Finding a Voice

I'm in Seattle right now. Friends Dave & Chelle invited me here to do some concerts in celebration of their return from Ph.D. studies in Scotland. They've given me their spacious, gorgeous basement suite (former b&b) for the entire 11 night stay, complete with a library of BBC videos, mainly Jane Austen. Yummy.

My first concert was on Saturday afternoon. It was small (6 guests) but cosy and people were willing to sing along. Unfortunately, I started feeling ill not long after the concert ended and spent the next 36 hours attending to bodily functions, sleeping, and subsisting on broth and ginger ale, cable television, and Jane Austen videos.

But I'm feeling much better today (if only the heartburn would go away). Since Chelle has a new teaching contract with Mars Hill Graduate School, she is doing a lot of course prep, so I'm working on my own projects, which include layout for a theatre festival booklet, ghostwriting a book about the founder of Servants Anonymous Foundation (www.safoundation.com), and composing a song or two. But now ... I must leave the Mars Hill library to drink some famous Seattle coffee, take a tour of Pike Place Market, and browse at Lark in the Morning!

Labels: life, retreats, travel, updates, work, writing

Forget "Freedom Fifty-Five." I'm turning FORTY this week and I'm going to fly!

Here's a new template to celebrate it.

Mom and Dad are hosting a party for me on Saturday with music, poetry, stories, and quite a few friends and family members.

Since my calling is to Sing Release To Nations (www.siretona.com), instead of gifts, we are contributing toward the building of a music studio in Novi Sad, Serbia. The studio is being planned by the Kuranji family (pronounced ku-RAH-nee), natives of Serbia who immigrated to Canada and later went back for ministry. Parents Vera and Danny, have been missionaries there for nearly 2 decades. Their son, Filip, was miraculously healed of kidney cancer at age two. Now at 21, with a gift of music, he has a vision to bring Christian music to Serbia. He works full-time in the church in Novi Sad. The Kuranjis have been part of a special mission project through Strasbourg Alliance Women this year and donations are receiptable through them.

If you're interested in contributing to the music studio, contact me here.

Labels: calling, friends, updates

Do you ever search for your name on the Internet? I googled mine today. This blog came up 4^th on the list. Interestingly, I also appear 8^th—in the CUPE gallery of all places! A few weeks ago my sister said she had seen my picture in a CUPE ad in The Carlyle Observer. Today I discovered that two more pictures appear here. I may have socialist leanings (yes, I vote NDP sometimes), yet I'm ambivalent about unions, even after working in one for a year, so think it’s humourous that they used my picture in their ad campaign!

I was actually in Carlyle last week. Gave a concert at the Pentecostal Assembly. My sister, brother-in-law, and nephew (13) are going on a mission to Mexico with 11 others from their church. I had offered to give a fund-raising concert, so they took me up on it. What a wonderful evening. About 1/3rd of the people were relatives! I entertained with story and song, and we worshiped together: Let your glory fall in this room / let it go forth from here to the nations. Afterwards while I sold coffee and CDs, there was a pie auction, including an auction to throw a pie at the pastor and another man.

Of course I stayed overnight with my sister and her family. Got some good hugs, cuddles and inspiration from my nephews and niece. Had a good, long, and overdue visit with Jaime. She gave me a clipping of the infamous CUPE ad.

The Mexico team is leaving this Friday, so my parents are going to babysit the other three kids. Eric will be on school break, so without anyone to put on the school bus, it will be a bit like a vacation!

The Carlyle jaunt threw my schedule off. I did quite a bit of writing last week, but must apologize for not posting any of it to the blog. Will try to be better at posting at least once weekly—preferably on Tuesdays.

On my plate these days:

- A big advertising push at the newspaper—we’re publishing 2 extra sections this month for Ag Week—so I’m putting in 4 (long) days instead of 3.

- A concert on Saturday in Regina: HeartbeatS, an evening of music and arts in support of OptionS Pregnancy Centre. Advance tickets are still available at $15 each. Call the Centre at 757-1371.

- Finishing an overview of the book publishing process for a non-profit organization. We’re discussing the possibility of me writing a book about their ministry and its beginnings.





CURRENTLY LISTENING: Kathryn Scott, I Belong

Labels: blogging, family, jobs, life, music, travel, updates, writing

Hard to believe this is still officially Week 1! (Of course, my "Week 1" was about 10 days long.) I have covered many miles, seen many old friends already, met some new friends, and gotten surprisingly good gas mileage in the mountains.



On Wednesday night I stayed with old friends, Kathy & Bruce Wiebe, in Kelowna. Kathy & I met at Briercrest College, enjoyed the tour choir experience together, then shared an apartment (a tiny one) in Fort Langley, BC 1990-91 after I graduated Briercrest and Kathy was finishing her last year at Trinity Western University. Kathy married Bruce in June 1991, had some adventures and three kids, and have settled in the Okanagan on the family farm--a lovely orchard on the side of a mountain. Last year Kathy set up an RV park, so it was fun to tour her facilities and talk to her about becoming a business woman.

Now I'm visiting my friend Liz. We met at Briercrest, where she was a student in the MA in Counseling. Her long-time dream has been to have a grief counseling ministry, and now she's starting to live that dream working with New Hope. I'm putting on a benefit concert for New Hope this evening, so we've been setting up this afternoon. It's time to run some errands, so I'll sign off for now.

Tomorrow I'll travel to Victoria, which means about 7 hours of driving. I'll meet Kathleen Busch at the ferry terminal and won't have to take my own car to the Island, which will save some cash!

I've picked up a couple of shows and changed dates for one or two others, so here's an updated itinerary. Thanks for praying for safety and sanity and divine appointments! Drop me a note if you have time: www.siretona.com/contact.html.



WEEK 1

Fri, Sept 21, Vernon, BC, 7:30 pm, benefit concert for New Hope, a support organization for helping widows and widowers. (http://www.newhope-grief.org/)

Sat, Sept 22, travel to Victoria
Sun, Sept 23, a.m., Victoria, BC, Saanich Community Church
eve., Victoria, BC, house concert, sponsor: Kathleen Busch, 7:00 & 8:15

WEEK 2

Mon, Sept 24, Victoria, tour Level Ground Trading and SALTS Shipyards

Tue, Sept 25, Vancouver, day, attend Regent College chapel
evening, open

Wed, Sept 26, Vancouver, house concert (unconfirmed)

Thu, Sept 27, BC Lower Mainland, open

Fri, Sept 28, Nanaimo, BC, house concert, 7pm, hosts: Terri & John Czegledi

Sat, Sept 29, Vancouver, openSun, Sept 30, BC Lower Mainland, open

WEEK 3

Mon, Oct 1, BC Lower Mainland, open

Tue, Oct 2, New Westminster, Jeff & Shelly (Klassen) Linke

Wed, Oct 3, daytime: visit Trinity Western University

evening: Aldergrove, BC, house concert, Kathleen McMillan

Thu, Oct 4, BC Lower Mainland, open

Fri, Oct 5, BC Interior, open

Sat, Oct 6, Calgary, Thanksgiving

Sun, Oct 7, Calgary, Thanksgiving

WEEK 4

Mon, Oct 8, Calgary, open

Tue, Oct 9, morning: fly to Toronto

evening: open

Wed, Oct 10, Greater Toronto Area, open

Thu, Oct 11, CACSD meetings at Redeemer University College in Hamilton, ON

Fri, Oct 12, CACSD meetings at Redeemer University College in Hamilton, ON

Sat, Oct 13, Kitchener, ON, house concert/potluck, Mark & Anna's

Sun, Oct 14, morning, Kitchener, ON, singing in a church (unconfirmed)

Sun, Oct 14, Greater Toronto Area, open

WEEK 5

Mon, Oct 15, Greater Toronto Area, open

Tue, Oct 16, Markham/Stouffville, ON, house concert, hostess: DL Sisson

Wed, Oct 17, Greater Toronto Area, open

Thu, Oct 18, fly to Calgary

Fri, Oct 19, Calgary, AB, CHEC meetings

Sat, Oct 20, AB or SK, open

Sun, Oct, 21, AB or SK, open

Labels: music, performances, travel, updates, vocation

I woke up yesterday morning with this realization: I didn't accidentally publish my entire blog -- I switched to Blogger Beta and which doesn't have the option to publish all or publish index only. Technological advances are not always better. A couple of days ago I downloaded Internet Explorer 7 on my mom's computer. Same thing -- the learning curve is pretty steep in spots and kind of hard to appreciate. What was wrong with the old layout? Couldn't they upgrade those features without completely rearranging the views?

I'm sure I won't hate Blogger Beta. In fact, the dashboard is vastly improved, but the template really burns me. I can comprehend the appeal of one-step publishing, I don't appreciate it ... yet. Not this soon after my little loss.

Labels: blogger beta, updates