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Sunday, May 31, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Trip of Many Adventures
We knew for some reason...call it a hunch...that this trip down to Kansas to go camping on Memorial Day weekend would be adventurous. I asked several families at church to pray for us because I just knew something would happen, and we would need prayer warriors fighting for us. We did. It all started with my cell phone dying...(complete story at the very end of this post)
The first stop on the trip was Grandpa and Grandma's house in town. Hannah had driven all the way and her first words to Grandpa were "I didn't speed!" He didn't let her forget that for the rest of the trip! They took us to McD's as is their custom and fed us 20 McChickens and Big 'n Tasties (total), four salads and two orders of french fries. Seeing as our ranks were not swelled to their usual numbers, this was a LOT of food. But we ate it all with only one McChicken saved for a late night snack.
Grandpa Bill had scoped out all the campgrounds and picked the perfect point on the lake for us complete with flush toilets and showers. Nice! We did drive around just for fun looking at other camping areas.
Grandpa found the best spot so we drove back to where we started and settled on a pristine camp site on the west side of Veteren's Point. Our tents were the three section kind complete with rainfly since the forecast said there was a chance of rain.
The boats distracted our attention from the shore opposite our campsite where unbeknownst to us a group of (ahem) 'interesting' young people set up camp. We had really been hoping everyone would leave once Memorial Day weekend was over. And everyone did leave...everyone but THEM.
The family came out to our campsite for dinner. We did the traditional 'weenie' roast along with hamburgers on the grill for the select few that were actually hungry after our huge lunch. As Betsy observed, it seemed like we did alot of eating in the two days we were there.
After we could s'more no more, the children started roasting marshmellows for Uncle Les. The children were typical...they loved to cook (burn to a crisp) the marshmellows, but they didn't like to eat them. Uncle Les would eat any and all burnt marshmellows and sent the kidlets back to the campfire if it wasn't burnt enough! What a good uncle!
The family went back to town as the hour got later, but we had another surprise visitor.
Our dear family friend, Mr. McCoy (one of the REAL McCoys!) came out to visit us since he wasn't sure what his tomorrow would hold. He drove out in his new 'Inferno Red Crystal Pearl' minivan. It was great to get to see him. He's like another grandpa.
The birds were not kept awake by the noisy campers from the night before so lots of them were up early whistling and singing. There was no use trying to sleep any more so we all got up to a lovely cool morning of fog. Aunt Karol got the day off from work so she came over with Grandpa and Grandma and spent the day with us.
The one item on Tuesday's agenda was to hike a short nature trail down by the dam. It started out innocently enough. The trail was one person wide and pretty well marked. But once we got down in the woods, we found the bridge was out. We needed a bridge to get us across a small creek. We could have waded, but a recent windstorm had downed a tree that would serve as a bridge to get us to the other shore. All the children made it across without a problem. I put the cell phone and camera in my jumper pocket, and as I climbed up on the log...you guessed it...I dumped them both in the water. The camera was okay since it was Aaron's waterproof, indestructable, wonder camera. But the cell phone was another story. Waterlogged cell phones hold out little hope of reviving. We fished them out of the water and continued on through the stinging nettles toward the path on the other side. The children said, "Hold your breath. It makes the sting of stinging nettles go away sooner." Is that true? Several tried it and insisted it worked.
After more fine camping food, Grandpa took several of the middles to try their hand at fishing by the marina. We stayed at the camp and fed the Canada geese all the bread we could lay our hands on. We even fed them our extra large box of Cheese Zits. Rod would have said "Good riddance," if he had been there. Leah ate one Cheese Zit and fed one to the geese! They loved us.
Mr. McCoy came out again later in the afternoon. He brought us freshly baked monkey bread. Yum!
We chatted, talked and played till dinner. Uncle Les made the trek back over from Wichita to join us. All the food turned out wonderfully, (i.e. done and not burned) except the chicken, which refused to cook. We ate without it.
After dinner, the sky looked dark and stormy to the southwest. I could see the signs. I'm not a weatherman's wife for nothing! We cleaned things up hurriedly, but weren't quite done when the outflow boundry from a storm passing directly north of us hit the camp with winds at 60 gust 70.
The first tent went down right away with a shattered tent pole so we had minimum manning there. Leah and Mr. McCoy kept it from blowing into the next county.
Unless Aunt Karol and Uncle Les wanted to stand outside and hold up the tent all night, things were not looking good for another night at the lake. On the positive side, our noisy neighbors packed up in about five minutes and left after the first strong winds died down. That fact alone made me want to stay! But there were more dark clouds on the horizon...
Aunt Karol holding on to Uncle Les so he won't blow away!
I know, it was kind of wimpy, but I didn't want to loose another tent. The first tent was shredded beyond repair.
The first stop on the trip was Grandpa and Grandma's house in town. Hannah had driven all the way and her first words to Grandpa were "I didn't speed!" He didn't let her forget that for the rest of the trip! They took us to McD's as is their custom and fed us 20 McChickens and Big 'n Tasties (total), four salads and two orders of french fries. Seeing as our ranks were not swelled to their usual numbers, this was a LOT of food. But we ate it all with only one McChicken saved for a late night snack.
Grandpa Bill had scoped out all the campgrounds and picked the perfect point on the lake for us complete with flush toilets and showers. Nice! We did drive around just for fun looking at other camping areas.
Grandpa found the best spot so we drove back to where we started and settled on a pristine camp site on the west side of Veteren's Point. Our tents were the three section kind complete with rainfly since the forecast said there was a chance of rain.
The only rain we got the whole time at the lake was about a hundred drops from one cloud as we set up the tents. God has such a sense of humor.
We started out light at heart...this camping trip was to be a festive occasion. We brought scads of our NCHEA bandanas and hung them all over the campsite to bring cheer and joy to our happy campers. Each camper also received a bandana to wear, and we had colors to match every outfit.
The water was shallow and warm so the kids could play in it right by our campsite. The only drawback was 'no bare feet.' The little pickles found piles of beer bottle caps everywhere. Since it was still the holiday, lots of jet skis, speed boats, pontoons and houseboats were still out on the lake. They were fun to watch.
The boats distracted our attention from the shore opposite our campsite where unbeknownst to us a group of (ahem) 'interesting' young people set up camp. We had really been hoping everyone would leave once Memorial Day weekend was over. And everyone did leave...everyone but THEM.
The family came out to our campsite for dinner. We did the traditional 'weenie' roast along with hamburgers on the grill for the select few that were actually hungry after our huge lunch. As Betsy observed, it seemed like we did alot of eating in the two days we were there.
And you guessed it...we made s'mores. Lots and lots of s'mores.
After we could s'more no more, the children started roasting marshmellows for Uncle Les. The children were typical...they loved to cook (burn to a crisp) the marshmellows, but they didn't like to eat them. Uncle Les would eat any and all burnt marshmellows and sent the kidlets back to the campfire if it wasn't burnt enough! What a good uncle!
The family went back to town as the hour got later, but we had another surprise visitor.
Our dear family friend, Mr. McCoy (one of the REAL McCoys!) came out to visit us since he wasn't sure what his tomorrow would hold. He drove out in his new 'Inferno Red Crystal Pearl' minivan. It was great to get to see him. He's like another grandpa.
After Mr. McCoy left, we noticed more noise carried across the water from our friendly fellow campers. Evidently, Lake Eldorado doesn't have any 'quiet hours' or the camp hosts were too afraid to enforce them because the rap/yelling/drunken/drugged cacophony continued well into the night. I prayed the children wouldn't be disturbed by the wicked bedlam, and they did go right to sleep. I did alot of praying for those poor lost souls as I lay awake...
The birds were not kept awake by the noisy campers from the night before so lots of them were up early whistling and singing. There was no use trying to sleep any more so we all got up to a lovely cool morning of fog. Aunt Karol got the day off from work so she came over with Grandpa and Grandma and spent the day with us.
The one item on Tuesday's agenda was to hike a short nature trail down by the dam. It started out innocently enough. The trail was one person wide and pretty well marked. But once we got down in the woods, we found the bridge was out. We needed a bridge to get us across a small creek. We could have waded, but a recent windstorm had downed a tree that would serve as a bridge to get us to the other shore. All the children made it across without a problem. I put the cell phone and camera in my jumper pocket, and as I climbed up on the log...you guessed it...I dumped them both in the water. The camera was okay since it was Aaron's waterproof, indestructable, wonder camera. But the cell phone was another story. Waterlogged cell phones hold out little hope of reviving. We fished them out of the water and continued on through the stinging nettles toward the path on the other side. The children said, "Hold your breath. It makes the sting of stinging nettles go away sooner." Is that true? Several tried it and insisted it worked.
After more fine camping food, Grandpa took several of the middles to try their hand at fishing by the marina. We stayed at the camp and fed the Canada geese all the bread we could lay our hands on. We even fed them our extra large box of Cheese Zits. Rod would have said "Good riddance," if he had been there. Leah ate one Cheese Zit and fed one to the geese! They loved us.
Hannah heard our 'interesting' neighbors referring to us as 'Amish' as she fed the geese. What a hoot!
Caleb, B and Grandpa Bill had fun finding interesting stuff along the beach left by previous campers. By the time we were ready to leave, they had quite a collection of lures and water toys.
Mr. McCoy came out again later in the afternoon. He brought us freshly baked monkey bread. Yum!
We chatted, talked and played till dinner. Uncle Les made the trek back over from Wichita to join us. All the food turned out wonderfully, (i.e. done and not burned) except the chicken, which refused to cook. We ate without it.
After dinner, the sky looked dark and stormy to the southwest. I could see the signs. I'm not a weatherman's wife for nothing! We cleaned things up hurriedly, but weren't quite done when the outflow boundry from a storm passing directly north of us hit the camp with winds at 60 gust 70.
Yikes!
The children ran to the tents along with all the rest of the family. Thank the Lord everyone was still there or our tents would be in Missouri now!
The first tent went down right away with a shattered tent pole so we had minimum manning there. Leah and Mr. McCoy kept it from blowing into the next county.
The other tent lived through the initial gust front, but the winds only died down to 30 gust 40 after the storm front passed.
Unless Aunt Karol and Uncle Les wanted to stand outside and hold up the tent all night, things were not looking good for another night at the lake. On the positive side, our noisy neighbors packed up in about five minutes and left after the first strong winds died down. That fact alone made me want to stay! But there were more dark clouds on the horizon...
Aunt Karol holding on to Uncle Les so he won't blow away!
We love storms, but not so much to sleep outside in. I made the command decision to pack up...well actually we didn't pack anything. We just took all our stuff and threw it into the back of the van!
I know, it was kind of wimpy, but I didn't want to loose another tent. The first tent was shredded beyond repair.
Hannah drove the whole way home, and we arrived safe and sound from our adventure at exactly 2:00 a.m. Thank You, Lord, for watching over us and keeping us. The character quality we were studying during school this month was flexibility! I think this was God's way of cementing the lesson!
Addendum: The Cell Phone Story
Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend: Mom's cell phone dies mysteriously.
Verizon store: Absolutely no help. Refers us to another store which turns out to be a vacant shell. Sigh.
Home: Call Verizon. Get menus. Hang up.
Call Mrs. Beasley. Find help in circumventing menus. Thanks bunches.
Call Verizon. Verify cell phone is actually dead with no hope of life hereafter.
First mistake. Hang up on helpful Verizon man.
Second mistake. Go online. Pick out new phone. Try to order. Something doesn't look right.
Call Verizon. Website won't give me a phone number for the new phone. Less than helpful Verizon lady said, "Sorry, you're not the primary on the account. You can't order a phone for this plan unless your husband authorizes you to." Sigh.
Rod is working out. Gets home late. All hope is lost of getting a cell phone by camping trip.
Rod tells new Verizon lady his wife is "authorized." New Verizon lady helps me for the next hour.
First order won't cancel. Gave me new phone and new plan. Sigh. Don't need new plan.
Try to order new phone with Verizon lady's help. She can't get it to work either.
Try again to order a new phone with Verizon lady's help. Do nothing different, but it works this time. Yeah!
Get idea. Aaron has old cell phone. Verizon lady can give it my old number.
Question? Where is the old cell phone? Only Betsy knows. Betsy is out in garden.
Betsy retrieved. Cell phone retrieved. Back pried off. Sigh.
Verizon lady succeeds in getting my old number into Aaron's old cell phone. Praise the Lord!
Now do you see why we were not surprised when the cell phone fell in the water? It did not appear that the Lord wanted us to depend on the cell phone, but to depend on Him.
Amen.
P.S. Aaron's phone dried out and worked again after I dropped it in the water. Miracle.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Ellie Stangl's Graduation
Ellie Stangl's highschool graduation was on Sunday, May 24th. It was a huge affair. The Stangls have many, many church friends, community friends and relatives and they came...
Teresa and Carol in the Stangl's new kitchen
The "Ellie Table"
Their friend, the chaplain for the nursing home they serve at in Blair, opened the graduation ceremony with a rousing song and prayer.
Mr. Stangl began the program with a few words of introduction. He let his daughter have the floor and Ellie started her graduation speech...
For those of you that have never seen Ellie in action...she's amazing. Ellie taught our Good News Club and has had extensive public speaking experience with all kinds of audiences. As soon as she started, I felt like I was sitting in Ft. Calhoun Elementary gym listening to Ellie lead the GNC. Her subject was different, but her easy, welcoming style was the same. Her mother later said Ellie was up till 1 a.m. writing and rewriting her speech. You'd never know it! I video'd the beginning of her speech where she said her thanks to her family
Mr. Stangl and Ellie were too emotional to speak after he gave her the diploma and turned the speaking over to Mrs. Stangl. We knew what you meant, Teresa!
Ellie deserved not only a diploma for academic excellence, but one for building skills and work ethic. She has worked so hard this last year helping with their massive home remodel as well as finishing up her academics.
Little Elise didn't pay much attention to the speeches, but she found her Uncle Caleb fascinating!
The graduation crowds...
They had quite a spread of cake, fresh fruit and some zippy punch during the afternoon. Aunt Jane and Aunt Maggie kept everything supplied which was quite a task.
Teresa and Carol in the Stangl's new kitchen
The screensaver on the computer!
Elizabeth U. took Ellie's grad photos. She just came back from a photography class in Texas where she took several top awards. Her photos were stunning. It does help to have a photogenic subject too.
The "Ellie Table"
Friends of the Hipps, the Hutchins family, arrived in town on Sunday so they came along to the graduation. They fit right in. It was good to meet you all.
The following photos are of various friends, neighbors and relatives that came to the grand occasion!
And after the visiting and eating...there was volleyball. Massive speed volleyball! So many people wanted to play, they raided a neighbor's volleyball net and set up a second field of play!
Josh and his dad were on the same team. I had the opportunity to go up against Josh at the net, but politely let him have the point!
What a lovely afternoon and evening. Even Sammy enjoyed himself in the cool mud!
Josh got alot of air time!
Elizabeth M. was on the Grace University volleyball team. She was a real asset!
You can always tell the 'Uncle Stangls' because they are SO athletically adept.
Ben is every inch a Stangl, just like his dad and his uncles...
And if 'athletically adept' describes the Stangls, 'competitive' describes the Ulmers!
I think Merrie was praying the ball wouldn't come to her!
What a lovely afternoon and evening. Even Sammy enjoyed himself in the cool mud!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Stump-B-Gone
Some friends recommended this man's stump removal service. We had 21 stumps we'd been saving for one big stump removal party, and Rod decided it was time.
The machine was interesting. It cost 20K to buy, and the four ball bearings it used cost $365 each to replace. We quickly got the feeling that the stump man was not going to be as cheap as we had hoped!
He was a very interesting man. He was a pastor's son, but I don't think he's walking with the Lord anymore. He asked us if we were 'religious' because we had so many kids. He liked watching 'Kate, Plus Eight' on TV! The children could tell he wasn't a Christian by certain things he was doing and saying, so whenever he was taking a brake chatting, they would just be close by singing Christian songs...Jesus loves me and things like that. I don't think he noticed, but I'm sure God did.
He worked hard and cleared 17 of our 21 stumps in four and a half hours. The last four cost too much so we opted to let them live on since they weren't in the yard anyway.
The machine looked alive while it was working. It has all sorts of warnings on the side promising death and disablement to anyone who operated it in an unskillful manner.
We'll be praying for the stump man's salvation. Please join us.
California, here they come!
That title does beg the question...when, where, why, how etc...Rod's mom is house sitting in Mountain View, California, a 'burb in the Silicon Valley area. She will be going back home to D.C. in a month so Rod wanted to squeeze in a visit before she left. Rachel and Tootsie were the blessed chosen to go along!
Please pray that they will be a light and a blessing while they are visiting and that God would return them safely to us.
Final Good News Club of the Year
One of the few sad things about school ending is that Good News Club is over for another year.
Ellie, Zach, Rachel and Betsy made a great team.
The last club of the year was a 'party club.' Ellie reviewed all the Bible stories they had taught throughout the year and hearteningly, the children remembered them all. Each child got a bright yellow balloon when they answered a question correctly.
Ellie and Zach were very good teachers throughout the year. Ellie was asked to go down to the Kansas City Christian Youth in Action Camp this summer to teach "Classroom Management" skills to new teachers. She is the best manager of young, wiggly children I've ever seen.
The kids played the 'gum game' after the Bible lesson. Each team had to put on gloves, open a piece of gum and pop it in their mouths before the next person could go.
Little Morgan was a faithful Clubber!
Caitlin was on Rachel's team. Rachel 'helped' her team more than Betsy did so they won!
Caleb was debating with Zach on the relative merits of bubble blowing.
The little girl in this picture, Zoey, accepted Christ this year at one of the last GNC. Praise the Lord!
Lizzy was a whiz at this game.
Ben Winters, a Ft. Calhoun Good News Club graduate, came back to provide entertainment for the party club in the form of magic tricks. He had to be pretty good to get his tricks past those sharp eyed children.
His folks will be hosting the summer Five Day Club at the playground of the Ft. Calhoun elementary school the week of July 13 -17 from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Any and every child is invited to come.
The last club ended with special treats, but the best treat of all will be to see the children back again next fall. Stay faithful to the Lord over the summer and live the truth you've been taught.
Ellie, Zach, Rachel and Betsy made a great team.
The last club of the year was a 'party club.' Ellie reviewed all the Bible stories they had taught throughout the year and hearteningly, the children remembered them all. Each child got a bright yellow balloon when they answered a question correctly.
Ellie and Zach were very good teachers throughout the year. Ellie was asked to go down to the Kansas City Christian Youth in Action Camp this summer to teach "Classroom Management" skills to new teachers. She is the best manager of young, wiggly children I've ever seen.
The kids played the 'gum game' after the Bible lesson. Each team had to put on gloves, open a piece of gum and pop it in their mouths before the next person could go.
Little Morgan was a faithful Clubber!
Caitlin was on Rachel's team. Rachel 'helped' her team more than Betsy did so they won!
Caleb was debating with Zach on the relative merits of bubble blowing.
The little girl in this picture, Zoey, accepted Christ this year at one of the last GNC. Praise the Lord!
Lizzy was a whiz at this game.
Ben Winters, a Ft. Calhoun Good News Club graduate, came back to provide entertainment for the party club in the form of magic tricks. He had to be pretty good to get his tricks past those sharp eyed children.
His folks will be hosting the summer Five Day Club at the playground of the Ft. Calhoun elementary school the week of July 13 -17 from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Any and every child is invited to come.
The last club ended with special treats, but the best treat of all will be to see the children back again next fall. Stay faithful to the Lord over the summer and live the truth you've been taught.
God bless you all.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Benjamin, the Birthday Boy!
Happy eighth birthday, Benjamin!
B had a lovely birthday this year. When I asked him what presents he liked best, he named off all the candy...the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, even at an early age!
If you look closely at the decorations, you might see a resemblance to Betsy's room at NCHEA. We had to get some more use out of those bandanas...we have so many of them! We're going to take them camping with us over Memorial day weekend too and tie them up around the camp site for colorful clotheslines.
Be careful. You can gain weight just looking at a picture of those donuts. It was a good batch. They are remotely good for you. They have some token whole wheat in them to salve my motherly conscience.
About lunchtime, B's birthday got interesting. B's wish was for Stephen and John Beasley to come out and play for the afternoon. Mrs. Beasley, bless her heart, volunteered to bring them out while bringing a trailor load of mulch and getting a great deal, I might add. We also planned to get in a walk which we haven't taken together for ages.
All the kiddos helped us unload the compost. In order to aid in the unloading, we unhooked the trailor and tipped it up, swept it out and sent our little helpers skedaddling off to play. Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee stayed around to help us get the trailor back on. The thing weighs a ton, and we had no little trouble getting it hitched up. As a matter of fact, it wouldn't hitch. Mrs. B was on the line to Mr. B for helpful hints, and we tried this and that...nothing worked. Looking underneath the hitch, we noticed a nut and boltish kind of thing. If we loosened it possibly, the whole thing might slide right on...right? Wrong. It fell right off. Then we had to figure out how to get it back together. I was no help, and the Tweedle sisters stood off to the side.
Mrs. B, whose middle name is persistance, called her husband and then went inside to see if she could find a schematic online of the order of the pieces in question. A few minutes later, Hannah and Rachel popped in and announced that they fixed it, and the trailor was hitched up and ready to go. Amazing!
After our walk and a long overdue chat, the children begged to open presents.
That was an easy, "Yes, of course." John made B's birthday bag and filled it with all sorts of cool presents. He is now a working man since he inherited Anna's bread route so he has money for nice birthday gifts! Stephen wrapped his birthday gift to B in duct tape. He offered to open it for him since B couldn't quite manage it!
Caleb, Abby and Elise came out for pizza and games in the evening taking the boys back home before pumpkin time. Happy birthday, B!
The Victory
Michael and Matthew stopped by last night for a bit of dinner.
During to course of conversation, Michael told us of his latest acquisition...the Victory!
We strolled over to the Miller's to take a look.
Sweet bike!
(I just hope Aaron doesn't decide he needs one too!)
Michael sure was happy with his new bike. Lord, bless him and keep him safe on the roads, and may he never run out of gas or get caught in the rain!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Father/Son Baseball: The Excitement Begins!
The excitement has begun for 2009 Summer Father/Son baseball. The menfolk had so much fun last year, they started a month early to extend the season.
The season started with a good natured debate over whether to continue with baseball or switch to slow pitch softball.
I asked one of the players what they thought of the baseball vs. softball question, and he succinctly phrased his arguments for softball verses baseball.
With baseball, the strength of your team's pitching determines in large part whether you win or loose. Another negative: Not everyone is able to hit the faster pitches so some potential players stay away.
With slow pitch, everyone can hit so it's a real team effort to bring home a win. It's a players' game. Everyone contributes.
Well said, my young man. I should have found someone who was lobbying to play baseball to maintain balanced reporting. If anyone has a rejoinder, we'd be glad to entertain it in comment form! The media always has a bias!
No one seemed to mind playing slow pitch, and the hitting was on fire all evening long. Another plus: Several new players came out this year. Both sides had enough to field complete teams.
It takes skill to hit slow pitch and not pop it up for an easy out. The real compliment was when the outfielders backed up all the way to the playground when certain batters came to the plate! It was a real team effort all the way around. Great game!
Josh Beasley's home run. Sweet!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Daniel Miller...Pianist Extraordinaire
Daniel Miller is our neighbor out here in sunny Ft. Calhoun. We always knew Daniel was especially talented and our suspicions were confirmed when we went to his practice a couple months ago. Mrs. Miller sent out a general invitation to the church letting everyone know when Daniel's recitals would be. When you're this good, you get more than one!
The recital was at 1930, but as you can see from the clock tower, we were a bit early. We killed time out in the beautiful gardens outside the Strauss Performing Arts Center. You know you're early when you beat the teacher to the recital!
Out in the foyer, they had 10-15 pianos ranging from Grands to nice uprights. The girls were tempted to play them, but resisted. You hate to play dinky pieces on such nice pianos. They might blow up or an alarm might go off somewhere. We later learned that the pianos are for sale. One of the suppliers in town loans the pianos to UNO for the year and then auctions them off so they would be glad for us to play them and buy one to boot!
Tootsie explaining the complex modern art in the hallway...What was the artist thinking?
Mr. Johnson introduced his recital and gave an appeal for the UNO music department. The company that used to loan the pianos to the music department for the year will no longer be able to do so due to current economic conditions. The music department needs $200K to buy pianos to replace the 19 loaner ones. Mr. Johnson was hoping they would get even more so they could become an "All Steinway" music department.
The girls were prepared for the recital. Suzannah brought five books which she shared with her sisters. It's good to have something to do while you're listening.
I asked Caleb if the music reminded him of a mouse chasing a piece of cheese during an energetic piece. He replied, "They must be tired."
We noticed that the pieces, though all complex, either lacked or gained something from the spirit of the pianist. Certain pianists played incredibly complex pieces perfectly well, but left us flat because there was no "feeling." Other players really got into what they were doing and the music was very moving or entertaining. Our favorite piece was played by a 13 year old oriental young man...the Hungarian Rhapsody by Franz Liszt. Mrs. Miller was amused as she watched Caleb dance (bounce in my lap!) to it as she sat behind us. Our favorite performer was another oriental young man named Ruowen Pei. He played Maurice Ravel's 'Play of the Water' and it looked like each of his fingers had a brain of their own. He put on quite a show so we really didn't notice if he played the piece well because he was so entertaining to watch.
And finally, the reason we came to the recital...Daniel Miller playing 'Etude d'Execution Transcendante No. 10. Great job, Daniel. I think the young men play even better when they wear a tuxedo! Daniel has only played the piano for six years...Incredible!
Thank you for inviting us to the recital. It was a night to remember. May you always play for God's glory, Daniel.
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