Trick or Treat!

Goth - Ryan and April

 I think all they are missing is some body piercings....haha

Harry Potter and the Golden Snitch - Kyle and Hilary

Ok, I have no idea who the Golden Snitch is... but they won first place for their costume.

And we got a visit from 3 cute bears today, probably a mama taking her 2 little ones out trick or treating.  haha... they nearly caused an accident when they started crossing the street as several cars came by at the same time... I saw some swerving going on.  I'm glad nobody got hit.

Tomorrow is the day I'm supposed to record another video of me playing guitar.  I don't think I'm quite ready with that yet, so I'll have to figure out a song to do.

"seller of purple"

Lydia

So, I was Lydia of Thyatira.  I think my costume turned out pretty good, after all my going back and forth trying to figure out how to make it.  Silly me, I was the only leader who dressed up.  I guess some people would say I have too much time on my hands.  Well, I'm glad I did it.  It helped me to overcome my fear of doing stuff outside my comfort zone.  And some of the kids were curious who I was, so that was kinda cool.

And a funny thing happened when I got my sewing machine out.  I realized that I miss sewing.  So, it looks like I better find something to sew very soon.  And I also need to start painting again.  And I also starting rebounding again this week.  I am loving it; getting back in the groove with Theocracy every morning... getting things moving.  It reminds me that it is possible to get back in shape again.

I had my lesson with Craig and Zuke today.  I was nervous about doing it with Craig, but it turned out great.  I learned a couple of things that really helped me have better tone and project a fuller sound, and it actually sounded a bit pretty.  They said I sounded very, very nice doing my song.  They said I will have no trouble singing it in church.  I sure hope they are right because I am terrified.  Zuke was even good enough to volunteer to make me a piano track for practicing since I don't have any other way of doing it.  It's impossible to practice with a youtube!!  The track she made for me sounds awesome!!!


Acts 16:14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.

About singing....

....I am feeling so inferior and inadequate lately.  I feel like I'm not getting any better at singing, and I'm getting discouraged.  Today during the sermon, Pastor Karl said, "If God calls you, He will equip you."

Since my mentality was on singing, I took that to mean that if God called me to sing, I'd be getting really good.  I've been doing at home lessons for over a year, and taken 4 voice lessons so far.  I practice a lot, and I still pretty much suck at singing.  So, it made me think that maybe God never called me to sing in the first place, and I'm just spinning my wheels working on something I'll never be good at.  I don't want to waste Darryl's money.  I don't want to embarrass my boys by getting up there and doing a terrible job like I did last time.  I don't want to have the people shuddering and wanting to turn my mic off like last time.  I'm so scared, it's ridiculous.  Why would I want to put myself through that again?  It was one of the most mortifying days of my life, and I'm sure my boys don't ever want to be put in that position again either.  

I only have a few more lessons before I would be singing at church.  Oh God, what am I going to do?  Am I crazy?!!?  Why did I ever think I could sing anyway?  ugh... And it's not like a picked an easy song!  Ugh!

Ok, so today we "appreciated" our pastor.  That was nice.

Joe and Pastor Karl

Ryan and April

And here's another picture of the wild and crazy OFFICIAL couple, Ryan and April.  I kinda hope Ryan gets his hair cut soon...

On Wednesday at CBC we are having the kids dress as Bible characters.  I picked who I am going to be.  I think tomorrow I will make my costume.  I'll give you a clue> PURPLE.

Darryl was trying out his new phone and took this.

The purple Ibanez is back home!

Yes!! I am so excited to have Ryan's old guitar back home with new strings on, and it works great!!   (thanks to John) Can't wait to get any good at it! This is a wonderful day!  I have tons of stuff to learn.  :)

Ryan and April

They aren't Facebook legit yet (lol) but they are in a relationship, so I wanted to post a couple of pictures for our memories. So glad Ryan is enjoying the company of a very wonderful, fun and spontaneous girl.

oh no! oh no!

I just had to share one of the pictures from the session with Craig after my first singing bit.  He gave me great advice and direction!  Can't wait to put it all to use.

So, today I finally picked a song that I'm going to do in December when the boys get home. At last I made up my mind. I figured since it will be near Christmas, I picked a song with a Christmas theme. One of these days I will do a video of me singing it and post it here. lol

Master Class with Craig!

After church in Rockaway Darryl and I had very cool and exciting time at the Master Class with Craig Deuchar today.  What a super cool guy he is, so funny and so talented!  I'm so glad we went. I think the things I learned today will help me a lot with my singing.  We started out doing a lot of hugging, and then went into some funky vocal exercises on the mats, and with straws, and finding our perfect "buzz" singing position (face/jaw/resonance/neck, etc).  Some of it was the "voice/body/mind connection work from Fitzmaurice Voicework and some of it was from Estill voicework.   I was one of the lucky ones that got to sing, so I received some very good personalized help from Craig.  I'm glad Darryl took a video of it so I can remember all the things Craig said to me.  It was hard to get up and sing in front of a bunch of really good singers.  But it was nice having Zuke there.  She told me she was proud of me, and that really made my day!

So, on Wednesday I have a lesson with Zuke because Craig is going to NYC.  But my next lesson after that will be with him.  I'm glad I have a couple of weeks to practice before I sing for him again.  I want to show him some major improvements!

It was a good day.

Harvest Fest

Darryl and I went to the Harvest Fest at Grace Church today.  It was nice, and a little awkward, as usual, seeing folks I used to be "friends" with.  Some of them came over and hugged me with big smiles and real concern.  Others walked past and avoided eye contact.  But Kenny talked to me and he really made my day.  He said he didn't think that most people could just pick up the guitar and learn to play, but he said I have the determination to do it and he thinks I can do it.   I forget his exact words, but man, it sure was nice to grab ahold of a little nugget of encouraging and positive words from someone like him.  It made me smile all the way home.

I'm so glad that I have music in my life right now.  I don't know how I would get through my days without it.  It's the glue that is holding me together.  I think without this outlet for my energy and emotions I would fall apart daily missing my boys.  It's a much harder transition than I ever thought.  Sometimes I feel like I'm going through this intensely slow surgery that cuts away a little piece of my heart each day.  Being a stay-at-home mom and being with my boys was the best thing I ever did with my life.  The growing distance between us now is hard to get used to.  I know in time it will be ok, I just don't know when that will be.

Tomorrow is our 3 hour Master Class with Craig Deuchar!!  So psyched about it.  Darryl and I are going to Grace church in Rockaway because he is leading worship, and then we are headed to the class.  It is going to be super amazing...

Excitement on Mountain Road

Yay, they finally started the actual paving of our road today.  Here's a view at our driveway when we went for our walk this morning.  Some of the crew are getting to know us.

Not much to report on.  I spent the day in the kitchen making trays of Enchiladas, and soup, and almond butter, and who knows what else.  I have to have days like this now and then.  My finger tips are so damaged and painful that I promised myself I would try to lay off of the guitar until they heal.  I'm not even going to take a guitar to work with me tomorrow, just to ensure I really don't play.  Tomorrow night Darryl can put my new strings on the guitar that I am hopefully getting back from John tomorrow.  It's so exciting.  I can't wait to get back on it and learn more stuff.  I have a couple of songs I want to learn.

Tomorrow is balloon night at CBC.  I remember balloon night from last year.  It was right around the time my blue car got hit in the church parking lot.  Yeah, I sure have some memories from that night.

1 month progress report

I have been plunking away on my guitar for several weeks now so Darryl suggested recording where I'm at now, and then doing it again in another 4 weeks to make a comparison. Hopefully I will be hugely better than these videos! They aren't great by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, they are kinda funny. Whoever said it was harder to sing while playing was absolutely right. But hey, whatever. I'm still a newb. I have tons to learn.

(I was using Ryan's old classical Fender for these.  :))

I just started learning this song yesterday.


First time for this one.


Second try for this one.


On a more positive note. John said both of my guitars are coming along just fine. I'm so super excited about getting them back. Especially Ryan's Ibanez!!

Let's see. So tonight I got invited to go with Darryl to a Hillsong conference in NYC tomorrow. It sounds pretty spectacular, but I'm not sure what I'm doing yet.

Also got invited to a Master Class with Craig Deuchar, a Brett Manning Associate from London. Ryan said it's going to be awesome. Absolutely can't wait!!  I'm also having my next lesson with him instead of Zuke.  Cool.