My little brother posted the following on Facebook...It really impacted me. Today is the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.

This past week was marked both by the mourning of lives lost in Haiti and the anniversary of the 1973 landmark case of Roe vs. Wade. With regard to the former, Haitian government estimates currently sit at 110,000 dead and counting. With regard to the latter, in the U.S. alone, 3,000 lives are taken each day from abortion, and 130,000 are taken globally each day (http://abort73.com/). As I type this, an enormously star-studded fundraising event is taking place in order to raise funds to help in the humanitarian crisis caused by the Haitian earthquake. It's a moving sight, and something that is desperately needed for a nation that was already one of the poorest on the planet.

What's happening tonight is to be applauded and celebrated. Sadly, though, tomorrow a tragedy roughly equal to the earthquake in terms of lives lost will occur and will be repeated in subsequent days...and at least in this country, it will all happen by choice.

Thanks, Perry, for that post.

The concert....finally!

Our school concert was originally scheduled for Dec. 8th....and then we had a blizzard. So, we rescheduled it for the 22nd.....and then we had another blizzard, although it didn't actually start on the 22nd, so hindsight being what it is, the concert could have proceeded. But, understandably so, our administrator felt it was best to postpone, as the forecast was looking nasty for that night. Anyway, it was rescheduled, once again, for Jan. 12th, and, fortunately the weather was beautiful. It almost felt like spring! A big "thank you" to Renee for taking these pictures for me!

5th/6th singing their vocal selections...there's Miranda in the front, and Paul in the back.

Paul sang a descant part on one song.

Olivia and friends playing kazoos in one song.

and doing actions in another

"the baby in the house goes "wa-wa-wa"....took me a while to figure out what they were doing in this picture. I was their accompanist, so I couldn't watch with my full attention.

Sonya holding her ornament up high and proud!

I like how open her mouth is....any music teacher likes to see that! She sang out very well.

I was very proud of my four children, as well as all of our students. In spite of having to wait over a month to perform, I feel it went well. Someone said to me, "Now you can start working on the spring concert!!!" I think that might have to wait a few weeks!

Christmas up north, and Paul's b-day

We made a trek to the north country this week, otherwise known as Chadron. It looked like a whole other world up there....over 2 ft. of snow, I believe....I wish I would've taken pictures of the snow!

Olivia and Grandpa looking at her new Bible

Sonya is pretty excited about hers!

Grandma even got to open a present or two!

Look! It's Lulu my Cuddlin' Kitten!

And another one....so now we have two slightly creepy cats that purr, meow and roll over....at least they come with on/off switches!

Jaedon and Tyler came up for a day. It was great to see them. Jaedon and Olivia ran around the circle in my mom's house for much of the day. Next year I think I should get my mom some earplugs for Christmas!

All four kiddos....celebrating Paul's 12th.

Happy Birthday, Paul. He's now as tall as I am and wears size 9 shoes. One more year until we hit teenage-ville. Yikes!