Emma and I traveled to Cambridge, Ontario on Saturday for what turned out to be her final competition in the Novice category. She had a wonderful day and has advanced to the next category which is 12 months long and then the final category of Premier. To have accomplished so much at the age of 10!! We are so proud of her and as I uploaded the photo to include in today's post I have been humming Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" over and over in my head for the last hour. I know he wrote that for his infant daughter but the sentiment is timeless. Might have to go download that one now. :)

We are "choir intensive" this coming two weeks with Palm Sunday and Holy Week services and all three kids singing in multiple services. Not to mention TWO birthdays - JB (4th) and Shannon (9th) - as well as the culmination of the Spartan season (championship????) Then we're off to FL for some intensive poolside R&R before finishing off the school year at a break neck pace in eight weeks! Don't blink - before you know it we'll have a middle-schooler. I wonder what Stevie Wonder wrote for that.

I'm sure everyone has had their fill of photos of Emma doing the Sword dance and Highland Fling, but we had a special treat this weekend and I thought I'd at least put a few pics up to show the venue. The Detroit Concert Choir performed a "Celtic Collection" concert at St. Mary's in Greektown and Emma's teacher invited some of her dancers to participate in the program. The church (cathedral?) was beautiful - lived in Detroit almost my whole life and have never been inside - and it provided a really neat setting for the music. The music was a blend of Irish, Scottish and Welsh songs and the dancing was sprinkled in to add to the experience. It was a lot of fun - I would highly recommend anyone with Celtic connections to consider it next year. The photos are a little crooked - I was shooting from the hip at the end of my pew. :)

It was an "Emma Weekend" because we also enjoyed Emma's girls choir singing in church on Sunday in worship. She performed with the adult choir and one of the pieces was Kyrie Elaison - one of my absolute favorites! Such a powerful in-your-face song that is impossible not to feel moved by - it was awesome!! We were doubly blessed this weekend.

That was it - we had a hiatus from soccer this week which made room for the NCAA madness to kick in! Between MSU and St. Patrick's Day we're swimming in green at our house. Not to mention we have our own wee Shannon. Should be a fun week - Go Green!!!