Softball Season Has Begun!!

Woo hoo, so it's not as exciting as Opening Day but it is pretty close to the thirteen year old at our house!  

The weather was perfect and the girls threw balls, met new team mates, practice a few bat swings and generally had a great afternoon! 

I'll be posting pictures from games in no time!! 

let us run with endurance the race that is set before us  Hebrews 12:1

JFK Sixth Floor Museum's Living History with Kari-Mette Pigmans

You've got to love living in the Dallas area and especially all the great things to do here!  Of course one of our favorites is the Sixth Floor Museum's Living History series.  Imagine getting to hear real stories of history, first hand!  It is a great addition to the kids education and simply a joy to listen! 

Caleb volunteered at today's program, volunteering with their Youth Advisory Committee.   Today's guest speaker was Pan Am Stewardess Kari-Mette Pigmans.  Ms. Pigmans was a Pan Am stewardess aboard the White House press plane in the early 1960s and had met President Kennedy several times.  She was at Dallas Love Field at the time of the assassination.  She continued to work the White House press plane through several Presidents!   She shared amazing stories of what it was like aboard President Kennedy's White House press plane in 1963. 

Oh, that I had wings like a dove!

    I would fly away and be at rest
 Psalm 55:6

Whimsey & Grace Active Partners with Metro Relief

Whimsey and Grace is a local art store where you can custom paint ceramic or canvas.  They have been big supporters of Metro Relief and will be hosting April Showers to benefit Metro.  April Showers will be a baby shower of sorts, collecting much needed baby items and personal items April 6th - 20th! 

The owners were putting together the store display for April Showers and asked for an artsy piece of the Metro Relief bus.  Mr. Austin asked and I was delighted to paint a 12"x12" canvas of the bus with Whimsey & Grace's logo.  Whimsey and Grace is located on South Colony and Main Street in the Colony.  

If you have baby items, diapers, wet wipes, toilet paper, feminine products, soaps, shampoo, etc. Please drop them by!  And, stick around to create something wonderful!! 

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

    and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10

Looking for the Good

One of the blessing in our volunteer work is that many times we get to see the best in other people.  The really great things people do when no one is looking.   Today we stopped by Big Lots and found a cases of 24 individual tubes of toothpaste on the clearance table.  

I asked the sales clerk, who happened to be the manager, if they had more cases.  She walked me back to the toothpaste section and explained that due to the expiration date, only that one case was being sold at clearance.  She showed me nine other cases all being sold at full price.  I thanked her and mentioned that I was wanting to purchase them to donate to the pantry.  We chatted that toiletries are often hard to come by.  She then put the other nine cases in a cart and told the check out clerk to ring them all up at the clearance price!  

She went on to call a nearby store that she worked at the day before, knowing they were clearancing out individual shampoos, and asked that store to hold the shampoo for me!!  There was no benefit for her, no one was watching to see her great generosity, and no one would ever know what a nice thing she did!  Her store sure didn't make any money on either purchase!  But at least on this little blog and I can announce to my friends, please shop at the Big Lots in The Colony or the store in Carrollton!  Both stores have been so generous and just a joy to shop!!  

She was full of good works and acts of charity.  Acts 9:36

Dallas Opera's Barber of Seville

Tonight we enjoyed a glorious performance of Rossini's lighthearted tale of romance and false identity, Barber of Seville!   This was the first opera the kids attended in 2006 when the Dallas Opera performed it at Fair Park!  

Even though the opera is in Italian, the humor is funny in any language!   Everyone will recognize the music, think  Bugs Bunny's Rabbit of Seville, "Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!"!   The libretto has been re-done numerous times in pop culture parodies. 

The only opera that holds a candle to this is the Marriage of Figaro, which will be performed next season!! 

For tonight's student performance we brought 60 PEACH home schooled student, all whom loved the show!! Even having seen it before, tonight was a fresh look, amazing and delightful!!! There is a reason this opera has stood the test of time!  If you ever get the chance, THIS is the opera to see, and the Dallas Opera is the place to see it! 

Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
    and our tongue with shouts of joy Psalm 126:2

God's Not Dead

Our Speaker's Club met up to see the new movie, "God's Not Dead."  It is a current day setting of a college student who is forced by his own convictions to persuade his classmates that God exists.  

It is a definite feel good movie, in that good triumphs over evil.  There is the deliberate emotional charge of a large concert scene stirring the audience.  I think the greatest benefit for this group of home schooled kids who have grown up in a religious environment was the eye opening, jaw dropping, ease at which those who are religious would drop God for the benefit of a grade or popularity.  Also the condescending, negative, hate-filled speech that came from those who mocked Christianity was eye-opening. 

 always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks
you for a reason for the hope that is in you;
yet do it with gentleness and respectI Peter 3:15

Divergent Movie

Today we met up with Tate, a friend from church and her mom at the theater to see Divergent.  Divergent is a movie based on American novelist Veronica Roth's book.  It is set in a post-apocalyptic version of Chicago.  Abigail has read and loved the three books in this series.  It is similar to young adult books such as The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner, both series that Abigail loves.  The girls gave it two thumbs up.

One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy Leviticus 27:33

Drama Cast Photos

Time is getting closer for our PEACH Drama performance, 'Canterbury Tales OR Geoffrey Chaucer's Flying Circus'.  The kids had their cast photos taken today, these are a few that I snapped along side the photographer.

It was fun to see all the costumes together, from my Jersey Shore hen to Chaucer himself, lots of great outfits! 

The performance will be Friday, May 2nd at 7pm at the Church of Christ on McDermott Road.  Tickets are available at the door for $5 per person or $20 for a family pass.

 David exploded in anger. “As surely as God lives,” he said to Nathan, “the man in your tale who did this ought to be lynched!”  2 Samuel 12:5-6

The Dallas Opera's Die Tote Stadt

Fun pics last night from the German opera, Die Tote Stadt. It was billed as, "Before Hitchcock filmed Vertigo, Korngold created Die tote Stadt, the tale of one man’s dark obsession with the woman he loved and lost."  The production used state-of-the-art projections along with elaborate staging. 

It was an excellent production with a healthy dose of creepy, in an entertaining way of course!  Die Tote Stadt or Dead City is the story of sad man who has built a shrine to his dead wife.  

One day he sees a  lady who looks like his dead wife.  The lead fantasizes a relationship with the lady as she evolves into his wife and he eventually kills her!  But it is all in his mind. 

It was a great performance the music was amazing!  

“Thus says the Lord God: On that day,
 thoughts will come into your mind,
 and you will devise an evil scheme.

Ezekiel 38:10

Full Shelves at Metro Relief

It was a great day at the pantry today!  Donations kept coming in!  While Abigail shopped customers, Frankie and Caleb unloaded a delivery from the Lewisville Food Bank, the North Texas Food Bank and a van load of personal donations! 

The shelves are full and that is a great feeling knowing there is food for the families that come in through our doors! 

In the summer the donations really taper off, but hopefully the generous members of our community will continue to fill the shelves! 

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5