Spring Forward

A few of my piano kids at Sundin Hall on March 12. 

The "After" Picture. New life to a very old sofa.

A before picture of the cabin kitchen

The other side. Say goodbye to three layers of vinyl flooring. 

Easter Dinner

The school year of our Lord, that is, 2015-2016, will go down as the most dramatically and obviously overbooked year yet to date. I'm not proud of this. . . we are weaving our way out. . . and saving future yeses for sacred tasks. I have put a passcode on the iCal application, and the password is: "don't do this." That is a joke. But. . . sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before it all becomes clear. It's clear. Just say no.

In spite of week after week of 15 hour days. . . and the tail bone thing, and 10 weeks of bronchitis, it's been a really, really great year. I've never been more thankful for my family & friends, and the studio and our music teacher organizations and our choir.

The piano kids are playing beautifully. Every single one. I'm so pleased. The new piano sounds great and it's really a boost. All the ideas from Kathy Faricy and Calvin's coaching with Tadeusz Majewski have also been a great inspiration to me. And, I'm this . . .  close to finishing the teacher training process. The national conference in May, and my internship in Colorado in June, and I'm there.

I'm also reading the best book ever. Thank you, Kathy H. from Deerwood for this recommendation. The book is called GIST, the Essence of Raising Life-Ready Kids, by Michael W. Anderson and Timothy Johanson. It's one of those where you want to buy a copy for everyone whether they have kids or not. I. LOVE. THIS. BOOK.

The book validates every gut feeling I ever had about parenting, but didn't have the courage, mindfulness or stamina to follow through upon. And some that I did. The book is convicting but equally encouraging. I believe it also correlates well with our Suzuki philosophy. For example, when you are in a mode where you feel like there is a million things to fix about a kid, you just pick two things, and focus on ONLY those. For example--getting out of bed on time, and brushing their teeth morning and night. Then you make a dramatic consequence for ONLY those things. We really can only change a little at a time. It's the same thing with any good piano lesson--one or maybe two. . . points to think about is all the child can handle.

The other parallel is that although the Suzuki Triangle is critical for early childhood, ultimately we need kids who can practice independently and take ownership of their piano life, sooner rather than later. It might perhaps be the most important thing. We can't sit with them forever. Same with life. We can't knock on the dorm room door every morning to get the kid out of bed. I'm gonna turn on the light in five minutes. . . . not.

My last Deerwood plant sale is almost done. I'm not saying that I made any serious oversights, but there wasn't a place for the student's name, on the order form that went out to 500 families, and it says the forms are due Monday April 1. Tra la la.

Spring forward. There's a light at the end of the tunnel. Two months left. I'm renewed and ready to go. I'm prioritizing sleep and cutting out sugar. I'm making sure I get my exercise even if it means I can't schedule a meeting. This is how we do it.

At the end of this school year, I will know we did a great thing. I'm sure you all have done great things too. Summer will be a fresh start.

Happy Easter!

Here's a link to our Easter choir performance--Calvin and I had a very fun time doing a four hands accompaniment.
"I Know that My Redeemer Lives"