It is gettng very close… about a month and a half (of course, February is a VERY short month!!!!).  However, I am very, VERY pleased with where I am at this point in the process.  After all, I have never before embarked on an adventure quite like this… from infancy to finish, my OWN creation but I would be lying if I did not tell you that I am really excited!  K told me that we are definitely where I need to be just going through each piece one by one over an over again.  I see two of my list are more challenging than others for reasons that are very apparent to both of us!  Definitely will be focusing on those this week.

I was thrilled by one of her comments today!  It seems that her family was listening to one of the songs I will be performing (one of my top picks… one that HAD to be on the program). She informed me that my interpretation outshines the artist who performed the song in the OBC (Original Broadway Cast for those of you not in the know).  Let me reiterate that this will be an extremely family-friendly show with no questionable songs or staging (I’ll save that for my grand 20th spectacle).  In fact, I would not be surprised if I incorporated a bit of audience interaction throughout.  Not to worry, I would know who NOT to call upon.  St. Patty’s Day weekend… I have a spot to fill perhaps a nice Irish tune.

It seems that I have been a walking billboard for my terrific coach.  Not one but two people have asked me how to get in touch with her.  My cousin, who is in a band, told me that she has been trying to find a good vocal teacher and was unaware that there was one in the immediate area.

In other production news, it seems that “the other me” has made quite an impression.  The promotional photo for the theatre’s redux of Escanaba in da Moonlight features a gentleman who just happens to share names with me but bears little resemblance.  Numerous people around the area have come up and asked me how the play was going.  At times, I have forgotten what they were talking about and inform them that it is not me in the cast.  I have worked on stage with J2 but not this time.

My blogging style has changed – maybe temporarily, maybe permanently.  It’s evolved, if you will, to meet the growing needs of my family.  I no longer have time to sit down 5 times a week and write about my thoughts, my plans, my stories, my ideas, nor do I have the time to detail my agenda.  With 5 kids now and all of the new things we’re doing (new baby, homeschooling, new career for both Hubby and I, new ministries…), I rarely do find myself sitting down and when I am, it’s rare that a computer is in front of me.  So for awhile, I will just post updates on the members of my family and our lives.  This will still serve as a way to keep in touch with those who read my blog (those especially that I cannot find as much time as I’d like to talk on the phone with because of all the noise in my house – phone conversations are nearly impossible at certain times of the day!), and my blog will also continue to serve as a family diary for us to look back on someday and enjoy together.  Updates:

Family – we began homeschooling last fall, and we still like it.  We’ve had to make some adjustments to our planned curriculum since new little bro Luke (born Oct 7 2011) is quite a happy though demanding handful.  We began co-op on January 9, which is a local program they have here at a church for homeschoolers.  We go every Monday, and each grade level participates in 3 different classes taught by the moms of the group.  Since it’s our first year, I don’t have a class to teach yet – I pulled nursery duty.  Yep – 3 hours every week working in the nursery with my little Luke and about 5 other babies – Luke is the only boy.  My husband asked me how I managed that one (because I LOVE babies!), and I don’t know – lucky I guess!!  Apparently there are some ladies who don’t want to deal with diapers and fussy babies and all that, but for me, there couldn’t be a better job for me to serve at co-op.  My other kids really like co-op.  Beeber (age 3) is in Preschool, and he came home the first week with a “carrot project” – the top of a carrot in a cup of water.  It was supposed to grow some green out the top, but ours didn’t.  He didn’t seem to mind though.  It’s funny because when he handed me his carrot as I was picking him up, I thought it was the remainder of what he had done with his snack until the teacher explained it to me – haha!  Disney is in Kindergarten at co-op, and she really likes it.  Since we’ve decided to homeschool our kids beginning at 2nd grade, Disney is also in public school preschool, and she loves both of them!  The older girls enjoy co-op too; it gives some of the structure of school without all the unnecessary rules and drama, and the classes are taught from a Christian perspective.  I like that the kids are held accountable to other adults besides their parents for their assignments and quizzes.  The Sunday-Monday rush is taxing for our family since we have seven bags to pack Sunday night for co-op AFTER a big weekend spent getting ready for church service, but it’s worth it and we are settling into a routine.  Wednesday sees us leading groups at youth group, and we had a friend offer to take the 3 middle kids to AWANA and they really like that.  Thursday we have Bible study, and as I said, much of our weekends now consist of planning Sunday church service and TRYING to find time to rest and relax.  Overall, we’re busier than ever, but I feel happier than ever – God is so great!  I felt so run-down and was having a really hard time for a few months, but I had some checkups with the doctor and think I got the problem solved.  I feel better than I have in years and I can’t thank God enough!!  Now we just have to get Hubby some more sleep since he is waking with Luke all night, every night AND working 2 jobs, not to mention all of the help he gives me around the house.

The past few months, I’ve learned better to accept the circumstances of life as seasons that are constantly changing.  I’ve also learned to better accept that the way things are now are most definitely going to change in a few months.  I’ve learned to look forward to seeing what God has in store for my family rather than to let the ever-changing dynamics of our lives fill me with fear, dread or worry.  As far as things at the new church, we’ve set up a wonderful childrens ministry, and we have about 20 kids that come every weekend.  This is an AMAZING thing when you realize that the church had 0 kids attending only 4 months ago.  We have been contemplating ideas for a youth ministry (tweens and teens) as well as some other things, and only God knows where we will be with that in a month or two.  As I tried to say, things change so fast that it’s difficult to update it all on my blog, especially when this post alone has taken me a few weeks of having to put it aside and come back to add more later in order to finish it!

Before I stop writing for the day, I do want to share an amazing God story we got to witness this past Sunday.  My husband had been up late most of last week writing his sermon, and there was a pancake supper at church on Saturday night.  I ended up staying home with my boys because I was feeling run down and Luke was crabby and oozing things from places (you don’t really want more details, trust me…  baby stuff).  So late Saturday night, Hubby decided to start telling God in prayer that he needed rest, and I was doing the same.  Sunday morning, I was making my runs for church – I am the designated driver for the childrens ministry.  Many of the kids that come to our church need rides because their home situations are…  let’s say complicated.  Our church is located in the middle of the country about 6 miles from town, so I make 2-3 trips there in the morning to pick up the kids and to drive my own family.  Sunday we saw a man riding a bike on US Route 6; his bike was pulling a trailer that normally is used for pulling children, but his was loaded with supplies.  I wondered if he was homeless or someone who was making a long trek because it isn’t all that unusal to see someone journeying down US 6 – our little corner of the world seems to be on the way to everywhere!  So we see people journeying down 6 from time to time, but not usually in the winter.  On my last run, as I pulled into church, I noticed the man on the bike was also pulling into church.  I got the kids settled, then went out to welcome him.  Turns out, his name is Michealangelo, and he had been on his journey on his bike for FOUR MONTHS!  He’s from Los Angeles, and he began by biking north in California, and then coming out this way headed to New York – because God sent him on this journey.  He saw the sign for our little church on US 6 and decided to stop.  Michael has amazing faith, and he had amazing stories to tell!  My husband asked him if he would share some of these with our congregation, and Michael obliged, even after sharing his concerns about the way he was dressed.  I don’t have the time to go into all of the amazing details of the personal touches that God put on this story – I’ve already burnt the eggs that I was cooking and the house smells disgusting.  But I will sum it up briefly:  Michael’s unexpected visit meant that my husband’s sermon that he had carefully prepeared was not used last week because we were treated to the testimony of Michael instead.  So my husband can rest a little easier this week knowing that his sermon is already prepared.  Also, we’ve been talking in our own family and at church about really living a Godly life and what that looks like; we’ve been trying to make opportunities to GO OUT and serve God rather than just sitting around, doing the same old things for US.  Michael’s testimony reaffirmed these concepts – here is a man who has devoted his entire life to doing what God wants him to do.  He left the life that he knew and WENT OUT THERE and is sharing the Word…  And here I am frustrated because my words are failing to convey the story…  And I wish I could find the links to the info about this guy on the internet.  Hubby found them so maybe when he gets home from work I can ask him and add them to my blog.

But anyway, it was a magical Sunday, and I am thankful that I got to be a part of it!  I will leave you now with a little update about my little Luke – he tried his tot wheels for the first time in January.  He likes it, but only for short periods of time.  He is a grown up little guy in a baby’s body with a baby’s attention span.  He loves to stand, and practice walking ALREADY even though he is not yet 4 months old.  He also loves to watch other kids in action – his sisters and brother and also the kids at co-op and at youth group.  WOW – I really have to blog more often!  Once I got going, I had so much to say but not enough time to say it…  sorry that I was kind of all over the place, but that’s the price I pay for sitting down and trying to do this with all these kids running around and my many tasks to accomplish!  Until next time…

lukes first time in tot wheels.mov

Seems like spring is the beginning of the new Broadway season.  Guess they have to get in to hit that Tony deadline.  In any case, I see a gaggle of revivals, hollywood turned stage productions (for better or worse), and one-man shows among the already established shows.

It appears that there is a new revolving door musical aiming to hit a certain demographic (in this case screaming adolescent females).  Daniel Radcliffe ended his employ at the World Wide Wicket company back in early January.  Darren Criss (from Glee) Succeeded him for a two week run.  And now, Nick Jonas is in the Business until July. Hope that this does not become the next Chicago with every teenage heartthrob stepping into the role of J. Pierpont Finch.  A good show should stand on its own.  On a side bar, Radcliffe and Criss have more in common than H2$.  Darren’s production company (began at all places at the dreaded school up north) created the internet sensation “A Very Potter Musical.”

Opening soon for a limited run is the newest entry in Disney’s production juggernaut.  Newsies, a little movie musical from the 80s that starred a young little-known actor named Christian Bale.  I do not think it was a major hit but has legions of cult fans 😀

Ghost: The Musical.  The less said the better.  Sounds like a mess and I don’t mean because of the famous clay scene.

In the new revival scene there is a play and a favorite musical about to hit NYC.  Phillip Seymour Hoffman is going to fill Willy Loman’s shoes along with Andrew Garfield (the Amazing Spider-Man not the musical the new reboot of the cinematic saga) in Death of a Salesman.

 Now for the show that I have had my eye on ever since the news arrived.  Lord Lloyd Webber’s masterpiece is coming back!  Starlight Express that WONDERFUL engine that could will be skating back into the heart of theatre goers in March.  Jesus Christ Superstar enjoyed a new production in Canada last summer and is making its way to the Neil Simon Theatre in March.  I just hope that this production is better than the 90s offering that was dreadful and they had the audacity to film it for all to see (not that the 1973 version was the work of genius but King Herod was much more interesting).

Finally…. for a very limited run, the performing wunderkind known as William Shatner will be gracing the stage for the first time in 50 years in a one-man production all his own.  I can only imagine…

Continuing the medical theme from summer camp, enter the 2012 4th and 5th grade winter retreat held right at our church.  The older kids get to go all the way to the camp in Michigan for two days, but as a cost-saving measure for the parents I am sure, this crowd gets one night with no travel necessary outside of being brought to church.  That suits me just fine and allows more to come who otherwise would not.  I know of one family for sure whose junior-higher wasn’t going to be able to go to his retreat though his younger brother was at ours.

I arrived Friday night just a smidgen late and check-in was well underway.  In fact, most of my cabin was already settled in and watching the opening movie which entertained them while waiting for the official start.  I joined my colleagues upstairs and helped settle in the stragglers.  Did I mention that Friday was the day of a major snowstorm?  After driving on snow-packed roads from Algonquin to Elgin and back home, I and a hundred moms, dads, and other leaders slogged down the roads to make this event, the only one not canceled.  But I am sure parents would brave even more to be rid of their young-uns give their brood an opportunity to draw closer to our Lord and Savior.  Though there was one cabin that had several boys missing by the time the main event started, mine was complete (at least it was by dinner time when the last trooper arrived).  I even had a couple of repeat campers from summer, one of which I hadn’t seen since then as he attended the church’s school, but not regular church on the weekends- at least the one I serve at.  Even my junior leader was the same.  Yep, Mad Cow Disease was represented in full.  What?  Oh, yes.  Remember the medical theme I mentioned?  Well, all the cabins were named after diseases and cures.  Most girls would never go for a cabin labeled SARS or mad cow disease, so they naturally got the cures while the boys proudly represented their diseases.

Once the movie was shut off in the middle (sorry for those who may not have seen it before…) and rules had been gone over, it was time to get into things with a game of course.  That game was Duck Hunt.

No, no, no, not THAT Duck Hunt.  This was a game where the kids hunted for little rubber ducks invading the church.  By little, I mean they were only about two square inches in size each meaning not that easy to find.  But there were several hundred of them.  All through, well not the church this year though that was the original intent.  Thanks to the fresh snow, the venue was changed and the ducks were strewn all over the parking lot instead.  Think a hundred kids mining for ducks in the still-falling snow.  They had to find the ducks and bring them back to their team buckets.  Sounds tedious?  Well, add in dodgeballs thrown by zealous leaders (they had to drop any ducks they were carrying if hit, to be thrown by the leader to be buried once again, waiting on another miner) and it made for a fun time.  There were also big balls the teams had to get to their buckets for big points.

The game eventually had to end and we went in for pizza and then our first session.  As per the norm, we started off with an up-front game (we lost- I don’t think we won any of the up-front games in fact) then moved into a couple worship songs before getting into the teaching.  The theme this year was Jonah, session one was about rebellion.  As many know, Jonah rebelled against God in chapter one, not only refusing to do what Got told him, but actively going the opposite way, as far away from his responsibility as possible.  The session ended with Jonah being thrown overboard for being the cause of the storm God sent.  All sessions ended in small group time, so we went back to our cabins to discuss the application to their own lives.

Lights out and the kids were asleep instantly dreaming of peaceful things like rainbows and unicorns.  Yeah, in your dre- hey, wait a minute…  I remember a winter retreat where a couple kids ran up and down the length of the building we were in all night (or much of it).  Things weren’t that bad but we still had talking, fake flatulence, complaints about the talking and the fake flatulence…  I had to get up more than once and just stand over someone to deter further noise.  I did sleep fairly well once I nodded off, at least until 6AM, but I’ll save that for the next post.  It’s getting late.  Talking of sleeping is making me want to be there…

zzz

What?? Hey, I’m not married- if I want to call this a family addition then… 😛

It’s too dark out to take a real photo, but this it what it looks like.  Finally a car- a 2009 Hyundai Elantra.  The bad news?  Insurance is about 50% more for this than for my Metro.  Oh, well.

Coming soon: last weekend’s event when I am not so tired.  Have to be up early tomorrow too…

It seems to me that no matter how much I don’t want to go back to work and leave my son, that’s the one thing I will have to be doing shortly. Ben is growing so fast, though I don’t always notice it, since I see him every day, but he already can’t wear his preemie footie clothing because he is too long for them. His little legs always have to stay bunched up while he wears them, and since he’s supposed to be stretching his legs out, I can’t put him in them. He still fits the preemie onies that he has, and slowly fitting his newborn clothes.

As the day draws closer to Feb. 6, I cannot help but feel upset and sad. I don’t want to leave Ben, and unless something drastic changes, I will have to return to work. Money is already becoming tight, so returning to work will help that. meilleur site achat viagra I actually miss walking and getting some exercise in, so that will be a plus, and my job wasn’t bad. I don’t mind working. Actually, to tell the truth, not working is driving me crazy. But, I will continue to look for an at home job, so I can be with my son and still work. At the moment, I am looking into tutoring. I love math and English, so why not use what I am good at to help other people. I can’t help people from Kindergarten to people in college. I’m not exactly sure how to get started, but I will make it through somehow.

If I knew how to make money writing on my blog, I would do that as well. I have also been working on a story about Egypt. That is when Ben lets me stop reading about Egypt. 🙂 Traveling to Egypt might help with the story, but getting it started feels great. Who knows, I might finish it, and then wait to get it published until I actually get to see Egypt and fix it up a bit. I want to take Ben to see all the places we have been reading about, to travel the Nile, to see Tut’s tomb, see Ramesses II’s mummy, and so much more! Someday, I will make it to all these different places, it will just take time and faith.

(NOTE – This is part 4/4 of our family’s trip diary detailing our vacation to Orlando, FL taken a year ago now.  This last installment is quite late, but better late than never, I think!)

Friday, January 21 – Today our house seemed quite empty as our travel companions left and it was just Hubby, me and the kids.  We did enjoy a day of family time, beginning with breakfast at…  Sizzler.  Actually, I don’t remember where we ate breakfast.  To be honest, I put the Florida trip diary aside for the past few months and now I don’t remember where we ate breakfast.  I don’t remember all of the details of the day, but I have enough treasured vacation memories to know that it was an excellent day spent with my family.  We drove over to Downtown Disney to try something different for a change – we had never been there.  Downtown Disney has so much to see that we just walked around for a few hours and were entertained without having to spend money.  My personal favorite was the amazing Lego store where one can buy just about any type of Lego a heart desires.  You can buy the flat building platforms, bricks in any color of the rainbow, minifigs, and there was even a sort of Lego buffet – you can fill a container with all different types of pieces, any kinds you want: basic building blocks, doors, windows, steering wheels, joints, hinges, you name it.  There were stations with samples to play with, and I had to exercise some self-control to let the kids play instead of sitting there myself for hours on end.  Because this is Florida, there were Lego things to see outside too – little stations with ramps where you can build Lego vehicles and race them, as well as full scale Lego models of people, the London Bridge, and even a large Loch Ness monster in the lake:

It’s really a good thing for my family’s budget that there is not a Lego store within 100 miles of our house; I could go nuts in there!

We also went to the Rainforest Cafe and a few other stores and restaurants where they had really cool decor for the kids to see.  There was a restaurant with huge dinosaurs where we stopped to use the bathroom, and the kids even enjoyed the Little Miss Match shop (a company that sells socks in sets of 3 and none of them match.  The store has socks and lots of other stuff that little girls love to accessorize with).  It began to rain, so we got on a boat to cross the lagoon to get to the bus.  If you are on vacation in the Orlando area and you find yourself with an extra day or some downtime, then I recommend taking a spin on the Disney transportation – especially if you are over-budget on your trip because it’s all free.  A fair warning that Disney property is so large that riding the buses, boats and monorails can take up a significant part of your day, but it is a fun and FREE way to see the sights of Disney.  So we took a bus to the Grand Floridian hotel to catch the monorail, just for fun.  Parking at Downtown Disney is free, so we got on Disney grounds without even having to pay parking!  We did have to spend a good 45 minutes on the bus though, but by now it was pouring, so we didn’t mind too much.  Besides, Hubby surprised me on the bus when he presented me with a Severus Snape minifig that he had picked up as a surprise without me seeing when we were at the Lego store!!  I could not even tell him that Snape is my favorite Harry Potter character because he would have wanted to know why – I didn’t want to spoil the last Harry Potter movie for him when it wasn’t out yet at that time.

At the Grand Floridian, I had to take some kids to the bathroom, and while I was in there, Hubby got a last minute great deal on a character dinner for us!  So we enjoyed dinner with Cinderella, her prince, her step-sisters and her step-mother.  The food was wonderful, and the kids loved meeting the characters as they walked around to greet tables.  After that, we made our way back to our car, and we were exhausted…  I think we called it a night – I’m not really sure; it’s taken me so long to finish this trip diary that my memory has faded.  All I know is it was a really great day, and a super way to end a wonderful vacation – SO WISH we could go back this year!

Saturday, January 22, 2011 – On this day I know we began to make our way back to Ohio, but I don’t remember the details.  I think we had told the kids we were going to do some souvenir shopping, but we ran out of time and just wanted to hit the road.  Then we had an idea – there are Cracker Barrel restaurants lined up along the expressway all the way home, so we found one on the GPS and got there just before it closed.  Cracker Barrels have little stores in them, and the one we stopped at (in Georgia) had a great sale going on.  The kids were able to shop and had fun getting some great deals – it was a nice way to add a little more fun to our trip.  We arrived home very early Sunday morning, if I’m not mistaken, and probably slept all day and unpacked.  SUPER trip that made awesome memories – can’t wait to do it again someday, I hope!!

Or three strikes and you’re out, but I prefer the title saying better.  It is midway through the year of my third stint at being an AWANA leader.  Some time ago, when I was still subbing, I was asked by family to break off a bit from the kids.  After all, I was doing drama and serving in 4th and 5th grade on the weekends then working all week in K-8 classrooms.  Not wanting to get rid of the weekend service, I dropped AWANA after the year was over.

This year things have been a little different but very much the same.  Originally, 3rd-4th grade were known as Pals (boys) and Chums (girls) while 5th (normally 6th too, but at our church 6th grade is junior high and they don’t do AWANA) were known as Pioneers (boys) and Guards (girls).  I believe it was during time #2 that the switch was made to T in T: Truth in Training for all three grades, boys and girls.  One year I worked with Sparks (K-2) but the rest of the time has been with 3rd-5th grade.  Would you believe the kindergarten Sparkies from that year are in 8th grade now?  Time does fly.  Other differences this year include keeping points for my team- kind of a pain with over 15 boys, mostly 3rd and 4th grade though I do have one or two 5th-graders- and game time is no longer the normal circle games, though at the beginning of the year we did do them.  Now we switch off between double-kickball (two balls, two kickers, one set of bases) and dodge-ball.

Last night was crazy hat night.  Every week has some sort of theme with varying levels of participation- last week was ugly sweater night and few participated.  Wristwatch night also seemed to be on the light side.  Hat night must have been easier as there was much participation.  Conservative, childless me didn’t have a hat anywhere near crazy status and I didn’t have time to think about it anyway since I arrived home from work after six and had to be at the church at 6:30.  There were of course Dr. Seuss hats among the fare, a mohawk hat, a creative lad wearing two Civil War hats representing both Union and Confederate sides, and another one wearing stacked baseball hats.  I am slightly chuffed to say the winner came from my own team, though of course I had nothing to do with it myself.  Cole wore the same hat he always wears to AWANA- he usually leaves it on all night except for prayer- but over that he had on a full Air Force pilot helmet, meaning not just the helmet but the breathing apparatus as well.  Technically not a hat, but it did go on  the head, so…  He informed me one of his relatives was in the Air Force.  If he went to this church on the weekend (he attends a different church- he came as another’s friend one week and signed up after that) he would fit right in at camp this summer and the winter retreat the following January- next year will be the military theme once again.

Anyway, speaking of winter retreat, *this* year’s retreat is tomorrow night and it is now after 11PM.  Time to hit the sack so I will have at least some rest for it.  And perhaps a blog post afterward.  Please pray for us this weekend- 24 hours from Friday 7PM to Saturday 7PM.

Weekday mornings (except for Mondays) I go to my “sister”‘s house at 7:45 to watch the youngest kids she sits with while she takes the older ones to school.  One of the younger ones is an extremely cool little dude named Dane who goes to pre-school later in the morning.  The kid is just a ball of fire!  Every time he is there he asks Charnel… “Where is Jamiah?!” There was a spider in the laundry room the other day and he asked if she was going to call and have me come and take care of it.  Over Christmas break, Dane and his mother came into the grocery while I was working and upon entering he exclaimed, “THERE’S THAT GUY!”

Wednesday morning after coming back from pre-school, he was absolutely not himself.  The poor guy had a tummy ache and a temp of 102º 🙁 Charnel called his father and he was on his way.  Until he arrived, Dane sat on my lap, cuddled with me, and we watched The Flintstones which drew a few chuckles but he really did feel warm.  Shortly after, Dane’s Dad arrived and took my newest little pal home.  This morning they were both sick!  Get well soon, little buddy 😀

I just put my son down in his bed and my arms suddenly feel empty. Ben isn’t quite a month old yet and I hate the thought of leaving him to go back to work. I just love being here when he wakes up, the feel of him in my arms, hearing the sounds he makes in his sleep, feeding him and suddenly having my cat, Padme, curl up on my lap next to him… the list is just endless. Sure, there are some things I don’t enjoy all the time, but nothing is perfect. There isn’t a part of life that is perfect for anyone. If someone tells you anything different, they are most likely lying to you.

I only have a few short weeks left before I have to go back to work and I know that they are going to fly by. How does one expect me to be able to get up and know that I have to leave my son with someone else and be able to concentrate on my job? Not be able to look at his adorable little face for eight hours? I don’t even have set hours and that is going to kill me! Maybe it would be better for me if I knew that I would work a set schedule, but at Goodwill, I work different hours every day and every week. Working at Goodwill isn’t a bad thing, it’s not the job that I hate, it’s the thought of leaving Ben.

I love the thought of being able to stay here all day, with a work schedule that I set, and know that Ben is only an arm’s reach away. Being here when he learns to roll over, to crawl, here his first attempts to talk…