Music and Worship Arts Conference at Lake Junaluska

We had a such a rich and interesting experience at the Music and Worship Arts Conference at Lake Junaluska. The church graciously made it possible for Stan to attend this for the first time, and he really enjoyed the week. He was in the adult choir and attended lots and lots of sessions. Carrie Beth attended many sessions too, and she sat in on lots of children's rehearsals. Olivia and David participated in the children's music camp. David was in the drum class in the morning and Olivia was in the 1st-3rd grade choir in the morning. They both had phenomenal directors--so creative and just teeming with tons of great strategies and techniques. The week was bursting with great musical moments. We heard the Raleigh Ringers, a handbell choir like none I've ever heard before! We also got to hear the famous Junaluska Singers which is almost always a surefire wonderful concert-and this year was no disappointment, to be certain! The week came to a close on Thursday night. That afternoon we saw all of the children's perfomances--remarkable!!! Olivia and David both made us so proud. The adult choir blew me away! They were under the direction of Eric Nelson who is the director of choral music at Emory. It was like musical dessert buffet, and it got richer and richer as the evening went on. The middle school and high school choirs were also a delight. It was a neat experience. We're on the fence as to whether we'll attend again, and our reasons why could consume a whole other blog post, but over all it was a tremendously helpful, special experience. Friday was our free day, and we took a brief walk around part of the lake, made the mandatory visit to Mast General Store in downtown Waynesville to visit the Candy barrels, and then we hurried home to finish off the leftovers and then scooted back out to see Cars 2. Carrie Beth, Stan and I stayed up late Friday night trying to go over everything they had learned and discussing how we could/couldn't implement various ideas, etc. We left Saturday morning after a breakfast at Joey's, and we headed home full of excitement for how the Lord might use all of this new knowledge and experience in our own children's and adult choirs at home! Thank you, Lord for this fabulous week!

Quick Visit with the Ryans

How blessed we were that our precious friends, John and Pat Ryan opened their home to us so graciously during our weekend in Atlanta. They saved us some money by putting us up for the weekend and more importantly gave us the opportunity to visit and catch up with them--it had been far too long!! They are such special people, servants of the Lord, and we were so glad to have time with them. Sunday morning before we scooted along the highway to get to Stan's conference at Lake Junaluska, Miss Pat had a marvelously yummy breakfast for us, and Noah and Christina and their three boys, Parker, Davis and Emerson came before they left for church. What a treat to get to see them, too! Christina is expecting their fourth child, another BOY!! She looks gorgeous and their boys were adorable! Thank you, Lord, for these kind of forever friends who are like family to us! We are grateful the Lord put us in their lives and them in ours! Carrie Beth and Brad and their two boys got in to Atlanta on Saturday night, too. They stayed with the Ryans also which was great fun, and then Brad drove home to Savannah the next morning as we took Carrie Beth, who was also attending the same conference as Stan, and her two boys to Lake J with us.

Mary & Stan sr.'s 60th Birthday Bash in the ATL!

Mary and Stan both turn 60 this year, so all the Rogowski sibs and their families gathered in Atlanta for a time of celebration. We met up in front of the Georgia Aquarium and walked through Centennial Park over to the CNN center for lunch. Later on we made our way through the Georgia Aquarium with the whole gang--Aunt Karen, Uncle Nick and their two, Nicholas and Caroline, Aunt Theresa, Uncle Jason and their two Logan and Ethan, Grammy and Papa and us, too! How great to have everyone together again! We saw many remarkable creations of God as we snaked our way through the aquarium. Benjamin's favorite was the giant octopus. Olivia said she liked the otters the best! I got to follow Caroline and Olivia around a good bit and they were so cute holding hands and giggling excitedly much of the time. Nicholas was such a trooper as he wasn't feeling well, but he carried on bravely through the busy aquarium! We left the aquarium and had an unfortunate fender bender as we were trying to find our way to the hotel. Praise God no one was hurt and the damage was minimal, but those experiences are always so unsettling! We found the hotel and we all made quick work of getting into our swim suits and sliding into the pool to cool down. After some fun swim time, Karen, Theresa and Grammy sweetly went out and got us some take-out dinner and brought it back to the hotel where we were able to all enjoy a relaxing meal together. The weather was looking a bit iffy, but we forged ahead with our evening plan to go to the Laser Light Show at Stone Mountain. And we were so glad we stuck it out, because the weather cleared and we enjoyed an awesome show late into the summer evening. At the end of the evening we all piled into our cars, a little muddy, sweaty and weary, but we had happy hearts after a super-fun day with people we love dearly. Happy Birthday Stan and Mary! We pray you felt honored through the day of fun together and that you know how much we love and value you both. We are grateful for your lives!
I made a goof with my camera and failed to consider the fact that I'd been using it all week long at VBS and that the battery needed to be charged, so unfortunately I didn't get any pics past the aquarium. Grrr. Totally frustrating. Mary purchased a group photo of us all that I can't wait to look at again! Loved it! So sorry I didn't get pics at the hotel or at Stone Mountain. Here are the ones I managed to snap before my battery bit the dust. My favorite pic of the day is the one I got of Mary smiling really big! I LOVE that one! Beautiful lady!