Let the Feast Begin!

"Let the feast begin!", said Dumbledore.  The golden plates and goblets before them filled suddenly with food and drink.

-Book Three

One of the most joyous and wonderful aspects of life at Hogwarts is the magical meals.  How fitting that I should finish reading my June book today The Gospel According to Harry Potter by Connie Neal, just as I am about to pack for a week of Young Life camp at SharpTop Cove in North Georgia.

The meals will seem magical there too.

We will sit down in a great Dining Hall and high school kids from all over the country serving as Work Crew, will suddenly appear with the most delicious food for us to eat.

It will be magical like that three times a day for seven days.

We will watch as hundreds of high school kids arrive by the bus load for "the best week of their lives"

They will climb walls, slide down giant water slides, "blob" someone in the lake, go on a hike, play in a volleyball tournament, challenge themselves on the ropes course and hear the Gospel.  Not the Gospel according to Harry Potter, but the Gospel according to the Bible.

As for my choice in reading The Gospel According to Harry Potter this month...

I challenge fellow Christians who are critics of the Harry Potter books to really take a look at them.  As with most critics, their opinion is formed on hearsay and ignorance.  Most of the critics have not even taken the time to read the story.  Interestingly there is a strong parallel with critics of the Gospel in the Bible as well.  

Many people have rejected or neglected the Gospel without even reading it or seeking out the truth.

I'm so glad that I was open to both!  Just like Harry we live in a time when the battle between evil and good is growing.  Our best weapon is to know which side we are on and seek that truth.

The Gospel According to Harry Potter

Just as I suspected I would be, I am behind in my "read a book a month" goal.  I got behind on the third Chronicles of Narnia book which was my April book.  I just didn't take time out to read in any big chunks, therefore the book seemed slow and boring.  That's what happens when you only read for 10 minutes in bed!

So, how does this tie into Harry Potter you ask?  Somehow I think you should be able to tie anything to Harry Potter.  Why do I like everything Harry Potter?  I think it's because it is something our entire family gets excited about.  It's something that ties us together and it's all in fun.  I think we first got hooked when Kirby was in about 6th grade and now he's through college.  So everyone has grown into adults with Harry Potter and we are still entertained by it.  We even went to the theme park as a family last December!  more on that later...
Anyway, when I was visiting Holli earlier this month in Nashville I was browsing through her book shelves and saw this book,
The Gospel According to Harry Potter.  She said she had picked it up at the used books store.  She said I could borrow it so it went straight in my suitcase.  It was back in Cary when I picked it up to read it that I noticed it was the Leader's Guide for Group Study.  As much as I think that would be fun I couldn't imagine who would want to be in my little Harry Potter/Bible group study so I read it anyway.
The guide is really short but there are many scriptures to look up in the Bible as you go along.  I really enjoyed it.  I don't think I actually learned anything new.  I already know right from wrong, good from evil.  But now I really want to read the full book, The Gospel According to Harry Potter.
Today there WILL be a trip to the public library to pick up that book.  That will be my June book, yikes!  It's already June 18th, so probably gonna have to fall into July.  Oh well, I'm reading and that's what counts.

Now for the craft part of my crafty/reading blog:

Last summer I talked Jeff into a trip for the 5 of us to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios, Orlando.  We wanted to surprise the kids so I created three invitations to send out with the big news!  We mailed them in October so they would all have plenty of time to let us know if the dates worked with their busy schedules.  They were shocked and awed just as I had hoped!  Here's a few photos of the process of making the invitations.

The sound modules came from an online source.  I recorded The Harry Potter Theme music so that when they opened the left side of the invitation the music would begin to play.  My sister Carol gave me the idea to add the music.

The letter part of the invitation was based on the letter that Harry received when he was accepted to Hogwarts

Lots of friends gave me ideas.  My friend Leeann's husband Brandon suggested I use red sealing wax for authenticity

You Tube was my friend for making the sealing wax a success on the first try!

Ta Dah!

 

Yes, even the outside of the Priority Mail box had to have a HP feel.  I downloaded the HP font for free and blew up this owl and scroll image from Google Images.  With a little pass through PhotoShop...it was ready for the Owl Post!

 

Here we are 6 months ago 12-19-10 at The Hogwarts Express!

 Hogsmeade! right in the middle of central Florida, USA!

And here is the original photo I took in The Owl Post just because I loved this stack of books and knew it would come in handy one day!