Easter Sunday Joy

Pancake breakfast; dressing in our Sunday best; egg hunting.

Bible reading; Church with friends.

Decorating the bare branches to make our Easter Tree.

Lunch in the park with the brass band playing; a ride on the model steam trains; Toy Story 3 in the afternoon; another church service in the evening.

Lots of Easter Sunday Joy. :)

Easter Trip to the Animal Farm

Our family Christmas Gift from my parents last year was 2 nights at a beautiful farm in the mountains. We claimed it this Easter break.

It rained and rained and rained........ did I mention it rained?

But we were (fairly) prepared with umbrellas, gum boots and jumpers, and we still ventured out of doors to explore and enjoy the land and the animals.

The mist in the valley lingered day and night.

There were endless cups of tea and coffee (it was cold...), chocolate to share and a nice bottle of red wine for me. Warm socks, a fireplace, and feet up on the coffee table.

A lovely Easter break.

A Holiday Escape

Well, our little family is heading away for a holiday tomorrow. We will be spending time in the city with family for a few days, then escaping to the mountains for two nights at a farm stay (thanks to my parents' Christmas gift to us!), then having a night at the beach with family before heading home again. I'm sure I'll have lots of photos to share next week. :)

Blessings to you all as we head towards the Easter season. xx

Catch-Up Post

I'm sorry everyone - I said I was back on the blog, but have remained a rather non-existent blogger! Here is a catch-up type post on what's happening here in our lives.

* It is Easter Holidays. We are at the end of the first of two weeks holiday. This week we have been at home, and next week we will be away. It has been nice to be all together again (though the big two children are missing school!)

* I am still recovering from The Music Man. It has been a genuine time of grief for me - hard to explain unless you have been through this yourself. But I am working through this time with lots of prayer, good friends, and chocolate...

* The Music Man was a huge success! It covered the newspapers and headlines these past weeks, and the Theatre is already discussing what next year's musical may be. "My Fair Lady" seems to be the current favourite.

* We have a very positive lead on our house - a couple came through last weekend, and loved it. We are hoping to receive an offer tomorrow - please pray! It has been a long, difficult six months waiting for a buyer and I am praying these are the people we've been waiting for.

* We are house hunting again, after losing the last two homes we had under contract.

* The children, chickens and kittens are all well, thriving and happy. :) The garden, however, is sorely neglected.

* I had a very successful night on Tuesday - participating in a vocal 'Master Class', in which I had to sing "Think of Me" (Phantom) and "Show Me" (My Fair Lady) - in front of about 40 people at the theatre, and be critiqued by the current Adjudicator of the QLD Eisteddfod. It was daunting to say the least!! However, her critique was helpful and very positive. I came away feeling empowered and inspired to further pursue my singing more seriously.

* Tonight we fed the children early, and I'm about to sing and pray with Saraya then make Stuart and I a "grown up" dinner. We rarely do this and I thought it would be nice to sit together and chat.

* I received a Photo CD from The Music Man with about 200 professional photos on it, yesterday. Seeing them all brought all the memories pouring back! Here are a few for your interest....

'Harold' and 'Marian' - this one was used as the full page promotional photo in our regional newspaper.

Program head shots...

This one was also in the paper - myself with 'Mrs Paroo' and younger brother 'Winthrop'.

Full cast photo.

More to come, and I'm looking forward to catching up on all your blogs soon too!

It's All Over

Farewell script...

.... and farewell beautiful costumes.

The season of my life which was "The Music Man" is over.

My children came to see the final performance on Sunday afternoon. They made this sign weeks ago - and held it up, cheering, when I came out for my curtain call! Beautiful, patient children they are. I'm mega blessed.

And my house is filled with flowers!

The above from 'Harold', my male lead.

And these beautiful white lillies from Stuart :)

And these ones were presented to me on stage after the final performance, by 'Harold' - on behalf of the Production Team. It was so special. The whole house smells wonderful.

After the final show, in the theatre foyer - Stuart "Marcellus", and me "Marian" - this is the sweet vintage dress I worked so hard to fit into! ;)

I have SO many more things to share with you - newspaper articles, backstage photos, the program shots, professional photos from the shoot, etc. etc.

But for now, let me just share that this has been the most wonderful stage experience of my entire life. Absolute bliss. I have been very blue these past two days, and depressed it's all over, but trying to relish the memories, thank the Lord for this opportunity, and delight in the afterglow of such a successful production.

And I'm back on the blog, by the way. :) Thanks for waiting for me!