Zoo visit Video

I want to share a rare moment caught on video at the Zoo. Although somewhat crude, it also made us giggle. See if you can catch what happened on this cold morning during Raja the elephant's birthday party. (hint:watch his tail)

Poppy and the Girls

They went to the police stables to feed the horses and to the animal shelter to see the kittens. Allie took her new camera and got a few shots. She and Laura have been helpful to Grandma and Poppy this visit. We are planning to see the zoo maybe today. We'll take a few pictures. Here is one of Allie's pics of Poppy opening a present.

Christmas

We celebrated Christmas morning at our house by Allie reading the Christmas story, opening presents and packing for travel. We stopped by Hannibal where we had spent Thanksgiving and saw Mom and Grandma Lee. Then we hoped to catch Brady and Kate but we missed each other. I hope we can get together soon before all of our kids are graduated. :) We then continued to St. Louis and are spending a few days with Grandma and Poppy Graham. Today is Poppy's birthday and he is planning to take the girls to a movie. It has been a nice vacation already. I hope everyone else is having a good one as well. See you all soon.

Christmas Break

It is 5 hours before Christmas break and I am ready. The end of this semester is catching up with me and I am looking forward to some recuperation. School is out until Jan. 2 and I hear another round of snow is on the way for tomorrow. At least we will probably have a white Christmas (just like the ones I used to know.) I have some Christmas shopping left to do so If you are reading this before the holidays, Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

School Concert

Our school concert was last night. Despite the weather and snow days and rescheduling and make up ball games, everything went great. The kids gave it their best and did a really nice job.
After our church Christmas caroling tonight, my extra Christmas leadership obligations are taken care of and I can focus on the normal holiday events. It has been a busy but rewarding time this past month. I am looking forward to spending a few days at home and then traveling to visit family for Christmas. I hope everyone else is having a great Christmas season. Remember the reason we celebrate CHRIST-mas is to honor and remember that God sent his son to redeem the debt we have. We are now free to have eternal life if we accept the gift by trusting Jesus as the leader of our life. Merry Christmas!

God takes care of Us

I had a crazy day. I taught for the first 3 hrs of the day and combined classes so that all of my groups could practice for Tuesday's concert. We have had snow days and re-arranged schedules so I needed to meet with them and then leave at lunch to make it to my wife's graduation with her Master's degree. I got home and had to get the van unstuck from the ice (which took about 20 minutes to move it 8 feet.) Everyone else was already at the ceremony. I got there 10 minutes late but was just in time to take her picture in the hallway as they processed into the room. ( the only good picture I got of the ceremony.) Afterward, I had to skip lunch with them so that I could get back to the courthouse and lead our community choir in Christmas Carols. I saw that I was going to be late so cell-phones three people to find one to bring the songbooks and CD player to the courthouse. I got there and we were performing within three minutes. On the last song, the hot chocolate machine blew a fuse and the Cd player stopped. We ended with a beautiful acapella ending and then went outside to sing the rest of the song around the city Christmas tree. My wife dropped off my youngest daughter and her father with me at the courthouse as she passed through town on the way to our HS basketball game where my oldest daughter was cheerleading that night. They went on to the game while we took the horse drawn carriage ride around the square, took "poppy" back to His hotel room and turned in for the night. It was an exciting day. Aside from all of the rushing, God worked out so many details to make all of this happen and we had fun. Wonder what is in store for today. :)

ICE STORM

Monday night, the ice began. We have been out of school for two days so far. The tree branches all over the county have been snapping and dropping to the ground. The whole area looks like a disaster zone. Our tree out front lost three branches, but most of the larger trees in the back and in both neighbors' yards lost more and larger branches. I'll try to put pictures on this blog somewhere. Some volunteer electric company workers from Minnesota came in a bucket truck and helped us get branches off of the neighbor's power lines. Church activities for this Wednesday night are cancelled. I think this is one of the worst ice storms I have seen. I walked out on the porch yesterday and just listened as all over town, branches were snapping at the rate of about one every twenty seconds. We haven't gone our very much until this afternoon. I'll try to publish some pics. Hope everyone else is having better weather.

Church Cantata

Our Church music cantata over the past few years has grown into a community-wide choir presentation with people from many congregations rehearsing and singing together. It was been a wonderful experience and an eye-opener to find out the large number of people in our community who are blessed with outstanding musical talent. Our town has 1,212 people, and we have a community choir of 30 singers. They will present "A Christmas Offering" on Sunday and Monday, Dec. 9 and 10 at our church. There are about 10 soloists and small ensemble singers in the group and a lot more who could do solos if we needed. I am happy to direct the group who are so easy to work with. Today we had a dress rehearsal and one of the women who gave birth less than a month ago, sang holding her newborn. Almost on cue, the baby cooed and made noises every time the baby Jesus was mentioned in the narration. My daughter and wife are both singing solos as well as a state patrolman, school teacher, and 20 year old factory worker. They will all amaze the crowd with their voices. I can't believe the talent. I hope I can record it accurately to share it with as many people as possible. I am praying that the freezing rain will stop in order for us to do both performances. God is good and He is in control.

My Music

Please visit my soundclick music site. I am posting all of my original songs here as quickly as I can get them recorded. Feel free to comment on them and offer suggestions or download them to your mp3 player or computer. Here is the link.

Bridger Soundclick Station

WELCOME

Welcome to my blog. This is the first attempt at blogging for me, although I enjoy reading the thoughts of others. Please comment but remember, keep it clean, fun and thoughtful. I am currently a full time music teacher and part time music minister. I like computers and technology. I have two daughters who like music as well and who are very talented (I am not just saying that because they are my daughters.) I will have questions and discussions with everyone as soon as I figure out all of the ins and outs of blogging. Thanks and welcome!!!