Blessings and blueberry pancakes

My husband and I had a late night date last night.  After a little trip to Target we set out for Sonic with visions of milkshakes and corn dogs dancing in our heads.  We pulled in at 10:02 pm only to hear that they had just closed!  Thankfully, we have an IHOP.  New vision dancing in my head: Blueberry pancakes!

As soon as we walked in we were happy to see a couple we haven't seen in a long while.  They also have a teenage daughter and were also on a date.  We chatted for a while and caught up a bit and then we were seated at the table behind them.

Toward the end of our time there and just after they had left, our waitress came over to our table to tell us that our friends had paid our bill.  Wow!  What a blessing!  We just had to thank God because he is so good to show his love through his people.

He did the same thing on our way out to California.  A sweet young couple generously gave us $160 for our trip to California and a dear lady in California gave us $100 for our trip home.  When people give like that, the blessing is so much more than monetary.  It's the blessing of love.  The love of someone who genuinely cares and the love of the One who cares more deeply than anyone...our amazing God who had planned from the get-go to bless me with a free plate of blueberry pancakes.  It was a huge plate, by the way.  I think I'll enjoy those leftovers this morning...  ;)

Recital piece: "The Final Call" [by Amera]

Amera's piano recital is tomorrow evening!  She is learning many of the songs from the songbook by Emily Black (Chuck Black's daughter). 

I decided to invite her to share a little about where the song "The Final Call" comes from.

My mom found these books online one day while shopping for textbooks. "The Kingdom" series, written by Chuck Black, is a creative, medieval allegory to the Bible. There is also "The Knights of Arrethtrae" series, which was written to illustrate present day battles of the Christian life. If anything, I was very impressed with the cover art, and since I'm always on the lookout for good Christian literature, I decided to try it out. We ordered the first three audio books of the "Knight's" series and planned on listening to one of them on a trip to Florida. We fully enjoyed the quality of the multi-voice dramatization, music, and especially the message of the story itself. I personally have read the entire "Kingdom" series in paperback form, and even without the audio, the action was so vivid and creative that I enjoyed them immensely!

We also own all six audio books in the "Knights of Arrethtrae" series. This song that I play in the video is from the very last book,"Sir Rowan and the Camerian Quest." 

You can also go here for more info on the books: kingdomseries.com

Amera's piano recital

Amera's piano recital took place the last Tuesday in May.  

Here she is with her piano teacher of the last six years, Lori McClellan.  

We had a great time together, beginning with dinner at Denny's.  

Kids eat free on Tuesday's, two per paying adult.  

With Amera qualifying as an adult that means all the kids eat for free!  

   Amera was the very last person to play.  We all enjoyed the lively Tarantella that she has been practicing for so long.  Her teacher gave out awards this year in different categories.  Amera received the "character award".  Before announcing who the award went to, she said some lovely things about Amera that I wish I could remember and quote here, but suffice it to say it was a precious moment.

   So often we want things to be perfect.  I felt the pressure in the air as each student sat down to play.  Each one most likely hoping they would not make a single mistake.  Many of them did, including Amera, and she handles it so well.  The following day we were talking about it, about how humbling it is to make mistakes.  We both concluded that sometimes...that can be a good thing.  Just keep striving to do better next time!

Tarantella

Amera has a recital coming up in May.  This is the piece that her teacher recommended for her and we all decided that we love it too so she chose to do it!  It's a fun song and I love the liveliness it brings to our home as she practices!  She is in the beginning stages of learning it well.  I'd love to post the whole thing but I have never been able to upload videos that are longer than 20 seconds.  Does anyone have any tips?  I'd especially love to post a video of her at the recital in May!

We recently got our piano tuned for the first time since we bought it in 2001!  When the tuner saw that we had a Baldwin, he wasn't surprised that it really was not very out of tune at all!  He also said that he owns one and he only tunes it every 5-6 years.  He said Baldwins are actually very good about staying in tune. 

  Thank you Lord for giving us this gift!