On Pointe

Today was music class at Chestatee Elementary School.  It's part of Madison's cycle of "specials," a class she goes to roughly once a week.  Part of the cycle is science, PE, and art as well.  Obviously, she looks forward to art the most, but music has been fun for her too.  Given her experience with piano, she has a slight edge on the material, knowing a bit more about music theory beforehand.  One thing the kids all have had since last year is a recorder, which Madison has been encouraged to practice at home:

She does well with it, although they're all simple tunes that she plays.  Each one she can play quickly and without any hesitation just because compared to the piano, the music sheets are really easy!

We had lots of rain today, sometimes really heavy.  It was warmer though.  Daddy went out to the bus stop with an umbrella, and we got back to the house just before this massive deluge came thundering down.  Thank you Lord for clever timing.  At school today, Madison is starting up again with a new semester, with new vocabulary words and dealing with fractions (adding and subtracting).  Multiplying fractions - wasn't that a great moment when you realize how easy that was?

Anyway, while she was doing that, Daddy was writing, and Daddy and Mommy were working in the basement, cleaning things up a bit and getting the seasonal decorations put up properly and organized.  We'll attack the rest of the basement soon enough.  But today was a day off for us, and as such, we weren't in any frenzied hurry to complete any tasks.

The biggest event of the day might have been this, later on:

I had no idea how big of a deal this was.  The girls were so excited to get their own pointe shoes tonight.  It was a special class where each girl was sized for shoes, and then shown how to put them on.  There was a bit of a history lesson here, and of course Madison already knew much of it, thanks to earlier school projects about Marie Taglioni.  But one by one, they tried their shoes on, and all the mothers were taking pictures of their kids putting them on for the first time.  Daddy took the picture above when we got home, and the girls of the house insisted we post it on social media, such was the news that it was.  Immediately all the other girls of all ages began responding, remembering when they first got their pointe shoes and sending out congratulations.  Again, no idea.  But Madison was so excited about this, as were all the other girls in class.  She'll be practicing with these shoes for the next few months, and to Daddy this part sounds grueling.  But she's looking forward to it, because I suppose this is what they've all been leading up to:  becoming a proper ballerina, on pointe.

We got home early enough to continue "research" by watching the movie "Sleeping Beauty."  This is such a beautiful movie, visually.  If you were to pause the movie at nearly any point, you could hang that scene up and frame it on a wall.  It's gorgeous.  I'm not sure about what can be drawn from it though:  we had three gifts of beauty, music, and grace.  We had weapons of righteousness, a sword and shield.  We had a rose to get to, once you got through the thorns.  There was a more vague thought or two as well:  the parents do not confront the evil in their lives for sixteen years, and suffer for it for sixteen years.  Ultimately, they have the same exact problem in the end, forced to then deal with it.  Also, of course, the concept of "being asleep" is big, although how to apply that here might be curious.  Is it a metaphor for death, with the Prince of Peace being the one who defeats evil and restores the kingdom?  It's a bit heavy, but that seems to fit the most at the moment.  Anyway, you can see the thought processes that we go through a bit to see what messages are within the movie.  Madison was helping all along - she she heard Flora mention "weapons of righteousness," she turned to Daddy to tell him to "write that down."  Which he did!

Shortly afterwards, we went to bed tonight, reading from our fasting devotional, and the latest book, "Ahsoka."  It has about six chapters to go, and hopefully will pick up a little steam.  Outside of an initial conflict on the very first pages, I don't think she's really done anything this book, other than interact with other characters.  She's being hunted, and she's assisting people on planets as they deal with the Empire.  She's reflecting on the past, and there's this one interesting bit about her and Rex.  But that's about it so far.  Regardless of Mommy and Daddy's opinion of this latest book, Madison can't wait to hear the next chapter each night, even asking for "just one more chapter."  So we read on, and then we say our prayers, and we go through the same process afterwards:  prayer, and then zerbert.  Yes, we still do those - Mommy blows a zerbert on Madison's tummy, and then makes the funny noise and blames it on Daddy, saying, "Phew, Daddy!  That was you!"  Then comes the inevitable conversation afterwards:

DADDY:  "Goodnight Princess Stenchy!"
MADISON:  "Goodnight, Pootzilla!"
DADDY:  "Goodnight, Stinky McSmells-a-lot!"
MADISON:  "Goodnight, Dr. Gassy von Stinkbottom!"

And so on.  These go on for about a minute until Mommy gives us the ol', "Okay, you two!"

Which is a good place to end.  While we're hurling our stinky goodnights, here below is the latest fasting devotional entry, which I assure you, does not stink.

“When you look for Me with all your heart, you will find Me.” Jeremiah 29:13 NIRV

     Famous mountain climber George Mallory was asked a decent question: Why climb a mountain? His response was epic: “Because it’s there.”
     Again, this makes no sense to anyone who is not a climber. But as Christians, it makes sense to us. You see, deep within all of us is a climber, and no, we’re not talking necessarily about mountains.
     Here’s what that means: Each of us wants more out of life. We want to climb higher! We want to do more, see more, and be more. As Christians, our natural gut feeling is to seek out God with all our hearts. And just like with climbing upwards, that usually requires some energy.
     Fasting is certainly one of those things that requires effort. By this point you know that very well! And just like those people who asked why climb a mountain, there are those with a very similar question: Why do a fast?
     The answer is simple: “Because He’s there.” Fasting may seem like a difficult path to follow upwards, but the reward is incredible: God Himself is waiting there for us.
     Some time ago, Jesus started out a message with these words: “When you fast.” Notice that he did not say “if you fast.” He wants us to do it, and the reason for this is important: fasting is a powerful way to get closer with our Heavenly Father.
God is looking upon us, watching for those that are searching for Him. And if we’re fasting and seeking Him out with all our hearts, our Bibles tell us we will most definitely find Him.
     So why fast? Jesus told us to, and the answer is simple: Because He’s there.