A Job Well Done

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." -Ecclesiastes

The packed auditorium was buzzing with excitement as we sat among a few scattered parents and dozens of children of all sizes and ages. It was Jeremiah's turn to audition for his first full length play, Seussical the Musical. He had been given a page of script in which he had just a few minutes to review and then gave a "cold" reading. Pretty good.

We waited some more. Time to sing. Wait a minute, can Jeremiah sing? His chosen song was the humorous parody Cats in the Kettle sung to the tune of Cats in the Cradle as written by Weird Al (If you've never heard it, look it up on the web). The audience was tickled with his antics and his voice, and I think that's what won him the part of The Grinch. He also played a double role as the eagle.

Though on stage for most of the production, his speaking (and solo singing) parts were relatively small. He went to almost all of the practice days of which there were too many, often having to wait long periods for his turn to come up. He really gave his all to each of four performances.

Well the play has been long over for months now, but several lasting friendships resulted, and so many good things have transpired as part of that experience. (A dream of mine was for the boys to be able to participate in the realm of drama or perhaps speech in some way.)

A few weeks ago Jeremiah got notice in the mail that he was nominated for an award and to please come to the awards ceremony which was last Saturday night. We went not expecting anything but a good time, but we were pleasantly surprised. The very first award given was for "Outstanding Performance By a Supporting Actor in Children's Literature" (of which all nominations were from Seussical) and Jeremiah won! He went up on stage and received his award and said his thank-you.

This unexpected delight was recognition of a job well done that somebody(s) had noticed. It amazed us to think of the large cast of characters in the play and that he was chosen. A speaker for the Arts Council summed it up this way: "Their role may or may not have been a big one, but their performance was such that when you walked out the theater door, their character made a definite impact on you."

Congratulations again to Jeremiah for a job well done!

I Love Scrapbooking!

There's something about those pretty papers, colorful stickers, amusing-photo-faces and all those sentimental memories that goes with them; then mix in creativity and a finished keepsake project. That is scrapbooking, and what fun it is!

Last month I did a 50th birthday memory album for my sister as a gift, and years ago I did a 5oth anniversary album for my parents. Though a lot of work went into them, they will be enjoyed for many, many years!

Each of my sons have used scrapbooking for homeschooling, to save favorite photos and journal about outings in a special notebook. I'd encourage every student to take the time and effort to do the same. Looking back years later, you'll envision the winding journey you took through childhood and treasure those captured moments through your unique pages.

Resting for years in boxes, in my closet, are dozens of envelopes filled with old photos just waiting on me to do something with them. I've done a little for myself here and there, but for me it's best to just make a whole day of scrapbooking (with the mess and all). I don't have a special table space that I can just leave everything out on day after day.

This summer I am helping our local homeschool group with a yearbook project and I found out about On-line Scrapbooking at ScrapbookFlair.com

It is so easy to use once you get the hang of it and you will have to download their free software to use the program. It enables you to make jpg's of your finished page and if you want you can print them or have photos made. There is also community sharing of scrapbooks if you want. It would be a wonderful way to share photos with relatives and friends! The photo above is really a minimally simple one I did at Scrapbookflair in minutes, of my four handsome sons. The one above that is one I did for our yearbook. Here's another:On-line creative scrapbooking is a lot of fun also, and you still get that finished product you are looking for. What I've shown here is just the basics, but the potential is wild. Check out that web site and you'll see.

Happy scrapbooking and have a great day....