Out Like a Lion

We're having a little snow today. It's not sticking, but it's cold out there.

Thursday IBM laid off 5,000 U. S. employees. We are prayerfully thankful that Jim survived the cut; and also prayerfully hopeful that he can have some job security. We are still waiting to hear about the same three possible projects - Astra Zeneca in Manchester, England; the U. S. Department of Education in Washington, D. C.; and a bank in Toronto, Canada. All of them have start dates around the beginning of April, so we should hear something soon.

Jim will be 37 in just a couple of days. Please send him birthday greetings, if you get a chance: jwlowry@att.net.

Parent-teacher conferences were mid-March and I was proud. Both children had excellent report cards, their teachers are very pleased with their performance, and so are we. Aidan gave a presentation as part of his conference - with PowerPoint slides and everything. He even wore a tie.

Both kids are trucking right along with their AWANA programs. They have both finished the main body of their memorization work for the year and are working on review material. They're also both looking forward to this week's carnival.

We're looking forward to warmer weather, which will eventually mean that the kids can stop wearing and/or carting their hats, mittens, boots, snowpants and winter coats to school every single day in creation.


I made this quilt for my soon-to-be niece, Emily Anne Hollopeter. Mom quilted it. Thanks, Mom!


Aidan took the "Shutterbugs" class at the Frederik Meijer Gardens in early March. It was a dark and rainy day, so most of their pictures were taken indoors. We think he did a great job with this flower:


Aidan also took this picture of the butterflies' traveling cases! Yeah, we know the butterflies don't need luggage. :)

This picture of the Gardens' main tropical greenhouse gave us a very "grey-day" feeling:

The third and fourth grades' music concert also took place in March. Here Aidan's class is singing a song and playing their boomwhackers in time to the music.

They are quite the young musicians. I really enjoyed myself.

Aidan clearly enjoyed himself, too, despite his moaning and complaining before the event took place.

A big smile for Mom before the concert got started.

Esme at breakfast on a school day. She still won't eat her cereal with milk, and it still takes her forever and a day to eat even a handful of cereal in the morning. *Sigh*

I just finished this quilt for Esme's kindergarten teacher's new baby, who will be born in early May. We will miss Mrs. Morrell while she is away on maternity leave, but we are happy for her and her family! (Mom quilted this one, too. Thanks, Mom!)

Mom also quilted this one. What a great mom she is. :) This baby quilt is for a friend's baby, due in early June.

The grand finale at Aidan's music concert. Try as I might, I can't figure out how to get Blogger to put my pictures in the right order.

Singing and motioning, they all did a great job.

Yeah, right, he didn't have any fun at all. Thanks to the third and fourth grade staff and students, who worked so hard to produce such a cool concert.

Quick Update

Hi everybody! We have all been really busy and the last couple of weeks have included a lot of noteworthy stuff...but I only have time for a brief note now!

Jim is still looking for a project. Please hope and pray with us that he is assigned billable work soon. Possibilities at the moment include an assignment in Toronto, one with the Dept. of Education in Washington, D. C., and one with Astra-Zeneca in Manchester, England.

I have several projects going right now:

• Working for my cousin and friend Geraldine Thornton, assembling Mayflower society documentation and working on general genealogy for her.
• Working with the sexton of Oakwood cemetery in Lowell, compiling and editing his book about the early businessmen in Lowell.
• Finishing the transcription and cataloguing of family letters from the 1930s through the 1950s - and the scanned images that go along with them.
• Promoting myself (!) for a possible new genealogy client - finally the brochures and ad at the Kent County GenWeb are paying off.
• Keeping up with transcribing the obituaries I've requested over the last several months for my own research on the Byers and Clay families.

Not to mention - you know - motherhood and housekeeping and all that.

Please keep my sister-in-law Cathy in your prayers - Baby Emily is a little too anxious to join us here on the outside. Cathy went into labor early last week; at the hospital they were able to stop it, but her doctor has ordered that she no longer work, so she won't be teaching the rest of the school year. She needs to rest and relax at home, which is tough for all of us. Feel good, Cathy and Emily!

Esme Gets Some Ink

Esme and some classmates appeared in this month's BC Connection, a publication of our school district.

Busy February

Well, I have sent off the paperwork to the IRS for their review of our 2006 charitable contributions, and I know they received it, but I haven't heard back from them yet. Further bulletins as events warrant. Also our 2008 taxes have been filed, as have those for Jim's mom, who finally let me do hers for her this year. It is a crying shame, how much a CPA charges an elderly woman with no income, to file her taxes.

Jim is still working on looking for a new project. At the moment there are several possibilities, one in the US in the public sector, though we don't know with what company yet. There is another possibility with a bank in Lagos, Nigeria, a contract that should last a couple of months. A third possibility is with Astra-Zeneca, a pharmaceutical company in Manchester, England, a contract that could last as long as a year. We are all hoping that somewhere a contract is being signed that will get Jim billing hours really soon!

Parent-teacher conferences are Thursday for both children. The third graders will be giving their own presentations as part of the conference, for which they must dress "professionally," so Aidan is looking forward to doing his part and actually being there for the big secret that is a parent-teacher conference. I really hope we don't disappoint him. :) Aidan got in some trouble on Sunday during Kidmo (our church's current Sunday School curriculum) because he was not participating and actually disobeying the adult leaders. His dad and I had a long talk with him on Sunday and we hope that (a) now he understands why Sunday School and AWANA are so important, and (b) he will behave himself and participate in the future. In the meantime he is losing some of his privileges. At school Aidan is doing well and having fun, though I think he and the three other boys in his reading group wish they were reading something other than "Little House in the Big Woods". Today Aidan has a dentist appointment, just a regular cleaning, and Saturday he is taking a photography class at the Meijer Gardens, which we hope he enjoys.

Esme has been reading and drawing a lot...mostly to do with fairies, of course. She always has a bunch to say about school and is doing well and having fun. We have been working hard at spelling, which doesn't seem to come naturally to Esme...she has been allowed to do "inventive spelling" for too long and now we are paying for it. I am anxious to hear what Mrs. Morrell has to say about her work lately when I go to conferences on Thursday. Esme and I will be taking a butterflies craft class together at the Meijer Gardens next weekend, which we're looking forward to.

The seasons of Monk and Psych are now over, and we were disappointed to hear that the last season of Monk will take place this summer. If they're going to stop making the show, though, we at least hope they will solve Trudy's murder, once and for all. The Closer is also over for this season, and there is only one more episode of Burn Notice. Good thing we have a lot of DVDs to catch up on, right?

I am still working on lots of genealogy research for my cousin and friend Geraldine Thornton, and I just finished a contract with a friend of hers, Geri Elliott. Both ladies have asked for brochures to hand out to their friends, for which I am grateful. So I have been pretty busy and I actually have had a little income this year. I'm also going to be working on an editing and formatting project with the sexton of Oakwood Cemetery in Lowell, MI - he's working on a second guided historical tour of the cemetery.

Aidan and I finished getting all his Legos sorted out and organized. Our system looks quite nice and he has been having fun building all sorts of weird things.

The groundhog was right, and we're in the middle of those six more weeks of winter. Today it is nice and sunny...but super, super cold. The kids haven't been having outdoor recess lately because the windchill has been below zero.

We had the definite pleasure of visiting with Jim's sister Cindy and her husband Gerry yesterday, who were visiting from their home in Thompson, Manitoba. We were glad to have the chance to talk with them, and are very grateful for their advice! Here they are in Grandma's kitchen with the kids:


As members of the Public Museum of Grand Rapids, we were invited to opening night of the new dinosaur exhibit, which is really cool for kids...if you have a chance to go over the next few months, the kids will love it. After touring the exhibit, Aidan and Esme rode the carousel.


Dinner was also part of the event. We were able to choose between brontosaurus meatloaf and pterodactyl on foccacia - I think it might have been beef and chicken, though! Aidan chose to be a veggiesaurus, though, and had mostly salad.

The beautiful, sweet-smelling flowers in this photograph were my Valentine's Day gift...thank you, James! The lemons and grapefruits in this photograph were a very unexpected gift from a distant cousin of mine, Milt Sprowl, and his family in Scottsdale, Arizona. We're still planning on making fresh lemonade with the lemons, and Jim and Aidan have been very much enjoying the grapefruit. (I have to abstain from grapefruit due to warnings printed on my cholesterol medicine.) What a great thing to receive, in the middle of a Michigan winter!

We did have a few days near the beginning of February when the weather warmed up a little bit and stayed clear. We took advantage of the sunshine to pick up a hot dog dinner and drive to the airport viewing area one evening. It was nice. We miss that. Here's Aidan, happy to be hot-dogged and plane-watching.

We visited Mom and Dad a couple times in February...you can move out of your parents' house, but you'll still need them! In early February, Dad helped Aidan shape his AWANA Grand Prix car on all of his fancy woodworking equipment. Jim and Aidan finished the car - sanding and painting, weighting and wheeling. Aidan finished every single heat in which he participated in third place. But in watching the rest of the entries, now we know what to do next year!

Last weekend Mom helped me finish a baby quilt for my soon-to-be niece, Emily Anne...and we discussed and prepared for several other quilting projects! We missed Dad, as he was hard at work in the Northern Indiana maplewoods, drilling holes and running tubing...it's syrup time again, folks!

Stay warm and watch for a new update in early April!

Two Thousand SIX?!?!?!

Wish me luck in my crusade versus the IRS in their "review" of our 2006 charitable contributions. *Sigh*

It's a Small World After All

No one I have ever met outside the confines of my own family has ever even heard of Churubusco, Indiana, where my parents grew up. Thus I was so shocked I gave myself whiplash this morning when I heard Jim LaRue, a friend of ours at church, mention Churubusco as his hometown while telling the congregation about his mission work with Youth for Christ here in Grand Rapids. After church I caught up to his wife, Christine, to ask her whether Jim really meant Churubusco, Indiana when he said that...and she said "Yes! Turtle Town, USA, right?" Oh...my....gosh. Sure enough, I asked Jim what year he graduated from Churubusco High School, and his response was "1971." "Did you know Marcia McEowen?" "Yes! The McEowens were particular friends of ours!" "She's my mom." We didn't have long to talk about it, but vowed to soon!


I called my mom, who remembers Jim LaRue and his family well, as does my dad, who was in band with some of Jim's brothers, who apparently played the sousaphone. :) So anyway, we and the LaRues have lots of catching up to do. See? It really IS a small world!

Last week on Facebook one of the "People I May Know" was Aimee Cretsinger, whom I don't know, but her last name seemed familiar from my genealogy research. I did some checking in my omnipresent family file, and there she was, wife of Reggie Cretsinger, a distant cousin of ours in the Byers branch (my grandma's mom was a Byers). It turns out she has always been friends with my cousins Mindy, Taryn and Travis, and still goes to church at Churubusco Nazarene with Travis...and none of them knew they're related. Wow!

Here at home everything's been humming along frantically.

Jim spent a few weeks in December and January working on a contract with Navistar out of Naperville, Illinois. He started out the contract driving his Mercedes-Benz C240, which developed severe electrical problems. While in Chicago, these problems stopped his skid/slide prevention program from stopping his car in icy conditions, and he was in a minor accident (no one was hurt, nor was the exterior of the car damaged). After several go-rounds with the Mercedes dealer, which claimed variously that there was no problem, that the problem was already solved, and that the problem would cost $big to fix; Jim decided to cut his losses and traded in the M-B for a Mini Cooper Clubman.

Minnie Pepper (this is her name) is "pepper white" (sort of a creamy color) has a "cargo bay" that really isn't as large as that sounds, and a "club door" which makes it easy for the kids to slip into the back seat. She has "mood lighting," a secret compartment, and much more storage space than you would think, looking at her from the outside. She's also very easy to drive, and has several safety features - including airbags about everywhere you look. Nice car. Meanwhile our grocery-getting HHR is chugging right along, still doing great, thank goodness.

Now Jim is working overtime at home on a proposal for a contract with Nationwide Insurance in Columbus. If IBM wins the work he will be the project manager there; if not there are several other projects on the back burner, including one in St. Louis.

Aidan has settled back into the school routine and just received his report card for the second marking period. I'm happy to report all A's as usual, with room for improvement in only two minor categories, on which he has promised to inject some extra effort. Aidan's teacher, Mrs. Throop, tragically lost her baby girl Gracie to miscarriage at the beginning of December, and has decided to take an extended leave of absence for the rest of the school year. Mrs. DeRidder has been hired to complete the school year with the third graders; the kids like her and she is doing a good job. I am still volunteering in Aidan's class on Tuesday mornings; mostly helping with spelling. The kids, I reiterate, are all SO nice and polite, and it's a pleasure to help them.

At home Aidan is up to his usual stuff: Legos, computer games, reading and reading and reading, and much to his chagrin, homework. He's particularly enjoying the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series in books, Star Wars: The Clone Wars on TV, Nee-Nee and Papa's Looney Tunes on DVD, and the new Disney World of Cars website on the Internet. We have a plugged-in kid, but his screen time is limited and he still loves traditional "reading". He has 371 Reading Counts! points at school.

Esme missed school on Friday due to illness, but she is usually ready and raring to go to school. She loves kindergarten and Mrs. Morrell often gives her extra responsibilities. Esme began the Reading Counts! program last fall, which kindergarteners don't typically do, and now she has delved into chapter books, as well - she was whipping through picture books and early readers too fast for Mrs. Morrell to keep up with the Reading Counts quizzes! Her teacher also makes sure she gets a chance to be the "teacher" at one of the stations once in a while, so Esme gets to help the other kids with their reading skills, too. I volunteer in Esme's class every second Thursday; they are learning a lot and they are quite well-behaved, usually very caring and kind.

At home Esme is doing better at doing her own thing, rather than watching whatever the rest of us are up to. She is currently on a fairy craze - her favorite books right now are the Pixie Hollow chapter books, her favorite movie is Tinkerbell, and her favorite website is Disney's Pixie Hollow. Typically she's only allowed to watch one movie a week, so Mondays after school she always wants to sit right down and watch Tinkerbell, surrounded by her Tinkerbell toys. This week, though, she got the flu on Friday, so not only was she allowed to have a TV in her room to watch Tinkerbell, but she also watched Toy Story, Toy Story II, Matilda, Charlotte's Web, Curious George, and Pocahontas. Whew. She got sick right after she woke up in the morning, so she didn't really feel inclined to sleep, but she had to stay in bed. Movies helped to keep her mind off of puking, poor girl. She is just fine now!

We have returned to our "old" Sunday school class at church, and it's great to be back among our "old" friends. Having just finished a study of the end times, we're looking forward to seeing what Lynn Ball will have in store for us when we return to class next week. On the first Sunday of the month, I spend the Sunday school hour in the nursery, getting my baby fix; Jim spends the Sunday school hour in the kindergarten room, playing "bad cop" to Karen Neimeiyer's "good cop". They're a tough bunch of 5-year-olds, let me tell you.

We're glad that the winter TV season has brought us partially out of the fall "nothing on TV" funk we were in. Burn Notice is back on Thursday nights, and Monk and Psych on Fridays. We were disappointed to learn that Doctor Who won't be back until 2010, and have no idea when Robin Hood, The Sarah Jane Adventures or Torchwood might make a reappearance. We are, however, looking forward to new episodes of Dog the Bounty Hunter this month. Last night we watched My Big Redneck Wedding, but I will never watch that again, I cried from a mixture of being amused and embarrassed to even be watching it. But we did have a reason...Marge's Donut Den provided the wedding cake and Marge has been this episode's strongest advertiser the last few months. It was probably the only episode of that show that will ever take place in Wyoming, Michigan. I hope.

I have a contract doing genealogy research for my cousin and friend Geraldine this winter, and I'm looking forward to learning more about her folks. I met her daughter Rhonda a couple of weeks ago, too! I still have eight copies of The Glander Family of Preble County, Ohio from the last printing. Anybody interested? In what spare time I have (which isn't much, lately), I've been tackling the Byers family, and I've actually got about 50 pages of a book started on that branch. Shhh...don't tell anyone, but I've also got Clay research going at the same time. I know, tooooooo many projects.

I'm also gearing up to finish preparing our tax returns in the next couple of days - federal, Michigan and Pennsylvania - and shipping off that pile of paperwork to the next number cruncher in line.

Oh...and Aidan and I are working on a new Lego storage system, involving many little drawers, a few big drawers, a file box (instructions) and No More Ziploc Bags! It's turning out to be a very time-consuming project, but one feels very accomplished to see all those little pieces sorted into such neat little groups.

Well, a teeny bit of our snow is melting today, so I have high hopes for Punxsutawney Phil tomorrow. Here's to winter's end for this go-round, everybody!

And now, it's Sunday afternoon Homework Time!

Sorry, folks, I didn't take any pictures in January. I promise I will in February!!!

Happy New Year!

Here are just a few of the things we're looking forward to in 2009:

I will be 36 years old in January.
Jim will be 37 years old in April.
Our grandniece Chloe will be born near the beginning of April.
Our niece Emily will be born near the end of April.
We will celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary in June.
Aidan will be 9 years old in July.
Esme will be 6 years old in August.
Aidan will begin 4th grade in September.
Esme will begin 1st grade in September.

No whine in 2009! Well, that's what we're aiming for!

Our Christmas Vacation

We went to visit the Frederik Meijer Gardens to see the Christmas and Holiday Traditions Around the World exhibit on Saturday 13 December. (We originally planned to go on 6 December, but we were snowed in!) The Christmas trees (over 40 of them, each decorated in the tradition of a different nation) were just beautiful! We go to the show every year and we never get tired of it. Here we are in the Victorian garden:

This part of the Gardens is decorated with a working model train track and buildings from old-time Grand Rapids - all made from natural materials!

We took advantage of the holiday special exhibits at the Grand Rapids Public Museum on Saturday 20 December. The museum was all decked out for Christmas, including about 20 Santa Clauses dressed in different cultural traditions. It was a great time; we were there for over three hours! Here the kids are cutting out snowflakes in the shape of dinosaurs.

Every time we visit the museum, the kids take a crack at polishing this rock, and they see over time (as lots of other kids do it, too) that it gets closer and closer to gem quality.

In the streets of Old Grand Rapids, Aidan rode the old-fashioned bike - but his feet don't quite reach the pedals!

Jim's feet reached the pedals, though!

On the top floor of the museum, we saw the Whodunit! exhibit, and tried to solve the murder mystery they had laid out for us. Here the kids were able to pose for their own mug shots.

Esme thought she should try to look mean, like a criminal!

As always, our last stop before leaving the museum was a ride on the carousel. Both kids are 5 and up, so I finally don't have to ride the carousel with them, and can sit quietly while not spinning around!

Esme had this horse picked out way before the previous riders got off so she could get on!

Our friend Danielle, from Australia, has never forgotten the children at Christmas or on their birthdays. She always chooses things they really love! When her package arrives in our mailbox, the excitement reaches its peak. Here the kids are fresh from the sledding hill, opening her cards:

Esme was having a little trouble getting hers open!

So Aidan gave her a hand with the reading.

Aidan loves science, and Danielle is a scientist by education and trade, so she encourages his interest! She sent a terrific book of science experiments for kids...

...and a kit to grow purple crystals!!! He's thrilled, of course!

Danielle knows we love books, and also that it takes several years for children's books by Australian authors to arrive in the States. We have some really terrific ones that she's sent over the years - and Esme just received some more! We've had the Wombat books since Aidan was really small, and we noticed yesterday that they've just arrived at Barnes & Noble!

On Christmas Eve, Jim started the day by clearing the mountains of snow from the driveway - while it was raining - and then, after the county trucks went through, he cleared the mountains of snow from the driveway AGAIN. Then we loaded up our new pepper white Mini Cooper Clubman (we call her "Minnie Pepper") and headed for Grandma Margie's house. It was wonderful to see Grandma; Gary, Wendy, David, Sonya and Samantha; Joy, Ken, John, Jenilee and Chris; Eddie and Mariah; Shawn, Lori, Jessica, Kelsey, Jake and Jordan!

While we were getting ready for our Christmas Eve dinner, Grandma Margie unfortunately cut her fingers quite badly with a knife she was using to cut the roast chicken. Jim, our hero, took her to the hospital to have them stitched - 5 stitches in her middle finger and 2 in her ring finger, on her left hand. They were gone for a very long time, but everyone pulled together and we got the meal on the table and very much enjoyed the food. It was hard for the kids to wait, and eventually we did our present-opening around 5 pm - Jim and his mom arrived back at home, safe and sound, about 6 pm.

Here Esme and Aidan are posing, just before tearing into their gifts.

Esme, opening her new Build-a-Bear! Nee-Nee and Mom helped her assemble it on Christmas Day; she's named her Theodora!

Here Jenilee is opening her baby Chloe's new quilt. We're looking forward to meeting Chloe, who is due to arrive 1 April (Jim's birthday)!

Esme was thrilled with her new dress from Grandma Margie: "It has Queen Crowns on it, Mommy!"

Aidan loves reading about anything, but he was really happy with the set of "A Series of Unfortunate Events" books.

As always, Aidan is happy to see a new Lego set - Star Wars, even!

Busily tearing at wrapping paper!

Both kids will be set for good books for a while at least!

The roads weren't too bad on Christmas Eve - a little icy but nothing Minnie Pepper couldn't handle! We made it back home with no problem, left cookies for Santa and made sure the stockings were hung by the chimney with care! The kids were up shortly after 7 on Christmas morning...and discovered that Santa did indeed visit our house!

Along with lots of other cool things, Santa brought both kids a pair of slippers.

At home, Mom and Dad gave Aidan and Esme each a nice, big Lego set - Aidan's was a Coast Guard set and Esme's a Belville horse stable. They also received books and Life is Good shirts. I was the happy recipient of a beautiful picture of the kids' clasped hands, edited to look like a chalk-and-charcoal drawing. It's quite lovely.

After breakfast and a bit of playtime, and a visit to Marge's Donut Den (what a bizarre experience!) we headed for my parents' house. We had a great time all day, visiting, coloring, playing, baking, and seeing all the newest renovations! Scott and Megan arrived in the evening (Cathy had to look after Zippy overnight) and us 5 grownups played high-stakes poker with Payday game money, after the kids went to bed. What fun! We also learned that Megan's little sister, when she arrives near the end of April next year, will be named Emily Anne Hollopeter, a lovely name!

In the morning I got a good picture of the three kids in their jammies by the Christmas tree!

Aidan and Dad, relaxing on the couch after an amazing tasty breakfast including eggs, raisin toast, sausage, bacon, and country-style hash browns. Mmmmmm. Thanks, Dad!

We never get tired of hearing "Fat Cat".


Nee-Nee made Esme this super cool skirt, and also gave her a black long-sleeve top to go with it. She will be the high-couture kid in Sunday School!

Aidan's showing his dad his new set of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books! It is now less than 24 hours after he opened them and he has already read them both!

Aunt Melissa sent all three kids a super-cuddly Travel Bear. Megan slept with her brown bear first, at naptime Friday! Aidan and Esme had to wait until bedtime but they slept with theirs, too. What a sweet gift! Thanks, Aunt Melissa. Here's Esme giving hers a big snuggle.

Esme was very grateful for her new kangaroo WebKinz, so she made sure to give Aunt Cathy and Uncle Scott a thank-you hug right away.

After all the present-opening mayhem, Megan looked about ready for a nap!

Papa, just after almost getting impaled with a marshmallow from Jim's new shooter. Scott got one, too - Cathy said "Looks like Nee-Nee wanted ants for Christmas!"

Aidan is reading the card from Aunt Melissa, with a poem she wrote telling everything that the snuggly bears are good for, and including pictures of her own snuggly bear on all his adventures!

A test snuggle:

Aidan with his new 15 puzzle:

The weather warmed up quickly on Boxing Day, and we had a safe trip home. Now it is raining, setting a record in Grand Rapids for precipitation in 2008. Jim has been out a couple of times to clear the sewer drains in the road of snow and ice, so the river of water in the street can escape. Our area, and indeed much of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, is under a flood warning. We were out for a short time today - the fog is extremely dense, the rain is still shooting down, and anywhere there is a low spot, it is filled with water.

We are going out to Red Robin and a Griffins hockey game tonight with our friends the Fortunas, so we're hoping for a letup in the precipitation!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

Look here for lots of new photos and family news in 2009.

Esme's kindergarten Christmas program at school was very cute. She was thrilled when Santa Claus arrived on the scene, he was a surprise! She said later, "But Mom, I didn't see the sleigh and the reindeer in the parking lot when we went home." I told her Santa probably had to park behind the school so his reindeer could munch on the bushes.

Esme and her teacher, Mrs. Morrell, after the kindergarten Christmas program:


Dutifully ringing her jingle bells in this picture, Esme also had a chance to play the sticks during her program.


She really gets into singing!!!


She was very glad to see me in the audience when I stood up to take her picture, behind three ranks of very tall people.