Hard to Believe...

Friday was my last teaching day at The Music Staff. I have taught anywhere from 20-40 piano students each year there for the last 3 1/2 years. I am so thankful for the job that God provided for me there even before we moved here. I have learned so much about teaching especially from my boss who has been teaching piano for 30 years. She has been a great mentor in this field. I have loved my students there (ok...not all of them. :) But MOST of them have been great and I will greatly miss them! But now I am moving on to stay-at-home-mom (yeah!!), though I will continue to teach students from my home.

my studio

love playing duets with them!









I loved these 2 adult students who were 2 of the very few adults I have had that practiced! They have come so far in the last couple of years and I will miss them the most! It was so nice to have a few adult teaching sessions during my week! They actually understood concepts and followed them!! Such a nice change from my little ones. :)







my TMS students this past fall

a little surprise was waiting for me at my studio on friday!

*************************************************

in all my bigness...34 weeks!

Crazy Saturday #2. Done.

Saturday morning started bright and early.

{I actually woke up at 4 am and couldn't go back to sleep, so it started much earlier than I had even been planning!! thank u pregnancy :) }

I had my 2nd Christmas recital. This one was with my 9 Va Beach students. Since it was a fairly small group I decided to try hosting it in our home, therefore not having to work out details of getting a facility. Our regular piano was not coming up 2 flights of stairs, (are you sure, honey?!) but thanks to my parents gift a few years back we used our digital piano along with an amp. It ended up working great - thanks again M & D!!

Shortly after the recital we headed to Norfolk for the seminary Christmas party. This one was hosted aboard the Spirit of Norfolk with a lunch cruise. It was a great time and I am especially grateful that it didn't make me nauseous at all. It was a lot of fun to see friends that we don't normally get to see much.

It's amazing how most of our Christmas activities all ended up being crammed in the first 2 weeks of Christmas. Now the next 2 weeks are relatively calm which I am very thankful for!

We had a special Christmas service at our church yesterday which went very well.

This week is my last week of teaching at The Music Staff. It's hard to believe after teaching there for 4 years that my time has come to a close. I will be sad to say good-bye to my students there, but am also very excited to get this break!

Pregnancy Update...

I have really slacked off on keeping up on my prego pictures. Probably because I am really tired of seeing myself pregnant. :) I'll try to get a new one.

Here's a good word picture for you though...I am getting fatter and fatter. :~}

Hitting the 8th month was definitely a turning point. I am uncomfortable most of the time now and feel much more tired all the time. I am tired of hearing people say "you look good", "you look bad", "you look small", "you look big"... I like how my students say "Graham sure is getting big" that's cute!

God has provided in so many ways for us. We are so thankful for the generosity of friends and family who have provided us with so many baby items. We were just given a jogging stroller and swing for free!! What a blessing.

All in all, I have had a good pregnancy. It is a gift that unless you experience it, cannot imagine it. I praise God for this life that he has given us and we can't wait to meet our baby boy. 7 weeks to go...less than 50 days, yeahhh!!!

cookies, recital, decorating and more...!

It's hard to believe we fit it all in one day! It was a crazy one.

Saturday morning began with a church girls gathering and cookie exchange.

Andrew is greatly enjoying the benefits of that.

This was my leftovers that I left for him -

shortbread cookies & rocky road fudge!

my goodies ready to go.









came home with these 4 dozen goodies!

I also made homemade caramel corn for the 1st time,
wow, was it good!!

After the cookie exchange, Andrew & I headed to Portsmouth for my piano recital. These are 20 of my students that I have been teaching at the music academy for the past several years. It's hard to believe, but I only have 2 more weeks of lessons with all of them. When we break for Christmas, I will not be going back there to teach. So it's a sad time to leave all of my little "ducklings"! However, I am more excited for my new job of stay-at-home mommy!!
After the recital, we headed to one of my favorite restaurants...PF Changs! It was my birthday last monday (thank you everyone for the birthday wishes!), but instead of going at 9:00 on monday night after Andrew got off work, I opted to wait for the weekend. Which I am so glad I did...it was a great dinner and I didn't have one eye on the clock thinking about my bedtime!











And then it was on to home...time to Deck the Halls!! I have never gotten my Christmas stuff up this late...but it just couldn't be squeezed in any sooner. I am just so glad it's done!

My first Li Bien ornament that a student gave me - so pretty!









I have always wanted a bannister to garland...now I have 3 floors of railing!













I also love to have 2 trees! This year was the first year we were able to get a real tree! We love it! I like to decorate my main tree in a red/gold theme. But we both have so many ornaments from our growing up and I also get a lot of ornaments that are multi-colored...so as my friend said, we have the "kid tree" and the "adult tree"! I love them both!

the "kid tree"












bringing home the big one!









where it stood for 2 days "naked" until we had time to dress it!

and then we rested!

Reason to Rejoice #7

s.e.v.e.n.

that number sounds heavenly right now. Today Andrew completed semester #7 of his current seminary degree. Since this degree happens to be an 8 semester course, that means only ONE to go!!! I praise God for his diligence & perseverance during these semesters. though at times the stress & busyness has affected even his health & his sleep and he's had to pass on things that he'd rather be doing... God has always given him the grace to take one more day. And somehow it always gets done! So...AMAZING JOB babe, Graham and I can't wait to celebrate with you the final semester on May 3rd!!

7 down, 1 to go!!

Enjoy your winter break from classes fully!

Thanksgiving one & two

We were lucky enough to get TWO Thanksgivings this year!

Andrew had to work on Friday, so we decided to stay in town and had some friends over from our church. I made my first 20 lb. turkey and no one got sick and everyone seemed to enjoy it. (At least they were kind enough to tell me so!)

Everyone brought something delicious, it was a good spread!

our last Thanksgiving as "two".

while the guys watched football, the girls helped me with a project in graham's room! Here's a sneak peak, I can't wait to show it when it's all done!

After Andrew got off on friday (early - what a blessing!!) we headed to North Carolina.

We first stopped and saw this sweet lady who used to babysit him. She is now 98 years old!

Dinner #2 at his parents

my brothers gave me this game for my bday ~ Andrew was excited!

table game

And then my camera batteries died...but it was a great holiday!

----------

The next 2 weeks of December are too busy!

I have

2 piano recitals,

3 Christmas parties,

a cookie swap,

Christmas program,

childbirth classes,

Christmas decorating,

(when are we going to even have time to get our tree?!!)

preparing for family coming...

besides normal work and regular events.

I'm sure your schedule looks about the same!

My prayer is that despite the busyness, we take time to enjoy each activity with friends and family and not just dash from one thing to the next, checking off things on our list as we go (which is so easy for me to do!)

Most of all, may our eyes be on Christ. It doesn't matter if we get it all done.

But it does matter if in the process we fail to honor our Savior.

----------

How sweet the day when Christ was born

When God Himself took human form

He came to wash our sins away

Our death to die, our debt to pay.

-

How sweet the day when Hope appeared

The One who frees us from our fears

He came to break the power of sin

And give us power to follow Him.

-

Oh sing for joy, lift up your voice

Let us sing for joy, the whole earth rejoice

Let us sing for joy to the Son

For Jesus our Savior has come.

-

How sweet the day when Christ returns

We’ll see the One for whom we yearn

Then we’ll look full upon His face

Our hearts will burst with songs of praise.

-

Oh sing for joy, lift up your voice
Let us sing for joy, the whole earth rejoice
Let us sing for joy to the Son
For Jesus our Savior has come.

-

Come, Lord Jesus, come!

© 2006 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).