December Music Notes

I just realized the last time any news went out was August!  Whoa!  😳
Usually I try to update you guys what's happening and if we are at any events.  So I missed sharing about my Open House I hold every year, a couple worship events we took part in, so I guess this is going to be more of a re-cap.
​First an upcoming event....
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UPCOMING EVENTS:

Event:  New Years Eve 24/7 BURN
Day:  Thursday December 31
Time:  6pm-1am (We will play from 6-7)
Where:  Jubilee Christian Center, 3125 Cty Road 74
Town:  St. Cloud MN
This is an evening of worship/prayer and thanksgiving of God's goodness in 2020.
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MUSIC RECAP:
With so many places shut down this year, including churches and Christian Coffeehouses and Ministries, including all my favorite places (oh how we miss everyone!!!), there was not much music happening.  Very grateful for the couple opportunities to participate with the BURN 24/7 Ministry in sharing music and sharing with my WOW Ladies study when we did meet in person.  I have to admit that I haven't been playing much, because my attention turned to other things which entered our life, including helping others with some projects.  I have lyrics written to one song that I'm yet to put music to.  So the goal for next year is to also include the music back into my focus.

NOTES N BLING:
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You can imagine with all the closures happening everywhere, most of my shows, craft fairs and festivals have shuttered as well.  
​So my yearly October Open House time came around way too fast and I've held off and off trying to decide if I was going to do it or not.🤔  Usually it always took place within my home, generally for two days and we all had enjoyed a great time visiting, hanging out, sharing snacks, tea, coffee and shopping.  With the situation this year I figured people wouldn't be comfortable to come inside.
So I thought, why not utilize my new event tent I bought this year (hoping to have events).  This would be the perfect setup!!  It would be outside, for one day only, we could social distance and still visit.
The weather had been in the upper 60's and lower 70's, unusual for October, so the invitations went out.  The day of the Open House, it was a tad chilly in the morning (of course the temps lowered that day 🙄), but there was NO WIND!!!  It turned out to be a very beautiful day.  Folks came out, some hung out for a while and visited.  What a blessing!  

So imagine this - the next day - it was SO terribly windy, there would have been no way to do a tent outside, it was that bad.  Ah, so grateful for a beautiful Open House day!  If the weather is nice next year, I may just do the same thing again!

In the meanwhile more craft shows are being held, however those became either hard to get into (as you can imagine, people were eager to share their wares) or they were too far away or simply people I haven't worked with in the past and I'm cautious who I do events with.  
Even our Winter Farmers Market in Sartell had only ONE single event which was on the first Saturday in November before everything shut down again.  For now the Community Center is not open.
We did get to set up at the mall in Hutchinson for 4 days last week which was very cool.
​Thankfully I've had some custom orders come in here and there and time to try out some new designs, which have been well received so far!
​More to come next year!

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PERSONALLY
This sure has been a weird year, yet I can say that we've had a LOT to be thankful for and are grateful for God's provisions for our needs.  
We got a lot of yard work done, which is so cool, something I've been wanting to tackle for the last 3 years, but always seemed so daunting.  Now about half of it is done and no more weeds!  YEY!!!  The other part hopefully we can finish in the spring, which is another major project, but hopefully it'll be super nice once it's done.  I'd really like to have a little fountain/pond going, so we will see if we can get that done next year.
We have been busy helping some friends with their home remodel project.  So that's been really cool.  
Other than that, we are staying home a lot and that's nice and hard all at the same time.
I think this whole year has affected each of us emotionally in one way or another.  
We miss hanging out, going out to eat, shopping.....  hopefully things will open up soon.
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We are praying that 2021 will be a year where we see God's glory manifested in every believer's life.  No matter what happens, God is always in control and never unawares!

​We wish you all a blessed holiday season and may God grant you wisdom for your life steps this next year.

​Peace,  Sam