Go, Go, Go Joseph!

Well, it's the Big Week, with two dress rehearsals and three performances of...

I am so pumped.

I am really having a great time doing this show, and I am trying to tease out why.  Music rehearsals can be boring, when you have to sit through a whole song just to sing some "oooh-aaaah's" or "la la la's" toward the end.  Dance rehearsals can be frustrating when they teach it quick and move on before you've really got it.  You have to sit around during the scenes you're not in, not talking....  (I get it, now, why my kids--and their directors--always got so frustrated over the no talking/too much talking issue!)

So what's fun about it?

I think it must be the challenge of it.  I thought I knew most of the songs going into it, but I never noticed that in places, there are 8 parts--1st and 2nd soprano, 1st and 2nd alto, 1st and 2nd tenor, baritone, bass.  And I never realized how much Weber likes chords with very close harmonies.  Sometimes the second sopranos are singing one note down from the melody line, and believe me, that's a hard note to find!  We have a lot of  "ooohs" and "aaahs" that seem very similar, but aren't.  Or we sing them here, but not there.  I've practiced a ton at home, and I think I'm pretty firm on most of it now, but I'm rehearsing daily just to keep it all straight.  I know I could go to a rehearsal and wing it, but I like knowing it.  That's the joy of accomplishment for me.

Now, the dancing is a different story.  Since nothing is written down for me to take home and practice, I have to just go by what I remember, and note where the gaps are that I can't remember steps, and find out at the next rehearsal what I forgot, so I can go home and practice some more.  I have never felt very graceful or coordinated, but thank heavens, this choreography is simple enough that even I can make it look okay--IF I know what I'm doing!  So that's been an even bigger challenge than learning harmonies and parts.

But the biggest challenge of all is putting it all together!  They say crossword and sudoku puzzles are good for your brain, as you age...but trying to remember to sing (the right lyrics and the right harmonies at the right time) as well as what your right and left arms and right and left feet are supposed to be doing (not to mention hands, elbows and knees) is clearly WAY more brain-stimulation than anything else I can imagine.  I can just feel how good this is for an older brain.  Although it's difficult, it's also rewarding, because it's fun when you get even most of it together.  And amazingly enough, I'm finding it's getting easier!

It gives me enormous respect for my kids and all that they have to learn for each production they are in.  (Although they also get twice the rehearsal hours that we have had...and they have the advantage of much younger brains!)

The best thing about it, possibly, is that it's a creative endeavor that's taking me out of my normal box or comfort zone.  I know other women who are doing similar things and finding joy in them.  One has picked up tap-dancing again and has a recital coming up.  One just signed up to go back to school.  Another goes all out to throw beautiful showers and parties. All of them have kids, jobs, busy lives--but they are making time for something they love.

Is it okay to add "one more thing" when it's for ourselves?  I know we're all trying to simplify and be less busy, spend more time with God and with our families.  It was a tough decision to do something "just for me," and it was easier to justify because Bantam6 and Chicklet8 could do it with me.  If I had anticipated how much joy it would bring me, I wouldn't have hesitated.  It honestly has felt like pretty minimal investment for the return I'm getting.

Still can't completely explain it.  But I am grateful.

And nervous.

Because this week we add more difficulty, like doing it in costume, squeezing in quick costume changes...

And then the biggest challenge of all--doing it in front of an audience!  Yikes!

Return of Bantam16

Heeeeeee’s back!

It worked out for our whole family to go to Family Day at Honey Rock, the camp where B16 has been for the last month. It was great to catch that first glimpse of our tall son walking across the grassy parking lot to meet us! A month had been a long time.

He had a great experience, and we are so grateful. His group spent 8 days in the wilderness, hiking, camping and canoeing along Lake Superior. After another week back on the camp grounds, they took a bus to Minneapolis for a service project, which was cleaning up debris left from a tornado nearly two months ago. In the poorer areas, there was still much clean up left to be done. They were sobered and humbled to see the poverty and devastation.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for his safety! He had one half-fall, half-roll down a 70 foot embankment, when a shale ledge gave way beneath him as he reached back to give an arm up to another guy behind him. It was a spur-of-the-moment race up a hill by the side of the river, not a planned climb, and praise God, in his eagerness to get to the top first, he had not bothered to remove his life jacket. It protected his torso as he struck rock outcroppings on the way down, and except for having the breath totally knocked out of him, and a few scrapes on his arms and legs, he was okay.

He says he feels like he grew in every way—especially spiritually and physically. They had an 11-hour solo time on the wilderness trip in which he really felt God’s presence. All the guys shared their life stories, and the counselors challenged and encouraged them in multiple ways--with God’s word, with team activities, with discussion and physical challenges. Just what guys need!

We had fun as a family swimming at the hotel, and canoeing and hanging out at Honey Rock. Keepin' it real, though...the van ride there and back was a pain.  The three youngest were overtired, argumentative and whiny both ways, which was unexpected, since they are usually so chipper. Still, we were glad we all could go...

And glad to all be together again!

Dis-Engagement *UPDATED*

I mentioned previously that we were *almost* ready to settle on a reception venue for Blondechick’s wedding next June. But we were waiting…because the groom-to-be was having second thoughts.

He just wasn’t ready.

So Blondechick gave back the ring. “Give it to me again, when you’re ready,” she said.

They are still dating. Still “engaged” on Facebook. Still considering marriage, down the line.

Just not next summer.

(UPDATE:  She's decided to enter college as a single gal.  They've broken up.)

And there has been relief all around. Parents, of course. The couple? Relieved to just be happy-go-lucky kids again, without the burden of planning for the rest of their lives!

Blondechick is suddenly able to think clearly about college, and has decided to go to Trinity International University (TIU) after all. She was working on convincing us to let her live at home and go to the same local school that she thought she’d be transferring to after marriage. But now, she’s going to go take that music scholarship, be in Trinity’s concert choir, take gen eds and think about what she really wants to do with the next couple of years.

And in the next couple of weeks…buy books and dorm room supplies!

We think it was a mature and courageous decision. It’s tough to admit that maybe they made a mistake, especially when their engagement was so public. But it seems like the right decision for now, for them. Giving themselves a few more years to mature, and their relationship the test of time, seems wise and advisable.

Me? I’m relieved to not be planning a wedding any more. This next year will have a better chance of being a sabbatical for me now, which I intend by putting B6 and C8 in school. The only thing I’m slightly disappointed about is...not gaining the extra bedroom upstairs. I was going to give it to Chicklet when Blondechick moved out. Now I have to re-think room arrangements, or leave things as they are a little longer, although Chicklet is getting a little old to share with her brother….

But that’s for another post!

Stay-cation!

So we've had my niece here, from Kansas, for 10 days.  She's almost 13 and so mature and smart for her age!  We are really enjoying her visit.

And she's been the inspiration for an impromptu "stay-cation"!  Since she's been here, we've been to the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Bristol Renaissance Faire, and gone into Chicago for Peter Pan 360. We've been letting the discounts set our agenda; it was free day at the art museum last Thursday, kids were free for the opening weekend of RenFaire, and Peter Pan was offering a 20% discount (code WENDY on all evening performances before July 24).  Only six more weeks and the show moves on to another city!  It was really good, if you're in the area--a joy for kids and adults alike.  It's the straight play, not the musical, and it has an iMax theater kind of feel because they project the "backdrop" onto the round ceiling and during flying scenes it changes so you feel like you are flying too.  The crocodile was really cool, and the pirates were a lot of fun.

We've also had a church picnic, a stop by the Jelly Belly factory gift shop, a visit with friends who have chickens and a new puppy, two trips to the beach...and swimming lessons every day.  But Cuz has been a good sport about that--she comes along and reads, or one time she stayed home and watched Phantom of the Opera, which we own and she was eager to see again.  We've also introduced her to another Andrew Lloyd Weber show, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which C8, B6 and I are rehearsing for currently.  We've been listening to the soundtrack in my car, because I'm still trying to learn all the harmonies in the second soprano line.  It turns out my niece has perfect pitch, so she's been a great help!  Blondechick and I are jealous, though. :)

Blondechick and a girlfriend took my niece to the drive-in one night, too--the Keno Drive-In is the oldest one in the state of WI--and they had a great time talking girl talk, eating candy and watching Zookeeper. And a friend of mine, who has swimming lessons with us and got to know Cuz there, invited her and Chicklet to a picnic on a night that B12 was invited to a birthday party.  So we've kept her busy!  She's been a lot of fun.

My brother arrives tonight and will stay a day before they head back; then I am flying to Texas for a family reunion of sorts, on my mother's side.  Will be back next week, just in time to leave again to go pick up B16 from camp.  They let him make a phone call home after the 8-day wilderness trip, and he sounded great--he's just lovin' it. Says he loves his counselors!  I am so thankful.  Thanks to all who prayed!

In other news, our area was hit by another quick storm and we lost power again--fortunately only for a few hours.  (We just decided to take Cuz bowling that morning.)  The worst damage was south of us in Illinois--power out for days and more trees down.

We also got to see the David Crowder Band in concert at Willow Creek Community Church in Illlinois--it was so worshipful and inspiring.  Wish B16 had been with us--he'd have loved it.

No job yet for B20...but we think we have a wedding venue picked out for Blondechick and her young man--a golf club in Lake Geneva where we can do the wedding outside on a covered terrace, rain or shine, then have the reception indoors, then have the dancing back outdoors on the terrace, where the noise won't make conversation impossible.  Seems perfect!  Almost ready to put the money down and announce the date, I think.  Almost.

Well, must go think about meals and a grocery trip before my brother arrives tonight, also laundry and packing for my Texas trip.  It may be a week or more before I'm back.

Hope you all are having a great summer!  Leave me a comment and tell me what kinds of vacationing or stay-cationing you are doing this summer!

Pray for B16 at Honey Rock

A friend just sent us a beautiful prayer letter for their son, who is leaving for Honey Rock next week, the same camp where B16 has been for nearly two weeks.  In a similar manner, I'd like to ask my readers to join us in prayer for B16, at least as you read this!

First of all, he's gone for a month...and we really miss him!  So pray for us!

Most of all, pray that he encounters God in a deep and meaningful way.  Especially while he's "unplugged," (no cell phones or iPods allowed), may he recognize God's voice in the stillness.  This happened for him last year, at the two week camp, and his counselor commented that B16 would benefit from a longer time "unplugged."  This is my daily prayer for him, that he would hear and recognize God speaking to him.

Pray for godly wisdom for his counselors.  His relationships with his counselors the past two years have been significant in his life, and he expected to have one of them again this summer.  After he left, we received an email introducing his counselors, and neither one is his guy from last year, so I'm sure he was disappointed. I'm praying that he will connect with the new guys just as well and benefit just as much from their spiritual leadership.

Pray for safety.  They spend 8 days camping in the wilderness (and I don't know how well-prepared he was for that, since I didn't help him pack), plus they'll spend a lot of time in and around a lake.  One of the counselors drowned in that lake two summers ago, swimming alone one morning, and B16 isn't really a swimmer.

Lastly, he made a big decision just before he left, and I'm praying that God will confirm it with a great sense of peace, or show him if he should change his mind.  It's about his education for next year, for 10th grade. This past year, his guitar-playing and song-writing have really taken off, and he wants more time to practice guitar, pick up piano again, take voice lessons, and play regularly at church and with his band.  We keep telling him the only way he's going to have time for all that is if he goes the virtual school route, just for a year, and this is the year to do it, rather than his junior or senior year.  (I keep signing him up for iQ Academy--the virtual charter school that B12 attended last year--every February during the open enrollment period, to keep that option open.)  He can always change his mind and pull out of the virtual school and go back to the Christian school, but he can't do the reverse.  And the virtual school will give him a Fine Arts Independent Study half-credit for all the music activities, plus another for any theater production he's in, so he comes out ahead on his transcript.

Since February, he's come all the way from "absolutely no way I'm willing to leave my friends and be homeschooled again" to telling us before he left: "I'm going to do the homeschool thing so that I can spend next year focusing on music."  Only God could have effected that change in his mind and heart!

I want to wait and see how he feels when he gets home, though, before I send in any school fees. I've had a strong sense that this time at camp will be significant for making this decision, and I'm fine with either choice he makes.  I am excited about the opportunities this next year could bring for him, but I'm also aware of the time and energy it could require from me to have him around again.  At least he should get his license in October!

Thank you, Lord, for the experiences B16 is having at camp.  Good or bad, I know he will receive them as for his good, and I pray he can hear clearly your voice speaking to him.  Whether in the silence or in the midst of much activity, may he hear you and develop ears and a heart to always hear you.  Shape his character, his masculinity, his gifts of compassion and mercy, and most of all, his relationship with you.  May it grow strong in virtue to withstand temptation and vice.  May he be strengthened spiritually as he is physically. Thank you for your love and care for him always and everywhere.  Amen.

A Great and Powerful Wind

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind.  

~I Kings 19:11

There was a storm over Lake Michigan on Thursday evening.  For us on the lakeshore, there wasn't any rain in the forecast, let alone a severe weather alert.  Yet in a matter of seconds, the winds from this storm out over the Lake did incredible damage.

All it took was one microburst to flatten our gazebo.  It's the second one that has been trashed by high winds since we've lived here!

Although we were also without power for 24 hours, we considered our property unscathed, compared to homes over closer to the Lake...

Church members who live in this area are still without power this morning.

The rest of these photos are all on the grounds of the Kemper Center, where our church rents the chapel on Sundays. Papa Rooster estimates more than 15 trees were lost on its grounds alone, and hundreds of trees were down, along with light posts, telephone poles and live wires, all over Kenosha! And all in a matter of minutes.

Those are the chapel doors in the background.

This is a walkway between the chapel and Ambrose Hall.  You can see the copper roof has been ripped up and folded over like a rug!

Here's the back view of the same walkway, with the missing section of roof.  A branch from this tree broke through the door there.

Another tree hit the Faulkner building, which we have used for church suppers and meetings.  The far right tree fell into another tree, so fortunately didn't do any damage to Ambrose Hall.

Another view of the tree that fell on Faulkner, plus another giant down closer to the shore.  The grounds of Kemper will sure look different after this.

As of this morning, there is still no power in the Kemper Center, so we are hoping to do an outdoor service on the grounds on Sunday.