Piano Festival March 2025

 Mary and Kara recently participated in a piano festival at Northwestern College. They each had to memorize two songs & play them for a judge. They practiced their songs many times over the past few months and were relieved when they were finished! We are thankful for God's gift of music, and hope that they will always use it for His glory.

(There is no photography or recording allowed at the festival, but they were kind enough to play their songs one more time for Mom.😉

Mary plays Swirling Winds

Mary plays The Lost Troubadour

Kara plays Gladiolus Rag

Kara plays Scherzo

NWIPRS Chapel

 Here are a few videos from the NWIPRS chapel that was held last week. It was wonderful to hear our children speaking and singing praises to God. We hope you enjoy it too! :)

Kindergarten (Hannah)

Grades 1-3 (Mary

Grades 4-8 (Ryan)

Kara's Honor Band Concert

Last Saturday evening, Kara performed in the Northwest Iowa High School Honor Band at Morningside University. We've been going to this concert as a family for a number of years, and always enjoy it very much. This year was no exception - it was beautiful! 

The quality of the videos is not very good, due to the fact that we were sitting quite a long ways away in the balcony, and the venue is dimly lit. But they still sound very nice. Kara is sitting on the left side, second row from the front, 4th person in. Enjoy!

Shane loved this march... he clapped along for much of the song. :)
Marines of Belleau Wood March

Remembering the Remarkables

Seagate Overture

Flourish for Wind Band

Kara in All Iowa 8th Grade Honor Band

Last week Kara was able to participate in the All Iowa 8th Grade Honor Band concert in Des Moines. It was a fantastic performance by the top 132 8th grade band students in the state of Iowa.

Here are a few videos from the concert...

"Call of the Prairie" was commissioned for this event and was composed by the conductor Lisa Galvin. It pays tribute to the Ioway Indians, the people for whom Iowa was named.

"Spirit of the Solitary Defender" is about the many moods of the jaguar, including an exciting chase to capture its prey.

"March of the Armed Forces" includes the official songs of 5 branches of the Armed Services and honors service members past and present.

Jenna's Concert

 Dordt had their spring choral ensembles concert last week. Jenna is the accompanist for Chorale, and she was able to accompany them on the organ for the first time. It was a beautiful combination of the choir, organ, and a small group of instruments called "Homeward Bound." If you watch closely, near the end you will catch a few glimpses of Jenna playing the organ. :)

Chorale also sang a really fun gospel piece "City Called Heaven"

They ended with an acapella version of "Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal." Jenna is in the front left corner of the choir.

Combined Chapel Spring 2023

 Our grade school had combined chapel this week with the PR schools from Sioux Falls and Edgerton. The students always look forward to this day, and have a lot of fun together. We are so thankful for our 3 small schools... they are a great blessing!

Here are some videos from the combined chapel service...

Grades K-3 from all 3 schools

Grades 4-8 from all 3 schools

Grades K-8 from all 3 schools

Spring Break 2023

 Here are a few pictures from our spring break trip to Cancun, Mexico...

On the plane and ready for takeoff

 Beautiful view of the sunrise from the plane

At the Dallas airport

Evan was up early the first morning and captured this beautiful view of the sunrise from our hotel

A morning game of chess by the pool

Hannah on our balcony, ready to go for a swim

Hannah & Mary at the beach

Building sand castles

Swimming in the ocean

Ryan spotted a really cool lizard!

Hannah trying to hit a piñata during one of the evening kids shows

Waiting for the show to start

A bird on our balcony railing

Beach bum

Supper at the hibachi restaurant

Trying sushi for the first time... Mary said it looked better than it tasted ;)

Chef Pedro cooking our supper

Mary's dress matched the beautiful flowers

Having some fun in the pool

Just hanging out at the edge of the infinity pool

Time for some ice cream

Mary turned 7(!) while we were there

Say "cheese"

Supper at the Italian restaurant, open to the outdoors with a beautiful view

Our last night there, on the rooftop overlooking the resort...
We are thankful for lots of wonderful memories made here!