Recital

On Monday, Jessica, Annetta, and Hosanna (with four friends, and the other students) performed in a music recital. But, there is more to that than meets the eye. How can I, in one blog post, accurately describe the hours of torture practice...conversations on the expectations and nervousness of said recital...the time agonizing over what to wear...the time spent in front of the mirror, an hour before leaving... Yeah, how do I accurately depict all that? I guess you will just have to imagine Annetta and Hosanna's practicing, but Jessica and Rachel, who played a duet, have the honor of starring in a video of practicing, which follows:

But back to the recital. After getting everyone ready to go (which, you might think is a 'duh' statement, but sometimes a kid or two is overlooked), we piled into the van with Rachel, who had the distinct privilege of riding over in our van with screaming angelic children. Then, we had a heart-racing, adrenaline-pumping, nerves-tingling half hour while waiting for the recital to begin. The order goes least-advanced to most-advanced, so first it was Hosanna, playing "The Happy Farmer,"

and then Annetta, playing Gavotte by Martini,

and then Jessica and Rachel's duet, the Salvation Medley.

And then afterwards, the performers refreshed themselves with...refreshments.

Rachel and Aaron unknowingly posed for pictures....

Here are Hosanna
and Annetta. They both did quite well.
And then we walked out and went home!
(Jessica and Rachel had almost-matching shoes. So, logically, we took a picture of them.)

An Ode to the Van

Yes, I hate to say this, but our van has hit the dust/kicked the bucket/gone its last mile, etc. We were driving home from the girls' music recital (blog post on that coming up, I promise!), and as we made a left turn, there was a horrible grating-clanking-breaking-crumbling-crunching-and-otherwise-horrible noise which emanated from the right rear tire. There were also sparks. I sit in the back seat, and this was alarming to me and my back seat buddy, Joanna. We all hollered for Daddy to pull over, and he did. Our friends and neighbors were just a minute behind us (which is rather miraculous, because they usually leave events before we do), and they pulled over and got out. Daddy had a conversation with them, which involved the words "transmission" and "towing" and "drive shaft." Not being mechanically minded, I'm not sure what all transpired. But the end result was that we were towed home. There was a disturbing scraping noise as whatever-it-was scraped against the road, and a disturbing (in a cool sort of a way) show of fireworks, as the scrapey thing scraped and created sparks on the road. I even got a video. Of course, once the thing fell off, our entertainment ceased.
(Video: The little orange things are the sparks, the big white light is the vehicle behind us, and the noise is the drive shaft dragging on the road.)

The next day, the van was once again towed to the vehicle shop, where we are, incidentally, well acquainted with the mechanics. Well acquainted, I repeat. And the next morning we got the sad call, that, whereas the van could indeed be fixed, it would be more profitable to get a new one. Actually, the driving shaft had, in fact, fallen off! This means, of course...well, okay, I don't really know what it means. But the name implies importance. So stay tuned for the conclusion of the Great Vehicle Saga!

Definition of "Long Day" (Part 2)

When Josh and Katrina both fall asleep in the van on the way home.

(Link to part one)

We need your help...

...in naming this little calf. She was born sometime last night, and she needs a name.


Ideas? Be creative! :)

To all the moms out there...

Happy Mother's Day!

Jess got accepted to PHC!!!

We're all very excited! Jessica has been praying that she could go to Patrick Henry College for about two years, and she recently mailed in her completed registration (below)


The acceptance envelope came in the mail today and was read with great rejoicing.

Jess

No, this is not the result of a electrical socket/tongue combination. Yesterday, Jessica went to get her hair permed, and the results are below for your viewing.



What do you think? Good? Bad? Hairdresser missed her calling as an electrician? We're all still trying to get used to it!

Dandelions

I defy the idea that dandelions are weeds. I understand that that is a popular position, held by many people (including my sister.) But I ask you how you can look at something so perfect that God has made and call it a weed! Dandelions are so pretty and cheerful-- I can't imagine a world without dandelions.