Praise GOD!
I’m so excited! You may or may not have heard on Vincent’s blog we were going out tonight to hand out tracts and Vincent was going to do an open air. Well, I was having fears and almost hoping the night wouldn’t come. Pretty sad, eh? After what happened last time would they be all ready for us with police and a big fat lie about us ’disturbing the peace’? Would I start stumbling over my words and not clearly communicate the law and grace? As I’m typing this it looks funny on paper….why should I be fearful? Greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world! I’m so happy the Lord had some people out there receptive and ready to encourage us. God’s so good! I took my camera with me but didn’t have time to taken many pics, most were taken at the place Bonnie works, which was hosting one of the entertainers of the night. I took another black bag with tracts so we weren’t running back to the house every hour, that was a time saver.
One of my biggest encouragements came while Bonnie ran back to get her video camera and I was ‘alone‘. *shivering my boots!!* Wait, not alone, the Lord was with me! I asked a trio of girls if they had gotten smart cards and I asked if they thought they were a good person. I went through some of the Ten Commandments and they admitted they were sinners. They seemed receptive so I went on we got to God’s grace and Him sending His Son. I told them to read the cards and think about eternity. They left reflecting and one girl ran back and said she didn‘t need it because she was a Christian and she was wanting to witness to her friends and was so happy about what had just happened. I gave her some million dollar bills to give to friends and gave her a hug.
The second one was to another trio, two girls and a guy. We went through the Ten Commandments, etc., and by the end one of the girls looked like she had tears in her eyes. The Word of God will not return void! Amen!
Wow. I’m still excited. The opposition was there too….we got some people taking tracts out of their kids hands and handed them back to us when they figured out what it was, and some people who didn’t care….but we spread the seed and God gives the increase!
God bless and Happy New Year!
December 29, 2006
I said I had more pictures….
Nothing too fabulous about the pics but, just to prove we saw bluebirds in person yesterday, here they are!! I had to zoom for these so the quality is yuck but it still gives you an idea of what they look like. I hope they show up again tomorrow….8-) I’ll be ready to shoot them. Mawhahah! Don’t worry, it won’t hurt. ;-)
Nothing too fabulous about the pics but, just to prove we saw bluebirds in person yesterday, here they are!! I had to zoom for these so the quality is yuck but it still gives you an idea of what they look like. I hope they show up again tomorrow….8-) I’ll be ready to shoot them. Mawhahah! Don’t worry, it won’t hurt. ;-)
December 28, 2006
Today we spent most of our daylight hours over at the studio. We’re recording at a breakneck speed, well, at least for us. : P Can you believe we’ve been there one whole day already this week and we’re planning to go back Saturday as well? If we accomplish all we hope to we will finish the raw recording of 7 songs. Yesss!
While we were there Mr. W. let me play with his SLR camera. *faints* I was thinking of upgrading and this was the push I needed. J If anyone knows of any good deals on a SLR camera give me an email or comment. I need to get a flash too…..this bouncing light off the ceiling is the best thing since sliced bread. : D
Some pics of the day….
Tree climbing talents Daniel has!
He can also sing. J
Joel W. in a red sweater. I think it’s his color.
One of the cutest and smiley babies I know, R. Garret. Awww!!!
Of course, I have more pictures but, I’m tired and it’s late….
While we were there Mr. W. let me play with his SLR camera. *faints* I was thinking of upgrading and this was the push I needed. J If anyone knows of any good deals on a SLR camera give me an email or comment. I need to get a flash too…..this bouncing light off the ceiling is the best thing since sliced bread. : D
Some pics of the day….
Tree climbing talents Daniel has!
He can also sing. J
Joel W. in a red sweater. I think it’s his color.
One of the cutest and smiley babies I know, R. Garret. Awww!!!
Of course, I have more pictures but, I’m tired and it’s late….
December 26, 2006
An acquaintance of mine was nice enough to point out I had a gross amount of typos and grammatical errors in the last posting I linked you all to. I apologize to everyone!! Please know, Dr. MacDonald can write and write well. His poor granddaughter did not inherit her paternal grandmother’s typing skills and it shows. : P That said, I believe these errors seriously detracted from his writing and for that I‘m sorry. I have corrected the problems that I found but, I will not boast they are all found and fixed so please alert me to any typographical errors at carolj@gmail.com. Thank you.
December 23, 2006
Proverbs 23:12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
I did a little rearranging on the blog template. You may not even notice the changes. Hopefully I didn't do anything damaging. : P I sure wish I knew more about HTML. I've been thinking of designing a whole new page but, other things are higher on the priority list. I'm thinking, something like a dark chocolate border with an off white page with an elegant black font. Oh, and a photo montage with scripture at the top. I know....if it ever gets done it might be a minor miracle!
Last year I posted a paper my grandfather wrote about Christmas. It's a longer read and worth it if you seriously want to learn about the roots.
My family doesn't celebrate Christmas. At least, not in the 'normal' way. We don't do trees, the gift exchange, or Santa. We focus on what we do throughout the year, giving to people who can't give back. Our concert on Monday morning at the nursing home we count a privilege, as we do every concert. Because we were there maybe someone will stop and think about the real reason Christ came when we point not only to the manger but also to the cross and Jesus‘ ultimate sacrifice. Perhaps something will be stirred in their soul as they hear strains of the familiar songs speaking of the Lord's birth sung by a family, in the world of broken families, of one that is together. The witness of a family together serving the Lord is, sadly, not often seen. When they reflect back, in quietness of their own hearts, I pray the words of the scripture songs come back to them and the Holy Spirit will convict them of sin and their need for the Savior. We plant the seeds and the Lord gives the increase. Praise and thanks be to the King immortal, invisible, the only true God forever and ever.
Psalm 96:5-6 For all the God's of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him, strength and glory are in His sanctuary.
I did a little rearranging on the blog template. You may not even notice the changes. Hopefully I didn't do anything damaging. : P I sure wish I knew more about HTML. I've been thinking of designing a whole new page but, other things are higher on the priority list. I'm thinking, something like a dark chocolate border with an off white page with an elegant black font. Oh, and a photo montage with scripture at the top. I know....if it ever gets done it might be a minor miracle!
Last year I posted a paper my grandfather wrote about Christmas. It's a longer read and worth it if you seriously want to learn about the roots.
My family doesn't celebrate Christmas. At least, not in the 'normal' way. We don't do trees, the gift exchange, or Santa. We focus on what we do throughout the year, giving to people who can't give back. Our concert on Monday morning at the nursing home we count a privilege, as we do every concert. Because we were there maybe someone will stop and think about the real reason Christ came when we point not only to the manger but also to the cross and Jesus‘ ultimate sacrifice. Perhaps something will be stirred in their soul as they hear strains of the familiar songs speaking of the Lord's birth sung by a family, in the world of broken families, of one that is together. The witness of a family together serving the Lord is, sadly, not often seen. When they reflect back, in quietness of their own hearts, I pray the words of the scripture songs come back to them and the Holy Spirit will convict them of sin and their need for the Savior. We plant the seeds and the Lord gives the increase. Praise and thanks be to the King immortal, invisible, the only true God forever and ever.
Psalm 96:5-6 For all the God's of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him, strength and glory are in His sanctuary.
December 19, 2006
We did three concert Sunday. We had to be up before the crack of dawn to get out the door on time and so I was able to catch the sunrise.
We parked on the grass in the morning. :-) It was quite interesting since we had to fill up more time than the normal hour and we were pulling things out we hadn’t played since the fall tour. The folks there were so sweet and helped us pack up in a jiffy. We had a nice lunch and fellowshipped until it was time to head off to concert #2.
On the way over we saw our ‘old church’, actually, just the building. They had sold the building years ago. It brought back memories anyway…
And not more than 3 minutes away was this lovely old tree.
The church made up this cool sign..
And here is Bonnie documenting me taking pictures ….lol. She’s having a fun time with her camera. :-)
We had no time to eat afterward because we had 1 ½ hours to breakdown, load, get the next church and set up. Did I mention the next church was half an hour away? :-) Some of the folks made up some food packages and sent them with us. Very sweet of them! We arrived, got set up on time and did our third concert of the day. We ended up staying for the Yankee swap and didn’t get home until just after 9:30pm. Phew. A nice full day.
I started getting a headache during the last concert but didn’t actually start feeling sick until we got home. :- / All day Monday I was in bed with flu like symptoms. Food smelled repulsive and I lived on 5 crackers and water until noon time today. I feel MUCH better now. I’m so thankful I didn’t come down with this on Sunday morning! That would have been, um, interesting. I was feeling nauseated on Saturday night but I chalked it up to getting ‘car’ sick since I was practicing while we were driving. So anyway…I haven’t been near a computer until this afternoon. I’m making up for it now…ha! Praying no one else will get whatever I got...
We parked on the grass in the morning. :-) It was quite interesting since we had to fill up more time than the normal hour and we were pulling things out we hadn’t played since the fall tour. The folks there were so sweet and helped us pack up in a jiffy. We had a nice lunch and fellowshipped until it was time to head off to concert #2.
On the way over we saw our ‘old church’, actually, just the building. They had sold the building years ago. It brought back memories anyway…
And not more than 3 minutes away was this lovely old tree.
The church made up this cool sign..
And here is Bonnie documenting me taking pictures ….lol. She’s having a fun time with her camera. :-)
We had no time to eat afterward because we had 1 ½ hours to breakdown, load, get the next church and set up. Did I mention the next church was half an hour away? :-) Some of the folks made up some food packages and sent them with us. Very sweet of them! We arrived, got set up on time and did our third concert of the day. We ended up staying for the Yankee swap and didn’t get home until just after 9:30pm. Phew. A nice full day.
I started getting a headache during the last concert but didn’t actually start feeling sick until we got home. :- / All day Monday I was in bed with flu like symptoms. Food smelled repulsive and I lived on 5 crackers and water until noon time today. I feel MUCH better now. I’m so thankful I didn’t come down with this on Sunday morning! That would have been, um, interesting. I was feeling nauseated on Saturday night but I chalked it up to getting ‘car’ sick since I was practicing while we were driving. So anyway…I haven’t been near a computer until this afternoon. I’m making up for it now…ha! Praying no one else will get whatever I got...
December 15, 2006
I’m overwhelmed by God’s mercy and awed at His greatness. How great a love is this -that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. What wondrous love is this! Jesus went to the cross willingly, laying down His life willing for me, and for you. How many times today did you thank God for His gift of salvation? I don’t think it’s possible to over thank God for the Salvation we have in Christ. Some of the world will be celebrating Christmas in a little while. Never forget that Jesus did not stay a helpless babe in a manger. He grew up, went on to live a sinless life, perform many miracles and eventually died on a cruel cross. 11 of the 12 disciples were killed, martyrs for Christ. Are you willing to follow Jesus whatever the cost?
December 09, 2006
I’m suppose to be writing a post and I keep getting side tracked! In part to the site I’m going to mention next….
For all the home school grads who don’t know yet, this is a neat site. (Edit: Sorry! I did forget to put in the clickable link. Oops!) HomeschoolAlumni.com is a place to meet and greet the graduated home school population. It’s free to register and pretty painless. Just be warned, it’s addictive!
Last night, in Vermont we got stuck! How’s that for real life adventure? : D
We were on the way to a music shop and since there were no available parking spots by the store we drove down this hill. Dad thought he could make the turn and get into the big parking lot across the way.
Obviously, we didn’t.
A police officer was just a little ways behind us and had his lights almost immediately. A man from the fire dept. came and he had a milk create filled with blocks. Turns out they, along with our jacks weren’t enough to get us out and a wrecker was called. If we had more wood it would have been plausible that we could have dug ourselves out. However, there was no place open to buy wood and we don’t carry THAT much wood with us. : P
The wrecker guy pulled out a BIG chain after the fist chain broke. You can't really see the contrast very well in the picture but, it was pretty big.
After we were unstuck we found the left side of the bus wouldn’t air up. We might have spent a night or so up in Vermont if Vincent hadn’t jacked up the bus which made the air bags reseat. *phew!* Vincent is the coolest bro. :-) I’m very partial but, it‘s true! Thanks Vincent for all your hard work.
Afterward we walked back over to the music store for about 7 minutes and Peter tried out some cool mandolins. They closed and we walked back to the bus, very happy to be on the way back to a working bus.
We walked back through a parking garage and at the bottom, were neatly stacked blankets and a man spreading out a sleeping bag. Ouch. That was a painful reminder that many people don’t have a nice warm house to go back to and that made me reflect even more on the bountiful blessings I’ve been given.
For all the home school grads who don’t know yet, this is a neat site. (Edit: Sorry! I did forget to put in the clickable link. Oops!) HomeschoolAlumni.com is a place to meet and greet the graduated home school population. It’s free to register and pretty painless. Just be warned, it’s addictive!
Last night, in Vermont we got stuck! How’s that for real life adventure? : D
We were on the way to a music shop and since there were no available parking spots by the store we drove down this hill. Dad thought he could make the turn and get into the big parking lot across the way.
Obviously, we didn’t.
A police officer was just a little ways behind us and had his lights almost immediately. A man from the fire dept. came and he had a milk create filled with blocks. Turns out they, along with our jacks weren’t enough to get us out and a wrecker was called. If we had more wood it would have been plausible that we could have dug ourselves out. However, there was no place open to buy wood and we don’t carry THAT much wood with us. : P
The wrecker guy pulled out a BIG chain after the fist chain broke. You can't really see the contrast very well in the picture but, it was pretty big.
After we were unstuck we found the left side of the bus wouldn’t air up. We might have spent a night or so up in Vermont if Vincent hadn’t jacked up the bus which made the air bags reseat. *phew!* Vincent is the coolest bro. :-) I’m very partial but, it‘s true! Thanks Vincent for all your hard work.
Afterward we walked back over to the music store for about 7 minutes and Peter tried out some cool mandolins. They closed and we walked back to the bus, very happy to be on the way back to a working bus.
We walked back through a parking garage and at the bottom, were neatly stacked blankets and a man spreading out a sleeping bag. Ouch. That was a painful reminder that many people don’t have a nice warm house to go back to and that made me reflect even more on the bountiful blessings I’ve been given.
December 06, 2006
This was running through my head this evening....
And, Kendra tagged me so, here we go……
A - Available/Single? Single? Available sounds fishy.
B - Best Friend? ~Bonnie~
C - Cake or Pie? Pie. (Apple is good.)
D - Drink Of Choice? Water. Oh you mean besides that? Then it would be mocha with chocolate chips melting at the bottom. That’s good stuff.
E - Essential Item You Use Everyday? Glasses. I’m nearly blind without them (or contacts).
F - Favorite Color? Red!
G - Gummy Bears Or Worms? Gummy Bears.
H - Hair Style? Up in hair sticks, clips or out. I’ve given up braiding for now….
I - Indulgence? Sleeping until 8:00 am.
J - January Or February? January.
K - Kids & Their Names? I don’t have any.
L - Life Is Incomplete Without? God and family.
M - Marriage Date? Since I’m not married it would be pretty hard to know now, would it not?
N- Number Of Siblings? 7, 2 sisters and 5 brothers
O - Oranges Or Apples? I like both.
P - Phobias/Fears? Is there a word for being afraid of computer viruses? :-)
Q - Favorite Quote? Romans 8:28
R - Reason to Smile- My sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus! PTL!
S - Season? Do I have to pick??? Right now a nice snowy winter sounds fun but, very impractical.
T - Tag Three People? Anna, Bonnie and Kim
U - Unknown Fact About Me? I didn’t know how to make chicken soup when I was about 12. Mom said to drain the broth. I did, right down the drain. : D
V - Vegetable you don't like? Okra.
W - Worst Habit? Saying yes to too many things.
X - X-rays You've Had? I’ve never counted. Not something I keep tabs on ya know…..
Y - Your Favorite Food? Pizza.
Z - Zodiac Sign? Don’t know, don’t care.
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1a NIV
And, Kendra tagged me so, here we go……
A - Available/Single? Single? Available sounds fishy.
B - Best Friend? ~Bonnie~
C - Cake or Pie? Pie. (Apple is good.)
D - Drink Of Choice? Water. Oh you mean besides that? Then it would be mocha with chocolate chips melting at the bottom. That’s good stuff.
E - Essential Item You Use Everyday? Glasses. I’m nearly blind without them (or contacts).
F - Favorite Color? Red!
G - Gummy Bears Or Worms? Gummy Bears.
H - Hair Style? Up in hair sticks, clips or out. I’ve given up braiding for now….
I - Indulgence? Sleeping until 8:00 am.
J - January Or February? January.
K - Kids & Their Names? I don’t have any.
L - Life Is Incomplete Without? God and family.
M - Marriage Date? Since I’m not married it would be pretty hard to know now, would it not?
N- Number Of Siblings? 7, 2 sisters and 5 brothers
O - Oranges Or Apples? I like both.
P - Phobias/Fears? Is there a word for being afraid of computer viruses? :-)
Q - Favorite Quote? Romans 8:28
R - Reason to Smile- My sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus! PTL!
S - Season? Do I have to pick??? Right now a nice snowy winter sounds fun but, very impractical.
T - Tag Three People? Anna, Bonnie and Kim
U - Unknown Fact About Me? I didn’t know how to make chicken soup when I was about 12. Mom said to drain the broth. I did, right down the drain. : D
V - Vegetable you don't like? Okra.
W - Worst Habit? Saying yes to too many things.
X - X-rays You've Had? I’ve never counted. Not something I keep tabs on ya know…..
Y - Your Favorite Food? Pizza.
Z - Zodiac Sign? Don’t know, don’t care.
December 05, 2006
I went out to photograph the dusting of snow and this little guy was just sitting there posing for me. ;-)
- Note the snow on the leaves! - :D
And if anyone wants to know how the concert went yesterday you can keep reading. (I left the house in such a hurry I forgot to bring the camera. No pics.)
We’ve decided to erase yesterday from the calendar! : P
I was at work from 1pm-5pmish. I got back in enough time to get concert clothes together, grab my violin and jump on the bus. We get there and start setting up. Where is the trumpet and the saw?! (Yeah, we bring a saw with us.) Apparently no one thought to bring them since the person who normally makes double checks wasn’t home. No trumpet means no brass selections and we have to revamp the whole program. The presets were not made for our new songs and dad practically has a heart attack trying to get our voices and millions (hyperbole) of instruments mixed correctly. Peter’s mic ran out of batteries and he had to use another mic. Anyone who runs sound knows how hard it is when mics get all switched around! So, we had many pauses since on one knew which song was coming next! After doing a program for 9 weeks+ it gets hard to into another groove. (I was adlibbing the emcee stuff in-between too. Ahhh!! I don’t like doing that! I’m seriously glad no one recorded anything…) Right before the last song my mic dies. It had that dreadful dead battery syndrome. (Btw, I do like my new wireless, A LOT! But, it doesn’t work very well dead. :-) ) Some of us start off with Silent Night and one of the duet people start singing words from all verses and dreadfully mispronouncing some words apparently oblivious to the fact we had words on the music stand! Finally the concert ended, thankfully before we messed up on anything else. *sigh* I don’t know if you all wanted to hear all that…lol. It was one of ’those’ concerts. :-)
We are thanking the Lord for a safe trip there and back. The snow decided to come today instead of yesterday and it was just a dusting. It was quite pretty to watch falling though. :-)
We get another chance at getting things ’right’ tomorrow. : P Pray dad is able to get the presets set tomorrow. It normally takes weeks to get them just like we want them and we only have 10 more concerts of this program. We would like to have this done and set soon!
- Note the snow on the leaves! - :D
And if anyone wants to know how the concert went yesterday you can keep reading. (I left the house in such a hurry I forgot to bring the camera. No pics.)
We’ve decided to erase yesterday from the calendar! : P
I was at work from 1pm-5pmish. I got back in enough time to get concert clothes together, grab my violin and jump on the bus. We get there and start setting up. Where is the trumpet and the saw?! (Yeah, we bring a saw with us.) Apparently no one thought to bring them since the person who normally makes double checks wasn’t home. No trumpet means no brass selections and we have to revamp the whole program. The presets were not made for our new songs and dad practically has a heart attack trying to get our voices and millions (hyperbole) of instruments mixed correctly. Peter’s mic ran out of batteries and he had to use another mic. Anyone who runs sound knows how hard it is when mics get all switched around! So, we had many pauses since on one knew which song was coming next! After doing a program for 9 weeks+ it gets hard to into another groove. (I was adlibbing the emcee stuff in-between too. Ahhh!! I don’t like doing that! I’m seriously glad no one recorded anything…) Right before the last song my mic dies. It had that dreadful dead battery syndrome. (Btw, I do like my new wireless, A LOT! But, it doesn’t work very well dead. :-) ) Some of us start off with Silent Night and one of the duet people start singing words from all verses and dreadfully mispronouncing some words apparently oblivious to the fact we had words on the music stand! Finally the concert ended, thankfully before we messed up on anything else. *sigh* I don’t know if you all wanted to hear all that…lol. It was one of ’those’ concerts. :-)
We are thanking the Lord for a safe trip there and back. The snow decided to come today instead of yesterday and it was just a dusting. It was quite pretty to watch falling though. :-)
We get another chance at getting things ’right’ tomorrow. : P Pray dad is able to get the presets set tomorrow. It normally takes weeks to get them just like we want them and we only have 10 more concerts of this program. We would like to have this done and set soon!
December 02, 2006
I'm so glad tonight is over with!! :D
The band Vincent, Bonnie and I play in had their concert this evening. Our family did 20 minutes at intermission. I was nervous! It's a good thing I don't feel like that before every concert.
The concert was held in a new place and we had hardly any room to set up.
We ended up on the side, way on the right in the picture. (You can see the bass there.)
Some guy asked Daniel after the concert,
“So, where do you go from here?”
Daniel said, “Home, Orange.”
The guy said “OH! I thought you were from Kentucky, with all that bluegrass.” :-P
We were trying out some new mics tonight so there was some added stress over that, but the concert went as well as could be expected. Before we sang I didn’t have a good feeling about the concert. My thoughts were something like... ‘if I mess up in front of all these people who know me this is going to be so embarrassing!’ But even though I made mistakes and everything wasn’t perfect from the comments I got after I knew the Lord had been working. Praise God! He’s awesome and deserves all the glory for anything good!!
Here’s Bonnie and me. Our yearly picture together. :-)
I put someone in charge of pictures and they got very few pictures, particularly of Bonnie and Vincent since they were burried in the band.....
Bonnie's head is right above the music.
And that's Vincent! Can you see him?!
The man with our mic is Mr. Cass. He emceed for the night.
1 concert down, 11 to go! It's suppose to snow Sunday-Monday and we're suppose to sing in Barre on Monday night. Praying for good roads!
The band Vincent, Bonnie and I play in had their concert this evening. Our family did 20 minutes at intermission. I was nervous! It's a good thing I don't feel like that before every concert.
The concert was held in a new place and we had hardly any room to set up.
We ended up on the side, way on the right in the picture. (You can see the bass there.)
Some guy asked Daniel after the concert,
“So, where do you go from here?”
Daniel said, “Home, Orange.”
The guy said “OH! I thought you were from Kentucky, with all that bluegrass.” :-P
We were trying out some new mics tonight so there was some added stress over that, but the concert went as well as could be expected. Before we sang I didn’t have a good feeling about the concert. My thoughts were something like... ‘if I mess up in front of all these people who know me this is going to be so embarrassing!’ But even though I made mistakes and everything wasn’t perfect from the comments I got after I knew the Lord had been working. Praise God! He’s awesome and deserves all the glory for anything good!!
Here’s Bonnie and me. Our yearly picture together. :-)
I put someone in charge of pictures and they got very few pictures, particularly of Bonnie and Vincent since they were burried in the band.....
Bonnie's head is right above the music.
And that's Vincent! Can you see him?!
The man with our mic is Mr. Cass. He emceed for the night.
1 concert down, 11 to go! It's suppose to snow Sunday-Monday and we're suppose to sing in Barre on Monday night. Praying for good roads!
November 28, 2006
Oh dear, dear….
I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing today. It’s not like I didn’t do anything, it just feels like I didn’t do anything. :-P Yesterday was so busy and today just wasn't.
Last night band rehearsal was quite interesting. On the ride home my lips felt numb. : D Our concert is on Saturday and I have a lot of work to do. :-/
So, back to today - after making supper, to drown out my I-did-nothing-today-blues (LOL), I melted half a large piece of chocolate with butter and mixed in roughly two scoops of instant coffee granules. It’s not quite chocolate cover coffee beans but it sure hit the spot. ;-) If you spread this trio out on wax paper it hardens to a softer kind of hard chocolate and it’s very addictive. : D I’m wondering if I’ll be able to sleep tonight…..ummm.....
I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing today. It’s not like I didn’t do anything, it just feels like I didn’t do anything. :-P Yesterday was so busy and today just wasn't.
Last night band rehearsal was quite interesting. On the ride home my lips felt numb. : D Our concert is on Saturday and I have a lot of work to do. :-/
So, back to today - after making supper, to drown out my I-did-nothing-today-blues (LOL), I melted half a large piece of chocolate with butter and mixed in roughly two scoops of instant coffee granules. It’s not quite chocolate cover coffee beans but it sure hit the spot. ;-) If you spread this trio out on wax paper it hardens to a softer kind of hard chocolate and it’s very addictive. : D I’m wondering if I’ll be able to sleep tonight…..ummm.....
November 27, 2006
November 24, 2006
Twas’ the day after Thanksgiving….
Toady we visited that little room an hour away and spent a good amount of time recording and a good amount of time eating Thanksgiving leftovers. :-)
I’m realizing how badly I need to practice and how the ears of the audiences must hurt by the time I’m done playing. :-/ Violin is a time consuming instrument and MUST be given attention if I want to continue playing. :-P I was thinking how life would be different if I would spend less time on things that are useless (but entertaining!) and more time on lasting things. I guess I should know that by now that practicing should outweigh computer and quilting time. :-P
Well, It’s getting late….before I go….
Isn’t this a cute baby!??
No, he isn’t ours. :-( This is the new baby of the Wiebe family! R. Garret Wiebe is 3 weeks old and as cute as button. He was smiling like crazy. :-)
Toady we visited that little room an hour away and spent a good amount of time recording and a good amount of time eating Thanksgiving leftovers. :-)
I’m realizing how badly I need to practice and how the ears of the audiences must hurt by the time I’m done playing. :-/ Violin is a time consuming instrument and MUST be given attention if I want to continue playing. :-P I was thinking how life would be different if I would spend less time on things that are useless (but entertaining!) and more time on lasting things. I guess I should know that by now that practicing should outweigh computer and quilting time. :-P
Well, It’s getting late….before I go….
Isn’t this a cute baby!??
No, he isn’t ours. :-( This is the new baby of the Wiebe family! R. Garret Wiebe is 3 weeks old and as cute as button. He was smiling like crazy. :-)
November 22, 2006
November 17, 2006
No, I haven’t died. I think I might have ‘bloggers block.’ I’ve been woefully uninspired to blog since we’ve been home. Post trip blues? Nah. I’ve been enjoying being home. Every minute! Even the part where I caught a cold from Bonnie and Nathan. How fun is that?! : D If I would stop going to bed at late hours I might recover. ;-)
I’ve been doing a lot of quilt piecing recently! I have color coordinated fabric stacked in bins sitting on my floor and the temptation is just too much. :D I have a sewing machine in working order, a desk, and an iron. I’m a happy camper. :-) I’ve been working this pattern. I made some stupid, not-thinking mistakes while cutting and first one and had to scrap it. It was NOT salvageable! I’ll probably use it for paper piecing (my new favorite quilting technique besides appliqué). I’ll have to explain paper piecing but not now. Anyway, after finishing the second one I knew I wanted to make more.
I’ve got 16 fan bunches done and two completed blocks.
This going to be great. It’s my first appliqué and it’s way easier than I thought this type of quilting would be. The curve on the fan would have scared me stiff before but now that I know how it's done it's not difficult. Mom’s starting to talk about making a quilt now. :-) We're rubbing off on her.
I put new strings on my violin and there is a WORLD of a difference. It’s absolutely wonderful and I’m so excited about practicing. It’s sounds luscious. I can’t wait a year to change strings again!
Don't forget to check out this auction. It's hilarious! Then again, maybe not.
I’ve been doing a lot of quilt piecing recently! I have color coordinated fabric stacked in bins sitting on my floor and the temptation is just too much. :D I have a sewing machine in working order, a desk, and an iron. I’m a happy camper. :-) I’ve been working this pattern. I made some stupid, not-thinking mistakes while cutting and first one and had to scrap it. It was NOT salvageable! I’ll probably use it for paper piecing (my new favorite quilting technique besides appliqué). I’ll have to explain paper piecing but not now. Anyway, after finishing the second one I knew I wanted to make more.
I’ve got 16 fan bunches done and two completed blocks.
This going to be great. It’s my first appliqué and it’s way easier than I thought this type of quilting would be. The curve on the fan would have scared me stiff before but now that I know how it's done it's not difficult. Mom’s starting to talk about making a quilt now. :-) We're rubbing off on her.
I put new strings on my violin and there is a WORLD of a difference. It’s absolutely wonderful and I’m so excited about practicing. It’s sounds luscious. I can’t wait a year to change strings again!
Don't forget to check out this auction. It's hilarious! Then again, maybe not.
November 15, 2006
And time goes on....
It's amazing how fast it goes....
There is a time for everything; and season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
It's amazing how fast it goes....
There is a time for everything; and season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
November 11, 2006
This is the very last installment of our fall 2006 tour. I have been enjoying being home so much that I neglected to post this… :)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Picking up on Tuesday….
We were at the K’s house Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We rakes leaves, had a bonfire, set off firecrackers, sang together, leaned about Chinooks, saw Susanna’s new sewing machine, looked at Abigail and Susanna’s quilts, cooked, played games, painted, did a concert at a nursing home, stuffed envelopes, watched Hogan’s Heroes, and went to Valley Forge!
The fall colors here were brilliant in spots! Fall colors seems to be late in coming this year which is fine by us! Usually the trees are bare or very bare by now.
Valley Forge National Park was quite interesting. It was doubly interesting having Mrs. K along as our personal tour guide. She has so much information to share. (If you are a Kocher you may skip this part.) We learned that the soldiers were there from January - June. The original number of troops stationed there was 12,000 and it shrunk to 6,000 by the end of that winter, 1778. The winter was not unusually cold but any winter would be miserable without proper shoes and clothing. The ill equipped men were instructed to construct huts. There were 12 men per hut. Imagine living with 11 other people in a hut with the winter weather right outside! (And we think the bus is cramped? At least we can get out once in a while and we‘re not freezing cold or hungry!) Disease and hunger were not an unusual thing at Valley Forge. Approximately 2,000 men died that winter. When ill many preferred not to voice their aliments, and suffered in silence since they would be removed from their familiar surroundings and brought to a hospital were the mortality rate was very high. When the winter ended supplies were more readily available and the size of the troops swelled to 20,000.
Daniel, filling in for Mr. Washington. ;-)
A recreation of the huts built by Washington’s men.
Oliver checking out the bunks at my request.
A canon on the park grounds.
The kids and Oliver and William K. in front of the arch.
Mom and Bonnie.
We were able to visit the very house that Washington and his aids operated from during their stay in Valley Forge.
Washington’s house.
They said everything was as faithfully recreated as possible, right down to the paint color!
1/3 of the furniture was from that time period.
The banister is original!
Friday we headed over to our concert in Glouster City. We fondly remember this church as the ‘pink church’. The sanctuary is painted, um, you guessed it, PINK!
We have only one more morning in the bus!! Two if you count Monday.
Dad’s eye seems to be holding. He hasn’t complained about it recently. Thank the Lord!
We sang on Saturday night and they gave us all the balloons, about 30 of them. It was quite interesting! We were already crowded and they didn’t help. Lol
The Ks came to hear us on Sunday morning! I told myself, um, not to expect them; that way, um, we wouldn’t be disappointed. We actually, um, got to talk after lunch without a gazillion little ears. It was, um, fun. :-) We sat in the, um, preschool classroom. How, um, appropriate! Not for the rest of the sophisticated ladies I was privileged to accompany, um, but for me. ;-) (Inside ‘um’ joke with JJK! Sorry to everyone else if it‘s difficult to read!)
Our parting picture….:-)
(The sun was bright!)
Our finally concert was in Mantua! We had a scrumptious thanksgiving dinner right before we sang. LOL Not always a good idea to fill up right before you sing. :-) The concert went fine though.
Right before we left for HOME!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Picking up on Tuesday….
We were at the K’s house Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We rakes leaves, had a bonfire, set off firecrackers, sang together, leaned about Chinooks, saw Susanna’s new sewing machine, looked at Abigail and Susanna’s quilts, cooked, played games, painted, did a concert at a nursing home, stuffed envelopes, watched Hogan’s Heroes, and went to Valley Forge!
The fall colors here were brilliant in spots! Fall colors seems to be late in coming this year which is fine by us! Usually the trees are bare or very bare by now.
Valley Forge National Park was quite interesting. It was doubly interesting having Mrs. K along as our personal tour guide. She has so much information to share. (If you are a Kocher you may skip this part.) We learned that the soldiers were there from January - June. The original number of troops stationed there was 12,000 and it shrunk to 6,000 by the end of that winter, 1778. The winter was not unusually cold but any winter would be miserable without proper shoes and clothing. The ill equipped men were instructed to construct huts. There were 12 men per hut. Imagine living with 11 other people in a hut with the winter weather right outside! (And we think the bus is cramped? At least we can get out once in a while and we‘re not freezing cold or hungry!) Disease and hunger were not an unusual thing at Valley Forge. Approximately 2,000 men died that winter. When ill many preferred not to voice their aliments, and suffered in silence since they would be removed from their familiar surroundings and brought to a hospital were the mortality rate was very high. When the winter ended supplies were more readily available and the size of the troops swelled to 20,000.
Daniel, filling in for Mr. Washington. ;-)
A recreation of the huts built by Washington’s men.
Oliver checking out the bunks at my request.
A canon on the park grounds.
The kids and Oliver and William K. in front of the arch.
Mom and Bonnie.
We were able to visit the very house that Washington and his aids operated from during their stay in Valley Forge.
Washington’s house.
They said everything was as faithfully recreated as possible, right down to the paint color!
1/3 of the furniture was from that time period.
The banister is original!
Friday we headed over to our concert in Glouster City. We fondly remember this church as the ‘pink church’. The sanctuary is painted, um, you guessed it, PINK!
We have only one more morning in the bus!! Two if you count Monday.
Dad’s eye seems to be holding. He hasn’t complained about it recently. Thank the Lord!
We sang on Saturday night and they gave us all the balloons, about 30 of them. It was quite interesting! We were already crowded and they didn’t help. Lol
The Ks came to hear us on Sunday morning! I told myself, um, not to expect them; that way, um, we wouldn’t be disappointed. We actually, um, got to talk after lunch without a gazillion little ears. It was, um, fun. :-) We sat in the, um, preschool classroom. How, um, appropriate! Not for the rest of the sophisticated ladies I was privileged to accompany, um, but for me. ;-) (Inside ‘um’ joke with JJK! Sorry to everyone else if it‘s difficult to read!)
Our parting picture….:-)
(The sun was bright!)
Our finally concert was in Mantua! We had a scrumptious thanksgiving dinner right before we sang. LOL Not always a good idea to fill up right before you sing. :-) The concert went fine though.
Right before we left for HOME!
November 08, 2006
I really should update....
I haven't put my laptop on-line since we've been home. :O) I almost feel proud of that! We've been busy settling back in. The one thing that hit me this time was the quiet. It is sooo quiet at night.
I pulled out the oboe this afternoon. Oh ouch. My mouth is so out of shape and band starts Monday!
It's surprisingly warm. It's 55 degrees! Very unusual for November. We certainly came back the right week. :D
This isn't a very substantial blog. But I'm going to sign off because Bonnie made pizza and it's time to eat. (Plus, I'm not very inspired to write tonight! :-p)
Edit:
How well do you know me? Quiz is ready to be taken...
CLICK HERE
I should be sleeping right now. Yep. Goodnight.
I haven't put my laptop on-line since we've been home. :O) I almost feel proud of that! We've been busy settling back in. The one thing that hit me this time was the quiet. It is sooo quiet at night.
I pulled out the oboe this afternoon. Oh ouch. My mouth is so out of shape and band starts Monday!
It's surprisingly warm. It's 55 degrees! Very unusual for November. We certainly came back the right week. :D
This isn't a very substantial blog. But I'm going to sign off because Bonnie made pizza and it's time to eat. (Plus, I'm not very inspired to write tonight! :-p)
Edit:
How well do you know me? Quiz is ready to be taken...
CLICK HERE
I should be sleeping right now. Yep. Goodnight.
November 05, 2006
Oh I guess I'm lazy. I have a whole post about our stay in PA and Valley Forge but I'm not quite finished with it yet and I don't want to work on it now. Get this...WE'RE GOING HOME TOMORROW!!!!!! I am SOOOOOOO excited. :D
I feel like my hyper cousin in China. ;-) (I love you Bri!)
LOL....anyhooo...
We have one more concert tonight and then we're going home. Did I mention we're going home?
:D
I feel like my hyper cousin in China. ;-) (I love you Bri!)
LOL....anyhooo...
We have one more concert tonight and then we're going home. Did I mention we're going home?
:D
October 31, 2006
I wrote this last night….so the countdown is 6 days now, not 7. :-P We're also not as Keswick anymore....
************************************************************
Day: Monday
Time: 6:48pm
HOME countdown: 7 days
Place: America’s Keswick, Whiting, NJ
Mood: TIRED
I’ll pick up with last week……
Wednesday night we sang in West Hopewell, VA at a larger sized Presbyterian church. That went pretty well. It’s an adjustment coming back to the quiet north after being in the warm and outgoing south.
They had a nice big sanctuary. I like playing in bouncy rooms. :-D
The emcee ‘interviewed’ Daniel and Nathan publicly in between our singing. LOL. I don’t remember any good quotes but, the boys were cute. :-)
We headed over to Dover, DE Thursday and spent the night at Wal-Mart. What frustrates me is when my computer says there is unsecured WiFi and it doesn’t work!! This happened to me Friday night at Wal-Mart. (It’s happening here at Keswick too. : p )
We sang at our normal place in Dover, Modern Maturity Center on Friday. There must have been 600 seniors there, making it the largest audience we’ve sung for on this trip. :-)
After we stopped on that dark and rainy night at the Flying J we traveled up to park in the driveway of our friends in Mantua, NJ.
The rain on the windshield was interesting…..
We stayed Saturday and practiced some new brass arrangements in the church. *Ehem* I’m sure glad there wasn’t anyone else around. LOL. I did awful…. The Sunday School rooms were great for individual practice.
That night Pastor Rich and Naomi took us out to Old Country Buffet. The food was delicious and the restaurant was crowded! There were people everywhere. Half the fun was dodging the people on the way over to the buffet tables. : D
On Sunday we sang twice. See Bonnie’s blog for locations.
When the Kochers walked into the church Sunday afternoon it was like dejavu all over again! Wow….memories! We had food, fellowship and music at their house after church. FuN! That kitchen sink brought back memories too…hehe…..I did have much time to think aboub it since the boys washed the dished for the ladies that night. :-)
We actually said goodbye and goodnight at a decent hour and marched out to the bus. :-)
A house at night. Anyone want to guess whos house this is?!
This morning we left and went to Toms River, NJ. We sang for a banquet at Holiday Inn. I’d never been to Holiday Inn before. We arrived at 11:00 am and set up. We had until 12:45pm to get ready to sing. When we went in at quarter to one they weren’t ready for us. Apparently the meal was taking longer than they thought. :-/ So, we sat and stood around in the hallway for a loong time. It was boring so we took pictures to amuse ourselves.
Peter….. posing at the sign in table out side the ‘grand ballroom‘…supposedly signing an important document. :-)
Pretty marble floors. :-)
Bonnie’s trying to be serious. We took a lot because she kept smiling!
Bonnie in the big ole chair…
Getting ready to go in…YAY!
The concert went really well, except when Hannah’s violin string detuned all the way, she just kept going! Oh and they fed us afterward. Well worth the wait. :-)
The boys were boys and got tired of using their napkins in the traditional way. Thankfully everyone else in the room had left at this point!
Behold the masked boys!
One more thing…this evening someone over heard Peter saying; “Aren’t popsicles vegetables?” For some reason that made me laugh. Yup. Tired and ready to go home. :-)
************************************************************
Day: Monday
Time: 6:48pm
HOME countdown: 7 days
Place: America’s Keswick, Whiting, NJ
Mood: TIRED
I’ll pick up with last week……
Wednesday night we sang in West Hopewell, VA at a larger sized Presbyterian church. That went pretty well. It’s an adjustment coming back to the quiet north after being in the warm and outgoing south.
They had a nice big sanctuary. I like playing in bouncy rooms. :-D
The emcee ‘interviewed’ Daniel and Nathan publicly in between our singing. LOL. I don’t remember any good quotes but, the boys were cute. :-)
We headed over to Dover, DE Thursday and spent the night at Wal-Mart. What frustrates me is when my computer says there is unsecured WiFi and it doesn’t work!! This happened to me Friday night at Wal-Mart. (It’s happening here at Keswick too. : p )
We sang at our normal place in Dover, Modern Maturity Center on Friday. There must have been 600 seniors there, making it the largest audience we’ve sung for on this trip. :-)
After we stopped on that dark and rainy night at the Flying J we traveled up to park in the driveway of our friends in Mantua, NJ.
The rain on the windshield was interesting…..
We stayed Saturday and practiced some new brass arrangements in the church. *Ehem* I’m sure glad there wasn’t anyone else around. LOL. I did awful…. The Sunday School rooms were great for individual practice.
That night Pastor Rich and Naomi took us out to Old Country Buffet. The food was delicious and the restaurant was crowded! There were people everywhere. Half the fun was dodging the people on the way over to the buffet tables. : D
On Sunday we sang twice. See Bonnie’s blog for locations.
When the Kochers walked into the church Sunday afternoon it was like dejavu all over again! Wow….memories! We had food, fellowship and music at their house after church. FuN! That kitchen sink brought back memories too…hehe…..I did have much time to think aboub it since the boys washed the dished for the ladies that night. :-)
We actually said goodbye and goodnight at a decent hour and marched out to the bus. :-)
A house at night. Anyone want to guess whos house this is?!
This morning we left and went to Toms River, NJ. We sang for a banquet at Holiday Inn. I’d never been to Holiday Inn before. We arrived at 11:00 am and set up. We had until 12:45pm to get ready to sing. When we went in at quarter to one they weren’t ready for us. Apparently the meal was taking longer than they thought. :-/ So, we sat and stood around in the hallway for a loong time. It was boring so we took pictures to amuse ourselves.
Peter….. posing at the sign in table out side the ‘grand ballroom‘…supposedly signing an important document. :-)
Pretty marble floors. :-)
Bonnie’s trying to be serious. We took a lot because she kept smiling!
Bonnie in the big ole chair…
Getting ready to go in…YAY!
The concert went really well, except when Hannah’s violin string detuned all the way, she just kept going! Oh and they fed us afterward. Well worth the wait. :-)
The boys were boys and got tired of using their napkins in the traditional way. Thankfully everyone else in the room had left at this point!
Behold the masked boys!
One more thing…this evening someone over heard Peter saying; “Aren’t popsicles vegetables?” For some reason that made me laugh. Yup. Tired and ready to go home. :-)
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