Year 6, September 10th-12th, 2021: Double Release Weekend! And Native American Pow Wow & Parents Promise

 Friday was apparently not only release day for Michael W. Smith's new album, Worship Forever, but a book Jared has been anticipating as well, and had pre-ordered, too! What cracks me up is that we BOTH went to social media to tweet (for him) and post (for me) "It's here! It's here!" as soon as we could with photos of our new things like kids in a candy store. And then later we posted again after reading (his was a book) and listening/trying on (mine was music and a t-shirt) what we thought about it. We have different tastes sometimes, but then our reactions have become similar, too, and our methods of sharing it are similar, too. Great minds think alike? I  don't know about it's funny to think about! Neither one of us really knew the other one had something coming today. It's just too funny today. For all my complaining about our differences, I love it when I find the similarities. 

Anyways, because of my stuff coming today, I was late starting school with Abisahi. But we managed to get it done before park day. Abishai didn't go to park day because he was pretty much down with socializing (imagine that!) and wanted screen time. I couldn't blame him so he stayed home with Keturah and I just took Justin. He got his normal amount of time with the screen. We were just over at Southeastway again, so I wasn't far from home. Plus he had karate tonight and I knew we would be outside at the native American native pow wow, so he'll have more outdoor time again tomorrow. Plus, I knew he would have more energy for karate tonight if he stayed home in the quiet. And that's exactly what did. He had enough energy to remember all the words to the opening and closing time Jared said. Woot! Woot!

Meanwhile, Justin and I attempted some science experiments. But we discovered we needed a certain type of oil to put in this oil lamp type of burner. So now I have to make sure what Jared got down for us is the right kind. I'm so confused with that, but I can take and understand Chemistry, just give me some time. It's in there. We're getting it slowly. 

And then I watched the livestream of the "Worship Forever" special. It was really good. I loved the behind the scenes bits. Now it all makes sense. I knew a bit about how the raw footage would be put together to make the seamless videography, but telling the story of it all now makes total sense, of the original record and 9/11 and everything in between. I could see a few spots where they cut out little pieces here and there of deadspace or too much applause, but it was pretty seamless. With the lights dimmed and the right camera angles, you would never have known that it was recorded in an older basketball court with advertisements up on the second balcony and jerseys hanging and banners and all sorts of clashing sets of lights and color patterns, you know the stuff we could still see, even in the darkness. With the mini videos, they found a way to cut out a few things and then add in other things, too. It's pretty cool to see the final product. And now I've done my duty, opened my box, posted it on FB, worn my t-shirt, watched the livestream as it aired instead of watching it when it was more convenient for me, etc. Time to catch up on other things.

Oh, and Keturah got to Babysit for a Rooted prayer experience tonight. Sounds like she had a fun time with the kids. And she got paid. Yeah! Now I'm tired and I want to type more, but I'm not sure how far I'm going to get. I'm really behind again on blogging because I haven't found that time. So I might just write captions on the other blog posts. We'll see. I'll work hard and see how it goes. Tomorrow we have a family field trip to a Native American Pow Wow that is very family friendly and wants the public to come and participate. in. The newly minted 16 yr old is not happy about it, but I don't care about his broodiness. Get over it and move on. He's mostly mad because he had an oppurtunity to go on a boat and go swimming and all that. And now I'm ruining his childhood or something. Ok, Justin is NOT that dramatic. But he sounds a little bit like Benaiah when he says, "But I'm not going to remember yet another field trip." Dude, you have no idea what's in store tomorrow. And Jared made some valid points, too. It's not necessary each specific event, but the layers of experiences. Justin claims we've been to a pow wow before. We have seen some native drumming and dances, but that was PEI if I remember correctly. And we did see some stuff at Conner Prairie last year. However, this is much more immersive. I don't think I've ever taken them to something like this before. And my friend said this is the one that is most open to the public and best for explaining what is going on. All pow wows are open and usually friendly but they don't always explain everything blow by blow unless you ask. This one is supposed to break it down a bit better. I'm pretty excited. I don't know how long we will stay. Stay turned. At least Jared and I are in a better place and can enjoy it together. Abishai is going to love it!

Cold start to the day today! It's almost fall y'all! And yes, I had pumpkin spice cheerios for breakfast. I only buy one box a year. One and done.

There's the new album on New Release Friday email.

Keturah's breakfast. Jerky with Ramon cups. Ewwwww!!!!!

It's here! And it's the whole box! So what else is coming from TN on Monday then? I have no idea.

Michael W. Smith "Worship Forever" Super Box Opening on Release Day 9/10/2021

Super expensive, but probably worth it? 1 out of 1,000 books were made with photos from the concert. Well, they printed about 20 of the photos and then did a collage of sorts for the last photo. A bit of cheating in my opinion, and again, not a good deal with the whole package. Way overpricned. Probably will go on half off on Black Friday. But it's mine now. I'll burn the CD onto my hard drive wlater. And I'll give the Still cd away to someone. t-shirt is fine. It's slim fit, and long. Would rather have a little bit of wiggle room right now. But oh well. It works.

Probably my 30th signature, but yeah! Another one to add to the collection.

Playlist. They did keep everything in the same order. They did toss out a few extra words, whistling, excessive clapping, whistling and the like.

It's always fun to be reading a book that my mother made notes and then I got to inherit them and use them again. Plus I have my mom's handwriting stored so uniquely!

A fellow 2nd generation homeschooler says she has this book, too. Abishai picked this up from the other kids' reading piles and wanted me to read it aloud to him because it sounded like a good story.

What Abishai does when I read aloud to him.

Today's the day!

Yes, it says write your names like 6 times. Yes, the whole thing! Please just do it. Don't question the process.

Ok, maybe it wasn't released today, but he was so stoked about it. Glad he is.

It's all Greek to me! Until you try to use it the right way to impress your friends or something. Have fun reading it!

 

 

Either the CD is too new or iTunes needs updating because it's not displaying the important information about the CD and the songs.

 

Oh, silly blogger, it put the photos out of order. Oh well. Just enjoy these close ups of the screen on the tablet as I let the "live" recording of the event of the play out. It was hard to do anything else because I was looking for  specific spot in the program where the cameras snuck up on us and were videoing us from behind. So, watch out for that.

Opposite corner, but something like this.

Horn section.

Agnus Dei with the famous Amy Grant.

Harp for Miss Esther

Working out some orchestral music in his home studio during the pnademic.

Explaining his story about 9/11 and how he was on a prootional tour with the new album and he felt the urge to fly home the night before instead of staying on the road. He was right. He probably couldn't have flown home for weeks.

Same old Smitty, just a little older. G-daddy in his rocking chair.

Prepping the event.

Gorgeous set up. Can't tell that it was an old gym at a an old Christian college. Great job crew!

I didn't want to risk a copyright issue, so I didn't load the 4 short videos I took of the tablet while the "live" event played on YouTube, but here is a glimpse of the show. They did put the whole show up on TBN's YouTube, so I will include a link to it as well. I don't know how long it will be there, though. So, enjoy it while you can.

Michael W. Smith "Worship Forever" Full Concert Special on TBN

 

 On Saturday, we ate a good breakfast thanks to Jared, and then headed out to a Native American Pow Wow about an hour north in Anderson, IN. I will talk about that first, and then maybe some thoughts about the 20th anniversary of 9/11, which I'll probably write up about tomorrow.

The pow wow was pretty cool. The weather was perfect! Blue skies, a great breeze, and not too hot. Everything was pretty much what I expected. Lots of vendors selling all kinds of stuff. Some were real Indian goods, and some were cheap knock offs aka fake leather or pre made beads or plastic toys. I guess they are all trying to make a living so they have to choose to choose what to bring to sell. We got there a bit past 1, and they had started some of the dancing in the middle, so we sat down in the side of one of the family's tents and watched. It seemed a clan or tribe had had their own spot and we were to respect those areas. The arena is a considered sacred, so we need to respect it. There were times where the public was allowed to join the other dancers. Jared didn't want any of us to partcipate because of the spiritual nature off it all, and I agree. We can watch but not participate. The emcee was very good and informative. It definitely was a family friendly event with lots of education. There was a native from Florida who had a nice long show about the eastern woodland tribes. It was a little too long, but he was trying to go fast. It's a lot of information to cover from farming to fishing to women and men and responsibilities, it was all very fascinating. I learned a ton more. And just as we were about to sti down for the show, we met with my Cherokee friend and her family and had seen Kelly and Kya. The K2 had kind of followed us up there after they had decided not to go to the lake today. 

We did get to see teepee's, and that was cool. Justin, Daddy, and Abishai got to throw some spears. Everybody had travel medication, so they were all tired to begin with. But Abishai needed some food of cousre. Speaking of, Justin was invited to go back to Kya's house for dinner with her, her Dad and her Mom so that 's what he did. So, he was happy. Keturah wanted a pair of earrings, which is fine, except she doesn't have ears pierced, so I said, sure, yes, but not until then. This is an annual event, so you can come back and decide then. She did think of Paige and I sent Paige some info. She doesn't have time to come tomorrow, but maybe a different year. Abishai was so tired, he was already back at the van with Daddy waiting for us. So, off we went to wrap up things and to get back home, minus Justin. 

So, not much time to celebrate 9/11, but I don't want to dwell on it too long either. We'll talk about it again in depth at the end of this semester in history. I plant to take the kids down under the bridge or across the street to the 9/11 memorial from the Indiana Historical Society when we are there on Friday for another big all day field trip. Friday is friends AND field trip Friday, so get over it. One thing I didn't get a pic of that I want to mention is that they had two fire trucks with a gigantic American Flag on an overpass strung up between two ladder trucks. And then at another overpass, they had firefighters out there wearing NYFD tshirts and such holding smaller flags. It was all very, very cool and prudent for today. Jared was annoyed about traffic, but so be it.

They had a full day of events, especially in the middle of the Pow Wow circle, and they had a very energetic announcer that did a very good job of explaining each dance to the non participants. I appreciated that.

I only took photos when others were. I had read on the brochure or on the website that it's still a scared a space, so you're supposed to ask first. But this was a general dance where the audience was allowed to participate, so I thought it was ok.

Abishai and Jared went to throw a special spear with a device that serves to extend the length of your arm when throwing it. It didn't go very far when Abishai did it, but Jared did very well when it was his turn.

Teenagers, standing by. Not participating, of course, but giving me the "stop taking my picture, Mom" faces." "My grumpy face is my rest race." At least that's what the girl's say. Poor Justin. He's got a tough job getting them to laugh.

Mrs. Kelli went out there and tried it! She likes sporty things. I would have embarrassed myself. And Justin also went out there. Not sure where his photo went. I might have loaded pics up before they all came in. I also think his spears went directly into the ground. Hisheartening in front of the girl you like. (that's not Justin next to Kelli, who is in the brown shirt).

They had a few teepees set up. Some were warmer than others depending on whether the lower or high er flaps were open or off the ground. It was surprisingly cool in one of them.

Oh, there's Justin in the black shirt in the middle! Go, Justin!

Little man was so tired from the activity that he did actually fall sleep on the way home for a bit. Anderson is almost an hour away. But how cute is a sleeping 6 1/2 hr old. I think we wore him out.

Either Jared mentioned it in past years, or I've seen it in previous tweets/posts, or I do actually remember that she did this, I'm not sure. But God save Queen Elisabeth, the best British Queen ever! She's lived through so much British history. And she's still so poised and so lovely. AND she did actually have the band play it again on this 9/11 as well. Wonderful.

All times are Eastern times. Indiana was 1 hr behind because we didn't participate in daylight savings time back then and so far part of the year we are on the eastern time zone and part of the year we were on the central time zone. I was in a business writing class, went over to the student center, so the replays of the north tower truck, saw the south tower struck, called Jared, stuck around for my 10am class, and then finally went home when I knew everything was fully canceled, because education is so important to me. I will never forget 9/11.

Well, that's cool. I hope they do get to bring some of the limestone from the capital back here to rest. That's so cool! I want to revisit it this coming Friday when we are nearby at the Indiana Historical Society for a field trip there. They are a couple of steel beam from the twin towers themselves. Last time we were at the IHS, we had gone out from their lower level to the canal and then under a bridge and back up from some stairs so we didn't have to cross the street. Hopefully the kids will let me pause for a few minutes so I can let Abishai and I take it all in. I shared a few things with Abishai about 9/11 so he'd hear about it before we did a lesson on it towards the end of our history book this semester.

Here's the tweet about them doing it again.

Awesome sunset to end 9/11/2021.

 Sunday was a regular get back to routine day. Everyone had their places to be. And since I'm actually completing this post a week later on the next Sunday, I honestly don't remember how it was any different. Oh yeah, now that I loaded up the photos and videos, Abishai and I got to watch Miah on the drums through the church's live feed through the tablet! We sang along, too. Sweet! And then I turned it off for the sermon so I could be surprised when I was at church. I turned it back on through my phone so I could see the Parent's Promise for first service. Ah, and now I remember that I wrote a long post on Facebook about it. So I'll copy and paste that here:

Always a great day when your oldest son has the privilege of playing drums at church. He’s so talented. And I know he absolutely loves it. What a gift he has. We are proud of him using his talents for Kingdom Work. And my parents, my grandparents, and all the previous generations would also be so proud. Passing on the legacy of living for Jesus through music. I can’t help but get tears eyed each time he’s up there. He’s Mr. Independent these days, but I’m grateful he’s still physically close and I can enjoy this moments as his mom. He’s so talented and I had nothing to do with it and it’s so amazing how he taught himself. So amazing. Oh how I love this child of mine, my young adult. He drives me nuts, but at least he’s headed in the right direction in life. So proud of him. I miss him, too. He’s got his own life now and I only see him once a week. Growing up is hard on both the parents and the child. Today is Child Dedication Sunday too. How appropriate that 19 yrs ago we pledged to raise Benaiah up in the Lord on this very stage, and then we did it with the others, too. Incredible. So I pray for the new families and children doing that today. So much life to live. So much hard work ahead. But it’s worth it. Because you never know how God is going to form that child into a Kingdom Worker. How God is going to redeem that child and carry him or her into adulthood. Praise God that when we fail as parents, God is right there picking up the pieces and healing all the wounds. Redemption and reconciliation do happen. Just plain amazing. 19 years. From dedicating our child to God to him being the fine young man he is today. What a miracle. My boy, I love you. Parents, we are with you. Raising up another generation of people that love God and love people. Amen.

Last night's late night dinner because I didn't feel like eating after being in the heat at the Pow-Wow and getting everybody settled back home again. It was a huge apple that we picked from the orchard, plus peanut butter, pecans, and semi sweet chocolate chips. It was actually too much and I nearly got sick on it. A bit too much peanut butter and chocolate, both of which are legumes and I'm sensitive to legumes and then the dairy in the chocolate. Whoops.

Mom and Dad were too tired to make it to the 9am service, so we watched Benaiah play drums from home. Since Abishai goes to Sunday School, it's actually a cool thing that he gets to see this via the livestream. Great songs this wee, too. I just wish Benaiah played more often. I would hate for him to loose his ability to do this because he didn't use it often enough. But, not many know how to do the job he does behind stage so he's in bigger demand there.

Watch out for that flying hair and the hand that goes up to push it back!

Someday, they will actually put the back row in better lighting. I never understand why they are back there in the dark. Even in person it's so much darker. I don't get it.

Benaiah playing drums 9/12/2021

 

 

 

I switched to my phone when I logged back in so I only got screenshots of the Parent's Promise. I will say that I got some clearer shots though.

Awwww, 19 years ago we were on this stage doing the same thing with Baby Benaiah. Crazy! That's a really long time! And yet, I still think I'm really young, like 20 something.

I had the curls going for me this morning, so I left my hair down for once.

Then we went to church and some of our friends were doing the Parents Promise in the second service. Ensmingers, Hankins, Turners, to name a few.

They say a promise, then friends and family say a promise, and then we as a congregation say a promise to help raise the children in the Lord and teach them about God and lead them to God. And well, we did exactly that, baby dedication, with all 4 of our kids, in the exact same location, and all 4 kids, in the same church, and in the same baptistry, have now been baptized, as of this summer. So, I think we've all fulfilled at least part of that promise. They aren't fully grown and even when they are young adults, the parenting doesn't stop there, but it does change a lot. So, I guess we have sort of "arrived" in our parenting and maybe that's why it feels a bit odd at times. We are no longer a young family. We are still in the middle of raising a family, or maybe past the middle. And now it's our responsibility to be dishing out the advice, if we are allowed to. It feels very, very weird though and I still feel very, very unqualified.

We love the "Shut the Box" game because you have to add up the numbers on the dice in order to flip over the number on the board. Great for learning addition!

Yup.

The End