Wedding Memories

This past weekend, Austin and I had the chance to attend and be a part of the wedding of some good friends of ours. This was actually the first wedding we've had (or could make) all summer. So it had been well over a year since we've attended a wedding. And this got me thinking...

The wedding this past weekend was simply beautiful - full of love and joy. You could see it on everyone that was present. Austin and I had a the amazing opportunity to be a part of this wedding by singing. It's always an honor when we get asked to sing and be a part of someone's special day. And this was no different.

Throughout the ceremony and even the whole day, I was reminded of our wedding day. We too got married at the Wartburg Chapel and that in itself holds a lot of memories. But the day brought back a lot of feelings. Those feelings of butterflies, of complete joy, of the unexpected. Your wedding day is going to be one of the most fun and joyous days of your life. And after three years of marriage, you forget what those feelings were like. You lose sight of them. You get caught up in the every day stuff. The normal. The boring. And I think it's good to be reminded about how you felt on your wedding day.

Your wedding day is more than just a big party. It's the day you commit yourself to another person. Fully. Completely. You make vows. You make promises. You agree to spend the rest of your lives with each other. And that's where it can get tough. Because marriage is not like the wedding day. It's not all fun, party and dancing. It's work. It's compromise. It's exhausting some days. But it's what you've agreed to.

Don't get me wrong. I love my husband. I love our marriage. I love our life. But it's still easy to lose sight of these things. Maybe that's why you're suppose to make a big deal out of your anniversary every year. To help remind you of those vows you made on your wedding day. To help remind you of that joy you have deep in your heart. Of that love. I'm sad to say that Austin and I haven't been the best at celebrating our actual anniversary. We're both busy that time of year and we haven't even really been together on that day. But I think we need to do better. I think we need to take the time each October 24th and watch our wedding video. To look at the pictures. To read through our guestbook and cards. I mean, why else do we have them? 

So to my friends that just got married, to my friends who are currently planning their weddings and to my friends who have been married: Remember your wedding day. Remember that joy. That nervousness. That love. Remember those vows. Those promises. Remember the Bible verses you had read or the songs that you had sung. Remember the family and friends that were there to support you. Remember that God is there every step of the way. And remember your spouse. And why you love them. Why you married them.

Austin, I love you with all of who I am. I love every day we've spent together and I look forward to every day we will get to be together. I cherish all of the memories that we've made and try to wait patiently as we make new ones. I will love you every day of my life. You are my other half. And I would be lost without you.  

"Where you go, I go; and where you live, I'll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I'll die, and that's where I'll be buried." 

Ruth 1:16-17

Surrender

Do you ever make plans? You get this great idea of something you want or something you want to do. Sometimes these plans are just an idea that you have and some plans are set into motion by other events.
So you have these plans and you start thinking about your future. How it's all going to work out. What you're going to do once it happens. How you're going to react. How you're going to tell your family and friends. You start to get excited. You get your hopes up. You start dreaming and imaging how wonderful things are going to be. How amazing everything will work out because of your plans.

But then something changes. Your plans go awry. Your dreams and your hopes are gone.

Has this ever happened do you? Have you ever felt this disappointment? This frustration? This sadness? It's happened to me, too. More than once.
But then I realize something. I realize why my plans don't work.

My plans get changed because they weren't God's plans for me.

I've always strongly believed that everything happens for a reason and that God does indeed have a plan for me. I don't know what His plan is, I don't know what it entails or how it will work out. But I do believe it's there. I believe that I have to trust Him. To have faith in Him.

It's easy to say "trust in Him" or "have faith in God's plans for you". It's very easy to say those things - to yourself, to others. But it's a totally different thing to actually follow through on them. And this is where I've been struggling lately.

I know that God has a plan for me. But lately I've had my own plans in mind. I've had my own wants and dreams. I feel like what I have are good plans, good wants, good dreams. I feel like they're things God would approve of. That God would want for me in my life. So what I can't understand is why God isn't just giving me my plans, my wants, my dreams.

But that's not how God works.

And so I'm struggling. I'm struggling to let go and let God. I'm struggling to let go of my plans and surrender them to God. I'm holding them too close and I'm not sure how to let go of them. I don't know how to start that process. Sure I can say that I've let go of them, but deep down I know that's not true.

Some days while I'm thinking about our future plan - whether it be my plan or God's plan - I try to listen for an answer from God. I try to listen and hear if he'll tell me what the right plan is. You see, two years ago when Austin and I were trying to figure out if a move to Western Iowa was the right plan for us, I heard God. I heard God speak to my heart telling me that it was the right decision. And that whole week I was reassured by verses I heard on the radio or hymns that were sung in church. I heard God speak to me that week.

And so that's what I'm listening for again today. I'm waiting for God to speak to my heart. I'm waiting for that reassuring verse on the radio. I'm waiting to hear God. But I'm not hearing anything. So I wonder: am I listening too hard? Or am I not listening in all the right places? Maybe I'm expecting this time to be exactly like it was two years ago - a clear voice. And I wonder, will God speak to me the same way again? Or am I not opening up my heart enough to fully listen to what's around me?

And so here I sit. Waiting. Listening. Trying to let go.

God, give me the strength to let go. To let go of my own plans and wants. Help me to surrender them up to You. Give me the patience to wait for Your timing. Help me stay strong in my faith of You. Help me to open up my heart so that I will hear You when You speak to me. Amen.

Dog Days of Summer

I realize that I haven't written a blog since last month. And I really don't have any excuses. With Annie over, we had all of our free time back! Maybe I just haven't written because nothing too exciting has happened since Annie... well that's not completely true either. :)

With Annie over, Austin and I were both excited to have our evenings and weekends back. But that first week or two right after the show, I have to admit: I was bored! I couldn't remember what I use to do with all my free time before Annie! I wasn't even sure what I wanted to do with my free time now! But that has past and I'm back to enjoying my free time again. I do still get a bored a little easier but I'm trying to enjoy doing nothing while I can... as people keep reminding me - whenever we decide to have kids, our free time is completely out the window! :)

Over the week of July 4th, Austin and I traveled up to South Dakota for a family reunion! My cousin and her family had recently moved there where her husband is the director of a bible camp. The camp is right on the lake, along with a retreat center - which is where we stayed. We were so excited to head up there to have a mini-vacation and to spend some time with the family. However, we ran into a little bit of a problem about 20 miles outside of Council Bluffs. 

Yup. We got a flat tire... It was the first time either Austin or I had ever gotten a flat tire so we weren't entirely sure of our skills to change a tire. We did have a spare in our trunk but we called a tow truck to come and help us out. Well it was close to 100 degrees outside and after waiting in the heat, Austin decided to just try and figure out how to change the tire. At this point, a state trooper had pulled over to make sure we were okay and see if we needed any assistance. He helped Austin get it all started but then told us he had to leave because a man up the road was threatening to jump in front of traffic... yeah.

My hero!

Austin got the spare on successfully and we had called up to a place in a small town just up the road and they had the tire size we needed! So we slowly made our way there, got our new tire and $150 later, we were on our way! Luckily we didn't run into any other problems on the way there!

Once we made it to South Dakota, we enjoyed a few days relaxing on the lake and hanging out with family. We had a lot of fun. We went paddle-boating, tubing and playing on the water toys, that you can see in the picture below. 
 

We had a great time and it was hard to leave! I think everyone agreed that it would have to be something we should do every summer! :)

Since then, we really haven't done to much. Austin is still enjoying his job at the airport, mostly I think because it gets him out of the house! He's also been working with students doing voice lessons and next month, he'll be taking some students to All-State camp back at Wartburg. I think Austin is ready for school to begin again and start working with all of his students for another great year at Riverside! 


For me, the summer is also going well at work. Orientation days are definitely the busiest but the free lunch makes up for the early morning those days. :) I can tell that fall is starting to get closer because college fair invites have started coming in and soon I'll be scheduling high school visits again. I've also been working on creating our new books for the school year. These are the books that we give out at college fairs, high school visits and campus visits. I've really enjoyed doing this and it's helping me keep busy. Another exciting thing is that our entire office will be heading to Denver in October for the National Conference for Admissions Counselors. I'm so excited to get back to the great city of Denver and to hopefully learn some new things!

I think that's about it for us. We're just trying to get by in this heat wave that's hit the US. I hope you all are staying cool as well! Enjoy the rest of the summer before it's gone! :)

The Sun will come out Tomorrow!

Austin and I have gotten our lives back! "Annie" is officially over! Our performances were just this past weekend on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And for the first time in at least recent history at the Grist Mill Theater, all four shows were sold out!! Pretty big deal!

Each show was awesome! The audience was just what we needed as a cast to get that extra energy and enthusiasm on stage. There were no major screw ups or anything. The music was great (obviously with such a great music director! ;-) haha), the lines were given smoothly and no one tripped on stage! :)

Overall, the show itself was a great success. We heard a lot of positive feedback. But more importantly than that, were the friendships that we made at Grist Mill during our two months there. Rehearsals were long and often, but we met some really great people! Every person in the show or helping with the show really made it so much fun. And although I think Austin and I (and probably everyone else in the show as well...) will enjoy our free nights and weekends again, we're really going to miss hanging out with everyone.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy from the show! 

Austin makes the best faces!

See? 

Meg and Grandma J. came to the show!

John and Austin during warm-ups

Before our second show

Mr. Warbucks and Drake like the dress! :) 

Mom & Dad Zaruba came as well!

After our third show

As you can see from the pictures we had a good time! 

The cast of "Annie" 

If you want to see more pictures, they're up on my Facebook page! :) 

Keeping Busy

Okay, now we've definitely been keeping busy!

Annie rehearsals have been in full swing for a while and with our performances next week, we're really working hard! Rehearsals are pretty much every day from 6:30pm until around 9:30 or 10pm. Last night it was 10:30. This makes for a rather long day. Especially on the days I have orientation at work. On orientation days, I have to be at work by 7am which means my alarm goes off at 5am and I'm out the door around 6am. Those are very long days. Luckily however, we don't have any orientation days next week, the week of our performances! So I'm very happy about that!

Annie has been a good experience for us! It's gotten us out of the house actually doing something! (We like to really just enjoy the time we have to ourselves right now and normally not have to do a whole lot of anything. But I know that this has been good for us for when we do have little ones running around and keeping us busy in the future!)  We've also met a lot of really great people! The cast is a fun group to work with! It's also been great having the chance to get back on stage and for me, to really sing again! It's been so long since I've gotten to sing, you forget how much you love it! And it's been fun working with AJ, with him working as the Music Director and as a fellow cast member. I think we were both a little nervous about it since we like to butt heads so much... ;-) but it's been really good and really fun to work with each other.

Another bit of exciting news is that AJ has gotten a part time summer job!! YAY!! :) I might be a little bit more excited about this than he is... haha! AJ will be working at Enterprise at the Omaha airport. Basically he will just be driving cars back and forth between some locations at the airport. So it's pretty simple, just part time and just for the summer! Plus, it's at the airport! And if you know AJ, you know how much he loves airplanes!! I just hope he keeps his eyes on the road while he's driving and not up in the sky watching the planes!

As soon as he has that schedule worked out, he'll also be doing voice lessons for some of his students. So he will be keeping busy this summer! Which is good. For both of us. :)

An Infomercial

Are you a fan of Mr. Austin Zaruba?
Do you like his energy and enthusiasm?
Do you enjoy his music and teaching abilities?
Do you love watching him dance up on stage as he directs?
Are you sad because he lives so far away and it's just plain hard for you to get to all of his concerts?

Well you're in luck!

The Riverside Vocal Music Program has created a new website full of all Mr. Z's concert videos! Starting back from his very first concert during his first year teaching in 2010 all the way up to the present!

(Okay, well maybe not quite yet to the present time... We're still working on loading all of the videos from different concerts and events. We manage about one a week! So keep checking back until we've got them all up to his last spring concert!) 


So, check out the website here: https://vimeo.com/riversidevocalmusic

And enjoy the musical talents of the Riverside Vocal Music Program! They've come along way in just two years! It's pretty cool to watch the first concert and then to watch them again just this past spring! You can also tell how much they admire and respect Mr. Z! So way to go!! :) 


ENJOY!

Some Music Updates

I seem to be averaging about one blog a month... I can't blame it on us being too busy because while we've been busy, we haven't been that busy. So I'm going to blame on it on the fact that we just don't have a lot going on. We can be boring people. :)

AJ has officially finished up with the school year. Okay, well not quite yet. He still has two more weeks of school but when it comes to all of his concerts, performances, etc. he has finished. The Middle School concert at the end of last month sounded great and he had those kids doing some pretty difficult music for their age! They sounded great. The High School concert also went really well! He was able to show off some of the smaller group talent and showcased all of his seniors that will be graduating. My Mom and Grandma actually made the trip down for the concert and I think they really enjoyed themselves! They just kept saying how amazing the choir sounded and the quality of music they're singing. They also kept commenting on how much fun AJ seems to have when he's up there conducting. And it's true - he just dances away on stage! :) He brings a level of energy and enthusiasm like none other and the kids respond to it. They were so focused on him the entire time - very professional! And you can tell how much they respect him!
AJ also had his Large Group Contest back on May 4th where the choir traveled to Elk Horn, Iowa to perform in front of three judges. The choir sang their very best, did an outstanding job and walked away with an Excellent (Division II) Rating! And they really deserved it! (Well, actually I think they deserved a Division I, but I'm not a judge!) They sang a level 3 difficulty of music and for a program so young and still growing, they rocked it. They did really well. AJ and I have been working on putting together videos of all his past concerts recently and when we were watching the video of his very first concert at Riverside - with only like 12 kids - it was amazing the difference in sound they have, the level of professionalism while on stage, and how much more talent they have now. It's been fun to watch them grow as a choir.

AJ also decided to start some traditions at Riverside. This past Saturday, he held the first ever Riverside Choir Awards Banquet. He asked students and parents to help bring food and we had a nice little brunch on Saturday morning. AJ then spent some time explaining everything that they had done throughout the year and then presenting the students with their awards (letters, pins, bars, etc.). It was a really neat thing and fun for those students to get recognized because they really deserve the recognitions. Another tradition he has decided to start was recording the choir singing songs from throughout the year. So last week I took off work to help with the project. We spent all morning at a local church in town recording the choir singing a number of different pieces along with some small groups. For the first year of doing this, the CD will have 20 tracks on it! And with the sale of all the CDs, the money will go straight back to the Music Program, which is really great. So, because I know you're all interested... :) if you want to buy a CD, I've included the order form below. You can also go to the Riverside Vocal Music facebook page and download it there too! And just in case you haven't already, you should go to the facebook page and "Like" it so you can stay up to date on all Riverside Vocal Music stuff! 

I think that about does it for us right now. "Annie" rehearsals are still going great and I really love being back on stage and singing again! I forget how much I miss it! 
More from us later - as soon as some things happen! :)