Just Duet

Don’t you love a happy surprise?  It doesn’t even have to be a big surprise – just something small to brighten your day.  A flower, a note, a piece of chocolate, a new piano duet…  That’s what my wonderful husband gave me this week.  The duet, that is.  I’m still hoping for the chocolate… :)

Just for the record, my husband and I love Leroy Anderson’s music.  This is probably one of his better-known pieces – the one we all hear at Christmas!

One piano, four hands… That means we get to sit on the bench together!  :)

This one’s going to take a little practice, but I sure am looking forward to playing it!

And, yes, we have already started practicing!  We should have it ready to roll by Christmas!  I love having a thoughtful, musical husband.

What will he think of next?

Guatemala–Part 2

One of our goals was to do some huge tract distributions, and the best place to do that is where are the people gather – in the markets!

We spent several hours stamping the tracts with the church name and contact information.

Steve was a tract-stamping machine!  We all stood in awe of his ability! LOL

Clarissa wasn’t too bad, either! :)

The local market where most of the food is purchased – there are hundreds of people selling their wares.

It is very congested in the streets of the market, with people, buses, motorbikes, and tuc-tucs (the little three-wheeled taxis for hire). 

The stores in the city tend to specialize in one kind of item.  For instance, this shop sells bicycle wheels and tires.  It can take all day to run errands, since you must visit a different store for each kind of item that you need.

I am really glad for the convenience of grocery stores and department stores, not to mention the mass-merchandise stores that we have in the USA!

Wednesday was also the church’s regular mid-week service.

I helped out with the music in the service

There was a good crowd, and the people were all very friendly.

Misty taught the children’s class that dismissed after the singing in the main service.

They were learning about Gideon, and really enjoyed their lesson.

My new amiga, Debora – she was such a sweet little girl!

Thus ended day two.

To be continued…

Exciting News!

I am in the process of making my newest piano arrangements available online!  Woo hoo!  It may not be that exciting to you, but this is something that has been on my “to-do” list for what seems like forever.  I published my first book of piano arrangements, And With My Song Will I Praise Him, in 2002 (wow, that was a long time ago).  It was the work of several years of writing, and countless hours of detailed editing.  The first book had barely cooled from the press when I began receiving requests for a second book.  Seriously?!  Then along came four little munchkins, a busy traveling schedule, home schooling, and a host of normal life activities, and the piano book was pushed to the proverbial back burner where it has been simmering ever since. 
I seriously considered publishing a second set of arrangements in book format, but that is not possible right now for various reasons.   Since the advent of digital media has advanced so much since that first book, I thought the music would be more accessible if I made the arrangements available as I finished them.  They will be available for purchase individually through our ministry website.  There is also a new link on the right side of my blog - Sacred Piano Arrangements.  Day by Day  will be my first available arrangement, with others soon to follow!  I have several arrangements in various stages of finishing and editing at present, and this development has really given me a boost toward finishing those last few pages!  Pray with me as I work toward this goal.  Stay tuned for updates on this process! :)