We are the Friesen's: Christmas Program....

Welcome....Here's a glimpse of our happenings!

The verses that have REALLY spoken to me (Sarah) lately....

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock." Matthew 7:24-25

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. I Peter 5:8-9

From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' Acts 17:26-28

May the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14

So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. Deuteronomy 5:32-33

God, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It's up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation. Deuteronomy 29:29 (The Message)

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Christmas Program....

This past Tuesday evening, we had the awesome opportunity to watch our firstborn in his first school performance -- an evening Christmas program. Yes, Luke's been in several quick Sunday morning performances at church. And, we did watch several extremely cute preschool performances. But, this is the first big evening performance. (And, this performance wasn't even that big since the kindergartners weren't on the stage the whole time).

To be *completely* honest, I was NERVOUS for Luke. Luke has high anxiety levels (which he may or may not come by honestly based on my previous sentence). But, in his first year in preschool, Luke cried during his program. During his second year of preschool, he didn't cry, BUT his participation was relatively low, and a good portion of his performance time was spent making faces at me. (Yes -- we had some serious discussion about that).

So, for a couple of days before this program, we prayed for God to help Luke with his nervousness. And, we read "Berenstain Bears and Stage Fright" several times.

The program started out with Luke's class, the kindergartners, reciting Luke 2:1-20 -- the true Christmas story. Each child was paired with another child to recite a memorized verse in the microphone.

First -- all of the kindergartners lined up on stage. Luke is on the far left, wearing khaki-colored pants and a striped shirt....

The class started out the first few verses together. Luke and his partner, Henry, were the first to step up to the microphone to recite their verse....

I'm probably a wee bit on the biased side of things, but these two boys did awesome! I seriously almost cried because of how grown up Luke has become in such a short time.

After the kindergartners were finished and the offering for alumni missionaries was taken, all of the rest of the elementary kiddos entered the stage. AND, the program, "On Our Way to Bethlehem," began.

Before the program, Luke assured me he did NOT know the songs to be sung. But, some pics captured Luke knowing words & singing when he was supposed to! (I took a few of these, and the others were pulled off of a teacher's "Facebook" page)....

The other fun part of this program was to watch the older kids. Though I do NOT want time to move any faster, it was interesting to see what Luke *might* be doing in a few years...

And, to be honest and to keep it real -- our girl, Kate, was B.U.S.Y. and a wee bit of a pill during this program. I was out in the hall twice, and during the 2nd time in the hall, she even broke an ornament off of the Christmas tree at the entrance of the school. Good times!