From the moment I saw the poster's Joshua had printed for his recital, I knew it was going to be something special. Josh has always had an eye for detail and his recital was no exception. Was I was not prepared for, however, was how overwhelmed I would feel by the end of the night. I've been trying to process my thoughts, feelings, and emotions since Friday evening and even now its hard to put into words how the night turned out.
Everything came together beautifully for his reception. I'm amazed at how on a very small budget, we put out a reception that had people asking who catered it. In another post I'll share some of the money-saving things we did. The school provided a beautiful room called, The Meeting Place, and it looked beautiful. The support and encouragement began almost immediately. Josh works as an assistant to the athletic director. He asked if he could borrow the coffee urns they have & she gave him the key to the concession stand and told him to help himself to whatever he needed. Not having to purchase coffee and cups, sugar and creamer saved us lots of money. Several professors stopped by and wished him luck and offered any assistance if needed. It was at this point I was beginning to appreciate the fact that he is in a small school.
The recital was held upstairs in the chapel. The normal attendance for a recital is 50-75 people. We figured he'd have about 100. The people began coming and coming and coming. They had to bring in more chairs downstairs and upstairs in the balcony. In fact, it was standing room only. The president of the college was there as were all the heads of the music department. Josh had no idea of the response until he came into the room. He was blown away by the crowd of almost 300 and when he looked up in the balcony, he saw his high school music teacher had come to surprise him. He was overwhelmed and had to quickly compose himself to begin his first song.
It is an odd and overwhelming feeling to be in a venue like that where all these people gather for your kid and to hear his name talked about in very positive ways. Word got around that we were his parents and they had such kind and encouraging comments about him. One lady gave us a note and had clipped out articles about Josh that had appeared in the local paper. I was brought to tears by their support and encouragement. Cliff sat by a man who was the former head of the music dept at the college. He told Cliff that this was the best recital they've hosted in years and that Josh has brought something back to the music dept. Even as I write this I'm overwhelmed by those sorts of comments.
Sometimes the gift is bigger than the kid...and part of the journey is learning to embrace not only the gift but the Giver of that gift. At one point, Josh fought his gift and he fought the Giver. He thought he would give up music all together and go in a different direction. I knew he couldn't. I've known there is a song in him that always has to come out. It was a difficult time being his mom while he was fighting. He almost lost everything. I'm continually thankful that God, in his grace, has always kept people in his life who have been on his side and fought for him. One of those was his high school music teacher. Another is his current vocal coach...who kept after him even after he totally blew off his first college level vocal competition. At his recital, it was as if he'd come full circle. Musically you can tell he embraced his gift....he works hard at it now....continually honing his voice and it shows. And I know he's made peace with the Giver of his gift. He's at peace. And I'm so very thankful and feeling very, very blessed!
This past Sunday some of the children in our church sang and played their violins and I have a whole new appreciation for the women who work with those kids. That's where my son got his start. His Aunt Elizabeth was his first little choir director. He was given opportunities to sing at a very young age. And what better place than in God's house? God is definately very, very GOOD!!
**Unfortunately, I'm not having success uploading video today. I'll try again tomorrow!
A tray of some of our Christmas treats. Red Velvet mini cupcakes, the famous Sugar Cookies, and Peppermint Meltaways.
I put up 4 trees this year...starting with a miniature tree and growing in size up to the largest one shown here. It is full of ornaments and looked so pretty. I love my Christmas ornaments. They are so personal and bring back special memories. It had grown, though and I now spread it out between 3 trees.
I added this guy to the collection this year. As has become my tradition, I purchase two ornaments for each of my kids each year. As I was looking through the ornaments at Target, I saw this Mr. Potato Head. I LOVED him. He looked so happy I knew as soon as I saw him he was coming home with me! 
