Bustin' Our Buttons

David presented his senior voice recital on Saturday at Augustana College in Sioux Falls. Including our immediate family, sixteen relatives came to applaud and enjoy his performance. He sang in six languages - English, German, Norwegian, Italian, French and Spanish - with flawless pronunciation. His range, tone, pitch, diction and expression impressed the crowd - even Weston Noble, the 93-year-old interim director of the Augie Choir who has seen students come and go for over 60 years, most of them at Luther College in Iowa. When Liz Stadem asked him, "Wasn't my grandson good?" he replied, "He wasn't good. He was fabulous!" I agree - we're all pretty proud of what he has accomplished with hard work (and superior instruction by his voice teacher, Cheryl Koch) over the last three years.

We also got to see Callie in the musical, "Zombie Prom," and her junior voice and harp recital. Wow! Her acting and vocal skills shone as Miss Delilah Strict, the strait-laced principal of Enrico Fermi High. She had so much fun with the part, it was a joy to watch. The skill displayed in playing the harp astounded those of us who haven't had much experience with it. There are so many strings! She tossed off her first song with incredible ease, and made the modern English pieces enjoyable (not an easy task).

Basically, we're bustin' our buttons with pride - what a musical duo!

Well-Prepared

Yesterday we sang for the Senior Citizens Christmas party at First Covenant Church in Willmar. We have never been so well-prepared. Why? For one thing, half the songs were from the Compline service that we already sang with the Stadem clan, so they were prepared three weeks ago and just had to remain polished by occasional practice. Most of the others were from years past, so we already knew them and just had to divvy up the parts for the smaller family size. Also, I've made a "To Do Before a Program" list and looked at it several times during the week.

Much of the improvement, however, was due to the simple fact that we are a smaller family now. On Thursday night, while I practiced one song with Sarah, Pete had Andrew and Philip pack up their program clothes. One song! It used to take up to an hour to pack up everyone's clothes, because not only were there three times as many clothes, but it was impossible to do two at a time, much less seven at a time, without losing half or more to play or foolishness or food. Of course we'd try anyway.

While there are aspects of the full house that I miss, getting ready for a program is not one of them.

Working Together

On November 27, the first Sunday in Advent, the Stadem clan led a Compline Advent service at St. John Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, where Mom & Dad Stadem have been members since Dad's last full-time call was there. He's served many congregations as interim pastor since his retirement, but Mom has continued her involvement at St. John and now Dad is the interim associate pastor there. When they first approached all of us with the idea of helping with this service, we were enthused and available - Pete and our family, two of his brothers and their families, and his sister and her family. One brother, who lives in Colorado, wasn't able to make it. When Dad mailed out the bulletin from last year's service, however, I wondered - "Seriously? You want the Stadem clan to do a meditative, contemplative service?" I dropped a couple of suggestions I had in mind for possible songs. Everyone had some contributions to offer - flute, liturgical dance, organ, piano, singing - and the order of service was delivered to the secretary about ten days before the service.

When we arrived in Sioux Falls on Saturday at about 2:30pm, to practice before our Thanksgiving feast, the cousins went wild, as usual. There was whooping and hollering and playing with wheelchairs and disappearing every time they were needed to rehearse. Sixteen of the eighteen grandchildren were present, plus a couple of friends, and every one of them thrilled to the presence of all the rest! All are musical, however, so they picked up the choir pieces, including solo parts, easily. Grandpa Stadem was quite concerned that they would be wild on Sunday, or at least make noise and whisper and disrupt the mood of the congregation. He gave a short speech to that effect, and later confessed to Pete that he had to surrender it to the Lord. "I've done all I can do." I wasn't worried because I have led the Sunday School Christmas program for the last ten years or so, and Saturday morning is always a disaster with no discipline whatsoever, and then the kids look like perfect little angels on Sunday during the program. I figured Stadem grandchildren wouldn't be any different - and in fact, half the kids there have been in my SS Christmas programs!

Everything went smoothly and quietly on Sunday. Some of the highlights were David singing "What Child is This" while Mary danced and Sarah and Rahila played the flute; teenagers singing "Pat-a-Pan" from Sounds Like Love, and the whole group singing "Creature Praise" with the youngest six grandchildren doing solo lines. We were blessed to see Cousin Janelle Swenson who came from Fergus Falls to see and hear us. Many people gave positive comments to us and to the parents in the ensuing days. And Liz, a high school senior this year, said, "It was a lot of fun to work together and not just play. We should do this again!"

An Easter Blessing

We're hosting my sister's six kids for a couple of days while she and her husband are at a wedding in South Carolina (90 degrees there yesterday). To celebrate Easter and serve, Pete wanted us to go caroling in a nursing home - the residents get so much traffic and attention at Christmas time, but very little, we were guessing, for Easter. When he called, the gal suggested we come on Saturday instead, and sing in a gathering room where they have coffee from 2-3. Pete figured we could pick up the Jones kids at my brother's at 1:15, then head to the nursing home - perfect timing.

I was not too excited for several reasons: I still have no voice; we had two services, a church Easter breakfast and a family Easter dinner to prepare for; we didn't know what, if any, of "our" songs the Jones kids also know. But since I can't talk, I had time to think it over, and decided not to "say" anything. I figured I could do the necessary shopping while they were in the nursing home (since I couldn't really help), so I wouldn't lose any time.

When we got there, Pete wanted me to come in, possibly to play the piano or generally be another adult presence. The residents thoroughly enjoyed the six or eight songs they sang, especially "Amazing Grace", which they knew, and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," requested by Abigail, age 3, who sang it enthusiastically. Pete & the 3 older boys sang "Beneath the Cross of Jesus," beautifully, as they had done Good Friday at church. Afterward, Pete had prepared the children to go around, shake hands and introduce themselves. Here, Abigail was the star of the show. I held her hand and we went around to each lady there (there were no men). As they cooed over her cuteness, she shook each hand, smiled and announced, "My name is Abi and I'm 3 and I play with REAL toys." We were the last ones out, waving and calling, "Bye!"

Despite my negative attitude beforehand, that event blessed me as well as everyone there. Thank You, Lord!