A singer in my house?

I can't carry a note in a bucket. There. It's out. I am not ashamed to admit that I am not a singer. I LOVE to sing, especially in church to a great worship song, but that doesn't mean I do so well.

One of my favorite stories of irony took place my senior year of high school. I graduated #12, and the top 10 students were able to pick what they wanted to do in the ceremony. For example, #1 picked the invocation, and #2 picked the prayer, etc. The choices were whittled down until all that was left was singing the Alma mater. #10 decided he would rather not participate at all then sing. #11 chose the same. So it came to me. My best friends were in the room with me, and there was an audible groan. But I couldn't let a small thing like a lack of talent stop me, so I said yes!!

I practiced for over a month with the band director. I was determined to not embarrass myself. The night arrived, my turn was up, and I stood up to the microphone. And I asked my entire class to join me as we sang the Alma mater, and stepped away from the microphone. I was very proud of my "work around"!

To sum things up, I can't sing.

So imagine my surprise when my children started exhibiting signs of singing aptitude. Carleigh (whose name loosely means "little song") has always enjoyed singing and I think she sounds wonderful! She led a song all by herself at her Kindergarten end of year ceremony (I refuse to call it a graduation- but that is another post) and impressed us all. Jonas has had lead singing roles in all of his school programs, sang in Alice in Wonderland, Jr., and then sang AND danced while playing Prince Charming in Cinderella. His choir teacher at his last school told me he had a great voice with real potential, and I was shocked.

And now, to top it all off, he has made it to the final audition for the Mesquite Children's Chorus- a select group of 4th and 5th graders from Mesquite schools who form 3 choruses- a boys, a girls, and a co-ed. 400 have tried out- 200 will make it.

Even during the audition process (there were 4 weeks between the first and second rounds in which the kids rehearsed weekly) he has already learned official singing things, like breathing techniques and a little harmony. It's very exciting, and I am encouraged by the amount of time Mesquite schools are investing in the arts. They may beat us over the head with TAKS propaganda (again, another story for another post), but seem to also make music a priority, too.

Jonas should know the results of his audition at the end of this week. Stay tuned...you could all be witnessing the making of a STAR! or just a really good church choir member.