We are all recovering from a long, but FUN week of music camp. I felt oh so disconnected from the world of my blog and social media, but strangely enough I also felt a huge sense of connection to my other (and first) passion - MUSIC!!
Returning to the in-town church where my husband and I were married fourteen years ago was a real treat... we loved being members there so much, but when we moved further away from the city it just wasn't possible to attend anymore. When the music camp director asked me to come to camp and teach - and bring my children - I couldn't refuse. I had taught this camp YEARS ago and had so much fun... now I got to share it with my children.
I can't begin to relay every experience they had, but here are some of the high points:
An organ performance for the children... the pipe organ here has over 4,000 pipes and was $1 million to build. It is a beautiful instrument and the organist is amazing. She played for our wedding and I always love listening to her.
Art instruction each day during the week, with the final products being displayed in the atrium on the last day:
Guest performers - one day it was a percussionist who played circus themed music and let the children play along. He also had them hula-hooping and taking part in a limbo contest!
Another day the guest performers were a family of musicians - a wind player, harpist, ballet dancer and singer - and we also heard one member of their family play the Dijeridoo! The children got to hear the wood recorder played beautifully - and since I was teaching recorders during the week this brought our learning FULL CIRCLE!
I've included this video... I had a moment of peace and thankfulness while listening to this simple Shaker piece by Aaron Copland... while gazing at the crucifix hanging in the atrium. I was so thankful for all our blessings. (I was also thankful because Miss LOVED the harp - I've been trying to convince her to take harp lessons!)
Another day we traveled to a center for puppetry arts and watched a show and made our own puppets. This table of girls loved this activity -- and I loved that they made great friendships during the week!
The week concluded with a performance ~ then a fun dinner out with friends from our church. Miss B and her good friend from our home church (who went with us each day) had a sleepover last night to celebrate the week. When I went to bed (EXHAUSTED!) at 10 p.m., the girls were eating popcorn, braiding each other's hair, and watching American Girl movies!
My laundry is backed up. I still could use another night of good sleep. I need to go grocery shopping. I haven't posted on my blog in several days. I pretty much fell off the Twitter grid. But guess what??? We made some memories, learned a lot, and cultivated the gifts God has given us.
It's doesn't get much better than that!
I'm linking up today with my friend, Marci, at Overcoming Busy. She has a new link-up about living in the moment. I thought my whole week qualified!!
