Thursday, December 10, 2009

Since then ...

... we've been doing a lot of singing! From restaurants, to school choir concerts; outdoors, indoors; full shows and guest appearanes, for young people and old people; we've been doing a lot of singing!

We kicked off our December singing at the Bullard Middle School/High School Choir concert. Their director is Cindi Galletly, a friend of ours who sings on the praise team. She asked Clearly Vocal to make a special appearance at "halftime." That was fun, but I think it was more fun to watch Cindi direct her choirs! I really appreciated the mutual respect that Cindi and her choirs had for each other.

And we did awesome. And here's what they sky looked like that night:


Our all-female singing group from church, The Blessing, sang up in Hawkins, TX for their annual Christmas in the Park. It was the absolute worst singing conditions I had ever sung in. Outdoors, 39 degrees, a cold wind bouncing off the lake, using someone else's sound equipment, monitor levels incredibly high, and a train that ran past every few minutes, blowing its horn. Imagine trying to give pitches 1/2 step higher than the second note in the train's own little chord. Wow. HOWEVER, it was worth it, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Those ladies are troopers!

Clearly Vocal then trekked out to downtown Ben Wheeler to carol for a couple of hours. They have this guy out there who I think is trying to single-handedly grow Ben Wheeler from the ground up. He told me that he wants to turn Ben Wheeler into a Mountain View, AR, kind of a place, and then snickered, assuming I had never heard of the place. He was totally taken aback when I told him that I have been to Mt. View almost every year of my life since I was 12! Then I was taken aback when he told me that he had never actually been there! Ha! I think they're up to ... maybe five or six stores? Including the restaurant, Moore's Store. You'll be hearing more about Moore's in future posts.

Anyway, we bundled up and sang outside for a couple of hours. Chelsea also came with us and took some pics! Aren't we cute? :)


The very next day, we performed our full Christmas show for the Meadow Lake holiday party. Meadow Lake is the newest retirement community being built in town. Looks really nice ... family? ;)

Tonight, The Group Therapy Band will be gigging at KE Cellars from 6-9!

When we're not singing, we do see our children from time to time.


See? Here they are reading books. Wait, that's only two of them ...



There's the other one! He's wearing an outfit that was John's! Thanks, Momo!



Here's this one, singing at the top of her lungs. (Never take pictures while driving.)




And here's this one. Trying to tell me something, Jonas?

And here's what happens when you try to organize all of Grammie's recipes:

You get some AMAZING boiled custard and leave the rest of the recipes to be organized another day!

3 comments:

Aunt Donna said...

OK, I know jealousy is not a good thing, but I can't help it. :) Your singing groups sound like SO much fun and I wish I could be singing with you. I realized the other day that I have almost reached the point in life that the song talks about -- "I know someday when I have older grown, my voice will not be strong." :) I'm not there yet, but I can see the day approaching. Anyway, enjoy your singing, the fellowship, and fun! Wish I could hear you live and in person.

Carol J said...

Yes, the singing sounds like a lot of fun! I love the "little John" outfit! ...and I've indulged in a few cups of boiled custard through the years during Christmas. I'm so glad you have mastered the art!

Deborah said...

I love your updates! I too am like my mom--so jealous of your singing groups. My voice is soooo incredibly out of shape from not singing in over a year. I wish I could be around you more!!

Oh, and Pat would be all over that boiled custard. That is a HUGE Bills family thing!