Wordless Wednesday {Haven}

One of the Wonderful Things {Recital Week!}

In my last post, I mentioned that this week is chock-full of wonderful things.  One of those looked like this...  :)

 Josiah and David performed in a violin recital last evening; and both did quite well, if a mother is allowed to brag a little.  ;-)

David played Minuet by Boccherini, the last piece in Suzuki Book 2; and Josiah played the second piece in Suzuki Book 4, which happens to be a movement from a Seitz concerto.  I never remember which one.  Hang on, I'll look it up.

Talk amongst yourselves, please!

OK, I found it!  Here's the official info: Concerto No. 5, 1st movement, by F. Seitz.

The "F" stands for Fritz, in case you were wondering.  ;-)

I had the honor of accompanying, not only my sons, but also most of the other violinists in the program last evening; and I enjoyed it so much--not simply because of the pleasure of making beautiful music together, but mostly because of the chance to help them shine and to affirm their good qualities.  That means doing my very best to help them succeed musically, whether it be remembering that Dennis (who performed in the recital last evening) takes "Etude" quickly, but Lydia (who is performing tomorrow in the other recital I'm accompanying this weekend) takes the same piece much more slowly and carefully...or knowing that Victoria plays the last 10 measures of her piece extremely fast, and I'd better be ready or she'll leave me in the dust...or keeping in mind that Hillary intends to play the doubles of Perpetual Motion, but she'll probably pause after the singles because she's forgotten to go straight into the doubles so I need to pause, too...and so forth.

But even more than that, it is speaking words of encouragement to them, apart from how things go musically.  It's telling Emma, "I like your dress; it's so pretty!" and watching her beam.  It's asking Meg after the recital how she felt like it went for her, then listening as she describes how terribly nervous she gets, and then telling her some of the things I've learned through the years about how to keep nerves in line before and during a performance.  It's exclaiming to Julia's mom, "Julia did GREAT!" because her mom wasn't sure she would.

But my favorite interaction with a student during this week of music-making came one afternoon as I was practicing with individual students.  This particular student is a boy whom I had not met before, but he was scheduled to play a very simple piece from Book 1.  I was a little surprised when he appeared in the practice room, because he was quite a bit older than most beginners are; but of course I didn't say anything, and we proceeded to go through the piece several times together.  As he was putting away his violin, I happened to ask his dad if they had a lesson to go to either before or after our practice time, or whether they had made the trip just for our session (which was quite short).  The dad said that his son was supposed to have a group class after our rehearsal, but he didn't like to go because he was so much older than all the other students and he felt embarrassed.

My heart went out to him.  He didn't know it, but I knew exactly how he felt.

So I said, "Let me tell you something.  I took Suzuki violin lessons right here, and I was 10 when I started--much older than some beginners in the Suzuki method are.  I remember feeling so awkward in my first group classes because I was bigger than everyone else.  But here's the thing: I advanced much more quickly than most of the younger beginners, simply because I was older and more mature and it came more easily to me.  I have a feeling that's exactly what will happen to you!"  I went on to tell him how I used to teach piano lessons, and how my older beginners almost always progressed more quickly than the younger ones, just because of the added skills and maturity that come from being a little older.

I don't know for sure what he was thinking--maybe wondering why this crazy old lady was talking to him when what he really wanted was to head out the door! ;-) --but if I read his face accurately, he was encouraged by what I said.  And his dad--well, it was obvious that he was soaking in those words and was so grateful for them.

After they left, I thought, "You know, that might have been the most important thing I did all week.  All these practice sessions and both recitals might have just paled in comparison to the awesome privilege of speaking life and hope and encouragement into that 12-year-old boy's heart."  In that moment, I *almost* envied teachers who get to do that on a regular basis.  :)

Well, I don't get to do that for very many students very often, but at least I get to do it for my five (one of whom is not in this picture because he--Tobin--was in line for the food at the reception after the recital) every single day.  And that is a privilege I do not take for granted!  :)

P.S. Moriah IS in that photo, but she thought it was MUCH more interesting to touch the piano keys than to stand and face the camera.  Can't say that I blame her; those keys ARE fascinating.  ;-)

Clutter, Be Gone! {Book of Lullabies}

An unbelievably busy week, packed full of wonderful things, means that it's November 7, and I still haven't gotten a new blog header ready so I can change my blog look for this new month.  

Well, "for this month that's already almost a quarter over" is probably a more accurate way of saying that.  ;-)

But I did find time to choose one book to get rid of--one small (very small, I know) step in the ongoing decluttering process around here!

This particular book is a sweet book of music and art...

...made even sweeter by the fact that it was given to me by a friend in San Diego more than 12 years ago when I was a first-time mom to Josiah.

I've enjoyed it through the years...

...but now it's time to let someone else enjoy it.

Who knows?  It might even be a brand-new first time mom who picks this up and falls in love with the paintings and the melodies.  Whoever it is, I hope she receives much pleasure from it while I, on the other hand, gain the satisfaction of having one less item on my shelf.  :)

Clutter, be gone!  :)

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday {We Came, We Saw, We Voted}

 And then we drove home by way of gorgeous Silver Lake.  :)

 And then Moriah modeled her Go-Vote outfit.  :)

Love Letters {that Didn't Come from Hallmark}

One Sunday morning, a week or two ago, Shav was keeping himself quiet in our church service by doodling on an old pad of paper from when my dad was still in practice; and after a little time had gone by, he handed me this.

Awwww, sweet!  I love you, too, son!  :)

Then he wrote this; and even though it was missing the "MOM" of the previous note, I still took it to mean that he was addressing his love to me.  :).

Then he drew Jesus on the cross.

Then he drew...ninjas??  Not sure what they have to do with a Sunday morning church service, but perhaps there's some connection.  ;-)

And then he drew this and told me it was his own secret language.

Don't worry, my boy; no one's EVER going to crack that code!  ;-)

Not long after that, I was going through an old storage box of stuff that I probably shoved in there at least two years ago; and I discovered a bunch of napkins that I had written, probably for Josiah when he was taking pottery classes and took a snack along with him.  As I packed his snack bag each day, I wrote a note and slipped it inside for him to discover later, and this is what I wrote.

A little further down in the box, I came across these birthday greetings for Jeff, one that Josiah colored and wrote on the back of...

...and another that David drew.  :)

I also unearthed a note David wrote to me.  His code name, by the way, is 00D--inspired, of course, by 007 (not that he's ever watched any of those movies), but with his own twist.  Oops!  Now the cat's out of the bag and everyone will know who he is!  Don't tell him I told you!!  ;-)

Finding those notes reminded me of one that Tobin wrote recently.  He very sweetly expressed his love for David, Shav, and me; but it just so happened that his writing was completely backwards!  No matter.  His affection comes through loud and clear just the same.  :)

A scratch pad, some napkins, a piece of notebook paper--it really doesn't matter.  The important thing is the love.  And I'm grateful beyond telling for the abundance of it that surrounds me.  :)

Sunday Snapshot #3

~ a quick photo before we left the house this morning :) ~

A Saturday with Nothing on the Calendar...

...is the perfect kind of day to dive into a project.

A project like...say...making applesauce.

Now what made me think of that?  ;-)

Oh, maybe because today we turned two bushels of Golden Delicious apples into 28 quarts of applesauce, canned and ready to be stored on the cellar shelves--28 quarts AND five bowls of applesauce, I should say.  Each of the kids got a bowl for supper, because when you spend all day making applesauce, you've just got to enjoy some of it warm and fresh, and not store it all away for winter.  :)

Before we began the project this morning, I happened to pull out a Christmas CD to listen to, which is not really unusual for me because I listen to Christmas music, off and on, all year round.  After all, I'm thankful all 12 months of the year that Jesus came to earth as a baby, so why only think about and celebrate that in one month?  :)

At any rate, as soon as they heard the Barlow Girls singing "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," Josiah and David got excited and pulled out the construction paper to make a ring chain from now until Christmas, prompting Tobin to also make a ring chain for a Christmas countdown, but he inexplicably chose black and white as his colors.  ;-)  It was fun to hear the boys reminisce about Christmases past and dream about Christmases future; they even talked about that CD we were listening to, Josiah commenting something about it being a part of Christmas joy for him, how just hearing it brings warm, happy feelings.  And THAT brings warm, happy feelings to me.  :)

 Moriah was old enough to help this year, and she had fun trotting down the stairs to the garage to carry apples up to the kitchen...

 ...and putting them in the dishpan at the sink.  :)

 Then she supervised me as I washed them.  ;-)

 And she did a helpful taste test.

 I think she approves of these apples.  Whew!  ;-)

 The boys, of course, all took turns cranking the handle of the food mill, as well as carrying up apples and bringing empty jars up from the cellar; they were truly helpful, and best of all, worked with good attitudes.  Such a gift to a mother's heart!

 Moriah tried to help by turning the handle, but mostly just looked cute.  ;-)

 I had only gotten two bushels of apples when we were at the orchard this week because I didn't want to get more than I could handle and have some go to waste.  Now that I've successfully taken care of the first two bushels, I'm ready to get more.  Clearly 28 quarts of applesauce is not NEARLY enough to last us all year!  ;-)

 The eczema on my hands has flared up recently, so I wore surgical gloves, left over from my dad's medical practice, to protect them.  Being in and out of water like hands need to be when making applesauce is horrible for my skin!

 David wanted to use the timer to take a picture of himself, so here is his selfie.  :)

Some days, I get to the end of them and feel like, "Did I actually accomplish anything today?  Maybe I just spun my wheels all day long and didn't really DO anything!"  But on days like today, how satisfying it is to be able to look at the jars of applesauce lined up on my kitchen counter and know that today I DID SOMETHING!!  ;-)