Catching up!

So, it has been a long time since I've had the time to post anything. As I look at my last post (which was also my first) I realize just how much has happened in the past two years.

Ben and I graduated from NAU about 2 years ago with our music degrees. Ben is currently teaching choir at South Valley Jr. High and Campo Verde High school. He is doing a fantastic job and his choir programs are booming. For his music programs to flourish and grow in these hard economic times really is a testament to Ben's abilities as an educator.

I have recently experienced a change in my life. About 2 months ago I had a day job at Wells Fargo bank, I taught voice lessons in the evening, then I had rehearsal for AZ Opera at night. It was a very busy schedule, but I was keeping up with it. Then I contracted mono. For those of you who have never had mono before, it is like God is telling you to slow down, and you wonder if he's telling you to just give up altogether. It is a demonic zombie who keeps pushing you down every time you get up and continues to return even after you could have sworn you killed it. After two months of travel to grueling rehearsals, coupled with work in the day and the sprinkling of students in any available hour left WHILE experiencing mono symptoms, I decided it was enough. Ben and I discussed it and I quit my day job. It has given me the time I need to recover so that I can be well for my opera rehearsals, and it has actually turned out to be a very good decision overall.

I now have the freedom to use my days for me. I can finally get some cleaning done around the house (which is in desperate need after two months of not being attended to), I can try blogging again :), and I can fill up my time with more voice students, which is what I really love to do.

My upcoming performances are Faust with AZ Opera, then my students have a recital Dec. 7th, then I get to sing with an opera legend, Dimitry Hovorstovski in January! I get to be a professional singer and voice teacher!

So I have found that God has given me this awful illness to bless me with the ability to have my dream jobs right out of graduation and still have plenty of time for me to take care of myself and my husband. In a sense, I'm living the dream and I praise God for it!