting "him" (aka Sethos) from his enemies, reconciling him with his wife and generally getting into trouble.

In Defense of the Da Vinci Code

It’s easy to see from Mildred Smith’s letter to the editor that she hasn’t even bothered to read the Da Vinci Code before disparaging it. Apparently Ms Smith doesn’t understand the meaning of the word fiction. Fiction a literary work based on the imagination and not necessarily on fact. Fiction is meant to be entertaining and Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code certainly is.

She brings up another work of fiction that she approves of The Passion of the Christ.
Apparently anything that portrays Jesus in a manner she approves of is good, and anything that deviants from her beliefs is bad, even if it might be true.

She also states categorically that Jesus did not have a wife or father a child. I wonder how she knows, many theologians admit it is possible that Jesus was married, and a careful review of the scriptures show that they do not state if Jesus was married or not.

Evidence that Jesus was married:
Irenaeus' Doctrine of Recapitulation supports the notion of a married Savior. Irenaeus taught that Jesus Christ symbolically entered every critical stage of human existence and sanctified it. Since family life, including sexuality, is central to our lives, it seems logically consistent with the mission of a Savior to redeem and sanctify this aspect of our experience, as well.

In keeping with the Creeds of the Church, which teach that Christ had two natures: one human and one divine, the offspring of Christ would not have represented a "divine race".

Given the cultural milieu in which Jesus lived and the supporting Biblical evidence, the burden of proof lies with those who do not believe Jesus was married. They must show why Jesus and His parents would have been derelict in their civic responsibilities and not contracted a marriage. Unmarried men were considered a curse to Jewish society. The Bible says that Mary & Joseph were careful to perfectly obey the laws of their people. It also says that Jesus was "subject unto them". Since Jewish culture practiced arranged marriages (a Jewish boy was marriageable at age 16), it is reasonable to assume that Jesus' parents would have performed their parental duties faithfully and arranged a bride for the young Jesus. There are 18 silent years in His life (12 - 30). The Gospel of John tells us that there were many other things, which Jesus did which have not been recorded.

There are hints scattered in the Gospels of a special relationship between Jesus and Mary.

• 
  If she is the same Mary of Bethany in John 11, then we can explain why Martha arose to greet Jesus and not Mary. Some scholars say she was sitting shiva according to Jewish custom (married women were not allowed to break-off from their mourning unless called by their husbands). In this story, Mary does not come to Jesus, until he calls her.
• 
  At the Resurrection, when Mary meets Jesus in the Garden, there is a degree of intimacy (see the Aramaic here) which one would expect between lovers, not friends.
• 
  The Greek word for "woman" and "wife" are the same. Translators must rely upon the context in deciding how to translate it. Sometimes, the translation is arbitrary. When Mary is referred to as a "woman" who followed Jesus, it can just as easily be translated as "wife".
• 
  Some scholars cite the story of Mary with the alabaster jar anointing the feet of Jesus as the most direct witness to their marriage. It is in all four Gospels and was a story in which Jesus gave express command that it be preserved. This ceremony was an ancient one among many royal houses in the ancient world, which sealed the marital union between the king and his priestess spouse.

Belief in a married Jesus does not require any more faith than a resurrected Jesus. There is biblical support for both beliefs. Searching for answers does not make one sacrilegious, neither does writing a fictional book based on historical data. And before you disparage a book and label it’s author a heretic could you at least read the book first?

Mummy - The Inside Story

Monday, March 20th, we visited the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center to view the exhibit Mummy- The Inside Storey on loan from the British Museum in London, with our PEAK homeschool group.

While there we saw the Imax Film Mystery of the Nile, took a 3 D tour Inside the Mummy of Nesperennub. We were able to view Nesperennub's actual sarcophagus and coffin, and took a virtual tour of Nefertari's Tomb. And of course we stopped in the gift shop to pick up some souvenirs.

It was crowded and very noisy with all the school kids milling around. But all in all I had a wonderful time.

My Flowerbed

Spring is in the air

Which means I have been waiting for the weather to be nice enough for me to do some gardening. The kids took all my potted plants out to the patio for me Saturday, and after weeding around the hydrangeas, Bo treated me to some new flowers for my flower bed.

I also decided to redo the border and used some river rocks Bo had down by the pond to make the new border. I used perennials in the flowerbed I planted Butterfly Blue Pincushion Flower , Snow Hill Meadow Sage, and Blue Hill Salvia. All of these attract hummingbirds and butterflies, so I hope to see some soon. They also bloom all the way into fall so I should get to enjoy them for a long time. I also got an annual for my picnic table. I have no idea what it is so if anyone does please let me know so I will know how to take care of it. It looks like some sort of violet.

Rocks

 

 

Sean got a rock tumbler for Christmas. Of course we had to wait for Bo to build the shop before we could use it, and then we had to wait for him to get electricity to the shop, so it was February before we got a chance to start a batch of rocks. Our first batch of rocks will be done today, Wednesday, March 8th. It looks like we are going to have some real keepers in this batch. Our next step will be to identify the rocks we don't know.

 

Hopefully we will be able to get started on our second batch of rocks sometime this coming week.

Pompeii Party

The PEAK Pompeii Party Friday, March 3rd, was a huge success. Everyone seemed to have a good time, and educational opportunities abounded from viewing the kids projects to tasting authentic Roman foods.
Our next stop is Egypt...............................

Did You Know Evolution Is A Pagan Religion?

Most creationist don't seem to be playing with a full deck, but Dr. Kent Hovind of Pensacola, Florida, takes the cake. For all you REAL scientist out there the good news is Dr. Hovind has a long standing offer of $250,000 for anyone with empirical evidence (scientific proof) for evolution.

If you are interested in hearing Dr. Hovind speak he will be at Southeastern Baptist College (located at 4229 Highway 15 North in Laurel, Mississippi) where he will take part in a free seminar from 6:00-9:00 pm on Tuesday, March 28, 2006. For more info Call 601-426-6346 or email joharris@comcast.net. The public is invited.

Maybe someone should explain to Dr. Hovind the difference between religion and science. There are many Christians who believe the scientific theory of evolution. Our GOD is powerful enough to create the world anyway he saw fit, including using evolution.