Sadie's Recital

(Mrs. Pat smiled the whole time while Sadie played!)

Sadie's first recital with the Hawthorne Conservatory was last night. She did a fantastic job and we are so proud of her.! She has been taking flute lessons at the Hawthorne Conservatory in downtown Huntsville since the beginning of January. She was awarded a scholarship to the Conservatory and studies with Mrs. Pat Dreger Hinrichs. Mrs. Pat is the best and has a resume that is out of this world. (A couple of her qaulifications include studying at the New England Conservatory of Music and playing lead flute with the Huntsville Orchestra for many years.) The scholarship is good until Sadie graduates from high school and also includes summer instruction. This recital marks the end of the spring sememster and after a well deserved two-week break, summer instruction will begin. We feel so blessed to have this amazing opportunity for Sadie to learn and develop her talents in music.

Ready. Set. GIVE!

Forrest's Eagle Project was a huge success this past Sunday. It was pouring down rain when we arrived at 7:30am for set-up, but that didn't stop Forrest or the donors from making this project successful. The Red Cross bus pulled into the parking lot at 8am and I have to say, the sight of the bus gave me chills. It made this project real. I have been dreaming of this day since Fo was a toddler and here it was...it was so surreal...By 9am, the first of the 33 donors arrived. Forrest put on his game face and took on his role as leader and project manager of his blood drive. He was "in the zone". He instructed, delegated and directed his volunteers and donors as to what they should do for the full seven hours of this blood drive. To be continued......

Time to Shine

Forrest will be having a blood drive for his Eagle project today. He's worked really hard at getting everything prepared and now it's time to shine! It's his time to show his leadership skills and run his blood drive. Good luck Forrest!

Another Successfull Activity

The Young Women decorated cakes as a Personal Progress activity a few weeks ago and they really enjoyed themselves. Tina Wimberly was our instructor (a professional cake decorator) and guided the girls through this expeience. Each girl brought their own pre-baked cakes and I brought the ingredients for the frosting minus the milk. I totally forgot to buy milk, so the frosting was really thick and didn't want to cooperate, but with a little patience, the frosting managed to spread over the cake. One of my girls lost her patience and used her hand to spread the frosting on her cake! Whatever works, right? After much labor,
the girls were successful in decorating their cakes and after an hour of clean up, the leaders were successful in cleaning up all the mess! lol

WANTED: Manuel or Electric!

Spring Concert

Sadie's band spring concert was Thursday night and what a night it was! She plays in the Sym 1 band (top band) and they nailed every piece they played. There were a couple of songs where I had chills because they were playing so well! I'm so proud Sadie. She has worked really hard this year in her music and it has paid off for her. I have really enjoyed getting to know her circle of friends along with all of the band students while I was up at the school couple of days a week this year doing treasurer work. Even though the treasurer job was time consuming, the time I was able to spend with Sadie and the band kids was worth it.

Never Say Never!

Growing up, my mom and dad would listen to "talk radio" 24/7. Now, to a teenager, that was torture! Even after I moved out and had a family of my own, talk radio continued to be a staple in my parents home. I have always listened to rock with a little bit of country on the side until we moved to Hazel Green five years ago. Not wanting to listen to my normal music for the thirty minute drive to school, I began flipping channels and discovered a Birmingham talk radio station 101.1 and a local station 92.5 that talked about local politics. I instantly fell in love with these two channels. I couldn't believe I actually enjoyed listening to local and national politics! Today, I can't drive in my car without having one of these two stations on. Trust me, it drives Forrest and Sadie crazy!!!! In he past several years, I have become great friends with Dale Jackson, Dave Ramsey, Rush, Luara Engram, Hannity and Mark LaVinn, to name a few! And I especially love the national and local news that come on every hour and every half hour. Looking back, I should've known better than to tell my parents I would "NEVER" listen to talk radio, because everytime I say "NEVER" , it always backfires on me!

Cross Over of Myth

Sadie noticed her bird on the bottom of the cage and that he was limping. She picked him up and recoginized his feet were curled up and white as a ghost. She instantly begn to cry, because she realized he was dying. We had a small memorial for Myth as he was
"crossing over". More tears came from Sadie. I told her this was the hardest part of having animals as a pet. Myth has lived a good life (four years with us) and now has joined Buster in heaven.

Bartered Goods

I have picked up a trade I have learned from my husband: bartering. My friend and I have been bartering for a while. I absolutely love office supplies and he absolutely loves homemade cookies. We've had this barter for a while. I was tickled when I found this box in the back seat of my car after church a few weeks ago. He even left me a "receite" on the side of the box! This barter works out perfectly, because we both understand each other wants. What a great way of exhanging goods!

Over-the-Top Invites

No. 2 Post

I was asked to create invitations for the newly-turned 12 year olds at our church for a program called "Walk with God" that will explain to them and his parents about the Young Men program along with the scouting program. I was honored that I was asked to use my scrapbooking skills to come up with the perfect "over-the-top" invite for this program and that I would be reimbursed for any costs I have in making this project. No pressure, right? I had three weeks to complete this task and the first two weeks I stressed about how I was going to pull this off. I prayed for inspiration and after playing around with an idea or two, this is the final result and I couldn't be more happier. I honestly felt like I had a walk with God because He really and truely inspired me in creating these invites. I absolutely love how the invite incoorperates a compass along with a map (with script writing stamped on it) to help illustrate the importance of this program and the course these young boys can take with the help of God. The cost was almost nothing to make, but the experience was priceless!

More than Words

No. 1 Post

Last night at Young Women, I prepared a Mother's Day project for the girls to do. I took three pictures of each girl with them expressing three words for their mother: I Love You. What I wasn't prepared for was for each girl to express their own unique personlity in each picture that totally defined them. After the photo shoot, I used my laptop and printer and had each of my girls choose an option for their pictures (color, sepia, black & white, etc) that would best fit their project, which was to mount the pictures in an 8x10 picture frame. I have to say, I was so impressed by the final results of each girl's frame. They totally rocked this project. Come Sunday, there will be some very happy mothers. Luckily for me, I didn't have to wait because Sadie gave me my frame last night, but I'm only going to show you her pictures now and you'll have to wait till Sunday to see the frame!

Disclaimer- this project ensured me a gift for Mother's day! lol

A New Focal Point

No. 2 Post

I was out taking pictures of some flowers in the back yard last week and was on my last shot (or so I thought) when Benny decided he wanted to be in the picture too. The camera was focused on the flower, but when he put his "hindside" in view, the camera refocused on his big bushy tail and he became the focal point. You know, when I want a picture of Benny, he runs all over the place and will not stay still, and when I don't, he's showing his butt off, literally!

Get off Me!

Every morning before George goes to work, he lets the boys out to play in the back yard and when I come home from seminary and dropping Forrest and Sadie off at school. This is our normal routine, so when I let the boys in this morning, I was caught off guard when I saw what Benny had brought in with him. My reflexes weren't fast enough to get away from Benny's hug and kisses before I realized I was mudy too. As I pushed him out of the way, he gave me the look that said, "What did I do mom?" I don't know who's heart should be blessed, his or mine. I say mine, because I had to clean up the mess!

Btw, I am going to be posting "two-a-days" on my blog starting today. By doing so, it'll help me get back into the habit of blogging again (I really do miss blogging) and will give you the opportunity to catch up on what's been happening around the Walker Pad!