High School Musical!

Last night, a star was born. The long-awaited debut of High School Musical finally arrived, and my baby was a genius, if I do say so myself.

You can enlarge this photo to see his marquee picture. He's in the middle, third one from the left on the second row.

Brad's role was Jack Scott, the student who makes all of the school announcements. His role isn't in the movie, but is a crucial part of the play because it helps transition from scene to scene and helps fill in plot gaps that are hard to demonstrate in a stage production.

He has his own little stand in the front left where he makes most of his announcements from. At times when the lights come up, he gets to just dance and goof off until the music finishes, like a real little DJ. He hammed it up and got a lot of laughs!

Here he is in "Stick to the Status Quo."

He was originally a little freaked out about the singing/dancing part of the show, but I think he worked up to it okay!

At the end of the show, he got to announce all of the bows for curtain call. This required a great sense of timing, and he was fabulous!

Ensemble picture for "We're All in This Together." These kids were just so great! It was a really fun show to watch.

Mimi and Poppa G flew in for the big occasion.

And here he is with the other proud grandparents...
He has a matinee performance this afternoon, and I think he's already dreading it being over. When he came out last night, all he could say was, "I'm ready to do it again!" It has been such a fun experience for him. I can't wait to see what he does next.

Break a leg, baby!

Again, a kick in the spiritual butt from Oswald Chambers:

THE SPIRITUALLY LAZY SAINT

"Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together..." (Hebrews 10:24-25)

We are all capable of being spiritually lazy saints. We want to stay off the rough roads of life, and our primary objective is to secure a peaceful retreat from the world. The ideas put forth in these verses from Hebrews 10 are those of stirring up one another and of keeping ourselves together. Both of these require initiative -- our willingness to take the first step toward Christ-realization, not the initiative toward self-realization. To live a distant, withdrawn, and secluded life is diametrically opposed to spirituality as Jesus Christ taught it.

The true test of our spirituality occurs when we come up against injustice, degradation, ingratitude, and turmoil, all of which have the tendency to make us spiritually lazy. While being tested, we want to use prayer and Bible reading for the purpose of finding a quiet retreat. We use God only for the sake of getting peace and joy. We seek only our enjoyment of Jesus Christ, not a true realization of Him. This is the first step in the wrong direction. All these things we are seeking are simply effects, and yet we try to make them causes.

"Yes, I think it is right," Peter said, "...to stir you up by reminding you..." (2 Peter 1:13) It is a most disturbing thing to be hit squarely in the stomach by someone being used of God to stir us up -- someone who is full of spiritual activity. Simple active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing. Active work can actually be the counterfeit of spiritual activity. The real danger in spiritual laziness is that we do not want to be stirred up -- all we want to hear about is a spiritual retirement from the world. Yet Jesus Christ never encourages the idea of retirement -- He says, "Go and tell My brethren..." (Matthew 28:10)

Deer Run Camp

Brad and Bailey just finished up a week at Deer Run Day Camp. They did this last year and absolutely adored it. This year seemed to be just as big a hit. Brad had to leave after half a day on Wednesday to make his play practice, but other than that things went pretty smoothly.
I got there in time for the final relay races today. This is Bailey's group about to get wrapped up in toilet paper.
Brad's group was finished by the time I got over there, so here he is chilling out with the Orange team. His counselor was Jeremy and he loved him!Bryant was so excited to get to spend his day at camp. He cried many tears on Monday when he didn't get to stay. He's already looking two years into the future when he finally gets to be a real camper.
After the relays, all the kids got to run through the parent cheer line. This cracked Bailey up!

Bailey and her counselor, apparently affectionately known as Pookie. This could hold her back when it comes time to interview for a real job.
That striped thing in the back is a giant trampoline called "The Blob." Kids sit on the edge and wait for one of the counselors to leap onto it and they go flying off. It's called getting blobbed. Definitely one of their favorite things at camp!

The reason Brad is not in this pic is because he chose to stay back and hang out with his friends rather than go on a hike with his mom. What a change from last year, when he wanted to show me every detail of the place. Could we really be entering that preteen stage of life where I am suddenly demoted to taxi driver who should be seen and not heard? It's happening way too fast!

It has been a thrilling week for both of them, but we are all completely exhausted from having to get up and be ready and out the door so early every day. Just preparing us for VBS next week when we ALL have to be ready that early, I guess!

Yes, I know I haven't blogged well this summer. I haven't read blogs well either. But I've been catching up this morning and just read a post on my cousin's blog that has me laughing so hard it hurts. Check it out here.

Enjoy! :)