Title Pending

Our eldest daughter turned 14 last Friday.  I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that she’ll be a Freshman next year.  I was looking at pictures of her with mixed emotions, from missing the time she was little, to wishing I had done so many things differently, to remembering and smiling about all the wonderful memories to being filled with thankfulness that she is who she is and I get to be her mom, to the hope of her future.  Her life flashed before my eyes.  While I’m going through all of this, she shared with me that she was so excited for her party which we’re hosting on 4/10 that she almost forgot her about her actual birthday.

She does have reason to be excited.  She is very into acting, both live theatre and movies, and wants to pursue it as a career choice.  The idea for this party began with that passion of hers and a cake idea she had seen at Michael’s.  The cake was decorated to look like movie film reels.  From there it has evolved into a Hollywood-themed party.  We were trying to think of some fun activities for them to do, games, etc.  We had thought about charades.  I suggested instead of charades, each of the girls could prepare a skit to perform.  That’s when she thought of everyone coming in costume, either Old Hollywood style or as their favorite character.  Then she thought of instead of skits, doing award acceptance speeches.

At this point, the ball is in her court and I’m just the go-fer and am ready to hire her for my next event.  We were trying to figure out something unique to do instead of just watching regular movies, and she suggested that each girl bring a home movie of themselves (I put a limit of 10 min or less, as we’ll have about 10 girls).  Who doesn’t have a few of those lying around?  After all these ideas, I suggested that we do prizes for Best Costume, Best Movie, and Best Performance, 1st-4th places to ensure everyone goes home with a prize or favor of some sort, like the bags they give to all the stars at the Oscars, but of course, not nearly that expensive.

My mom will be making an orange-coconut cake.  She and Sarah will be working on decorating it on Friday.  We haven’t decided on food yet, but I’m sure my event planner will come up with a fabulous menu.  I’m certainly glad it’s Spring Break this week.  We’ll be needing the time for prepping the house and gathering all the goods.

I’m looking forward to this party and having her friends here to celebrate with her.  As she gets older, I think about her future and the fact that the friends she has now, while I’m certain they will all keep in touch regularly with the advent of social networking, will all go their separate ways, but they’ll be able to look back at her party, and lots of other times like it that they spent together, with fondness.  Most of the girls have essentially grown up together and have had a hand in shaping each other.  They are wonderful kids who share similar values, and it is a joy to not only watch my own kids, but the kids who are “adopted” grow into such awesome young women.  I’m thankful and blessed to be a part of it and am excited to see what God has planned for them.

As for my immediate future,I’m thinking about July, when Rebekah will officially be a teen and we’ll go through it all over again.  I can hardly wait.

As parents, we have exposed our kids to various activities from the time they were small.  Along the way they have discovered things about themselves and it has been a joy to watch them get dirty as they explore the things that they’re passionate, or not so passionate, about, from sports, to drama, to music, to horses…….

In September, I learned about a need that a Christian homeschool choir needed that I thought our eldest, Sarah, would like to do.  They needed an additional pianist to accompany the Christmas program so the job could be shared and both pianists would have a chance to sing.  Sarah did it, did it well,and loved it.  At first, our other children didn’t really want to participate, but as we went to rehearsals, and they saw the performance, they developed an interest.

So come January, we signed all the girls up.  Aaron wanted to do it too, but is still a little young, although he hits a mean high E.  In spring the choir, Jubilate Deo, always does a musical.  This year, they’re doing “It’s a Wonderful Life”, which will be performed in May.  It’s been so much fun helping them memorize lines, songs and solos, shopping for period costumes (Depression into WWII era), and going to rehearsals.  It also gives them something to work on together and keeps them from fighting (mostly).

Shortly after we signed them up for the musical, I took them to see Starstruck Theatre’s performance of “The Music Man”.  Several of our fellow homeschoolers have been performing with StarStruck for a while so of course we wanted to see them and show our support.  The bite of the acting bug grew deeper.

They heard that auditions for “Les Miserables” were coming up, so on top of working on “It’s a Wonderful Life”, we worked to prepare them for these auditions. We knew that since this show was geared towards older teens, and that 75 girls were auditioning for 20 roles, they may not be cast but the experience was one that they could grow from.  They didn’t get cast for the show,but were told by the voice director that they have what it takes and to come back to audition for “Annie”, a well as apply for the summer camps.

In the meantime, they are taking voice lessons from their choir director who is a professional opera singer.  Sarah just started a Broadway dance class, and they’re all going to be starting tap and jazz classes soon.  Once “It’s a Wonderful Life” is over, they’ll begin group voice lessons with a different instructor.

We also found out yesterday that Sarah and Rebekah were accepted into StarStruck’s summer camp, which will be “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”.  Adriannah and Alaynah will be in “A Year with Frog and Toad”, which will begin, thankfully, after “Joseph” is over and be performed before school starts.  Then, “Annie” auditions.

Also during the summer, after “Joseph” is performed, Rebekah, our horse-lover,will possibly be doing some volunteer work with horse camps at Hillcrest.  I’m still waiting to find out about the age minimum, but they offer summer camps each week during the summer.  Rebekah has wanted to participate in these camps, but if she volunteers, she gets to work with the horses and the kids and ride sometimes, all for free.  The nice thing is all of those hours will count towards her community service requirements doing something that won’t even feel like work to her.

Is it worth it, you ask?  Absolutely.  While some people would shy away from such large commitments, and there was a time when we couldn’t because of the season that we were in, I embrace them.  I enjoyed the time when we had tiny ones, filled with nursing, diapers and stollers, but I have anticipated this season as well.  I’m having so much fun running around and actually doing these things WITH my kids, and thankful, once again, that we homeschool.  If we didn’t, the opportunities to do what they love, and the time that those commitments take, wouldn’t be available to them.  We would all be missing out.

And what about Aaron, you say?  He’ll be starting martial arts , and maybe hip-hop, soon, which will enhance his ability to play the Asp (Karate instructor in “Annie”) when it comes time.  After all, he CAN hit that mean high E.