Christmas Past!

Hello again to all of you! I know we are long past Christmas now, but I thought I would post pictures from our (very) hectic month! We traveled out of state for a week over Thanksgiving and with in a few days of arriving home, we were sharing our music in multiple venues across the state.  I'll let the pictures below tell the story!

 Thanksgiving dinner with Grandpa & Grandma Morley at our other home next door to them, in Missouri! 

 Grandma's stories are the best! 

 We brought our keyboard along so practice could continue, but somehow the stand failed to make it onto the trailer! So we "improvised"! :)

 Our mom's sister and family joined us for the holiday weekend and the men's project was to move the basement stairway and tear out the area where the old stair way was!

 Caleb peels apples back at home in PA, for apple pies! 

One of my friends came for a weekend and since we are both harpists, we had to take a picture. :) 

 And then the fun began! We played 14 times in 16 days or so. 

 We would get into a variety of situations where we struggled to get all our gear and instruments on the platform. But we always managed somehow and just tripped over mic chords and violin stands and tried not to look too unpracticed! :)

 This Christmas season, for their first time, Jonathan and Laura joined us on our string songs! Jonathan playing a 1/2 size violin and Laura on a 1/4. They did a lovely job of carrying the melody on "The First Noel".
 Another friend of mine came to help babysit and cheer us on and she even matched the group! 

 The four middle children recited a series of verses including the Christmas story and entwining the gospel at the end.

 We three ladies sang a trio about the wise men, called "When They Saw the Star, They Rejoiced with Exceeding Great Joy".



Our final weekend found us playing 3 hours each evening on a Friday and Saturday for our church's large live nativity! I don't have very many pictures of the event, but we were a bit crowded in the balcony playing for the guests who came through underneath us to drink hot chocolate and warm up around the wood stove. It was such a wonderful experience and an opportunity to reach up to a thousand people over the two days! We trust our music could penetrate into hearts and bless and minister to those who heard. We can't always follow up and see the results, but we trust the Lord to water whatever seeds we can plant! 

Part 2 coming soon....
In a time and a culture that is at increasingly great risk, we desire to share the ageless truth that God created each precious human being, and that they can live out God’s plan for their lives and their families. The Ten Commandments are still relevant. The Bible is still the message that tells us the story of Jesus and our hope of salvation and eternal life. There is forgiveness for sins and there is hope and healing for sorrow, loss, and pain. God can still enable His children to live authentic Christian lives. He still purposes to give Peace on Earth and Favor to all mankind! The joy of music, Jesus Christ, and family togetherness is a great blessing to us and we trust you will find the same for yourself and your family!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Winter Blues with the Bradfords

Image
  Central Missouri, particularly for our lively family, is not very "blue" in the winter season, it is actually quite warm and sunny most of the time! We did get a lovely snowfall which made for some fun winter sports including iceskating!  However, many days are in the 50-60*s and sunny! Here we are cleaning the furniture from our second house so we can fix it up and sell it.   Somebody figured out a creative way to do schoolwork!  Sweet friends came down from NY and when you have a second harpist in the house, of course you have to get a picture!  She even gave me a hand milking the cow!  Time for Monopoly!  Lots of practice!    In February, Dad, Charity and I traveled back to PA on a business trip and for Charity to pick out a new violin since hers got cracked at Christmas time due to an accident. She enjoyed playing duets with cousin Andrea as she decided which violin to choose!    On Sunday back in PA still, several of our friends and cousins decided to go window to wind
Read more

Finally Here!!!

Image
  Just in time for Christmas and after many hours and weeks of practice and learning to record, our first ever family Christmas CD is here!!!  You can order on our website and have it shipped to you or you can choose pick-up and get it at one of our concerts! https://heartstringsministry.net/store/
Read more

We're back!

Image
 It has been a very long stint away from our blog but we are excited to be back and hopefully posting more often in the weeks to come!  Here is a little pictoral update from the past months!  December was full with a two week music tour to Pennsylvania and New York where we had 14 concerts and traveled 3000 miles in 14 days! We were grateful that we stayed well the entire trip and had a safe and enjoyable time. We pray our music touched hearts and lives for Jesus!  Back in Salem, we did some Christmas caroling for friends and neighbors and everyone loved the bell songs!  While in NY, we were happy to spend some time with our great-aunts, some of our biggest support and cheerleaders!  In March, Charity and Susanna had the opportunity to play in a live orchestra for a homeschool drama group doing a performance of the musical Little House on the Prairie. It played 8 different times and they had a great time participating! We have not had to wear face masks very often out here in the midwe
Read more