NEW LAPTOP!!

Dude....I finally bought myself my own personal computer, so maybe I'll start to become a little more computer literate. ehehe! This gadget is pretty groovy. I'm currently sitting here at my parent's house playing on my new Toshiba Satellite Laptop! I don't have internet access at my place....yet, but I can always go to the library or a close-by coffee shop for now. Of course, I come home to visit the parentals almost every weekend, so I can use their wireless, dsl-thingy to get online. Anyhow, it's FRIDAY and I'm not working. YIPPPPEEEE! I took off today and tomorrow because me and the family are going to Peoria to see the all-state choir that Janine is in. So, it's a pretty exciting weekend. It will bring back memories from 12 years ago when I was a senior in high school and also was in the all-state choir. It's one of those awesome once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that a person never forgets and it puts the music into the very being of who you are. It's then carried with you throughout the rest of your life.

This has been a very musical week so far. Sunday evening I went with our workers, Pina and Shelley, to Joel's music man and friends concert. Joel is a proffessional musician who helps run a music store, conducts a boys choir, and loves to play all types of music (mostly jazz), and also can sing opera. At his concert, there was a 6-year girl (child prodigy) that played duets with Joel. If you've seen her on the news at all, her name is Emily Bear. She was amazing. We sat in the row directly behind her and her family and I figured out who she was before she even went up to play because she couldn't sit still and was playing the piano on the backs of the pews that we were sitting in. The music excited her so much that there was no way that she could sit still and be quiet. It was like giving a 6-year old 4 mountain dews and then letting them loose. So, it was finally time for her to go and play on one of two grand pianos that were back to back. She played for a good 20 minutes with Joel accompanying her, and she used no sheet music, but it all came right out of her. She even used the pedals like a pro, and since she was too small to reach them, there was a pedal extender that she used. She boogie-woogied and ended up with some jazz. I am amazed at anyone that can even play with Joel, much less a 6-year old!! Anyhow, this has been a pretty special week.

Oh yeah...Monday night we were supposed to have a bible study with the workers and the young people at my parents house, but Shelley's brother and sister just got back here from Iraq. So, we ended up mostly hearing about Iraq and singing hymns.
We heard a lot of really, really, interesting stories. It's too much to put down on here, and I'd probably get the details all mixed up, but it was very, very interesting. They were so brave to have gone to such a place and lived there and worked with the people as long as they did. So, this has been quite the week!