February Music Notes

Valentines Day is almost upon us and.....I'm just now getting around to my Music Notes! 😏 Guess I missed January, didn't I?
No worries though, you didn't miss too much.  Mostly January and February months are dedicated to catch up on paperwork, mostly the dreaded tax prep.  I'm almost seeing the end of the tunnel and will be so glad to be done with that and shift my full attention back to my creative side.​
​Well, let's dive right in.....
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UPCOMING EVENTS:
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Date:  Tuesday, February 11
Time:  10:30-1:00
Event:  WOW Ladies Outreach Day - Singing
Location: Quiet Oaks Hospice House
                  5537 Galaxy Road
Town:  St. Cloud, MN

Date:  Sunday, February 16
Time:  6:30 pm
Event:  Worship Band - Evening Service
Location:  Harvest Fellowship Church 
                   400 2nd Ave. N
Town:  Sauk Rapids, MN
Warren and I will be part of the worship band for the 2nd evening service.  Excited about our Sunday night services which started last weekend for the first time.
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Date:  Tuesdays, February 18 & 25
Time:  12:30
Event:  WOW Ladies Meet (Women Of The Word)
Location:  TBA  (usually someone's home, contact me)
Town:  Sauk Rapids, MN
Our ladies group meets weekly (unless weather or other unforeseen circumstances).  Until Liquid Assets reopens in Sartell, we have been meeting at each others homes or other places.  So contact me if you'd like to attend.

Date:  Saturday, March 7
Time:  9-1 
Event:  Sartell Winter Market / Sartell Community Showcase
Location:  Sartell Community Center
                  850 19th Street S.  (off Pinecone, behind Apartment Buildings)
Town:  Sartell, MN
The Sartell Community Center will be hosting a Business Expo that day also, with local businesses, vendors and small business owners having their items for sale/display.  So you don't want to miss that event!  Our Farmers Market will be part of this event.  Most likely we will be set up in the hallway again.  Warren and I will be set up at the end.  You can't miss us :)

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PERSONAL NEWS:

Here is a FISHING STORY:
​So, end of January there's a very well known Fishing Tournament up in Brainerd.  It's held at Gull Lake organized by the Brainerd Jaycees.  In the past Warren had gone up to sell his delicious BBQ at a couple of these events, with one event ending with the loss of his tent due to high winds one year.  Although he was still able to finish serving everyone, it was mighty cold and even starting to sleet.  
So you can imagine the second time he decided to go up there to sell BBQ at that event (asking me to come along to help), my enthusiasm level wasn't exactly peaking on "high" on the excitement meter.  However through someone the use of an ice house was donated to him during the event, so I had a warm place to stay and it wasn't too bad.  In front of the ice house he pitched his cooking tent and people came to buy food, enjoying his BBQ.  

This year after some consideration of possibly selling BBQ again at the Brainerd Fishing Tournament, Warren decided that this time he would just enjoy a time of fishing.  He's never really got to seriously ice fish and so he wanted to give that a try.  He bought himself some equipment and he was set.

A Kayaking Fishing Friend came along and so the two of them went up there together, picked their holes (mind you there are over 10,000 holes in that ice) and set out their rods and lures.
Within the first 20 minutes of the event Warren's lil ice fishing rod took a big nod towards the ice and boy....did he catch a big one!!  🎣  It took the both of them to get that fish through the 10" hole!
The fish was an eelpout (something I've never heard of) and weighted 8.29 lbs!  It was the biggest fish caught that day, with the next being a Walleye weighing in at 3.5 lbs.  He was pretty much shaking on the way to the weigh in with that fish! 🐠 

So needless to say, that fish won first prize!!!  
The first prize was a brand new 2020 Pickup Truck.  He had the choice of two and choose the white GMC Sierra.

If you've seen Warren's old truck he had been driving (and snow plowing with) for years.... we call it the old faithful rust bucket... then you can understand Warren's excitement. He has had to hold the drivers door shut with bungees to keep it closed for a few months until he could find a used replacement door.  The truck bed is rusted out as are the sides and the passenger door.  We stuck a lot of money into it to keep it on the road. It would have been a few years to save up to buy a fairly decent one and most likely never a brand new one!  You always see it happening to others, so it's quite a (good) shock when it actually happens to you.  

Never ice fished, pulls out the biggest fish 🎣  and wins a truck!....  WOW! 😳 
We have since learned that eelpouts usually are never in shallow water.  So we believe it was all God's blessing and provision to send that fish to find Warren's lure attractive enough to give it a bite!

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RECAP:

On Sunday, January 12 we were invited to come up to Rice Lake, WI for a church anniversary.  Our Pastor Friends Gene & Pat Sedola and the Congregation of Calvary Fellowship were celebrating their one year Anniversary.  Pastor Gene invited us to bring music and join in their celebration.  
It was such an anointed and fun time!  The coolest thing was, that Pastor Gene's message that evening was in the same chapter and just a couple verses before Joshua 3:14, which was a message our Home church pastor preached on that morning!  How cool is that?!    Both messages contained a theme:  Faith.  Stepping out in Faith.  Trusting God.

​Our drive up there was uneventful, however as we walked out of church to load up our equipment we found our vehicle covered with a light layer of snow. ❄️  It took a lot of prayer and intense driving back home as a snow front was blowing in and roads begun to get covered.  Most of our journey we followed two different snowplow trucks, which made the roads a bit better, but our vision was greatly impaired with all the snow clouds drifting our way from the plow in front of us.  Thankfully we had prayer cover over us and we made it home safely without any incidents....
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NOTESnBLING:
A little update about the jewelry....  Although January and February are dedicated to paperwork as I mentioned up top, I still have customers and a few small events to prepare for.  Plus, when I find really cool beads online and get them in the mail, I want to do something with them.
So down below are a few of my latest items for sale.  The next Jewelry Selling event is again the Sartell Winter Market, which is the first Saturday of the month.  This time will be very cool because Sartell will also have their Business Expo and we get to be part of that!
Below a few pictures of some of my designs.   If you see something you like, contact me:  [email protected].  My Facebook page is:  www.facebook.com/NotesNBling.

IN ENDING: 
As life for us has had it's ups and downs, just as many of you are experiencing life, we are grateful for the "up" times to refresh and refocus and we are thankful to God for seeing us through the "down" times and grateful for His grace, His guidance, His presence and comfort.  Sometimes it seems like He tarries, sometimes it seems like He doesn't hear or see and even if it seems He is distant, the truth is that He is always near as He never forsakes us.  Sometimes I know for myself I can be hard of hearing, He may be speaking to me, but my ears are dull when my focus is on "life".
Oh how vital it is that we draw close to the One who cares for us and loves us.  
Never give up hope, the answer may just be around the corner....unexpected and full of surprise.  God always does more than what we deserve, not necessarily because of ourselves, but because of His great Name and the Name of his Son, Jesus Christ.

​Y'all have a great rest of February and may your eyes and heart be poised to hear from Him in all of what is called living this life.  Live it to the fullest.

Love,
Sam