Park of Roses + Fourth of July

For the beauty of the earth, For the beauty of the skies,

For the love from which our birth Over and around us lies, 

Lord of all, to you we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise.

Park of Roses...

Recently, Stacie and I took the three children we have between us to the Park of Roses. Oh, for the beauty of the earth, indeed! What a gorgeous place to visit in Columbus! These blogging mommies had photo ideas of grandeur swirling in our naive little minds... but the weather and the kiddos had different ideas. Take a walk with me to the photo journal view of our lives...

Larkyn is ready for a photo op...
or to climb the fence to jump in the fountain.

So sweet with baby Eva.

Quickly, it becomes time to distract Larkyn.
"Here, take some pictures with my camera! - Oops.
That was Mommy's hand."

Not too bad. 

This could have been taken in my front yard, who knows?

Well, there's the "money shot" - totally worth it.

Eva and Rhys end their stroller date, abruptly,
as Miss Larkyn has had a mini-tantrum about
being on the big slide. 

O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain!

America! America! God shed His grace on thee.

And crown thy good with brotherhood, From sea to shining sea!

Fourth of July...

This summer holiday is always a blast! A trip to the Lake, maybe a cookout, watch some fireworks, spend time with friends and family... you can't go wrong celebrating America's independence. 

Christin, Carrie, Jim and the boys came to visit us at the cottage. We ate good food, listened to good music and watched a good sunset. God has certainly shed His grace on us and those we love. 

Drive-Thru

Keith ends the 2013-2014 school year today. It is his last official school day as Assistant Band Director. When the 2014-2015 school year begins, he will be entering as Head Band Director. What a victorious journey! This IS the reason we prayerfully moved our life together to Columbus. Six years in the making and God will be rewarding his patience with ... basically the same duties he has been taking on with the addition of more calls to the district's bus garage. His name will also be announced as "...under the direction of Keith Hallas," at football games and contests. So I guess the buck stops with him. I couldn't be more proud of him. 

While six years has been a long time of anticipation for Keith, I have been patiently anticipating his summer homecoming. Eva and I have become pretty good buddies spending all our days together.  In the past 7 weeks (well, really 5 since I have been driving), it has become clear that we should give thanks for ... drive-thrus. 

The drive-thru and shopping carts. 

I can drive-up at the Post Office. I can do drive-thru banking. Our Starbucks has a drive-thru. Wendy's, McDonald's and Burger King. If I could get a haircut via drive-thru, I would. 

We love getting in the car and driving. The drive-thru just saves the hassle of getting baby + carrier + purse out of the car. So thank you, Lord, for drive-thrus. AND thank you that Daddy will be home tomorrow. Maybe Mommy can go get a haircut.

7 weeks old today!!

Phantom of the Opera

When Keith heard that the Phantom of the Opera was going to be in Columbus, he thought we had to go. I have never seen Phantom but was eager to go see a show of such acclaim. We wanted to make sure we had the time (such busy folks) and enough financial resources (baby on the way); thankfully, God cleared the calendar and allotted the funds... so off we went. 

We chose the Tuesday evening performance, which was a little less pricey than the weekend ones. And, bonus, Tuesday was a beautiful day! We parked at the State House and then walked to a restaurant on Mound Street called The Jury Room. Neat atmosphere with great casual food, including Spaghetti Alfredo Fritters. Yup, that's deep-fried balls of spaghetti alfredo on a bed of marinara sauce. Wow! 

The sun was still shining as we walked back towards the Ohio Theatre for a wonderful performance of the Phantom of the Opera. The actress who played Christine was amazingly good, as was the Phantom and Raoul. It is such a pleasure to hear live music done so flawlessly. The special effects were eye-catching and added to the excitement. Our only disappointment was the teeny, tiny live orchestra. It probably should not have been called an orchestra but rather an ensemble. They played well but the impact would have been so much better with a larger group of instrumentalists. 

Spaghetti Alfredo Fritters at the Jury Room.

Keeping it classy while Julie is trying to rock the
 hair blowout for the third day. 

P.S.  To my number people out there... today is Pi Day and in totally unrelated news, this is our 100th post! Making it count.

Prayer for Baby

For the little one we already love so much... May God guide your steps and be your All in All.

A Mother's Prayer 

(5min 47sec... Enjoy!)

I pray your little frame grows strong 

And that faith takes hold while you are young;

This is my prayer for you...

Take His hand 

And go where He calls you to. 

And whatever comes, seek Him

With all your heart;

This will be my prayer for you.

Glimpse of the growth!

Jazz and Rib Fest

Our summer festival tour continued at the Jazz and Rib Fest. Music and food... what could be better? This year was another hot one, at least it seemed that way, down by the river and near to all the smoky rib roasting action. Last year's festival was delightful so it encouraged us to come on back this year.

Keith was excited to see and hear the former members of the Woody Herman Band playing on Sunday evening.  John Fedchock, a trombonist, led the alumni group that played some great jazz standards. With the smell of ribs wafting from nearby, it was almost heaven.

The ribs we sampled were by:
Howling Coyote
Porky n' Beans
The Shwinery

The Shwinery was my favorite ... saucy, fall-off-the-bone, deliciousness.  The team was new to the Jazz & Rib Fest hailing from McKeesport, Pennsylvania.

Watching John Fedchock and the Woody Herman Alumni Sextet.

Then some ribs joined us... yum!

Awards and the skyline.

Some sauces are right to the point.

Festival Adventure Tip:  Bring a blanket, in order to sit down on the grass. Instant rib picnic!

Creativity // the circle

What does creativity mean to me?

Creativity: where something new or valuable is created.
After studying Genesis this past year, it is clear that our Creator is the ultimate source of creativity.  What a valuable world He has given us to see and explore!

How do we stay creative?  Who do we draw inspiration from?

Let me talk about the creative nature of my other half: Keith's creativity is obvious... he's a musician.  His brain is always (always!) filled with music. He writes music, thinks about music, designs shows around music.  It is the avenue of creativity that God has gifted him with.  And we are blessed that he earns his living through the gift of music.

Keith gave me an opportunity to stay creative by graciously asking me to coach the colorguard at his high school during the winter/indoor season. This was an awesome way to exercise the (minor) abilities God has given me in music, staging, dance, and writing flag work (oh, yeah, hair and make-up, too). Plus I really loved working with the high school girls every week.

All that being said, my field is math.  Math is super-creative if you don't let the rules bog you down too much.  My thinking involves angles, proof, shapes, logic, Venn-diagrams, equations, theory, and statistics. All the pieces have to fit. It is the creativity that is within completing an incomplete puzzle.

The imaginative-genius in Keith and the puzzle-maker in me makes for a pretty creative life together, whereby every project, every trip, every meal, every joke, every festival, etc. is certainly something new and something of value.

What is a creative part of me that I don't share much on our blog?

I really like to paint.  I like to paint walls in my house or even walls in other people's houses. I like to paint all sorts of things: picture frames, lamps, fireplaces, and chairs.  But I really get a kick out of painting on canvas.

There are paintings that I've painted that hang in my mom's house, in my dad's house, in my sister-in-law's house, in my brothers' apartment, and yes, in our home, too.  It may seem like a family affair... and maybe that's just because my mom has always encouraged my artsy side. My supportive family actually requests paintings from me. So I happily indulge them.  But painting on canvas takes inspiration, time and energy... all of which are often in limited supply.

(Note: it's not quite all in the family -- I remembered that my 10th grade social studies teacher actually bought a painting of mine.)

Linking up with other lovely and creative ladies:

Marching Band

There are 150 high schoolers with whom Keith spends the better part of six days a week from mid-July to mid-November.  This is in preparation for the highly competitive marching band season that takes on a way higher precedent than merely performing during football games on Friday nights.

This year's show was titled "Unchained" with Unchained Melody as the soft, sweet ballad for the show.  Band parents run fundraiser after fundraiser and spend long hours building props, making food and tending to the kids needs.  Keith and the other devoted band directors bring in talented staff to design concepts for the show to make it truly an experience for the band kids - from a week long Band Camp to the last show at Grand Nationals in Indianapolis.

The kids perform tirelessly for these four months.  Keith loves working with the kids is always excited for the next achievement the group will hurdle.  His thoughts and actions are consumed 100% by this activity... as this is what he expects from the kids, too.  I got the pleasure of being absorbed by the magnitude of this organization by helping out with the colorguard for a some practices and competitions.  We consider ourselves blessed. It is amazing what these kids can do!

Opening set of this year's show as
guard surrounds with chains. 

Colorguard photo op.

CCMB on field for awards in Akron.

Grand Nationals in Indianapolis.

DCI Finals 2010

As buses, semi-trucks, corps members, staff, volunteers, judges, DCI fans and family descended upon Indianapolis from August 12th -14th, the Glassmen of Toledo were no different. The moment(s) had arrived to enter Lucas Oil Stadium for the final days of Drum Corps competition. The Glassmen performed their show, titled The Prayer Cycle, as best they had all summer to make it into the top 12. Way to go, Glassmen!!

One of the most important parts of the pre-show schedule is brass warm up... here is Keith giving words of encouragment after warmup at White River State Park and in front of Lucas Oil Stadium.

The city seemed to resonate with excitement. Signs in store fronts and restaurants welcomed Drum Corps International. We enjoyed spending time with our friends all over town. It was nice to have Keith's parents enjoy Finals day with us and to share the weekend with our faithful Drum Corps friends/15 N.Penn roomies, Nick and Mariah!!!

World Expo in China

Keith was invited to speak during the Opening Ceremonies of the World Exposition in China at the end of April. With many marching bands to see and hear, plus the menagerie of country pavilions, the trip was too quick. But there are many Chinese Band directors that now have at least one new American friend!

Sadao, the CEO of Dynasty of Japan, spoke English and Japanese, which made him a very handy (and important) person to tour Shanghai with. Most of the people in China speak Japanese and Chinese. The often humorous moments were when conversations were interpreted from Japanese to Chinese and then to English! There were long periods of waiting for words to be familiar... and sometimes it never made it to English at all.

Sadao and Keith in Tea Garden.

Country Pavilions: Estonia, China, Korea

A View of Shanghai