The First Time

It's not everyday you get on a horse for the first time.
Or have your first riding lesson.
Or fall in love with a white horse named Rooster.
...but it was, for Em, today.

Love at First Sight

Saddle Up

Born to Ride

Holding the Reins

Back to the Stable

We Miss You Already...

Yellow Dresses and Red Shoes

Photos by Sarah's Daddy

Flannelgraph

Come to Life

Photo by Bgrace

Emily and I have been slowly working our way through I Samuel. I'm teaching her to teach it.
When I was a girl in Brazil my mother had the entire Bible in beautiful flannelgraph paintings. I remember how much I enjoyed putting together the scenery and characters even as an older child and seeing the story come to life. My job at the church plant usually involved teaching Sunday School and Children's Church.  (I was usually more than willing to have an excuse not to sit through hour long sermons, especially when my Dad wasn't preaching--he at least had good stories.)
As I was thinking about Em, and wondering how to teach her the Scriptures, I began to pray about using flannelgraph.  I realized that with her flair for the dramatic and her enjoyment of art, she might enjoy telling Bible stories this way more than just hearing them. And what better way is there to learn than to teach? So I bit the bullet and bought the entire Betty Lukens Bible in flannelgraph set. It's worth every penny.
I decided that since David's life is so full of drama, we'd start with I Samuel.  Emily has an amazing ability to remember the details of the story even after hearing it only once.  And it is SO great to hear her tell Sarah the stories.  Sarah's eyes get as round as saucers when Emily really gets into it.
I guess it's my first attempt at answering this question...
How does one raise a prophetess?

The Ballet

We had a splendid time. Our first event of the day was a pre-performance talk with Christopher Wheeldon. Grace met him afterwards and asked him to sign her program. He was very gracious and attentive with her even though there were lots of "important" people waiting to speak with him. He said he loved her name and told her about one of the first pieces he choreographed about Grace Kelly.
Then it was off to the matinee performance. It was the first Grace had seen professional dancers, and it had been a long time for me. What I loved about all the dances we saw is that they were all very different. We ended up seeing 3 in the afternoon and 3 in the evening. Grace liked Red Angels the best in afternoon and I liked the Barber Violin Concerto. Estancia, Christopher Wheeldon's new ballet, premiered this week at SPAC, and it was interesting to watch it after we heard him describe the process of choreographing it. After the performance, we had a couple of hours to kill before the evening events so we got an early dinner and then decided to hang out on the lawn. Grace started to dance in the grass and I got my camera out. I think she was inspired, and I was so grateful that all was going as I had hoped.
The evening pre-performance talk was a NYCB principal dancer named Tyler Angle. He is known to be one of the best dancers in the world, and is especially known for exceptional partnering. He's a Central PA native. He also was very gracious and we learned a lot from him.
The evening performance was beyond words. We had excellent seats. I have no idea how we got such great seats. There must have been a last minute cancellation or something. But it made all the difference in the world in terms of feeling the dance rather than simply watching. Christopher Wheeldon's After the Rain was life-changing for me. That's all I could think of when it was over--that I would never be the same after watching it. Grace loved the last piece, Stravinsky Violin Concerto which was a Balanchine piece that involved the whole cast.
We made our way back to the car and Grace said, "Mom, I loved spending time with you today."
Melt my heart. I loved spending time with you too, Grace.
The thoughts of the day kept me awake until we got back to Grandma and Grandpa's...some time past 2AM. It was worth every mile.

Cherry Picking

 

 

 

Daddy Love