Virginia International Military Tattoo

WOW!  I had to get that off my chest.  First, I'm a musician, a bad one, but still good enough to recognize good talent and skill.  Whilst we were still in Germany we took our long vacation in 2010 to Great Brittan and our Northern stop was Edinburgh just in time for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo... I had never seen anything like it and I was utterly amazed at what I had seen.  Brilliant to use a great Brit term is the only word to describe the atmosphere.  I thought nothing could compare, however, tonight my bride and I drove to Norfolk and were we surprised. 

Tonight opened the Virginia IMT and we both commented on how amazing it was.  Now, I'm not so daft to think that this could be cause the majority of the bands that were playing were our men and women across the various services or the fact there was a very nice military tribute across service lines, but it was more than that. 

The Marine Band from Quantico was absolutely phenomenal.  I can't put words to it.  There was a pipe and drum team from Canada, Scotland, and from the US and they were all exceptional.  There was a theme to this year’s event that revolved around American History and our triumphs over tyranny.  Overall A- event. 

The only thing that could have been better is there could have been MORE PIPES!!!!! My only complaint is that every time the pipes and drums came out it seemed like they were rushed off after one song for the next act.  Don't get me wrong the bands were great that followed, but I came primarily to hear pipes... I would have loved to have given them more time. 

There is something about the pipes.  I told by lovely bride tonight that no matter where I'm at or what I'm doing when I hear the pipe calling in the wind I can't help getting caught up in the music emotionally.  It isn't sadness, but they bring out such emotion... humph!   I loved it... I could go to a show like that every weekend.  Now this is a local event that we WILL be re-attending. 

No Aid for the Needy!

So we've been entertaining sending Sam and Liam to a private school this coming fall... however, it is quite expensive.  So expensive in fact that we are working to rearrange how we live to afford it as we think this is a wise investment in their future.  We, however, do not have the mean to afford such an endeavor and sought the help of an educational grant to help offset the tuition.  We were not looking for a full ride, but enough to soften the blow.  However, we received our letter today that says... we do not recommend assistance at this time given your current finances and assets...Um... don't get me wrong we are o.k. but we have to watch what we spend and we are considering selling the Mini to help offset the costs.  But we really... REALLY don't have that much left over.  So unless we can offload some of our "assets" it looks like we'll join the Bosch family home school group...

The Not So Tastey "Pig-o-Nior" Wine Fest and a long day on the Pitch...

So Saturday seemed to start like all the rest.  Awake to the sounds of little feet running through the halls of the house and distant calls for "mommy."  I was off to ref High School Men's rugby which was the first occasion to do so.  I've normally refed small college matches, but went down to the U19 level... very passionate about their play, but much work needs to be done to refine their skills on the pitch. 

Regardless... I came back home just in time for the Pig-o-Nior Wine fest here in Smithfield... it was a nice event... could have been much better with wine that actually tasted like wine... VA wine is AWFUL!!!  Please never buy it.  So we and friends from my fellowship at ACC came back to the house and we opened a few bottles of German Rieslings and improved the day greatly...

What will be our plans for next years Pig-o-Nior?  Anything other than going there! 

Stay thirsty my friends...

Happy He has Risen Day...

Today was a normal Easter Sunday, however, there wasn't as much leading up to the day as I had remembered in years past... Maybe cause our church did not follow an advent schedule this year accounts for why I'm a bit off.  It seems like Easter snuck up on my this year.  The last few years we were in Germany and we had participated in advent, singing in an Easter chior or playing "Christ the Lord Has Risen Today" on the trumpet accompanied by Mr. and Mrs Gorske, and Noele Sadler on the Cello, French Horn and Piano respectively.  This year  I was asked to play a part for the offertory "Up from the Grave He Arose" and it is a wonderful hymn.  My fellow trumpetier Glen and pianist Cindy I'm sure had doubts after our morning practice as I could not for the life of me get my lips working.   I sounded almost dying goosish.  It was quite bad actually.  I had many thoughts of recusing myself from the festivities when I was reminded by Glen that it is all for His glory; good or bad.  So after taking an hour off after our morning practice we were called into action and it went off without a hitch.  Although, Tanna said I did become about 6 deeper shades of red when hitting my high Fs. 

After service we took a few photos at home to commemorate this years Easter Sunday dress in hopes of finding a suitable Christmas card photo early.  You can see some of them below.

As I sat through the sermon I found myself contemplating what kind of Easter sermon we would hear today.  Would we hear the standard or would we hear something more compelling.  We heard the latter.  We heard of how significant God's death was for the atonement of our sins.  How the shedding of His blood allows for our sins to be washed away, but what was new for this sermon was the significance of his resurrection.  We saw that the finished work of God would not have been accomplished in Christ had we not seen the resurrection.  That the atoning work of Christ would not have been enough to satisfy God's wrath for our sins.  Of course had he not resurrected His Son.  The Good News is... He did... and it was the truthfulness of these events that took place that allowed the remaining 11 to go out and continue to proclaim God's word and the forgiveness of sins through the atoning work of Christ. 

Happy He Has Risen Day and take joy in the fact that this isn't myth or fairy tale and that we have a hope in a God who sacrificed His Son so that we might be saved. 

Tim

Well here is a start to our blogging adventures.  I'm at home trying to finish a paper for my fellowship so I decided to take a break.   These pictures are from a walk/bike-ride we went on down our street.  It was funny how quickly they took to them.  We bought Sam's bike last year, but she wasn't really excited about getting it out or putting it together plus we lived in Germany so the narrow roads and the speed of drivers was always a factor in not really pushing it.  Now we live on a nice cul-de-sac connected to another cul-de-sac so there is almost no traffic. 

Liam still wants to peddle backward on occasion, but we are trying to teach him that those are the breaks.  It is funny when he gets going really fast he stops looking where he is going and looks in amazement at how fast his legs are going... often driving his bike right into the grass or into his sisters bike, which of course goes over like cold butter on a thin piece of bread...

They are really great kids and we are so blessed to be their parents.  To have been given stewardship over them. 

Here is another brother-sister photo that I love.  Sitting on the tail gate of a truck is just a relaxing thing.  It is like the front porch swing.  Kicking your legs back and forth shootin the breeze.  I have fun memories of just hanging out talking to friends and family while sitting on the tail gate.  We were out doing some yard work and I snapped this with my phone while we were taking a break.  It is all about creating those moments that you remember for a life time.  Hopefully this will be one for them.



The Beginning

The time for Facebook participation has been coming to an end for a while.  We love the availabiltiy to connect with so many people, but we wanted a slower pace to share our lives with our friends and family.  So I welcome you to our blog site and I look forward to seeing you in the future...
Tim