Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

• Broken

  Date: 2010.03.16 | Category: Evolution, Uncategorized, random thoughts | Response: 2

  “My all-surrounding Father, how my soul is tempted to search for the meaning of my life in the love of others; to look for security in money and possessions; to strive for acceptance in service and good works. Now I see how these things can be temptations, open doors through which my spirit slips out from within your Self in order to trust in my own strengths. I close these doors right now, and place my soul inside your tender might. Here, alone with you, I draw together all my concerns…all my responsibilities…all that is broken and scattered and needy…My soul is fed and medicined with goodness from Your hand!” St. Augustine

  Something happened to me at cre:ate this year. Something significant…mystical even. I’ve been having trouble finding the words, but they are coming to the surface more and more each day. I am a complicated person, as most of us are. My husband would say I am more complicated than is necessary but God made me this way and I’m trying to find the peace that entangles itself in my craziness. Things that have been laying dormant for years are being stirred up – some really good things and some nasty, ugly, terrifying things. I have to admit that I am scared, I am broken and I am determined that this place I find myself in will not be my end. It is a freakishly beautiful beginning of sorts.

  I am grateful for the wonderful people in my life. The past few weeks have caused me to run into their arms more than once and I love that God has prepared a safe place for me at just the right time. You know who you are…thank you.

• Glory Academy Dinner Theater & Auction

  Date: 2009.11.03 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 0

  

  Have you heard???

  Glory Academy became a Tuition Free Fine Art’s School this year – offering classes in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Pointe, Modern, Hip  Hop, Praise Dance, Art, and Theater to ages 2-adult! We have over 175 students representing 25+ churches and many who do not attend church anywhere! It has been an exciting year to say the least. (I just had a meeting with another staffer to figure out where to put our over 400 costumes for the May Production while they are being altered…ahhhh!)

  So – how do we have a tuition free school and still pay our bills? Glad you asked…

  We have raised over $30,000 so far from corporate and private sponsors – people in our community who believe in the arts and believe in how the art’s should be represented in the church. Amazing!!! We also have a few key fundraisers throughout the year – and THIS FRIDAY is one of them!

  GAFA will hold a Dinner Theater, Art Show and Auction this Friday, November 6th at 6:30. Tickets are only $10 and include a fabulous dinner, incredible entertainment from our staff and students and a fun evening with some amazing auction items. Some of the items include:

  • Fine Jewelry from Perry’s Emporium
  • A Weekend Getaway at Wrightsville Beach, NC
  • Photography packages from Millie Holloman Photography and MRay Photography
  • Art work, jewelry and pottery from some incredible local artists
  • A big ol’ flat screen TV!!
  • TONS of other fantastic items that you will want to bid on!!!!

  Tickets are almost sold out, so call us NOW to reserve your spot! 910.602.5302 info@gloryfinearts.com

• Long Overdue Brain Dump

  Date: 2009.07.15 | Category: Glory Academy, Uncategorized, Worship, family is everything, random thoughts | Response: 2

  It’s been so long since I’ve blogged I may or may not have forgotten how… I’ve been trying to figure out what happened that suddenly halted the desire to write, but I don’t know if it really matters. What DOES matter is that I’m still here – and I just may be ready to jump back in. I hope there are some of you still around to actually read this…

  I need to just get somethings out and then I’ll get to the more serious postings later -

  • My baby girl turned 1! I can hardly believe it – but on June 28th, we celebrated Rylee Lyric’s birthday! We had a wonderful time with some amazing friends, a GORGEOUS cake and a pretty darn good photographer…
  • We sold our house! YAY! We are so thankful for a quick sale – only on the market for a month and we got a great price for it and a relatively smooth transaction. Shane and Christie Register will Coldwell Banker did a fantastic job selling it for us – thanks, guys! I am a firm believer in STAGING YOUR HOUSE before you list it for sale. I think we have personally proven that this works (our last home sold in 7 days without a realtor!). I promise I will do a separate post on my tips and tricks for a quick sale. Anyway…we move into our amazing new home next week! I am obsessed with Hagood Homes – this is our 2nd home built by this wonderful company and let me just say that they have been unbelievably and uncommonly wonderful to work with. Every detail is attented to with such care and they have truly gone above and beyond in the customer service department. (thanks, Andrea!) I’ll have more to say about them later, too… I can’t wait to post some pics of the new place and to have some super fun parties!
  • I went back to work! When Rylee was born, I decided to take an extended maternity leave and it has been just what I needed. I have really enjoyed taking time away to be with my children and I know that they are my first priority and my first ministry responsiblity. I cherish every moment I have with them and Don and have felt so blessed to have been able to take this time. But – I know that the Lord has been leading me back to work and I am really excited about what He has planned. Last week, I went back to the office two days a week to work in the creative art’s department at Rock Church again. Because I have been and will still be leading GAFA, I know that I can not feasibly do both full time on a permanant basis. Both jobs deserve and require more time than I will be able to give to them. So we will see who the Lord leads us, but for now…. I’m back!
  • GAFA is rocking and rolling! Last Spring, we made the decision to turn Glory Academy into a “free tuition” Fine Art’s school. What a HUGE step of faith for us, but God is proving Himself faithful and the response has been so amazing! We are still in the process of securing a large portion of our yearly budget, but the community response has been so wonderful – classes are filling up and we are hearing from so many how this will be their ONLY opportunity to give their families quality education in the arts and I am so honored to be able to offer this to our community. We are going to have an incredible year! If you want to partner with us as a financial contributor please let us know! All contributions are tax deductible. Just give us a call at 910-602-5302 or e-mail us at info@gloryfinearts.com. That’s all for now – there is a TON more I need to blog about – trying to not be afraid to open the floodgates again… !

• An Amazing Weekend

  Date: 2009.05.19 | Category: Glory Academy, Uncategorized, creativity | Response: 1

  

  This past weekend was GAFA’s production of “Psalms”. Sooooooooo much work went into putting this together and everything was just perfect! I seriously have the best staff on the planet and I am so proud of them for all of their HOURS of hard work. They are not only a great staff, they are my dear friends and I am blessed to have them in my life. I will post pics of the show as soon as Matthew gets some edited for us. But before I do that, I wanted to take this post just to let these amazing women know how much I adore and love them! You ladies are the best and I am so thrilled to have you on board with what God is doing at GAFA!.

• How Did This Happen?

  Date: 2009.04.30 | Category: Uncategorized, random thoughts | Response: 3

  I just realized how long it’s been since I’ve posted anything new or even perused all the amazing blogs that I had frequented for so long – how did that happen? I know I probably don’t have anyone still stopping by here anymore and so I’m wondering why I’m even writing this right now. <sigh> A blog is such a huge commitment – and I’ve just not wanted to be sucked in very much lately….

  But – SO much has been going on and I just need to dump – so here goes!

  • Reagan is almost 4! I can’t believe it – he’s so handsome and perfect and I feel so blessed to have such an amazing little man. 
  • Rylee is 10 months old already. She is such a sweet baby and I am having so much fun with her! A couple of weeks ago, she was dedicated at our church and my mom made her amazing dress. She took apart her wedding dress to make Rylee the most beautiful dedication dress I’ve ever seen!
  • GAFA has been busy busy busy! Our Spring production, “Psalms” is coming up in just a couple of weeks. You don’t want to miss this – get your tickets from any GAFA student, staff or from the office!
  • In other exciting news, GAFA has announced that we are becoming a TUITION FREE school beginning in September! We are so thrilled to offer our community excellence in arts education withouth any financial barriors to stand in their way! We will offer classes in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Pointe, Hip Hop, Praise Dance, Art, Theater and Music! We are curretly applying for various grants and looking for corporate/personal sponsors to make tax deductible contributions to make our budget. For more info or to become a contributor, call our offices! 910-602-5302
  • UPDATE!!!!! I’ve lost about 20 lbs since January! YAY!!!! Pilates has changed my life…. (Thanks, Cynthia!)

• Prom Date

  Date: 2008.11.18 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 8

  

  The lead singer in this little gem of a video is Joey, my prom date….

  I haven’t seem him in yeeeaaaarrrrsss – but I found this and thought it was just hilarious and just like I remember him.

  Ahhhh…memories…

  Who did you go to the prom with?

• Dancing Machine

  Date: 2008.10.08 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 1

  My brother is an idiot…I know, I know…. (not really…he’s the most amazing brother, pastor, husband, father, friend – but I have to give him a hard time b/c no one else will now that he’s senior pastor…)

  But every once in a while he does something super cool like this. Our friend, Paige Strackman, has sponsored a project through American Express called “Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children.” Bryan agreed to shoot this video to help spread the word and our good friend, Millie, agreed to shoot the photography.

  

  If you are an American Express card member, please go NOW and vote. If she wins it would mean 1.5 million dollars to help saves the lives of children in Haiti. Thanks for the help…

• Riverfest!!

  Date: 2008.10.05 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 2

  I was SO proud of the dancers from GAFA today! Riverfest took place downtown Wilmington this weekend and our Celebration Dance Company and GAFA Dance Teams performed in front of hundreds of people and they ROCKED it! Here are some pictures from the day – leave some comments and let the girls know how great they did!

  

  

  

  Rylee got SO hot in her stroller, so we stripped off her pants and I handed her over to Mrs. Donna so I could take pictures. We didn’t want her little bald head to get sunburned so we covered her up with a burp cloth. This was her first dance outing and she was a trooper. In a couple of years she’ll be up there performing! I can’t wait!

  Thanks to everyone who helped organize this event – and to all of our GAFA families who make my job a dream job – and to my AH-MA-ZING staff who always do more than I ask of them, you guys just make me happy!

• Tuesday Morning Brain Dump

  Date: 2008.09.16 | Category: Uncategorized, random thoughts | Response: 4

  So, I haven’t done one of these in a long time – and I’ve been missing the chance to just unload all of the random stuff bouncing around in my brain….

  • Rylee is turning out to be a pretty good sleeper. If I can just get her to drop that darn 3:30am feeding!
  • Reagan told me that bananas have potassium in them. How does a three year old know that?
  • Don’s mom is coming for her first visit since Rylee was born. She hasn’t seen Reagan in over a year and has yet to meet the girlie girl. Can’t wait to see her!
  • I’m addicted to Banana Chocolate Vivano’s from Starbucks.
  • I LOVE LOVE LOVE Brooke Fraser’s new live album – her voice is perfection.
  • As you can see from my previous post, don’t try an come at me with gossip – I’ve been trying to wash out my brain for days.
  • I talked with someone very special to me on Saturday – I hate that so many of my closest relationships are so far away. Pops, Mama Reba, Cindy, Stephanie, Mindy, Sarabess – I miss you all like I can’t even describe!
  • My friend, Rachel and her husband, Anthony, are talking about something very important over at her blog. Please go and read their story – you’ll have to scroll down a bit to find the first post and then read through them in order. I’m an sure that there are some of you who can relate and need to hear what they have to say.
  • Lisa Rinna’s lips are freaking huge! Good grief.
  • I’m excited about fall tv starting up next week.
  • David is doing an amazing job with the creative art’s team at Rock Church. I’m so thankful God sent him to us just at the right time!
    
  • Glory Academy is back up and running. We are everything that typical “church dance teams” are NOT. We exist to bring excellence and relevance back to the art of dance in the church. Help us spread the word! We have classes in ballet, tap, jazz, modern, pointe and hip hop from ages 3-adult. All new students receive a FREE LEOTARD for their class. Amazing….I know…
  • I need to figure out a way to bring in some extra money – something that I can do from home. Any suggestions? (I am bracing myself for the inevitable sarcastic suggestions from this guy and probably her, too.)
  • That’s enough for now…but I’ll leave you with this picture. Can you guess what Rylee is doing in this shot?

• Play Date

  Date: 2008.09.04 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 3

  Reagan had a play date today…Karen came with Marty and Rachel came with Olivia and Jackson. The kids played so hard and we got to sit in the living room with some amazing coffee and have girl talk time! It was so fun and Reagan is worn out now – he’ll probably sleep for hours.

  Here is the aftermath of the 2 1/2 hour play fest. This should be fun to clean up!