Months ago, Jeff proposed a plan for our anniversary celebration: attend a local dinner theatre.
You see, he’s being all sneaky. Ever since I wrote up The List back in October, he’s been suggesting or planning things for me off my list. Especially with a baby coming this year, he wants me to experience as many of these things as possible. My birthday included #56, our anniversary was #26, and we have plans in the works (again, his idea) that include #49 and #63.
Yeah, I’m a lucky girl.
So… that Friday night (how nice that our anniversary was on a Friday this year!) we drove up to La Comedia Dinner Theatre just south of Dayton for their production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I forgot my camera (can you believe it?) so you’ll just have to use your imagination for visuals.
We weren’t quite sure what to expect from the schedule for the evening. (Do we eat while the show is going on simultaneously?) Turns out they served a big buffet down on the stage after the salad course. You even get a chance at seconds, as if we could eat any more after piling our plates high the first time around. They offered a nice selection of vegetables, potatoes, breads, and meats, but with a couple exceptions, we thought the food was adequate in quality. Dessert was served to our table after dinner and just before the show.
I grew up loving the movie version of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and was curious what Jeff would think of it. “Musical” is not an automatic turn-off for him, though not his preference. I was also curious how a stage version would compare to the movie and the performances of Howard Keel, Russ Tamblyn, and Jane Powell.
I felt like we got the abbreviated, just-hit-the-high-points version of the story. I enjoyed it because I enjoyed the movie and the songs, but in a walk-down-memory-lane sort of way. I think it’s best to have seen the movie beforehand. That said, the supporting actors especially were very good. We both enjoyed the parts when the seven brothers and seven brides sang in unison. The dances and costumes were terrific. The poor male lead kept trying so hard to live up to Howard Keel, but that’s just impossible.
The theatre was quite nice inside and bigger than either of us expected. The service and atmosphere were also nice. The low lights and table for two set a nice atmosphere for our celebratory occasion.
While I didn’t love this particular experience as much I expected to, it was fun just to get out and try something fun and new together.
I just wanted to give a quick update on the Aruna 5k from last week. Unlike last year’s beautiful weather, this year started out in the rain and cold. Jeff and I were glad we were walking and could carry umbrellas! Despite the cold and wet, the event brought out over 500 people and raised over $27,000!
Thank you to anyone who gave and/or prayed. Several of the women in the Aruna Project knew of our efforts last weekend and sent their personal thanks. I wish I could remember their names, but it’s wonderful to know individual lives are being changed. Please continue to pray for those women and girls still in bondage and those who have been freed, but are still healing.
The end of March was a bit of a rough time. I shed many tears for my own loses and the loses of several families. You know how they say death comes in 3s? For me, it was three in one week.
- Dave, 52, passed away after a 6-month battle with cancer on March 22th. I already wrote about him here. Though I knew Dave only a short time, he was a great example of how to live gently and humbly and how to die with grace and hope.
- JoAnn, 76, passed away after a long battle with cancer on March 25th. I’ve known JoAnn for as long as I can remember. She and her husband Dick were ever present in the life of the small church I grew up in: leading VBS crafts, serving in the kitchen, giving smiles and hugs. I used to cat-sit for them when they went on vacation. JoAnn was a talented artist, and I am so thankful to have two of her beautiful watercolors hanging in my home today. They will always remind me of her and the sweetness she brought to life.
- Dylan, 22, was in a freak accident on his way to class at the University of Cincinnati on March 28th. A wheel came off of a semi truck going north on I-75, bounced over the median, and smashed into Dylan’s van on southbound I-75. I only met Dylan a few times, but it was obvious he was a sweet guy. I’ve spent time with his parents, Tim and Lisa, at a few occasions over the past couple years since the family moved to town. If ever there was a family who’s had their share of hardship, it’s that one.
Dave’s memorial service was just two weeks ago on April 9th. I brought a wad of kleenex with me and still barely had enough. It was such a beautiful, God-honoring service; I think Dave would have liked it. When he knew the end was near, he recorded a message for our church body. While hard to watch in many way, I can hardly express how good it was to hear from him one last time. His family also put together a wonderful slideshow of life, which you can see here.
That next Sunday, Pastor Wayne took a break from his normal series in the book of Luke to address the recent hardships in our church body. Not only did Dave’s and Dylan’s deaths hit close together, some families have been dealing with new cancer diagnoses. All this happened while Wayne and a large group, including several elders, were out of the country.
It’s been strange to be pregnant while death has surrounded me, but a good reminder that life comes and goes in God’s timing and He is good through it all.
I haven’t done a significant amount of writing in several weeks now, and I miss it. Posts have been slim here as urgent tasks and heavy life events have kept both my fingers and thoughts occupied apart from blogging. More on that tomorrow. As it is, this post is long over due.
This coming Saturday, Jeff and I will be walking a 5k. We’re not participating just for the fun of it or for our health. You see, the Aruna 5k is an event to raise money and awareness for a horrific problem: women and girls in bondage to the sexual slave trade. Aruna is a hindi word which means ‘bright morning sun’ and is also the name of an initiative in Mumbai, India to end human sexual trafficking. The Aruna Project operates in one of the largest red light districts in Asia — two square miles in the heart of Mumbai — working to free those who are trapped and enslaved — one life at a time.
We participated last year and it was wonderful to see people come out, spread the word, and raise money to help our sisters on the other side of the world. The guy who organizes this event goes to our church and works directly with the Aruna Project year-round so I know the funds raised are put to good use. If you’re interested in sponsoring us, use the form below to contact me and I’ll send you a link to my fundraising page. (I’m not posting the direct link here for privacy reasons.) If we’re Facebook friends, you can also find the link on my page. Of course, if we’re real-life friends, feel free to just email me.
Linked up with Wordless Wednesday, Project Alicia, To Be Thode, It’s A Blog Party, Ramble Road Ramblings, Better in Bulk, and Alli n Son.
We’re making progress on some much needed projects over here at our house lately. This week we have a guy repairing our hole in the dining room ceiling. We had been waiting to fix the hole until after we had some work done on the bathroom, but the bathroom is going to have to wait a bit longer and we wanted our dining room back.
Here’s the progress after Day 1:
Looks a bit better than this, huh?
And here’s the progress after Day 3:
Can’t wait to repaint the ceiling and rehang the light! We are so thankful that Kirt could come and do this work for us. In the meantime, it’s fun to have your living room full with most of your dining room too, right?
While the dining room is cleared out, Jeff took advantage of it and painted the baseboard trim. Over the weekend I tackled some more sections of our living room trim.
You see, the previous owners had painted everything—the walls and trim—the same dingy, flat white color. There are a lot of colors of white out there, and most of them look good. However, these people managed to find the one that was dull and gross.
See the difference?
The kicker is, if you look very closely, you can see that the trim used to be a normal white color before they dull-ified it. The entire house, except the kitchen, was this color. We immediately started painting the walls upon ownership, but never got around to the trim. Now we’re slowly working on it piece by piece.
Anyway…
The big project over the weekend was replacing the warped, broken fence door. Let’s just say we haven’t recommended to anyone the guys who built our fence a few years back. Jeff ended up with cedar fence boards from our local lumber yard and built and installed the new door over the weekend. I helped with the installation, but my weekend warrior did the brunt of the work.
Still needs new handles, and will always be a little warped because of the big posts, but it’s soooo much better. As in, we can actually use it again.
My other big project of the moment is implementing a lot of changes at LoLCampCedarbrook.org, the web site I built and run for a wonderful camp that I attended as a kid and volunteered at for a couple summers.
If anyone within a couple hour radius of northern Illinois is looking for a good Christian camp this summer, I can personally vouch for Land o’ Lincoln Camp Cedarbrook!
And, finally, a preview of projects to come:
Linked up with Wordless Wednesday, Project Alicia, To Be Thode, It’s A Blog Party, Ramble Road Ramblings, Better in Bulk, and Alli n Son.
