Choir

So, I am joining the PBC Choir. Lots of people have mentioned that I should join. I always hesitate because I'm not a very good singer. I prefer to sing melody, but can never reach the notes, so I will have to be an alto which isn't as easy. But I just kept saying no. There is a fantastic family who have been coming to PBC since November. Two of them, Monique and Brandon sing in the choir and when we have hung out they have mentioned that I should come. I told them I adore choirs, love listening to them, but can't sing. They said to come anyway. I told them I love choirs so much I've even thought of getting a T-shirt that says Choirs Rock on it. I mentioned that the day I got that T-shirt would be the day I would join choir.

A couple weeks went by. One night I had a dream. I dreamed that Aaron (the worship pastor at PBC) was sitting at the piano and I was having my voice tested for the choir. Not auditioning.. voice testing. Aaron kept playing the low A on the piano over and over and having me sing it. He was testing to see if my voice really was "that low." So he played the A and had me sing it sounding like "a as in ball" and then he had me sing it "oo as in snooze" "e as in helmet" etc. It was the same note a bunch of different ways.. not a bunch of different notes the same way. Finally he said, "Yep. I guess you really are a tenor." And I walked up the risers to take my seat in the tenor section.

I thought that dream was hilarious so I told Aaron about it.. gave him a laugh, then I called Monique to tell her about the dream. She said well the reason you had the dream is because we made you the shirt and you are getting it tonight, so now you have to join the choir.

Here's my shirt:

I'm keeping good on my deal. I'm actually really looking forward to it. I know it will be a lot of fun. The word is out on us O-neders.

For my choir listening enjoyment, my two favorites are:

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir- located in Brooklyn New York. The story behind this choir is amazing and they have such awesome music.

and

Mwangaza- This choir captures my heart. They have amazing harmonies and such energetic music.

Ring

It's been troublesome to me what to do about my wedding ring and such. I'm used to wearing a ring on my ring finger now, but as we know, I can't wear my wedding ring. But my finger just looked naked with nothing on it.

I originally took my ring in to a jeweler to have the wedding band removed from the engagement ring so that I could still have the engagement ring to wear as something pretty on my right hand. When we had the wedding band soddered on to the engagement ring though, the jeweler cut into the setting on the engagement ring. It offered more support to the stones and in the long run was gonna be much better for the wear and tear on the ring. It was such a great decision at the time since I would be wearing that ring for life. Now it turned into a big problem. I went to 5 or 6 different jewelers to see what could be done, half said it was not possible to fix the setting and would have to be reset, others said it would be possible but would cost on average $350.

Then a couple weeks ago my mom came downstairs with a ring. My Aunt Liz had sent it home from New York with my mom 6 months ago and my mom had forgotten to give it to me all that time. I truly believe that it was no mistake that she forgot to give it to me, because I got it on a day and at such a moment where it meant a whole whole lot to me to have such a gift. This ring was my great grandma's and I believe was in the family even before it belonged to her. What is amazing though, is that it is a different kind of ring, it has a colored stone like I love. It's in the shape of a flower which I love. And I have really fat fingers, so to me it was even more amazing that the ring fit perfectly on my ring finger.

Wicked

I also saw Wicked last night at the Pantages. SO awesome.

Smokey Joe's Cafe

I saw Steph perform in Smokey Joe's Cafe Saturday afternoon. Somewhere around 30 of her family and friends showed up at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Center to watch her show. She is so skilled and so fantastic. She sang and dance with so much spark!

This was one of Stephanie's roles:

The Shimmy Girl -

Ladies and Gentlemen she shook fringe off of her dress. = )

One of my favorite songs was Keep on Rollin.' There is a version of it here but it was better than this (although these guys harmonies are tight). Listen to it.. it's catchy.

Engrish

I want all of these shirts.




Only because I am a woman.

In honor of Aunt Liz.

This is my favorite.

My next favorite.

Check out www.engrish.com next time you are bored and you will laugh out loud.

Baby Clara

My friends Anna and Dwight had their baby yesterday afternoon. Well.. Anna HAD the baby..

Clara Louise Goetz

Born 1:23 pm

9lb 12oz - That's the kind of thing that happens when you are 12 days past your due date.

20 3/4"

Go to Anna's myspace page or to her blog and wish her Congratulations.

grossness

Today I spent the day with my dad. I love my dad. There is a rather large area on the side of our house that my dad has wanted to level out and put down pavers on. The leading story behind all of this is that the sideyard has to be finished before we can get another dog. I desperately want a dog at this house so I've volunteered to help my dad do the yardwork so we can get the place finished so that I can partake in the sweet enjoyment of having a dog again.

Today has been the first day that schedules, weather and health have allowed for dad and I to go to work over there. We were making great progress but were deterred by rats... 10 of them. Yes, 10.

The old dog house is in the corner of our backyard. We've known before that rats go under the doghouse, in fact, in the past I lifted the dog house up one afternoon when the dog wouldn't stop sniffing at and trying to get under it. A rat came running out which the dog grabbed and I ran into the house screaming.

Today was the same song 10th verse. We were moving some things so we could rake up some leaves and then disperse some dirt that we had removed from the side of the house. In the process of raking, Dad lifted up the dog house and a rat came running out. Dad's initial reaction was to stomp on it, it stunned the rat but it kept running so I grabbed a bucket and landed it over the rat then I ran inside screaming. When Dad had killed that rat I came back out because he had seen another rat under the dog house. It got away. We chased it but it was able to shimmy under the gate and run out front somewhere. So we went back to the dog house to get rid of the rat nest. Slid the doghouse completely forward to see all that was underneath it and there in the pile of leaves were 8 little teeny rat babies. They were so new their mouths were still opening to feed, they had no hair and their eyes were still closed. They were so innocent. I held the bucket for dad while he shoveled them in. Set the bucket down and ran inside screaming.

It was quite the detour in the day. We eventually made it back to leveling the gravel in the side yard and getting the border put down for the pavers. But all day long all we could think about were the 10 rats that had shared the backyard with us. SO gross.

Logan's Memorial Service

3/6/07 Here are the details for the service: It will be Saturday, March 10th at 11:00am. It will be held in the gymnasium of The Master's College. The address is 21726 Placerita Cyn. Rd. Newhall, 91321. There will be a reception following the service.

Read About and then Pray About Logan Waldeck.

Visit Logan's Website. The Waldeck Family has attended PBC for the past 5 or 6 years (I think, though I don't know for sure).



This is the latest update on the website written by Logan's Mom last night:

I'm pretty sure you all know most of what is going on with Logan. The short story is that she had to have an emergency craniotomy to relieve significant bleeding in her brain. She was totally fine Friday morning and it started with a headache, and then eventually led her to where she is now. She had a spontaneous bleed which is a result of her Aplastic Anemia. Her platelets were 3 previous to the surgery, but they gave her platelets quickly before the surgery, and she is doing well considering all she went through. She is stable now, all day on Sat. she was pretty sedated due to moriphine, and they hope to take out the breathing tube tomorrow. She pretty much is already breathing on her own anyways. As she slowly comes out of it, we will get a better idea of her brain function. The doctor's are really optimistic, but they do feel she will probably need to have some physical therapy to help her. The biggest concern is that we have to keep her platelets up to avoid having her brain bleed any more. Since it all started she has received 3 bags of platelets, and they are trying a few other medications to help with platelets. So she has to get through this, and then will still need a bone marrow transplant. We do not have a match as of now, please pray that we find one sooner then later. She is a fighter, she is not responding to us, but definitely does not like it when the nurses fiddle with her and her tubes. I'm exhausted because I couldn't get much sleep last night, plus it was all a little overwhelming for this mom, but we are doing o.k. We have had an amazing support group from so many people, it is such a blessing. God is definitely so faithful and good all the time! Daniel and I know she is His child on loan to us, and we are blessed to be her parents. We will write the next day or so. Cindy P.S. I have two pictures of what she looked like as of Sat. night in the pictures section

As of Saturday Night the prognosis was good, Logan's health was stable. This morning at church it was announced that this morning the Dr.'s told Logan's family there was very minimal brain activity and that they were moving her into a private room so that her family could begin to say their goodbyes. Placerita spent the morning in prayer for this family and their baby girl. If you feel so inclined or are touched enough by the situation and the pain it brings then please lift up your own prayers as well.

This post very much goes along with the song I posted about yesterday. Listen to it.

**Little Logan passed away later this afternoon. Placerita had a service of singing praise and saying prayers and in the midst of it Pastor Dave received a call that Logan went home to be with the Lord. Please remember this family in your prayers.**

Held

These are some of the song lyrics to a song titled Held sung by Natalie Grant. I cut out the second verse of the song and also posted the lyrics in non-song format because I want them read for what they express and to me that's easiest when it flows like normal reading rather than chopped up into little lines of poetry.

This song has been a comfort to me and offered great perspective to me on situations in life. We look towards many dreams and great things in life, sometimes they come so close and we get to hold that dream and experience that dream for a bit of time, but then that dream gets taken away. We can pray and pray for a certain outcome but if the Lord wills a different outcome we will still be guarded, guided and comforted -held-through that time of sorrowful letting go. We are not promised an easy life, but like the song says: Hope is born of suffering. In that hope we watch and we wait for our Savior.

Held

Two months is too little. They let him go. They had no sudden healing. To think that providence would take a child from his mother while she prays is appalling. Who told us we'd be rescued? What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares? We're asking why this happens to us who have died to live? It's unfair. This is what it means to be held. How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life and you survive. This is what it is to be loved. And to know that the promise was when everything fell we'd be held. If hope is born of suffering. If this is only the beginning. Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior?

You can hear this song in its entirety on my myspace page.

Remind Me

Remind me to take my camera with me when I go and do things so that I can post more frequently. I've done some fun things this week, but without pictures blogs are boring.