Andre Rieu Concert!!!!!

Hello Everyone!

God is so good! About a month ago I saw an advertisment for an Andre Rieu Concert in our area. (Andre Rieu is a the director of the Johann Strauss Orchestra.)  I checked out the orchestra and Andre at his website (Click here to view it :]) and loved what I saw.  The website had videos of the music that they play and some of the different things they do and I fell in love with it :)  How could I not?  Beautiful, classical music, ladies in ball gowns, men in tuxs and musicians playing with such joy conducted by a laughing, talented director.  What is not to love?..... The prices were a bit high for me, so I hinted to my family that if someday, if it is in the Lord's plans that I court someone, that this type of activity would put me right over the top :]]

I sent an email to a friend letting her know about the website, knowing that she, like me, would love the videos....and that was the end of it.  Or so I thought :]

A few weeks after the email my friend recieved a phone call from a mutual friend that new we were interested in the concert......She had two tickets that were 50% off if we wanted them!!!!! 

What can I say?  We were so excited!! 

The tickets were bought and we planned for a wonderful evening!


All that to say, 'That night was one of the best nights of my life!'  The beauty, music, romance, grandeur, elegance, peace & joy took my breath away.  I don't think I stopped smiling the whole evening. 
Andre kept us laughing throughout the night and yet could bring us the next moment into such a mesmorized state as we listened to the music. 

Music is truly a wonderful gift God has given us!  As the music played I was filled with such intense happiness at being there and yet at the same time overwhelmed with the splendor!

The following pictures are from the concert.  I'm sorry the quality isn't better.  The lighting wasn't that great in there and our camera is not all that fancy ;)  I think the videos turned out the best but for some reason they are not loading onto blogger!  Hopefully you will be able to get a glimpse of what we saw!

Looking in from the entrance.  We sat on the floor on the right, second to last row.  You can't see them in this picture but there were bleachers surrounding the floor.

Looking at the stage from the bleachers on the left.

This picture came out the brightes of them all!

They played the "Snow Waltz" and as they played a blanket of feathers was released and covered the audience.  The next picture will show it better :] 

It was so beautiful!

I'm going to insert a youtube video since my personal videos are not loading. 

This video shows exactly what happened :) Except obviously it was in English and the "snow" was feathers.

I have a short clip of Stephanie Detry playing this piece on my camera but this video does the whole song.  This was definitely one of my favorites!

Of course they played several waltz's.  Andre Rieu is after all, the "King of Waltz's" and during the "Blue Danube Waltz" there were people all over the room waltzing!!  Some of my other favorites were the "Skater Waltz" and "Amazing Grace" with the bagpipes!

One of the peices of music included a shower of colored balloons that I caught a great picture of!

As I said above, 'That was one of the greatest nights I have ever had.'   I hope you enjoyed the pictures and videos!   You can see even more of them at the website I mentioned above.  I especially recommend watching the "Blue Danube"  it is lovely to watch!

When you think about it, isn't it amazing how God gave man a big enough imagination to figure out how to put onto paper, musical notes that would guide people on all different types of instruments, let alone create all the different instruments that we use in todays culture.

God is so good!!

A Guest Writer: "Saying Goodbye"

I recieved an email this morning from a friend of mine and he shared with me a poem he had written.  I loved it and he said I could post in on my blog, so here it is. 

It helps to read it slowly, it has so much meaning.  This young man has some wonderful talent that God has given and I can't wait to see where God leads him!

SAYING GOOD-BYE

To sadly say Good-by, a path we all must take.

A word we would not use, a word that makes us
ache.

When death upon us lies, is thought to last
forever
.
To people we love the most,a word that always
severs.

Jesus through His love for us ,a sacrifice He
made.

And for us , sinners, was lade into the grave.

Now if we trust in Jesus, a child of God may be.

To everyone who does believe, of heaven we will
see.

Because of what Christ did, Good-Byes can now
be sweet.

Good-Bye is now a parting word, until in glory
we meet.

"Overruled: Government Invasion Of Our Parental Rights" has been released

My Mom and I just watched the movie that was released by ParentalRights.org and were pleased to see what a great docudrama they have made.  You can visit their website http://www.overruledmovie.com/ to watch it for free.  It is only 37 minutes long and truly worth it. 

As Adolph Hitler said, "He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future."  The parents have the right to raise their child.  Not the U.N., not the Government, not the State, not the Town, not the Schools.  It does not take a village to raise a child.  It takes loving parents who care about their child, who know their child best and will do what is best for them. 

Here is a re-posting of the trailer for the movie:

Parental Rights Amendment

Okay, so I know I recently posted on the parental rights issue, but it is something that the Lord is really laying on my heart.  This evening as I read another update from ParentalRights.org I was convicted again of my inactivity against this horrible treaty that could be enforced in our nation.

So, I decided that I would write two notes. One to our Congressman and one to our Senator.  After finishing those two emails.  God gave me the words to write the following letter that I am considering submitting to different newspapers.  As I finished it, I realized that putting it on my blog could be just as influential if not more-so, because you, my dear readers, are from all over the world.

　

Dear Editor,

    As a monumental, presidential election looms in our future it has caused many different issues to come to the surface. All of the issues hit close to home as they relate to our jobs, families, homes, economy, education and many other areas of our lives.

However, there is one issue that does not seem to surface to often and yet it is so critical to our continuation of freedom in the United States.

That issue is in regards to the Parental Rights Amendment. Our Founding Father's fought for the freedom of this country. That we the people would have the right to decide how we want to live, how we raise our children, how we worship our God, how we spend our money and in so many other ways. Yet those freedoms are slowly being chipped away. Over the years the government has stepped farther and farther into our private lives and has made laws that take away parts of our freedom and has instead given more control to the government.

We must not allow that to happen in regards to our parental rights. Currently, the role of raising, guiding, training and deciding what their children do, hear and see is being quickly usurped by faceless bureaucrats.

Our freedoms are slowly being taken away. Freedoms that made this nation strong and great. United families that had the liberty to raise their children in a way that they felt was best for each individual child created a country that had strong morals, strong families, and love of country.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is a treaty that, if signed, would dictate that the federal government must enter each and every persons home and decide for itself if what is going on is acceptable. The rights of the parent would be replaced by "the best interests of the child" and the people deciding what is best for those childeren are 18 people on an international committe in Switzerland. The vast majority of parents know and love their children better than anyone. Our goverment should be supporting the parents and their rights.

If signed, we would be bound to this treaty and under the direction of the whim of these 18 people who will interprert "the best interests of the child" in whatever way they see fit.

In the United States, any treaty signed and ratified by congress is considered the law of the land and trumps an other laws already in place.

The ParentalRights.org is an organization that is desperatley concerned with the future of the families in the United States. They have drafted a bill that already has sponsors and co-sponosors in the house and senate.

The Amendment is as follows:

Draft Parental Rights Amendment

For The United States Constitution

Section 1

The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right.

Section 2

Neither the United States nor any state shall infringe upon this right without the demonstrating that its governmental

interest as applied to the person is of the highest order and not otherwise served.

Section 3

No treaty may be adopted nor shall any source of international law be employed to supersede,

modify, interpret, or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article.

We the people of the United States have been given inalienable rights. It is our duty and responsibility as citizens to make a stand and support those who desire our country to be a nation of liberty and freedom.

You can go to ParentalRights.org and find out more information about the treaty, the amendment, as well as additional information. You can also sign the petition if you believe that protecting parental rights is important. Please, share this information with your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers.

There are so many things you can do to help support parental rights and become involved.  Here is just a small list that I have compiled for those of you might be interested.

1. Pray - God can do anything and He wants us to come to Him in prayer.  Nothing we do can compare to what God can do. 

2. Sign the Petition - The more people who sign the petition in support of the amendment, the more people will know about it and congressman, senators and our president will know that we the people do care.

3. Read the different articles on ParentalRights.org and familiarize yourself with the pros and cons of the treaty and the amendment.  There are also lots videos that give you information as well.

4. Tell your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors and anyone else you come across about the treaty and how it would hurt this country.  Then tell them about the petition :]

5. Write to your Senators, Congressman, and let them know that you would like them to sponsor this amendment.

6. Write to your local papers or even your statewide papers and get the word out.

7. Post about it on your blog :]


Thank you for spending the time to read this whole post :]  I know it was long, but my prayer is that others will see the need and step forward and make a difference. 

May God bless you as He directs your steps.  If any of you decide to post about it on your blog, please let me know :]  I would love to know that the message is being spread!