Wednesday, December 19, 2007

oh those kids

I am head over hills for my kids in choir. They are awesome. We've been working now for about 14 weeks on our Christmas program and this past Sunday was the big day. Well night, but you get the picture. We presented "Bows of Holly" and they did amazing! I was SO proud of them! Right up until the last few practices I was really worried. We'd added some last minute script changes and had some interesting choreography, so the kids were a bit shaky and I was more than a bit nervous. But then Friday rolled around and we had the best practice we've had the entire semester! And our dress rehearsal, while still a bit flawed, went great! But Sunday night... oh man. Those kids worked their little hearts out and put on one of the best shows! It was so darn cute! Yes we still had some mishaps (mics not working, kids not wanting to be center stage, one scene so forgotten you'd think we hadn't worked on a million times!) but over all, it was wonderful! The audience laughed when they were supposed to, applauded every song, and one scene! It was wonderful! I can't say enough how proud I am of those kids. :)

Two things in particular stuck out to me and were my absolute favorite unscripted moments.

1. My child who a year ago would not sing or do motions or even smile, sang SO loud he was almost the only child you could hear in a few songs. (every time I cupped my ear, he SANG out). I later asked him why he was singing so loud and (get your tissue out...) he told me, "so God could hear me". Yeah. He's amazing. :) And he got a solo in this program and that boy did his part to the beat and word for word. He could not have made me prouder. I even had to shake the tears away while directing.

2. One of the little girls in our choir had a meltdown. And I mean melt DOWN. She's 4 and really really cute, but was a bit hard to manage Sunday night. She didn't really "get" what we were doing, and wasn't all that into the dancing and singing. BUT her favorite part of the show was the song with the flashlights (yeah, awesome part!). Only... her flashlight didn't work. (we discovered later it was because she wasn't turning it on right, oh well) So meltdown #1. She walks over to my mom who is hovered behind a short wall on the side of the stage. Mom gets the light working. Then she gets back to where she is supposed to stand and lo and behold, there is a rotten boy on HER tape and he WON'T move. Meltdown #2. By this time everyone is looking at her, people are wondering what on EARTH happened to this sweet little girl, and kids lose all interest in singing or doing motions. Sigh. I have to snap loudly to get their focus back. :) Luckily for all of us, this was towards the end. So we do one more scene and song and we're doing our bows. We get through all the main characters and are about to do a final bow with all the choir kids and out comes the little girl, straight to the center of the stage, head up and with shoulders back, she throws one hand to her waist and gracefully bows for all to see! And oh my goodness, the auditorium erupts with applause and laughter, and "miss thang" saunters off and gets in her spot. And yes, it was that dramatic! LOL! It was quiet possibly one of the cutest things I have ever seen a kid do. But it better not happen net time!!! LOL!

Anyway, we have had such a wonderful semester! All the kids had their parts memorized, things went so smoothly! (aside from a few) :) And we even got done in the 40 minutes that the script called for. Yay! If you are reading this and had a part in helping with this program - Thank you SO much for all your hard work! I could not do it without you! And Mom and Dad - y'all were the backbone of this entire program. You have blessed me so much with your willingness to help and your heart for the kids. I don't even think I can fully express how grateful I am that y'all volunteered to help me. You are the best parents a girl could ask for!

Thank you everyone who supported and encouraged us and thank you parents for letting your child be a part of our Kids 4 Christ Choir. See you in the spring!!!

1 comments:

Shonda said...

Congratulations Jen! I'm sure those little ones were just darlin'! What a gift you have to work with little ones.

Blessings in Christ--