Drama, The Wintons, a Surprise Visit, and a Bunch of Random Stuff

First Topic:  Drama!!

Oh, the exciting life with all the drama!!.... not.  Actually, it's about our Drama group, though I suppose that all of you got that.

Any how, I am extremely happy about the play that we are doing this semester.  It is a comedy called "Hollywood Hillbillies".  Very funny and very reminiscent of our first one.  We were going to try doing some actual dramas, but our audience loves the comedies. And, as one gentleman put it, "we have enough drama in our lives that we don't need to watch it..". I agree!  It's a great thing for families to get together and go to an event that each member will enjoy, and they will laugh and talk about later.

There are three types of characters: Your average Joe, Hollywood snooty people, and hillbillies.  I get to be a hillbilly.  Frankly, I don't have to do a whole lot of acting to do my part. ;-)

Here are a few pictures from Tuesday at Drama practice.

 The Famous, well loved Director

 Sitting in the rows, gathering for mom's pep talk. ;-) 

 Gathering and plopping for "Script Reading Circle".  We decided it was much easier to just sit on the floor than to gather all the chairs for kids to sit on. 

 I have no idea what's wrong with this picture....

 Visitin' away

 Gram Hawley (me) and Cousin Clem 

 Greeting our stuck up Hollywood relatives

 Bubba (Caleb)."He's got this thing about crawling..."

 "Stand on your own two feet like you wuz human."

 Giving his cousins a "vulgar", as they would call it, welcome.

Waiting for his cue.

So, after drama, we went to a friends house (their girls are in the drama group) and hung out, had dinner, etc. We girls started recording another radio drama and had a blast. Then, we all loaded up and went to see the Wintons in Concert!  If no one has heard of the Wintons, they are an amazing Bluegrass Music group.  It is the father and his two sons.  They. Were. Amazing! I love bluegrass music any way where you can hear the banjo, guitar, mandolin, Dobro, etc. It's especially fun when you add a fiddle.. but I'm partial there.  In any case, this was truly spectacular. I really enjoyed it.  I did get a couple of videos of them playing, but as blogger still doesn't like it when I upload videos, I won't be able to share them at this time.  The one song I did not video, and I am extremely bummed that I didn't, was when the boys did Dueling Banjos. That is my ultimate favorite bluegrass song, and probably one that every bluegrass player knows.  Cody and Jessie, however, did an amazing twist with it that was totally enjoyable. They had lots of fun doing it, and you could tell.  So, I am SOOOOO bummed that I didn't get it recorded!!  I ended up getting so excited that they were playing it (and dedicated it to me, I might add!) that I totally forgot to record! *slaps forehead*.  And, you ask, how in the world did they dedicate it to me?  Well, it was actually my mom and myself.  They asked the audience (which wasn't that big, I might add) who had heard of dueling banjos. Mom and I were the only ones that nodded or whatever. So, they said they dedicated it to us. ;-) Any how, it was fun. Perhaps another time I will get to record it as I hope to go to another one of their concerts if they are ever in the area. :-)

A few pictures... Sorry they are kind of blurry. I turned the flash off because the flash is extremely bright.. and I didn't want to be drawing attention to myself in the middle of the song!

 (Again, I don't know why the camera/picture did that!)

Cody plays the banjo and Dobro.  Jessie plays the mandolin and guitar.  Both of them are state champions (maybe world.. can't remember) for picking.  They can pick those instruments faster 'n anyone I've ever seen! It's really neat, especially since they're only 19 and 17.
The Surprise visit!!!  Oh this was neat.  We are getting ready for church one morning (it was at our house) when my brother calls down the hall that one of the families was here.  We were still getting dressed and, obviously, freaked out.  Turns out he was just kidding.  Well, ten minutes later, he says, "Oh. Someone is here..." Becs and I were in the bedroom finishing up. I told her that they were kidding.  My mom kind of shrieked or something, so I thought they were just being super dramatic trying to tease us.. and then I heard another woman's voice.  I stepped out into the hallway and there were some very dear friends of ours!  They had moved to Alaska and we hadn't seen them in 2 years from the last time they visited.  This was a SUPER huge surprise!!  We were so excited. Their daughters are off at college, so Becs and I weren't able to see them. But, Mr. and Mrs. V were here and their son as well. It was just so nice to see them again! We were totally surprised. :-)  We'll get to see them again this coming Sunday as they plan on joining us for church again.

My random part of the post is boring. I haven't been doing a whole lot.  Some school, but mostly been lazy as I've had this lingering cough from my strep that just. Won't. Go. Away.  Extremely frustrating because I don't sleep well, which means I'm tired throughout the day. That's pretty much why I haven't been accomplishing a whole lot.
 Josh and I are going to be entering our home school convention Showcase with a comedy skit from the Smothers Brothers. Our Home school convention has one night where you can bring the whole family for free. We do the showcase (home school students can play instruments, sing, etc. They just enter and wait to find out if they got picked or not), this year a choir will be coming and singing several songs, and then we have a speaker who gives a talk.  It's a very fun night and interesting as well.  Last year our speaker was a gentleman by the name of Emir Caner. Some of you may have heard of him, or may have had the enjoyment of hearing him speak.  For those of you who don't know, Mr. Caner was a Muslim who turned to Christianity.  His talks are really neat to hear and I really enjoy listening to them.

Any how, I suppose that's about all. I could get to rambling some more, but I'm sure you really don't want to hear that. ;-)

How is everyone else doing?  Anything exciting (or boring) going on?

In Christ's Service,
Sarah