Acts Cast Party

March 26, 2018 | Stacy

This was the boys’ fourth year in the Charles Finney School’s musical, and it was also the fourth year that I volunteered to be part of the cast party crew. Actually, last year I was tapped to take home all the left over items and the bag of doo-dads with the expectation that I would assume the lead responsibilities for this year’s party. I was more than fine with that because that meant they were excited about my kids coming back again!

My friend, Julie, agreed to be on the committee and we quickly fell into co-coordinating roles. I sincerely enjoyed working with her last year and it was very wonderful to have this opportunity to work side-by-side again. It was even better than it might sound, because literally NO ONE ELSE joined us!

You know how when you go into Party City there is a section to buy party gear for every conceivable party theme? Have you ever happened into their section for first century Middle East and Rome? Have you? No, you haven’t. Thankfully, Julie is super smart and looked up some items like “Pentecost” and “Fishermen” on Pinterest; and I am super desperate and looked up things like “Jail” and “Jerusalem.” And somehow we ended up with a few things.

Helium balloons with card stock doves represented the Pentecost.
We had Roman roads.
We had a jail, a well, two snazzy palm tree, and some signs our handy husbands each made pieces of.
And it turned out really, really cool.

The young man who played Peter (Benji) and Stewart (who played Paul) handed out the directors’ gifts.

And each actor received a tongue-in-cheek “award” from their directors.

These are the seniors.

And this is a God thing…. My homeschooled sons were part of a high school musical four years running. He gives good gifts.

A mountain top weekend.

March 26, 2018 | Stacy

Some seasons, we find ourselves in the valleys of life; we walk through hard places and experience painful refining.

Other times we are wholly on top of the mountain, just basking in all that is good and joy-filled and life-giving.

On Friday afternoon, it suddenly dawned on me as I dropped off my boys at the Charles Finney School that I was having a mountain-top weekend.

For starters, Marie, Tabitha and Johanna were performing in the church’s production, “Who Can He Be?” This is the same production our church did in 2012 and 2013. I was able to participate in 2012, and John participated in 2013. Marie and Tabitha were also in both of those shows, albeit as markedly younger performers. This time around, both are part of the adult ensemble and had much larger roles.

The boys and I were able to go to the dress rehearsal on Wednesday, March 21st, and I was able to watch a second time on Thursday, March 22nd.

I was blown away by the musical. Though I had been in it in 2012, I had never watched the entire production from start to finish. My sister, Kelly, also played the woman at the well.

My joy would have been complete if that was where it ended.

Oh boy – that’s only half the story.

Since December, Stewart and Nigel have been practicing at the Charles Finney School to be part of their production, “Acts – A City Rising,” a modern retelling of the book of Acts.

Stewart was cast as Saul of Tarsus/Paul, and Nigel was cast as Isaac, a zealous defender of God and persecutor of Christians.

As I dropped them off for their cast call on Friday and hurried home to get the girls ready for their performance and over to the church it dawned on me how this is the kind of joy-filled weekend I had to hang on to. Remembering just how abundantly we were blessed for this weekend should constantly remind me of how God loves us. My kids – my HOMESCHOOLED kids – get to be part of fabulous, Godly stage productions. How cool is that?

I could blow up the internet with images of the boys’ production. They put in almost 100 hours of rehearsal. Stewart met with Mr. Carl Wager many, many times as Mr. Wager helped him advance his singing abilities. I had no idea the treat I was in for as my son sang triumphantly as he conveyed Saul/Paul’s life.

As the boys and I left the production Friday evening, they asked if I had cried at the end. I confessed I had not and they were disappointed. Truth-be-told, I think I was in shock. I believe it wasn’t until after the third production that I truly grasped the full story; until that point I think I was just absorbing, “Those are my handsome boys! There are my handsome boys!”

I feel like I know the apostles so much better after this show. And I am in awe even more of how much God loves us and how He grew the church. I can barely express how moved I was by this musical. What is more, I can barely express how generous God is.

It’s almost here…

March 21, 2018 | Stacy

I got my second sneak preview of the upcoming Acts: A City Rising musical today at Rochester Christian School.

It’s a lot to process when your son is S/Paul and he is singing like you’ve never heard before.

Making music move

December 22, 2017 | Stacy

The oldest three sang with the adult choir for Christmas, and Tab and Johanna sang with the Children’s Choir. Both groups went to a local Senior Living facility tonight to share some musical Christmas joy.

Though you can’t see him… Nigel is there too.

Big Brother

October 12, 2017 | Stacy

They don’t see him as much as they’d like to, but thankfully Stewart still finds time to mess around with his little sisters.

I’m so grateful for the connections they all have.

A few weeks ago, as we were commenting on how much he is gone these days, Stewart said something like, “Can you imagine if I had been in school all these years? I’d, like, barely know these guys.”

Amen, buddy. That makes it worth every tough school day, in my heart.

Galatians 6:9
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

The babysitter

September 6, 2017 | Stacy

Stewart is going to FLCC full time this semester for his senior year of high school. As he left this morning, he made a mention to Katriel to watch his old Maow-kitty for him.

She agreed to do it. She carried her around all day and was very loving toward her.

A few hours later, I asked her if she wanted to run some errands with me. Her eyes lit up, then she looked somewhat concerned. Reading her thoughts, I added, “Maow can come with us.” She relaxed, beamed and hurried to get her shoes.

Luke 16:10
One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much

Seabreeze, 2017

August 30, 2017 | Stacy

Once upon a time “summer” equaled “Seabreeze” for these disciples. How is it, then, that our family hasn’t been there in a few YEARS and the littlest Butler has no memory of it?

I think it’s a combination of having a pool, having bigger kids getting busier, having the prices more than double from the first year we bought them, and having the big kids get a little TOO familiar with the place.

My work made tickets available for $13 pp for up to six people. A co-worker helped me secure three additional tickets. I got the tickets back in June and we proceeded to sit on them foReVEr!

FLCC classes and Toronto weekend made June a poor time to visit.
Costa Rica and VBS and Prince Edward Island wiped out most usable dates in July.
August found work schedules and camping ruling out most days.

So in the waning week of summer we found a day we could visit. And it was chilly!
To be fair, summer never showed up this year. Oh. It phoned it in a few days, but it never stopped in to stay. Overnight temps were cool for most of August, and the water at Seabreeze reflected this.

BRRRRRRR.

We didn’t spend long in the waterpark. We had some lunch around 12:30 and headed for dry rides. While once upon a time my big kids would have front row seats for the acrobat shows (we’d watch more than one a day), we only paused on our way through to watch them today.

The big four visited a lot of rides on their own, although I did skulk around admiring them from afar time to time.

Hanny got her first ride on the Jack Rabbit.

I can’t know if it was the cool weather or the lateness in the season that made the crowds small. In either case, it benefitted us tremendously as we owned the park.

Nan snapped some photos of the big kids.

And one of the rest of us.

My how we’ve all changed.

We were surprised when at 4:30 P.M. we were pretty much done with all the rides! They’d done each one multiple times and it didn’t make sense just to stay to order a pizza. As John had met us there, he took one van to BJs for some frozen pizza and honey BBQ wings, and I took the other van to Walmart to pick out a bunch of ice creams.

Home for dinner and dessert and the official last day of Butler-summerness-fun.

Ok, school year – here we are.

Stewart’s day out with Dad

August 20, 2017 | Stacy

After church, John and Stewart scooted out for their day out to celebrate Stewart’s birthday. They headed down to Letchworth State Park. None of us have been there before and Stewart has grown to enjoy exploring a bit, so it seemed like a nice outing for the two of them.

They saw tremendous gorges and waterfalls in the Grand Canyon of the East.

But what photos to I have to share?

Lunch!

They dined at Glen Iris.

And Stewart marveled at his (safe!) lunch, calling it the best meal of his life.

He has since amended this statement to proclaiming it the best sandwich of his life.

So glad they had a great time together.

Seventeenth birthday

August 20, 2017 | Stacy

Stewart has been the first kid to do a lot of things around here. Once again, he can claim to be the first one to wake up on a campsite on his birthday.

We arrived home, unpacked, and proceeded to invest in his celebration. The guys had stopped at Walmart and Tab helped me make a lemon cake (and filling. and frosting.).

Nan and Nene joined us for a most excellent dinner not prepared in the great outdoors or on my knees in front of a campfire.

He was blessed with some gifts.
(And blessed us with this smile.)