Pictures Update

 

So, I finally sat down and got all of the pictures from my phone onto the computer. Yay! So I can post some pictures!

 

So, just so ya'll know, in case you don't have experience in this area, taking selfies is REALLY awkward. But I don't have any good pictures of me ever, so I have to take some every once in awhile....

 

 

This is the new violin concerto my teacher asked me to learn a couple weeks ago. I've learned it, and got it pretty much memorized. It's so much fun to play. Yesterday at my lesson we did a duet for this song, and it was so awesome. :)

 

 

(I so love my violin)

 

 

Yesterday I also had a pretty awesome opportunity. I got to teach a class! My teacher had to leave early yesterday, and realized halfway through our duet that she forgot to call and cancel with a certain group. When she found out that I knew one of the kids (he goes to our church, and just started taking lessons with her), she asked me if I could teach. So, I took Jonathan (who was with me) over to piano and then came back to the school. There were 3 boys in the class, and they were all pretty little. I think the oldest one was probably 7. Miss Anna said that they were just learning rhythm stuff, so that was pretty easy. I've seen her teach little kids before, so I had a pretty good idea of what she did.

 

One of the kids wouldn't say a word, and the other one wouldn't stop talking. Nate (the one kid I did know) was the only one who behaved. :) The first one who got there was the one who wouldn't talk. I kept trying to get him to tell me what Miss Anna had been teaching him, but since he wouldn't say anything, we basically just sat there staring at each other until Nate got there. :D His parents were trying to get him to talk, but he wasn't having any of it. I think he was scared of me. :D

 

I was so glad that Mrs. Fox (Nate's mom) was there. She was such a big help. She was telling me everything that Miss Anna was teaching them, and was so helpful. If she wasn't there I would have been at such a loss. I've never taught anything before, but I'm glad that they were all beginners.

 

 

These are just some flowers I bought for Mom a couple weeks ago, and I got a pretty picture of them. :)

 

 

Dad and I at my voice recital a couple weeks ago. I actually can't think of any pictures other than this one that we have of just Dad and I.

 

 

I don't know how well you can see this, but Danielle has started crawling, and crawled under the piano bench when Sarah was playing. So I got out my phone to take a picture, and she moved. I told Sarah to take her and put her back under for the sake of a picture, and needless to say, she was NOT happy about it. :)

 

 

A view from our horse corrall. I took pictures of them for ya'll, but I was having a hard time getting those on the computer. I'll try again later. But you can see Skippy in this picture.

 

Last Sunday we stayed home from church (Danielle was sick, and Dad didn't want only some of us going), and had a bonfire. We played games, roasted marshmallows, and Dad told ghost stories. They were actually pretty good stories, except, as is characteristic with my Dad, they all ended with the main character getting eatern. :D Oh well. :) It was nice to get to use our firepit. Since we built it last October or November (pictures here), we've only gotten to use it three times. It was nice to sit out there again. :)

 

 

And of course, I have to end with a picture of my gorgeous sister, because you know, that's how I think every post should end. :) This was taken the day of my recital too. Hannah got her all dressed up, and she even left the headband on the whole night. :)

 

 

 

 

 

Prayer request

If ya'll think about it, I have something I need you guys to pray about for me. Also, I kind of need to just blow off some steam.

This is kind of a long story, but I'm going to try to explain it so you understand. It's kind of complicated.

Earlier this year (like probably February or March, I don't remember exactly), I went to work with Dad, and I happened to go to an appointment with a realtor who's bought blankets from me before. I'd never actually met him before, but he had bought blankets 2 times (I think) before. He decided then and there that he wanted to order 4 more. Ok, great! He paid me then and there, and we talked about what he wanted. He said that pretty much I could do whatever I wanted, but he did have a couple guidelines. He wanted 2 for boys and 2 for girls, he wanted one of them to be a shell, and he wanted one of them to be a specific blanket (one that I'd made for him before). So I got started. I made one a peach, light pink and white shell, I made one a navy and white ripple (which has actually become my most popular blanket the last couple months), one was the specific one he wanted (a dark blue and dark green stripe), and one was a white, paddy green and rose pink (think watermelon) ripple. So I followed his guidelines, right?

Well, not long after he got the blankets, Dad tells me that he wasn't happy with them. He didn't say why specifically, he just didn't like them. I was somewhat confused because he told me I could do whatever I wanted, but whatever. Dad had given him my business card, and he was supposed to email me and tell me what he wanted this time.

Well, the end of July I did get an email. He said that his wife wanted 2 light pink and white striped blankets, and 2 light blue and white striped, but if I couldn't do the blue ones than he wanted 2 turquoise and white ripple blankets instead. So ok. I made the blankets, and put a fringe edge on them, since that's what on the original listing. Everything was fine, and I sent them with Dad.

Well, Dad hasn't seen him much recently, but he saw him today, and so he got the new blankets and gave him the old ones back. Well, wouldn't you know it,  I got another email today, and guess what? He wasn't happy with these either. He said that he didn't want the holes in the blankets, and he didn't want the fringe. He told me he wanted 2 light pink, bright pink and white ripples and 2 aqua and white ripples. Does that sound like it's anything like the blankets he asked for before? They're completely different!!!!! I mean, making them over once wasn't so bad, but twice? This is 12 blankets he's asked me to make so far. I've done exactly what he's wanted twice before, but for some reason he's not happy. Dad actually says he thinks it has to do with his wife. Ugh! It's so frustrating. I mean, what do I do in this situation? It seems rather ridiculous to make another 4 blankets for him, but it seems like bad business to tell him "I made what you ordered, suck it up." I'm just so frustrated. This is the third batch he's asked me to make. And you know what's weird? The first 2 times he ordered blankets from me, he was perfectly happy with them. No complaints whatsoever. And now suddenly I can't make him happy.

Sorry, because I know that I'm rambling. I just need to blow off some steam. Today I went from almost crying to want to throw something into the wall to being resigned about. If ya'll could pray for me, I'd so appreciate it. I need prayers for patience, and that I'll have the right words to say (I haven't replied to his email yet). It's just rather discouraging. I've had customers before who haven't been happy (I don't think it's ever been my fault,  just like in this instance), but every time we came to an agreement. This time it just seems like I can't please him!

Ok, I'm done now. Again, prayers would so be appreciated.

Life update

My life has been kind of been interesting lately. There have been ups and downs. There have been great times, and there have been some not so great times. But, God has been helping me through it, and I've certainly been learning to trust Him in the process. :)

One of my favorite ups lately has been that I got my license!!!! I'm really liking that, and I think Mom is too. Yesterday while everyone had piano lessons (I'm the only one who doesn't have lessons, so I just sit there for 2 hours), I went to Walmart to get the oil changed in the van (it was WAY overdue) and pick up some stuff for Mom. That was fun, although I think Mom wasn't sure I'd make it home. :D She had me call her both when I got there and when I left. :) At least I know she loved me. :)

I had a voice recital last Friday which was...... Well, I'm not sure how to put it. It was good, but it was bad at the same time. It was good in that I got all positive feedback, which was awesome, plus I got the learning experience, but at the same time I messed up so badly. I did Who Am I, and I played the piano too, instead of singing to a track or having Mr. Addleman accompany me. I've played in public before, and I've sang in public before, but I've never done both at the same time. I'm not sure if that helped or made it worse. I think it may have helped in that I didn't have to just stand there, but it may have made it worse in that I wasn't able to completely and fully focus on my singing. I'm not sure. Anyway, I was doing fine nervousness wise until the person who performed before me got up. Then it was like a huge wave of nervousness just hit me all at once, and I just wasn't able to get rid of it. My voice was shaking throughout the whole song... We have a video, but I can't bring myself to watch it. I'm kind of resigned to how I did, and I'm worried if I watch it all go back into self-pity mode. :( I'm SO insecure about my voice, and I'm just so blessed to have friends and family who encourage me in that area.

I've started violin again, and I'm so loving it. I missed it so much when I wasn't able to play. You seem something happened during the summer (when I didn't have lessons) to my violin, and I wasn't able to play it. I think it had something to do with the humidity. Anyway, my violin was out of tune, but the pegs were so stuck I couldn't turn them. So I couldn't play. Well, time for lessons to start again rolled around, and I brought my violin to my teacher to see if she could fix it. Well, she couldn't, and suggested we take it to a certain place in town so they could fix it. Well, they supposedly did. They filed the pegs, and replaced the bridge, which I guess had gotten warped. Well, Hannah had had a sleepover at my grandma's house the night before, so went to get her, and Mom wanted me to try my violin out while we were there. So, I got it out, and it went out of tune again. One turn of one peg, and the whole thing fell apart. Like seriously. The strings came out, the bridge fell off, the tailpiece completely unattached itself from the violin, the works. I was so sad. Well, I couldn't do anything about it, so I had to just leave it. The next week my teacher looked at it, and said it was easily fixable, and during my lesson let me borrow one from the school. That afternoon we took it to a different place to fix it. Turns out one of the screws that was holding the tailpiece on was stripped, so it just came off.

Anyway, my violin is fixed now, which I'm so thankful for. I didn't realize how much I missed playing. In 3 lessons I've gone through 3 songs, which is so much faster than I went the first 2 years. In some ways I like having lessons by myself one, and in some ways I don't. But, Hannah likes doing cello so much more than violin, so I'm happy.

I'm finally a senior! I started 12th grade, and I'm so happy to be doing something other than just math. I still have math to do, but it's certainly nice to be doing my other subjects too. So far it's pretty easy, but I'm doing Physics for science, and I was told by a certain friend that Physics is pretty terrible. And that coming from someone who's going to college to become a microbiologist. Ugh.

Danielle is crawling, and loving it. She never. stops. moving. And it certainly keeps us on our toes. :) She's loving discovering all the stuff that she couldn't get to before, especially the tile. She loves crawling on the tile. :)

Hannah started cello lessons this year, and loves it. It's a group class with 5 students in it, which I think she likes more than individual lessons. She especially loves it that one of the girls in the class goes to our church, and we've known their family for several years. That's just a bonus. :)

We got a third horse! Her name is Shiloh. The guy who gave us the first 2 came over last weekend, and brought this one. We were just supposed to look at her, but wouldn't you know it, she ended up staying. She's such a pretty horse. She didn't have a name, and Mom came up with Shiloh. I think it's a really nice name. She's a paint horse, and her hair is so soft.

My business has been going ok overall. It's been somewhat slow, but I suppose that's good. I'm not super overwhelmed. I have a couple custom orders that I'm doing, which is fun. Like I've said before, I love doing color combinations that other people have come up with. Plus, I can take pics of those blankets and list them eventually.

Ok, I've got to go now. I've got to finish my school today and then I'm off to the post office and Safeway! We're going to a fellowship/church service/camp out tomorrow, and I hope to have tons of pics from that!