Fun in the Sun with Baby Goats!

Here are the littles all having fun in the sun with the baby goats!!  They were delighted that Shiloh let all the babies outside today!!  Judah has Manna, Benjamin has Omer, and Havilah has Ruth.  Fun times!!

Passover

So I mentioned I was kind of behind in posting.  Kind of, but not really.  I just missed a important post that happened during the middle of April.

And that event was our church's Passover celebration.

As long as I can remember, we have always done a Seder as a family, so it was a really neat experience to do it as a congregation  Passover is a time to celebrate what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.  He was the spotless Lamb that was the sacrifice for our sins--once and for all.  Passover has such incredible significance and the message our pastor preached for the Seder was so good!   

 "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."

~1 Peter 1:18-19

We were honored to be asked to play at the Seder...

Being particular during our mic check.  I can totally see what is going on here... Eden is trying to figure out what she wants; I'm listening to formulate a plan of action; Jordan is just playing around; and Kevin (the sound guy) is trying to untangle the cords and put everything together!  ;)

 Shiloh checking her mic.

 Well, we got everything figured out!

And yes, I am way too particular when it comes to this stuff.

 Preconcert Quadrupletie (as opposed to Selfie)!

Musicians sit at the Musician's Table.

(As you can see, everyone has put their performance clothes on. ;) )

 Getting ready to start the Seder!  (Yes, I am laughing about something that happened previous to this picture.)  Sadly, Daddy didn't make it to the first Seder, so he joined us the second night.

Judah got the special job of looking for the leaven with Pastor David!

 Eden savors a very healthy snack...

 I was so blessed to play my favorite piece, "Schindler's List".  It was amazing to play that for so many people that have a close connection to the Holocaust.  It is such an emotional piece, so to play and feel it in this event was just... moving.

We had camera issues, so I don't know if we got a picture of Eden singing "The Holy City" (that was wonderful too!  The whole congregation joined in together during the chorus and sang along!  Wow!), and when I went to take a picture of Shiloh playing the "Hine Ma Tov" (love that song!), the camera run out of room.  Very sad.

 I like the color change Shiloh used here!

We were also apart of the Dance Team as they presented two special dances during the Seder.

"We Will Run", by Paul Wilbur--this was a fun dance!

(Gotta love this thumbnail!  Lindsay and I were pretty excited about the dance... or something.)

Ted Pearce's "Kulanu K'Echag".  It's a lovely song!

And the big close!

After the Seder "officially" ended, many of us stayed and danced long into the night.  It was such a blessed and wonderful experience!

Posted By:

~Bethany 

2014 Christian Heritage Conference

div style="text-align: center;"> This is the event of the year for our family!  Surrounded by crowds of other like-minded Believers, listening to thought-provoking messages, and participating in various musical performances, you can probably put things together and guess why we enjoy it so much.  Oh, of course it helps that it is a huge social event as well... I mean, in my family, every one is a social butterfly!

(Oh, and I should mention that there was a very special event in April that I haven't got around to posting about yet.  It will be up here soon!)

Thanks to Paul L. and Evan S. for taking some of these pictures... you can tell which ones they took because of the super amazing camera lenses!  ;)

 Eden and I in the back of our looong van.

 This is the typical trying-to-decide-what-session-I-want-to-attend moment.  ;)

 The big auditorium.

 This is my Cute Boy!

 Listening to one of the speakers.

The vendor hall.  A

n Extrovert simply does not go through this room without stopping to talk at least 53 times.

 Wave to anyone you recognize! 

I had the amazing opportunity to meet and get a picture with Mr. Ken Ham!

The first evening, both Jordan and Eden performed as soloists in the Family Music Night.  

Jordan and Eden waiting on their mic check..

...And that was when I decided it would be nice to meet Ken Ham.  ;)

Apparently this is what musicians do backstage.

We had lots of friends who also performed that evening.  Everyone did so well!  God was glorified and the listeners were blessed!

Evan S. performed a prelude with an amazing hymn arrangement.

  Eden brought the house down with "The Holy City".  This was her first time doing a performance this big and she was wonderful!

The Bisecglia sister as Whispering Roses played a lovely Baroque piece with Ross L. on the saxophone.

And last but not least, Jordan played Chopin's Revolutionary Etude.  That was a smashing success!

Elanee, Shiloh, Eden, Jordan, Evan, Me, and John after a wonderful evening of music!

We're just a group of normal homeschoolers... why would you ask?

Heading back for the evening and enjoying the lights... obviously Eden was relishing in her Sopranoisms to not notice the poses...  ;)

"The purpose of homeschooling is to give our children the heart and mind of Jesus Christ."
~R.C. Sproul Jr.

Ken Ham really stressed how, in the debate with Bill Nye, he took the opportunity to share the gospel to everyone listening from all over the country.

A sea of socialized homeschoolers.  Can you imagine that combination?!

Some of the lovely S. family... with a photobombing L. daughter in the back.  ;)

The next day we were preparing for the chorale performance.

Mr. Craig is our amazing director!

No, you can't walk through this place without saying "hi" more than once!

Noah C. directs folks to the vendor hall!

The final chorale rehearsal.

Where are the guys going?!

The Sopranos.

The Tenors and Basses.
(Yes, the guys are always outnumbered.  It's a given.)

The Awesome Altos.
(What?!  It's true!)

Mr. Craig our amazing director.

Chris Rogers the chorale pianist.

After finish of our favorite conference, we hosted our annual Closing Conference Party.
This was the biggest one yet!

 We had some issues with our hotel and the location got changed to a different hotel... that was quite confusing, but everything worked out okay, praise the Lord!

 Food and fellowship.


The evening was a bit disastrous for Paul L...

Ah, there's a better one!

It was great seeing the S. family again who came all the way from Canada!

And lest you think that this picture was easy to get...

There was photobombing...

Serious changes in some short person's height (and more photobombing)...

And talking...

"You didn't think it would be this hard, did you?"

The next morning we said our goodbyes to all the delightful families we spent time with...

Obviously the girls cooperate when it comes time for pictures.  (Okay, I know that isn't always the case... but I thought I'd just try to see if you noticed.)

Final group photo!

 A silent top hat wanders the hotel streets...

 Waving at the little guys in the window!

 A Judah and Bethany selfie.

On the way home we saw this amazing double rainbow.  Sadly, I wasn't able to get a good picture of it, but this one turned out the best.

Well.  That was a very special weekend pack full of very special memories!  :)  I'm already looking forward to next year!

"O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together."  ~Psalm 34:3

Posted By:

~Bethany