Molly was confirmed at Glen Mar Church! We're very proud of her, and so excited for this special day. Thanks Christy for being a great Friend in Faith, and thanks to Jen Rowell for making it all happen.
Molly and Simon performed at their Confirmation services (both of them).
And now the second in our series of praise songs. This time, Molly takes the lead in a song chosen by her.
This will hopefully be the first in a set of praise songs from home by our family. The girls are now able to really contribute to praise songs, and it is awesome! This is the first praise song Leah has played on piano (and the first song she's played from a chord sheet), and she did great! I hope it warms your heart as we're all stuck at home.
Molly continues to sing in the youth choir at church. Jen and I don’t often get to see her sing as we have other commitments on Sunday morning around church, but I got to see her this time. They sounded great!
Our family was again very involved with the Christmas Eve Family Services. This was the 3rd in a trilogy of superhero-based Christmas Eve services. Molly played Supergirl in the skit (a change from being Wonder Woman the past couple year), and Leah was again one of the two worship leaders for the service. I also led the band.
The girls kept the tradition of opening 1 gift from Grammy on Christmas Eve, though we had to squeeze it in during the break between the 2:30/4:00 family services and the 7:00 traditional service.
After being a part of the 2:30 and 4:00 family services, Molly also sang and played in the orchestra at the 7:00 Christmas Eve service.
Leah was not supposed to have a job at the 7:00 Traditional Service. However, the girl who was supposed to do it bailed at the last minute due to illness. So, after the 4:00 service, Leah got the job. It was actually her first time being an acolyte (since we are not generally a traditional service family).
The girls donned their Christmas pajamas and were ready for bed after a very busy Christmas Eve.
And here’s our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. In the past, we’ve always had a live Christmas tree in our house. For years we’ve gone to cut our own tree. But for some time Jen has been advocating getting an artificial tree. With the dwindling stock at cut-your-own tree lots and the rising prices as tree crops struggle with changing climate, I finally gave in this year. We ordered this lovely artificial Alberta Spruce 8 foot tree, and it’s been quite nice not to have to worry about watering it or cleaning up needles. The girls especially like all the different programs the lights can do (e.g. flashing and switching between white and colored).
Last week, Molly had a very busy Sunday morning at church. She played with the youth orchestra at both the 8:00 and 9:30 services, but that was just the start. She also gave part of the sermon at the 9:30 and 11:00 services. It was Missions weekend, and we had a few testimonies from folks who had been on mission trips in the place of the sermon. Most of these were adults, but they did include a couple of youth. Molly was the only middle schooler to speak.
You can see her testimony here:
And if you’re interested in seeing all the testimonies from all 4 services, you can watch them here (Molly’s is at the 48:55 mark):
And here she is playing with the youth orchestra:
We’re so proud of you, Molly!
After a week of orchestra camp, Molly had a bit more performing to do. She joined me and the band to lead worship Sunday morning. This was her first time playing viola with the praise band.
Our church does lots of mission trips, but a couple years ago started a new thing that’s kind of like a mission trip without the trip part. We spend a week working in Baltimore and sleeping in our own beds. This year, Molly was finally old enough to do it (must be entering 7th grade), so she and I signed up.
We had about 50 people split into 5 crews. Our crew consisted of 3 adults and 6 middle schoolers. Each day we’d spend the morning in one place, then the afternoon in another. Most of the time, we were volunteering with organizations throughout Baltimore.
Our crew’s first activity actually wasn’t even in Baltimore. Through the week, we come across lots of needy people throughout Baltimore. So, our first task was to buy some supplies and make 40 bag lunches. Each crew would take a couple lunches every day to hand out to those in need.
Monday afternoon was spent familiarizing ourselves with the city of Baltimore. Our crew did a prayer walk through Hampden, performed random acts of kindness, and we may have gotten some ice cream as well.
Molly learned what a Hon was too.
A couple of days, we worked at Paul’s Place, which helps with feeding, clothing, caring for, and training the needy in Baltimore. Our first time there, we organized a couple of their storage units.
On our other visit, we served hot lunch to hundreds of needy people. These kids are ready for the doors to open.
We spent several days helping out at Little Flowers, a charity day care.
We changed things up Thursday afternoon and worked at Art with a Heart. They help the city through art projects. These pop art squares are put on trash cans to beautify the city.
We also spent an afternoon making things for Operation Christmas Child, but I failed to take a picture of that.
We took one afternoon off for some duckpin bowling fun. Very few of the kids had ever been duckpin bowling (it was Molly’s first time), so it was both a Baltimore experience and a chance for some fun.
When we had an hour to kill, we toured Lovely Lane United Methodist Church, the "Mother Church of American Methodism." This congregation held the 1784 “Christmas Conference", at which the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States was founded and Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke were ordained as its first bishops.
The ceiling in Lovely Lane United Methodist Church was created by a professor of astronomy at Johns Hopkins University.
It was a fantastic week, and we definitely plan to do it again next year. It was awesome to be able to do this with Molly, and also great to be able to serve the city so near to us. Many of the places we went were very close to my office, and I have a whole new appreciation for the area I commute to a couple days a week.
For the first time ever, our 4-person family formed a band for worship at church. August is family worship month at Glen Mar, and we were asked to do the Anthem and the Offertory at the 8:00 and 9:30 service. We were happy to do it, and can't wait to do it again!
Leah and her choir sang again this past Sunday.
After watching Leah sing, Molly headed off to Sunday School. We were surprised to see her a few minutes later serving as the acolyte. Apparently the girl who was supposed to do it didn’t show, so Molly was recruited on her way to Sunday School.
