Long Week

We had a long week! I played for the community Labor Day celebration that lasts all weekend long. On Sunday, I played drums with a group of people from my church. They were all in a music group together at one time, so they all knew the music well and didn't need to talk through much. I don't regularly play with that music team, so I had a lot of questions. At one point, I needed to know when to start playing, and one person told me, "Well, we just look at each other and know when to start."

I responded with something akin to, "That's great. I still need to know when I'm supposed to start playing." Everyone laughed.

Later, I asked for a cut-off on a song. I didn't get much of a stable cut-off during our practice. During the warm-up before the event, all three of the guitar players turned towards me, not noticing the other two people turned to give direction. All three gave me one giant cut-off, and I just erupted with laughter and began shouting, "I got it! I got it! Stop the music!" They still had not noticed that all three of them gave me a cut-off, so I had to point it out to them. :) Then, they laughed, too.

I think that we went to the sand dunes last Sunday evening. Keegan had great fun running up and down the dunes with the dogs while Jeff and I watched in amazement. He didn't get very tired until we piled into the car on the way home, and he fell quite asleep.

Jeff began his new semester, and Keegan started school. So far, both things have gone really well. Keegan seems to be adjusting to his new school.

I helped train a new counselor for the Free Medical Clinic. She is going to be great! I'm very excited to have Dianne helping out.

Jeff was excited to get new software for prescription dispensing at the free clinic, until he learned that the new program doesn't communicate with the new printer he purchased. It's kind of like one speaks Dutch while the other speaks Spanish. Even if one spoke Italian while the other spoke Spanish, it might have some understanding, but Romance languages just don't come close to Germanic ones. Hopefully the details are being ironed out there, but we might wind up having three printers soon. Ouch!

We had music practice on Thursday. We practiced in the youth building. The acoustics are not great in the cinder-block building with no carpet, so everything has to be excessively loud to hear instruments other than your own. Then, it's difficult to hear anything else when practice is over.

In spite of the obstacles, our group really gelled together, and we are close to having our "regular" team back. I'm amazed at how the team's skills have increased. Jeff is playing a lot of great lines, which helps when I'm on drums. Also, our electric guitar player, Jared, is experimenting and taking a lot of chances. He sounds great! Jeff and Alissa, another vocalist, come up with wonderful harmonies that fill out the many times we go acapella on a chorus. We have a piano player again. Yay for Melissa! She does a great job. Of course, Chris does a great job leading when I have to go back behind the drums. We'll be glad to have Zak back next month!

We had sound check on Saturday and we played for church today. It went really well. The sermon topic was about breaking the cycles we fall into. We had a great testimony from a member of a newer ministry at our church called "Celebrate Recovery." The songs flowed really well with all that was going on.

I do want to figure out how we as a group can keep second service fresh. First service people seem to be more excited about the songs and such. By second service, we are playing through the music for the fifth or sixth time that week, and everyone seems to be a little tired. Then, we all make two or three mistakes that we hadn't made during all of the practices and first service. I don't know what to do about that one. Suggestions, anyone?

I don't like wearing such informal clothes to church! (Yes, this is a legalism hang up!) I played drums today, so I needed to not wear a skirt, which I usually wear. We are also at the season when the air is not needed, but drumming is a very active thing! So, I wore shorts and a tee-shirt. I don't think I've ever done that before today. Our regular drummer usually wears plaid shorts when we play, so I wore plaid shorts today, saying that I was impersonating him. Many people found that very comical.

I took a nap today. Hurray for Jeff entertaining Keegan this afternoon. He's such a great husband and dad!

Now, it's time for bed to get ready for another fine week.