Here are a few of the PCG 28th Anniversary shots that I took with my little camera that is like a dinosaur by now, but it still works! I gave the rest to my brother if he wants to use them on his password protected site, but here are a few that work for the blog.
Above: The AC Sophomore gals who took cake making under Mrs. Turgeon in Home Ec.
Below: Mrs. Sharon Rouzer made this royal cake. I love it! She is sooo talented among the many other talented bakers here!
A few photos that my piano instructor took and sent to me after the recital dinner party this past weekend. My brother took some good shots too that I've yet to see. He took some of Ramona ETC. Overall, I think it went okay.......I had some "forgetful cover-up moments" and rushed through some things, and went a little crazy with dynamics in some places though due to nerves. :-) Many said they enjoyed themselves, so that makes me happy. When you perform you know you can do better and are always not satisfied with your performance which is all about giving and serving others with your talents in giving them joy, at least that's how I feel. I'm not an expert like Mr. Malone, Mr. Jenkins, and my teacher, but everyone who I spoke with who was there said they enjoyed it, they liked most of the pieces, and it went well. I survived and my teacher emailed me several pointers from it to help me in the future too, to better myself in which I appreciated. That's what it's all about growing towards perfection in everything. I have a long ways to go in everything including piano! The guest vocal soloist...AKA Ramona L. did fabulous too from what I could hear from the room I was in. Thanks to everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to come....it's really not just the host/hostess who makes an event work; but at the end of the day it's the guests that make an event for if there are no guests, then you have nothing. I'm thankful to God for everything in my life that is good, and all credit goes to Him. Thanks to my teacher for so much too. She works really diligently with me. Thanks also to my dad who bought a ton of food and basically from behind the scenes made sure it was coordinated, and thanks to my brother who ushered and helped with so many behind the scene things in giving of his time; to Jessie H. who was our very talented videographer; to Mark J. and Jeremiah J. for accompanying Ramona, and to my sister in law, and Ariel H. Those two ladies worked super hard with the dinner party portion; and to everyone who contributed to the dinner; and to Jessie B. who made such a extraordinary cake shaped like a piano for the occasion. That had to take her a long time to make! Now on to working extra hard for the next 1.5 week in getting ready for the Armstrong College and IA High School Recital on December 14, 2017. That one is in a special place and I want to make sure that I do my greatest in honoring God at such a special place. I know if I do my part God will definitely give me the extra help with this one coming up like He did for me at the feast this past fall. Thanks very much to Mr. Malone for the invitation to play in this one.
ABOVE: My teacher and I
BELOW: Jessie B's amazing piano cake
Flowers from Jason and Brooke C. that I found on my desk! So thoughtful and super kind of them!!!
This is nothing official or great, just my personal, annual FoT journal for fun for the family and friends who would like to see my FoT adventures.
Deep cleaning my house was the first task to be done in preparation for my flight. My Aunt was coming in to help look out for my parents while my brother, sister in law, and myself were away. Soooo my Aunt flew into town, well not quite into town. Her ticket was accidentally booked to another airport that is about a 2 hour drive one way, but my brother, sister in law, and niece went to the rescue. They drove out and picked her up..about a 4 hour journey and got her safely to my place, and it was good for my niece to get to know her great aunt a bit. She seemed to take to her really well. It was good for me too as I don't have any "competition" in the aunt department with any other aunts and uncles...I'm it, so I was happy to have my Aunt in town too for Sophia's sake, and of course, it was good seeing my Aunt....AKA....my mother's sister. A big thanks to my dad who gave everyone in the family nice gifts to have while we were away. Even Sophia got a nice one. That was super nice of him!
ABOVE: My sis in law took the above pic of a couple of generations of aunts and nieces..My aunt, her niece, Sophia's aunt...AKA yours truly , and my niece, Sophia.
ABOVE: Sophia is old enough now to understand she wouldn't see me for over a week since they were headed west and I was headed east, so she wanted to tap dance. Did she ever wear me out. She kept asking for her tap shoes, and I finally gave in and found hers and my matching set, and we tap danced until Aunt Carolyn's feet hurt. To be honest, they hurt for a whole day afterwards, but anything kosher to make the niece happy. I took the above pic of hers and my shoes...this was a smart move to break from dancing with my ever hurting feet. LOL
ABOVE: Pic of my beautiful sister in law, Sonia, the night before we went temporary separate ways.
The time had come for me to head off into the sunset on a plane to Lexington, Kentucky, and I had such a peaceful flight out at sunset.....NOT!...Not true at all...here is the true story.....
It was more stressful than fun! My first flight out of Oklahoma
Tuesday got seriously delayed due to bad weather in DFW causing me to miss my next connection, and if I stayed at the DFW airport, the next open flight to Lexington would have put me there too late.....plane had made it all
the way to the runway when we got grounded...had to come back to airport the next morning at 4AM though to get an entire different flight out via Chicago. Finally made it to Kentucky mid day Wednesday. I was a day late in
arriving, so I missed the department head and sub department meetings, had everyone's name badges on me for the entire site as well as something else from HQ, and was suppose to be one of the pianists for the FoT choir...so in being responsible, I pretty much got off the plane and had to head straight to
choir practice on an empty stomach with little sleep and deliver the HQ pkg first safely to the business office. Everyone knew what had happened, apparently it got announced at the department head meeting. It seems not much about my life is ever private but it is usually good. More prayers is the positive. It was like a
whirlwind. Anyway, if this was an attitude tester, I think I passed. I didn't get upset, annoyed or anything....just stayed calm realizing I would make it on time still, though a day late....and know very well that there are certain forces out there that try to put a damper on things, and that sometimes things are allowed to happen as testers; everything works together for good in the end, and everything did, so all was well! Whew, I made it and got all of my responsibilities done! Opening night and first day went great.
ABOVE: I didn't take the above pic...found it online , but it works as a visual since I didn't take any pics that night. We had singles mixer at crank and boom. A group of us walked the 23 minute walk there instead of driving. It was crowded, but super fun I sat at the table with Mr. and Mrs. Walker. It was nice to catch up with them. A perk to usually never having anyone to date at these activities is just seeing the activity at face value and fellowshipping. Crank and Boom actually had a dairy free option too, so I got to have dessert Yummy place and nice evening.
Everything went well the first few days of the feast. Survived playing the Church hymns for services on Day 3 of the FoT, and for anyone who knows piano, those things can be difficult to play, and it has been since I lived in Texas since I've had to play them on a regular basis, so whew, stressful, but I did them okay with God's help. I'm one of those people who won't just play something...I have to be accomplished at what I play at a certain standard, so I'm gad they came out okay, but I'll practice them more this year to get them back up to where I use to have them to be able to serve more with them. Mrs. Carroll and Charity T. play the hymns on a regular basis in their local congregations, so It's a blessing to have them here as they are taking most of the load with those. This past year has been more of concert pianist training for me; this coming year will be working on more accompaniment training. I can play difficult pieces pretty well, but I know and learned even more this fot I need my teacher to really help me focus on helping more in rehearsal settings w/the simpler things. Looking forward to that!
ABOVE and BELOW pics: Mid FoT I got sick with a sore throat cold thing that was going around. I know....I couldn't believe it myself, but I did.....I had been so busy leading up to the FoT and then my not so peaceful trip to the FoT, and then I had so many feast jobs....transcribing sermons...AKA typing as the speaker is speaking and trying to keep up typing every word for the deaf...instead of sign language this is the new thing I guess, Typing dictation course taken Senior year of high school has finally come in useful in life.....can be stressful trying to not make typing mistakes while trying to keep up, choir pianist, ETC, that I think my 30 something year old body just had, had enough and gave out. The positive news in this was rest, finally, and yummy hot totties and I have to say, the Hyatt hotel in Lexington makes some good hot totties that are helpful and delicious. I was almost glad I got sick just to experience those. LOL Red Wine for comfort too though I think wine really isn't good for mucus with cold symptoms, but hey, a gal has got to feast somehow...in moderation of course!
BELOW: While I was sick the Hyatt hotel front desk phoned and said a nice man named Paul was at the front desk and wanted to send some food up to me b/c he had heard I was sick Turns out it was my long time friend since a bunch of us were teens in Texas, Paul Salinas, who had brought my lunch. So thoughtful of a brother to do. Chivalry is not dead; it's being revived. :-) I thought that was so nice of him and I really appreciated that. I took a pic of my lunch box below. :-) He told me later that he had to sell these as the young singles activity got moved b/c of rain, and that he was planning on having this last one for himself, but then he thought, Carolyn's sick, I should give it to her It's not like he is going to get anything in return, it was just total unselfish and giving kindness of a brother to a sister. Ahhh! That deserved a shoutout.
Thanks to another childhood friend, Hank Chadwick, for taking and giving me a few pics of the Lexington FoT choir during choir practice with my first time as a feast choir pianist. Thanks to God's help, it went fine. It's one of those jobs where it can seem "glamorous" but it is really not at all. It's a lot of hard work, concentration, following, and a little nerve wracking, but someone's got to do it, and I was happy God opened the door for me to do so. Thanks to Mr Malone for trusting me with this responsibility in praising God. I have to say that the choir sounded fabulous! It is like they had angels singing with them and we have a great director, Brian Young. I honesty think this is the best FoT choir I have ever heard, and I'm not the only one who has thought that. There are a lot of people in choir with music training....it does make a difference with that, and with God in the center being the biggest factor I think.. I am disappointed though...I was sick when the children's choir sang directed by Meredith Howard and accompanied by Meredith's mother, Mrs. Carroll, but I am hoping someone got a pic of that in my absence.
Below: The Lexington, Kentucky festival choir
BELOW: Family Day at an orchard!
They are big on sweet things here in Kentucky. They even put sugar in their popcorn, so I was personally glad to find an unsweetened tea at family day among the sweet and extra sweet tea; especially recovering from being sick. Snagged it! :)
ABOVE: Titus Olsen...a manly lovely young man.
BELOW: The lovely Floyd's! This lady can sing..wow can she sing and I don't just say that about anyone! I'd love to hear both her and Mrs. Malone do a duet! They are both such super God given talented singers! Wow! Happy to finally meet Mrs. Floyd!
ABOVE: The Floyd's son.
BELOW: Abigail B. totally wins the best female shirt of family day!
BELOW: Hilary Y. and Mrs. Stewart
The lovely Vandewater gals!
...with granddad and grandma
BELOW: Latisha having fun on the wagon ride They said it was a hay ride, but there was no hay, so I call it a wagon ride.
wagon ride fun and scenery Camels in Kentucky...Yep!
BELOW: Latisha and her sister who I just found out existed this year. LOL
....so Kentucky has the corn and Oklahoma has the waving wheat....you know...Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.where the waving wheat, it sure smells sweet! :-) .Whiskey Kentucky.......you know Whiskey is made in Kentucky from corn though Irish Whiskey is made from barley Culinary lesson. LOL Irish Whiskey made from barley...American Kentucky Whiskey made from corn. Whiskey 101 :-)
BELOW: Yours truly having fun with the kids at family day.
VIDEO!
BIG playground fun. Those kids were brave to go on that super sized slide.
More family day fun.
Ahhh Thanks to the Floyd's for this feast gift. I think it is an airplane shaped bottle opener. How thoughtful and I really like it! I think they got several for many. How thoughtful of them and what a special gift
Gals Pool Night
...in moderation....one drink for me. I'm in Kentucky so of course whiskey mixed with ginger ale in trying to stay healthy. :-)
VIDEO of gal pal pool night. Thanks to Monica L. for pulling it together and for sharing the above pic. One of the sweetest people I met this year among many others. T'was a lot of fun.
BELOW: At services....transcribing for the deaf again once I recovered from being sick. Ms. F definitely doesn't let being deaf keep her from fellow shipping. She has a tablet to help fill in the gap.
BELOW: Another hard of hearing friend I met.
The deaf brethren all got together and gave the transcribers each a card and each signed it. Here was mine. Such sweet people. This is one of those things where I'm like should I post it or not, but it was really special to me and since this is my journal, if I ever lose the physical card, I'll still have these words and how kind the deaf were.
More gifts! Thanks to Misti J's daughter who made the jewelry gift, and it is her first FoT ever. Kids are sooo sweet when taught properly.
Thanks to the Millers for the customized key chain. I will definitely use it!
....and for the fluffy new addition to my children's fun room for my niece...a pink wildcat from Mr. Rydz. So thoughtful!
Childhood friends Bill and Janet Thacker and Hank and Barbara Chadwick and their children. I've reached the point in life now where I really treasure the childhood friends and great kosher memories we have at F.oT's ....ETC. This is a just beautiful family. They are so close and set such a great example.
BELOW: Finally the younger singles activity was held on Day seven of the FoT, but it was still damp outside, so Paul S. and Leah C....singles FoT coordinators had to come up with a plan B. Good job to them. Thanks to Jason C. too, who they texted, who was at another site, who helped them with this plan B. Instead of horseback riding, we ate and then played a personality test, and then whatever personality your test exposed you to be is what table you sat at with like personalities...I came out as a blue personality....there were gold, green, and orange personalities too. I can't remember what they said exactly, but I looked it up online just for fun as this is just a for fun thing, and this is what it found on my supposed personality. Blue are the do-gooders. Intimacy: connecting, creating quality
relationships and having purpose, is what motivates and drives these
people. They bring great gifts of quality and service and are generally
loyal, sincere, and thoughtful....they said original type of person, ETC...LOL How true that is, I don't know, but it was fun...and we had Mr. and Mrs. Humphries who were at our table. We were the underdogs at first, but at the end we won. It all came down to one trivia question. We chose to let Mr. Humphries answer our last trivia question though many at the table thought the answer was different, but we went with government since it was our last question and determined who won the game, and out of all four teams there, we were the only team who got it right. We joked at the end and said our lesson of the day....follow God's loyal government, and you will succeed in the end. :-) Go blue team and to Mr Humphries for his trivia question wisdom :-).. It was all in fun. Was fun getting to actually know the Humphries and others more. Thanks to Paul and Leah again for this fun Plan B. Who knows why Plan A didn't work, maybe someone would have been injured on a horse...these horses around here are trained to race, so God gave us one of the best singles activities, I think. Very fun and team building..Oh, and we had wine and dessert at the end to top it off.
Pics from our single Plan B activity fun.
The Blue Team!
VIDEO from younger singles activity.
BELOW: Ran into these two lovelies at the Blue Fire Grill in the Hyatt Hotel on my way to have dinner with Latisha R. at the LGD evening start.
.....at the dinner table with Latisha and her daughter. Thanks to Latisha for sending this pic.
BELOW: Remembered to put the do not disturb sign on my room door for LGD so housecleaning wouldn't come clean that day. Whew! Always a worry of mine.
Random LGD pics Not all that I took are shown as some will probably be on password protected peaceful storms site, but here are some that I thought okay to post public. BELOW: Quintet rehearsal time!
Our fab sound men!
Charity is great with the hymns and in accompanying in general! This gal classically rocks!
Combined adult and children's choir rehearsal LGD.
I don't think I deserved it, but choir presented Mrs. Carroll, Charity, and myself with a gift for playing piano. Mrs Carroll accompanied various special music throughout the FoT so she deserves the gift. All I did was play hymns for the PM Sab. service during the FoT, and accompany the choir for special music.
Thrilled to have had the Harrison's the entire time.
This little princesses first FoT ever! Such a sweetie.
Safely back home now I'm very thankful for the genuine Southern hospitality I was shown. I'm appreciative and undeserving, but had a nice time meeting a lot of kind people and am thankful for every experience .....both the blessings and trials that God gave to me this year. At the Lexington airport on the way out, I ran into friends there, and we were simply talking about how we've been blessed to travel to so many different places thanks to God. That's basically all that we said when a random older man I didn't know who happened to be sitting near told us..."Excuse me...It has been a long time since I've heard anyone mention God. That was refreshing. Thank you." Wow, We were just talking about travel...Made my morning and what a beautiful note to return home.
That is my FoT journal 2017! Hope you enjoyed! :-)
