Oops! Missed a month.....

My, how time does fly! I keep thinking that I should update the blog, then something else distracts me, and off I go. Anyway, life's pretty much routine around here. Our Sunday School class spent some time working on the church's Shoes for Orphan Souls project in late August. Altogether, our church members contributed over 13,000 pairs of shoes to be distributed to orphans all around the world through Buckner Orphan Care International. Every pair of shoes that came in had to be unpackaged, which meant lots of busy work for willing hands. We created several mountains of shoes and lots of recyclable trash, and we certainly hope that each pair of shoes will put a smile on a child's face somewhere in the world!



Ben spent a week in Mexico with the church's River Ministry team. This year they built dormitory space for teams like themselves, in order to provide housing for future work projects. This will be a great timesaver, as the teams that go in now are having to stay in a hotel about an hour's drive away from any job sites.

We had our annual choir retreat a couple of weekends ago. Our clinician this year was Dr. Anton Armstrong from St. Olaf College. He is one of the premier choral directors living today, and he worked us very hard over the weekend. He had many misgivings about coming to do the retreat but was talked into it by our pastor---then he was very complimentary of our preparation and the overall quality of our choir. The program that we sang under his baton is archived on South Main's website and can be viewed or listened to at your convenience. It is listed as "Music of the Church Year" on the webcast archives.

Robyn's been really busy starting grad school. We did manage to get her and Theresa moved into a 2-bedroom apartment. They are both playing in lots of ensembles and practicing many hours. The Moores School orchestra had its first fall concert last Friday, and Robyn did a spectacular job on the bassoon solos in Scheherezade. And just a few hours after the end of the concert, we were in the ER because she had an extrememly painful ear infection, so she has spent the last few days at our house letting Mom take care of her (I'm sure hoping that this second antibiotic actually treats the infection, since the first one they gave her didn't do a thing for it...).

I'm teaching lots of oboe students this year. At 13, this is my largest studio ever, and I have kids coming three afternoons a week. Plus, I'm playing in the Clear Lake Symphony on Mondays and doing handbells and choir at church on Wednesdays. This is also the time of the year when the band directors ask me to come to the school every day to work with the beginners, so for the last 3-4 weeks I've had a daily commitment at one school or another. So I've slacked off a bit on my Curves attendance and really need to get serious about that again---wish me luck! I'll be trying to carve out some stitching time to get a couple of Christmas stockings ready for two new young men in our family---Jack Tate and Bridger Hobbs. More on that later.....

And I'll try not to let such a long time go by before I update again.