My Inner 80's Rock Child and Classical Nerd found harmony tonight...

I don't know when I've had so much fun! :o)  Tonight was a night of unexpected hilarity! :o)  It ended with an incredible performance by Trans Siberian Orchestra!!!  But, to get the full effect, we have to start at the very beginning (a very good place to start....OK, I'm tired people, it was funny to me). :o)

So, our evening began with us dressing up to the 9s.  (No one told me people wear jeans to this thing!)  At 5:40, we arrived at Megan's and called Bourbon Street (one of my favorite restaurants, especially when I have a $25 gift certificate!).  We were placed on the waiting list and were told the wait was about 30-45 mins.  We figured if it took us 30 minutes to get up here, and we ate quickly, we could easily make the 7:30 start time of the TSO concert.  So, we head up to OKC.  (Megan, Natalie and Christie: if you read this, NO COMMENTS ON MY DRIVING!) :o)

When we arrive in OKC, you would have thought everyone in Oklahoma decided to eat that night.  Seriously, there were people everywhere!  We finally made our way through the throngs, parked and went inside (at 6:15), assuming our reservation had held and we would be seated in a few minutes.  Well.....when 7:00 finally rolled around, we realized we wouldn't be eating at Bourbon Street that night so we decided to jet over to Sonic (the only place to grab a quick bite around there!) before heading over to the Ford Center.  This began the hilarity.  We were dressed, practically in semi-formal wear, standing in line at Sonic with everyone else staring at us as if we had horns growing out of our heads.  We laughed, took pictures, and worked our way up to the counter to order.  As we were about to order, the manager tells me that it's going to be a 15 minute wait for food!  SERIOUSLY?!?!  Had Bourbon Street called them and told them not to give us food?  Were the food gods against us tonight!?!  Once again, our stomachs were empty and we walked out of our second restaurant (if you can call Sonic that) with just a coke/ice tea in our hands.  As we walked over to the Ford Center, we made plans to ditch the Sonic cups so we could blend in with the high class crowd that would be frequenting this cultural experience tonight.  As we walked closer to the Ford Center, we realized that most of the people attending were wearing jeans......and Christmas sweaters. :o)  We start to sheepishly look at each other, but we were still optimistic.  As we made our way to our seats, however, (which were INCREDIBLE seats by the way, thanks to Nat's step-mom) we realized we were very over dressed, but we looked amazing, so we calmly sat in our seats.  Just before the concert started, we all made a mad run for the concession stand and FINALLY filled our bellies with a Pizza Hut personal pan (although, the food gods were still against us because we wanted pizza rolls and they were out, ARGH!)

As the lights go down and the electric guitars start warming up, Natalie's face was frozen in this big, EXTREMELY CONFUSED, smile.  (Here's a side note that makes the rest of this story even funnier, but I didn't find it out until after the concert! Evidently, I was not very clear on who TSO was exactly.  Since they have the word orchestra in their name, half of our motley crew was under the impression that we would be listening to Bach and Beethoven......the normal way. :o)  They had no idea what was ahead for them!! I apologized and hopefully that helped.  But we founds ourselves wishing we'd worn our big hoop earrings and denim skirts!)  So.....the first half, all Christmas songs, began.

As I've stated by my title, my inner 80s Rock Child and the Classical Nerd that is in me got their socks blessed off!!  I loved every minute of it!  I was cheering, I was yelling, I was clapping and I was SHOCKED when one of the singers walked out on stage.  He was the size of a football player!!  But long hair was flailed (by the guys on stage), electric guitars were jumped around with, and the two violinists went through probably 5 bows a piece before all was said and done!  I smiled my way through all 3 hours.  As we stood up after the show, Natalie looks at me with a shakey grin and said, "Um.....that wasn't exactly what I was expecting...But you sure had a good time!" :o)  Well, even if our wonderful dinner plans didn't pan out and we couldn't even get food at Sonic, the concert was worth it.  They make up a band of extremely tallented musicians. Oh, and the lighting affects are kinda cool too. ;o)

Thanks to my friends, especially Natalie, I was able to do something I've wanted to do for years!  Thank you sweetie!!  And thanks for enjoying watching me enjoy it. :o) You blessed my socks off. :o)

Community Group Tonight...

As I closed the door behind Larissa tonight after Community Group and I looked at my empty living room (well, almost empty, my roommate was there), :o) I was suddenly struck by how blessed I am.  I am part of a group that loves the Lord, but also loves me!  As I lay here, trying to sleep but instead writing on my blog, I've thought back on the evening and realized we all stood around talking for over an hour and would have talked another 2 had David not stepped in (Thank goodness for David, cause I was just chattin' it up, not paying attention to the time!) and had us get started with the study portion of Community Group.  But what was so fun is that as the girls in our group gathered in my room (I love the coziness I feel with these girls), we didn't loose momentum on the quality of our conversation, we merely changed topics.  I have been taught so much by these girls and been given a fresh perspective on so many verses that I wish I could write them all down and compile them into a book.  But then it wouldn't hold the same meaning, I guess, as actually hearing those words in their presence.  These women are like iron to me.  We sharpen each other in a way that is important and necessary in our Christian walk.  God has placed each of these women in my path for a reason and I'm so thankful for that!  I'm just thankful to be blessed by these women.

Well, on another note, it seems as though God is in the business of giving me opportunities to work out my passions!  He seems to have been especially busy in that department recently.  Three things I love to do or have always wanted to do are: write a book/novel, be Nancy Drew (not just play her, but actually be her, solve mysteries, the whole nine yards, I even want her car :o) ) and be a wedding planner.  (Nancy Drew would have been able to be a wedding planner and mystery solver, no sweat.)  God has allowed people to cross my path and circumstances to line up such that all three of these passions are colliding into an incredible world of intrigue and joy for me!  I won't bore you with all of the tons of details (which are completely fascinating to me, but I realize may not be as fascinating to others), but I will give you the cliffnotes version.  First of all, my wonderful roommate Natalie got engaged this weekend!!  What makes her even more wonderful is that she has asked me to be her Wedding Planner.  That's it ladies (and gentlemen) I will be walking around with a clipboard and wearing a headset at this incredible woman's wedding and bossing people around because it will be my job!!  I am SO blessed! :o)

The second wonderful collision is related to my family.  About a year ago, I began researching my family history and recently have focused on the Sedgwick side (my maternal grandmother's family).  If you look at the post before this one, you'll see a lot of their pictures.  Anyway, this has been a wonderful twofold blessing mystery to solve.  One, I'm getting to be Nancy Drew and look up information on people who, for the most part, are no longer alive.  Secondly, I'm finding all sorts of people that I'm related to!!  In the last 3 days I've met a man and a woman that I'm related to and corresponded very closely with another who I've known for about a year!  I'm getting the blessing of adding new people to my family and being Nancy Drew.  (Oh and I found the city and street in Germany where my great-great-great-grandfather had his picture taken at a little photography studio.  Yep, found it on Google Maps.  The street is still there and everything.) :o)  Could it get any better than this?!

The third side of this colossal collision is my book.  I've been praying for years that God would open up an avenue for me to write.  Well, in the last 5 or 6 days, this germ of an idea has seemed to have brought on a life of it's own and I can barely go a minute without having new ideas to add to the core premise of this book.  It will be a Bible Study for the single woman, but it's going to deal with the real life questions that women ask, but are sometimes afraid to admit they ask them.  There's so much more to it that I'm still tweaking and I'm sure I'll continue to do so until the study is completed, but I'm really excited about this one.  I'm at a point in my life when I can really celebrate my singleness and God has taught me some amazing lessons that He is now giving me the opportunity to write down.  It's going to be called Frogs and Swamp Butterflies. :o)  (For the story on these two things, check out my post from last week.)  To see how those two stories link together to form the premise of this book....well, you'll just have to wait and see. :o)  Many thanks go out to all the wonderful ladies who have taken time out of their busy schedules to write down some of their key struggles with singleness.  May you be blessed for sharing your heart with me!!

Well, the inevitable has come and I need to force my body to go to sleep.  I'm incredibly excited about what God is doing in my life right now and the lives of others around me.  God is good, very very good.  What's cool is that right now, I feel like He's good, however, no matter what I feel......God is good.  I'm just thankful for the times that He really impresses these moments of goodness on my heart to remember during the times when I don't feel Him.  He is faithful.

Goodnight friends.

Family Photos

I'm posting these pictures so that I can get help from family identifying the people in these photos.  Nellie and Grace, if you have any idea on who some of these are, I'd really appreciate it! :o)  As far as I know, they're all from the Sedgwick/Boyd families.  Thanks for your help!

#1 - Adolph & Augusta Hoge (Minnie Boyd Sedgwick's Grandparents)

#2 - Albert Sedgwick (boy on the right) & an unknown person

#3 - The school Albert Sedgwick attended for a year

#4 - Here's the list Gran gave me, but we're not 100% sure this is who these people are :o)
From left to right: Frances Prange, ?, Grandma Sedgwick (Lucy?), Aunt Nellie, Minnie Sedgwick, Dorthy (Nellie's Sister), Margaret (last name?), Helen (last name?), Gertrude (last name?), Lucille (last name?) - Taken around July 1928 (noted on the front of the picture)

#5 - Grandmother Boyd (Ralph Waldo Emerson Boyd's mother,  Ralph was Minnie Boyd Sedgwick's father) and the baby is Minnie Sedgwick (she was born premature and was very tiny)

#6 - Mary Lou Sedgwick (cute!) :o)

#7 - Minnie Hoge Boyd

#8 - Minnie Hoge Boyd's Family
UPDATE: This is Adolph and Augusta Hoge (the parents sitting, the same couple in picture #1).  Minnie Hoge Boyd is in the middle.

#9 - Nellie, Frances, Eleanor Sedgwick

#10 - Robert Hanson (I don't know who this person is, do you Grace or Nellie?)

#11 - This picture and the rest are Sedgwicks or Hoges or Boyds, but I don't have names to go with them.  Any help you can give would be appreciated! :o)
UPDATE: This is Augusta Hoge.

#12 - UPDATE: I would guess this to be Augusta Ewert Hoge's mother or sister

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#16 - This is an obit I found in Gran's pictures

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#34 - UPDATE: This is Carl Ewert, Sr., born on July 31, 1850 in Gross Schoritz, Insel Rusgen, Germany and died on November 15, 1918 in Columbus, Nebraska.  He married Caroline Boettcher (born November 17, 1855, died September 19, 1930) on July 18, 1875 in his home town in Germany.  They immigrated to the States in 1883.

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#46 - This is the back of the post card picture above.

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#50 - This is the back of the postcard for the above picture