This Whirlwind We Call Life

Whirlwind is the only appropriate word I can think of to describe life at the moment.  I know I say it every time, but life is busy.  It has been so busy I wonder sometimes if it's all really worth it.  (Of course, I know it is, but you know, when you're tired you ask yourself silly questions.)  I have been intending to blog for some time now, and it just hasn't happened.  Well, it's happening now, and I shall attempt to sum up the last few weeks and the next few so as to update you on this whirlwind we call life.  

I can't even remember where I left off on my last post... *goes and checks*  Oh my goodness!!  It's been over a month!!!  Oops...

At the end of October/start of November, we had our family church camp.  As always, it was wonderful.  Our pastor asked me and another guy,Jeremy, to organize the games for the Saturday seeing as we had both been to kids camp a few weeks before.  We agreed and got together to organize it.  I have to say it was rather amusing as we are both very laid back and organizing isn't a strong point for either of us (although I think I do have the upper hand in that department out of the two of us!  XD)  We sat there for a bit and for the life of us could only remember two or three games from kids camp and we weren't sure how they would apply to a big group.  In the end, we scrapped kids camp inspiration and came up with our own ideas, even taking a couple of games and putting our own twist on them and making up our own rules to make them work for 50+ people.  It didn't go too badly at all.  Capture the flag was the hit game of the day.  We had four teams (Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green) and so there were two colours to a side for each round of the game.  Jeremy insisted on swapping the teams around every round of the game though, so as not to create any animosity between people of any two colour teams.  I have to say, that amused me somewhat.

Just in front of the sand, near the logs on the left
is where we have church by the lake.  Isn't it beautiful??
(Picture from the Generate Church Website)

On Sunday morning, we always have church by the lake at camp.  Because we are down by the lake, we have water baptisms there every year.  This year I decided to be water baptised.  Our pastor asked me if I would share my testimony with the church as well.  I agreed, but I was rather nervous.  I won't repeat it all here, but if you are interested in reading it, I wrote it all in a guest post over at Fullness of Joy.  What you read on the post is more than what I shared with the church.  I did intend to share most of it when I got up, but then I had a microphone in one hand and couldn't open my paper with the other because I was shaking too much!  So I said the main points as I could remember them, and I think it went exactly the way God wanted it, even if it wasn't what I had planned.  People told me afterwards that I spoke well and didn't sound or look nervous at all.  That was so encouraging!!  

The weekend after family camp, I had - wait for it! - another camp!!  This one was the kids camp out for our kids church, of which I am one of the leaders.  we were so pleased with the attendance and participation of the kids (we ended up with seven boys and seven girls.)  I was in charge of the food for the weekend and went shopping with co-leader Christy which was an experience all of it's own as we are like chalk and cheese with completely different personalities.  (Christy will write lists of lists she has to write, and I am like, "Oh, there were lesson plans for that??"  It is quite funny - we crack each other up!) 

The highlight of the weekend for me was on Saturday night when a few of the youth band came and did some worship with the kids.  We were so grateful and blessed to have them come - a couple of them even postponed plans they already had for the evening just to come and minister to the children.  To those of you who did that, I know you probably won't ever read this, but your selfless actions blew me away - your kingdom focus is amazing and I thankyou all from the bottom of my heart.  I know that the leaders and kids alike were incredibly blessed by the way you served us and the Lord.  

While we were all sitting in a circle singing along to the acoustic guitars, we got to the bit in Hosanna  where it says:

Heal my heart and make it clean,

Open up my eyes to the things unseen.

Show me how to love like you have loved me.

Break my heart for what breaks yours.

Everything I have for the kingdom's cause

As I walk from earth into eternity.

As those lines started the kids lifted up their voices and sang.  Yes, they sing other times, but this was worship and hearing their young voices singing out to their God to break their hearts for the things that break His, and committing themselves to the Kingdom of God, it brought tears to my eyes.  This is why we - my co-leaders and I - continue in kids ministry.  Hearing them worship that night puts it all in perspective.  When the presence of God comes and responds to the praise and the worship of children, you realize you have the key to changing the world.  Children respond to the presence of God, and God works powerfully  through them.  In our kids church, we have children who speak in tongues, children to have been baptised in the Holy Spirit, children who have seen visions from God and have learned to interpret them correctly, children who hear the prompting of the Holy Spirit and obey it, children who pray for the sick and see healing occur before their eyes, children whose hearts break to the point of tears when they learn of suffering and injustice.  And I don't believe that it is limited to our church - God is moving among the young people all over the planet.  Watch out world - there is an Army rising up who will stand for what they believe in, who aren't afraid of what people think, and who will shake the very foundations of hell.  

I see a generation, 
rising up to take their place,

With selfless faith...

The week after the camp out, I got really sick due to the fact that about five of the children who attended said camp were just recovering from some flu-bug thing.  It was really awful and had me flat on  my back for nearly four days.  Thankfully, I  recovered after that and Grace was the only other person in our house to really get it.  Not that those days were totally wasted... I watched all of the 2009 Emma and most of the BBC Mansfield Park in that time.  Emma  is my favourite Jane Austin - yes, even over Pride and Prejudice.  (I mean, who would want Mr. Darcy if you could have Mr. Knightly???  He is so kind and honourable, and he and Emma and Miss Bates and all the people from Highbury are such wonderful characters!)  

During all this time we have desperately been preparing for the church carols as well.  As well as being in the choir, I am the lead girl in one of the drama skits (we were a little short on people this year and several members of the choir are participating in multiple roles throughout the night!)  I have rehearsed one scene where I have to blow up at this guy who crashes into me by accident and breaks all the Christmas presents in my bags.  I really have trouble with this because I am pretty even-keel by nature and blowing up at people with sarcasm and a blaring temper is actually a challenge.  (Not that I am perfect by any means - I tend to react backhandedly when I get ticked off!)  On top of that, the guy who runs into me is played a good friend of ours and who I get along with really well.  Aaron is a funny man and we make each other laugh when we're not acting... I'm a hopeless case when we are -- especially when he calls me ma'am.  Do I look or sound like a ma'am to you???  No.  I didn't think so.  The other bit that makes me laugh is when I have to correct his grammar as part of the script.  I wanted to leave that part out, but Aaron said we should leave it in because his wife is a school teacher and will find that bit highly amusing.  "Just you wait," he told me. "You'll hear her giggle in the crowd!"

One part of the carols I am really looking forward to is the dress.  We try to theme each year differently, and this year the theme is rockabilly.  I was SO excited when I heard that, because it is my favourite era and style of dress... and it gave me a good excuse to buy a rockabilly dress.  It was a big decision for me because modest dresses are really hard to find for my height and build, and I wanted to be able to wear it again as I actually don't have any dresses in my

wardrobe at the moment.  Joy also wanted one and so we hit Ebay... and found exactly what we were looking for.  And yes, the dress pictured on the right there is mine.  Isn't it gorgeous??  I was so happy to find it!  Joy's is exactly the same but in a light blue.  There was also dark blue and white with black dots, but I liked the purple best which is odd because I'm not really a purple kind of girl.  :)  As of this moment, they are still currently making there way here from Hong Kong, but we are hoping they arrive very soon because we just can't wait to try them on!!  ^_^

Another thing that has been happening the last couple weeks is rehearsals for our nursing home ministry.  Our family joins with seven other people from our church and another girl every term and we go around to the nursing homes in town and entertain them... but it is so much more than entertainment.  We sing a combination of secular and Christian songs, because it is not about shoving the Gospel down their throats, but about being the hands and feet of Jesus and loving those people where they are at.  I always think that nursing homes are sad places... some of those dear old people are so overjoyed that we come and sing to them and talk with them because they never get visits from anyone else.  They get excited when we sing our Rock and Roll bracket because we dress up for swing dance and those who aren't singing dance.  Some of the patients join in as they can,but for others it brings back such precious memories of when they were younger.  Sometimes we sing a couple of old hymns like "Amazing Grace", "How Great Thou Art", "The Old Rugged Cross" and "It Is Well".  It amazes me every time how an elderly person can seem to be asleep, or be entirely unresponsive due to dementia, and yet know and sing along to every word of those hymns.  I have seen some of them break down and sob during those hymns, while others sit with tears running quietly down their wrinkled cheeks.  Others lean forward, enchanted by the thrill of the sweet, familiar lyrics.  These ones often have a glow of complete content and peace on their faces as they listen to words they may not have heard in decades...  

We have one more rehearsal before this round of concerts.  Needless to say, Christmas Carols are featuring in this term's run sheet.  The first concert is on Thursday week, and then the other two and on back to back eight days later.  

Joy and I are doing something very exciting this Sunday.  For the very first time, we are auditioning for the annual town stage production.  Remember how Mum and Dad played in the band for The Pirates of Penzance earlier in the year?  Well, for some unknown reason, the auditions for next year's show are happening before next year.  And the SATS show for 2016 is:  *drumroll please*

Joy and I are so excited, because even if we don't get a main role, we will be in the chorus which will be playing parts like munchkins, apple trees, poppies, and inhabitants of the Emerald City.  However we are auditioning for main roles first.  Joy is auditioning for Dorothy, and I... well... I can't make up my mind.  My plan ever since I learned of this production has been to audition for Glinda, but recently I have been second guessing myself.  I figured I am too tall for Dorothy and too young for Glinda, and so in the end I have decided to audition for them both and see what happens.  Mum says she thinks I suit the role of Glinda best out of the two roles.  I tend to agree, but I have practised the audition material for Dorothy as well, and I think playing Dorothy would be so much fun!  She also gets to sing Over the Rainbow.  :)  If you think of it, do pray for us to be courageous as we are rather nervous... and wish us a bit of luck too.  ;)

So as you can see, life has been crazy.  Between now and when we go away for holidays on the 21st of December, we have so much happening I wonder when we even get time to, you know... eat... or breathe...  I hope to get at least a couple more posts in before then, so fare thee well until then!  And always remember to live fully, give recklessly, love ceaselessly, hope eternally, and strive heavenward.  <3 <3

This Week: Day By Day - Thursday

Thursday is the day of the week that always strikes me because the week is nearly over.  Every week without fail, I will get to Thursday and think, "Wow!  It's Thursday already!  Where did the week go??"  Today was no different.

It kicked off with Mum waking me up again (you know staying up until midnight does not do any favours for my getting up habits...) and reminding me that we had a chiropractor appointment at 8:00.  We always like the early appointments because then it is out of the way and we can move on in the day.  I had been looking forward to this appointment for some time because it was a fortnight after the last one and I had been quite sore in my neck and back for about a week and a half but was determined to last out the fortnight.  I was also having some weird nerve twitching in my left foot where my toe would just start moving on its own accord.  Creepy, right???  I couldn't wait for Dr. C. to fix me up.

Dr. C always begins by sitting you in a chair and feeling your shoulders and neck with his hands to see what muscles are tight, or if there is anything out of place.  He spent a long time on my left shoulder today around the shoulder blade.  It was SO sore - Mum was sitting there laughing at the faces I was pulling.  She told Dr C that he needed a mirror on the opposite wall so he could see what expressions his patients were pulling.  "Oh no," he replied, "I can feel it."  He then felt in my neck and poked and prodded at the base of my skull.  That was really sore as well.  Then I had to get onto the table.  The thing pictured on the left is a chiropractic table, in case you didn't know what one looked like.  You stand on the platform-shelf thing at the bottom, and when the chiropractor pushes a button, it tips forward until you are lying flat on your stomach.  Then the Chiropractor uses his hands to feel where your neck or spine might be out of line and adjusts it all back to where it should be.  Because the table moves when he pushes down, he doesn't break anything - it just sounds worse because the table makes a terrific crunching noise with each push.  The I felt really good walking out of there today, but I have got really sore again since... will I last another two weeks until my next appointment?  We shall see...

In our Bible reading today, we read Joshua 14, about how Caleb went to Joshua to claim the lands that God had promised to him forty-five years beforehand.  It was really amazing just to see that Caleb - even in waiting forty-five years for his promise - was still confident in God.  His faith had never been stronger and although he was now eighty-five years old, he had not retired from God's work.  Oh that we would all do the same!

I got another email from Elizabeth today saying that she will be arriving on the bus tomorrow.  I am so excited!!  Apart from having a couple of families to stay where we have planned for a couple of weeks where to put people, etc., this is the first sleepover we have ever 'hosted'.  I am very much looking forward to it.  Now I have to recruit a few sisters to help me tidy up the bedroom so it is presentable for guests.  ;P  Just kidding (sort of).  It's not too bad, I guess, but it's the little corners that get out of hand and need attention now.  And it needs vacuuming.  And I will have to strip and remake Jess's bed so Elizabeth can sleep in it.  And the list is growing.  XD

 had piano students again this afternoon.  I love how God orchestrates things - I have a dream of one day adopting internationally, and here I am with three of my four students being Indian, Filipino, and Chinese!  The two Thursday girls are ten and eleven years old, and are progressing pretty well, but are still relatively at the beginning stage of learning piano.  I was really pleased with their progress this week, even if Miss-10 will forget to listen to her CD.  Grrr!  I keep telling her that it will help, but she forgets.  Every time.  Miss-11 made wonderful progress this week - I was so proud of her!  She earned two songs 'off'' and got two new ones to practise.  By the end of the lesson she already had one of them going quite well hands together, so I don't think it will take her long.

The rest of the evening just happened like normal.  I spoke to Jess on the phone.  She said it was a really busy day and she was really tired.  Please keep her in your prayers - she does tire very easily and the camps aren't always easy.

So it's another nearly midnight post!  Mum and I finished Sister Act about twenty minutes ago.  XD  One of my favourite quotes from that movie is when Deloris (aka Sister Mary Clarence) says to the nuns, "Remember, when you sing, you aren't just quacking - you are rejoicing!  You are singing to the Lord!"  (Note: in case you get the idea that Sister Act is a Christian movie, it's not.  It's set in a convent as a pop-star singer tries to hide after she witnesses a murder and awaits the time when she will be called upon in court.  There are adult references and some language, but the reason I love it - apart from the music! - is that is took a secular movie to show what the role of the church should be in the community!  It really touches my heart every tie I see it.)

I am cutting Thursday fine, aren't I???  (It's five to twelve...)

Here's a challenge for you... Or I guess it's actually one for me:  Leave a comment with a word I have to use in tomorrow's post.  I'm sure I'll regret it tomorrow, but I'll do my best.  :)

Hae a wonderful Friday y'all!  God bless!  :)

This Week: Day by Day - Tuesday

I decided not to add to yesterday's post as I realized that by tomorrow - not to mention the end of the week! - the post would be terribly extensive.  And so, here is post two instead:

Tuesday:

Everyone slept longer than me this morning.  I love early mornings when its just me and my thoughts.  It's so peaceful.  My mind is not cluttered by events and issues of the day and I just have time to process and think.  I might not think about anything particularly, but it's refreshing.

It wasn't too long into this early paradise when Annie got up.  She wanted to go and change into clothes right away but I called her to come down stairs and give me a snuggle.  She came bounding down and snuggled in at my right before she was up and away again looking for a tissue, an activity she kept up most of the day.  And yes, it was necessary.  (Was that a bit TMI??  Sorry... XD)  Annie was quite restless right from the get-go today and she kept wanting to head upstairs and get changed.  I know she's so keen to dress herself in the mornings - she figures that if she gets in before hand, she gets to pick her own clothes and won't have to wear what anyone else thinks she should wear (i.e. jeans or trackpants... don't worry about being too cold, love!)   I also knew however that there was a very good way to keep her centred and settled - breakfast.  She managed to stay in the kitchen while I prepared my quinoa porridge, and then I put her in her high chair and set the precious bowl of wheat flakes in front of her.  Eventually everyone made it to breakfast, and Grace volunteered to have toast thus diverting a crisis with the last of the milk.  

After I did my job - vacuuming this week - I went up stairs to the study to do some music practice.  A lot of my mornings are now filled with music practises, what with flute, piano and my newly acquired violin.  I usually start with violin, but since I got new music for flute last night at band, I decided to do that instead.  I thought I would start with the 'easy' one.  It was amazing how difficult I found it.  I think I just don't keep up with the pace at band so that I hadn't really taken in some of the rhythms and runs.  And just saying, runs are quite difficult on flute - it isn't just dependant on fingering the keys - some notes have the same fingering - but as the pitch changes, so does your breath pressure and the way you have to purse your lips.  Hopefully I can master it before long.

After our reading time as a family, it was piano practise time.  I am currently practising from the Suzuki piano book three, as I really want to know the pieces I will have to someday teach.  That piece at the moment is a sonata or sonatina by Clementi.  Of course I have favourite pieces that I always play through as well, just because I can.  Those pieces are Fur Elise by Beethoven, Prelude in C number 1 by Bach, and Prelude in C minor by Chopin.

After Piano it was time to hit the violin.  Ok, not literally, but I did get a lesson from Joy as she is the one teaching me.  She informed me that "Song of the Wind" was going well, but "Lightly Row" really did need more work.  She also gave me "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" and another song that I can not remember the title of right now... it has something to do with children.

Stir-fried curry sausages and veggies on rice for lunch - yum!  ^_^

After lunch, my not-so-great feeling started to get worse.  I had been hoping that it would turn out to be hay-fever from the windy weather, but by the time afternoon rolled around, I was pretty sure I had a cold - again.  We have had a real hard time trying to shake this bug.  Whenever we start to get better, it attacks again.  Mum convinced me to get a doctor's appointment, and so I am booked in for tomorrow afternoon.  I kind of hope he finds something that is treatable with antibiotics, because then he won't just send me home under orders to rest.  That always seems kind of useless to me.  Because I wasn't feeling good - at all - I snuggled on my bed with The Book Thief and even dozed off for half an hour before I had to get up and get ready for my piano student.

My Tuesday student is new - she is only seven and had her first lesson last week.  Her family is Indian and she and her little sister are absolutely beautiful.  She is picking up what I am teaching her very quickly.  She is proving to be an absolute blessing and a delight to teach.

After they left, we had our nightly routine of dinner prep/end of day laundry while watching Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Family Feud.  

So that was about my day... What did you do today?  I hope you had a blessed one!  I leave you tonight with a very timely verse sent to me by a dear friend.

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

This week: Day by Day - Monday

Monday

I was rather sleepy this morning... Mum ended up waking me a bit past seven.  I am usually up by that time but I can account for this morning.  Poor little Elise was rather unwell during the night and kept me awake with her coughing and shivering.  Eventually (a bit past 2:00 am) I got up and realized she was running quite a high fever.  This is not unusual for her when she gets any sort of bug, and it always hits her very hard in the form of high fevers, back aches and extreme headaches.  And it is usually in the middle of the night.  This means that I have to help her upstairs to the couch, take her temperature and wake up Mum to offer comfort to the little sufferer.  I don't mind too much (after all, I'm the one who's planning to do nursing...) but it does make me rather tired... and tired me can result in one of two versions of me:

1. The crotchety, cranky me; or
2. The giggly crazy me

The concerning thing is that not even I can say which version is going to come out throughout the day.  It can change.  I must admit that when I got up with Elise, it was cranky me.  I tried to be the sweet nurse I can envision, but maybe it takes three years uni to master that... (I wish... LOL!)

It took a cup of tea and a chorizo sausage with a couple of eggs to get me going.  That and this morning's breakfast music.  I sat down at the table next to Annie's high chair, and she asked, "Can we listen to Annie??"  (Now do remember that her name is not really Annie, so this makes much more sense in it's real context.  What she was referring to was the new movie of Annie released at the end of last year.  We love that movie - the soundtrack is awesome.  I have a movie review coming soon.  :D)  So we kids all sat around the table and between mouthfuls sand songs like Tomorrow, Easy Street, New York City, Opportunity, I Think I'm Going to Like it Here, Maybe, and so on, and so on.  It's so much fun singing together - those of us who can pick out parts do so, and it sounds really nice.

But all fun and nice things come to a close eventually and before we were ready to stop singing our little hearts out, it was time for us to all disperse and tend to our duties for the week.  I am on vacuuming this week and so I did a quick tidy of the lounge and dining rooms and vacuumed them.  In winter it is also my 'job' in the mornings to get the fire going.  James would gladly do this for me (the little fire-bug!) but it never gets going for him.  I have tried to tell him that piling the kindling on top of the logs will not ignite the logs, but never mind.  When he gives up I enjoy setting it up (properly!) and getting the house nice and warm.  This morning I got a bit of a scare when a burning stick rolled out of the fireplace on to the hearth, sending a spray of shattered burning coal bits onto the carpet and my skirt.  Thankfully, nothing actually ignited.  The carpet is somewhat scarred now with ugly black pits, but I am rather thankful that we still have a carpet and it didn't go up in smoke.

At 9:30 is our come together time where we read the Word, pray and read our read-aloud book together.  This morning's Bible reading was Joshua 11 where a whole gang of kings come together to fight Israel but in less than 24 hours, the Lord helps Joshua and his army wipe the entire lot of them off the face of the earth.  It's amazing.

Our Read aloud book at the moment is Jonny Tremain.  It is the story of an intelligent, arrogant boy whose dream of being the best silver smith in the American colonies is shattered when he is permanently injured by a spiteful practical joke.  He eventually finds himself swept up in the emotions and politics of the Revolution and meets some of the high up persons that shaped America to what it is today.

Our reading time lasted about an hour and then everyone went off to do their book work.  For me, this means biology and for this module, that means memorizing the anatomy of a crayfish.  I know.  Go figure.  A crayfish.  Last module it was the anatomy of a an earthworm.  I can't wait to get to vertebrates.

Lunch.  Lunch is getting a bit tricky for me as I seem to have become (to some extent) gluten intolerant.  I usually go digging through the fridge for some left overs.  Today that came in the form of a chicken drumstick and beans and a bit of pumpkin.  I made a mushroom sauce to go on the chicken (because if you can add mushroom to anything, why on earth wouldn't you??) and I must say it was really yum.  ^_^

Mum decided that Joy would help her do the lunch clean up today, and so Jess and I took Rosie and Annie to the park next door.  Our version of minding the girls in the park is to let them run where they want (within reason of course - they are not allowed ANYWHERE near the road) while we sit under a tree and read, glancing up every now and again to make sure we know the whereabouts of our little sisters.  When we came inside again and Mum put the little girls down for their afternoon rest, Jess, Elise and I all sat around the fire and read for a good half hour.  It was lovely.  I am currently reading several books (as you would know if you follow me on Goodreads =P) but I am concentrating on The Book Thief.  It is an amazing book.  The imagery Zusak uses is astounding.  I am really enjoying it, and am proud of myself for being well over halfway through it.  This may not sound like such a wonderful feat except that it is more than 500 pages long.  XD

At 3:00 mum had a 'music meeting' with our pastor and the other music leader (Mum being one music leader and Curtis the other).  She dropped Joy and me off at the library on the way down as we meet with a lovely librarian friend of ours every month.  And so, after hanging at the library for an hour, and then chatting with Lee for an hour, we went home with a few more books than we returned.  (Please tell me we are not the only ones who do this!!)

By the time we got home,  Grace had dinner on and before long, it was ready.  There is something rather homey about meat and veg.  Add to that the lively chatter of a family of ten and you have one of the most beautiful things in the world, in my opinion.

After dinner, we were on the go again (I told you this week would be busy!).  Mum, Dad, and Joy went to music practise at church (Grace and Elise weren't well enough to go tonight) and I went to town band.  Town band is a 'new' thing for me, as in I used to go but last week was the first time in five years.  I am really enjoying it and having an outlet for my flute playing gives me an incentive to practise.  I know a lot of the people in the band, and most of the flautists.  Tonight there were six flautists but I am under the impression that all up - intermediate and senior band combined with no people away - there would be 17 flutes.  Wow!  That's quite a number of shiny metal tubes, I can tell you!  The people down at the band are really lovely and I love playing with them.

So here I am now, typing this out for you all to read - a bit of a window into my day.  I am the only one up now and my eyes and head are begging me to put away the bright screen and go to bed.  So I think I will.  But I am going to leave you with a verse from my personal Bible time from 2 Corinthians.

Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

(2 Corinthians 2:10-11)

Goodnight all, and God bless!  :)

Pirates, More Pirates, Camps, and Eisteddfods

I am long overdue for a general post to tell y'all about how life is going.  So here it is now.  :)

As a lot of you would have known, Mum and Dad were involved in the local production of The Pirates of Penzance this year.  It was all rather exciting, as none of us have been involved with our theatrical society since Beauty and the Beast six years ago, and Mum and Dad have never done one together.  There is a consequence that must be realized when you commit yourself to being in a musical show, and that is that - while everyone involved is a volunteer - everyone must pay by being semi-tortured with the same songs going around and around your head day and night for months on end.  Thankfully, torture is only torture if you don't enjoy, and I think that, on the whole (in our family at least) we enjoyed the show and the music so much that we are only now beginning to wish we could forget it.  For those of you who do not know the story of The Pirates of Penzance here is a synopsis from The Utah Shakespeare Festival website:

On the coast of Cornwall, a gang of pirates play and party as Frederic (a pirate apprentice) reminds the pirate king that his obligation to the gang is soon over. He was apprenticed to the pirates only until his twenty-first birthday, which is that day, and he is leaving them. Ruth (Frederic’s nursery maid when he was younger) explains that Frederic should never have been a pirate except for her mistake: She was told to apprentice Frederic to a pilot, but she misunderstood and placed him with a pirate instead.

Frederic tells the pirates that, after he leaves the gang, he intends to destroy them, not because he doesn’t love them, but because he loathes what they do. He is a slave of duty and, when no longer a pirate, it will be his duty to destroy them. The pirates understand, and also complain that they cannot seem to make money. Because Frederic is a slave-of-duty to the pirates until noon, he tells them why: Because they are all orphans, the pirates will not rob another orphan; and since all their potential victims are aware of this, they all claim to be orphans!

Because Frederic has spent his entire life with the pirates, he has never seen another woman; thus he thinks he may want to take Ruth with him as his wife. He asks Ruth if she is beautiful, and she responds that she is. Frederic, a very trusting young man, says that he believes Ruth and he will not let her age come between them.

At this point, however, Frederic hears a chorus of girls in the vicinity. He sees a group of beautiful young women, realizes he was betrayed by Ruth, and rejects her. Frederic informs the girls that he is a pirate, but not for long. He asks if any of the girls will marry him, and the youngest, Mabel, agrees.

The pirates enter the scene, and each grabs a girl. Major-General Stanley enters and identifies himself as the girls’ father, demanding to know what is taking place. When the pirates tell Major-General Stanley that they intend to marry his daughters, he objects, saying he has an aversion to having pirates for sons-in-law; the pirates respond that they are opposed to having major-generals as fathers-in-law, but that they will put aside the objection.

Knowing about the pirates’ weakness, Major-General Stanley tells them he is an orphan and, thus, disarms the pirates and takes his daughters, along with Frederic, away to his family chapel and estate. The major-general, who actually is not an orphan, soon feels guilty about the lie he told the pirates. Frederic, however, has a plan to lead a squad of zany policemen against the his old gang.

Before he can act, however, the pirate king and Ruth arrive to tell him that he is still obligated to the pirates. Because Frederic was born on February 29 of a leap year, he has served only five birthdays, not the twenty-one required by his contract. A strong sense of duty forces Frederic to relent, and, because he is a member of the pirate band again, to reveal the truth that Major-General Stanley is not an orphan. The pirate king vows that he will have revenge on the major-general.

Mabel enters and begs Frederic not to go back to the pirates, but bound by duty, he leaves. The police ready their attack on the pirates, while the pirates creep in to take revenge on the major-general.

The pirates defeat the police. However, when Ruth divulges that the pirates are really noblemen and they swear their allegiance to the queen, the tables are turned--and the police take the pirates prisoner.

However, because the pirates have never really hurt anyone, they are soon forgiven. The ex-pirates win the girls, Frederic wins Mabel, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Quite frankly, I don't get tired of it - it has become one of my favourite musicals.  In fact, I went to see it five out of the ten shows that were playing here in town!  XDD  It is a very funny show.  Below are a few videos starring Jon English and Simon Gallagher that make up my favourite sequence in the whole thing (although, now that I think about it, it probably won't make a whole lot of sense if you don't know what's going on. XD)  Oh, and as an extra note... *giggles and whispers it* ....  I think our show was better!!!  XDD  But don't tell Jon English or Simon Gallagher that!  If you want to see photos of some of the characters in our show click HERE.  A lot of of these photos seem to be of the senior patrons who support the shows each year, but you can kind of get an idea from some of the pictures.  Oh, and if you look at photo number 10, that's my dad in the foreground with the parrot on his shoulder.  (He played bass.)  =D

Other than Pirates, I have been doing a few different things.  This weekend coming, Jess and I are going to a leaders training camp in preparation for Tahlee kids camp in September.  (It's the same camp I wrote about here.)  We are really looking forward to it.  I have been hanging out for kids camp since I had to say goodbye to my six little girls last year and send them home.  

This week is also the closing date for the region writing eisteddfod that I discovered we have last year.  I only entered two sections last year, but this year I am entering all three - short story, poetry, and a letter to the editor.  I did not enter the short story category last year as fictional prose is not my strong point when it comes to writing.  However I decided to do it this year and I am happy with the results.  Oddly enough, it is the poetry that is eluding me this time.  I kind of know what I am going for, but the right words are evading me at present.  Hopefully they come before the closing date.  We shall see, we shall see!!

Guess what??!  I am (attempting) to learn the violin!  I have sort have been interested for a while, but did not really want to start right at the start with Twinkle Twinkle.  My sister Joy offered to give me a lesson, and so I agreed, provided I could start with the second song.  She agreed.  Actually I don't think she particularly agreed with me, but she decided to humour me anyway.  So now, I have struck up a race with James.  I asked him who would reach performance level of the last song in Suzuki book 1.  He - of course! - is convinced it will be him.  At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we shall see, we shall see!  XDD

Talking about music lessons, I now have three piano students and am meeting with a potential fourth this week.  (Wow!  It's all happening this week!  O.o)  I so much enjoying teaching.  My three students are all ten years old, but apparently the little girl I am meeting on Thursday is only seven and has no musical training so I will be starting from scratch, so to speak.  I am rather looking forward to it.  :)

I think that is all I have to report for now... So long, farewell!  

The Little Everyday Thrills :)

Some of the little things that give me a delight thrill from day to day are:



Playing Chopin's Prelude in C minor.  The chords are chilling and in my opinion, it is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.  I think (in my own delightful fancy!) that Chopin never sat down with the intention of writing that piece... I think he was improvising just for his own pleasure and then went back later and wrote down what he played.  :)


Receiving letters.  I don't know what it is about snail mail, but getting a letter in the post never fails to bring a smile to my face.  Maybe it's knowing the effort that person went to...


Ticket to Ride.  If you haven't played this board game, you need to.  It is so cool!  I have the European version.  I love how the train tracks wind around a vintage, Victorian style board... the strategy of it makes it different every time.


Mushrooms.  I know a lot of you will not relate here, but I love mushroom.  Especially the little marinated button mushrooms in the Chinese noodles we buy occasionally.  Yum!  ^_^


My piano students.  They are really such delightful little girls - they make me laugh and I am so proud of how they practise and learn so quickly!


Poetry.  Both in reading and in writing it, poetry gives me the words to describe a thing, an emotion, or an event that I could not otherwise describe in straight prose.  It's almost as though words elude me in they aren't in rhythm... I often go groping for a word when just talking to someone, but I'll think of the write words as soon as I'm writing a stanza of a poem... that always thrills me somewhat.  :)


The Piano Guys.  I need say no more.  When did those guys get so good???!!!  What is their secret???!!!  (And don't tell me it's practise - I already know that!  :P )


Babies.  We don't have any more babies in our house (Annie is three now!) but whenever I do get to hold one, I am amazed at how such a beautiful, full life can be held and sustained in such a tiny, fragile little body.  And to think that our God came down and dwelt in such a body!  Amazing!


Musicals.  I love them!  The Sound of Music and Singing in the Rain are my favourites... the stories and the songs are so funny and sweet.  :)


And last that I can think of right now - but far from being least! - is one of my favourite scriptures:

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

(1 John 3:1-3)

A Beautiful Hymn

Recently, my sisters and I have been really enjoying discovering some of those old hymns that one does not hear so readily these days.  We attend an Assemblies of God church, now called Australian Christian Churches and so we tend to do more up-beat music from Hillsong, Planetshakers and Bethel Music.  But some of the old hymns are absolute gems!  With the piano, violin and singing in a few parts, they really come to life.  One that we love at the moment is "He Touched Me".  Planetshakers did a rendition of this beautiful song recently.  It is based on Daniel 10:

17 For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me.

18 Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me,

19 And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.

Isn't that beautiful???  The full hymn says:

Shackled by a heavy burden,

'Neath a load of guilt and shame.

Then the hand of Jesus touched me,

And now I am no longer the same.

He touched me, Oh He touched me,

And oh the joy that floods my soul!

Something happened and now I know,

He touched me and made me whole.

Since I met this blessed Savior,

Since He cleansed and made me whole,

I will never cease to praise Him,

I'll shout it while eternity rolls.

He touched me, Oh He touched me,

And oh the joy that floods my soul!

Something happened and now I know

He touched me and made me whole.

And now I have some exciting news... that is... I think it is exciting!  ^_^   *Drumroll*

I have asked some lovely readers of Amity to write a guest post each!!!  I'm really excited about this as I read their blogs (those who have a blog!) and I know that whatever they write will be beautiful and inspiring.  I don't know when they will be posted but stay posted for when they are.  (Sorry - bad pun!  XD)

Wishing you all a wonderfully blessed weekend.  :)

Three Things I Love About Christmas

I can hardly believe it has rolled around to that time of year again.  Weather you live where it's boiling hot or freezing cold (pun totally intended!) Christmas usually has the same 'twang' for most people - a time of little or no rest, a fair amount of stress, travel, fatigue, and although we enjoy it well enough, I dare say there's more than a few people who give a hearty sigh of relief once it's over.

It doesn't have to be that way.  Whether you go all out at Christmas time or keep it basic, take time out to enjoy the little things that light up the season.  Here are my top three things that I really enjoy at Christmas time.  :)

1. The Giving

It probably sounds really corny and self-righteous of me, but I assure you that's not what I am trying to imply!  :P   One of my favourite parts of Christmas is planning gifts for my younger siblings and my parents, and the anticipation that goes with it.  ...And then watching their faces light up with surprise and joy and delight while they unwrap... it's priceless!  :D

2. The Advent Calendar

This is a new tradition for us, but we all enjoy it.  Last year, my sisters and I made a patchwork advent calendar and put a piece of chocolate and a Bible verse in each pocket.  We decided to pull it out again this year and do it again.  ^_^  It only takes a minute, but it is really special to read the verses that point to the coming of Christ and to discuss the prophecies together.  The homemade chocolate is really good too.  ^_^

3. The Music

Why is it that some of the most beautiful songs and melodies ever written only get sung once a year???  I love Christmas music.  Three albums we have been really enjoying this year are "Home for Christmas" by BarlowGirl, "A Family Christmas" by the Piano Guys, and "Rose of Bethlehem" by Selah.  (This is the one Jess and I have been flogging lately!)  Rose of Bethlehem is truly one of the most beautiful Christmas albums I have ever listened to.  Currently, my favourite song comes from that album... Here are a couple of songs from it... My favourite is the first one, Once Upon a Christmas.  The second one, Rose of Bethlehem is absolutely beautiful too as it draws a comparison between Jesus and a Rose, the thorns and the crown of thorns He bore for us.

Well, that's what I love about Christmas - some of it anyway!  What are some of your favourite traditions or elements of the season?  

In all the traditions and hustle and bustle, never forget the true meaning of the season:

For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

May God bless you and your families immensely and may you have a very blessed Christmas.  

God bless us, every one!  :D

- Tiny Tim

New Year, New Views

Hi ya'll!  Yes - I still exist!  :D  I hope you all had a wonderful new year and great times with friends and family.   We currently have my paternal grandparents staying with us, but I think they are going home in the next day or two.

The new year always makes me want to fight my phlegmatic leanings and plan out my entire year.  (It never happens, in case you were wondering. ;) )  This year, I think, it is a bit easier as I have some very definite goals to work towards.

For one thing, I really want to finish my diploma this year.  It will be a lot of work so (shock and horror!) I am going to do some through the holidays.  After that I am planning on moving into naturopathy and doula training, which I am immensely looking forward to. Unfortunately, I don't have money for those courses :) so this year will include work for me as well.  (Not sure what exactly yet - we are still praying about that one.)

I have lesser goals too, such as doing up my 18th birthday party scrapbook before my 19th birthday (I'm running out of time for that!), learning the entire Pathetique sonata by Beethoven, leaning more sewing, and sew on... (excuse the pun - I couldn't resist! ;) )

We have stuff happening this year.  This Monday, I am going to the dentist as I have been told that I need all four of my wisdom teeth out.  As you can imagine, I am overjoyed to get all four of my wisdom teeth out.  NOT!  Actually, I am terrified as I did not have a good experience when I had to get molars removed.  I can only assume that wisdom teeth are worse... Ahhhhh!  This Monday is just the consultation however so that the dentist can determine when and how the deed should be done.

On January 13, I am starting an online open uni course on midwifery.  It only goes four four weeks, but it is free and I am really looking forward to it.  (The site had quite a number of free online courses.  If anyone is interested, the website is https://www.open2study.com/courses )

There are other things happening too.  We have ten birthdays (but that's normal!) my uncle will be getting married at some point (I am super excited about that!) and on top of that, we have another whole year to build our relationships with family, friends and with God.  How blessed we are!

In the New Living translation, they look at the dates that the Bible gives and put it into perspective of our calendar.  One of the first times it indicates New Year is the erection of the tabernacle. (Exodus 40:2)  I believe this is significant.  God wants our hearts all the time, but New Year is an especially marked time for renewing our love for Christ and for rededicating ourselves to do His will, whatever the year brings.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

(Psalm 51)

 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

We Three Kings of Ominous Are...

Today Jess, Grace, Joy and I tried to do some music together.  This is always an interesting exercise as we are all of very different temperaments and each have our own idea of how to learn something as a group.  In the past, we have tried to learn hymns together (we called ourselves "Hers playing Hymns") but it never got very far.  So today, we decided, would be the day.

As it is coming up to Christmas, we chose "We Three Kings" with Grace on the piano, Jess on cello, Joy on violin, and me on the flute.  The very first verse threw us into turmoil.  It is obviously the three kings singing together, so we had to play together.  There was only a melody line and a scant harmony written in on the music.  

"Don't worry," I said, the ever-optimistic.  "I'll just write a harmony in.  GRACE WOULD YOU STOP PLAYING PLEASE!!!!"  And yes, believe it or not, I yelled that bit.  (Grace has a tendency to get bored when we aren't playing and starts to play her own thing loudly over everything else.) 

"Noooooo... don't write a harmony now!!!"  the girls beg.  I promptly sit down at the piano, pencil in hand, ready to do the deed.   Grace and Joy go outside in frustration.  Jess sits there and plays on the ipod.

15 minutes later...

"I'm done!"  Everyone comes back and I proudly display my three part harmony - for the first verse.  I inform them that I will take care of the chorus later.  They groan, but we start playing the new music.
"Stop, stop, stop, stop, STOP, STOP, STOP!!!!"  I call.  "It doesn't sound good right now!!!"

Grace's head makes contact with the music rack as Joy complains, "I'm sight reading."

"We're all sight reading," Jess says dryly. 

"Look,"  I say logically.  "Let's run through our parts separately." 

Grace groans again and leaves the room.  "Call me when you're ready."

Joy, Jess and I practice separately and then together.  We call Grace back, and she accompanies us on the piano.  It sounds good - the first verse.  The chorus is a wreck, but we figure we play the chorus through once for each verse, so we have plenty of time to figure it out.

Joy takes the part as the first king, the king who offers gold.  We convince her that the violin sounds much better if she stands up, instead of sitting on the floor, but she brings up another problem.  "I haven't got anywhere for my music," she says.  We are starting to get desperate, so we blu-tack the music to the glass sliding door near the piano, and that does the trick.  (You know they say that necessity is the mother of invention!)  Joy is only part way through her verse when I stop her again.

"Joy, stop.  You are playing a king - A KING - he is a vigorous king, not a weak person about to cry.  And use your vibrato - it sounds so much better."

"I hate vibrato."

"Do it anyway.  That's better."

I am the frankenscence king, and as I know what I want out of the verse, it goes off without a hitch... ;)

Jess is the myrrh king and plays her verse nice and deep on the cello, accompanied by deep chords played by Grace.  Dubbed the "death verse" by its gracious cellist, it has a tendency to make us start giggling in the middle of it.

We finally worked out the chorus and were really happy with how it sounded.  We played it through a few times and were starting to get comforable with the harmonies and the parts when Mum came in the room.

"The harmonies sound really good," she encouraged us, "but there's something wrong with the timing.  It is supposed to be in 3/8 - I think you are playing it in 2/2." 

We were.  How we managed that, I'm not sure, but Grace says she can't play it in 3/8 and so now we have to wait until she can figure it out.  I know she can do it, she just needs to practice.

So that was our music session for the day.  I would love to master some more pieces together - we'll have to wait and see.  :)

Christmas Songs

Currently, our church is preparing for the annual Christmas production which takes place on the first of December.  Since the usual director has packed up and gone traveling, Mum was asked to organize and direct the show.  This is a big job for those of you who haven't done it.  We have listened to so much Christmas music so far and it is only going to increase, I imagine.
'The idea behind this year's Christmas spectacular is to tell the story of Christmas through the songs.  Obviously we can't do it detail for detail - the night would go far too long - but we have grouped the shepherd songs together, the angel songs together, and so on.
And what some beautiful songs we have!  One of my personal favorites is Mary Did You Know? 

 

We have also discovered the Christmas album of an extremely talented man by the name of Lincoln Brewster.  He is an AMAZING guitarist.  This is my favorite song off the album.  It is an instrumental and is a touch lengthy, but please listen to it - it is INCREDIBLE!!!!

 

 So we are full in Christmas mode already.  Scary when you think about it.  But the time comes and goes and we continue to get older.  Oh hum!  :)