A Bench for Me, the Same Bench for You, Praise The Lord! If We Make it Through!

What is....

Two Pianos

Plus...

One great idea!

Plus...

One amazing music score...

Plus...

Two People!

Plus...

ONE piano stool!

This Equals....

A) Disaster!

B) Success

C) A Trip to the Hospital

D) Relief (when things work out)

You decide!!!

~~~~~~The Story~~~~~~

We've been preparing for our annual piano recital.  It's going to be so exciting this year!  Jordan and I will be playing another ensemble piece.  Our piece will be Hungarian Dance No. 1 by J. Brahms. 

But there's a slight twist... literally!  Instead of playing this piece the "right" way, we'll be playing it on two pianos and one bench!  We will spin on that bench and switch parts (and pianos) during the piece!  Sound's like a great idea?  (I thought so too!) 

So we thought we'd do a blog post on all the preparation we've put into this.  This is a journey of pictures and words of our journey of spins and laughs!

Note: I would strongly recommend that you do something like this with your sibling.  This is a wonderful way to build relationships with them, learn to work with them, and get to know them in a whole different way.  God has blessed each and every one of us with special features.  You'll be surprised to see His amazing design in each person!

So here's some pointers if you ever decide to do the same!

------------------------------------

It's always helpful to tie yourself (during practicing of course) to your partner (just in case anything goes wrong!).

One disclaimer... if your partner falls off... so will you!!!  (But I'm getting ahead of myself... that comes later!)

Hold on.  TIGHT!

Who gets to be closer?  Who gets to be further away?

When doing a spin, make sure your partner is ready.  Or else...

Who gets more room on the bench?

We'll settle it with this:

Never, EVER throw back your head.  Even during the exciting parts!

 

Impact!

----------------------------

But through all the things we have to remember... we still remember to have fun!  This is what makes rehearsing so enjoyable:

So, we've spent many long hours of "practicing"... okay Sort of Practicing!

And in our "free time", we found out that you don't even need ONE bench!  Who invented benches anyway?!

Check back later to find out how this recital goes!  We're really looking forward to it!

------------------------------

One more thing... here's a movie I (Bethany) filmed of our rehearsal.  This was done from a secret hidden camera... so you can see what our practices REALLY look like!  

The first part of this movie is a MUST watch!  It was not staged!  No stuntmen here!  Also, if you watch the whole movie, you get to see a sneak peek of our piece.

 

We hope you enjoyed this post!  Comment and tell us what you thought.

I think a good closer here would be Psalm 140:4 "Praise HIM with the timbrel and dance, praise HIM with the stringed instruments and organs."

Praise be to God!  Let each and every one of us give the glory to HIM alone!  It is by Him, through Him, and for Him, that we should live.

Check back for the REAL deal.

Posted by:
Bethany & Jordan

John Calvin is Shocked! (Part 3.5)

Can you guess why??

Because no one even tried guessing who was the author of this quote:

"A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent."

Can you guess?  Last Chance!

Read the John Calvin at Our Dinner Table post HERE

John Calvin at Our Dinner Table! (Part 3)

John Calvin actually came to our dinner table recently!  He was an adorable little fellow and he actually preached to us a bit out of Spurgeon's Morning and Evening...  Which was very interesting since Spurgeon came after Calvin....  Hmmm... 

About a week ago our family "went" to Geneva for Vision Forum's Faith and Freedom Virtual Tour and so we all dressed up Swiss!

Enjoy the Pictures!

Judah Philip :: John Calvin

Bethany :: The Geneva Bible

De-De :: A Swiss Dancer

 Shiloh :: Idelette Storder de Bure Calvin

In a letter to PierreViret in 1549 John Calvin wrote about his wife as follows:

 "From her I never experienced the slightest hindrance. She was never troublesome to me throughout the entire course of her illness; she was more anxious about her children than about herself. As I feared these private cares might annoy her to no purpose, I took occasion, on the third day before her death to mention that I would not fail in discharging my duty to her children. Taking up the matter immediately, she said, ’I have already committed them to God.’ When I said that that was not to prevent me from caring for them, she replied, ’I know you will not neglect what you know has been committed to God.’ Lately, also, when a certain woman insisted that she should talk with me regarding these matters, I, for the first time, heard her give the following brief answer: ’Assuredly the principal thing is that they live a pious and holy life. My husband is not to be urged to instruct them in religious knowledge and in the fear of God. If they be pious, I am sure he will gladly be a father to them; but if not, they do not deserve that I should ask for aught in their behalf.’ This nobleness of mind will weigh more with me than a hundred recommendations."

---

“Let us not cease to do the utmost, that we may incessantly go forward in the way of the Lord; and let us not despair of the smallness of our accomplishments.”

-John Calvin

Here's a picture of all 5 of us...

Here is a very interesting quiz on John Calvin which has 10 questions and then grades you... at the end there's a button with your results.  I think I need to do a little more studying (I've been studying Idelette Calvin) so I didn't do well with this quiz :(...  At the end my button said "I failed Miserably".  Notice that I didn't post that here!  I have to try taking it again...  I'll think a little longer before I answer!  :) 

I wanted to end with my favorite picture!

I have titled this picture, "I love my John Calvin"!

Not everyone can say they've got an adorable little John Calvin living at their home...  like I can!

Click Here for the answer to last post's question.

Now for this post's question!!  (Same rules as last time): Who said this quote:

"A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent."

Answer HERE...  and have a blessed day!  >> Next Post: France!

Posted By:

~THE CALVINS~

Live From Pompeii (Virtual Tour Part 2)

Hello Everyone!

This is the Mount Vesuvius reporting live from Pompeii... 

For our Fourth Day of Roman Studies we took our Virtual Tour to the city of Pompeii. 

We traveled with an adorable little door-mouse...  Can you believe the Romans actually ate cute little mice like this fellow??

As an archaeologist, Bethany was often busy studying... and yes!  The bone is real!! We found it in the woods...

Yours Truly- Here I am the Mount Vesuvius!  Also, yes that's food coloring on my face...  Judah and I used food coloring and we had the worst time getting it off.  So, in the future we will not try it again. 

For now...

Check HERE for our last post on Rome.

We will soon post all the pictures in a slide-show and will make them available for your viewing.  Did I mention that the archaeologist took a "lovely" picture of Mount Vesuvius demonstrating how she erupted?  Notice that I did not post that picture...  =)

Click HERE for the answer to the last post's question.... and now the question for this post!! 

When was the last time Mount Vesuvius erupted? 

Hint: Check the Encyclopedia if you are completely stumped.  :)

Leave your guess: HERE

Until Next Time...  Yours Truly,

~Mount Vesuvius~


P.S. Coming Soon!!  Geneva & France!!

Our Virtual Tour... (Part 1)

Hello!

Our family has been very busy with Vision Forum's Virtual Tour of 2,000 years of History of Christianity and Western Civalization in Two Weeks.  Check it out HERE.  We are really enjoying it and are learning so much!!

For those of you who *really* know us...  Then you know that we love dressing up!  So we decided to dress up each night for what we are studying on that particular day...  We hope you enjoy the pictures and the little history notes!

~*~
Our first day was Rome.  The picture on the left is all of us girls and Judah dressing up Roman.  Shiloh decided to be a lady she named Claudia, Bethany is Flavia, Eden is a little Roman girl, and Judah was named Casius.

Shiloh decided to dress as a rich Roman lady with a simple ankle-length tunic known as a "Stolla" and a wool covering which was called a "Palla".  Romans loved fancy hair-dos so Shiloh has the style of a curly bun and a veil.  Brides wore veils with very bright colors such as orange--the colors of flames.

Bethany is another rich lady although she picked the "look" of a married Roman lady.  Do you like her make-up?  Roman women wore an extreme amount of make-up.  First they painted their faces white and then they rubbed red or purple coloring on their cheeks or lips.  They outlined their eyes with black eye shadow and even outlined their veins in their neck, arms, and legs with blue paint.

Here's a close up of De-De:

Our boys looked great!

Isn't Judah cute?

Rome Day 2

~~~

Disclaimer: Please note that since this dress-up day I have studied Venus in depth and have decided that had known before hand all that I know now I would have had a very different opinion. On another note: I wouldn’t suggest studying her either.

On Day Two we (girls) all picked out differen goddesses to dress up as.

Bethany: Goddess of War

Eden: Goddess of Hunting

Shiloh: Goddess of Love

Don't you like the tape pack Venus is holding??

How thankful we truly are that we don't have to put our faith in a god or goddess like the Romans.  We have the Lord Jesus Christ!!

-=-=-

Rome Day 3

Next we did Christians in Rome...

Shiloh was a Jewish maiden (Miriam) married to a Christian Roman (Marcus) from a book she read. 
Pearl-Maiden: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem

Bethany was a Christian which was supposed to have been thrown into the Colosseum.   

Eden was a little Roman slave girl...  Who amazingly actually was a Christian!!

Action Shot:

We enjoyed learning about Rome!

Check Back Soon for More Updates!  Coming Soon: Pompeii and Geneva!!

Note: Also for those interested we have posted mostly all of our pictures Rome Day 1, Rome Day 2, and Rome Day 3.

In closing....  Here's a very famous quote: "I came, I saw, I conquered."  Can anyone guess who said it (without doing an Internet search)??  Leave us a comment with your answer and we will let you know who has the right answer!

Blessings!!

Happy Mother's Day!

We love you, Mommy!!

Love,

Shiloh ~ Bethany ~ Jordan ~ Eden ~ Judah

:)