Harp Harp Harp!!!

This Advent has been filled with much in the way of harp preparation. We have attended a beautiful harp concert at the Free Methodist church by the group Noel! and loved it. Emma and Mia who are taking the harp right now from Jill Whitman, were inspired and loved it as well. Little Mia was lulled to sleep during the last 2 songs, it was adorable. This week we have been to harp practice twice already and we are going again today. Emma is playing Silent Night for the River Academy Christmas program and when asked how she was doing yesterday she told a friend she was "a bit rusty". Which is really funny coming from her, a 7-year-old. Like the rest of us she gets lulled to sleep and entranced by the beauty of the harp's melody, unfortunately she still needs to play! I have a picture of her practicing that I am hoping to put up here, hopefully I'll get to it.

I am so happy that our children are taking music lessons. Music has been shown time and time again to encourage us and lighten our mood and even to give rest to weary souls. They love to sing, so the next step was playing. Nolen is taking guitar lessons and has come really far in the short time he has been playing. Scott always wished he would have been given the opportunity to take lessons, so when Nolen asked we jumped on it and called a friend to teach him.Even though we could have waited until he was older the times that he spends practicing and in lessons helps him so much. In his lessons he needs to be respectful and to learn to accept correction and to take easily the words, "No Nolen, you're wrong, you need to play this way instead." and to a 9 year old boy these are words he need to be comfortable with and not offended by. We wanted to choose something with the girls that they could use to both calm themselves and others, and use later on in their lives to make money and to glorify God. Here is the perfect option! They can play the Harp for weddings and events or for fundraising concerts for missionaries at a church. They are also falling in the above category as well for correction. WE are very blessed to have a world renowned harp teacher here that loves children and is patient with them as well.

Right now it's snowing like crazy, all of those little sticking flakes that cause all the trouble, but make everything look so beautiful and make the perfect snowballs. I heard that we are supposed to get between 5 and 7 inches today, yikes. I am not a very confident snow driver so that makes me very nervous. I did put Scott's 80lb punching bag in the back of the van to add weight, so hopefully that will help. Yes, the front tires are still touching the ground. Have a happy snowy day!!