Review and GIVEWAY!!! Patterns of Evidence Exodus

I don't do many reviews these days, but when I was given the opportunity to review a brand new DVD, Patterns of Evidence Exodus, I had to say yes.  

In this documentary, filmmaker, Timothy Mahoney researches whether there is archaeological evidence for the Biblical account in Exodus. A couple years ago when we were studying ancient history, Ashlyn, Lexie and I watched, read, and listened to a variety of resources, about ancient Egypt, including some discussing the revised chronology that helps to better align archaeological evidence with the Biblical account. So I was interested to see if this video added any new insights. 

Considering the number of other resources we had looked at on this topic, no, I can't say that this video actually provided us with new information, however, it did a very good job of summarizing the information that we had gleaned from other resources and presenting it in a visually easy, or at least easier, to understand way. 

Things we liked: 

The video includes interviews with archaeologists who do not believe there is evidence for the exodus. It interviewed both Jewish and Christian scholars, some of whom don't believe that Exodus describes a literal historic event. I really liked that it provided "both sides" so to speak, yes, all from a Judeo-Christian worldview, but the video clearly showed that there is not consensus. 

Things we didn't like:

I can't really think of anything. Obviously, the target audience of this documentary is Judeo-Christians who are interested in seeing how archaeology supports the Bible. The "conclusion" of the documentary is that yes, there is evidence for Exodus.

If you're interested in learning more about how archaeology, ancient history and the biblical accounts all line up, this DVD is a great resource!

It will be released on August 4 and can be purchased here. 

Trailer:

A blog featuring interviews and articles is available here.

Facebook

Twitter: @PattofEvidence

And now, I have a copy of this DVD to GIVEAWAY to one of you!!! Please leave a comment on this blog post (not on facebook or twitter), if you are interested in winning this DVD. Make sure to include your e-mail address so that I can contact you. If I can't contact you, or don't hear back from the winner within 48 hours an alternate winner will be chosen. 

Giveaway ENDS on August 4, 2015 at 8pm EDT.

Please note the rules in the disclaimer below.

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

 Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

Wrapping Up 2 More Weeks

So apparently this summer is the summer of two week wrap-ups . . . no real reason . . . I can't even say we're so busy I haven't had time to write . . . maybe it's because we are having a nice quiet summer and there's not a whole lot to write about. I kinda like that.

The weather's been surprisingly wet and not swelteringly hot for July. I like that too.

Ashlyn's been doing lots of gardening. It's kind of doing "too well" the plants are so big they're crowding each other in the raised beds. But we enjoyed the beets that she dug up last week, yum! We're also enjoying the herbs from the herb beds, but sadly, the Japanese beetles seem to really like the basil. Sigh . . . this year is the first time in years that I've seen TONS of Japanese Beetles. Must say, I haven't missed them, UGH! Ashlyn quickly learned to hate them too.

Little Bit is my . . . includer. . . off and on for several years now, we've done "dates" to allow each of the girls to have one-on-one time with one of their parents. Little Bit loves the idea of getting to choose to go someplace special or fun, but inevitably she invites her sisters to come with her. Kind of defeating the whole reason the "dates" were set up. But it makes her happy, so whatever . . . This time, Little Bit chose to go to Oley Dairy. An ice cream shop that also has a petting zoo.

This time I don't think we ever made it past the first couple pens because . . . BABY GOATS! To be fair, I think at various times all 3 girls DID walk around the rest of the pens, but rather quickly gravitated back to the baby goats because . . . they're babies, and they were friendly! The only challenge was keeping the big goats from butting them out of the way.

When we did walk around the rest of the pens, there was a turkey OUTSIDE the turkey pen. I asked Ashlyn to run inside and let them know that it was out. But they told her it's actually a WILD turkey that has been hanging around, trying to get in to their turkeys. How funny is that!

Otherwise, a pretty quiet couple of weeks. Little Bit rediscovered her magnatiles and has spent countless hours building "cages" for her plastic animals with the magnatiles.

The library reading program, though the prizes this year are . . . very disappointing (last year the raffle options included a science kit that had a microscope, etc. This year the raffle options are . . . not educational) Whereas last year the "token" prizes were lots of stickers and such that Little Bit, at least, enjoyed. This year everything is superhero themed. An "I like to read" sticker seems alot more, not only appropriate for a library, but also gender neutral/wide appeal than a spider man eraser. However . . . despite grumbling actual prizes, the girls are still having fun writing down the books we read.

So we're having a quiet, nice, unexciting summer . . . it's a good thing :)

Wrapping up the Last Two Weeks

I have no excuse for not posting last week. We weren't even that busy, just doing normal everyday stuff, but somehow it didn't happen, sigh . . . 

Then again, nothing much was happening so it wouldn't have been a very exciting blog post anyway LOL.

Ashlyn's been busy with her garden. If all the pepper and tomato plants survive, we'll be doing a LOT of canning and freezing LOL.

Our neighbor got some bamboo to use as stakes in her garden, and handed over the leafy tops to all the kids to build a "fort".  It took them 2 afternoons, but they got it built, and seemed to have fun doing it :) 

Corn came in at our local farm stand, so we've been happily eating corn every chance we get, yum!! The first day I brought home 13 ears (the farm stand sells it in  a "baker's dozen") and the girls told me I should have gotten more LOL.  That day the farmer also had some bananas he'd gotten from somewhere and wasn't sure what to do with, so we happily brought home a box full, chopped them up, and put 2 FULL gallon bagfuls in the freezer for "ice cream", yum!

Lexie's been reading the Bobsey Twins books to Little Bit (and Ashlyn's listening in). They think it's pretty fun that the twins in the books are 6 (Little Bit's age) and 12 (Lexie and Ashlyn's age) respectively. And that the description of 6 year old Flossie sounds an awful lot like Little Bit :)

A couple months ago I reserved the library's museum pass, which normally is available very quickly. For whatever reason there was a HUGE waiting list this time, so I FINALLY got it this week. We'd actually reserved it planning to go to an exhibit that was here in May, and is now gone, but since we had it, we decided to go ahead and go. They had a pretty cool art exhibit for kids that let the kids go "inside" the paintings in various ways. Little Bit had fun there for awhile.

Then Ashlyn suggested that we check out another temporary exhibit called "Maker Space" with no description as to what it was. Turns out it was citiblocks! With pictures of suggested things to build. Ashlyn decided to make the 200 block ship that was pictured, so we ended up being there a LONG time. Lexie was an awesome big sister and built with Little Bit, and built "houses" for Little Bit to use with her little animals, while we waited for Ashlyn to finish her ship.

It WAS pretty cool when it was finished!

We finished our week with Independence Day. We had potluck after church and the kids all had fun playing for awhile after that. Then that afternoon a friend texted and invited us over to cook out and do some fireworks so we went over there for the evening. We had a great time! Yummy food, lots of talking, and Little Bit got a turn at being the "big kid" since their kids are 4 & 2. The 2 year old really latched onto her and was dragging her around the yard showing her things. She's been saying for years that she wants a little brother, so she was more than happy to play the big sister. And then, to add to the fun, Mr. Jeff took them for rides in the wheelbarrow. If the delighted squeals and laughter was any indication it was the most fun ever! Once it got dark, we had more fun with sparklers and some firecrackers :)