Catching up: Part 2

Okay. I'm really annoyed now. I started posting, complete with uploaded pictures, and lost them! Now I have to start over. And I must say that Steve Hight is trying to provoke me into blogging :) Anyway, I'm back, at least briefly. I'm going to try this again...post a few pictures of my vacation to Gettysburg December 4-8. I went with my parents, drove all day to get there. We have been to Gettysburg multiple times, but never at Christmas time. The day after we arrived, we received 5 inches of snow! What a pleasant surprise...absolutely beautiful! We spent a good part of the day driving around the parts of the battlefield that were open, taking lots of pictures. Our friend Mark drove over and spent the day with us. That evening, we went through downtown Gettysburg, and really enjoyed the way they had it decorated! It was quite cold and windy, so we HAD to duck into a tiny coffee shop to warm up. The following day, we spent a few enjoyable hours at Boyds Bears :) 3 whole floors of stuffed animals! My dad enjoyed it too, but it didn't take him nearly so long to enjoy it as it did me...haha! We also spent a little time at an outlet mall that was conveniently located just behind our motel! Very happy. I found some fantastic bargains :) Though we did visit the Park Museum, we didn't do a lot of museums/tourist stuff as we've done alot of that in the past. We really enjoyed being there in the snow :)











And so ends the little pictoral journey. The picture of me was taken in the lobby of the motel where we stayed. There are tons of pictures that I could post, but I think you "get the picture :)" On Friday, we drove to my good friend Elizabeth and Fred's home, then went together to the Shady Maple to eat. Folks, if you've never eaten there, it is worth the trip to Lancaster! I'll probably get these facts wrong, but I believe it seats 2200 people, and they serve 6000 - 7000 people per day! Massive Mennonite buffet! May I just say "Scrumptious!" Actually, Elizabeth didn't go to the Shady Maple with us, as she had some mandatory job training that afternoon. However, Fred and Mark drove over with us, and Mark's parents met us there. I have some pictures of that happy event, but I'm not going to post them for fear I might be slain if I did :) Suffice it to say, that a good time was had by all, and we left very well satisfied! We then drove over to Sight and Sound where we watched "The Miracle of Christmas." Again, I will not be posting photos, as they don't let you take pictures during the performance. It was an absolutely wonderful, uplifting experience. It made my heart thrill again to the real meaning of Christmas...God willingly laying aside His glory to become a helpless baby, completely dependent on those He had created! And all for the purpose of giving up His life for me! Really, you should see this production if you ever have the chance! After the performance, we had a snack(I can't believe we were hungry!) at Friendly's, then spent the night with Fred and Elizabeth near Carlisle. We had wonderful fellowship with our dear friends, and I was sorry to leave them the next morning. We again drove all day on Saturday to get home. The weather was fine, but Dad's car was acting a little dicey! It kept popping up error messages, and letting us know that the ABS system wasn't working. That's very comforting when you're bopping along about 70mph! But the Lord helped us get home okay, and Dad's car was fixed this past week.

The next few pics are of Jared and Janae's reaction to our Boyd's friends. Janae informed me that my bear(the one in the snowman sweater) would make a good big sister for Bunny(her constant companion.) She informed my mother that her bear wanted her(Janae) to be his mommy :) She also said in an aggrieved voice "You shouldn't keep him all for yourself." Not very subtle! We were not inclined to part with our bears, but she has one wrapped and waiting under the Christmas tree. So I think everything should be fine.




It was good to be home and see our little people, even if the craziness started up again immediately! Oh, and I should confess something funny I said in Gettysburg. The night we drove in, we passed the Lutheran Theological Seminary(the church in the picture above is located there.) I said "Oh look! There's the Lutheran Seological Theminary!" My folks were highly amused, as was I :) As my friend Anthony told me a few nights ago, yeah, my hair may not be blond, but I sure am :) I can't help it! Can you imagine me with Alzheimers? It's gonna be a trip!

Since my return home, I helped host a party/gathering/whatever for the young people of our church and school. We had 26 teenagers, plus several adults. We had pizza, and lots of cookies and pop. I couldn't find any diet pop, so drank Mountain Dew. Yuck! Pure syrup. Brent, I'm maintaining that DIET mountain dew is wonderful, but you can have all of the real thing that you want. I will admit that the frosty cold one you gave me in the summer was wonderful, but that wasn't combined with other sugar! Anyway....if you want to see a few pics, go to Steve Hight's blog :) I did take some pics, but haven't uploaded them yet. We had relay races 1) eat 3 saltine crackers and then whistle 2) chew a piece of frozen bubblegum and pop a bubble, 3) wearing MITTENS, open a candy kiss and eat it. It was pretty hysterical :) We also played 2 rousing rounds of musical chairs, where I, brave soul that I am, operated the CD player. Much less violent from that position! We also played a game where a tightly wrapped gift was passed to music, and every time the music stopped you passed it to the next person. When you got the first one open, there were tons of smaller packages, also tightly wrapped inside! What fun. Then it separated into 2 packages that ultimately contained gift cards for Walmart. After that game, we opened the gym until 11pm. Then we had all the fun of cleaning up the horrendous mess. Be warned: Don't try the cracker/whistle relay over carpet! At least our floors swept up well. It was really an enjoyable evening for teenagers and adults alike. I even enjoyed making lots of cookies, buying supplies, decorating a small tree, etc.

Then, despite some bad weather, our adult choir performed the cantata "Emmanuel: Celebrating Heaven's Child" on 12-16 in the evening service. Although we had 3 out sick, we had 20 choir members. God really helped us, and they did exceptionally well! I was very proud of them. The narration, done by the Manleys, was gripping. The music was compelling. One of my favorite songs was "Come Make a Place" which said "Jesus, I'm empty without you. And you're everything I need. So come with your grace, come make a place in me. Oh come to my heart, Lord Jesus. There is room in my heart for Thee." That is my prayer this season...that I won't be so filled with the busyness of the season that I fail to make room for Him. Without Him, I am lost and hopeless. With Him in my heart, I have a vital, joyous life! Let us adore the Christ of Christmas.

Yes, I am relieved that the programs are over for another year. But I don't want to lose that sense of wonder...the fact that He came for me. Well, I need to get some rest. Tomorrow, my immediate family will celebrate Christmas together. You may expect some more pictures very soon :) It will be fun, but chaotic with 4 little people really into the gift-giving part of the day. We will listen to my Dad read the Christmas story, we will eat wonderful food, we will enjoy our little people as they are filled with excitement and joy. Most of all, we will just enjoy being together as a family. What a blessing they are to me!

If I fail to post again before Christmas, may God richly bless you this Christmas season, and may you have a very merry Christmas!

Catching up with Cindy :) Part 1

I know. I'm absolutely terrible at keeping up with this whole blogging thing. Thanks Bro. Hight for the reminder tonight:) Now see what you've done! I'm staying up late to satisfy your curiousity. If this is filled with typos...well, then so be it! Haha...actually, it may be a little overwhelming if I blog about everything going on in my life right now. I may have to feed it to you in segments(Oh, boy...)

First, yeah, I'm sorry! I've just been so busy. I know it seems lame, but really, don't judge me until you've tried it. Okay, that being said, let's get on with it. I had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving at my Aunt and Uncle's home. Since Steve and I are the only ones left(unmarried that is,) the two of us played games for hours that day. We had a great time, and I'm smugly reporting that I won all but one of the games. Sorry, Steve...guess it was my lucky day :)




That, in a nutshell was Thanksgiving. Oh, and did I mention that we had some really incredible eating going on during the day? Feasting, actually. As a friend of mine texted me that evening, I was "too full to gobble!" Yeah...fun!

What has been consuming me for several weeks is our school Christmas program. It was a huge undertaking...one that I really enjoyed! But I never knew I could be so busy! First, our entire school sang, and I accompanied them. Then we had our chime choirs and intermediate band, all directed by yours truly. They did really well, and I am amazed at how much they have improved in 2 months time! I was very proud of them. Then the next thing I was in charge of was our 1st-6th grade musical. Kindergarden was involved too...they were the cutest sheep in all of Bethlehem :) It was so much fun, and the kids were awesome! Kristin D. did a phenominal job preparing them for the drama portion. My dad's comment was "Who needs the Little Rascals when you can watch those kids!" They really threw themselves into it, and I'm happy to say that it went off without a hitch. Lil P. was in charge of costumes and props and did a fantastic job. Our church auditorium was transformed. I merely helped with drama and props. I did direct the music, but I couldn't have done it without these two ladies! I am including a couple of pictures of a few of the cast members :) Also, thanks are in order to our sound/light technicians, Anthony W. and Troy K. You guys rock! All the teachers were supportive and helpful, and Mr. C. ensured that we had as much time as we needed for rehearsal. Even though it was tiring, it was an incredible experience. I was sorry that it was over :)





As you can see, we have some of the cutest, most talented children in the world at SCCA :) Heaven help you if I'm ever a mother! I'm bad enough being a teacher and an auntie.... To end our Christmas program, we took an offering, and raised a nice little sum for the music program at school! Hooray! I'm preparing to place an order with BJU :) I wish I could describe the musical to you. It was so cute and funny! We did "Miracle on Bethlehem Street," and one little boy wanted to know if he should keep the lyrics sheet they had to memorize "for next year." I had to explain to him that we will try a different one next year. But they loved the songs, and in fact sang so heartily that they didn't have to be mic'd much of the time for the choral pieces! They were crankin'! But we did have tons of sound equipment set up in order to pick up the drama. All our kids did great, but our main characters, played by Lane W. and Danae B., were awesome! They memorized tons of lines/drama, usually without complaining. I'm pretty sure you won't find a better group of kids anywhere, even if I do have to keep on my high school kids about talking in class :) My band kids were so disruptive one day during practice that I told them they did NOT want to see what a red-headed temper looks like :) It was a pretty empty threat, as I've never had much of a temper, but they don't need to know that! If it hadn't been so close to the Christmas program, they would have been sent back to class. As it was, they had to endure a lecture about growing up and acting like they were in high school instead of first grade. Whew! I didn't know I had it in me. I am pretty patient and tolerant, but, boy, once you've crossed the line, there is NO turning back :) Okay, 'nuff about that.

The day after the Christmas program, I left for Gettysburg with my parents. But that shall come in the next exciting installment of this epistle to the curious :) I am getting tired, and it's really hard to say what may come flying across this screen. I have more pictures to share, and stuff to tell you about my vacation. So please do stop back soon. I HOPE to get the next installment up quickly :)

Until we read again, have a great one!