Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Oh my goodness they were wonderful!

Absolutely, perfectly, gloriously, tear-jerking WONDERFUL!!

I was so proud of each child. They came in their best clothes wearing their prettiest smiles and twinkling eyes singing with their very best voices.

NOBODY in the pre-school group cried or left the stage for their parent. Do you understand how great that is? They marched in, stood as still as possible, worked the hand motions, sang with all their hearts, and melted the auditorium with their adorableness.

Even my nephew, who at the Christmas program cried...no I mean really SOBBED...stood there all grown up at the Spring Program doing a hand motion or two...singing a word or two. I was very proud.

He did so well, Aunt Sandra and cousins Ashley and Avery (Uncle Lex had to work selling motorcycles) took him to Carl's Jr after church on Sunday for some chicken stars (have you ever really seen a chicken shaped like a star?...it scares me) Then we headed back to our house for a cartoon marathon. He loves Uncle Lex's 4 DVD set of Warner Bros Cartoons. (Bugs Bunny etc...)

Back to the program. I was right about the Pre-school possibly stealing the show with "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". The second time through, we had the audience join us with a very cool powerpoint that my Avery put together. The words were there, but also images of various ball parks, Babe Ruth, and finally a little boy sliding on his side, glove/hand extended as far as he could reach, as a ball lands perfectly in the palm of his glove. It was a wonderful minute and a half!

The big kids, though, weren't outshined by the little ones. Their solos were precious. The great thing about a Christian School is the ability to sing songs to God. My little shining star, Casey, became very nervous. He would do beautifully in the small music room, but in the auditorium, with teachers and the rest of the school watching, he would choke. I called him in to ask what we could do about that and he said..."I only like to show my emotions to God in private...I get embarrassed in front of other people."

"No problem...close your eyes." (I know this is not the normal "stage advice"...but in this case it was necessary.) "I will come over to you...you keep your eyes locked on me...don't worry about anybody else...I'll help you start your solo and then you close your eyes and just you and God can be together."

That's exactly what he did...he was precious. Just a boy singing to his God.

There are so many really sweet things...beautiful examples...but I've already kept you long enough.

I hope those kids never forget what it felt like to raise the roof with praise to God. I hope the parents watching realized (either for the first time...or just reminded) what a treasure children are to us.

And, I hope I never forget the energy, the passion, the inocence of just singing with all your heart...with no worries of timing, pitch, or perfect harmony.

I know God was honored.

1 comment:

Thurman8er said...

I wish every parent, teacher, and member of that church were going to read this blog because they should all know: those kids were AWESOME...and...their teacher was AWESOME too!

Sandra, you did such a great job of leading those kids. Their eyes never left you and you gave them all confidence and strength. That boy who sang with his eyes close just made me weep. And the prayer the little girl offered: "God, I hope that everyone here loves you as much as I do"...oh my. James would not have done as well as he did without you and those kids wouldn't have done what they did either. Because they didn't just sing. They worshiped!

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