Monday, September 17, 2007

One Year Ago

It was one year ago this weekend that Mom, Dad, Brother Chris and I went to the Illinois Sacred Harp State Convention. It was my first shape note experience (outside of singing with my family), and we've been attending regularly ever since! So, Brother Chris, Sister Lydia and I returned to the convention this past weekend. I marked some new songs which I heard (or remembered) for the first time, and we sang some goodies that I love to hear time and time again. When it becomes my turn to lead, I always have a hard time knowing what song to call. I think it doesn't help that I have TOO MANY songs marked.

At lunch, we especially enjoyed meeting up with our friends, the Eldridge Family, from southern Indiana. Here are Lydia, Rebecca and Katherine, and below are Brother Chris, Mr. Eldridge, and James. (I regret that we did not catch up to Mrs. Eldridge for a photo.) We love that family and can't wait to see them once again. Hopefully, soon.
I was able to have a good visit with Mr. Graber and Mrs. Kujawinski. Both made me feel right at home and showed me the ropes last year, so I'm extremely grateful for their friendship!

There were about 60 of us gathered in Taylorville on Saturday. Many of us were fighting colds, and my voice was pretty hoarse. But I still sang praises with all of my might and was disappointed when we had to depart to head home. But, I'm anxious to attend our regular Monday night singing in St. Louis this evening. Maybe, just maybe I'll be able to narrow down some hymn choices and make a decision before the singing starts.

5 comments:

Dani said...

By the way, your caramel popcorn reciepe was a big hit with Gary, but it fixes so much that I'm going to care some to some of the kiddies from church tomorrow.

Michael Engelhardt said...

Looks like you had fun!

BTW -- your "About Me" says that you are from Edwardsville, IL, AFGHANISTAN!!! Is there something you're not telling me?

fasolamatt said...

When are you coming to Minnesota?

strem said...

Dani, I'm glad Gary liked it. Hope the church folks like it too. Did you do a little dance while making it? :)

Mike, thanks for noticing. For some reason, they've changed some of the fields in the profiles. So, anything I left blank, the program automatically picked the first choice in the alphabetical list after the blogger edits. So, instantly, I lived in Afghanistan. And, I don't know if you noticed it or not, but yesterday, I was working in accounting. Who knew? This morning, I changed both of them. But, if I decide to move to Afghanistan (or go into accounting), you'll be one of the first to know!

strem said...

Matt, so good of you to check in! I look forward to catching up with you and your family. The autumn is packed with family events this year, but I'm hoping we can come for a singing in the near, near future.