Patriotic Palooza!

It's podcast Tuesday, so here are some stories to keep you company while you go about your day! Enjoy! (You'll notice I got super creative in titling it.)

Listen here!

Yesterday I finally had time to pilfer through my pictures from our weekend, and I wanted to share with you some of the fun we had being part of our church's big patriotic program. (Our church does two HUGE musical programs each year. One is patriotic and the other is filled with Christmas music! This was our first time to be in one, and Ryan's first time to even see one. I'd come to a few of them years ago with my mom, because she really likes them. But still, it had been several years since I'd seen one!)

(Also: most of these pictures are ones I took but a small handful were gathered from Facebook finds. So here's some generic photo credit to all those who came and took pictures!)

Here we are in the choir room before the first of the three performances. I was so nervous. 

Clearly Ryan was, too. Here he is a bit later before the choir filed out:

I had an almost-front-row seat in the audience, where I sat with my fellow narrators. I tried to sneak some pictures throughout the various nights. Some photos aren't the best because I didn't want to take time to really set everything up. (Trying not to get on every last nerve of the people behind me.)

These four guys are a quartet from our church and they sing together quite often. The guy second from the left is a retired police officer from our hometown, and he was our official D.A.R.E. officer when we were fifth graders! (Do they still do that program in schools? I'm not sure.) Anyway. He's hilarious. The Lord went long on personality with him! 

These guys sang for about fifteen minutes before each night officially began. 

See Ryan? Isn't he so handsome?

See the guy at the piano? WOW. He is t.a.l.e.n.t.e.d. I could listen to him play for about 400 hours. He was one of my favorite parts of coming to rehearsals with Ryan. I always sat where I could watch him play and then I imagined that I had that much talent, too! (Daydreams for the win.)

This is Lisa, and she has an incredible voice. She sings many solos at church, and with good reason! Ryan ended up sitting next to her for the performances, so they became friends! 

PS - Love her shoes. I would have tripped and broken my head wearing them, but love them.

In addition to the choir, they brought in gymnasts and dancers and drumlines and all kinds of fun extras. Here's a shot of one of the dance groups:

 Our pastor just became an American citizen last year. (He's originally from England and still has a delightful accent.) The church recognized his official citizenship during the program. (The picture on the screen behind him is from the day he became an official citizen.)

 The choir sang the Preamble (bonus! I learned the Preamble during this!) and this gentleman was "writing" it as they sang.

They recognized the veterans each night as well, but I want to save those pictures for tomorrow's post. So just imagine them.

There were four narrators each night. We worked in pairs. This is the other pair!

(The girl down front was another dancer, and she had the kindest, most genuine smile. I enjoyed watching her!)

A little quartet fun. (Gotta sing Kokomo when you live there, right?)

 And some small ensemble fun:

Our pastor presented a brief message each evening. 

Oh! And one of the other narrators was kind enough to get some pictures of me with my narrating partner (her name is Sharon) on the last night. I call this piece "The Goodwill and the Boutique." Sharon owns a boutique and, well, I shop at the Goodwill. I think we coordinated nicely, nonetheless, don't you?

We had a pretty big number of friends and family who came to enjoy the program throughout the weekend. We didn't get pictures with everyone, but here are a few!

Ryan's Grandma and her husband:

 My mom and aunt:

Ryan's dad and step-mom:

Ryan's mom:

A couple of Ryan's cousins:

Ryan's other grandma:

My friend Ronda:

There were more, but these are a few! 

And the ONE THING I wanted was a good picture of Ryan and me at the church. Yeah. Forgot about that. How about a stoplight selfie?

So that was our program! It was so much fun to be part of something that has gained such a great reputation among community members, and it was a joy to make new friends through it, too! I'm glad we found something we can do together, even if we are using different talents in the process!