Fine Arts and Forever Friendships

I have over a month of blog catch-up to do, so this post reverts back to the middle of May, and I'll try to post chronologically since then. 

Speaking of posting late and out of order....it's nearing the end of June, and I still haven't blogged about our family trip to Israel in January. I'm giving myself permission to skip it completely unless I get suddenly inspired and find supernatural energy to share about it here. I drove myself crazy and stayed up all night long last weekend trying to finish all the scrapbook pages from our trip to Israel in January.  It was the hardest scrapbook project ever, and I am burned out.  I waited too long after the trip to do the scrapbook, so my memory failed me, and I had to keep doing research to identify each photo.  It was maddening, but my shiny orange package containing an extra large scrapbook from our trip should arrive on my doorstep tomorrow.  To learn more about our trip, come visit us.  We can so some porch sittin' while I share all about it as you thumb through my scrapbook.  I'll serve you tea or lemonade out on the porch and enjoy your company more than any adventure story I could share.


Authenticity in Friendships
Friendships come in all forms, styles, seasons, and situations, but the friendships I value most are the most authentic ones. There is no pretense with these types of friends. When they knock on your door after years have gone by since you last saw each other, you greet them in standard workout clothes, no makeup, and uncombed hair because that's the real you, and they accept you just as you are. As you show them around the new house, you don't mind if they peek into the junkiest closets because they've already seen the messiest corners of your heart and still love you anyway. If you forget your southern manners and forget to serve fresh sweet tea (because you are too focused on them and what they have to say), it's okay because they know they can help themselves to anything in your home because what's yours is theirs and we're all family here. 

"To love without condition, to talk without intention, to give without reason, and to care without expectation. That is the heart of a true friend. " -Author unknown

Kids' First Contemporary Christian Concert
They say all of our senses fade as we grow older, so why is that as a vibrant young college student, I thoroughly enjoyed music concerts, but now that I am over the hill, I can't even sit through a contemporary church service without the highest rated forms of hearing protection?  In college, I would push myself hard all week to free up a few hours to attend a concert with people I barely knew. But now that I'm in my 40s, I spent an entire month dreading the decibel levels I would experience at the Big Daddy Weave concert.  Who pays over $100 to go deaf, anyway?  That would me....because I love my husband and attending this concert with his wife and kids is what my dear hubby wanted for his birthday present.  

Perhaps my problem isn't so much "crabby old woman syndrome" as it is the superhero hearing powers we women get when we become mothers. This superpower enables us to hear our kids' every movement, every breath, every text stroke, every whisper behind our backs, every tear that falls upon their cheeks, and every sneaky step toward our secret chocolate stash. :-)

Lucky for me, we arrived "late", which was still an half hour before the show was scheduled to begin, but too late to get seats up close, we sat up high on the very back row in the center. I had a perfect line of sight without once needing my earplugs.  YAY!

 

The music was fabulous. Plumb has just enough 80's electronic sounds to soothe this girl's soul...like comfort food might soothe a foodie, and I'm loving the thoughtful lyrics and melodious sounds coming from newbie Jordan Felix. Big Daddy Weave, whose last name is Weaver and who is on one of the largest dads I've ever seen with at least three kids, has such a BIG heart for ministry and strong worship oriented vocals, but my favorite part of the evening was watching our two kiddos rock out with all their hearts....well until the 3rd grader fell asleep in my arms.

Plumb was awesome and her personal story behind her song "Need You Now" which she co-wrote with a resident of our small community of residence whose last name is the same as my maiden name was especially moving.  I was so intrigued by the personal stories she shared at the concert to provide the context for her songs that I read all about her online after the concert.  I love artists who sing about their own personal battles without sugar coating the Christian life, yet always ending with God's truth and a message of His saving grace and redemption through any storm.

I think my favorite song from the concert was "Beloved" by Jordan Feliz (who looks just like Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean), which he wrote for his baby girl. My daughter and I cried like babies through it. It would have made a great theme song for our PK group as it assures young women of their worth and how immensely loved they are.  The lyrics begin with the following:

Head full of questions, how can you measure up?
To deserve affection to ever be enough
For this existence
When did it get so hard?
Your heart is beating, alive and breathing
And there's a reason why
You are essential, not accidental
And you should realize
You are beloved
I wanted you to know
You are beloved
Let it soak into your soul
Oh, forget the lies you heard
Rise above the hurt
And listen to these words
You are beloved

Click here to read all the song lyrics.

School's Weekend Art Festival

I may complain about improvements needed in STEM subjects at our school, but the school's fine arts programs are top notch. We have the most amazing band director (who also patiently endures the job of teaching recorder to middle school students while also serving as facilities maintenance director) ever, but I really wish we had a marching band. Marching band brings with it so many wonderful experiences, valuable life lessons, and significant memories from my childhood days.

The concert choir travels around the country.  I love to hear them practicing during 7th period. It sounds like a chorus of angels echoing lightly through the halls across the gym from the auditorium. 

Our daughter's middle school drama team took home more awards and the highest awards of any other team in the state at the NCTC competition.  They were also the only team to stay at the event all day long simply to encourage the other schools as they performed.  Many of our high school theater students receiving acting scholarships and admittance to the NC School of the Arts where their light for Jesus shines ever so brightly.

Each class of art students (required in K-5) submitted pieces into the festival. Below are some unique and downright funny art pieces by our kids.  The third graders created the tree mural shown below. Our boy's decorated plate is on the right edge of the tree to the far right in the picture.

Our boys' plate

Given my left-brained logical, realistic mindset and STEM background (I can't even suspend my disbelief long enough to get through a cheesy movie), imagine my confusion when I saw this piece by my wildly imaginative, extremely right-brained daughter.

It's called "Wall of Banana", and the assignment was "Hidden Faces" using surrealism . I could not wrap my brain around the concept of a banana with a face sticking to a wall, but the 12th graders loved it (or were amused by it) so much they gave her the "Seniors' Choice Award" and took a photo with her in front of it.  Looking up the definition of surrealism at least helped me understand why I did not understand the piece. "Surrealism style uses visual imagery from the subconscious mind to create art without the intention of logical comprehensibility."

I'm glad this American Gothic drawing my son drew of his dad and me did not get finished in time for the art festival. He brought it home on the last day of school, and I could not stop laughing.  I had trouble with drawing facial features to the correct proportions at his age, too. What a fun assignment for the kids.

Our son performed in another piano recital at a local assisted living center in May.  Both kids passed out handmade greeting cards to the residents after the show.  They really seemed to enjoy having the students perform for their and immediately asked the students to come back for more recitals.  (The facility where the recital was held last year is much more exclusive and about 5-10 times more expensive, so when they got a brand new high dollar grand piano, recitals were no longer allowed.)

He is at the point now where piano has become fun for him, especially when he gets to play songs he likes.  He did not deliver his best performance after not having much time to practice the week before, but considering he played some of the most difficult pieces at the recital, he recovered well and put on a nice little show.

I especially enjoyed listening to a duet performed by a piano student and her grandfather. I sure hope I get to play piano duets with my own grandchildren some day.

He enjoyed goofing off with his piano teacher's sons (who were in his class his first year at school but who returned to homeschooling the following year).