Play Stuff

We are three weeks from performances and things are getting a little crazy. I don't have the help I thought I would have, and although so many people are willing, I feel bad asking the same people to do anymore. But we are all working together to make something really good.

At this point in the process, I am often not sure of the quality of our performance. But this year, I am pretty sure it will be a good play. Most all the lines are already memorized - we are completely off book. Characters are beginning to show, and with each added prop and costume piece, the students can see what I have been trying to get them to imagine from the start.

I am learning a lot about motivation though. Time and time again I have asked, how can I get these kids to get it. Then to find out they know exactly what I am looking for, and they can do it, if they want to. So now I am asking, how do I get them to "want to"? One student is motivated by minutes to end of rehearsal - he gets better if he knows that when he does it well, he can leave. Another is motivated by getting laughs. Another feeds off positive comments. But many of them, I don't know exactly what gets them going.

They are all so talented - such creativity and humor and energy. They are great kids to work with. I wish I could have more time with them so I am not just their director, but someone they can talk to and who will listen to their thoughts. With smaller groups and one on one, I try, but I am still the distant grown-up. It is a different role than I have had before, and it is a little odd to be seen as some one who will tell them what to do, rather than someone who comes along side and brings out the best in them. I am having a bit of trouble helping them understand that theater works a little different than a classroom. I wanted them to be a part of it because they, in themselves, have something to offer - to make the whole better.

My little boys are beginning to feel the stress of the play now too. I am feeling very stretched and pulled by all the things that need to be done and by their need for snuggles and attention. When I give my morning completely to them, it seems nothing gets done. But when I get things done, they don't sleep because they want cuddles. We almost had a balance, then Eamon got sick, now everything is out of wack, but Malcolm has almost slept through the night for the past few nights while I have been up with Eamon. Now we just need to get Eamon all better and maybe, just maybe, I will get some sleep again.

I have just a little bit more work to do before bed tonight - shopping list and menus for next week - then I need to take a look at my play to do list and figure out what has to happen tomorrow.

Some Recent Photos

I thought it was time for a photo post.

The weekend the play rehearsals started, we took a family trip to Clyde Peeling's Reptileland. We wanted to do a zoo trip of some sort and decided on Reptileland after seeing a friends pictures of dinosaurs.

 The boys enjoyed seeing the different animals. The American Alligator feeding was especially significant for Eamon. Since then, he occasionally crawls around pushing his head along the ground. I asked him if he could possibly go a little faster, and he informed me that he was a crocodile, so no he couldn't.

 Malcolm pointed at everything, but liked the butterfly house best. I think his little pointer finger stayed out the entire time.

 When we walked into the dinosaur part, Eamon was a little nervous. We tried to explain to him that they were not real, but he was still scared. We made him touch one to see that it felt just like his toy dinosaurs. Then he had a lot more fun.

 He was still a little intimidated by the Gigantasaurous, which if we did our math correctly, the model is actually closer to the size of a Tyranasaurous Rex and the Gigantasaurous would have been 2-3 times bigger.

 We all had an enjoyable time, though the trip home proved to be longer than we expected since we ran into Little League World Series traffic. But it all turned out OK and the boys did really well in spite of being exhausted and hungry.

 Do you see those little feet? Eamon was hiding because he didn't want Malcolm to play with the toy he had. That is our front door mat. I was a little grossed out because of how dirty it was, but I laughed at the effectiveness of his hiding place.

 Malcolm saw Eamon put the lion sticker on his head, so, of course, Malcolm wanted it on his own head. This was taken the night he learned to walk! I have some video, but not edited yet.

And finally, we found "Henry the Explorer" books in the library, so Eamon plays Henry every now and again. He has his sleeping bag, his backpack, and his flag, ready to find new discoveries. The lean-to is his quilt from Aunt Mary Kathryn, pinned to a tension rod, stuck in our hallway.

10 Books

Going around Facebook is this: "List in your status 10 books that have stayed with you in some way. Don't take more than a few minutes and do not think too hard. They do not have to be the 'right' books or great works of literature, just ones that have affected you in some way."

I've been tagged twice, and I have mulled over the question since I first saw it on Facebook. But I am terrible at these sorts of lists because there is so much more I want to say. And that is what a blog is for, is it not? First, I am re-wording the question: "What 10 books or series have you been conscious of their effect on your life?"

1. The Bible, specifically the books of Psalms, Esther, Galatians, John and 1 John. I felt that I had to include this because the Bible has shaped not only my choices, but my parents and grandparents choices, which have in turned shaped my life in more ways than I can even comprehend.

2. "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S.Lewis, specifically The Horse and His Boy, specifically the part where Shasta meets the Lion on the pass. I can understand it intellectually, but this story has helped me know with my life what it means to be loved by God and for Him to desire a relationship with us. However, I still find myself realizing, "oh, I think that because of ... in Narnia" so these books have played a huge part in shaping my rational and imaginative mind.

3. "The Great Divorce" by C.S.Lewis, specifically the scene with the salamander on the guys shoulder. I understood this because of the story of Amanda's Dragon from Tales of the Kingdom (see 6) It has also given me the freedom to ask questions and not be satisfied with the answers I know.

4. "Till We Have Faces" by C.S.Lewis. I don't exactly know how this book has changed my life, but it threw my mind for such a turn that I don't think I could have been the same person if I hadn't read it.

5. "The Time Trilogy" by Madeline L'Engle. I limited it to the Time Triology, but really all the books I have ever read by Madeline L'Engle have challenged and shaped the way I think about things, whether it is the integration of science, fiction, and Christianity, or life and death, or the way our history influences us. In fact, probably the reason I put the Bible as #1 was due in part to L'Engle's influence.

6. "The Tales of the Kingdom" Series by David and Karen Maines, specifically the story of Thespia. Amanda loving a forbidden thing and Dirty being loved and everyone becoming Real when they enter the Sacred Flames have also been pretty significant.

7. "Heidi" by Joanna Spyri. This book started the journey of integrating Faith with all of life.

8. "Let's Start with Jesus" by Dennis Kinlaw. Perhaps all my presuppositions were challenged and reshaped while reading this book. Some of it had to do with life situations at the same time, some of it because of the conversations it fueled. Those questions that Lewis and L'Engle had planted in my mind had some place to go rather than just getting stuck in my head.

9. The Works of Shakespeare, especially Much Ado About Nothing, which taught me to enjoy Shakespeare and As You Like It, though this is kind of cheating because it wasn't the reading of the play, but the performance of it that changed my life forever. Merchant of Venice challenges me to love in radical ways. Hamlet challenges me to listen and forgive. Macbeth fuels my imagination. I could go on, but I won't.

10. "The Singing Tree" by Kate Seredy. I read this book 10 times in about 6 years. I still love the characters and I want to be a tree like the singing tree - a safe place where people can rest and sing their song before they face the hardship of the world again.

Honorable Mentions go to Les Miserables, though I discovered its power through the musical first, Crime and Punishment which is an amazing story and made all the stuff I learned in Philosophy classes make sense. I would also like to mention Anne of Green Gables because of the community that formed while reading it. There were a bunch of us girls reading it at the same time and we compared notes and talked about it quite a bit. And finally, Elizabeth Yates' books "The Journeyman," "Hue and Cry" and "The Next Fine Day," all continued the challenges to listen, to look for beauty, and to find connections between everything.

What books have changed your life?