Twi'leks and Jawas

We could get used to this!  We're pretty spoiled this Star Wars series, because as you can see above we had even more Star Wars characters visit with us again.  Princess Leia was on hand once more, as were a small portion of the "Great Jawa Horde."  Evidently within the 501st worldwide, the state of Georgia owns the record of "most Jawas."  It takes a lot to get approved - each costume has to meet a precise set of standards.  All that said, it's a pretty amazing accomplishment.  Just last week when we were watching the Dragon Con parade in Atlanta, we saw these Jawas above, and many more walking down the streets, all around the actual Sandcrawler that they built.  It was all impressive... most impressive!

Leia came to visit with us again, making quite a drive to get here this morning.  Again, remember that these are all part of a volunteer organization that dresses up to travel distances and be the characters the kids love to see.  Okay, the adults too.  The adults love to see them also!

Here's the cast again without Madison there.  You can see we had four Jawas, and with Madison there that made for five Jawas total.  But you can see in the picture above - and below - that we also had a Twi'lek with us as well!

Camille looks stunning as a Twi'lek, something that she said she's waited thirteen years to dress up as.  Mommy made the costume, of course, and this morning, all of us got up a lot earlier in order to arrive and use the airbrush to paint Camille's skin that blue color.  Afterwards, she put on make-up and eye lashes there, and then of course the costume.  The end result was fantastic - it's like we have a Twi'lek with us on stage.  Her name is Nima, and it seems as if she has Jedi powers, perhaps, communicating with the wampas there on the planet Hoth.

This morning's service went well, with plenty of kids wanting to take pictures with the characters.  Between services, and after the second service, there was a constant line of kids and families that wanted to pose with all these classic Star Wars characters.  Leia and R2-D2 went upstairs in the main entrance to pose with visitors for selfies and group shots, while the Great Horde was downstairs posing, and shouting "Utinni!"

This was a random moment, but it's a little known fact that Jawas love to climb rock walls.  Madison was there joining them, along with Leia and Alanna, our Stormtrooper friend in the KidPak series.  She's an outstanding member of the 501st, the one who has been contacting her friends within the 501st in order to get them here for a visit.  They've come week after week, and we've been very blessed!

Daddy took a few shots of Leia, just one way to say thank you.  We have such a great Hoth set, so it was nice to take a few pictures of characters on the set, and send them to the 501st members who came as a way of saying thanks.  They all look very cool on our set!

But the story of the day was the Jawas.  Here's Madison - or Jinky, as her character is known.  She's the small one, of course.  They're all small, but you can see all five of them together here in between services, posing for pictures with the kids and doing all kinds of greetings.  They were also scavenging, stealing things from Alanna, or stealing booklets from the counter or pencils or anything that wasn't glued down.

Today's story on stage was a bittersweet one, although it does set up a future event a few weeks down the road.  Jinky's family of Jawas is found, and they return, as you can see.  And at the end of the skit, Jinky decides to go off with her family, saying goodbye to the team of scavengers she's been with for a while.  We had the music from "Toy Story 3" playing, the end portion of "So Long," that was just super sad, and the end result was devastating for Madison on stage.  She has such a big heart, and she was so into this performance that she was literally weeping on stage.  Of course, you can't see a thing from the audience perspective, because the Jawa's faces are unseen.  But some of the other actors saw Madison's sadness, and they too got choked up.  It actually translated to a really sad scene at the end!  

Of course, we'll see Jinky again, and at just the right moment, too.  But in the meantime, we'll focus on this new character that's come by, Nima.  Here's another picture or two of the Twi'lek that Mommy has created.

It's a cross between Hera Syndulla and Aayla Secura, two Twi'lek characters from the Star Wars universe.  She was well-received, although the Jawas stole a lot of thunder with their arrival too.  There was quite a bit to see onstage today!

Madison was posing afterwards with Camille, who looks nothing like Camille anymore.  This is the girl who plays Elsa for us, and everything else.  It's amazing what a little blue paint and lekku can do to make you look so drastically different.  Only upon closer inspection did some of the children realize who it was they were talking to in the lobby!

Ah, and here's three of the girls after the service.  Madison is out of her Jawa outfit, because right after the skit, she gets changed and races out to hear the message that is preached.  Today's message was about Othniel, whose name literally means "the force of God."  We were talking about how he battled giants, filled with faith.  Picture Yoda battling everyone bigger than himself, filled with confidence and power.  Anyway, it was a good message today!

Here's one last shot, a picture of our Jawas, a little too close to R2-D2 at the moment.  We had to keep them away from the droid afterwards, the filthy scavengers!  Actually, we love Jawas here, and were so glad they came by.

The rest of the day was a bit more quiet.  We had pot roast and some tasty lunch at the church, free for us because of a volunteer meeting down the hall.  That was a nice blessing.  We ate, posted photos, cleaned up and headed home after that, facing the remnants of the day with much of our energy already spent.

We got home, and Mommy was ready for a nice hot bath and a relaxing afternoon.  She worked hard for this morning!  Daddy and Madison finished up "The X-Cutioner's Song," which ended with Cable sacrificing himself to remove the threat of Stryfe.  I have no idea how Cable comes back after this - we'll have to keep reading, of course.  But thus ends the first massive crossover event that Madison has been reading.

Of course, speaking of reading, we finished another chapter of "The Grim Grotto" tonight, and here we are in Count Olaf's clutches once more.  Just three or four more chapters to go, and onto the next book.  We're moving along pretty quickly towards the ending, with everyone addicted to finding out what happens in the next chapter.

Madison did do a little piano practice today, but we also did a lot of "play time."  We were doing more "Battlefront II," pitting Jawas against Tusken Raiders, and also revisiting Hoth a few times.  And also continuing the "Star Wars" theme, we also watched another episode of "Star Wars Rebels."  But tonight we watched "Scooby Doo," the first live action movie, continuing our October-themed movies.  After "The Addams Family" and "Beetlejuice," it's clear we're getting into the "spirit" of things lately - including Daddy working pretty extensively on our paper craft Haunted Mansion game.  It's really coming along now, quite a bit of work, but it'll be worth it in the end!

We'll post pictures of it when it is completed.  Until then, the pace of the day was quite a bit slower after church tonight.  We did some house cleaning, but in the end, it was a more restful day.  It was Rosh Hashanah tonight, and in retrospect we could have blown our shofar and had apples and honey... maybe we'll do that tomorrow.  Tonight, it was just time to get some rest, and that we did, after reading from our devotional, our book, and after our bedtime prayers.  We prayed for Nana and Baba, for their safe return to North Georgia, and also for protection for everyone from the approach of Hurricane Florence.  We'll be keeping an eye on that one, but it appears to be moving in a more northwesterly direction.  Still, it's coming, and there are two more hurricanes out there:  Isaac and Helene.  That's right, three hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean right now.  Yikes!