Our children's choir Christmas program went over better than I could have imagined! The kids were excited about doing it, and it showed. The expected mishaps were not distracting (lapel mic falling down, major scene skipped over, etc..) and the characters seemed written for our children. People laughed and were blessed. One man was even quoted as saying, "THAT started Christmas this year!" Jeff Slaughter's "The Christmas Shoe Tree" was such a hit that I've already been asked how I plan to top it next year. I have no idea! No one seems to be able to write music and dialogue and movements life Jeff does. Not only that, but the children collected over 350 pairs of shoes to be donated to Soles4Souls ministry!
I am so proud of them for that. It was the biggest production that I've ever attempted and at times I was afraid it was going to be too much. However, we made modifications when necessary to accommodate our smaller church and when it was all said and done, it was great! The DVD is ready to be picked up today and I am eager to watch it with my kiddos. All 5 of my children took part in some way that night so it will be fun having the dvd as a keepsake. Now that it is over, a decision about what's next has been looming over my head.
I had two options I was considering, one very simple for Easter--no skit or drama, just narration. The other slightly smaller than the Christmas production but still containing a skit as well as songs to be sung, signed, and/or interpreted with movements. My tiredness after the last production was saying, go simple. Summer camps and their fund-raisers are just getting underway. Go small this spring. THEN. . .after church yesterday morning, Mr. Kenneth told me that someone has donated $1,000 to my children's choir fund! What?!? I could be wrong, but it says to me that someone likes what we're doing so much that they want to make sure we keep it up.
Small and simple are out. The pressure is on. I get online and spend about an hour and a half looking through children's musicals until I am thorougly confused. Then God in His graciousness leads me right back to the original musical I had begun with--"I Can Only Imagine" by Brentwood-Benson. I love the music; I can use the middle school girls AND the high schoolers, too!
The script isn't overwhelming for my choir (now that the 7th grade girls moved on after Christmas, we have a smaller group to assign speaking parts to). The great part is that it is not an Easter play so we can wait until the end of April if we want to, plus we get to have many good discussions about heaven as we work on this musical about heaven! I don't want to miss opportunities to teach the children while we are working. Sometimes I miss the most important for all the details in front of my face. I have been encouraged by the generous gift and inspired to keep plugging away with these precious children God has placed in my care.
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