Wednesday, Dec.9-Headed to the Sufficiency of Scripture Conference!

We woke up at 4 am. It had been snowing all day the day before, and all night. My brothers had been snowblowing driveways (and streets ;) all night in bitterly cold temperatures in anticipation of our family's planned trip to Cincinnati, OH for the Sufficiency of Scripture Conference put on by NCFIC.

Well, at 4 am I rolled out of bed...the snow was drifted halfway up my bedroom window. Our street was not plowed. The outside world didn't look too friendly...I assumed we would not be headed out for a few hours, so snuggled back under the warm blankets. A moment later I heard the boys come inside. Heidi came down and announced we were headed out within the hour, because the boys had blown half the street clear with the snowblower. (We are talking a couple feet of snow here, and drifts burying cars...) I still didn't believe we were going to get out anytime soon. But somehow within the hour we were all snuggly loaded up in the van and pulling out of our snowpacked driveway. There was snow packed in the brakes, and snow drifted inside the van, and ice coating the inside of the windows- from using it all night for snowshoveling. We laid our emergency blankets out on all the seats so we wouldn't have to sit in the snow. =P Our trek across town wasn't too bad. Streets were still majorly snowpacked, but thanks to our high-profile van we didn't get stuck or anything. Pulling out onto I-80 we were glad to see one lane cleared and dry. There were drifts in the passing lane, but there didn't seem to be enough vehicles out to make it necessary to pass anyone. We saw lots of emergency vehicles, snowplows, cars off the road and buried in drifts etc. Not bad so far...
Four hours later found us in Iowa, and we gradually found the road conditions to be increasingly treacherous. More ice pack, lots of wind and frequent white-outs. We couldn't have imagined it to get much worse...but it did. The next 6-8 hours we were stuck in extremely intense driving conditions. Hundreds of trucks were in the ditches, upside down, hanging off bridges, mangled pieces of barely visible wreckage in the medians and ditches as glimpsed through the blowing snow. We were inching along on solid ice-pack and invisible roads at 20-40 mph...for hours upon seemingly endless hours. We couldn't get off. All the exits were packed with trucks attempting to get off, accidents etc.
We get online and find Interstate 380 through Iowa marked "Impassable". Police warning against any sort of travel. They had pulled all the emergency/National Guard/snowplows off the road. Ben's weather buddies were calling it an "Epic and Extremely Dangerous Snow Storm". Hmmm.... we pretty much had no way out now. Just pray. And pray...and hold tight to our seats (or hide under the pillows ;).
Below is just a small glimpse of what we saw constantly during those long hours. Multiply by 50, and you can maybe imagine that we did often ask ourselves if we were about to join the other unfortunate souls in the ditch...

Two semis in the median...
The yellow caution tape means the driver has been rescued at least...
Double trailor jack-knifed.

*Ouch*
Some comforting quotes we found online from news reports on the blizzard:

"Des Moines, Iowa was particularly hard-hit. Karl Jungbluth, a meterologist in Johnston, Iowa, near Des Moines told drivers on Tuesday, "Anybody traveling tomorrow (Wed.) morning is really taking a huge risk, I would say...a risk of being stranded and not having anybody to help you for 6 to 12 hours, probably."

"Indeed, the highway patrol shut down Interstate 80 near Grinnell, just east of Des Moines saying that the stretch of I80 from Newton on was "impassable." Jim Lee, a meterologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines said Des Moines had 15 foot drifts saying, "It's a monster of a storm."

“It's miserable out there,” he said. “I can't imagine anybody driving in this for a while.”

I don't suppose they planned to have their coffee-break together in the median-do you?

Notice the two cars down by the bridge...

The poor, unfortunate 15 passenger van..... :(

Enjoy the scenery folks.... you may never see it again.

It's a pileup!

As we were coming out of it...

I wish we had brought a video camera to capture the swirling snow. It was really pretty. :)

We stayed in Danville, Illinois that night... SO grateful to be alive and safe! Thank you to everyone who prayed us through this trip.

At the conference we met people who had prayed for those traveling through Iowa in the blizzard. Wow! And I know there were many friends back home praying as well...we are thankful for you!

Coming up next...Trip to the Creation Museum!

It's a snow day...

The inches are accumulating outside...snowflakes are swirling. The little boy next door is up early shoveling his driveway. Looks like he's determined to dig his daddy's truck out of the snow before he has to leave for work...wonder if his parents know he's up? (Tends to be an early riser...;) Ben just left to shovel snow, tires spinning on the 15 passenger van (anyone care to donate a 4x4?). Not sure what good it's going to do if inches are yet to come. He may be up all night digging people out in anticipation of our leaving town early tomorrow morning! Thankfully TCS Shoveling Services has back up employees for situations like this...
Ben's fluffy bomber hat is really cute. ;)

The Breakfast Flakes were making fun of tonights KSO concert on the radio this morning. It has yet to be cancelled, but Dr. C would have had to name it "Let it KSnOw, Let it KSnOw, Let it KSnOw..." Last night at rehearsal we were all a bit sad that we may not be performing this concert after all. :( Oh well. It was a nice concert last night, folks. Sorry you had to miss it. ;) Dr. C says next year he is naming the Christmas concert "You are my KSunshine". =P

As for me, I am happy for the prospect of 5 cancelled lessons today! Plenty of time for laundry, packing, cleaning, and....well, resting. I am glad for this snowstorm for that reason. Was about to retire from life yesterday after 9 lessons, several hours of KSO rehearsal, and....a late night conversation with a friend. ;) Today will be a nice break. (At least I hope so...you never know what is going to happen next around here!)

Enjoy the day!!

Psalm 91:11

"For He shall give His angels charge over you,

to keep you in all your ways.

In their hands they shall bear you up..."

Our first concert went well yesterday. God blessed in many ways. One thing that always impresses me is the effect of the Word of God being spoken. Much of our Christmas program is filled with Scripture, mainly centered on the character of God. I remember looking out at the audience about a third of the way through our program and seeing nearly everyones eyes filled with tears. Wow. Something so simple, yet so powerful...

As we were headed to the church early to set up with our sound man, (we have a traveling sound technician with us this year. It's so nice! :) it began to snow on us...of course, here in Nebraska it never looks like the snow is coming down from the sky with all the wind. It was exciting, and very pretty...at first! The girls and Timothy and I headed back early after the program, the rest of the family following later. Just as we neared home, we got caught in a whiteout...blowing snow, no visibility. All of a sudden a semi truck popped out of the fog and blowing snow. In our lane.

God had his hand of protection on us...

(And boy can Eliza scream! ;)

I decided to pack up and head back to Kearney right away, as the weather was only getting worse. I headed out on Hwy 281, Christmas music playing. At the first turn-off I nearly got pushed off the road by another semi. (I think I'm steering clear of trucks from now on!) Heading west, the snow was blowing and at times there was 0 visibility. 30 mph can make for a looooong trip home. All of a sudden I hit snowpack, there was no visibility, lost control of the car...do you know what a weird feeling it is to be spinning around in absolute whiteness, not knowing what lane you are in, or if you are headed into a ditch or what?? All of a sudden headlights beamed through the snow directly in front of me-- I was in the oncoming lane. I really don't know that I regained control of the vehicle...it had to be God setting me back on the right side of the road, because I don't know how it happened that we didn't hit head-on.

You all know I love adventure, but this....umm, let's just say I couldn't stop shaking- and thanking God for protecting me!

We head for Cincinnati early Wednesday morning. That is, if we can make it across town to I-80 my dad says...I'm not sure if I'm feeling as adventurous as that right now. We may be getting up to 10 inches of snow tomorrow.

Happy snowshoveling everyone! Drive safe, and stay at home if at all possible. ;)

It's your turn... :)

In an effort to generate comments on this blog (I *never* thought the day would come when I would have to do this! But alas, the days of 500 comments posts are history...) I am going to leave this post open for a week for all visitors of my blog to comment! (Yes, that means you! :) Whether today is your first day ever of venturing on here, or if you visit frequently and never comment, or visit rarely and always comment, or...well, you get the idea. :) I would love for you to sign my "guestbook" of sorts by clicking on "comments" below and leaving your name and anything else you care to share. (First names only...)

Thank you, and have a blessed week!

A very (typical) KSO Christmas...

You are invited...

What: Let is KSnOw, Let is KSnOw, Let is KSnOw... (uhh, I didn't pick the title of this concert!)

When: Tuesday, December 8th, 7:30pm

Where: Merryman Performing Arts Center
$10 for adults, free for students.

The Nutcracker, Polar Express, Mozart german dances, and a variety of schmaltzy stuff...
(my apologies...I just haven't gotten into the mood of this concert! It will be fun. But we have played most of this stuff at least twice in the past 6 years. =P We need something new and unique! *sigh* Maybe next year...)

I am thankful for...(11/26-11/27)

This is jotted down in my prayer journal...and I'm sure there is much more that can be added to it, considering I am talking about The One Who sums up my very existence, Who loves me the most, Who I owe everything to...

However, my excuse would be that I am sick right now, and can't think straight. :( But I am hoping to be feeling better tonight. It's The Lighting Of The Treehouse today, folks! ;)

I thank God:

~I am created in His image.

~He has always loved me, and His love for me will never end.

~He has bought and redeemed me with His blood.

~He has coverred my sin with His righteousness.

~My sin and iniquity has been removed as far as the east is from the west.

~I am in Christ, and nothing can pluck me from His hand.

~I have the hope of eternal life in Heaven with Him.

~He will never let me go....

I'm thankful for...(11/25/09)

-"catch up" days. I had time to actually get the kitchen thoroughly cleaned, piano and violin practiced before my sister went to sleep for the day, at least 8 outfits altered for my mom and I (it's been at the bottom of my to-do list for far too long!), all the laundry washed, folded, and put away etc. It sure feels good to get caught up... :)

-my brother John is coming home today for Thanksgiving. I am very thankful he is still alive after getting hit last week by a car traveling at 45mph, while walking in downtown Indy. Praise God for sparing his life...

-Addie's help with the preschool Party Club next week. We had a planning meeting this morning. :) (Girls, head over to the girls only blog for something new!)

-my grandparents. They are so generous, and so amazing! I was reminded of them by a Thanksgiving card and book we received from them in the mail today...

-prayer times with my siblings. :)

I'm thankful for...(11/24/09)

-Sweet students and sweet smiles.

-The not-so-sweet students. They still make me laugh!

-A successful planning meeting with the Bible Club teachers for our Preschool Party Club next week.

-The times God gives an extra dose of strength and patience. Like when I have a splitting headache, and 4 hours of lessons to teach...

-The time "off" I have had to rest today. No Bible Club and no KSO rehearsal! Yay!!!

-Music. :) It's such a glimpse of heaven sometimes...

-The verse "...casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

-My home...it's such a happy place to be. I love driving home at night and seeing the warm light through the bay window, and our cozy kitchen, and knowing that the people I love live inside!

Daily blog of Thankfulness...for Thanksgiving week!

Monday~

Things I am thankful for today:

-I am thankful for the constant reminder that God knows my every need and care...earlier this morning I was feeling rather overwhelmed. There was absolutely no room in my day to prep for a little workshop/planning meeting I have scheduled tomorrow morning for the Bible Club workers at Sunrise Bible Studies (we are doing a Preschool Party Club next week...). I figured I would just have to stay up extra late or something to fit it in. Well, God worked it out so some of my students cancelled lessons this morning and I had two hours opened up to get those things accomplished that didn't look possible to squeeze into my schedule earlier today!

-It has been very grey and foggy and cloudy all day...so beautiful! This totally made my day! ;)

-I treasure my little break times with a mug of hot chai tea and music playing...these little breathers are a necessity for maintaining ones sanity on a day like this!

-Memories of a Christmas spent in Russia 4 years ago...brought to mind by the CD of Russian music my sister left playing in the car. :)

-I am thankful for what once was...
I went to a concert tonight. A concert pianist/professor from Missouri Western. He has traveled world-wide, an accompanist to Duo 46 from Cypress (Ben's favorite musicians ;), studied at one of the most prestigious music schools in the US etc. And I had played, performed, competed in contests with nearly a third of the repertoire in his program tonight. It's been hard to make myself attend any piano concerts lately...mostly because it's too heart-wrenching. I know God has a plan for my life, but abandoning that was the hardest thing ever...
Now, I hardly have 4 minutes a day to practice. Back then, I used to practice 4 hours or more. Once upon a time...I once was that. Now I am not. And that is hard to accept...without tears and "why's" which I do not deserve an answer to. But I am thankful to the Lord for what once was...and I choose to rejoice in what is now.

-I am thankful for the words of a hymn that have come to mind today:

Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven,

To His feet thy tribute bring;

Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,

Evermore His praises sing;

Allelujah! Allelujah!

Praise the Everlasting King...

To be continued... :)

K & Company Presents:

"Sing We Now of Christmas..."

Coming to a location near you! (Perhaps ;)

*******

Sunday, December 6th, 10:30am

Lebanon Christian Church

Lebanon, NE

*******

Wednesday, December 16th, 3:oopm

Heritage Nursing Home

Red Cloud, NE

*******

Thursday, Dec. 17th, 2:00pm

Bethany Home

Minden, NE

*******

Sunday, December 20th, 10:30am

Trumbull Christian Church

Trumbull, NE

*******

Sunday, December 20th, 2:00pm

Faith Presbyterian Church

5640 Salt Valley View

(12th & Old Cheney)

Lincoln, NE

*******

Sunday, December 20th, 7:00pm

Stillwater Felloship Church

(3rd & Peoria)

Nelson, NE

Anyone and everyone is invited...Would love to see you there!

*Da Da Dum*!!

Congratulations are due my brother Michael........












































on the very exciting occassion....






































of today....




















































which happens to be............





















































that something very special has entered into his life..........

















































:)

























I'm gettin' to it...;)























































The celebration being due to the fact.....



























































that Michael now has......
















































A BRAND NEW MUFFLER FOR HIS CAR!!!


YIPPEE! ;)

Saturday...

About once a month I get to spend a Saturday at home...well, today I got to have what I once used to consider a "normal" Saturday, which has now become a rarity.

-I managed to force myself to fall back asleep after waking up at 6 am. This is the one morning a month I get to sleep in. :) I slept 'til 7:59am. Yay!

-Breakfast

-Started laundry

-practiced some piano

-dusted, cleaned up some

-had tea :)

-cleaned house for a couple of hours for my friend

11:00am- began to "crash"....not a good feeling. I can hardly drag myself through the rest of cleaning house.

1:00-went to Walmart on a SATURDAY, of ALL DAYS...(ya'll can stop gaping...I came out alive!). In case some of you have never experienced a trip to a Wal-mart that is the ONE AND ONLY Walmart for a 60 mile radius on a Saturday...be forewarned that it could possibly be the worst shopping experience of your life. (For some people in NE or KS it's a 3 hour drive to the nearest Walmart...)

1:30-Came home. Had lunch. Switched laundry. Am very, very tired.
-attempt to nap for the next two hours. Can't sleep.

3:30-Listen to a debate between a Christian and an atheist (Bohnson vs. Stein) with my family.

6:00-Eat supper while listening to follow-up questions on the debate.

7:00-Planned out music for tomorrow morning. Prelude, check, Offertory....undecided.

7:30-Family devotions

8:30-I'm pretty much....well, pretty much glad I can go to bed right now.

This now concludes the series: " The crazy life of....". ;)

Hope you all enjoyed it!

It's Friday!

Today could prove to be a dull read, so instead of giving an hour-by-hour report I'll just give you the basic run-down of the day:
-Morning routine (alarm goes off @ 6, etc. etc. etc....you all should know how it goes by now. ;)
-cleaned house
-Work on speaking parts for Christmas programs
-K girls arrive, violins and all...we begin practice around 11pm.
-We practice and we practice
-eat lunch
-practice, practice, practice, laugh hysterically over Amy's arrangement (*ahem* invention) of "We Wish you a Merry Christmas", practice, and practice some more.
-Finalize our program schedule, and speaking parts etc.
-Bible Study @ 4:00pm.
-Some good discussion of Philippians.... (missed you Addie!)
-Had dinner with "just girls"....oh wait, there was Seth. Never mind.
-cleaned up the dishes.
-Watched "The Widow's Might" with Christina, Heidi, Rachel and Seth.
-Goodnight!

Dear blog reader...

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you, Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Jn.14:27

Thursday, November 12

5:45- Roll out of bed before the alarm. I'm just awake, and can't sleep any longer. :)
-shower
-laundry on
-Philippians study, scripture memory, prayer journal.
-prep for the day

7:30- Breakfast. Another lively conversation...I can't remember what about though. :D

8:00-Our friend, Angela, arrives to visit for the day. Her family is back in town for the week after moving away. We talk books for awhile, then leave her to have fun with Heidi while I get the kitchen cleaned up!

8:45-I have 30 min. before I have to be out the door for my out-of-town lessons this morning. Check email. Gather things for lessons: finger tape for little violins, lesson schedule sheet etc.

9:12-I'm taking Michael's car for the morning...left a few minutes early so I would have time to fill up with gas, only to find out it has a full tank. So, I have a few minutes to burn. I decide to stop at Casey's for some coffee....Got the coffee. I'm in a dilemma. No cupholder in this car! Hmmm... I have TWO suggestions for improvement of this vehicle: A cupholder, and a new muffler. ;)

9:30- Turn north on Ravenna road for the beautiful drive through the country. I love this road, and I love the greyness of the day...it's so pretty out! It's a 30 minute drive up to Ravenna where "my" three little boys await violin lessons.

10:00- Arrive at lessons. E (Two and a half years old :) gets to go first. He fits his "baby" violin just perfect! His absolute favorite position is "no hands". Today was challenging getting him to focus... but the yellow sticker tape for his first finger placement fascinated him. So we mainly focused on that today. Each week we take one more eensy little baby step! He thinks that when he "takes a bow" he is finished with his lesson. Well, lately at lessons he has been bowing without teachers permission and asking "I all done?". ;) I gave him a good workout today- 20 minutes! That's pretty amazing for a two year old...
His next older brother goes next. L is five, and is a natural! His hand positions are just perfect, and he has a really good ear and produces a really nice tone quality. He has mastered 1st, 2nd and 3rd fingers. (Did I mention this is only their 6th violin lesson??) We really need to work on straight bows though. :)
C, the oldest brother is 6. He really seemed to finally "click" in this lesson. We had a great workout, and he is producing some good tone quality. This week he covers the entirety of "Twinkles"! They are expecting a baby brother in December...so C named all the strings on his violin after he and his brothers. :)

11:15-I head back home via Hwy 2. Different route, but not much faster. And not as pretty in my opinion. Managed to get stuck behind a slow moving car with it's hazard lights on, for about 10 miles. I couldn't pass on account of the rolling hills...I thought:
a. Maybe they turned their hazards on by accident
b. Perhaps they are warning me I should stay away from them (all of a sudden said car swerves into the other lane and back. *ahem*)
c. I can't see the drivers head above the back of the seat, maybe it's a kid and his mother sent him to town to get groceries.
d. Perhaps something is seriously wrong inside the vehicle.
e. It is just an elderly lady that is being polite enough to warn others of her presence on the road.




ANSWER: e. (too cute! ;)

-I ran an errand before heading home for lunch
12:45-Had a tea "luncheon" with our friend Angela. It reminded me of "tea" in Russia...lots of goodies.

1:30-Typing This. I have students all afternoon beginning at 2:00.

2:00-H is a beginner student. Spunky little thing...she insisted today that she was really, really, really good at her songs, much to her teachers amusement. I begged to differ... We had to do "5x drills" on nearly every song this week during lesson. (This is traditional disciplinary procedure when it is evident to the teacher that practice at home has not been too thorough. ;) Oh well...hopefully next week will be better!

2:30-Her big sister E has a lot of repertiore going. She's pretty shy, so I have to work really hard to pull her out of her shell. Her definition of forte is nearly an invisible piano! More stuff to work on...

3:15-Sweet and spunky little E from Mondays is back for her Thursday lesson! This is an experiment for me...giving two smaller/shorter lessons a week to a beginner. It works very well for E.

3:45- I walk the two blocks to my Thursday students from 22nd St. I have three different families taking piano lessons from me in this neighborhood. I actually teach a mom and son, but I found out upon arrival today that A's mom is in San Francisco! I must have missed the memo...

A is a fun kid! I totally love working with him. He is 10, and zipped through the primer piano series in a month. I love his hard working attitude, and he is an amazing sight-reader. (I didn't even have to teach him notes...I'm a bit puzzled by that!)

4:15-Back at home and on the phone with Amy. Deadlines are coming fast! We are going to attempt a good hunk of practice here tomorrow, then her family leaves for TX and will get back just a few days prior to our first concert! Watch for an itinerary soon...
-cleaned room
-attempted to adjust the sound post on a violin (don't worry, it's someones old violin...can't go too wrong with it, but just trying to improve tone quality a bit!)


6:15- final lesson of the day arrived. B has been taking violin from me for 7 years. She is a very sweet girl, and very musically talented! She has a beautiful voice and plays flute in addition to violin. I started her off on some Christmas duets, and we worked on vibrato technique and some positions stuff for awhile. She helped me get the sound-post reset on the violin I was working on. No improvement...better try again!


7:oo-Finally ate dinner, and had family Bible reading.
-worked on the violin some more. Not working yet...
7:30-Watched "Already Gone"-Ken Ham.
9:00-Gave up on the violin
9:45-Goodnight!

Wednesday....at last!

Today is my "easy day". I often help a friend clean house on Wednesdays...but she must not need me this week. So! I get to plan my own day... :) Only two students this afternoon, and the rest of today is entirely unscheduled!

6:15: I attempted to sleep in some, but it didn't work.

6:30: Opened up my Bible and read several Psalms... (Can you tell already my day is going to be fairly random? ;)
-Prep for the day

7:30: Breakfast.
-dishes/kitchen cleanup. Everyone but Seth is out of the house. My parents and Heidi out for a walk, the boys to the office, Vanessa at work. It's sooooo quiet. (I love it!)
-My daddy is off work today for Veterans Day. :)
-It's beautifully grey and dreary out! (For those of you who know me well...this is my sort of day!)

9:00: I just finished the kitchen...now for my to-do list:
-finances
-laundry
-clean (anything and everything- it's a hobby of mine...;)
-practice piano and violin
-make up a schedule to send home with students next week (December is going to be pretty wacky lesson-scheduling-wise.)
-Prepare/do assignments for girls Bible study
-finish up speaking parts for the December Christmas concerts
-go for a walk/run (I actually feel like doing this next....:)
-Lessons

So there you have it!

8:45pm:

Let's see how the list went today:...
-finances (odds and ends)=check
-laundry= 3 loads folded, 4 washed (that means there's still something in the dryer... better go check. Doesn't quite add up! ;)
-walk/run=3.5 miles! (That felt SO good!)
-practice=just piano. Apologies to the Nutcracker...perhaps tomorrow? Nope. Probably not...
-cleaning=dusted, cleaned kitchen, sent stuff to Goodwill.
-Studio Notes=check
-Girls Bible study prep=check
-Steaming hot mug of of Chai Tea (I know that wasn't on the original list...;)
-Extra Bible Study (*wink at Les* :)
-lessons=two students (fun ones!)
-Family prayer meeting= at home today.
It was a nice, restful day! I was really thankful for the break...tomorrow will be busy again!

Ephesians 5:8-10 "...Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord."

Tuesday, November 10

-My cell phone battery died sometime in the night, so my alarm did not go off at 6:00am.

-Thankfully, my dad came down at 6:15 to make sure my little sister was up.

-I am only 15 minutes behind schedule, but on a Tuesday morning of all days for that to happen! Hmmm....I wonder if I can make up for lost time?

-Quick shower

-Throw on a load of laundry, but only to find that I forgot a load in the dryer last night. (I'm surprised none of my blog readers noticed that!)

-Hang up the things in the dryer, and save the folding for later...

6:49am: Time for some quiet (and it is actually quiet in the house this morning....).

-II Chronicles 10 & 11...I found it interesting that although Reheboam seemed to be rebelling against God and all wise authorities and counsel that in verse 15 of ch.10 it says: "So the king (Reheboam) did not listen...for the turn of events was from God, that the LORD might fulfill His word." There's God's sovereignty for you...

7:15am: Multi-tasking. (Prayer time while blow drying hair...;)

7:30am-Breakfast eaten...now I have an hour to clean the kitchen and finish up prep for Bible Club this morning. It's bread-making day, so the kitchen is an especially challenging job for cleanup. And my brother just brought in whole assortment of dishes from lunches at the office the past few days for washing. Lovely... =P

8:27am-Three minutes to gather my things and get out the door:

-playdough tote (a must...I got in trouble with my 4 year olds last week for leaving it at home.)

-puppet tote

-beanbag/ball tote

-teaching bag

-song bag

I think I am all set!

8:35am-Arrive at EFree church. Heidi works with the 2 year olds, and I get the 4 year olds.

-set out playdough while praying hard that my kids will be much better behaved than last week...

8:55am-My kids begin to arrive, looking sleepy and a little just-got-out-of-bed-ish. ;) I let them all play with playdough for about half an hour. I have 12 kids today. 8 girls and 4 boys. I was helping L with his playdough snowman when the girl next to him said her playdough smelled like blueberries (It was blue playdough). L had to try it too, so sniffed at his green playdough and announced: "Mine smells like greenberries!!!". I said "I have never heard of greenberries...". L says "Wellll....greenberries are grown in a country far, far, far away- that's why you have never heard of them. But.....well, I'm not sure about that actually. Because sometimes I'm not always right about things. *short pause* But I AM right with numbers! When two letters are side by side they RHYME!!". ;)

9:30- Songtime! Today my kids are very attentive during song and verse time. They have learned four verses with actions so far, and totally love the song bag! I actually managed to keep them all on the rug and listening attentively the entire time...

10:00-Snack and play time in the gym. Now is the time for the ornery ones to act up...L insists on going first in line, and pouts in the corner because he ends up being last. This attitude sticks for the rest of the morning, and another boy decides to follow suit and do everything JUST like L. =\ We play the bean bag game in the gym, then head back into the classroom for story time.

10:30- We cover the dark page of the Wordless Book story...Adam and Eve, and how sin came into the world. For some reason L doesn't click with the sin examples. ;) Most of the kids listened very well to the story. It's neat to hear the kids repeating the gospel story back to me now after so many weeks of teaching. We ended with our traditional prayer time. All the kids love taking turns "talking to God"!

11:15- All the kids have been picked up by their moms, and my helper and I finish cleaning up. Did I mention I have the greatest assistant? She is homeschooled, and really is a tremendous help to me with all these kids!

11:30-Back at home, I pack all my totes and teaching materials back in the closet, switch the laundry, and clean up my room some. This afternoon I have my "long lessons"- 45 minute to an hour ones.
-I'm tired out. And hungry.
-Before I eat lunch, I look up some Christmas violin sheet music for a student this afternoon, and quick-clean the piano room...I wish I could take a nap! Better get the coffee going...

12:30-Lunch and coffee. I feel much better now. :)

1:00- My students arrive. I have two 45 minutes lessons and an hour lesson back-to-back. I will be teaching solid until 3:30. No breaks. But these are my good students. Good practice habits, and good attitudes. :) Those are things that make a teacher happy!
-Student #1 has been taking from me for 7 years, along with his sister who will take her lesson next. E has a liking (might I call it an obsession? ;) with Nascar racing. I get all the winners updates and such at the beginnings of his lesson each week...I had sort of tuned him out today when I began to hear something odd thrown in to his "Nascar Ad" that I thought he was quoting from something he heard on TV...but I was hearing something to the effect of "TCS.net is a proud sponsor of Nascar (etc. etc.)...specializing in computer repair, networking solutions (etc. etc. etc.)..." (You had to have been there!) I looked at him with this shocked expression on my face, and he laughs and goes "I made that up!". LOL It sounded SO REAL. By the way, this student of mine has some sort of audio version of photographic memory (does that make any sense? I don't know what to call it). He can perfectly remember and imitate in the exact voice and with the exact sound effects anything he has heard on radio, tv etc! I want him to do his "Nascar Ad" for my brothers sometime. It was pretty amazing!
-Student #2, his sister, has a great lesson. She really seems to be enjoying piano, and always practices hard during the week. I enjoy working with her!
-My 3rd student of the day takes both piano and violin from me. She is a beginner on both, but is an excellent student! We are working through the Minuets in Suzuki book 1. They have been especially challenging, so I am having her listen to them only for a few weeks (no practice allowed ;) and just covering a lot of Christmas music with her now. She and her family do a lot of nursing home ministry, and she has prepared something to play in a Veterans Day program tomorrow. She's a tiny little thing...just barely fits her 1/2 size violin now right now!
-I have 30 minutes now before my final student of the day arrives! So I am typing This...and should probably check on the laundry.
-Tonight is also KSO rehearsal at the college, so I should pull out my violin and the Nutcracker for some one-on-one before student #4 arrives. There's a lot of 'nth position stuff to work out in it..!

4:01pm-The laundry is all happily hung up on the clothes rack. :) I have 14 minutes to do something....practice I guess. Hardly enough time to warm up 'tho.

4:15-Not sure what to think of this student...*ouch* is a good description of tone quality. He has never had private lessons, and has all the lack of technique ingrained in him that comes from playing since 5th grade in his public school orchestra...Wow. I have been working on him for two months now, and have hardly been successful in fixing anything, except his bowhold perhaps. =\ I take it that in the school orchestra it doesn't matter which direction your bow is going, what key you decide to play in, and that your bow has been rosined to death before each and every practice session/rehearsal!
I think I need to go listen to some nice music to get a good sound back in my head...=P
(He's a nice kid, really! Just a bit of a painful experience for his teacher..!)

5:00--a little time to breathe. I'm getting tired, and I still have 3 hours of orchestra rehearsal to live thru tonight!

6:00-Dinner and family Bible reading. Joshua and Isaiah. Not a lot of time to discuss since my mom and I had to be out the door for orchestra!

7:00-9:30: I hardly made it through this rehearsal...too tired I guess. We have alot of music, but not too much of it is challenging this time around. I'm glad. I don't have a lot of time to practice this month.

10:00-Ready to crash... :) Goodnight!

A Monday in my life...

6:00- the alarm goes off, but I have already been lying awake for an hour. (Time change...I haven't gotten used to it yet I guess!)
My usual morning routine goes something like this:
-shower
-throw on a load of laundry
-make the bed
-turn on some quiet music (in an attempt to distract from the bassoon practice that is happening right above my head ;)
-personal time with God (I am currently reading through 2 Chronicles, studying the book of Philippians for girls Bible study, and doing a study on the names of God...not that I do all of those three every day!)
-prayer journal: I have several lists/categories from which I pray for one person each day. The categories go something like this: (in case you are interested :)

*Psalms of praise (different verses that I can use in worship of God)

*Family/relatives

*Broken families/relationships (death, divorce, broken friendships, etc.)

*Suffering (illness/families in need)

*Missionaries

*Adoptive families/children

*My sisters in Christ :)

*Churches

*Government leaders
etc.

It's really been helpful to have these lists before me to remind me to pray purposefully for people and situations, not just when they randomly come to mind!

There were quite a few distractions, interruptions to having any sort of "quiet" during my time with God this morning...perhaps later I can find some quiet. On the way to lessons today, perhaps?

Breakfast is a family affair in our household. (Actually, nearly every meal is...) Last night and this morning we have had some great, and totally hilarious discussions. You have to experience it to know-can't really describe life in the T family. (Seth probably has some things to say about that! =)

After eating, I finish my morning prep and get started cleaning the kitchen. (A big task on Monday mornings especially!)
45 minutes later...I can leave the kitchen in it's semi-sparkling state knowing without a doubt that when I return from work for lunch that it will not look the same. =P

After switching the laundry and hanging up a load of khakis, I have at least 15 minutes before I have to run out the door. So, I am sitting now with a mug of Honey Lemon Ginseng Green Tea and typing This. :)

Mondays, I teach many of my students outside of the house. It's nice to get out first thing in the week, and not have to worry about the piano room being clean for lessons right off after a big weekend...! Today, I have 9 students on my schedule, a tutoring session with little C, and perhaps an hour or two of work for M&E Construction (filing, bills etc.). Somewhere in there I need to make a run to the music store and the bank...and somehow manage to not forget the load of laundry in the dryer while I'm at it.

Sorry, I just gave away my day in a nutshell. But there are always surprises to my day...so keep reading!

9:15am-I head out west of town about 10 miles to my "job" of the morning...upon arrival, I find that little C wants to have her piano lesson first. SO, we pull out the chair, assignment book and turn on the keyboard (so far, so good).
In case you ever wonder what sorts of things a piano teacher has to endure, here is a dialog from today's lesson with little C:

Teacher: "Don't forget to count your half notes..."
(Student continues playing the entire song in quarter notes)
Teacher: "okay, let's count out loud...ONE-TWO (etc. etc.)"
Student: ''I am counting in my head"
Teacher:"Well, let's count out loud to make sure we are getting it..."
Student: *dum dum dum dum duuuu..."I mean ONE (looooong pause) TWO....excuse me, one-two" (said as fast as possible)
Teacher: "Well...let's try that again!" ;) (and again, and again...)
(Later- little C is writing in note names to Jingle Bells)
Student: "WHY is there a C on top of an E??"
Teacher: "Because they sound good together...?"
Student: *giggles nervously* "But WHY are they on top of each other??"
Teacher: *stumped* "Because that's the way the song is written...!?!"
Student: "Why are there 5 F's in a row??"
Teacher: "Because that's the way the song goes"
Student: "But why?!?!"
Teacher: "Wellll...that's the way the song was written"
Student: "And there are THREE C's!!!" "Why are there THREE C's in a row???????"
Teacher: "You can ask the guy who wrote the song...."
Student: "but WHY??"
Teacher: "Well, Jingle Bells just wouldn't sound likes Jingle Bells if it didn't have 3 C's in a row!"
Student: "And there are 5 MORE F's in a row...!!" (By now the student is just incredulous at this phenomonon in her music...) =P
Teacher: "Let's just finish writing in the notes and see why, okay??"
Student: "Welllll....I don't know about that!"
Teacher: *wondering if there is some serious gap in her student's musical training...but not sure what on earth it is, and what to do about it!*
A few minutes later...while beginning a new song: "Yankee Doodle"
Student: (looking at the picture on the music page) "why is there a guy on a horse?"
Teacher: "Uhhh, that would be Yankee Doodle I guess..."
Student: "But why isn't it a dog??"
Teacher: "Hmmmm?????"
Student: "Yes, it was a dog that stuck a feather in his cap"
Teacher: "Excuse me??"
Student: "Yankee Doodle is a dog!"
Teacher: "No, he was a soldier..."
Student: "But I always thought it was a dog! It's not a dog?"
Teacher: "Umm, no. I think not."

A WHOLE ENTIRE FOURTY-FIVE MINUTES LATER WE FINISHED THE LESSON!!

Sailing uneventfully through little C's two older sisters' lessons, I breathed a sigh of relief. Those lessons are done for the week!
I had some filing to do for M&E construction, and then headed in to help little C with her reading. It wasn't too bad. :) We made it through two books, and an entire list of phonics words. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G...

12:00pm: I headed back home for my lunch break, took care of the laundry in the dryer, started another load, and began folding a basketful of leftover laundry from last week.

1:00pm: After eating a quick lunch, I gathered my things and headed out to do my errands...or tried to. By the time I made it to the bank, I realized that I probably didn't have enough time to stop by the music store and still make it to my next lesson on time. So...I arrived just a few minutes early at my students house. She's a sweetheart...For some reason, certain students are just so easy to be patient with! We discovered today that she and I are kindred spirits...in that, we both prefer tea or coffee over hot chocolate. ;) We have been working on strengthening her right hand this week, after having had it in a cast for the past two months. She learned a majority of her lesson book almost entirely left handed, so now we are going back and re-learning how to read music again with two working hands! She amazed me with how proficient she became at reading both treble and bass clef all with her left hand.

2:00pm: My phone buzzed to remind me of the list of books I needed the music store....so I headed downtown. Stocked up on Christmas piano books, but managed to forget once again that I needed to pick up a Faber Level 1 Technique for a student this afternoon. =\

2:45pm-Just enough time to type away on This for a few minutes, finish folding laundry, switch the wash into the dryer, and clean the den before my 5th student of the day runs over after school for lessons. Another sweetie...:) Oh, did I tell you my Monday's are made up entirely of beginner students??

3:15pm-E's lesson. She is always so spunky and sweet. I love her attitude!

3:45 My next sets of lessons are only a couple of blocks away, and I decided to walk today since it was so nice out and I rarely find time to exercise anymore!
Student #6 has a good lesson. She's a good listener. Student #7, her older sister is a bit antsy today though. I can't hardly keep her on the piano bench. Student #8 had a bad attitude. :( No progress made there...

5:15-Student #9 is my only violin student of the day, and was back at home, so I had to rush back...and still didn't make it in time. Thankfully Heidi had her all tuned up and waiting for me. Maybe I had better drive next time...either that or shift the lesson time! This little girl always has an interesting story to tell of her week. Often, rather sad. Like her dog ate her kitties or something. :( Today though she said that she thought violin lessons were more fun than dance, or ballet, or art class! That was a nice thing to say to her teacher. ;) We got a lot accomplished in her lesson, and it's so rewarding to see progress being made! I think her grandpa expected his granddaughter to be fiddling away in no time...but she is only 7, and doesn't seem to get any help practicing at home- so is actually making pretty good progress, considering. The other day I bought her a new shoulder rest for her violin, and she didn't want to take it home because she was certain her little sister would eat it! Well, we figured out how to keep it hidden away in her violin case, and the shoulder rest has survived now nearly three weeks...! =)

6:15pm- I'm starving. It's dark out, and the boys are out biking somewhere and aren't coming home.

6:30pm- We are eating dinner without the boys...

6:51pm-They are still un-locatable (Is that a word?). Their cell phones must have died. ;) I have a decision to make...go to a Monday night concert at 7:30pm, or stay home and practice music. I suppose I should pick what tops the priority list of necessity-but, I really would love the concert (Brahms, and Rachmaninoff and all that good stuff). On the other hand...I'm a mess, and look a mess too. Sort of like I just got done running a marathon or something. Forget the concert idea.

6:52pm-Piano, here I come! (My violin will get a turn too...do not worry. I have some major work to do on the Nutcracker.)

7:42pm-Forget that, I am too tense to even attempt to practice violin! Must be tired or something....I need to go help Heidi with some fingerings in "Tidings of Great Joy"-then I'm off to prep for 2 hours of Bible Club tomorrow morning for my "kidlets". Hmmmm... What Bible lesson should I do this time? I'm nearly out of curriculum. =\

I'm thinking I will probably head to bed after that. :) So, hope you had fun reading about my Monday. (Actually, I'm hoping you all aren't going to boycott my blog after this...)

Goodnight!

Galations 6:9 "And let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

Blog-journal of the week!

You all are in for...well, something.
If it works out, you will see a daily blog-entry this week with a little glimpse into my life and what I do.
Not that it is of general interest or anything. I just thought it would be fun. ;)

A glimpse into my life...

Sunday, November 8th
6:00am-rise and shine. We leave for Church at 7:30 sharp- and I have just enough time to prep for the day, pull out a random arrangement for Prelude/Offertory and practice through it once, eat breakfast, gather my things and load up in the van.
The next two hours- rolling along on I-80 toward Lincoln. I usually sleep, but having gotten sufficent sleep the night before and feeling unusually well-rested I pulled out my Bible and laptop and worked on speaking parts for the upcoming Christmas programs. It's more of a study on the names of God right now until I can formulate scripture and thoughts into something that makes sense. :) I made it through Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, and Mighty God before I started to feel a little van-sick. Our van has issues...something to do with the speedometer not working right, so when it's in cruise you can feel it constantly surging 5-10mph hr slower or faster than the speed you are trying to go. Not a nice feeling if you're in the back seat and trying to keep your Bible still enough to read...
We pull into the church parking lot at 9:30am. Sunday School is from 10-11. I have one little person in my Sunday School class. D was sad because some friends she had invited to church didn't show up. After the tears dried up, we continued on with our study of Abraham and how God fulfilled His promise to him. Scripture memory is D's favorite thing to do. We are memorizing 6 different passages of scripture together right now. D informed me that she had chosen a hymn ahead of time for our traditional afternoon hymn-sing. When I asked her if she knew the hymn, she said she didn't but wanted to sing it anyway. She came prepared! This week she is going to make it a habit to talk to God every morning when she wakes up and praise Him for a specific way He has shown mercy to her...
This isn't typical 6 year old Sunday School stuff--but this little girl is pretty amazing. For homeschool this week her Pop-pop was reading to her "Persausions" by Douglas Wilson. *ahem* not typical 6 year old reading material either...=D
After the morning service, we had lunch at church, then had choir practice for a few minutes before our afternoon service. We are working on an a capella arrangement for "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" for Christmas, as well as a hymn for Thanksgiving. I am supposed to make up a violin part to play with Jeremy on guitar for the Thanksgiving hymn. I'm thinking it'll be impromptu...I don't have much time for anything extra these days!
It is tradition to have a hymn-sing to conclude our afternoon service. We ended at 2:00, and were out the door by 2:45...Typical. :)
No interesting sights on the Interstate on the drive home. We listened to a CD on the History of the traditional Sunday School. Good stuff. (For later discussion perhaps? ;)
An interesting coincidence...I finished up a book today- Leslie Ludy's latest :"Sacred Singleness". And was just pouring over the resource section in the back covering all sorts of opportunities, complete with websites and other very helpful information, regarding working with orphans, adoption, etc. etc. etc. Well, I eagerly looked up a few of the websites when I returned home...not realizing until I happened upon a certain website that today was "Orphan Sunday". Wow. Coincidence? I don't know...we shall see where God will guide. But I am willing, whatever He has for me!
Supper was late-on account of Skyping grandparents, and so were family devotions- on account of Skyping our aunt & uncle in Indiana.
And now it's my bedtime...(which I have to strictly adhere to, in order to avoid hitting a brick wall prematurely in the middle of the week somewhere! My regular time for "hitting the brick wall" is 7:00pm Saturday nights...no sooner, or I'm in trouble. Have to keep these things on schedule ya know... ;)
Goodnight!

2nd discussion of the week...

Should marijuana be legalized for people with cancer and cataracts?
If morphine, codine and alcohol do the same thing to the human mind as marijuana, why are they legal and marijuana is not?
You can look at World magazine November 7 pg. 10.

--submitted by Addie

Discussion of the week...

"...say that you asked Jesus to become your Savior at a very young age but the rest of your life you didn't follow Him (falling into immorality, maybe killing someone, etc...), would you still go to heaven? Doesn't Jesus say, though, that when you ask for forgiveness, He will forgive your past, present, and future sins? So if this person became a Christian at like the age of nine, but then just completely turned away from Christ after that and never felt 'convicted' or asked God to forgive them before he/she died, where would they go?"

--Submitted by Rachel C.

Discussion of the week...

Benjamin David T.--
on the topic of moral neutrality among Christians...

You're up, Ben. :)

Meet my PC... :)

Discussion of the week...

Why do we have standards?
-submitted by David