First Snow!

Well, it's official. Cold weather is here! I woke up today to see the first touches of winter on the ground . . . and my first morning of scraping the car windshield. I like the snow today . . . but by tomorrow, I will be tired of it . . .

Maybe not that soon, but I really don't like cold weather. So, why am I living in Michigan? Well, I am still trying to figure that out for myself. Maybe because I love our church and school . . . the people here . . . my friends. Just a few reasons. Although life is not without its ups and downs.

Recently, I have been in a state of depression and frustration. Just because of some things going on around here. Today, I am doing all right . . . though I am still worried about a couple of things. But I know that my God is bigger than any problem, worry, or frustration.

BIG weekend ahead. Actually, 3 big weekends ahead. Tomorrow is Grandparents day at our school, so that means all of my choirs are singing. Then we have two Big Play practices on Friday and Saturday. Next weekend is our High School Choir Retreat, and the following weekend is the Singing Crusader Choir Retreat (Elementary choir). So I will be busy.

If you read these posts, please be in prayer that God will keep me healthy and give me strength for what is ahead. I hope everyone has a great week.

Seussical Video Clip

Here's a clip of the show we will be doing at Calvary this year. The camera work is awful, but the high school cast here is extremely talented. I especially love the closing number of "Green Egs and Ham". We are planning on useing their choreography for our show! Enjoy!

Life for the St. Clairs?

I know, I haven't posted about our life for quite some time. In fact, what you have seen on our blog in recent days IS our life right now. Producing and directing a school musical is absolutely consuming! Both in time, energy, and thought. The show is not until February but in order to pull off such a big production, it is necessary for us to get a jump start on the process. With only a few rehearsals under our belt, the cast is getting fired up about the show and a good foundation has been set for this long journey. I am in charge of basically everything except for choreography and dance. That is left up to my wife and one other person. So, Sarah Dawn is really enjoying getting back into some of her roots with dance. In fact, she has started taking a ballet class again and is really thrilled about that.

In other news, life goes on. Our biggest burden right now is for another child. Sarah and I have been praying for another baby for quite some time now and God has chosen not to bless yet. So we are in the painful stage of waiting. And every month it gets harder for us, especially for Sarah. You guys can pray for us in that area.

We just recently celebrated Sarah's 27th birthday last Saturday. And part of that celebration was taking to family to "The Greatest Show on Earth" Barnum and Bailey Circus. Rennah totally ate up the whole experience! We had such an awesome time. Especially before the show, when they let everyone come down into the rings to meet the performers and the animals. Rennah wasn't sure what to think when a 6,000 pound elephant named Aisa walked into the arena and painted a picture for us! She loved the clowns, which was a comfort for me that they didn't scare her. And she danced and giggled the whole night.

Life goes on. It's OCTOBER already! And school and church ministry keeps us busy. But our hearts are full of Joy in Christ as we continue to serve him and trust him with our lives. Continue to pray for protection from the enemy this year as we are heavily involved in minstry and I know the devil loves to attack.

Thank you all for your support and prayers. I know that many of you read this blog (even if you don't make a comment) and it's encouraging to know that we can keep people updated to pray through the wonder of the blogger world.

Keep CHRIST as the center of your focus. We love you all!

Seussical Cast!

Well, I have gone through the very hard process of play auditions and the casting process. Yesterday, I posted the cast and created quite and excitement around school. Here is a list of the cast for the show this year. Not that any of these names will mean anything to most of you, I just want you to see the large amount of people that I have for the show.

Our Cast!

The Cat In the Hat- Brian Visscher

Horton the Elephant- Chad Adkins

JoJo- Kaleb Beelen

Gertrude McFuzz- Anna Edwards

Mayzie LaBird- Krysta Altvater

Sour Kangaroo- Leah Bartlett

Mayor of Whoville- Paul Hontz

Mayor’s Wife- Abbie Hagger

General Schimtz- Tyler Joldersma

Bird Girls-

Sarah Bartlett

Amelia Ozios

Julie Schultz

Wickersham Brothers-

Julianne Brown

Chevy Gilliam

Jordan Steele

The Grinch- Sean Little

The Whos-

Kallie Baumann

Leah Ebbers

Rachael Ozios

Shanice Taylor

Becky VandenBerg

Judge Yertle the Turtle- Stephen Field

Ensemble/Dancers-

Bethany Folkert

Hannah Hagger

Ashley Joldersma

Rhea Kosten

Lydia NyKamp

Rachel Renzema

Alissa Visscher

That's it! A total of 29 people! Auditions were awesome and we are all so excited to get started on this show. I will be posting a video from auditions soon! Stay tuned!

Musical in Audition Stage!

Yes, it's that time of year again for me! The audition stage for our next school musical. Last year's play was such a hit that our executive director here asked me to produce and direct another musical this year.

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of really good, family-friendly shows that have small casts like Charlie Brown. So we are having to go BIGGER this year.

"Seussical the Musical" is an extremely fun show and I am really excited about it. This past Wednesday, I had my first meeting for those students that are interested in auditioning this year. I was expecting 20 people tops from our little school. Much to my surprise, I walked into the meeting packed with 46 STUDENTS! I can't believe how many people are excited about this show! Last year, we had about 18 students audition for Charlie Brown, so this was a HUGE increase! I can only guess that it comes from the awesome show we had last year. People have a new excitement for our theater program. YAY!

Auditions are next Saturday, September 16, so you all can pray that God will give me wisdom in picking our final cast!

The first week of school is almost over and it has gone very well. Enrollment is up again at our school. We topped off the year with 261 students! Last year we had about 245, so this is a big increase! Lots of new students.

Thank you to all of you who left comments for the last post. I guess I was just feeling alone in the blogger world and comments always make me feel like people care and what I am writing and posting is being viewed. So thanks. Pray for Sarah and I as we begin this new school year. I am extrememly excited about what God has in store for us.