The Homecoming

Sitting at the piano tonight after the little kids were all tucked away, I lured Darren in with his fiddle to play worship songs with me. I have been making lyric sheets up with harmonies written in alphabet form... I am not good at writing out music properly...but Darren gets it. :)
So many nights since the kids were little have been spent by the light of my piano light belting out worship songs by myself. I wonder if my kids will remember that about me.
The way i remember my mom.
When my sisters and I were put to bed at night i remember listening to my mom at the piano. One song in particular stands out for me...for all of us. It was a popular song at the time. She played "The Homecoming". Even the name made my sentimental heart ache, and laying in my bed each night listening to that same melody is a memory that is hard to package in a story for my kids... it was hearing the emotion in the way mom played too. I wondered what she was thinking as she played. Some nights i feel like i am playing myself towards a "homecoming" of my own. I ache for Heaven. I can't wait to see Him face to face. I wonder if my kids hear that when i play. I hope so.

The Musical

The only picture I have so far of the rehearsals... hopefully more to follow! This is the costume for "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy". See my "baby bump"? :) The belt gets shorter and the skirt tighter (unfortunately) the closer we get to performance dates.

The 3 little girls insisted on having a make-up/hair/dress-up day yesterday as i was doing the same getting ready to go to rehearsal. Wesley got the brunt of the lipstick abuse.

I've been involved in preparation for a musical dessert theatre production at our church for some months now and it's finally coming down to the wire! Three more weeks till opening night. The drama tells the story of a husband and wife who run a diner in Spruce Grove from the 40's till the present and how God uses their lives to affect the community around them even though they don't necessarily feel like they have "much to offer". I am part of a group of singers that herald each decade in with period music. It's going to be a blast.

Listen for the Harmony...

The kids were asked to play fiddles at a local church's hymn-sing tonight. Before they got up to play, the congregation sang a number of hymns. Curt's uncle Ronnie led the singing from the front and I couldn't help thinking of Sunday morning services 25 years ago with Ronnie leading. My mom, dad, my two sisters and I sitting together on the orange upholstered pews. I looked down my row, me and my 4 kids, hymnals on their laps. (Curt was in the foyer with Sadie and Wes.) "Hymn number 114!" The pianist started the introduction. Ellie scrambled up onto my lap. "Quick mom, I can't find it!" I flipped the hymnal open to the right page, pointed to the first verse and traced the words as I tucked my head down and sang the harmony part into her ear. Suddenly the memory of my own mother doing this came back to me. "Listen for the harmony Ellie."

Workout Wednesday

Well, maybe not a traditional workout, but doesn't blasting the Barra MacNeils and singing/jigging around the piano count? Grampsie came for a visit this week and on the last day, he arrived with a tiny toy fiddle that plays set tunes when you touch the bow to the strings. Sadie was delighted and prayed at dinner that she would learn to play her fiddle really well. Tonight, Curt was at ball with the 4 older kids and I stayed home with Sadie and Wes. I set Wes up at the piano to accompany Sadie and then blasted the Barra MacNeils. She praised Wes up continually for his most excellent piano playing and enthusiastically kept up to the blasting tunes. Very fun. I think her little violin was probably playing "Ode to Joy"... but who could tell. :) I will try to find "Don't Call Me Early" by the Barra MacNeils and add it to my play list so you can have a taste of what our evening sounded like...minus some stomping and hooting, piano hammering and electronic Ode to Joy sounds. Warning! It starts off with some accordion but don't worry, it gets better. hee hee (just kidding mom)
...Arg, could only find "Christmas in Killarny" but it's just as fun. ENJOY the instant party brought to you by the Barra MacNeils.

Music Lessons

While Grannie and Gramps were up this week i made sure to get Grannie to give a music lesson to someone. Mom was the one who got my sisters and I singing and playing instruments and she always had a way to make it fun. When we first learned harmonies, she used "rounds". Mom drew pictures on little pieces of paper to remind us of our parts. I still remember my piece of paper. It had a picture of "fish and chips and vinegar" on it. Steph's had "bottles of pop" with bubbles coming from them and Paige's had "junk in my backyard" on it. We learned the round "Fish and Chips and Vinegar" in the kitchen while passing the pieces of paper around the circle and switching parts. When i was learning to play the drums and needed to practice a solid "rock" beat, mom came downstairs and got on the piano next to me and hammered out the old hymn "Power in the Blood". Not exactly a "rock" song, but it made the monotonous practicing more fun to have another instrument join in and actually make a song out of the beat that I was perfecting. As mom settled into the couch this week for the impromptu lesson with Carrie and Darren... and her 4 string banjo (!!), I noticed the song she had chosen to type out: "Power in the Blood". :) Ahh! Good times! I'm sure it was just as fun with the banjo as it was with the drums. :) Grannie is gone home now but her memory was alive and well around here the past couple days as we celebrated the new banjo chords with "rousing" renditions of that old hymn.
p.s."Rousing" meaning that I paused at every chord change and waited for Carrie and Darren to find the fingering while holding the note out until said chord was found... one day it will be truly "rousing" I'm sure... and then i think i will set up the drums and call mom up to get on the piano. Something about the banjo makes me giggle. To me, a banjo is way more rebellious than an electric guitar...or any other instrument for that matter. It's an instrument that screams unashamedly "I'm havin' the best time of my life and I don't care who knows it." There are a few instruments like that... the accordion is another one... Just so crazy loud and distinctive. You know there's a party happening when the first note rings. Interestingly enough, my mother plays both of those instruments. I'm pretty sure that she is planning on finding a set of bagpipes to learn on next.

Use this vessel as You choose...

This past Tuesday, in preparation for the Premiers' Prayer Breakfast, my sisters and I were invited to a dinner of about 40 organizers, sponsors

and participants at

the Westin Hotel. I rarely go out for "dinner" and if I do, it's always with Curt....and i wear jeans. I dressed up for this dinner, out of my pastel, monogrammed bunny apron i got for my wedding 12 years ago, and into some black heels. Well, i wore more than just heels, but you get the idea. I forgot how painful footwear can be! Curt drove me in as I am petrified about driving in the city and we picked up the kids at Grandmas next door on the way as they were helping with the final burning of the old barn. That was perhaps a bad idea. The kids filed into the vehicle in their dusty rubber boots smelling like burning manure and 100

year old barn, Curt in his work clothes, me in my earrings, new blouse and heels. I'm sure

we made quite the scene walking through the lobby of the Westin Hotel in downtown Edmonton, a strong farm husband trailing a fancy wife

and 6 dusty, stinky children. I'm sure, because others told me at the dinner that they saw us arrive. Well, if you can't be yourselves, who can you be?...I'm the only one who didn't come as i normally am. Anyways, the three of us girls headed over to the Shaw to try out the sound. We were stunned when we saw the HUGE venue. I hadn't imagined that there would be 1200 people there! Interestingly, I don't think any of us had any shred of nervousness about the whole thing during any part of it. That was a first! I am usually the resident basket case and for this, i was totally calm. Maybe it was the numbness from lack of sleep, or perhaps the giddiness that seeps in when my sisters surround me. Whatever it was, it was a welcome change for me! After the sound check we went back to the hotel room to check in on our husbands and children.

Curt and Paige's husband Neil dressed the kids all up and went for a swim with them while we

waited for our sister Steph to get ready for the dinner. She had driven with 2 of her 7 children all the way from Hinton alone. The rest were home with dad. Wesley was in a wild screechy, teething mood and i had a feeling that i may be called away from the dinner early. When Steph was ready, we went to the meeting room together. A large bowl of punch with floating strawberries and pineapple was at the door and a huge open rectangular table filled the room. It was like King Arthur... only...rectangular. After everyone had arrived, the salad came and we were asked to go around the table and introduce ourselves and speak a bit about ourselves. It took quite awhile and as we listened our dinner was presented. Beautiful thin-sliced roast beef, squash, asparagus, carrots, potatoes, gravy...mmmmm. The three of us girls would end

the introductions and just as i took my first bite, my phone buzzed. It was most likely Curt needing help with screaming Wes. It was also my turn to introduce myself. As i had been sitting

there, listening to everyone introduce themselves as the CEO of this company or that sports team, or describe themselves in terms of their work and who they served, an interesting thought came over me. We are 3 little housewives. It wasn't a feeling of being somehow "less". It was an overwhelming reminder of one of the songs we had planned to sing the next morning. I introduced myself, describing my family to the wild applause around the table. hah! And then I quoted the verse from the song that was pulsing in my head. "Lord, you formed me out of clay. And for Your glory I was made. Use this vessel as You choose. And let my life, O Lord, praise You." Whether our days consist of making decisions that acutely affect a small family of 8, or a large province full of people, our lives are to bring Him praise. Beautiful that He created us

for His glory and can use 3 little housewives to sing praise to Him at a celebration to remind

us provincially that there is One who ultimately makes all the decisions. We are all vessels

in the potter's hands... fill me up with more of You, Lord, and use me to display the works of Your hands.

Premiers' Prayer Breakfast 2009

Because I haven't written in so long and I'm exhausted... here are links to what I've been up to with my sisters lately. Sadie is in the hospital for the second night in a row running tests, sending away blood to the states to check her hormones. Curt and I are tag teaming so that we are with her the whole time. Sometimes you go through life holding your breath. That's me right now! I'm thankful for the bright spot of excitement the past couple weeks in preparation for this event at the Shaw.

http://sojourner-ephraim.blogspot.com/2009/04/premiers-prayer-breakfast-take-1.html#links

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamazee

Oops and Yay!

Today Robin kept playing around in the music room with her fiddle and the piano saying something about wanting to write a song... she said it too many times. I kept mindlessly saying "okay, go ahead." ignoring the fact that she probably wanted help writing out what she liked the sound of so that she could remember it the next day. She finally left the music room with a big sigh after playing something that was to her, unsatisfactory. Later on tonight, i went into the music room to play and i found this propped up against the accordion I've been using as a music stand. It broke my heart. I had been too busy to help her with something she loves. She had tried to write out the notes in tab and letter that she was stringing together and it had been too hard. She has been asking for months to write another song. Last year she wrote a song called "Jumping Horses". It had one part A, no part B and 4 endings but it was all hers and cute. I got Darren and Carrie to learn it and my cousin to write it out for us neatly on manuscript so that she had something nicer than my rough tab markings. She was so pleased.
In amongst the busy schedule of learning new songs and a new style, I let her old song fade into the past. I think I'd better pull it out tonight though for practice tomorrow morning as a reminder to keep on trying even when you "get it wrong" or it seems too hard, or no one will join you in the creative process. Feeling a little like I failed in this little moment today.

On a lighter note, Wes rolled over for Curt for the first time. My camera was on some weird setting (thank you Sadie) so it looks blurry, but also like Wes is rolling at light-speed. :) Such a honey. Success for Wes!

...Pa rum pa pum pum...

Music... my constant companion. My sister Steph supposedly sang before she could talk. My earliest memories include laying on the floor in the St. Paul house and watching the reel to reel as I listened to the music. Paige was 2 or 3 when we sang a trio at my uncles' wedding. Music has introduced me to friends, paid for my dinner, given my sisters one more thing to share. It has become one more language to speak when the years have taken traditional conversation from my great grandparents, and something to hypnotize my babies with before they know how to say one word. My parents would sing in the car on trips, they arranged music together, practiced together, Dad played guitar and learned to harmonize from mom. We made a "tape" when we were all in elementary school and then sang at camps, banquets, churches, prisons, outdoor venues and sold them. Mom got us all playing piano and Steph violin lessons. Steph ended up playing in the Edmonton Youth Orchestra at a very young age. When "band" became an option in school, mom told us all to play the drums. She wanted to hear us play when she came to the concert. She didn't want our sound buried in among the other flutes, trombones, clarinets. It wasn't for coolness that *all* of us took drums. It was so that mom could hear *her* kid in the band! We joined the choirs at church and school. Mom wrote music and poetry and we caught a glimpse of her faith when she sang the song she wrote "I'll Trust You Lord". It's from her that we all took the leap and continue to make the attempt at writing music. Dad would tell us never ending stories from his guitar, playing as he told the story and we were hooked early on. As teens we looked forward to the nights mom and dad would invite all their music friends over to sing and play. I remember laughing at their crazy songs like "King of the Road", "Ghost Riders in the Sky", "Sue City Sue". I also remember one get together when their good friend Anne Eagle sang. They were going around the circle and joining in on all the good songs. Anne was requested to sing a specific song. I don't remember which song it was but it was a praise song to God. She was sitting on the floor against the wall and just closed her eyes and started to sing. The sound was full and rich and filled the whole basement. My chest ached as she sang and the whole room sat in awed silence. Music has been passed on to me on 80's mix tapes, long ski-trips sharing earphones with friends, extended radio listening sessions locked away in bedrooms and recording what we could off of the radio when we didn't have means to buy it. I feasted on music by sifting through the record collection in the KSS music room and staying hours after school to listen to Bob Marley, Billy Holiday, Jaco Pastorious, Earth Wind and Fire, Manteca, Steve Gadd, staying out late at the coffee houses (Igor Okos and Cafe Safari) to jam with my sisters and friends on the drums and congas till the early hours. None of us were partiers or drinkers, but we soaked up the music. Our church choir was vibrant in those days as well singing powerful Brooklyn Tab songs and we got involved in the huge Christmas productions every year. These days, when my sisters come, we share new music we've written, songs we've discovered lately....It continues to be a kind of thread that joins each new generation to the last. So thankful for this treasure... Another offering to return to the One who gave the gift to begin with.

When I Hear the Praises Start...

My son, My son, why are you striving
You can't add one thing to what's been done for you
I did it all while I was dying
Rest in your faith, my peace will come to you
For when I hear the praises start
I want to rain upon you
Blessings that will fill your heart
I see no stain upon you
Because you are my child and you know me
To Me you're only holy
Nothing that you've done remains
Only what you do for Me
My child, My child, why are you weeping
You will not have to wait forever
That day and that hour is in My keeping
The day I'll bring you into Heaven
For when I hear the praises start
My child, I want to rain upon you
Blessing that will fill your heart
I see no stain upon you
Because you are My child and you know me
To me you're only holy
Nothing that you've done remains
Only what you do in Me
My precious bride, the day is nearing
When I'll take you in My arms and hold you
I know there are so many things that you've been hearing
But you just hold on to what I have told you
For when I hear the praises start
My bride, I want to rain upon you
Blessings that will fill your heart
I see no stain upon you
Because you are My child, and you know Me
To me you're only holy
Nothing that you've done will remain
Only what you do for me

--Keith Green--- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1GjhqalbYQ