Fall...... 

Ahhh, the sweet smell of fall is in the air.  I love it!  I love the crisp cool air in the morning, not cold, but cool enough to drink a cup of pumpkin spice coffee without sweating.  Just enjoying the first leaves changing and everything that comes with the change of the seasons.  I know the season doesn't technically change until September 21st or some random day like that.  For me, however, the start of school signifies the start of fall.  This fall was a little bitter sweet for us.  David James' first day of K4 was on the 26th.  Tears were shed (Jamie), and the reality that he will now forever be in school set in.  By the second day, I was convinced we had made a terrible mistake and that he was too little for school just yet.  I realized I was growing just as much as he was.  It's hard as a parent to see our children grow and change, but we must realize that it's part of life.  Where would we be now if our parents were convinced that we were too small to ever start school?  Sadly, a lot of parents still treat their kids that way.  Babying them every step of the way, giving them everything they want, and never giving them a sense of responsibility.  It also made me grateful for a heavenly Father who makes me "go out there and make something of myself",  as my earthly father would say.  He realizes that we are definitely too small to handle some things on our own, but yet He makes us go try it so we are not helpless in our Christian lives.  Through Him we can do all things. 
If you are in choir, you know that our motto is: "Nothing Less Than Holiness."  While this is hard especially for me to follow, I pray that this season we will give nothing less than our best to God.  That we will live lives that are nothing short of absolute Holiness for our Savior.  He is so worthy of at least that. 

Summer has officially begun around here.  It's exciting, but it's also sad because I know that our ministry takes a break during the summer. We still have a few Sunday's left to sing. Please don't forget about Father's day on the 16, and we are also singing on the 23. June 30th is our Patriotic Sunday and it will also be our last week to sing as a choir.  We will take July and some of August off.  I will let everyone know when we will start practicing and performing again.
Please don't start slacking off in church attendance simply because choir is not meeting.  My dad allows us to take the summer off only because he trusts that his crowds will not suffer.  My goal is to have just as many in the Sunday morning services as we do throughout the year.
Thank you for your faithfulness throughout the year.  It means a lot to me, to know that there are so many faithful friends serving alongside of me in leading our church to worship our Lord. Enjoy your summer!

February, the season of love!  I know we are all suprised to find that it is already February.  The choir has been working hard on their music and I am excited about the few new members that we have picked up.  I hope you are still recruiting for both the choir and the orchestra. 
Thank you to those of you that have been faithful in attendance.  It's nice to have a full choir in both rehearsal and in performance.  It doesn't go unnoticed!
Please remember to grab your CD's of all of the choir music, and also the Easter Musical.  Thank you again for all of your hard work! 

Let the Holidays begin.....

For me, October begins the holidays.  I know it's a little premature, but I've been listening to Christmas music since May, and by now I'm pretty burned out on singing Thanksgiving and Christmas songs without getting to have any decorations.  Now Jamie will not allow a Christmas tree up yet in the house, but she is putting pumpkins and scarecrows and lots of other Fall decorations out.  For me, that's good enough.  It means the holidays have officially begun.  The boys are ecstatic about their halloween costumes, and I'll admit, I'm pretty excited about it too. Jamie, however, is not excited about "Christmas Dave."  This is the David that comes out in mid October that starts panicking because I'm sure that there isn't enough time to learn all the Christmas music and I will look like an idiot because the school programs will be a flop.  This of course hasn't happened yet, but it will one day.  Once again, I've sworn to stay calm and relaxed and enjoy the holidays. Yeah right! 
I hope, for your family's sake, that you are different.  This is the time of year when we can enjoy traditions and time together, and can focus on our Savior most of all.  We won't be doing a huge production this year, but we will be learning some songs that remind us of God's greatest gift.
As always, thank you to those of you that are so faithful.  God is glorified in your willingness to be used!  God bless you all! 

Fall?

I'll be completely honest, Fall is one of my favorite times of the year.  I love Spring, with all the new growth, and I love summer weather.  I even love the snow and cold of winter, but I LOVE fall.  I get so excited when there's a crispness in the air when I leave for work.  I love the trees changing and all of the colors.  I love that I can finally drink a cup of hot coffee instead of iced.  And of course, I love that Starbucks has finally brought back the Pumpkin Spice Latte.  The thing I like the most about THIS season, is that choir has started back up.  I think the new rehearsal time is going to work out great.  I enjoy going home after church to be with my family, instead of sticking around for another hour. 
We have lots of exciting events coming up this fall, so I hope everyone is able to help us out.  I love all the new music, but of course I picked it out, so hopefully you like it too.  Please continue to recruit.  We have several new people, but we still need all the old members too.  My dream is to one day have the choir loft completely filled and filling the church with praises.  How awesome that is going to be! 
Thank you again for your faithfulness.  I look forward to a great season! 

Time is Flying By.....

August!  That words strikes fear in the hearts of all students and teachers. It means that the summer is soon over and they all head back to the rigorous schedule of school, work, sports and whatever else the school year brings. 
I hope we have all enjoyed the break from choir for a few weeks.  I know I have enjoyed it, but I have also missed everyone.  I have especially missed the music on sunday mornings! We will soon be getting back in the swing of things and I hope that you can commit to being there each week as we lead in worship to our Lord. 
We will be having a kickoff party sometime in August and we will also be learning some new music.  Don't worry, we're still gonna keep some of the favorites that we've done.  I have been working hard trying to find new recruits for the choir, and I hope you can do the same.  If you know somebody that sings, don't be afraid to ask them to try it out.  Hopefully, they will love it and want to stay with us.
I know God is honored by our faithfulness and our worship, not by our talent. 
I look forward to worshipping with you each week again. 

I guess we are considering this to be officially spring. Even though it never really got cold here on the eastern shore. It was an extremely mild winter and I'll admit that I actually enjoyed it. However it did make the winter months fly by. I can't believe it, but it's actually almost April. Easter is coming and before you know it, it will be time for graduations and end of the school year parties. I'm very excited about our easter music this year. It's a lot simpler than last year, but it has such a great message. I hope all of you will be able to be here on Easter sunday, the 8th. It's so encouraging when the choir is full. I'm not sure what we would do if everyone showed up on the same sunday. We would definitely fill the loft up. Thank you for your hard work and commitment, especially to the extra Easter rehearsals. It really shows when we worship. Enjoy the warm weather, but don't enjoy it too much so that it keeps you out of church. We need everyone. After all, we are a CHOIR! Not a solo act!