Another program done!

Here's the short version of our weekend. On Saturday morning I helped set up the stage at church for our Christmas program, went to school to pull costumes, came home and started our laundry, went back to church for a 4:00 to 6:00 rehearsal, came home to prepare Sunday morning's music, kept doing laundry, bathed Destiny, etc. This morning we went to church, stayed there for lunch, had a 12:30 to 2:00 rehearsal, went home for a nap, went back to church, and presented our Christmas program, The Mystery of the Manger, took Destiny home, came home, and looked through the many pictures someone took with my camera.

The wind is howling like crazy outside. This entire weekend the weather was a huge question mark looming over our heads. We got some freezing rain overnight last night, but the roads weren't bad in this area this morning. A little further north in Lebanon County lots of people lost electricity and roads were closed. On our way home tonight there was snow falling. Boy, it can fall all it wants now. I'm ready to just stay home and get some work done around here. Oh that's right, I still have school all week, and I didn't do all the normal Christmas stuff that everyone else has already finished doing. Oh well, there's still next weekend!

Here are a few pictures from this evening. It went GREAT!!! We are a very small church with a LOT of talent and a lot of willing hearts. I'm too tired to express all that's filling my heart tonight. But let me say this: when you sit and watch teenagers, whom you've known since infancy, or whom you've had as students, take ownership and leadership in a project like this, it brings the deepest satisfaction to a 56-year-old director. And when you're working with a choir of only 20 children and well over half of them are solo material, that brings a lot of satisfaction to her as well.

Tomorrow I will post the rest of the pictures to my web album. I know those who were in the musical will be wanting to see more pictures!

Pictures from my school Christmas program

The instrumental ensemble provided prelude music. Pictured on the floor are the girls who played glockenspiels, and Josh who played the drum, on the stage are Alyssa with her violin, Jordan with trumpet, Keiley and Sam with saxophones, and Kevin with trombone.

The next three pictures are ones I took from someone else's website. They were taken in the afternoon program. Here are the other half of the ensemble - myself at the piano, Gina on the keyboard, and Mitchell, Josh, and Peter with their guitars.

A closer look at Carly, Laura, Karlee, and Tia with their glockenspiels.

Mass Chorus (all the students together).

First and second grade bell choir also provided prelude music.

Mass Chorus (the entire student body) opened the program with several praise and worship songs.

Primary Chorus (grades K, 1, & 2)

Intermediate Chorus (grades 3,4, & 5)

Middle School Chorus (grades 6, 7, & 8) presented The Gift.

Marcus, a Roman tax collector, and the religious innkeeper were the main characters. They both did an absolutely outstanding job.

In the last scene the innkeeper walked away from the manger in doubt and disbelief, while Marcus knelt down and worshiped. It was a truly reverent, emotional moment.

One down, one to go

The afternoon program went great, and now I'm at home soaking my poor, aching feet.

As usual, Dick took the day off from work to run my sound. After the program he went to Lancaster to pick up Destiny. This evening will be the first time she'll see her former classmates. I have a feeling it will be really hard for her to be part of the audience instead of on stage. (Remember the pictures I posted from my programs last year of her singing with her mouth wide open like mine?!!) But neither did I want her to miss the program and then see my pictures of it afterward.

Well, I gotta go dry my feet and beautify myself for the evening program.

As ready as we can be

Tomorrow is the big day. We had to adjust our last rehearsal today because of early dismissal (weather). But I think everything and everyone is as ready as they can be.

We were possibly going to have freezing rain today, thus the early closing. But the temps did not go as low as expected, so all we got was rain. I feel sorry for another local Christian school music teacher. Her program was to have been this evening, but was postponed because of the potential ice, which never came.

They're talking about another possible storm for Saturday night and Sunday, just in time for my program at church. We shall see.

Another must-see

This morning I told you readers to go to Lisa's blog to watch a video she had posted last week of Sophie telling George a story. Now today she posted another video that is really a must-see, especially the last half - Sophie's various renditions of Happy Birthday to Daddy.

Happy Birthday, George!

Happy Birthday to our son-in-law George, Lisa's husband, Sophie's dad. If you haven't been properly introduced to him before, please read the things I've written previous years by going to the labels on my sidebar, and click on George. And if you want to hear what a great dad he really is, go to Lisa's blog and watch the video of Sophie telling him a story. He's a keeper, I'm telling you! Have a great day, George! We surely do love you.

Another long Tuesday

I guess Tuesdays are my long day. Last Tuesday I stayed at school until 9 to pull costumes. Today after school I drove about 15 miles north to Crown Magnetics in Lebanon to pick up the microphones I rented. From there I drove about 25 miles south to Ace Rents in Lancaster to pick up the follow spotlight I rented. (And, oh happy day, it was rainy and foggy during all this driving. But listening to good praise and worship music made the long drive so much better.)

Then I went back to school where Dick had already gone straight from work. I had a broccoli chicken casserole, which I had put together last evening, ready to bake in one of the school's ovens for our supper. We got all the mics hooked up and ready to use, set up the spotlight, and did some more work on the stage. We still need to go in early tomorrow morning to finish up some things we needed some tools for.

It's coming together. Now, Lord, please put your BLESSING on those mics and the PA system - a director's best friend and worst enemy.

And it's off to bed I go.

I'm fighting!

Yesterday and today I have been "fighting" the beginnings of a tickle in my throat and the stuffiness in my nose with my tried and true remedies. I have no medical expertise, only the experience of seldom ever having a cold and being able to fight them off in a day or two. I drink a LOT of really hot green tea, especially inhaling the steam as I sip. I suck on lots of Halls Defense Lozenges, the ones with zinc, vitamin C, and echinacea. I rub Vicks on my neck and chest before going to bed. I drink a lot of water too. I do absolutely feel better this evening than I did this morning. But I'll still take prayer! This is such a big week for me. And now I am going to go bed and get the sleep that is all important.

Really special Sunday

This morning Destiny and our pastor's granddaughter Kaity were baptized. As always, it was a great time of celebration. Our church family has been such a huge part of Destiny's life ever since she was an infant - three days old, actually! A sweet older lady named Hope came up to Destiny afterward and said that the Lord gave her Psalm 34:8 for Destiny. "Taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man (or child) who takes refuge in Him." That is more appropriate than Hope realized, I'm sure. (If you missed my story about Destiny's asking Jesus into her heart, go back to my October 21 post.)

After the morning service we had our monthly fellowship meal, followed immediately by Christmas program rehearsal. When we left to go home, it was raining, a COLD, damp rain. I could hardly wait to get home.

This afternoon Lisa attended Jeremy's performance in Scrooge, the Musical. She was not allowed to video it, as I had hoped. But when it got to Jeremy's song, Thank You Very Much, she called me and I got to hear it. Wow, what a voice! There will be an official video that I'll be able to get after next weekend. To read Lisa's emotional account of the experience go to her blog, tropicalmexican.

Jeremy gets a hug from big sister afterward. Awwww. I wanted to BE THERE!!!

We took Destiny home this evening, got some groceries, and now I'm heading into the big one. A week from tonight I will be crashing big time.

Baby Shower

Baby Shower!

Thirty-four years ago I was doing a lot of the same things in the month of December as I still am doing this year - preparing for a school Christmas program as well as a church Christmas program. However, there was one additional thing I was preparing for - our first baby! My due date was January 11, and I just hoped I would not have this baby a month early as my aunt Dorothy had just done the month before.

The practices for the youth Christmas program were held at our house. The dates that year were exactly the same as they are this year. We had a rehearsal on Tuesday evening, the 4th. It was decided that we needed more practice, so Friday evening seemed like the next available time. As the youth were eating and having fun I went around to everyone to remind them that we're having another practice at our house Friday evening. Little did I know that my sister-in-law was following me telling everyone, "DON'T come Friday evening. We're having a baby shower here for her!"

Friday evening came and I fully expected a houseful of teenagers again. To my total surprise, when the first knock at the door came, there on the porch were WOMEN and GIRLS - our mothers, sisters, church friends, etc. "SURPRISE!" they yelled! And I was. I loved it! Several years before, when a bridal shower had been planned for us, I had seen a note that I should not have seen, which gave away the surprise. So it was fun to be really, truly surprised this time.

As it turned out, there was no hurry to have that baby shower. Lisa wanted to stay in the confines of my womb for a LOOONG time. The church program came and went, my school program came and went, my sister Doris's wedding (Dec. 28) came and went, I had absolutely everything as ready as it could possibly be, my due date came and went, a couple more weeks came and went, and FINALLY a month after Christmas, on January 25th Lisa decided to make her grand entrance. She was probably in there thinking, "If I come out too soon, Mom's never going to have time to pay attention to my birthday. I'm going to wait a month so she'll always have time to recover from Christmas first!" Good thinking, Lisa!

My pictures from that era are really pathetic, but here is what I looked like at that baby shower on December 7th, 1973!

Back in the US!!

Well, I'm back from Afghanistan! For those of you who didn't read the comments on my previous post, I'll explain. I had done some changes to my profile and did not notice that I had inadvertently listed my location as Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Afghanistan! Lisa brought it to my attention and said she was amused by it, because right beside that was the picture I posted of the manger scene with the girls in head scarves!

We had some snow again today, I had a really good day of rehearsals, Dick was at home, sick with diarrhea and fever all day long, I went for Destiny after school, down in Florida Jeremy had an even better night of performing in Scrooge, the Musical, and now I am so sleepy I can't even hold my eyes open any longer. Goodnight!

You go, Jeremy!

Latest update: Jeremy just called and said the performance tonight went GREAT! He remembered all his lines and hit all his notes. His friends who were there said he was the best. He also said that he NEVER recovered so quickly! So thanks to all of you who prayed! There are two products he wants us to know about that he believes really worked - zinc spray, and especially oil of oregano from the health food store, something very potent that he put under his tongue.

I was reminded of a time many years ago when our band, The Freedom Singers, were planning a weekend tour. That week I came down with a dreadful sore throat and laryngitis. I remember how I lay on the couch the day before we left just crying to God for a miracle. Our pastor's wife at that time was very in tune with natural treatments and cures. She told me to put a clove of garlic in my mouth over night! I could not imagine, but I was SO desperate that I did it. That truly was the time I recovered overnight! I had a sore spot in my mouth where the garlic clove had been laying, but I could sing that weekend!

Jeremy has five or six more shows this weekend and next. I told Lisa I REALLY want her to take a video of his songs and put them on her blog for me. This is another thing that I would definitely be there for if it were not right before my Christmas programs. Have any of you ever seen Scrooge, the Musical? I need to rent the video so I can see the guy he's playing - Tom Jenkins.

Picture for the Merchandiser

This is the picture that will be in the local paper, the Merchandiser, next week. The reporter came to school today to snap this and to interview us for an article about our Christmas program. The kids in the picture are eighth graders who are in the cast of The Gift, a dramatic musical by Dennis and Nan Allen. It's obvious which ones play the part of Mary and Joseph. The girl in blue plays the part of the midwife (don't worry - we don't get to see her deliver the baby!!). The boy holding the lantern plays the part of the inn keeper who prides himself in knowing the scriptures and the prophecies, and he refuses to believe that this baby could be his promised Messiah. The one kneeling plays the Roman tax collector who is amazed as he comes into the presence of the baby King that even though he came to Bethlehem to take all he could get, he now wants to give everything he has. He sings the song "What Can I Give to the King?" as he kneels there. Wipe the tears already, folks.

And praise the Lord, I just called Jeremy a while ago and he is getting ready to go to the first performance of Scrooge, the Musical. He said his fever is gone, he can sing with no problem, but his head is still congested. I think the Lord transfered his fever to Dick. When Dick got up this morning he felt like everything he did took more energy than he had. He worked a few hours and came home to bed. Jeremy told him "Thanks!"

Snow pictures

This morning on the way to school I snapped pictures without looking to see what I was taking. I just held my camera up and snapped when I saw something that looked pretty. I don't think I did too badly!!

Two hour delay

Woohoo, a two-hour delay this morning! We had a couple of inches of snow yesterday. I did not go to Lancaster for Destiny after school as I expected to do, because by then there were many, many accident reports. I had Dick take me to my hair appointment in the evening. Driving was really treacherous on the way there. I kept thinking, "Boy, I am going to feel horrible if we have an accident just because I didn't want to cancel my appointment." But my hair dresser is so busy I have my every-six-weeks appointments with him made months in advance. If I would have canceled it would have been a big problem to find a different time. By the time we came home at 8:00 the roads were better, probably because they were treated. Now the problem created by this two-hour delay is that I had a local newspaper reporter coming to school at 8:30 this morning to do a picture and story about the Christmas program. So I'm not sure what we'll do about that.

I just have to redirect you again today. I'm sorry if I am an insufferably proud mom and grandma, but I just can't help myself. Lisa (tropicalmexican) posted the funniest, cutest video of Sophie telling and retelling and retelling a story to George. Anthony (No Longer Driven) has posted some tremendously excellent articles this week on despair and on abiding in God versus working for Him.

I'll post a snow picture and let you know how Jeremy's doing later today.

Another mountain

Well, it's time for all you prayer warriors to get busy again. There's another mountain to be moved! Our son Jeremy down in Florida has been rehearsing this fall with a community theatre group which is putting on Scrooge, the Musical this weekend and next. He has been so thrilled to be singing and acting again for the first time since he moved to Florida three years ago. The first performance is tomorrow (Thursday) evening.

So here's the mountain: a while ago I got a call from a VERY sick young man - sore throat, fever, achey-all-over, congested head, the whole works! He skipped his class today and is home doing everything he knows to do - resting, taking zinc, drinking lots of tea and water, etc.

So I told him I would get my cohorts to start praying!

A long school day

I was honestly at school from 7:30 AM until 9:00 PM yesterday! After school I had to pull Biblical era costumes for the entire Middle School Chorus for the Christmas program. It's a slow, tedious job. Earlier in the day I had measured each one of the kids from the shoulders down. So I would pull a costume, measure its length, then look at my list of students and decide who would get it, then write the person's name on a little piece of paper and pin it onto the costume. The hard part is trying to match the different pieces that go together. We have quite a hodge podge of things made from donated fabric many years ago.

The costume storage room is right behind the computer lab, so in order to keep my sanity I had to sit down every so often and read blogs (like Tonja's official minutes of the "B" Club get together!) and emails and find Christmas music to listen to. I talked to my birthday boy on the phone and told him to check my blog. It also helped that other ladies came to decorate the lobby for Christmas. And my sweet husband brought me some chicken breast he had broiled (except he forgot the roll - but I forgave him!) When I finally figured out the last costume - and it doesn't match at all - I came home and altered one before I went to bed.

And now I must get a move-on (as we say here in PA Dutch country) and get ready for another full day. After school I'll be getting Destiny, as I usually do on Wednesday evenings, and then I have a hair appt. at 5:45. And we're to get some possible snow AGAIN.

Happy Birthday, Ray!

Today is Ray's 25th birthday. As I said in an earlier post, he will be celebrating it alone unfortunately. This has certainly been the most "growing" year of his life in many ways, and we are very, very proud of him. Thank you so much to those of you who have prayed for him this year. If you want to send him some love, leave a comment here for him.

Sailor Raymond Gonzalez

Wind and snow squalls

Boy, am I ever glad to be home in my warm house. It is ferociously windy outside and several times today there were snow squalls. When I left school it was snowing like crazy and I was so tempted to just go home, but I resisted the urge and went to the gym. Once inside it was easy to forget how cold and windy it was outside.

When I left the gym I decided to go to the mall to look for an outfit for my Christmas programs. (Dick always plays basketball on Monday evenings, so I knew he wouldn't be home anyway, and there were some good leftovers in the frig for his supper.) I'm afraid I undid any savings I've accomplished with all the good bargains I've found at Goodwill and Salvation Army. I went to Boscov's and was delighted that I didn't have to shop in the Women's sizes for the first time in several years . There were all kinds of signs above the racks - 30% off, 50% off, even 75% off. I found about six outfits to take to fitting room. Out of them all I liked only one, and I really liked it. I was surprised when I looked at the price tag, but I was hopeful that I had gotten it off one of those really reduced racks. No such luck. It was not reduced at all!! Wouldn't you know - out of the six outfits, that was the only one that wasn't reduced! I couldn't believe it. But at Boscov's they do have something they call Register Roulette, and if you pay with your Boscov's card, you get a chance at a higher percentage off. I didn't have my card along, because the only time I ever used it was when I opened a charge account in order to get a reduced price on my nephew's wedding gift over a year ago. But they were able to look up my account number, and I got a whopping 20% off. Not exactly something to jump up and down about, that's for sure.

It was snowing like crazy again when I left the mall, but it seems the temperature isn't low enough for the snow to lay. That, or it all blows somewhere else with this wind! Praise the Lord for a warm, comfortable house to come home to. We are blessed.

Another full Sunday

This morning the youth worship team led our praise and worship, and Dick and I and Destiny actually got to sit together. That is a very rare occurrence. We always have the communion elements on a table up front for anyone to take communion if they want to during worship. Because I'm usually at the piano and Dick is either playing bass or in the sound booth, we never get the chance to do that either. So it was really special that during the song Mighty to Save (the one that has the phrase Savior, He can move the mountains, which has come to mean so much to me lately), the three of us went front to take communion. I carefully explained to Destiny what Jesus wanted us to remember when we take the bread and the wine (for our church it's grape juice). Then we each prayed (even Destiny) to thank the Lord for His sacrifice for us. It was really, really neat.

Immediately after church we ate together with the other families who have children in our Christmas musical, then we had rehearsal. I'm telling you, there are so many people involved with different aspects of this musical, that I am quite sure they could do it without me! It is AWESOME!! I just love our church.

From rehearsal we went to an annual reunion of my mother's family. This was a really special reunion today. Some of you readers may remember that back in March my mother's brother Bob, who was dying of cancer and had recently given his heart to the Lord, called the brothers and sisters together before he died. I was there as the photographer and it was a most amazing, precious experience. A few weeks later at his funeral there was again a rich bonding experience among that family that had never, ever taken place before. And once again today, with a much higher attendance than there has been for many years, we could sense that bond of love. By the time we got there, some folks had already left, but I was told that at lunch time there were not enough chairs for everyone to sit down!

I got to see my cousin Joanne, pictured below with her friend Terry and her two granddaughters. Shortly after Uncle Bob's funeral Joanne started blogging and we've been staying in closer touch through our blogs than we ever did in our entire lives! This past summer Joanne's parents sold their home and moved into a smaller place. When I saw Joanne's mother today I asked her how she likes her new home, and I assured her I had already seen it because of Joanne's blog. I don't recall ever meeting Joanne's granddaughters before, but when I saw them today I immediately knew who they were from the pictures on her blog!

After we came home from the reunion I took another too-long, but much needed nap. We took Destiny back home this evening and now I'm sitting here listening to the rain and trying to get sleepy. Two weeks from now all my Christmas programs will be over! I can't believe it!

Adrias at 2 months

Last evening Frank came to pick up Destiny to take her to Chuck E. Cheese. He had two-month-old Adrias along, so I went out to the car to see him. Even though he had been sleeping, he had a big smile for me. I didn't snap the picture quite at the right moment, however.

Later Frank sent this picture of him to my cell phone! What a smile!

Dick went to Chuck E. Cheese after he was finished working at Advance Auto Parts to pick up Destiny. By then the little smiler was getting tired and cranky and fell asleep in Grandpa's arms. Don't you just want to kiss those adorable little cheeks?

Here they are

Well, here they are - the "B" Club in Birmingham. Kat just posted these pictures on her site and I "stole" them! The first one was taken by Tonja when I was on the phone with them last evening.

Dianne, Tracey, and Kat.

Left to right - Dianne, Kat, Tonja, Sandi, and Tracey. I can just imagine the chatter and laughter at that table!

The Geyser in My Bathroom

My experience with the leaking sink drain pipe the other morning reminded me of a story I never told here on my blog. The story took place in July 2005, just a couple of weeks after we moved here. Rather than take the time to write about it, I am just going to copy the email I sent to my family the day after it happened.

The Geyser in my Bathroom
(July 2005)

I had a good bit more excitement yesterday than necessary. What started out as a peaceful morning turned into a near disaster. I was cleaning up the sink and Destiny was taking a bath. Suddenly she came running from the bathroom, yelling that there was a loud noise and water in the bathroom. I ran back and discovered that there was water shooting out from under the bathroom sink, and I mean SHOOTING! It was like a geyser with tremendous pressure. I think I grabbed a beach towel first and put it under the pipe, then ran for the phone to call Dick. After I called him, I looked more closely and saw a valve that had broken off. I pushed it against the hole and was able to keep the flow down to several sprays instead of a complete gusher. So that's what I did for at least 20 minutes, probably 30, until Dick got home and finally discovered where to turn the main water off under the house. Every so often I would shift my fingers a bit, and the force would blow the valve back and I'd have to frantically try to put it back in place. Meanwhile I was yelling instructions at Destiny, who was running around naked (having just gotten out of the tub). First of all I told her to get all the towels out of the closet and throw them all over the bathroom and laundry floors. Then I told her to get dressed. One time I told her to get me something to catch the water in, and she brought me a huge kettle, which would never have fit underneath! Later she brought me a cup, but I couldn't really catch water with it, because that required moving my one hand, which resulted in the valve shifting and the water shooting out again. Needless to say, I was getting completely soaked under there, my hands were feeling like I couldn't hold on one more second.

When I could hear the water pressure die down after Dick turned the main water off, I felt like I would collapse. Dick went to Bomberger's Store nearby and got a new valve, soon had it fixed, and the water back on. Amazingly, no carpet got wet. The bathroom throw rugs and towels soaked up an amazing amount of water.

I thought I was no worse for the wear until I got up this morning. My shoulders and arm muscles are really sore.

So do you all know where to turn your main water off? Of course, it doesn't do me any good to know - you couldn't pay me to go into the crawl space under our house. I told Dick that if he was under there dying I would probably go in, but that's about it!