Wow... I just looked at the date of my last post and it was April 20! Yup... it's been a while since I've blogged :P. I've got lots of stuff to say, so I guess I better get back at it! Haha!
Here's a few random updates. Work continues to go well. My studio is growing each week and that's exciting. I've broken the 130 student mark, and I'm in the middle of planning/writing my summer programs. This year I'm going to try doing some summer Music Camps. I've thought about it a lot in the past and even planned ideas, themes, etc. I'm excited to actually run them this year. Hopefully they will be successful, and I'll be able to keep similar programs going every summer.
In other music news, we just finished the music portion of the Kiwanis Festival of Music and Dance. Many of the Academy students participated and placed. Kiwanis tends to be a stressful time for me, but this year seemed less hectic than previous years. Don't get me wrong, it was still crazy, but maybe I'm just learning how to handle it better. I tend to be a competitive person, so I always want the best for my students. Although, I am careful not to bring too much of my competitiveness to the Festival. I want my students all to have a good experience regardless of whether or not they get first place! I think this year was a very successful year in that respect.
After Kiwanis it's the big push to the Spring Recital. That will be taking place on June 16. A whole day of recitals, one after the other. I'll be having four recitals this year to fit in all the performances. Again, it's stressful, but it's also a lot of fun. I love hearing my students (and the other teacher's students) perform. It's a great showcase of all their hard work.
So, most of my time is pretty well taken up by work. Not that that's a bad thing! It's actually a really good thing :). God has blessed me with an amazing job, business, and opportunity, so I try not to take that for granted. I've even managed to make a bit of time for some social things the last few months. Imagine that! The Bible College I graduated from had an Alumni Banquet the first weekend of April. I actually decided to take the day off teaching and go. That was the first teaching day I've taken off in over two years, and it was worth it. The food was amazing, and it was nice to see some people I haven't seen in a long time. Being up north kind of puts you a bit in isolation. Again, I'm not complaining. I love where I live, but it's always nice to get away even if it's only for a day. This summer I'm super excited to go on a road trip with a good friend! Details are still being worked out (like me booking my flight :P), but it's going to be SO much fun!!!! I haven't had a vacation in a while, and I LOVE to travel. Yay!!!
A few weeks ago, we had a man come to our church and do a seminar on Creationism. It was really interesting, and we were blessed to have some visitors out that day. God continues to bless our small little church. Sometimes the blessings are small, but they are still blessings :). I am very thankful for my church and my pastor! One area of church that I've been trying to be more faithful in is my Sunday School class. It's very easy to get in a rut of teaching Sunday School. The lessons are often on things that I've heard and known since I was younger than the kids I'm teaching. It's easy to be half hearted in teaching and not really put an effort into communicating God's Word to the children. Not a good thing, I know! My pastor emailed me several weeks ago a link to a site with a really interesting Sunday School lesson curriculum on it. It's based on the ABC's with each week's lesson developed around a letter of the Alphabet. It's more of a Bible study/discipleship type lesson. It's been so good for my class, because all the kids I teach are from Christian homes and have been in Sunday School forever! They know all the stories about David and Daniel and Paul. These lessons are a bit more in depth, yet they are written for kids, so they don't go right over their heads either. I've really noticed that my class has gotten a lot more interested in the lessons, and we've been having some good discussions. I feel like they are actually learning, rather than just repeating the same old stories they've heard over and over. Don't get me wrong, Daniel and the Loin's den is a great story, but I remember when I was in Sunday School as a child getting really bored with just hearing the story. I already knew the story, and I wanted something more. Sadly, application is missing from a lot of Sunday School curricula, so it's easy to loose the attention of a child that already knows what's going to happen in the story.
I've got lots of ideas of stuff I want to write about on my blog. I've been reading through the Old Testament in my devotions, and I'm in II Chronicles right now. The history of Israel is so interesting, especially through the time of all the kings before they go into captivity. There are many lessons there for us today! Hopefully I'll find some time to blog about some of the things I've been learning and reading about. Although, I'm not making any promises :P. Worship continues to be a topic I think about a lot too. I keep hearing the phrase "worship practice." That one kind of gets me. I know what is meant by it, but it's a very inaccurate description of what's actually going on. Isn't worship more than just music? I wonder if we practice worshipping if it makes us better at it? And how would one go about "practicing" to worship God anyways??? It amazes me how little people who claim to be Christians know of the Scriptures. I bet it wouldn't even cross most Christians' minds that "worship practice" is a really unbiblical phrase.
That's about all the updating I have time for right now! I hope everyone who reads this has a blessed day :)!
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