Texas

I just accepted a position teaching music at a Christian school down in Texas! I'll be teaching elementary 3 days a week (2 days of choir, 1 day of general music) and Junior and Senior High 5 days a week (3 days of choir, 2 days of general music) as well as possibly doing some private lessons. I visited the school a couple of weeks ago and took some pictures while I was there.

Elementary chapel in the auditorium

The front of the school building

The radio tower on the west side of the school building


The front of the church building



The school building from the road

Turn right just a little, and you'll see the sign advertising the radio station

The sign for the church

The sunrise from the principal's house...notice the palm trees!

I finally graduated!!!

Yes, believe it or not, I've finally graduated from college! May 2, 2008, I walked across the front of the gymnatorium (yes, that's really what it's called: it's the gym; it's the auditorium; it's the gymnatorium), collected my diploma (or the folder thingy that the diploma was to eventually end up in), shook hands with Dr. Phelps (the president of the college) and Dr. Ledgerwood (the music department head), who turned my beautiful pink tassel. You want to see pictures? Here are a few:

Senior Recital

So, I had my Senior recital on Friday! It was the last thing that I had to finish to qualify for graduation, and now I'M DONE!!! Here are some pictures...hope you enjoy!

Burckart Hall, Maranatha

"Dank Sei Dir" trio

"De Gospel Train"

Mrs. Ruffin (my teacher) and me

Ruth (my accompanist) and me

My Dad, me, and my Mom

Dr. Budahl (my presider), me, and Ruth (my accompanist)

Rebekah and I sang "Evening Hymn" from "Hansel and Gretel"

Two of my ushers serving cake and punch (non-alcoholic, of course)

My program with one of the flowers from my parents

The inside of the program: translations of my Italian, French, and German songs

Next installment coming soon: GRADUATION!!!! May 2, 2008

Teen Time

I'm so thankful for the last few weeks of Teen Time! I had been having some trouble getting ahold of the kids from the trailer park when I tried to call them, so I did not know if they were wanting to come to church or not. A couple of times, they had said that they wanted to come, but there ended up being snow storms (it's been a crazy winter), and we weren't able to make it out to Stoughton for church. Well, I was finally able to talk to them about a month ago, and they've been coming EVERY week since then! Yay!!! We've had about 6 kids (teens and elementary-aged) coming on the van from the trailer park for the last few weeks! God is good!

Leap Year Marriage Proposals

"There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Brigid of Kildare in 5th century Ireland, but apparently not attested before the 19th century, whereby women may make marriage proposals only in leap years.

"Supposedly (but disputed), in a 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland (then age five and living in Norway), fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to £1 to a silk gown, in order to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February." [http://www.answers.com/topic/leap-year?cat=technology]

If only I had known sooner...If I'm still not married in four years, I might just take advantage of this...

Ok, you can kill me if you want...

I know it's been a long time since I've posted...let me give you a little update....

I have an apartment in town with my sister. Working at Comfort Suites. Did my Junior voice recital at the end of November:

and am preparing for my Senior voice recital in the end of April. Planning on graduating in May. Looking for a job for after this summer, when the apartment lease ends. Have one option, but it's not definite. I haven't even sent in the application, yet. Plan to do that this week...hopefully...Still playing organ at church...and helping with Teen Time.

I'm going to try to keep up with this a little better....we'll see how that goes...