Fall 2011 SVC Recital

A Day of Thanks

Today is one of my favorite days out of the year.  Not because school is on break.  Not because we can stuff ourselves in addition to the turkey and eat shameful amounts of pie. I L.O.V.E. this day because it is a time that is dedicated to giving thanks to our God.  And what an amazing God He is!  Granted, giving thanks is to be done daily.  But I love having it as a main focus. 

Now, can I just tell you that I serve a God who deserves more thanks than we give Him?!  How many of us sit down on a regular basis and give thanks to God for creating us. For even giving us existance.  And how often do we thank Him for giving us spiritual existance?  The opportunity to have a relationship with Him.  When I think of all that God is and what He does, it still baffles my mind that He would want to have a relationship with me.  I am soo grateful for it.

Because we don't have extended family living anywhere close by, we chose to spend Thanksgiving with our church family.  The house was packed and we had way more food than we knew what to do with.  The time was spent laughing and encouraging each other.  I love my church family SO much and nothing beats that bond we have in Christ.  Giving of thanks is not over.  It will continue through the rest of the night and throughout the rest of my days.


Food preparations last night started out right with Whidbey Coffeeeeeeeee :-)

Getting started on the pies. Pumpkin Pies...YES!

Dad was the Turkey Guardian

Awaiting guests

Trying to squeeze in for a group picture

I love these crazy girls. :-D

Food lined the whole kitchen!!

Student Recital

Yesterday I took my students to Regency Retirement Home to play for the residents as a sort of recital. It seemed to come really fast and, I have to say, came faster than I was ready for. :-) But all of my students worked really hard and pulled it off so well!

Originally we were going to have the recital in the large formal dining room immediately following dinner.  I thought it was perfect, only maybe a little intimidating for the students since it's such a large space.  When we got there, I saw they had moved the grand piano into one of the side social rooms! It was such a cozy space and just a lovely setup! I am not exaggerating when I say it was standing room only.  Not only were friends and family of the students there, but there were probably 30-40 residents! Most of the family stood in the back allowing room for the older folks to sit and listen. So kind of them. :-)

The folks at Regency just LOVED listening to the kids play!  After each piece there were loud exclamations of joy and ardent clapping. When it was over they all filed by giving their thanks and appreciation to the kids for their lovely playing.  After seeing what a blessing it was to these older folks and how it made their day, I just can't see myself going back to a formal recital like we've had before.  Why keep the music to ourselves?! I love the idea of sharing with others who can't get out to hear it.  Not to mention the encouragement it was to the students to have their music appreciated so much.

All in all, it was such a lovely experience.  Yes, I was nervous. I have discovered that I get more nervous as the teacher than as a student at my own recitals.  It's definitely a whole new perspective!  But this is not the last time I will experience this nervousness. I look forward to many more recitals in the future!!

Sad to see one of my students, Jazmyne, leaving. It's been so much fun to teach her!

Warming up beforehand.

A Beautiful Day

Today I had the honor of playing the piano and singing at the wedding of my two friends.  What a blessing to see the Lord work in their lives over the last few years and to finally see them united in marriage.  We certainly serve a mighty God who knows just what He's doing when he chooses life partners.  The weatherman forcasted a typical Whidbey day.  Rainy and gray.  But, praise God, the sun was out and it was even slightly warm.  You couldn't have asked for a more beautiful fall day for a wedding!  As far as the ceremony goes, it went smooth as silk. I love things that are simple and stress-free.  This fit the bill for sure!  While I am sad to see my good friend Anna move away, I am SO happy for the new stage of her life that she is moving into.  Now I have an excuse to go to the midwest. :-)

If you wish to see more pictures, let me know and I will email them to you.

The Strength of My Heart

I'm still here. Glad to have a moment to breathe and share with you some things that have been going on.  When I reflect back on the past month (ok....five weeks) I realize that I've pretty much been doing the same thing each week day: Go to school, come home, piano practice, teach piano (a couple days a week), do homework, go to bed.  Each day is a new start to this vicious cycle.  To say it's been stressful would be an understatement.

But I'm not writing this to tell you how crazy my life has been or how stressful things are.  I want to let you know that God has proven to me over and over again that He's in control of every situation in my life.  When I feel like my seams are coming loose and I'm about to fall apart, He shows me through his Word and through others in my life that it's ONLY with Him that I can accomplish all that's necessary.  There is NO way that I could make it through each day without Him holding me up to keep me from falling flat on my face.  Whoever says that God is not active in the lives of His children has never experienced what I have these past few weeks.

Psalm 73:26  My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

Psalm 18:1,2  I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.  The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Home Again

As you may have noticed, I went a period of time where I did blog posts, blog posts, blog posts....SCREECH! The last time I wrote was in the airport in South Korea.  As not to leave you hanging (I'm sure you've all just been biting your nails wondering if I was kidnapped in Korea. :-p), I did make it home safe and sound.   Praise the Lord, jetlag was minimal.  I think going without sleep for a few days did it for me. Got some great REM sleep my first night back.  It was really great because I had a crazy weekend awaiting me then school started that monday.

All is well and I am fully loaded with school (8 classes!).  I am in the midst of organizing my desk (tossing junk papers, clearing off things I don't EVER use, etc.) Although I have quite the school schedule this quarter, I'm thoroughly enjoying my classes. My favorite and most practical class is Piano Pedagogy.  It is EXACTLY what I've needed during the few years I've been teaching.  Today I received in the mail my textbook for the course, and I am debating whether or not to read the whole thing in one week. So many of my questions will be answered! (Cue Hallelujah Chorus) :-D I'll have to restrain myself and remember that I DO have homework in my other classes.

There is so much I want to write, but I have to warn you that time for blogging is limited at the moment.  I will conclude by saying this.  God is good! Even when times are difficult. Even when we don't understand why things are happening, why He is allowing them to happen.  God is still good. He will ALWAYS be good. One of the many reasons why I love Him. :-)

Airport Musings

Here I sit at the Incheon Airport in Seoul, South Korea.  I am settling in for a 12 hour layover.  I'm thinking, this is going to be a LONG layover!  First stop, coffee of course.  I'm saving the delights of Mountain Dew until halfway through my layover. Gives me something to look forward to right? :-)  Here's my strategy.  Stay awake during the flight from Chiang Mai to Seoul (check!), stay awake during the long layover (oh boy), then sleep from Seoul to Seattle.  The time of flying from Seoul to Seattle is during night time in Seattle.  I am hoping that will help me to adjust better.  And after staying awake for about 35 hours should make me plenty tired, yes?  So that's the plan.

I am so glad that I got a window seat.  Granted, I am sitting directly above the wing which hinders some of the view.  But I find that watching lightening from above is most interesting.  Not to mention, I LOVE flying over the mountains into Seattle.  I hope that flying in from the West is a beautiful as flying in from the East.

One of my favorite things to do is watch people in the airport.  At this point in time and I am at the "Rest Area", a place filled with recliners as well as tables and a coffee shop.  I am surrounded by people as exhuasted as I am, yet they can indulge.  Must be nice!  I know I will be glad later that I didn't.  It's very interesting to watch the different positions that people can sleep in an airport.  Sprawled on a bench with a backpack as a pillow, laying straight out with mouth wide open, curled up in a ball, you name it. Most intriguing!

So now, I am trying to decide how to fill my time here.....Who knows, you may see another post in the future.  I do have to say that it's interesting to see Korean at the top of Blogger instead of Thai. :-)  Even though I couldn't understand Thai, it was a small comfort. haha. Well, signing off for now....