natalie’s blog

After I finished my teaching year with a couple of piano camps in July, I took some time off. Here’s a recap of some of what I’ve been up to…

INDEPENDENCE, KANSAS

I spent four days with Andy and Nicole in Independence. The first night they took me to the local miniature golf course to play a round. The stakes were high - the loser had to treat the others at Braum’s. I arrived back at their house with a few less dollars in my wallet that night.

The next evening found us again at the course shelling out the big bucks ($1/person) to play another round. This time I was warmed up and won by a narrow margin. Of course that meant that we had to play a tie-breaker round the next night. I would say who won, but Andy and Nicole were very hospitable to me and I don’t want to make them look bad in public.

Nicole and I spent some time driving the beautiful countryside and admiring the Elk City Reservoir.

We also splurged one night and forked over $.25 each to ride the little train around the perimeter of the park. What a fun and carefree week!

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

A couple days after I arrived home from Independence, our family headed up to Chicago.

We visited the Carlisle family and stayed the night at their beautiful country home on the way.

We spent a few days visiting with my Grandparents, Aunt, Uncle and cousins before I was dropped off in Oak Brook for the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy.

I had a wonderful time live-blogging the conference and spending time with my friend Virginia. We got to know each other by e-mail about six years ago and decided to attend this conference together. We met the day before the conference for the first time in person and had a blast together!

We also met up with Megan, a friend of mine from WSU, and enjoyed talking together, eating together, looking for an ice cream shop together for an hour and never finding it, walking outside together, etc. Lots of good memories!

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

I flew out of Chicago after the conference and spent a week with Daniel and Julia (of the excellent Idea Central Christian Filmmakers Blog) and their two girls, Joy and Elisa.

We enjoyed an afternoon at a lakeside beach with Daniel’s department from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The following evening Micah and Caroline and their daughter Kate (pictured above on the right) came over for dinner and to join us in our favorite evening activity - playing strategy games!

We enjoyed a visit to the fascinating and inspiring newly-built Billy Graham Library.

This was one of my favorite quotes posted in the library. (Click on the picture to see a larger image and read the quote.)

Daniel offered to keep the girls home one night and Julia and I went downtown and enjoyed dinner at a nice restaurant. We had a wonderful time of fellowship and just praising God together for what He has done and continues to do in each of our lives.

We were hard-pressed to get a decent picture of me with my little namesake, Elisa Natalie… I flew back to Wichita refreshed and grateful for a friend with whom I can discuss a wide variety of topics - even if we never come up with the answers to our questions…

WICHITA, KANSAS

A few days home allowed enough time to get caught up on laundry and some things around the house.

We also had our final AIC 2007 recap meeting and dinner.

And took a day trip out to Independence to spend the day with Andy and Nicole and Andy’s family barbecuing, playing games, visiting the exotic zoo, talking, eating watermelon, etc.

DALLAS/FORT WORTH, TEXAS

Off again!

This time with Lydia for a week in Texas.

We met up with Rachel and 13-month old Collin and went over to walk the outlet mall. After encompassing it twice, it was time to head back to the house for dinner. We were joined by Rachel’s husband, Eric, and feasted together on a scrumptious Mexican meal.

We stayed the night with Travis, Myklin and baby Clarke. The next day we met up with Kelsey at the Family Birth Center. She is apprenticing to be a midwife and gave us a tour of the small, but cozy, center. We were then joined by Rachel and her sister, Hannah (who arrived the night before with her family for a visit), and ate lunch at a quaint Tea Room tucked in the back corner of an Antique Mall. What a great time of fellowship we enjoyed as sisters in Christ!

We had tentatively planned to take the train into downtown Dallas the following day, but the weather was rather foreboding, so we opted instead to play the tourist at a historical little town just south of where the Vinsons live - Granbury. We walked through many of the shops in the town square, dined on a picnic lunch and stepped into a Tea Room for afternoon tea just as the rain started to come down. We wiled away a couple of hours talking and reminiscing and emerged to find a clear sky and sunshine.

Evening brought us back to the Vinson’s. Clarke was delighted to see his Dad, who obviously loves him very much!

After Clarke went down for the night we delved into an intense game of Rummikub - well…more intense for some than others…

Myklin obliged us by playing some of her beautiful improvisations at the piano. Lydia and I each took a turn writing down a random sequence of letters (within the range of the musical alphabet) and then Myklin improvised a piece built on that sequence. What amazing talent God has given her!

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

The next morning we bid farewell to our gracious hosts and headed south.

We met up with Nathaniel, Tim and Cara downtown and walked along the Riverwalk, then ate dinner at Casa Rio.

After dinner, Nathaniel acted as our personal tour guide, leading us through the historically significant sites and explaining all kinds of information about them.

After being regaled by dramatic stories late into the night we finally said goodbye and headed our separate ways. Our path led us further south to the home of the Huber family, where we would be spending the next several days.

We awoke Sunday morning to this gorgeous view! The day was spent worshiping with several families that meet at the Huber’s home, followed by a meal, and then another short meeting.

I enjoyed spending time with some of their little ones (Benjamin and Kaylianna pictured above) Monday morning.

Then Lydia and I were accompanied by Kristalyn and Brenton as we toured the BSF Headquarters, dropped by the Vision Forum store to pick up some very important items (Joey’s been chomping at the bit for the next volume of Jonathan Park. I gave it to him when I got home and he stayed up until 3:30 the next morning so he could listen to the whole thing!), and visited the FEAST book store.

We met up with Nikkae, ran a couple of errands and then picked up her brothers from football practice.

We stayed in San Antonio and ate dinner at a hole-in-the-wall hamburger place. Here Brandon, Max, Anthony, Jonathan and Zach pause to smile before plunging into the macho burgers.

Nikkae, Katherine, Brandon and Anthony gave us a mini-recital Tuesday morning before we left. Ah, there is nothing quite like beautiful live music. We said our sad farewells and left, taking with us the memories (and one other special item I’ll reveal below) of fun times of talking, laughing, supreme awkwardness (oops…where did that come from? ), relishing in the beauty of the countryside, and more.

Next stop - San Angelo. A place I’ve always wanted to visit. Okay. Maybe not always. Fine. A place I suddenly became very interested in visiting on Tuesday afternoon when I was conversing distractedly with Lydia and somehow got rerouted off of 83 North and onto 87 West. Oh well. It was a very lovely place and I’m sure our tour of Texas would not have been complete without it.

We arrived a little later than anticipated at the home of the Lyons family, but still in time for dinner (the important part…).

It was a beautiful, pleasant evening and Lydia and I relaxed by the pool and visited with Mrs. Lyons. It was wonderful to catch up with their family!

The next morning we met up with Jason Lyons (a former babysittee - hmmm…no idea how you say that - and piano student of mine) on our way out of town so that he could give us a tour of Abilene Christian University, the school he’s currently attending.

Our final stop was made at the home of the Lykins family (also former babysittees of mine…). We enjoyed spending time with their little ones - becoming reacquainted with some and meeting a few of the younger ones for the first time. All but the oldest son are adopted and make for a lively, energetic household! We spent a couple of hours visiting, touring the house, and eating lunch and then set our sights for home.

Four hours later we pulled back into our driveway. God granted us safety and protection and blessed us abundantly through our time together and visiting with fellow believers across the state of Texas.

Joey looks into the backseat in shock. I had called earlier that morning to tell him I was bringing home a surprise for him and that he would never, ever guess what it was. Of course he tried, but to no avail (I know. Aren’t I such a nice big sister?). He was in the driveway and to my door before the car was even off (which, I might add, was slightly more dangerous than otherwise since Lydia was at the wheel… ) inquiring as to his surprise. He spotted it almost immediately in the backseat. Well, it was hard to miss.

After several years of praying for a cello, God answered Joey’s prayer by laying it on the Huber’s heart to let him borrow one of theirs so that he can start taking cello lessons. We are absolutely thrilled and are praising God for His faithfulness and goodness to His children!

I was greeted by numerous welcome home signs drawn by my siblings. I am so grateful for the opportunities the Lord has given me this summer (and for wi-fi that allows me to keep up with various responsibilities while away from home!) and for the friendships made and deepened. And I am especially grateful for such a loving family awaiting me when I return!

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

Psalm 68:19

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