Odds and Weekends

Blondechick14--that is, on Wednesday she'll be 14--had her first voice lesson on Saturday. Her new teacher is an answer to prayer. Not only does she know her stuff, but she's friendly, funny, and a great teacher, who knows how to encourage while holding her praise till it's merited. "No," she would say, "that's not it. Let's try this." Blondechick would try again. "No. You're pushing. Can you feel it? Hmmm. Think of it like this..." "No. Hold your shoulders still. Try again." Another attempt. "There! That was it!" (Such sweet words to hear!) "Yes, you're got it!" "No, now you've closed up. Try again."

We both loved her. Blondechick learned so much in just one hour, and we'll be going back regularly. And best of all...she lives two blocks away from us!

It was kind of a God-thing, how we found her. Last week the kids and I went to see a local community theater production, and we found it most educational. (Primarily it educated my children in how high the quality of their own productions is!) The brightest point in the show was one adult lead who wasn't even supposed to be performing that night. We sought her out afterward to tell her how much we'd enjoyed her performance...and now she is Blondechick's voice teacher.

Auditions for Cinderella are in less than two weeks. Blondechick14, Bantam11 and Bantam7 (his first time) are working hard on their numbers!

Sunday Grandpa Rooster was allowed to start eating real food and may be allowed to come home today. No pathology report yet.

Saturday night we met with old friends who are wearied with churches. So many, they feel, are all about their activities, and the spiritual depth is so shallow. They've been trying so long to find a good one. They love ours; they tell us how unique it is in its wholehearted focus on the worship and proclamation of Christ and His transforming power, but they feel it's just too far away. They'd love it if we'd help start something similar in their area.

Sunday afternoon we drove to Kenosha, WI, to hang out and pray with old friends who live there. They and another couple are meeting and praying about how to start an AMIA church there, and our former pastor, who is overseeing them, has asked us to consider--hard--how we might be called to be involved in helping this seedling along. So we met and talked and prayed and were interrupted by kids and broke bread together (pizza) and had a house blessing for them. And came to no conclusions.

"See, I am doing a new thing! Do you not perceive it?"

No, Lord. We sense new things, but we cannot perceive them. We wait, in the dark, for your illumination.