Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Melody Bober

One of my favorite piano arrangers is a lady named Melody Bober, who has published lots of hymn arrangements and lots of neat sheet music pieces that are fun for students to play. I played one of her arrangements in church at the beginning of January, and the new home ec teacher at Faith Christian came up to me afterward, very excited, and told me that Melody Bober was her MOTHER! I didn't quite believe her at first, but she was telling the truth. So I was pleasantly surprised a few weeks later when Melody called me, telling me she would be in town visiting President's Day weekend, and wondered if we might play one of her duets in church! How could I pass up that opportunity? The date got closer, and I wasn't sure if it was going to work out because I had forgotten to get a hold of the music, and I had not confirmed if we would be able to play with the music pastor, but in the last few days it all came together! Saturday I was able to get the music and we were able to rehearse and Sunday morning (just for the 9:30 service) I played a duet with Melody Bober in church! What an exciting experience!

Monday, February 18, 2008

February Conference

We enjoyed having 5 ladies stay with us for a week while they attended the Biblical Counseling Conference at our church. We had Lynn Kenny (from Ishpeming, MI), Aunt Louise Helfinstine (Des Moines, IA), Aunt Elaine Kari (Ishpeming, MI), Mom (Ishpeming, MI), and Marcia Karvonen (Negaunee, MI). We were able to house them all (thankfully they didn't mind sharing beds)--and Lynn brought a wonderful air mattress, too.


In our free moments at home we enjoyed putting together a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle, although Juju must have eaten one of the pieces--or else it fell on the floor and is lost.


We celebrated Valentine's Day while they were here, so these are the flowers that Dad sent Mom (Dad, this is what they looked like). He also got her a balloon and a card. And Marcia got a teddy bear!


We enjoyed fellowshipping together around food. Sarah and I made some meals for them (tacos, split pea soup, lasagna, and chef salad--and cheescake!) but we also went out to eat. This is at our final destination Saturday morning--IHOP!


We had a great time. Too bad they couldn't stay longer, but we did still make it to the mall (twice)!

Juju enjoyed the extra attention and made herself quite at home with the company!

They left Saturday morning. Hope to see you soon!