Courtship Interviews

Ross and I had an amazing opportunity to participate in a documentary that it currently being filmed about courtship! I won't give you all of the back story, because it's not particularly interesting, but in summery, Ross was put in contact with this family (the Wrights) by one of his other friends in the area, and when they found out about Ross's views on courtship, told him that they were in a documentary that was being made about courtship, and asked if he'd like to come over for a visit and be interviewed for it! Well it just so happened that around this time, I came out to Michigan, so I got to come along and participate.

I was expecting to be interviewed by the producer, and have my responses video taped. But what actually happened was that as Ross and I walked in the front door, and they all greeted us, off to the side, hiding in the shadows, was the camera man filming us. I immediately realized that this wasn't going to me an interview driven documentary, but more of a reality TV style, where it looks like all the people aren't even aware that there is a camera in the house. So after I saw the camera, I did my best not to look at it, even though it was a really nice camera. Throughout dinner, and the conversation afterwards, the camera was floating around us, sometimes close up, sometimes off in the corners. It took a little bit of focus at the beginning to act normal, and resist the temptation to look at the camera, but after a little while, it wasn't such a distraction, and the conversation flowed naturally.

Now before I go any farther, you all would probably like to know who this mysterious family is that we were visiting. They look like a pretty normal homeschooling family on the outside, but on the inside, they're much more! It became apparent after just a short time that they all love each other so much, and they have so much fun together. They laugh and joke together, often telling us interesting (and occasionally embarrassing) stories about the different members of the family, as well as deep, heart touching stories about they're life, how Mr. and Mrs. Wright met, the trials they'd had in they're marriage, and how they got saved. They have a website called "Before the Kiss" which is a compilation of books and recourses on courtship! They have two daughters, as well as a 'somewhat' adopted daughter. (I say 'somewhat' because her parents are still living,but in another state). Read their story on they're website here:

http://www.beforethekiss.com/about.html

So for most of the filming we sat around the dinner table, eating a delicious meal, and talking about home churches and courtship. They're working on starting a home group, so we talked for awhile about our experiences with our home church, it's strong points, and it's weak points, and then we moved onto courtship. It was mostly an ongoing dialog between all of us, rather then them simply asking questions, and us answering them. It was a great time. The producer and camera man left at about 11pm, but we kept talking until about 1am. Ross had originally planned on driving back home that night (about 2 1/2 hours), but he decided that it was a little late for that, so he asked if we could sleep on the floor and leave in the morning. They said that would be fine, so we got to spend the night. Ross was planning on being out the door by eight the next morning, but after they got up, we started chatting again, and then they made breakfast (eggs and hand made sausage), and we kept talking until we finally left a little behind schedule, about noon.

I am really looking forward to going back to visit them some time soon, they're such a great family to be around!

~Paul

P.S.

The Producer is about 6 months into this project, and she said that ones of this length usually take about three years. So I'll keep you updated.