I guess I could update this a little better, now that I have time. I remember when I started tour...I would sit down one a week and update this blog as tour progressed I became pretty consistant in updating it once a month. However towards the end of tour I just fell off the map when it came to blogging...sorry about that one.
Well it is hard to believe that its been over a month since I sent all my children back home. I will just be honest with you all and say...that was not an easy thing to do. I don't think you are ever fully prepared to say good bye to 33 people you love so dearly. Its so true that we truly were like a family. Of course there are times you get frustrated to the enth degree with people, even the children, yet you never lose your love for that person. I can truly say any frustrations or problems I had on the road are gone and worth nothing and I truly miss every child and every chaperone more than words could describe. They say when a woman gives birth there is a hormone released that allows her to forget a lot, not all mind you, but a good deal of the pain of child birth. The end of tour is like that hormone. You say good bye to all the chlidren and all the other chaps and while you remember the hard times and struggles the times of laughter and joy far out weigh them all. We'll call it the end of tour hormone.
We said good bye and parted ways on December 27th. The children plus David and Beth all headed out that day. Barb, Jenny, Terse, Stacie and I all stayed in a hotel that night. After we said good bye the five of us got a hotel and then a cab and went to down town New York. We went to rockafeller center and then to dinner. Walked into all of one store and then all decided to head back to the hotel. No lie I think we were back by 11...the next day we all parted ways as well. I will not lie it was sad and hard. I think the first week or two or three or four I was back home I struggled with being depressed. Although I was glad to see everyone, it was hard because I had been touring and living life by a schedule and in a bus with 33 other people and then came back home to a some what quiet room and no schedule...I did not know what to do. The time I did get to spend with family and friends was great though. For my birthday my mom through a little get together at El Fenix and then Sarah Estes invited some people to play games at her house...I enjoyed and was blessed by all of that.
I have been so blessed to be part of choir 30, I can not put it into words. I miss them all teribly. I have been able to keep up with them a bit...Beth, David and Rosette, Mwai and Abraham let us know how the kids are doing. For those of you who have asked how are Beth, David and Rosette doing...I think they are all doing well. Beth made me a bit jealous by telling me all the Kenyan food she was eating one night, David is up and working and Rosette has been very active with her church. Barb, Jenny, Terese and Vic are going to meet Stacie and myself in Illinois at the end of this month.
Stacie and I decided we would tour again so we are both now out on the road with choir 31. One of our stops is in Illinois, Jenny's home state. Vic, Terese and Barb are all flying in to Illinois to stay with Jenny, see the choir and see us as well. Ironically enough...all three of them will be on the same flight for the last leg...to funny eh? Vic coming from Calgary, Barb from Winkler, MB and Terese from Washington state will all arrive at the same time on the same flight for Jenny. Jenny that makes your job of picking them up pretty easy eh?
Well as I said, Stacie and I are on the road again. We left early in the morning on the 25th of January. We both had the same flight out of DFW it was at 7...PS I dislike early morning flights. We arrived and hit the ground running. We arrived in North Carolina, the entire choir picked us up, bus and all. Then we traveled about an hour and a half and picked up Julia. After picking everyone up, we headed for the hotel. We had an early bed time and a full day the next day. The next day, was happy birthday to you here is 12 hours of rehearsals...that might be a bit exagerative but close. The time flew by however and it was fun. Sharye made the announcement it was my birthday on the bus and so everyone sang to me. PSS...I dislike the happy birthday song...all you can do is sit there while everyone sings to you...We had dinner at the golden corral and there someone also mentioned it was my birthday...ergo the song was song yet again and this time I had to stand up. My birthday was nice, thank you all for the phone calls and texts. The next day was our first concert which I have to say went off rather well. Since then we have preformed in GA and FL and after Florida I believe we are heading to AL. We are hitting all the southern states and that's exciting because many of them I have not been to. This tour is different then the church tours it is honestly like a broadway type production. My main responsibility on this tour is Assistant Stage Manager and when it switches back over to the church tour I'll be the admin yet again.
I will try to keep you all updated. May the Lord bless you as you go throughout your day or night!
