Homecoming 2007 and Smitty

Yesterday was really busy for us. We got up early and had to be over to Concordia for the all choir reunion any time after 8:30....we left about 8:15 and got there right before 9 so we made some pretty good time from here. We had breakfast there with some of my old choir mates and then we headed over to the chapel where we were having a massed choir rehearsal before the dedication of the new chapel addition. I have to admit it looks pretty spectacular....there is even air conditioning in the addition now but not so much yet for the actual chapel, it was really warm in there! Not only did they add to the chapel but they actually did some remodeling inside....ripped out the old gymnasium tile and put in some hardwood floors, framed all of the stained glass windows so that they stand out better and hid all of the radiators with actual radiator boxes. The rehearsal and chapel service was pretty fun because a couple of the old choir directors came back and got to direct as well. I have to say that there is a definate difference between the directing that we learned in school and what these old directors did....it is very miniscule and really nothing much to it which made it very hard to follow. But, it was still a great time! After that we headed back to the theatre building where the street party was starting. We had wristbands that got us unlimited food, drinks, carnival rides and beer in the alumni tent. Yea, I was a little bummed about having to miss out on the beer but Brice was really excited because he got a good Summit Ocktoberfest to go with his brats.

Here are a few pictures from the afternoon. We will start with a picture of the pit where 3 dorms and a house used to be. Early this fall they tore them all down to build this huge 4 floor apartment style dormatory (why couldn't they have had that when I was there????)

This next one is the front of the chapel addition.

Me petting a little calf at the petting zoo. Brice didn't tell me when he was snapping the picture so I look a little wierd.

A self portrait of us after just having downed a bag of mini donuts.

And last but not least, I'm going to call this my ode to Josh Huber.

So, after having done all of this, we left around 4pm to head down to Eden Prairie because we had tickets to see Michael W. Smith at Grace church. Since we got there so early we decided to stop at the mall and do a little window shopping and get a snack before we headed down to the church for the concert. We really had a great time....the show ended up being sold out so I'm glad I got tickets when I did. I was a little perterbed with people though because when we got the tickets in the mail there was an insert that said there was no photography allowed so being the good person that I am, I did not take the camera in. Obviously, this didn't stop people from taking a million pictures but now I'm mad that I have nothing to show for being there....grrrrrr..... Anyways, the concert was more like Smitty unplugged. He did a lot of worship and praise music and only a small set of actual Smitty originals. We were a little disappointed that it wasn't a bigger, less accoustic concert but with Smitty you can't go wrong. This guy is a freakin' genious! I would be happy with half of the talent that he's got. He was talking about his new Christmas album that's coming out in a couple of weeks and I'm really excited to hear it. He got to record it at Abby Road in London and all the pieces are original and John Williams-eske. Just think, Smitty meets John Williams.....I can't think of anything more music geeky than that!

Today, we went to church and in the bulletin they were advertising for an open worship leader for their new Threshold services that are geared directly to young adults. I'm seriously thinking about applying for it - it's a part time position and it would allow me to actually use my degree (YES!!!!) and do something different that I have always wanted to do (get more into the contemporary music scene). I have a lot to think and pray about regarding that.

I'll close with a picture of a present that was waiting for me when I got home from work on Friday afternoon.