That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life...
Philippians 2:15-16a

Monday, August 23, 2010

I'm BACK!!!

Let's get this blog up and running again!   So, much has been going on since I last posted.  Business is going well.  I have over 40 students booked at this point, and I'm hoping for a lot more by the beginning of September.   Voice lessons are almost full, but I still have lots of room for piano lessons, and I have flute, clarinet, and other woodwind lessons available.  Spread the word!


My computer got stolen the second week of August. Grrr.  After a week of no computer, I had to break down and get a new one.  I ended up getting a Mac book pro, because Mac is supposed to be "so much better" than pc!  I sure am hoping this is true and it's not just a sales gimmick to get me to spend twice as much money!  So far I'm liking the Mac book.  We'll see how it goes.  Apparently the average lifespan for a lap top is only 3-4 years.  You'd think for the kind of money that you spend they could build something that would last a little bit longer!  Yeesh!


Camp YES was AWESOME!!!!  I had so much fun!  The preaching was amazing!  God really spoke to my heart through all the sermons.  The weather was SO hot, and the humidity was unbelievable!  I was one big sweaty mess all week.  Gross, I know, but try being there and experiencing it.  Not to mention everyone else is just as sweaty and gross, and some teenagers haven't learned the proper use of deodorant yet!!   Let's just say that the chapel was pretty smelly during some of the services :) .  Besides really great preaching, we also had some intense games, including the traditional counsellors vs. guys football match on Friday.  Counsellors won.  Sorry guys, there's always next year.  Then there was swimming, canoeing, horseback riding, volleyball, foosball, tuck, oh yeah... and the water slide!  I went down it this year for the first time.  It was so cool :).  We also had "Beat the Bartley."  I'll post the video, because really, it's just too much to try and explain!  Let's just say I will never, ever take Mr. Bartley up on a challenge!  The night games are always fun :).  I usually ended up on road patrol, making sure no one crossed the boundaries.   The day always ended with a campfire, where we would sing and the teens had an opportunity to give testimonies.  I love hearing teenagers give testimonies of how God is working in their lives.  It's definitely an encouragement when young people have a passion for God.  I'll have to post some pictures because I got the cd, so I have lots.  I took a few of my own too, but Calvin's are definitely better than mine (Calvin was the camp photographer).  Oh yes, and I have my Quotes from Camp post which will be coming soon too.   


Wednesday, August 11 I went to Toronto to accompany Mark for his guitar ARCT exam at the Royal Conservatory of Music.  That was an adventure.  I hate driving in Toronto, not to mention parking is a nightmare down there, and they make you pay an arm and a leg for it!  Mom and I drove to Marci's in the morning, and then Marci and I went into TO on the GO train. We got to Union station in plenty of time to take the subway up to the RCM except that we got on the subway going the wrong direction.  After 3 or 4 stops I realized that something wasn't right so we got off.  Then we walked around the block, and I had no idea where we were.  We went back to the subway, and got on again, realized we needed to transfer, and finally were headed in the right direction!  By that time I was running about 20 minutes late for Mark's exam.  The piece I was playing for him was last in his program, so I knew he would be playing for about 30 minutes before I would need to go in.  I finally made it to the RCM, and even though I was half an hour late, the examiner was also running late, so Mark hadn't even gone in for his exam yet. WHEW!!  Everything ended up going well.  After Marci and I grabbed some McD's and headed back to the GO train and back to Oshawa.  I have officially decided that I NEVER, EVER, EVER want to live in Toronto, even if they do have Starbucks.  It's too busy, too smelly, too big, and too confusing.  Of course, you know what they say... "Never say never."  I just pray God does not move me to that city... please!!!


For the rest of the summer my plans include going to Toronto again... I'm so excited about that one (can you hear the sarcasm dripping from my voice?).  I have to go back because there is no where else closer to buy a piano, and I need pianos for my academy.  Thankfully, I have a great mother who is going with me.  I will be spending the last weekend in August in the mall with a table for my business.  If you're around August 27 and 28, come and check out my display... and make sure you bring someone who wants to take piano or flute lessons :).  Hopefully I'll get some good exposure that way, and get a lot of students signed up.  


Church stuff is going well.  We're getting ready to start practices for our Christmas Cantata.  Believe me it's really not too early for that, even though it may seem like it!  Time goes by very quickly!  We've never done a full blown cantata before, so I want to make sure we have lots of time to work on it.  Hopefully we'll be able to use it as a good outreach for the community, and see some new people out at church.  I've also been helping the Pastor work on our church website.  That's going okay considering neither of us really knows that much about computers, but it's always good to try and learn something new :).


Then there's university auditions, confirming my fall schedule (always a nightmare!), house stuff (clean, clean, clean :), the odd social engagement (mostly just coffee with Holly :), visiting family, church, work, eat, sleep.  So yeah, all in all I've been keeping pretty busy for the last month or so :).  Hopefully, I'll have time to keep my blog going this fall.  It's going to be a busy year, but I can't wait to see how it's going to turn out, and all the great things that God is going to do in my life!
  



No comments:

Post a Comment