To Anyone Needing God's Grace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXZf-rc_XaA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Snow Day & Singing

Andrew is singing right now with a community choir. The 1st concert (yesterday) was with the town orchestra. The concert today is at the "Old Stone Church" and is a full choral concert. I was able to attend the "dress rehearsal" with Levi earlier in the week. That was a treat for me as both concerts conflicted with Levi's sleep schedule.

Levi has reached his "50 good boy stickers" milestone and received some new parts for his "tato-head".

We had out 1st sizable snow fall this weekend and Levi, Andrew & I got out to enjoy it. This was Levi's 1st attempt at snow removal.

The snow had perfect snow man making chemistry.

What a great snowman, guys!

There is no comparison to fun had with dad on the sled! i have many more photos to post including our wonderful trip to California but it will have to be another time and another post. Happy December!

June 7th

Psalm Series

During these weeks leading up to Easter I'm leading Wednesday night services. The theme I've chosen is the Psalms. Last week I spoke on Psalm 19 and this next Wednesday on Psalm 16 (33, 42, and 22 to come). It's traditional to involve the youth and kids more than usual during these evening services, so I've been trying to find ways for them to be involved. For the musically-inclined, I'll be having them sing the Psalm. Below is the scratch track I made of the Psalm (I didn't write it, but found it in a Catholic hymnal) for the youths to "get the song in their heads." Sorry if it's a bit bass-y. Also, I tried to post just the mp3, but blogger only accepts video files, so I added some photos.

Music at Sibley and Other Stories

We have had a fairly busy week! Last Monday evening from 6-7 pm I attended a women's exercise group, for the first time, at church while Andrew was in a meeting. It was actually really energizing. This cold weather has sapped any desire to walk out doors so it was encouraging to "walk" to a tape with other ladies from the church. In all it was a 2 mile walk. I then waited for Andrew while he attended another meeting from 7-8 pm.

Tuesday we had a date night to see the movie "Mall Cop" and consumed a large amount of popcorn. I found myself laughing a whole lot more than I expected. The only people in our little theater were Andrew and I and one other man.

Wednesday night we were expecting to attend choir practice from 7-8 pm but I came down with a migraine and it got so bad I was quite nauseous. Andrew opted to stay home with me to make sure I was surviving the best I could.

Thursday I worked the majority of the day on house cleaning and preparing snacks for our first small group fellowship. I made brownies, popcorn, dip for the chips and washed some grapes to put out. I was able to use several of the beautiful serving pieces we were given for our wedding to host this event! We had no idea how many people to expect but ended up with a happy little group of 4. We spent the hour (7-8 pm) getting to know each other and eating a few of the snacks I had prepared. Oh, and Andrew brought home beautiful flowers as a surprise to help me decorate the home for our first small group!
We are both excited also that a few more people are planning on coming to the group next week!

Friday, we worked on projects around the house. We almost finished filing our documents in the filing cabinet now. I did some mending. Andrew did some reading. When it came time for dinner we decided to cook together. It was so much fun. We made Pollock fish with a coating that tasted like KFC. I had some and actually liked it (although that was probably due to the coating). I even tried my hand at tartar sauce. Andrew was the one that actually cooked the fish. It turned out wonderfully.

Saturday, we went to Willmar and found Andrew some running shoes with our $25 off any purchase. I also got my hair cut. Saturday evening was the official lighting of the Spicer Castle. We were planning on staying home due to the -20 degree weather but as I was doing the dishes and heard fireworks. We jumped in the car to head down to the shore but they ended before we got parked. We walked to the castle and watched kids of all ages slide down the giant slide. I tried to hover around the bon fire but it just didn't cut it so we headed home. Sunday, we got to church by 8:40. I read a little while as Andrew prepared for Sunday School. From 9:15-10:00 I practiced with the hand bell choir. From 10-10:20 we practiced with the choir. Church was from 10:30-11:30. We had a pot luck after a church meeting. I made a jello fruit salad and corn bread muffins. Then we were invited by Maggie, the music director, to play music with a "jam" group of fiddlers from 2-3:30 pm out at Sibley State Park. I played percussion: a frog, "spoons" (a single item carved from wood so you cannot drop them; pictured below) and egg shakers. Andrew played the guitar and his Celtic drum. This is a family of home schoolers that all play the violin around here. There are nine children (not all pictured here) and all are skilled violinists. I hope this shows you a little of life here.

Christmas Date Night

Both Andrew and I were sick over out 6 month "luna-versary". In the past, for every luna-versary, we had at least had a bottle of sparkling cider and a special meal (which I usually cooked). Due to illness we put it off till last weekend. Not bad, only a week late. Andrew surprised me by bringing home a beautiful Christmas flower arrangement.

We also celebrated by enjoying a free Christmas show put on by the Assembly of God in Willmar. On our way we stopped by DQ for ice cream. Heehee. Then we continued on to the show. It was called: It was sort of a play/musical. There was a whole choir and many of them acted as well. The "baby Jesus" was a real baby that behaved so well! I wanted to take pictures of the event itself but my camera is big and loud and I didn't want people looking at me :). Instead I just got a couple pictures off the Internet from the same musical done by other churches.

The Rabbi that played in this version was hilarious! It really was like the Christmas story meets Fiddler on the Roof. My only complaint was we were in the last row of the balcony and it was freezing as they were pumping in cold air when outside it was below zero plus windchill. There was lots of cuddling in our pew :).