Friday, March 19, 2010

Dordt Choir Tour


This past week we hosted four Dordt College choir members for two nights. The Dordt Choir is on their 2010 Spring Tour to the Western USA states (includes one Canadian venue) where they will perform in 11 cities, as well as several smaller concerts at school assemblies and senior facilities. Their concert was amazing - I sure wish I could sing like they do. Their program included classic pieces, spirituals/gospel, folk, as well as some very fun pieces. We thoroughly enjoyed hosting these girls - one of them was a daughter of a former PSA colleague from Iowa. They were dropped off yesterday and the bus was being loaded, ready for their first day without a concert. They were on their way to Seattle to spend the day - and it was a perfect sunny Washington morning!! Have fun girls!!

Great job, Jocelyn!





This past week I watched Jocelyn's testing for the advanced yellow belt in taekwondo (green stripe). She absolutely loves going to these classes & her instructors say she has the potential to take this to competition level. I went with her a few times to a fitness class and noticed I wasn't exactly in their league. Nothing wrong with trying to keep up with others as far as fitness goes... (I did say "try")

Friday, March 12, 2010

A new week...




This past Saturday was a very beautiful day - actually we've had quite a few lovely Spring days which is partly why I haven't blogged. I've spent a bit of time in the gardens - just enough to make things look cared for and enough to make me think about what's going into my vegetable garden this year. These photos are of my camelia bush by my front door. My Mom bought this for me a number of years ago and each year it looks like this. I only wish the flowers would stay longer - depending on whether it rains or not the flowers turn brown on the edges & start falling off. I was able to pick enough of a variety of flowers from my garden to make my first bouquet for the house. Isn't it beautiful?

This past week was busy. Henry was in Winnipeg for business and I started volunteering at Paul Aker's for US Senate campaign office. Check here for more information - it's been an amazing experience so far. I'll keep you posted - in the meantime check out his website and tell a few more people about what you've read.

Lorelle was supposed to come home yesterday but her plane was cancelled due to maintenance issues. Nice that this happened on the ground but it caused a cancelled flight - and because it's Spring Break for midwest colleges there were too many students to rebook. Delta decided to rebook them on a flight two days later - which was not a happy solution for most people. So the group of people she was standing in line with (yes, complete strangers) decided to rent a van, split the cost and drive from Omaha to Minneapolis to catch their connector flight. She was with two Dordt students she knew well and their parents, as well as myself, grilled the driver over the phone to make sure this was a "safe" solution. The gentleman I spoke with assured me it was very random & he had a daughter as well whom he would be quite concerned about should he have this type of phone conversation. The airline gave them vouchers for a hotel stay once they arrived - which was in the wee hours of the morning since it's a 6 hour drive. So far we've heard they arrived safely at the hotel and were looking forward to a short sleep before checking in at the airport. We're really hoping this will be the day she gets into the Seattle airport - we're also hoping her luggage will arrive there as well.... :)

Next week the Dordt Choir performs in the Pacific Northwest as part of a 10 day tour they're on. We have four students sleeping here for two nights - it started with one, then two, then it grew into four. As long as they're not fussy where they sleep I'm sure it'll be lots of fun! We're looking forward to listening to the choir perform - we attended their performance three years ago and it was fabulous!