America the Beautiful--a little levity on Fast Sunday

For the last few days I have been babysitting two of my cousin's children, while they are out of town at a wedding. It's been a little crazy with Glen in Tokyo, but thank goodness for AnnaLisa, who is keeping me sane.

So I was sitting there on the back pew of the chapel today--just me and seven kids (five of them 6 and under) --armed with a boatload of books, paper, and crayons. I was a little nervous to say the least.

Now I am a big fan of patriotic music and so I was quite happy to see that we were singing "America the Beautiful" for our opening hymn. JD is 5 and eagerly sang along with an open hymn book in an opera-like voice. Most of my own kids are kind of mumbling singers, so I was very impressed by his zeal. Well, he decided to finish his opera version with a bang--holding the last note, vibrato, for a good 10-seconds past when the music had completely finished.

It was a very giggly opening prayer in our neck of the chapel.