Woo-hoo!!!!

Woo-hoo!! The church musical is over!! All that's left are the good memories and the pictures. The choir did better than they ever did before and so did the people in the drama. The sanctuary was packed and the audience had a lot of good laughs throughout the musical. The title of our musical was One Quiet Night. The music was awesome and fun and the drama was very real-to-life and really funny sometimes. There really are a lot of good memories. Our son Anthony and his wife drove down from State College this morning. He was our guest soloist for the last number, Joy to the World. WOW!! He was incredible! It was a dynamic ending to the musical.

Below are just a few of the pictures Lori took during and after the program. I am ready to go to bed with absolutely NOTHING on my mind. Praise God, praise God, praise God!!!!!

These pajamas brought a lot of laughs! 

A very funny scene in the drama. 

The "family" in our drama: David Graybill, Hannah Walton, Kati Walton, Jon Grissinger, Richard Walton 

Did I put lipstick on my ears?!! 

Kati and Hannah Walton "play" mother and daughter in the drama! 

Anthony Stauffer, our guest soloist, brought the house down! 

Now that's a big mouth! 

The big finale! 

Our Christmas choir 

GLAD it's over! 

Two down, one to go

Well, another Christmas program is history, praise God. We did get snow and ice last evening, but the temp went up somewhat overnight and it turned to rain. We didn't even have a school delay this morning, which was a big mistake in many people's minds. Driving was absolutely treacherous. The biggest problem we had was lots of sick students. There were a lot of kids absent all week, and some of those were not able to be there today for the program. Jordan, my trumpet player, got sick after our final rehearsal this morning and had to go home. So he didn't get to be there for either program. The program went well, both afternoon and evening. It was great seeing so many of my former students after the program this evening. I miss them so much. Some of them are really going places with their music and drama.

Well, my whole body is tired and aching, especially my feet. I wonder if they do foot transplants? Tomorrow's another big day of cleaning and practicing for the church musical. So I'm hitting the sack, Jack.

I found a dress

I decided to go dress hunting last evening instead of doing our laundry, because they're calling for ice this evening. I would rather do laundry on an icy evening than drive anywhere. Dick works at Advance Auto Parts on Wednesday evenings, so I called Frank again, and he was able to keep Destiny for a few hours. I had checked out Fashion Bug in Lititz during Destiny's dance class after school, but they don't have dresses this year either. So last evening I started out at Bon Ton, then Penneys. My feet were killing me (these orthotic inserts are not the miracle cure I was hoping for!) and I was feeling downright disgusted with the ugly dresses everywhere. It was almost time to meet Frank. I decided to go back to Boscov's where I had looked last week. There was one dress I had tried on last week that I did like, but I knew I would need to altar it since it was not in petite sizing, and I had decided that even with the 30% discount, it was too expensive for something I would need to altar. However, in my desperation, I went there last evening, hoping it would still be there. It was (it was the only dress like it, no other sizes left), so I grabbed it off the rack and went to the cashier, and to my great satisfaction, it was an additional 15% off yesterday for some reason! So now I'll be doing some altaring this evening, but I can do that on an icy evening too. The ICE and SNOW they are predicting are the big question now. I have done a Christmas program every year since 1993 and have never needed to postpone it due to the weather. We shall see....

Below are more pictures of Sophie. For months now she has been working on her climbing skills. She's almost to the point that she's going to go right out over the top of her play yard - not a good thing when you have a tile floor!

Sophie, future rock climber! 

The little monkey in Florida! 

Big George and little George - I mean, Sophie! 

Lisa and Sophie (10 1/2 months old) 

What a cute outfit for a cute little girl! 

Ready to walk! 

The big week

Well, I'm down to the final week before the Christmas programs. Yesterday Dick and John Roser set up the stage at church and we had a two-hour rehearsal. Today I had rehearsals with three of the choirs at school. This evening after Destiny is in bed I need to type the "program" for the school program. Tomorrow I need to work with all the instrumentalists at school and go to pick up the lapel mics I'm renting for both school and church. Tomorrow evening Dick and I will go to the school to get the mics set up for Wednesday's rehearsals. Wednesday and Thursday, more rehearsals, hopefully Thursday evening I'll have time to go find just the right dress, Friday morning is final rehearsal at school, followed by an afternoon and evening program, Saturday evening I'll practice with the people in the drama at church, then on Sunday it will be church in the morning, a two hour rehearsal in the afternoon, and the musical in the evening. Somewhere in there I need to find time to do our laundry, meals, dishes, and a little bit of cleaning. I think I need a maid!! Anthony and Lori will be coming Saturday and Sunday - he is our guest soloist for our final number in the church musical - a jazzed up version of Joy to the World. Also, a friend of mine from Virginia, Tuwana Haarer, will be sleeping here Saturday night as well. She will be coming up for a friend's wedding on Saturday. So, if you don't hear from me for the rest of the week, you'll know what I'm up to anyway!

Oh yes, this morning the first thing I did was check my email, and there were a whole bunch of new pictures of Sophie. She is beginning to look like a toddler instead of a baby! Just think - in two weeks we'll be there enjoying her in person. We are planning to fly down early Christmas morning (Sunday) and return on Tuesday. It will be short, but worth it.