tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205085192024-03-12T20:30:21.860-06:00sojourner... paige's little spot...paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.comBlogger1336125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-65322681674191461712023-05-24T10:43:00.002-06:002023-05-24T10:43:43.107-06:00The athletei've never considered myself an athlete. As a kid, i liked riding my bike - but more as a mode of transportation than an athletic endeavour. & it's not that i wasn't fit. It's physically demanding to be a mother to a gaggle of children - and my arms got strong carrying big fat babies around. It's more that when i thought of myself, i thought of myself as more of an artist. i expressed myself paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-38883512722042947132017-05-18T12:51:00.000-06:002017-05-18T12:51:18.097-06:00growi started teaching music this year.
It all started with a desire last year to build something i had been kind of dreaming of for years and years: a musicianship course for adults that opened up the doors to music that often seem closed after a certain age. My desire was to teach a little functional music - some chording, basic harmonies, a little theory and ear training... an eclectic offering, paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-12021734853204048462017-04-15T14:00:00.000-06:002017-04-15T14:00:13.824-06:00Good Fridayi had worship team practice on Tuesday this week. i was helping out with some back up vocals and as we wrapped up, i asked if i could pray for reconciliation in relationships over this holiday where believers around the world celebrate Christ's death and resurrection. I prayed for families to be restored & friendships... but over & above all that, i prayed for a softening of hearts to be paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-82545834312426489592017-04-10T18:14:00.000-06:002017-04-10T18:14:30.748-06:00buckledi've done this thing this past year where i've tried to get outside more. It started this fall when i started running across the street to the park in the afternoons and running up and down the hill a few times. It was kind of what blogging used to be for me - just a few quiet moments to let my mind run wild and free reaching back and forwards, stretching out of the here and now and the must getspaigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-60171889387528146932017-03-28T13:20:00.000-06:002017-03-28T13:20:37.384-06:00fair tradeThere are things that i've gone through in my life that i had understood at the time to be moments that i had to learn purely to trust. People spoke about purpose in pain, and i thought that the ability to grasp the purpose was like some magical mathematical algorhythm that i lacked the capacity to understand. Pain was something i could accept with blind faith, but i never had an expectation or paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-33262562434918540342017-03-13T15:21:00.002-06:002017-03-13T15:21:53.674-06:00Sostenuto
"Often, the most precarious part of a mounting, sustained line is found not in approaching the climactic notes, but in descending from them. Breath energy has been expended improperly on the dramatic "high" note, with nothing left in reserve." - The Structure of Singing by Richard Miller
i've been reading my vocal class text book from college. i pace around the kitchen making weird sounds paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-76153373624249555282017-03-08T13:34:00.002-07:002017-03-08T13:34:36.307-07:00learning to teachKnowing something and having the capacity to teach it are two very different things.
I'm learning new things, and for each new thing i learn, i dissect it in my mind and try to organize it into a lesson - something digestible to a person wanting to learn. Things that have become intuitive for me over the years, little frills or licks on the piano, vocal effects, breath support or vocal onset... paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-52820132479639466392017-02-27T20:15:00.001-07:002017-02-27T20:15:02.760-07:00Something to offeri've started teaching music.
i started writing a big post about how that all came to pass, but realized that i don't feel like writing it all down just yet... But i want to write about my music lessons.
i've been teaching a group musicianship class, but also some private lessons for piano or voice. It has been an almost painful stretching growth for me to learn how to teach... and it has felt so paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-45323588578789325292017-02-23T13:00:00.000-07:002017-02-23T13:00:48.298-07:00Our Second FamilyIt's weird how that kind of worked out.
It was another evening with a bunch of little boys piled on the couch tucked in and around their dad watching *sporting event*.
i glanced at the TV... "Football's over... i thought it was football you guys were into?"
"It's not football, it's just sports. Sports never ends. It's always in season."
"Oh."
My college girl looked at me, "I'm confused... i stillpaigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-16787979514537887472017-02-15T16:34:00.000-07:002017-02-15T16:34:32.705-07:00Little SpiceCai and i have been trying to have a date every month...
This month, we met at a little Indian restaurant that she picked. The server had brilliant blue eyes that sparkled against his dark skin and Chris Tomlin thrummed from their speakers. It smelled amazing. She was running a little late, so i waited, watching the window & felt my cheeks pull and rise into a deep smile as i finally saw her paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-41431546811503503342017-02-06T13:03:00.000-07:002017-02-06T13:03:42.518-07:00A dayFound this post in my drafts folder...
i knew that season was brief. i don't know why i didn't press publish on this one. i need to write more, "a day" posts... it helps me to remember. Obviously written in the fall, a year and a half ago.
*****************************
It's a daddy travelling season of life, but for some reason, i feel like we've caught our stride.
Elmer potty trained suddenlypaigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-45169260239413611812017-01-30T15:21:00.001-07:002017-01-30T15:21:38.527-07:00elitismSometimes people do cool things with their voice that kinda wake me up and make me pay attention. Little melodic runs that are out of my range, or their ears pick up some strange mode and they are able to put it in some crazy syncopated rhythm that enhances whatever it is being sung. Sometimes after i hear something like that, i'll pause the music and try to re-create it. i'll try again and againpaigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-58526743577499245932017-01-25T19:20:00.000-07:002017-01-25T19:20:19.102-07:00punching bagA friend with a grown son recently told me how he had regretfully admitted to her that during his teen years, he "used her as a punching bag"...
My friend kinda sighed - but it was a happy sigh. She loves her son and her love wasn't lessened or dimmed by his adolescent misplaced fury.
I'm watching my oldest four walk with so much grace through their teen years. Some things haven't changed so paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-86932404981466365352017-01-17T12:45:00.000-07:002017-01-17T12:45:48.075-07:00FearIt's hard for me to even recognize fear, but i'm getting better at it.
Since i started diligently working out and working on muscles, flexibility, strength, agility and just general athleticism over the past few years, there have been a few times that i've surprised myself. One of them stands out to me. Two winters ago, Neil took me downhill skiing for the first time in at least twenty years. i paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-64035080526217804202017-01-08T17:07:00.000-07:002017-01-08T17:07:34.837-07:00More On Setting Goalsi have a few friends who have kind of *courageously* plucked lovely little pieces of life as they have mothered and homeschooled little broods not unlike mine. i've always looked at my mama friends who were able to balance a lot of lovely little add-ons as something 'other' than me. Some had interesting careers, some gardens, handiwork, volunteer work for organizations that stretched their heartspaigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-27013525710644589922017-01-02T15:33:00.000-07:002017-01-02T15:33:08.456-07:00Remember when?I was getting dressed in the morning and Elmer looked at me earnestly, "Momma, remember when i used to like boo so much?"
"Yeah, i remember that. It was a long time ago, eh? i'm surprised YOU can remember that..."
i was mentally calculating how long it has been since he weaned around his third birthday... Almost seven months.
"I remember." He said solidly, "i was a baby."
"Yeah, i guess you were.paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-53494521249374473302016-12-31T22:19:00.000-07:002016-12-31T22:19:16.854-07:00forgivenessForgiveness is such a tricky thing.
In a moment, it's given - but i think so many of us fail to consider what kind of a commitment we're making when we give forgiveness. It works more like a promise than a one time gift: a promise to work through - persistently, carefully, thoughtfully - whatever grief or sorrow comes later as a result of the wrong done.
i lamented some residual anger that i had paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-47250234177068142882016-07-18T20:29:00.002-06:002016-07-18T20:29:34.959-06:00purposeLife is strange.
i was born with a fire in my belly... but i remember being eleven or twelve and becoming in a season, lonely for death. Life felt heavy, and for whatever reason, i felt overwhelmed by it.
i was so little - and even now, i wonder what it was that bruised my young heart to make me feel something i've never felt - even briefly - since then. Whatever it was, it increased paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-43394129976895408132016-07-15T14:14:00.001-06:002016-07-15T14:16:05.018-06:00bring on 40... forgot to press, "publish"Wednesday, July 13th 2016 ~ My last day in my 30's ~
Breakfast: waffles with Elmer and miss rita, coffee
Lunch: eggs on toast
Supper: hosted a spaghetti party for 31!
i read: nothing. Like, email and texts and a few internet articles including THIS ONE about hospitality!
What's on my mind: i've been stupid excited about all my free beach body t-shirts. i know... it's not deep, but it's paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-44794039279401009012016-07-11T18:42:00.000-06:002016-07-11T18:42:04.028-06:003 years, 3 monthsThree years, three months.
If all goes as planned, and my firstborn flies from our nest in September, three years and three months is how long i got to have all my chickies under one roof.
It seems like such a strangely small wisp of time when i compare it with my decades of motherhood. Wobbly first steps, night wakings, bloody tooth removals, stubby finger pointing to sight words and lisping paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-72809013864611166002016-07-08T13:58:00.005-06:002016-07-08T14:00:37.879-06:00recap of my thirties...Way back on the eve of my thirtieth birthday, i posted a blog post detailing my hopes and dreams for my thirties... it has been on my mind a lot in these, the last days of my thirties, as my forties loom.
A whole decade passed.
And so, i thought i'd bring that old blog post back to light, from July of 2006... and see how i did. i'll include my present day thoughts in colour. Hoping to paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-36973855672562559292016-07-08T13:58:00.004-06:002016-07-08T14:00:27.086-06:00recap of my thirties...Way back on the eve of my thirtieth birthday, i posted a blog post detailing my hopes and dreams for my thirties... it has been on my mind a lot in these, the last days of my thirties, as my forties loom.
A whole decade passed.
And so, i thought i'd bring that old blog post back to light, from July of 2006... and see how i did. i'll include my present day thoughts in colour. Hoping to paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-80513031568726841672016-07-08T13:58:00.002-06:002016-07-08T13:58:53.445-06:00recap of my thirties...Way back on the eve of my thirtieth birthday, i posted a blog post detailing my hopes and dreams for my thirties... it has been on my mind a lot in these, the last days of my thirties, as my forties loom.
A whole decade passed.
And so, i thought i'd bring that old blog post back to light, from July of 2006... and see how i did. i'll include my present day thoughts in colour. Hoping to paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-27991568523239345972016-07-08T13:58:00.000-06:002016-07-08T13:58:32.022-06:00recap of my thirties...Way back on the eve of my thirtieth birthday, i posted a blog post detailing my hopes and dreams for my thirties... it has been on my mind a lot in these, the last days of my thirties, as my forties loom.
A whole decade passed.
And so, i thought i'd bring that old blog post back to light, from July of 2006... and see how i did. i'll include my present day thoughts in colour. Hoping to paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20508519.post-51910804034738325722016-06-27T17:13:00.006-06:002016-06-27T17:13:43.406-06:00a speech for Sloanie's grad
i still remember giving birth to Sloanie, and despite her dainty cry that filled the room in those first seconds after delivery, the first words out of my anxious mouth were, “Is she alive?”
We named her Evelyn - meaning LIFE - her full name means, “warrior for life and truth”, and it has proven over these past nearly 18 years to be a prophetic name. Honestly, there have been times that i paigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11879573441359515525noreply@blogger.com1