For He Knows...

“Man plans, God laughs”. -Yiddish proverb

This is my view of Douglas Island and the Strait as I walk up my street. :)
It has also been warmer here than it has been in south Georgia, where my sister, Rachel lives!!

Happy Presidents Day to all! I thought it would be okay to write my post a day late because I knew I would have today off to get to work and crank out the various papers, lesson plans, and posts for the week. I am also very thankful for this extra day off because I have developed another cold (I think this is my fifth time being sick since August?!) and really needed today to rest. So I will be doing work in bed in my pj’s all day, and I am greatly looking forward to it! I was able to sleep in until 10 this morning, and I woke up to hear my solar dancing elephant energetically flapping his ears. :) It’s a good day!

A few great things happened last week. First of all, Sophia and I have decided to partner up on a research project for our Educational Research class this semester, which I am greatly looking forward to. We will be answering this question: “How does tri-weekly, intensive, instrumental instruction at a Title 1 school affect the development of self-efficacy, belonging, and a growth mindset in 5th graders?”. Sophia and I are passionate about exploring this question, as its results may help us to be stronger advocates for El Sistema and music education. We will conduct research and collect our findings in various ways, including administering a survey to our JAMM students as well as students who have never been involved in JAMM, making observations of a focus group during JAMM classes, and collecting information from student reflections Sophia, Lindsay, and I are leading our students through in the Songwriting and Improvisation classes we are teaching.

Speaking of which, those two classes are going so well! It was definitely a bold move for us to introduce these classes that are so different than what the kids have ever done with JAMM. But these 4th and 5th graders are really blossoming into wonderful, creative artists. Sophia and I are teaching them how to write their own lyrics and create their own online portfolios they can have with them forever. Lindsay and I are showing them how to listen to different sounds in their everyday lives and play them on their instruments. We even took our students outside the other day to have them listen to sounds they want to express on their instruments. Both of these classes are so vital for accessing the incredible amount of creativity children have, and I have learned so much from them because they are so daring and imaginative!! It’s amazing to see a glimpse into their colorful brains. These classes are also helping our students develop their own sense of identity- especially when they write about their lives and have their own online platform to express parts of who they are. This is so important, especially for our students who are entering middle school next year!

In addition to the research project, Sophia and I worked with Lorrie this weekend to write a grant, which was my first experience doing that! JAMM has many needs, including more instruments for our kids who are going into middle school next year, and more administrative support. I was excited to be part of the grant writing process because I know it is a significant skill for a music teacher, especially one who is interested in opening their own El Sistema non-profit program some day (which is my ultimate dream!). I also feel personally invested because I have been thinking and praying a lot about my plans for next year (because I finish summer classes in under 6 months!), and I feel a strong desire to stay in Juneau and keep working with JAMM next year. :) I am very much still in the thinking and pondering process and am trying to see how it would all piece together, but this dream really became real when I went home for Winter Break and could not stop thinking or talking about Alaska and my work with Lorrie, my students, the quartet, UAS, and the Symphony. There are so many things I have yet to learn as a teacher and administrator, and I want to really invest in this community. I also just cannot pass up an opportunity to learn from Lorrie more because she is as incredible as I thought she would be! And being able to hike whenever I am free is just life-giving to me!

Sophia and I had a blast playing together!!!

There is also such a rich music scene here, which I experienced once again this past week! Sophia and I were part of an opera production of L’Orfeo, which is a baroque opera by Monteverdi that is based on the Greek myth of Orpheus going into the Underworld. Sophia and I had a blast being standpartners and learning to play in this completely different style of playing. Baroque-style playing is much lighter and simpler- I didn’t use vibrato the entire show, which was so nice and pure! We also greatly enjoyed meeting new people from around Alaska and the country who are experts at singing or playing Baroque music. We hung out with some awesome theorbo players, a baroque cellist, some baroque violinists, some hilarious brass players (but aren’t they always hilarious?! Am I right, Dad??), and some amazing singers. The singer who played Orpheus was just incredible. I could listen to him sing all day! And he basically did because he sang solos for about 75% of the show! So rehearsals kept us busy, as they were every night last week until 10pm, and then the shows were Friday-Sunday. But we got to borrow baroque bows and play beautiful music I had studied once upon a time in music history class. It was so neat! And a group of those musicians came to Glacier Valley on Friday to share about the opera and their instruments with our fourth and fifth graders; the students loved learning about these new instruments, and they even showed off their beautiful singing as they sang "Simple Gifts/Going Home" with our instrumentalists!

Valentine’s Day was also a big treat for me- but not the actual day! FRIDAY was where it was AT. You know why?? Because that’s when all the students celebrated Valentine’s Day! I walked into Glacier Valley on Friday to see little ones all dressed up with their cute little heart dresses and headbands and red shirts. And then as students walked into the music room to drop off their instruments in the morning, they came bearing gifts of chocolate, cards, and cute little valentines! I got a big box of chocolates shaped like hearts from one of my bass students; that made my day! I was so surprised and touched, I thanked him and gave him a big side hug. He grinned, his cheeks turning red out of shyness and joy. The gifts kept coming for all of us, and while the chocolate was a nice snack (and may have been my breakfast this morning…), it was all just a symbol of love and appreciation from our wonderful students. These kids are musicians and citizens with beautiful hearts, and that becomes apparent to me more every day.

So, it has been a great week! I have taken time to think about the future and the present, and I am still in awe that I am here. Sometimes, it still feels really scary; I feel so far away from my past reality. It often does feel like I am in a different country, which many of my friends in the Lower 48 say! And yet, as I reflect on the past, I realize what a big, amazing risk I took to come here and how God totally led me to it. It gives me such comfort to know this is His plan for me- because I was definitely led to it with some big fears and hesitance! And yet He knew this is exactly where I am meant to be. I may have a very different life and different friends here, but it has been more fulfilling and exciting than I could imagine. And I never would have expected to grow so close to the other girls in the program and Lorrie. And yet, those are my closest, most dear friends! I am so thankful as I think about how this entire journey began February 24, 2015- about a year ago, when I received an email with a crazy idea to move to Alaska and be part of a new program that would equip me to be a great citizen, artist, teacher, and scholar. I read through my very first blog post this morning, which I wrote 7 months ago in the Seattle airport on my way to Alaska for the first time. You may recall that before I decided to come to Juneau, I was faced with a decision of staying in Chicago to work with InterVarsity on DePaul’s campus or move across the country to a life unknown. This is what I wrote:

“I was offered the InterVarsity job a few days after my interview and had a couple weeks to decide which path to take the next year. I had to make this decision the weekend of my Senior recital...Talk about everything happening at the same time! But after a lot of prayer and thinking, I just knew that I had to take this amazing opportunity in Alaska. And the moment I decided and committed to it, I felt like I turned toward that beautiful state, started walking, and never looked back. I know that I made the right choice and have never once questioned it. It’s just perfect, and I know that this was always in God’s plan, even when I couldn’t see it. And it really feels like it is so me!”

It brings me back to that excited nervousness I felt that day and the months leading up to my move here. I feel so encouraged, so protected, and so loved, thinking that I was chosen to go on this path of such adventure. It was terrifying (and still is, especially when I think about entering the “adult world” next year!), and yet it has been so thrilling. I know that God gave me this adventurous heart, and I hope that I will always be open to His crazy plans!

YAY ALASKA!!!

The view from Perseverance Trail. :)