April (2nd half)

 The second half of April was a whirlwind.

The CBC quartet held its final concert and graduated one of our violinists.

The honeysuckle began to bloom everywhere and perfumed every single beautiful day.

Katherine's rehearsals and performances peaked in intensity, so Aaron and I had extra opportunities to try coffee shops for our "coffee and calendar" dates.

Katherine had a cheering squad come support her Arkansas Youth Symphony Orchestra concerts.

And our hometown of Conway had FOUR cellists on the stage.

The long-awaited farmers market finally opened.

And we discovered a significant leak in the last piece of original plumbing underneath our 80+ year-old house.

The high school orchestra toured St. Louis. 

I am so very blessed to work with these dedicated teachers and students.

The orchestra has enjoyed a foreign exchange student from Spain this year.  She is a fabulous violinist,

and she turned 16 on our trip. So we decorated the bus to surprise her.

The tour to St. Louis was quickly followed by the last concert of the year. 

These seniors were 7th graders the year I taught full-time. They have my heart as I've watched them blossom as both musicians and as people.

We planted winged beans in our garden as a reminder of one of our favorite veggies in the Solomon Islands.

We also got some exciting news for the Lavukal Translation Project. Two young men have joined the team and begun the training they will need to become proficient translators.