Latest Happenings and Some Pics

Well Spring has finally sprung around here and life continues to be busy. Last weekend Kris was out of town to a conference in Grand Rapids. I took the girls to Cadillac last Sat. for Emma's Sparks-a-rama games that she was in. It was a gorgeous day, over 70 degrees! The team played well in the AWANA games and got 3rd place.

This weekend I will be the one gone. Our church's ladies retreat with Beth Lynch starts tomorrow and goes through Sat. I am looking forward to it. Unfortunately I will miss Emma playing in her first soccer game of the season. Speaking of her playing soccer. . . . She went to her first practice, and when the coach gathered all the girls together, Emma asked to say something. She told all of them that she wants them all to know Jesus and that Jesus is just so wonderful. The coach said, "Well we need to get started now," and I guess Emma asked, "Well you all want to go to Heaven don't you?" After she finished running laps (with the team, not for trying to witness ;-) ) She asked the coach if she could say something at the end of practice. He said she could if there was time. She informed us there wasn't time. Well, Kris had her at the practice but didn't know anything about this. It all came up when Emma said to me at breakfast the next morning, "Mamma, I told everyone on my team about Jesus yesterday!" I pray she will always have the desire for people around her to know Jesus and just how wonderful He really is! We will work with her on appropriateness and all, but really, how awesome is it that she had no reservations to tell others of our Lord?!? Due to rain today, practice was canceled, but they may meet tomorrow. Pray for opportunities we will have with the coach, families, and Emma this season.

Today Olivia took a nap. I don't know if she was extra tired because of it being a rainy day or what, but I tried waking her up when I realized it was after 5 PM. I walked in her room and saw her bundled up and looking angelic. I went to grab the camera, and then Emma came with me into Olivia's room. The same expression Olivia had when I first saw her was gone because she was "coming to," but I still got a sweet shot. The sweeter ones were when Emma asked if she could try waking Olivia up. Having the camera in my hand, I couldn't resist snapping a couple more pics. :-)

April Showers?

Well, I thought that little poem about April showers was referring to rain, not SNOW!!! Where did Spring go? I went to the school to work on the musical at 2 PM today. Snow had just started falling and wasn't even dusting anything. These pictures were taken around 5:30 PM when I got home. This is heavy wet snow too. We are supposed to be under an advisory until 2 AM. It will all melt soon though. I heard tomorrow is supposed to reach 41 degrees.

Here is the only Spring we have been seeing lately. :-) My friend makes these overalls and others like them for different holidays. Her daughter is a year older than Olivia, and she wore them last year. We have the privilege of having them loaned to us now. I just love them!

Snowy Easter?

Ah, yes, a snowy Easter it was. My husband looked out the window while we were getting ready for church, and he broke out into song:

"I'm dreaming of a white Easter, just like the ones I never knew. . . ."

In all serious though, it was a wonderful Easter celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. We needed to be at church early for me to rehearse with the children's choir. Probably the largest number of children sang yesterday than we have ever had. To watch and hear them sing "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" was very powerful and such a blessing. I had opportunity these last several weeks to teach the kids about what it means, or can mean, for us when we sing things like "But the pains which He endured, our salvation hath procured." It was so awesome to get them to talk about what that means to them and how the truth of Christ's suffering should change how we live our lives. God is so good, and I just long for these children to know Him and not just sing pretty songs to make their parents and others go "Awwww, how sweet!" We've claimed Col. 3:16 as our verse in King's Kids, and we talk about how they as children can be little ministers with a wonderful opportunity and responsibility to point others to God through song. By God's grace, they did a great job doing just that yesterday--praise the Lord!

We had our annual Easter breakfast as a church (instead of Sunday School) before the morning worship service. What a joy to celebrate what God has done and to be reminded that we come together every Sunday because Christ is risen! After the service we had a good time with three other families for Easter dinner. We went to the Singletary's home and enjoyed amazing food and fellowship. The husbands all went out to the front yard and hid a lot of Easter eggs for the kids, and the hunt was on. It was hilarious trying to get everyone's coats on and people out the door. It was freezing out there. I had not brought clothes for the girls to change into. Thankfully I had sweaters for them to wear with their dresses yesterday. We also had closed white shoes they could wear tights with to stay warm. Anyway, they had a blast! You can see the pictures below with the little bit of snow on the ground where they are picking up Easter eggs. Ha ha

Last night we had our Easter musical, and, thank the Lord, it all went very well. We had a multi-media type presentation on our big screen that played behind the choir. Clips of scenes from "Jesus" movies and religious art were used as we sang about Christ's last supper with his disciples, the garden, His suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection. We had one character on stage who portrayed Luke writing his gospel. The music and everything together was very powerful! I was once again greatly moved by what Jesus went through for me. When we came home, we decided to watch The Passion of the Christ, which Kris and I had never seen yet. I was moved even more after that. As Kris said this morning before he left for work, "Let's live today in light of the cross!" May that always be our prayer. Well, I hope you all had a blessed Easter as well, and that you too are excited about living for our Lord.

Olivia's Haircut

Well, it's happened. I thought only my first child would cut her own hair. No, Olivia has followed in Emma's footsteps. Her hair was one length all around her head until yesterday. . . .

Emma and I had scrapbooking stuff out on the dining room table recently, and Olivia wanted something to do. I gave her "kid scissors", construction paper, and some glue. She had fun making her own artwork, but Emma and I both were trying to help her hold her scissors better. Emma just happened to say, "Hey, Mom, remember when I cut Olivia's hair when she was a baby?" Of course I was just thrilled that she brought that up, and I said, "Uh, yes, and what happened when you did that?" We discussed the situation, and then Emma went on to inform her sister of how she also cut her own hair. I then made it clear that there were consequences to that incident as well. Thinking I should further discuss this topic, so that Olivia would never try this herself, I told her that we never ever cut anything but the paper Mommy gives her. "We don't cut anything else, especially not our hair," I informed her. I also asked her who does cut her hair, and she answered, "Miss Nikki does!" "That's right! Not even Mommy cuts your hair, because I want you to look pretty, and I don't know how to cut your hair well," I said.

I thought that was a good conversation, and she understood well. I had no fear that she would ever cut her hair. Hah! As my much wiser husband helped me remember, upon my being soooo shocked that Olivia would do this after just having the conversation a few days before, our human nature is to test out and/or try what we've just been told not to do. Hello??? I know this, have lived it, seen it in other areas with both my kids. . . .

Thankfully it was not any worse--it certainly could have been! I am grateful too that she did not cut her ear, as these scissors are rounded but not guarded like some. I was so glad that Miss Nikki could get us in that morning, and she was able to figure out a cute new look for Olivia. I sure am going to miss the pony tails for a while, but I do think her hair looks cute. Whew! It's just hair and it grows, right?

It's funny really, God has been allowing a lot of my plans/desires to be changed lately. Of course what happened yesterday was not something I wanted. I had just let Olivia get down from breakfast and was finishing mine when the haircut took place. We were going to get ready and head to Saginaw for the day. Well, that didn't happen. I found out later that what I thought I needed to get in Saginaw actually was taken care of, and it would've been a wasted trip anyway. :-) One of the things I have been studying in the Bible is I Peter, and I had just read in chapter 3 last week about a gentle and quiet spirit being precious in God's sight. I was convicted and told the Lord I needed to work in this area. I've struggled with this when it comes to the girls and trying to get places we need to be on time and things aren't going well--their being slow, juice spilling right before we leave, having to deal with a problem between them, etc. My reactions have not always been precious in God's sight, and I certainly am not being the right example and teacher to them if I raise my voice and act out of frustration. I definitely see that I have been given opportunities to practice recently, and I thank God that it is by His grace I can react rightly to undesirable circumstances. God has helped me to catch myself, like yesterday. May we moms seek to have a true beauty that comes from the heart, and may God see something precious in us as we live out our lives. It may not always be easy to speak calmly and lovingly when our kids do certain things, but Philipians 4 reminds us that we can do all things through Christ. And oh, don't we long for them to know Him!

Home with Olivia

Well, Olivia has croupe again. Poor girl! She had an acute case of it in the fall, along with the beginnings of pneumonia. She had a mild case of it just a few weeks ago, but now it is bad again. I had to take her to the doctor yesterday morning, and she ended up with two shots--one in the top of each leg. She didn't even cry! She was so brave and a tough little cookie. :-) I was so proud of her. Two nights ago she was up 3 times struggling with that barky cough and trouble breathing, and then last night she was up 1 time. The doctor said that the cortisone they injected her with should really take effect today. I pray she is able to rest well tonight.

I got the slideshow done of Emma's field trip. Here it is:

1/4 of 2007

How can it already be going on the end of March? Almost a quarter of this year is done! I am so glad that this week is Spring Break. We aren't even going anywhere, but I am just so excited to have a break and spend time together as a family. The weather is changing, and I see my tulips popping up through the ground. People in MI are coming out of hibernation and getting on their bikes, taking walks, etc. It's great!

I have been busy with the normal routine of home and teaching. One exciting new thing that started is Camerata singers with Music Society. We had our first rehearsal on Mon. night, and it was so awesome! I didn't know whether to be super excited or scared out of my mind. It was a little of both really. The music is so difficult but amazing. You really have to be on your toes. It's intense rehearsing. The only time I remember doing this level of choral singing was with the BJU Chorale, especially when preparing to go to the 1996 World Choral Festival in Korea. Well the Camerata Singers are a group of approx. 25 members. I auditioned last month for the only lady's part available--one 2nd soprano opening. What an honor to be part of this group! We have a concert in June and some of the same repertoire a few times throughout the '07/'08 concert season. Another fun thing I get to do in May is sing the National Anthem at our new minor league baseball team's game. The Great Lakes Loons begins playing next month. Lance Parrish is coaching the team! As a kid, I had a crush on him when he was a Detroit Tiger baseball player. Ha ha The Camerata Singers have also been chosen to sing at a game in August.

I have had fun with Emma's first grade class, going to two field trips recently. Olivia has been able to come with me too. We went to Dow Gardens' Butterly House and also to a local fire station. I will add a slide show of the butterfly one, but I forgot my camera when we went to the firestation. :-(

Okay, have you heard that facebook.com is all the rage? Several of you have encouraged me to check it out. I know I procrastinated for quite some time, as I have with blogging as well, but I finally signed up today. It really is a neat place to connect with people, especially those you've lost track of over the years. Check it out sometime.

Well, we have made it through all of the MACS Fine Arts competitions. The high school one was held at our facilities and was a big undertaking. It went very well. I judged Female Vocal Solo, and Kris conducted his groups and visited around to see our students perform in other areas. Kris' choir and ensemble both placed 3rd for Sr. High. He's awesome! :-) I had a voice student get 2nd place in the state and was soooo excited for him! This is his senior year and has been a big deal. Our band won first, and we had several other awards for our school. Jr. High MACS was today down in Troy. I am not sure how we did. Kris went down to judge a couple of categories. I was supposed to go and judge girls solos again, but I got hit with some intestinal bug yesterday--not fun. :-( I feel a bit better though, so I am glad for that.

Hopefully I will be blogging more. We'll see. . . .

February Fun Times

Well, it has been a busy but fun month this February. Today, in fact, has been no exception. We had a snow day, so outside we went to play in the white stuff. Surprisingly enough, we did not have more than 4 or 5 inches of new snow. We were expecting at least 8 inches in our area. They closed schools because the snow was wet and heavy coming down yesterday, and it was mixed with sleet. It made quite a mess of the roads. The trucks weren't out until late yesterday clearing what had fallen most of the day. We had a bit more overnight, but I am really surprised there was no school. Sleeping in is quite nice though! The girls and I headed outside to play. Emma started a snowman on her own. The snow was perfect, and it wasn't that cold outside. I helped Emma get the base done, but we were sure glad Daddy came home to help finish, since the snow was heavy. Here are some pictures:






Other fun this month has included:

*Emma's playing at our school's Friendship Banquet.



*My continuing Bible study on the book of I Peter. We have a great group of ladies meeting each week who are excited about studying God's Word, praying together, and enjoying true fellowship.

*Kris having opportunities to lead a 4-week study on the goodness of God in our Sunday evening Prime Time.

*My working with the children's choir and seeing them grow and develop with their voices but spiritually as well.

*Olivia learning her letters and telling us "P" is for peanuts and letting everyone know that peanuts grow under the dirt--very exciting to her! :-)

*Of course you already know my thoughts on Valentine's Day :-)

*This weekend I was able to be in a concert featuring selections from various Broadway musicals. My director was sensitive to my convictions in not being in part of the concert that just the chorale was doing. He let me sit on the end and leave the stage for that selection. God is giving me opportunities to be vocal about my beliefs. PTL! Doug LaBrecque (a former Phantom and many other characters) was our featured artist, and he brought in Diane Penning to sing with him. Long story short, my conductor requested that they listen to ME sing before they left (AAAHHHHH), and I was able to have a private audience with each of them at seperate times. They were wonderful and very encouraging to me. I was even offered to have a couple of lessons with Doug LaBrecque when he comes back to vacation in MI this summer (he is from MI and a U of M grad). Wow--they are both just amazing, and I am so thankful for the opportunities I had with them.

Fun Week

Well, I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. While some of you have stated that you think the holiday is silly, when we should be celebrating our relationships all year long, I do have to say that I love special days like Valentine's. :-) It's great to have different opinions. It keeps life more interesting. Ha ha I do agree that love should be celebrated and cherished all the time, and I sure do like to be surprised and romanced unexpectedly, but I do make a big deal out of these special days during the year. Even Sweetest's Day (if you're from the North, you know what I mean) has been an important one to me. I just grew up watching my dad going overboard at these times, and I thought it was awesome. Guess it has stuck with me. :-) I am a hopeless romantic like my dad. Look what he did for my mom recently when they had a little wintry weather:



She didn't know he was outside "drawing" this message with his feet. He took her upstairs and told her to look out the window. I think that's pretty cool. No pun intended. :-) I also found out that for Valentine's Day, he stopped by their church on his way to work, and went to my mom's Bible study table that she would be at that morning. He left quite the display: Huge balloon, roses, a big chocolate "I Love You," and a card. He also got on the local talk radio station that was asking people to call in with special Valentine's stories or messages, and he proclaimed His love for her their too.

Okay, so anyway, in case you couldn't tell, I love all that kind of stuff, but I must say that I am so thankful for a husband that never lets me forget that he loves me and makes our relationship special all the time. We got to sing together ("All I Ask of You" from Phantom of the Opera and "O Wondrous Love" about God's love for us) on Valentine's Day for a women's Christian organization that was meeting at the Midland Country Club. That was fun but a bit awkward for Kris. ha ha Later that day, he brought me flowers and surprised me with one of the Willow Tree figures that I am collecting. It's the couple called "Together." I was so excited to add it to my collection. He found a really special card for me, and this weekend we went to a Japanese steakhouse that we love and had a great time! I surprised him with a professionally done picture of me and the girls I had done in Dec. I framed it for his office. Well, I hope you all had fun celebrating with your significant others and even your kids. Ours had parties at school and AWANA, so we have plenty of candy around that I need to stay away from! Don't forget to tell and show the people in your life how much you love and care for them everyday.

The Frozen North

Yes, it is COLD here in Michigan. When Kris left to take Emma to school this morning, the real temp was -5 with a wind chill of -20! Schools all over the state have closed. Midland didn't get the memo. We follow what the public schools do, so we have had school these last two days while most other surrounding counties have not. I was surprised anyway that they would close the schools for it being cold in MI, but I guess with kids walking and taking the bus, it can be really dangerous. We are staying indoors as much as possible, to say the least!

Here are some pics of Kris being silly over the weekend. We had quite a bit of ice outside hanging down around the house as you can see:


Pan pipes


Ice Oozie


Queen of Narnia

Yes, he keeps life fun and exciting!!!

It's Been A While

Okay, so life has just been a little crazy. I have heard from some of you that you wondered if I was ever going to get to my blog again. :-) Well, I am back. Unfortunately, we had a lot of sickness at the beginning of the year here. It actually started with Olivia while in SC. I got something when we came home that lasted for almost two weeks, and then poor little Emma got it worst of all this past week. She has never had something wipe her out like that in her life. Two Sundays ago I took her to Urgent Care in the morning and found out she had acute bronchitis that just came on pretty suddenly the day before. We got her on an antibiotic, but her fevers were still going over 103 degrees at times. She would hardly eat anything either. She had to have lost a bit of weight last week. Finally her fevers were gone after a few days, but her cough seemed worse. :-( We were up every night from Sat. until this past Fri. night with her during these "episodes." Thankfully they realized she was probably having reactionary asthma with this and put her on an inhaler and then a prescription cough med. with Codine. That started to help better than anything over the counter. This past Sat. night, she finally didn't need any meds of any kind and slept well all night. Yesterday she was finally able to go out for church and do well. Praise the Lord! She missed a whole week of school last week, but Kris kept bringing papers home from her teacher, and we got them done here. Whew! I am so glad she is feeling better. I must say, although it was hard to see her so miserable last week, I had some really precious times with her. I haven't held her like that (all curled up on me for long periods of time) or had so much snuggle time every day since she was itty bitty. I'll take those moments!

I've been reminded a lot about life and it's tough times but how we have an amazing God, Who is always doing things for our good and working to conform us to His image. These sicknesses we've had are just little bumps in the road, nuisances really. In the past month I have had a friend lose a baby in her second trimester, had my friend, Laura, who I have requested prayer for in the loss of her daughter, Lindsey, lose her father to cancer just two weeks ago (it was found just before Thanksgiving and just weeks after Lindsey died), had my Aunt Carolyn struggling while going through chemo out in AZ, heard recently of other extended family members in and out of the hospital, and been reminded of how much we miss Kris' mom. His sister, Karmen did a tribute to her on her blog. On Jan. 30, Mom would have been 64 yrs. old. She died just five days before her birthday seven yrs. ago.

Kris just got a book by John Piper in the mail. It is entitled When the Darkness Will Not Lift. On the back of the book it says, "It is utterly crucial that in our darkness we affirm the wise, strong hand of God to hold us, even when we have no strength to hold Him." I have gone through most of the book. He addresses Psalm 40 in the beginning as well as Psalm 30:5. So many other passages of scripture are given in the book to remind us that it is not in us to be able to make it through the struggle. We have to look to God and trust Him with no reservations. I definitely recommend the book. I also have been encouraged in reading the book of I Peter lately. Talk about reading of struggles. Again, the answer is God! A song that has gone through my head regularly through all of this in the last month is "By the Gentle Waters" by Cindy Berry. I guess it is against copyright to put the words on here, and I can't seem to get a link for you on the internet, but it is based on Psalm 23 and has been a favorite of Kris' and mine to sing together. It talks of God's leading us through life, whether it be calm or "rough and rugged," the rest that God gives us and will offer even if we've gone astray and will turn back to Him, His leading "til I'm safely home," etc. I am so glad we serve the God of all comfort as II Cor. 1 states and that His grace is sufficient as found later in II Cor. 12:9.

Well, these are some of the thoughts that have most been on my mind lately. I have much more I'd like to post about, so we'll see what I can get to.

Flat Stanley

Well, a most interesting thing happened yesterday. A package came for Emma and Olivia. It had a paper doll, a notebook, and a letter inside. We noticed that it had been sent from our good friends, the Spauldings, and had actually been to several different homes before theirs. Some children in Tennessee are part of a homeschool geography club, and they recently read a funny book called Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. They explained the story in the letter and told how they were making flat dolls of their own and sending them off to see the world. They sent the package first to some friends and asked their friends to send it all on to another family. The plan is that the doll and everything keeps getting sent to another family, hopefully in a different state or part of the world, every one to two weeks. The kids are keeping track of the progress of their dolls by those who receive them sending e-mails and information about their part of the world. The kids then can study about the area that their dolls are traveling to each week or so. Neat idea, huh? The doll has been to Detroit, Kentucky, Chicago, South Carolina, St. Louis, and now Midland. Anyway, our girls are excited to be a "host family." We took a picture of them with the doll today (right after Olivia's nap) :-) and e-mailed the family who made it. We also sent them pictures of our current weather conditions. It has been snowing heavily this afternoon and is only 25 degrees--BRRRR!!! It is beautiful though. Here are the same pictures for you to see:

Snow Day!

Yesterday, we woke up to a lot of snow and a day off for Emma! Kris went ahead and made a decision to switch his day off too so that we could enjoy the day in the snow with the girls. Of course, he also couldn't go anywhere for a while, seeing that we had a lot of snow in the driveway, and the roads had not been cleared yet. We had contemplated getting a snowblower a while back, but even the little ones cost into the hundreds of dollars. Well, our neighbors happen to put one out on their driveway the week before Christmas with a $25 sign next to it. Kris saw it, talked to the neighbor, and now we have a snowblower, and he is not breaking his back. Praise the Lord! He had lots of snow to blow yesterday. After lunch we took the girls to the school to go sledding on a good size hill at the playground. The pictures above are of the fun that they had there with a couple of friends. After being there for a bit, we decided to go check out a place called City Forest that we had heard much about. It is one of the parks around here that has trails and lots of outdoor activities throughout the year. They have a huge hill, and it was the happening place yesterday. We stayed for a good while and had a lot of fun. No pics of that though. We ended the adventure by having popcorn and hot chocolate when we got home. Needless to say, winter finally has come, and everyone is having fun. This morning we woke up just to a couple of more inches, so school and work were back on. Here is what our deck looked like earlier today:

More Christmas with Family

My parents got back to SC after we had been there a few days at Sarah's already. I was very excited that they brought my Grandma back from FL. I miss not seeing her more. We had another Christmas celebration with them on Thursday after Christmas. My girls probably thought Christmas was never going to end. Ha ha They opened some little things from my parents early in the day, and then the bigger things that evening when we all could be together. Again, I didn't get a lot of pictures of everyone with our camera because of the problems we had. Sarah will probably be posting more on her site though. There you will see great pics of my nephew, Jonas. Boy do I miss him! It was such a great trip, and we were able to see so many people we love. One of the neatest things we were able to do that week was get a four-generation picture done while my Grandma was there. Precious memories. . . .

Christmas in South Carolina and Georgia

Well, our camera wasn't working too well on Christmas day (long story), so I got all of two pics of the girls. One is of them getting the Little Mermaid movie from Sarah, and the other is of them with Jonas at my sister's inlaws. We had a great Christmas dinner with them that night. I will get other pics of us at Sarah's when she can e-mail them to me. The day after Christmas we went down to the Atlanta area and spent some time with Kris' brother, Kurt, and his family. Of course we only got pics of the kids and didn't think to get any of the adults together. ha ha We had a great time! Unfortunately, Olivia came down with a cold or something and felt pretty miserable. You can see it in her attempt to smile in the pics. Last month when I had the privilege of talking with Jodi Benson over our concert weekend, it came up that our family would be heading South. She recently moved to the Atlanta area, and in our conversation about going to see Kurt and where he lived, she graciously invited us to come see her and meet her family. We left Kurt and LaDean's and went to visit with the Benson's before heading back to S.C. The kids all "hit it off" and had a wonderful time together. What a blessing they were too as Christians! It was really special. Pray God uses them to be salt and light, as Jodi has said and desires.

Our Christmas before Christmas

Before we left and headed South to visit family and friends for the holidays, we celebrated Christmas with the girls at home. Kris read the Christmas story from his Bible and prayed with us. We reminded the girls of God's amazing love and His greatest gift of all in sending Jesus for us. Then we shared why we give Christmas gifts to one another. It was a special time. We let the girls look at all the name tags on the gifts and make a pile for each person. It was fun taking turns opening all the treasures and seeing excitement on each others' faces. I have put a few pics together of the special time we had. Oh, and the funny thing is, we almost forgot to go see Santa. We did that AFTER the girls opened their gifts. Ha ha They told Santa what they already got and hoped to get in S.C. Of course, they know it is all pretend and just for fun. Our school administrator and his wife put on quite a show at their house. They dress up as Santa and Mrs. Clause and have a whole week of people visiting in the evenings. It was a fun way to end our day.

Concert with Jodi Benson

You may not recognize the name Jodi Benson right away, but if I asked you if you have seen The Little Mermaid, Toy Story II, Flubber with Robin Williams, Thumbelina, or a number of Broadway shows, you would recognize her voice. We were privileged to have her come to the Center for the Arts here in Midland and sing in the Christmas concert. The first half of the show featured all of the musical groups in Midland, including the Chorale, of which I am a part. I made my "debut" (Ha ha) by singing a short solo, accompanied by harp, during our performance of Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols. Thankfully, it went very well! After our part and other groups performed, we had an intermission (or as Emma has called it, "interception"--probably because of her football dad :-) ), and then Jodi Benson came out for the second half singing, "Part of Your World" and then many other Christmas songs. We ended the concert with her singing, "Let There Be Peace on Earth" and "O Holy Night." It was amazing! Jodi and I had an opportunity to talk for quite awhile on Fri. night at the dress rehearsal. I had gone into the green room when Chorale had a bit of a break, and Jodi came out of her dressing room. I wanted to welcome her to Midland and let her know that I had found out she was a Christian, and I would be praying for her that weekend. She had arrived in Midland without her luggage arriving at the airport with her. :-( Long story short, God gave us a wonderful time of talking about Him, our families, etc. I was so encouraged by her testimony, genuineness, and friendliness. She said I could bring the girls back before Sat. night's show to get a picture and have their books signed. We were able to do that, and again, Jodi was gracious, taking time to talk to the girls, and let us hang out for more than a minute in her dressing room. I was trying to be sure both Fri. night and Sat. that I was sensitive of her time, and mentioned something both times. She was so laid back and real, for lack of a better word, and said she didn't mind at all and enjoyed the time to chat. Well, the real kicker was her calling out to my girls during the performance! She asked where they were and waved to them, talked about their time together before the show, and was very kind to me in referring to my solo. To say the least, we were on a high that night. I had other opportunities to talk with Jodi briefly the next day before and after our performance. She was so wonderful on stage too, talking about not caring if she is politically correct about saying/not saying, "Merry Christmas." She made no bones about it that her faith is in Jesus and she is celebrating His birth. It was just a wonderful weekend, and again, I am so ecouraged and thankful for the kind of woman she is in the entertainment world!

Many Fun Events Lately

We certainly were busy in the last month, but we have had a lot of fun. We took the girls to see A Year With Frog and Toad. This was Olivia's first theatre experience, and she did just great. It was in the little theatre, and I think that was perfect for the girls. They were both mesmerized by the costumes, music, etc. What a fun show! We had the Sunday School Christmas program a couple of weeks ago, so I have included pics of both of the girls in their groups. Kris was trying to video and get still shots as I was leading the music for the kids. That was a bit difficult. :-) Emma played her violin for an audience for the first time last week. She did so well. She has been taking violin lessons since the start of this school year. She and the other two beginners were featured together first. They played "Jingle Bells." Kris took the girls to another concert that I will be posting about seperately. Last week was Kris' school program, our church Christmas cantata, and my two concerts at the Midland Center for the Arts. Yes, we were crazy! Every night was either a rehearsal, performance, or something going on. I am very much enjoying catching up on things at home this week. It was crazy, but thank the Lord, everything went well and was lots of fun.

Merry Christmas

Emma's Birthday Party

The Birthday Girl