A New View

Will got his first pair of glasses today. I fully expected him to be near-sighted like Allen and I, and both of us got our first pair of glasses around 5th or 6th grade. I was surprised that Will needed glasses for reading, but he looks handsome in them!

Blessings

I have been working through a family Advent study with Will and Ben during our Bible time in the mornings. One morning, Jon was sick and home with us, so the boys and I began the Advent activity: creating a poster of our blessings on a Christmas Tree. We worked on it over a few days, and Maddie and Allen added to it, too. Though I did not get around to finishing drawing all the branches in color, it was a neat way to list what we were grateful for this season. Some of the things we listed included:

My family
Life
Crazy parents
Cardinals singing

Awesomeness
Mom and Dad
Friends
Chickadees, nuthatch,wrens, warblers, titmice, blue jays, bluebirds
My children: Will, Ben, Maddie, and Jon
Papa and Nana

Gramma and Granddad
Brothers Will and Jon, and sister Maddie
Playfulness
Laughter
Friends

Sunshine on colorful trees
God
My room
Smiles
Owls
Shelter

Strangers
Other Christians
People who bless us: Rick and Lisa, Brad and Stacy, Brother Ray and Becky, Christy and Jeff Sowell, Blacks, Browns, and Brodys, Conlons and Carliles

It All Happened In the Country

It all happened in the country

In a little country town

The country folks and farmers gathered all around

They gave a country "howdy" to a little country boy

Mama's little angel

Heaven's pride and joy

How did we end up participating in the church musical? (I still keep asking myself this question...)

There was a church dinner and meeting one Sunday evening in early October, and, after the meal, there were activities for the kids to do while the adults listened. Our kids got to sing along as the adults played the songs for the kids musical. That evening, on the way home, Jon and Maddie said they wanted to sing in the musical. That is how we began taking them to the church every Sunday evening for choir practice.

A few weeks later, Tony Black (a friend who was directing the musical) told me Jon needed to come to practice the next Wednesday. Confused, I asked why and learned that Jon volunteered to do one of the speaking parts. He listened to the CD daily to learn some of the boys' lines, then Wednesday he went to do some of the readings. As he was in there, Ben got excited and asked if they got to use accents (Ben REALLY liked doing the country-boy accent). When he learned he, too, could try out for the play AND do it with an accent, Ben was more than happy to try for a part. Once those two were in the room reading lines with others, Maddie was brave enough to try, too. Will and I sat in the hall and waited.

There were four main kid characters, two adult characters, and two narrators. Ben was cast as the country boy, Luther; Jon was the city boy, Daniel; Maddie was one of the narrators. Suddenly, our kids were almost half the cast and I spent the next two months trying to keep everyone healthy so they wouldn't end up sharing the flu the night of the musical. Somewhere along the many weeks of practice, I ended up being a stage helper, substitute director, and even working the lights and audio when they needed me to. Will heard his siblings practicing so often that he knew every line of the entire musical, so he started practicing with Ben, Maddie, and Jon so they could learn when they delivered their lines.

Country kids Cora May and Luther

City kids Chelsea and Daniel

City kids, country kids, and narrators

So many hours went into the musical -- the last few weeks, my kids were at church up to 4 hours a week working on their lines and music. Juggling practice with school schedules, scouts, and Will's basketball practice and games just about drove me crazy and definitely led to my holiday burn-out, but it really was a great experience for Ben, Maddie, and Jon! They had to memorize lines, learn to deliver them well, persevere when they were sick of the play because their team depended on them, and really exercise strong work ethic. I am really proud of how VERY hard they worked and continued to work right up to the final bow. I am glad that their first stage experience was a positive one. The whole play turned out to be quite impressive -- especially when we realized that nearly ALL of those IN the play were 9 year olds (all the main characters and narrators.) The adults were their Sunday school teachers, Rick and Lisa Martindale, and the choir kids were all ages six to nine.

Nana and Papa were able to come see the show, but they couldn't stay long since they had to work the next day. I took the Kaiser thespians to the after-show party while Will and Allen had dinner with Shelley and Randy. It was a fun, FUN night, but... I admit....I am glad the long hours of practice are over now.

Family Picture

We were heading from my parents' home to the wedding of Anna Castleberry, our children's minister. Since we all were spiffy, I wanted a family picture.

 

Piling up

Life is piling up like dirty dishes right now. I'm too busy to deal with some things and I keep expecting to fall over.

I really need more margins around our calendar... that's the goal for 2016!

Sunday School Party

Our Sunday school class had a great time at the Brownings' home tonight. Lots of fun and laughter!

Light up the night

For YEARS, our kids have begged us every December to get lights to put up outside. For YEARS, I have not been interested. Now that our neighborhood is filling in and nearly everyone DOES have lights up for Christmas, our house seems to be a but scroogy without lights. Today, the kids and I got some lights and put them up. We intentionally picked lights we could hang without Allen having to get involved since we wanted to surprise him.

Now, we are sharing the light in the night and the kids are really happy with it!