"Hello Ohio, the back roads. I know Ohio..."

It was fun to be back in the State of our early days of marriage. I remembered a few things that I loved about Ohio...

The rest stops on the toll road. They not only have TCBY, but also Panera...AND Starbucks. Crazy. Ohio does some things right.

The winding roads. I will cherish my memories of this weekend, driving down twisting roads covered by huge tree branches and glittering sunlight. Catching up with Rachel. Feeling younger. Remembering how much I miss the girls.

Historic brick mansions. Maya and I enjoyed strolling through the gardens, soaking in the beauty of the pools and greenery, sipping ice tea before we feasted inside the Oneil House at Marc and Allison's Rehearsal Dinner.

Friends. Though only a few of them are truly 'Ohioans', some of my deepest and most enduring friendships were made in Ohio. The setting pulled from my mind memories from college of packed cars racing down hills and around curves, weekends in Akron, Cincinnati, Kentucky. Falling in love with the music of Franck, Chopin, Ben Folds, Miss Saigon. Being with my best friends in dorm rooms, Theaters, Opera Houses, college towns, Coffee shops, YellowSprings, Chipotle, Easton, The Cheesecake Factory, art museums, downtown streets of Cincinnati, recital halls, practice rooms, Ballets.
The yearly weddings are always a fun excuse to see eachother, but the time is always far too busy and short.


Andy, Lynn, Jaelyn, & Addison. Walks around the circle. Ice Cream. Endless attention for Maya from her cousins. Morning coffee. Silly games of scherades. Basmati rice. Pandora radio (you *will* love it.) Coffee freezes and smoothies in downtown Canton. Huge, monumental slides. Lots of singing. Unending piano music. Ave Maria. Stories. Laughter. Avocado Chicken. And Aunt Lynn and Maya meeting for the first time.


Lynn's cookies.











Singing the benediction while holding hands accross the pews at Vermilion Evangelical and Reformed Church. On our way home on Sunday, we visited our old church in Vermilion where Ryan was a youth pastor. It was so fun to show off our sweet babygirl. And surprising to see almost all of our 'kids'...who were much taller, older, smarter, and no longer middle-schoolers. We walked in as the service started and didn't see any of them there, but by the end of the sermon, our pew had been slowly filled (thanks to cell phones, we think). So as I was saying, we ended the service like always... holding hands, singing a blessing to the tune of Edelweiss...really!



So Maya loved Ohio. This is how she actually looked for most of the trip!

maya's first road trip

Tomorrow morning, I will leave town with my parents (something I've done countless times before)....and my daughter (something I've never done before). This will be Maya's very first long trip.
She's very excited about it.

We're transporting a piano to 'casacommunitas' (my brother's house in Canton, Ohio).

It is the piano that first taught me to make and love music. My brothers and I grew up listening to our mother's unmistakeable style of arranging hymns on this piano. Falling asleep to her 'sweeping glissandos.' Soon the piano will be at Andy's house for his family to enjoy it's music as he did.... (an excerpt from his mother's day post a few years ago)...

"Lying in bed with the lights out and down the long hallway of the ranch house echo the gentle fingers of my mother playing and playing and playing the piano. Sometimes she would be practicing a particularly troublesome phrase, more often --just playing. Laying there hovering just above sleep I would feel profoundly that the music was a kind of visceral fabric that bound my brothers and sister and father together throughout the otherwise quiet house in the rhythms, the melodies, the countermelodies and always, the sweeping glissandos.

My mom drags her finger up the keyboard, but then slows each of the last notes to one by one keys at the top of the scale and just before the next musical phrase starts there is the slightest of pauses, too brief to fit all of these words into, but long enough that your soul starts to yearn expectantly toward the resolution of the chord, the forward motion of the music, the next great possibility."

I can't wait to hug my Jaelyn and Addison and see them love their new cousin, Maya.

Ryan is coming too, but he can't leave until Thursday after work. We are going to my beautiful friend Al's wedding. (An early wedding rehearsal being the reason that Maya and I are tagging along with my parents on wednesday.) I can't wait to dance to the music of the jazz trio at the reception...

and to be with all of them again...

I miss my friends!

Back to work....kind of

After almost two months away from students, I got to see some of 'my kids!' It wasn't really like work though. We had a lot of fun spending our mornings together this week...making music, working hard. But I'm pretty sure they came for the swimming. Especially that one on the right that couldn't even wait until we were done taking pictures! :)

This week was the fifth annual Summer Strings Clinic. I first started the tradition while I was in high school...then I took a few years off as a college student and as a newlywed. Some of my first Strings Clinic students graduated from high school this year.
In fact, you might recognize some of these little girls...

Left to right: (back row) me--the young teacher :), Hilary Jones, Amanda Nousain, Christy VanAndel, Katie McDonald, (front row) Leanne Enck, Elaina Evans, Stephanie and Laura Kramer.
(If any of you happen to read this) Girls, I am so amazed at the beautiful, talented, and intelligent women that you have become. It is fun to watch you grow up.

For his first Father's Day present, Ryan told me that he wanted a new suit...navy blue pinstripe. So, when we finally had a day without a million commitments, we drove to Grand Rapids to hunt for the perfect suit. But on the way to the mall, Ryan suggested a spontanious detour to the Frederick Meijer Gardens.

The Meijer gardens were breathtaking...hundreds, maybe thousands of complex, fragile plants and trees from all over the world growing inside of an enormous glass greenhouse. Among the flowers, there were other masterpieces: sculptures by Degas, Rodin, an artist's recreation of Davinci's horse, and other contemporary pieces. It was an amazing collection of beautiful work.

My grandmother Linda was a gardener. The careful, daily tending and nurturing was a natural part of who she was. She sketched detailed maps of her gardens...labelling each plant and flower. I like to think that I could someday create something that beautiful and alive. I do share many of her traits. Her long thin fingers and toes. Her unruly eyebrows. A bit of her eccentricity. Her love for books, art, shopping, carefully wrapped gifts, Les Cheneaux". But her gardener's blood does not flow through my veins. I lack the dilligence and patience it requires. But I love to enjoy the work of those who have this gift. A walk in any garden inspires me to pay more attention to detail, to think about the complexity of creation, to actually water the few tropical plants in my living room (that I usually allow to slowly die of thirst and neglect).

Maybe someday Maya will learn to love and care for flowers like her great grandmother.
She certainly enjoyed her first day at the gardens.


...we did find a suit. And of course, Ryan looks amazing in it. Maybe someday I'll post a picture of my handsome husband in his Father's Day present from me.

But Maya got him the present he really wanted. A remote control airplane.

maya's first 'outing'

Maya arrived just in time (with only four days to spare) to see her Daddy graduate "Summa Cum Laude" (with highest honors) with his Master's degree last Saturday. She was very impressed...

Actually she slept through the whole ceremony...even when a thoughtless member of the audience blew an air horn only a few feet from her tiny, fragile ears. Her dad was pretty mad about it. You should have seen him jump up from his seat among the graduates, and storm up the bleachers to see if his baby was okay (and to share a few kind words with the man who blew the horn).

Since her first outing was so traumatic, we decided that... just to be safe, we'll just keep her at home from now on. No more outings, ever. She may complain when she's a teenager, but someday she'll understand and thank us.

better than words

one year of blogging

...actually, I missed the anniversary. I think it was a few days ago. It's been a pretty dry spell for this blog. I almost missed a whole month!

In my long silence...

...I've been learning French...

Je voudrais apprendre le français. Nous allons à une classe française le mardi.

Très impressionnant, oui ?

I've been finishing my preparations at work-to leave my classes and performances in the hands of substitutes. And now, I'm finished! Friday was my last day of teaching for the year.

But mostly, I've just been preparing, dreaming, and obsessing over Maya's arrival.

Only ten days!

Maybe less.

"my neglected blog"

...that's the link name that leads to this blog from Maya's blog.
It seems fitting.

Most of my thoughts in some way revolve around her now....so I've been finding it difficult to think of anything worth posting here. It's so hard to find anything else to be worthy of writing about when your whole body is being taken over by another living, breathing, human. It's a bit distracting. Not just my body, but my role as a person, my priorities, my future, my relationships, my desires are all changing. And I'm sure that I have only begun to feel these changes.

But I'm not giving up on my "tranquility in the chaos." So today I'll make a feeble attempt to write some of my 'other' current thoughts...


~Wednesday we saw "Wicked" in Chicago. It was amazing...a beautiful story of friendship, sacrifice, love,...the stage effects were unbelievable...it was hilarious, powerful, magical....more thoughts on that later....maybe.

~We'll have a new kitchen soon. Ryan has been spending every spare moment on this current project. Our house is insanely unorganized...or at least it feels that way. Everything from the kitchen...the dishes, pots & pans, small appliances, food, refrigerator, stove....it's all in our dining and living room.
He's repaired a water-damaged portion of the ceiling, torn out the old linoleum, painted the walls, and just finished laying tile and grouting. He is amazing and may have some super-hero powers, but he usually overestimates what is possible to accomplish in one day. He thinks he'll finish tonight...actually, it will probably be finished by this weekend. And that's okay. The end is in sight.

~Thursday night one of my senior students, Amanda, won Showcase (an all-area talent show/scholarship competition) for the second year in a row (unheard of). She is just in a different class as a vocalist and stage performer. I think someday we'll see her on a big stage in Chicago or New York.
I love when my students make me proud. Though I can't really take any credit for her vocal accomplishments, I'm her violin teacher. But on Saturday, all of my highschool string players went to State Solo & Ensemble...and all scored "ones." My top violinists, Christy and Amanda, performed the Bach Double Concerto in D minor, and a string quartet played the first movement of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. For some of them, it was quite a stretch...a bit above their level. But they worked really hard, and the affirmation of their efforts on Saturday was so rewarding. And fun for me to watch.

~On Sunday, we got to listen to my dad teach,...something I miss often. He drew some beautiful pictures of The Church...what it IS....and a lot of things that it is NOT. It reminded me of how precious the Church is to Christ, how much He gave for us. Sometimes, I get so tired of the way that we have lost our perspective and our purpose that I start to just not care anymore. The shopping mall-consumer-driven, performance style of "church", the divisive political and cultural issues that we waste so much time judging and arguing about, the people that seek to control churches (and ruin them) for their own power-hungry insecurities,... It seems hopeless. But despite our constant sin and shallow understanding, Christ's sacrifice in the face of complete hopelessness, makes my apathy ridiculous.

~This thursday at 7:00 PM, I'll be playing at the Dogwood Center in Fremont for a CD Release Party for Chris Cordle's new album, "Seasons, Friends, and Lovers." His music is kind of folk/ easy-listening...with some beautiful arpeggiated guitar picking and smooth vocals.

~There are only four days until Spring Break begins!! (Last year over Spring Break, these two were born.)

And soon, they'll have a new cousin! ...who seems to be stretching at the moment. She's pushing down against the lower left side of my abdomen and pushing up with her feet on my ribs on the right side. (sorry, I can't write or speak this many words without mentioning my main preoccupation.)

my mind is here today...

SPIN

Every once in a while, I still think about this short film we saw earlier this month at the Muskegon Film Festival.

I love the concept.

BTW- Does any one else see a slight resemblance to James Bean?


....wait, I just watched it again....make that "a STRIKING resemblance to James Bean?"

Today, while wandering through blogland...

I found myself in New England, enjoying the thoughtful words of one of my brother's friends.

I get so tired of political cynicism and meanness (though I've gone on a few rants and bitter tirades myself...and probably will again.) In fact, only today I started getting angry...just thinking about Walmart...

...how they get away with spending as little as possible on health care for their employees,....the many lawsuits (that they have yet to win one of) against them for forcing employees to work *after* they punch out,...their bullying of manufacturers and farmers to lower their prices or lose their business....forcing those manufacturers to move their factories to other countries...(at least that's what they said on NPR, so it must be true)

I like to think that my anger is aimed at injustice...at the perpetuation of poverty....at the Rich and Powerful taking advantage of the poor and defenseless.

But even as my emotions rise and my accusatory words start to spew....

I can't ignore the fact that I am not really working very hard to actually defend. I AM the Rich and Powerful in the world. My abiltity to type this post on my iBook only makes me ridiculous in my attempt to point a finger....if I am not doing anything to feed the poor.

All of that to say that this post gave a refreshing (at least to me) and thoughtful perspective about positive....effective political dialogue. You'll find no bashing.

One Last Escape

Saturday morning, we loaded up our station wagon and headed to Chicago for one more quick weekend trip before our family changes forever. As we drove, we wondered what our next road trip would be like with a car seat in the back seat...with Maya.

It was a really short trip, but full of beautiful memories. Saturday night, after a peaceful afternoon nap at the hotel, we met my friend
Allison's fiance Marc, an amazing jazz trumpeter who frequently plays at the...








Currently, he's playing in a twelve piece band in the show "Come Fly With Me" at the Mercury Theater, and got us tickets.

After the show, we enjoyed dinner at a great Italian restaurant next door.


Sunday, we woke up slowly in our beautiful hotel room... walked a couple blocks to find breakfast, wandered around the staircases and ball rooms of the Hilton, then lounged in the hotel lobby, sipping Chai and coffee in a window seat, waiting for the city to open at 10:00.


The Art Institute of Chicago.

Seeing the actual brushstrokes of Renoir, Monet, Hopper, Sargent, Picasso...whose lives and work left profound marks on their world...renewed my love of art, and my Creator-given desire to create. There are few places that hold such power to inspire. The beauty of the architecture, the white marble staircases, the intricate details. The quiet rooms filled with paintings, sculptures, drawings, pottery that are more than just beautiful pieces of art. They are vast records of history and thought...centuries of people, relationships, tragedies, struggles.

One of our favorite paintings of the day..."The Picture of Dorian Gray."

After the Art Institute, we walked a little ways down Michigan Avenue, to watch the ice skaters in the park...on our way to the 'Miracle Mile' of materialism and excess. We didn't do any real Chicago shopping this trip...besides the free little rubber pad replacements they gave us for the bottom of our notebook at the Mac store, and the free massages we always enjoy at The Sharper Image.

Mostly we just enjoyed being together...a car ride for long conversations, an exciting city filled with people and music and art, distant friends, an elegant hotel with amazingly fluffy pillows, no alarm clock, no obligations or work, no real responsibility for two days...decadent.

guilty pleasures...

1. Whoppers with cheese. I always used to think these were gross. Why ruin a perfectly good cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, and worst of all...mayonaise??
How terribly misguided I was.
On my occasional, unavoidable fast food visit I used to order things like 'grilled chicken sandwiches, no mayo' or salad. I now know better.
Trips to Burger King and sometimes even McDonalds are no longer accidental or unavoidable. They're not even occasional. I love whoppers. And double cheese-burgers.

2. Long, hot baths. Hours wasted...doing nothing but soaking. Sometimes I try to read, but mostly...I just soak.

3. An occasional Killian's Irish Red. I've never even completed half of a bottle, but...yum.
Beer is usually one of those things I associate with...Homer Simpson...and big, lazy men, wearing 'wife-beater' shirts, watching football. yuck.
If anything, I'd normally rather be a wine snob.
My "occasional" means about once a year.
(though of course, for the past seven or eight months, I've completely abstained)

(I bet you didn't think I was "edgy" enough to post that on my blog, Andy.)

4. Blogging.

5. Desperate Housewives. I've never missed an episode.

I never thought I'd play blogging tag...this feels a little too much like Xanga.
But...Andrea Rudd, you're it. And..."cheesy Lindsey" too.

God has to destroy our determined confidence in our own convictions. We say, "I know that this is what I should do"-and suddenly the voice of God speaks in a way that overwhelms us by revealing the depths of our ignorance. We show our ignorance of Him in the very way we decide to serve Him. We serve Jesus in a spirit that is not His, and hurt Him by our defense of Him. We push His claims in the spirit of the devil; our words sound all right, but the spirit is that of an enemy.

-Oswald Chambers

A good laugh for Friday....

click here

-thanks sally :)

overheard story...

Barnes and Noble Cafe:

.."Yes....Cheryl and her husband are split again. When she showed up at the family Christmas, he handed her the divorce papers."

(yes, this is a very sad story.)

"he's going back to Linda for the third time. She's twenty years older than he is."

"And Cheryl says that this Linda weights about 200 pounds more than SHE does!!"

(Interesting, how important it is to include those details.)

he couldn't protect me.

As hard as Ryan tried to keep me from getting his sickness, he couldn't prevent it. So here I sit, watching the ARTS channel, trying to figure out the plot to a Richard Strauss opera while I try not to throw up anymore. Thinking I was just being a whimp, I tried to teach yesterday. But by late morning I knew I needed to get to the bathroom to throw up, but I was afraid I'd pass out on the way. I made it to the office to get a sub instead. My sweet dad brought me home, so I wouldn't have to drive.

I forgot what it's like to be sick. Sometimes when I'm working, the thought of staying at home and sleeping all day sounds nice...but I failed to remember how miserable it can actually be when you are too weak to do anything, but yet can't sleep from all the nausea and aching.
I'm starting to feel a little better today...actually eating some toast. By the end of today, I think I'll be much better. I hope poor Maya isn't starving.

At least I got it during the week. I might still get a weekend, unlike my poor husband.

banished

I've spent the weekend separated from my husband. Friday night, he slept on the couch. Then, he tried to kick me out of the house at three in the morning on Saturday, but I convinced him to let me stay until morning. When I woke up, I quickly packed up my clothes and left for my parents' house, without even a kiss good-bye. I came home at the end of the day, but I wasn't allowed into our bedroom. It was hard to go to church this morning alone.

I miss him.

We're not having marital problems.

He's sick. Probably the stomach flu. He spent most of Friday night, not on the couch, but kneeling in front of the toilet...loudly expelling all the food... and everything else from his stomach. He was so concerned about me avoiding his illness, that he cleaned the bathroom with clorox each time he threw up. Before I could come home on Saturday, he used Clorox wipes on every surface in our house....the telephones, doorknobs, light switches, faucet handles, etc.

Usually when Ryan is sick, he can hardly function. Sick Ryan normally requires great amounts of sympathy and constant attention. But even though he is feeling terrible, he is being so sweet and protective of Maya and I. We're so lucky.

He's finally starting to feel better today. Though on Saturday, he swore off eating for the rest of his life, he has now consumed a fair amount of Sprite, some applesauce, instant mashed potatoes, and a few rice cakes.

not the only girl any more

For all of my 'growing-up' years, as a little girl, I dreamed of having a sister.

I did love the special attention and protection I got from my big brothers...there are advantages to being the only girl. But I always envied the relationship of sisters.

Then...

...I got one!

And now, I have four.

Having idolized my brothers for as long as I can remember, I never thought that they could ever find deserving wives. But as each one of them found amazing, beautiful, patient women, I hoped that they would soon become my sisters...and that my brothers wouldn't lose them or scare them away. Ten years ago...in highschool, I never would have guessed that two of my friends would one day mean so much more to me, that we would forever share our lives as sisters. That my friend Kelly really meant it when she hinted that her brother and I should be more than friends.

My sisters add so much to our family...balance, wisdom, perspective, grace, awareness of reality, humor. I am constantly amazed by their unique passions and abilities. Their patience, generosity, wisdom, beauty, discernment. I love having sisters to call when I have questions or just need someone to listen. Lynn, Marianne, Andrea, and Kelly are truly some of closest friends.

And today is my very first sister's birthday. Happy Birthday, Lynn! I am so grateful for you. I love the way that you love my brother and my neice and nephew. And I am especially grateful for the way that you have accepted and loved me too.
I love you!

Meet.......

Maya Grace

She weighs 12 ounces, has a beautiful pumping heart, and as you can see....a well developed brain.
Maya really likes to keep her arms and hands up in front of her face, so the ultrasound technician had to 'look through' the arm to get the lovely profile shot above...she also looked through the skull :)

To see more pictures, visit Maya's blog.

feeling sick

I would like to finish wrapping our Christmas presents, send Christmas cards, finish the laundry, make several dozen cookies for Ryan's friends at work, the staff at school, and my students...to celebrate their great performance and for their last class before Christmas. But instead, I'm laying in the couch...feeling miserable.

The pregnancy nausea is over, but my draining sinuses are reviving that sick stomach feeling. My lungs are already a bit cramped for space, and the lack of oxygen flow through my nose is making me more than a little dizzy...and the pressure in my head.... sore throat, aching ears...... the pain and pressure in my lower abdomen from my growing baby makes laying on the couch even more appealing....maybe even necessary.

I'll stop whining now. I only have to work one day this week....hm....snow day tomorrow??

Only three more days until our ultra sound....then brother Andy arrives, then Christmas!!! then another week off!!
life is good.

I'm done!

Last night was my students' final performance of the season. As I mentioned before, I had several.

In fact, just on Monday, a small ensemble of my High School Choir students sang some Christmas medleys and hymns at a dinner for brain injury survivors. It was a small, casual event in a church fellowship hall. Just before we sang, I took the students out a door into another room to warm up. No lights were on, but we could tell by the echo that it was a gym. Since we would just be a minute, I didn't mind the dark, but a couple of students persisted in trying to find the light switch for us. Finally someone found the switch. Only strangely, when he turned it on, the room was not filled with light. Instead, an incessant, loud, and urgent fire alarm sounded. Embarrassed, I re-entered the fellowship hall to seek assistance. I was relieved to find that the incredibly loud noise was not heard in the room of brain injury survivors....just the rest of the building. No one in the building knew what to do, and one of my students figured out how to turn the alarm off. So, we began our concert. My pianist was about to begin the intro to our first song when she called me over to the piano, "Mrs. Corbin, that wouldn't happen to be the fire department out in the parking lot, would it??" It was.

Last night, our concert was not so eventful. It *was* long (5th grade Band, Jr. High Band, High School Band, Middle School Choir, High School Choir, Beginner Strings, Intermediate Strings, Advanced Strings, Kindergarten, and Elementary Choir) Yes,...all in one concert. I was responsible for all but the bands. It was an amazingly complicated production....because of the number of fast stage changes and diverse sound equippment needs, and the sheer number of students involved. Since I was out in front of the stage conducting...with no control over about a hundred of my students waiting back stage, I just prayed that they would all show up on stage at the right time. They did. It was thrilling and exhausting. And just after the lights went out on stage and I was greeting my family and students' parents with smiles, I exclaimed into my (still on) microphone, "I'm Done!!"

With aching feet and a sore back, I crashed into bed as soon as I arrived home. And this morning, I received the most wonderful surprise phone call at 6:00 AM.
A snow day.
And so far, this is what I've done...

...finally, ten wonderful hours spent here...


















...and almost two hours spent here...



















...with this...




...and this.

Things I thought of blogging about but never did...(a month's worth of blogs)

...a really fun Thanksgiving with my family. I was going to post more pictures, but I like my brother's better anyways.

...one of my very favorite stories by my beloved Jane Austen was made once again into a beautiful film. Every year for Thanksgiving, the Rudds have begun a tradition of seeing a movie together at the theater (something we NEVER did growing up... In fact, the first movie we ever saw together as a family may have been one of the "Lord of the Rings" movies). This year, we saw Pride and Prejudice. The story was fresh in my mind since I just re-read it this summer. I loved it. I thought the characters, especially the Bennet family, were perfectly true to the book. However, my husband, who never really liked the idea of seeing a Jane Austen movie as our big family Movie, was not so impressed. Brother Andrew captures his sentiments quite well..."Ryan was the firm dissenter -- with a somewhat valid analysis that fully half of the movie had been shots of Mirrors and Long-Shots-of-Walking-Through-Fields. It was cinematic! I argued. Watch this! he countered, and slowly pretended to walk through a pretend field. Look at me! I'm cinematic! I'm artsy! I'm full of longing and despair and breadth of spirit!"

...Christmas tree lights and 'couch night.' Once the tree is up, we spend the first night of the new 'season' together on the couches (pushed together). We fall asleep admiring the glowing yellow light and we imagine all the strangers driving by commenting on how happy and warm our house looks. They must be filled with envy.


...December 1st. Four years ago, Ryan talked me (and Mandy) into leaving our school work and my RA responsibilities at Cedarville and driving home with him for the weekend. We had a perfect date that ended in a life changing question. On the boardwalk in Grand Haven, we shivered, and Ryan got down on his knee and asked me to be his wife. I knew then, that I would love being married to him. But I couldn't have known then, how deeply I would love him. This December 1st, we sat in a blue doctor's office and listened to our baby's heart beating.

...my afternoon Strings concert at the Art Museum. This week, I brought all forty of my strings students to the Muskegon Museum of Art to perform a special Christmas Concert for the annual "Festival of Trees."
After a terrible rehearsal on Wednesday, I was not looking forward to our public performance on Thursday. I was missing half of my advanced class for our final rehearsal, and because of Thanksgiving, we hadn't had class since the middle of November!
But despite my doubt and fear, on the stage, they were amazing. They performed with more maturity and musicianship than ever before. I've never heard them produce such a full, and truly beautiful sound. I was more than a little proud. Watching them grow and become more independent and skilled is so rewarding. This season filled with performances (7 during December, 16 if you count each performing group seperately) fills me with anxiety and stress, causes me to lose nights of sleep, but mostly, it reminds me of why I love teaching music. At the end of each concert, I am so proud and thankful for my kids...

....like last night. Five of my oldest string players provided dinner entertainment at our School Staff Christmas Party. Knowing they would need to be independent of me at the dinner, I told them they were on their own for practices too. More than a few dinner guests mistook them for professional, hired musicians. As I ate my whitefish, I listened intently, and smiled again with pride.

...our new 'family vehicle.' Ryan is violently opposed to becoming a minivan owner, but we needed a more dependable car and with a baby coming, we decided on a station wagon. I've been feeling really spoiled in the warm heated, leather seats of our Passat wagon.

...today, I am enjoying a peaceful Saturday, watching the snow fall. Ryan is enjoying drugged slumber, lightly snoring on the couch. Benedryl sends him immediately to sleep...the only place where he can find respite from his itching skin. Marianne diagnosed him with hives last night...an allergic reaction to the Amoxicillin he has been taking for a sinus infection. He looks truly pathetic. His eyes are swollen and his face is covered with a bumpy red rash. In fact there are painful looking red bumps all over his body. I'm miserable just watching his pain. My poor baby.