Joseph...What cha gonna do?

We went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat last night. What fun!! We had never seen it but my friend Alisa loaned me the soundtrack so I would be familiar with the music...always a great idea in preparation to enjoy a new musical. It was fantastic, and so fun that it goes with the sermon series this month.

Oklahoma City has a great treasure in our Lyric Theatre at the Civic Center. They produce a whole summer season of great musicals every year and do a smaller fall season of plays and musicals in their own theatre. They bring in great talent and then use all the wonderful talent from the Oklahoma and the region. This particular production is very heavy on the vocal abilities of the leads. They brought in two American Idol finalist from years past to do the leads, I was a little sceptical about that myself but the did an outstanding job. (Anthony Fedorov and Diana DeGarmo). Then just to get the public out they combined their summer theatre camp kids into to production (80 kids on the stage, quite a few of Jenna's friends).

Another wonderful event that provided us the transportation from our hum-drum life to that of the magical musical theatre. Off the see Wicked on Sunday. Gotta go listen to the soundtrack. Kristen Chenoweth...enough said.

Out of the mouths of babes...

After the christening of his baby brother in church, Jason sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car.

His father asked him three times what was wrong. Finally, the boy replied, 'That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home, and I wanted to stay with you guys.'

You want to teach me what????

I had a full weekend without having too full of a weekend. I am typically a social person, but everyone once in a while a have to fight the urge to just hibernate, and it's not even winter. This past weekend brought just the right amount of activity, you know, the amount that gives you time to do a load of white clothes so you have clean underwear, but enough to do that there is no time to clean the house.

Jenna came home from camp and just the three of us got to go to dinner and Jenna and I got to go visit one of our favorite new stores in town, Half-Price Books. Quite a nice mix of right priced new books and value price gently used books. Even my non-shopper daughter likes it there.

Saturday brought time for a friend to come over for swimming, sunning, a movie. Then dinner with the besties and cards. This was the challenge of the evening for me. I do not like new things. I like to know what's happening. I don't like to try new restaurants. I do not want to learn a new card game. I like the card game we always play, I have it down, it offers me comfort. But no....Jim thought we should learn to play Hearts. You would think after 20 years he would know not to spring a new thing on me without warning. Every passive aggressive tone in my voice and action in my body language came to the surface. But I played, and in time I could probably even learn to like it...but don't push it.

Sunday brought another great sermon on Joseph and a great lunch with the family at my mom's house. She made a delicious lunch and everyone's favorite dessert...you ready...Chocolate cake with homemade caramel icing...so far, so normal. But we all eat it in a bowl with milk on it. I know...blame my dad, it was his favorite. My nieces and nephews are growing up so fast but they are growing up well and are quite enjoyable to be around. But then my niece Katie (a senior this year and who I thought was so much like me when I was her age) suggests that we learn a new card game. Silently I am thinking... NOOOOOOOO!!! Two in one weekend. Thank you God, nice joke.

But I played and was not nearly as passive aggressive as the night before. Before the lesson was over there was a table full of us playing and we had a great time. I don't know if it even had a name but we played it with like three decks of Skip-Bo cards. Great for a large group or a party.

Arrived home in time for sun and run time and then we head to small group. I will have to admit that I am not always excited to go to small group but after arrive I am always glad I went. These are some great, down to earth people. They have great hearts and intelligent minds and I greatly enjoy their company. They shared some great examples of God's hand of Providence last night.

All in all this was a great weekend and I thank God for his blessings in my life and for the things that I might not know the reasons for quite yet, and I even thank Him for new card games.

No more empty nest!

Jenna (my darling pre-teen) comes home today!! She has been away a church camp all week. It has been strangely quite. Jim and I have had a taste of the empty nest syndrome. I don't how well we faired. The dog is completely confused because he usually eats his food when sit down for dinner but we haven't actually sat down for dinner this week. The laundry took less loads to complete. We went to a movie on a Monday night, which by the way, there is no line at the concessions on a Monday night. We were kinda back to that days "before child", and we were married 8 years "before child". We were such two single married people. We did what we pleased and occasionally ran into one another for some activities and mostly went about our business individually. This particular choice of lifestyle made it little difficult to adjust to a baby coming into out lives but...it may be as one goes out eventually that it won't be so hard to fall back into a routine with the empty nest. We do have a few years to figure it all out and in the meantime we will be glad to have our girl back home tonight.

Man in the Mirror--Michael Jackson

These are some incredible lyrics--You never know who the messenger is going to be. I have appreciated Michael Jackson's musical ability for what seems like forever. This is one of my absolute favorites. If you read my blog or have a ever been around me for more than ten minutes you will have noticed that music and especially lyrics of music play a huge role in my life. These lyrics hit me right between the eyes--- No message could have been any clearer--If you wanna make the world a better place take a look at yourself and make a change

I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On
My Favourite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See Their Needs

A Summer's Disregard, A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other
On The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere To Go
That's Why I Want You To Know

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change)
(Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,Na Nah)

I've Been A Victim Of
A Selfish Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some
With No Home,
Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not Alone?

A Willow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
(Washed-Out Dream)
They Follow The Pattern Of The Wind,
Ya' See Cause They Got No Place To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With Me(Starting With Me!)

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
(Ooh!)I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
(Ooh!)And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make A Change)


Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’


“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
—Matthew 25:34-46

We're thinking about two more weeks....oooh really?

If you have been following my blog attempts you might remember that my office is in the middle, well I hope further than the middle, of a remodel. I have made reference to a few of the interesting moments that have come about because of close quarters. Go here and here.

So today I thought I would get you up to speed. You would think we should be moved back in and I could show you lovely photos of all of us back in a our respective areas with the students comfort being our number one priority...yeah, you would think?????

No, we are still in our common space. We have seen progress...as turtle like slow as it may seem. We've had carpet in certain area for weeks, but no baseboards. We have painted walls but with really strange finishes. We have carpeted areas that just don't seem quite right. We have major spills, who needs a drop cloth anyway? We have opened ceilings just like your favorite sitcom. In fact we might become your favorite sitcom before this is over.

We do have more electrical outlets than before. We have a new storefront doorway. Dayna has a beautiful handcrafted reception desk.

So... maybe we are on the tail end of this project. I think if they had just let me and my co-worker Franicine have a couple hammers and some paint brushes evrything would have been done long ago. So here's to hoping we are in our new area before that rush of students that always comes with the beginning of August.

If Only..

...life could be wrapped up in a neat package of musical numbers, right decisions and a happy ending with a great deal or applause at the end!

Jenna and I went to see The Music Man last night. It was all you expect from an old-fashioned musical, and for some of you the thought of just that is nauseating beyond being tolerated, but for Jenna and I it is most enjoyable. The escape from reality into the magical world of musical theater is one of the things we enjoy most.

And really, wouldn't it be fantastic if the world worked that way? If you put your feet on the floor in the morning with the anticipation of musical numbers bursting out of nowhere with full orchestra accompaniment. Where people played a part that was scripted and always timed perfectly. Where the plot of the day is never too deep or intellectual but has enough moral conflict to make you feel good about the decisions made. A day where everyone is rooting for the couple to live happily ever after and make prefect harmonies as the last notes of the score are heard. And then... the whole cast of your day gets to return to the stage and receive applause for a job well done (that part should be a new federal mandate for the end of everyone's day--all days should end with each person receiving a warm round of applause!) I think life lived like in a musical really may not be such a bad idea.

So here's to all of you who trudge along today and do the work put before you with a song in your heart. I tip my hat and raise my hands in a warm round of applause to all of you.