Christopher got to play in one of the Violins of Hope concerts uptown last week.  Jennifer, Mom, and Bethany were able to watch him play alongside the Charlotte Symphony, conducted by Christopher Warren-Green.  Yep, that’s my brother! 

Jen played the week before in one of the concerts.  Such an honor! 

Christopher actually got to play one of THE violins (from the Holocaust) that was rescued and restored.

Such a neat experience!

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Jen’s made it an bi-annual thing to throw a party for the UNCC chamber orchestra ta the end of each semester.  This semester was no exception.  It was the last one for Jen, as she’s graduating in a couple weeks.

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We had another evangelism gathering at our house last Saturday.  It was a small turn-out, but we still had lots of fun and enjoyed the Ray Comfort video and discussion/prayer afterwards.  Later on, two friends stayed to play Ultimate Frisbee.  We came up with the idea to play with three teams/goals since our front yard isn’t huge.  It actually worked really well!

There were some mishaps, but we finished with our heads on straight (for the most part), 10 fingers and 10 toes (amazingly), and the strong desire for water and air conditioning. 

Wiiiiiiiide open!

Us Wescott’s with our bookend friends. 

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CEF pre-training is well underway!  We’ve had two sessions.  All the CEF missionaries are now practicing their Wordless Books (a tool used to share the Gospel), memorizing specific verses, outlining their missionary stories and Bible lessons, and doing a couple other small assignments I’ve given.  They are doing a great job and I’m excited about working with them at camp in June and during the summer here in Charlotte.

Charlotte-Metro Chapter!!!

Lots of fun stuff going on around here!!  There’s barely enough time to update, but I’ve finally put together a bunch of pictures from the past two weeks.

The Violins of Hope has been here in Charlotte for a couple weeks and is still going strong.  A man has dedicated years to rescuing and restoring 18 violins from the Holocaust, and they are being performed in concert for the first time.  Apparently, during the Holocaust, Jewish musicians were made to play their instruments in the concentrationg camps, sometimes even during executions.  Awful, right?  From the Violins of Hope website, “Acclaimed musicians from across the country and around the world will play alongside Charlotte musicians, giving voice to the violins’ former owners and expressing the hope that comes with restoring to these instruments the power to play again.” 

Jennifer and Christopher had the incredible privilege of playing in a Violins of Hope concert.  Jen performed at Knight Theater, and Christopher (pictures to come later) performed at the Blumenthal.

Charlotte uptown

The violins

Jen and the UNCC chamber orchestra in the dressing room before the concert.

UNCC chamber ensemble

After the Violins of Hope concert

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Jen’s UNCC chamber orchestra also had their own performance last week.  It was Jen’s last, since she’ll be graduating in a few weeks!

Jen with one of her students and her teacher, Dr. Frisch.

Mom, Bethany, and some friends came to watch.

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Colter and Anna Brown visited us last week!!!  We hadn’t seen them since 2009 when we brought them to our house from CEF camp.  They were missionaries in Honduras for a few years and are now stateside with their one-year-old Jedidiah (who was sleeping at the time this picture was taken).  They will be working at CEF headquarters in MO.  It was *so* good to see them!!!

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Friends and sisters

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Christopher’s CSYO Youth Festival was last week at the Knight Theater uptown.  He got to play along side a Charlotte Symphony musician.  This is always our favorite orchestra concert of the year.

With Dad and Mom

After the concert

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Marianna and Missy spent some time with the George’s and Nana Pat right before Easter painting eggs.  They had a blast…I think the adults did, too. 

Easter cake

Easter afternoon.  We older four played our stringed instruments at a church in SC for their two services.  It was fun playing together!

Missy spending time in the outdoors when she was sick last week.  She brought her blankie, baby, and books to the hammock.  Toby valiantly guarded her. 

Missy playing with her bunny and Toby sleeping on the job

Recently, we’ve had a strange visitor taking a liking to our window.  This bird apparently thinks it can fly right through our house…..and it’s not getting the hint that it can’t.  Every morning, without fail for the past week or so, Mr. Bird clicks away at our window.  It’s quite humorous.

Enjoy this springtime before summer settles in!!

Spring is definitely here and hopefully the pollen is making its exit.    Just checked the weater forecast, and it’s potentially going to be in the 60s and 70s for the next several days!  Woo-hoo!!  We definitely welcome the cooler weather before a typical killer summer sets in. 

Ze vunderful parents

Marianna is loving soccer and is doing a fantastic job.  She got a goal at her first game last week!  We all went to watch her play.

Dad with Jen and I as we arrived at the game

Go Marianna!

We were the loudest cheerleaders  

Marianna is very intense when she plays soccer.  I think she ran the fastest and pursued the ball the hardest.  So neat watching her play!

L o v e this shot of her taking on three other girls, two of whom were bigger than her.  You go girl!

Definitely framing this one!  Christopher’s comment about this picture was, “Only Missy could do that to your heads…if I did it, I’d get in trouble.”  Ha!!  Girls and hair.  I guess it’s okay when little 5 year olds touch it. 

Missy–”Would you like to take my picture?”

Jen, Bethany, and some other people from school get together to play Ultimate Frisbee on Thursday afternoons at their campus.

Jen and Bethany went to a lake house last week with some people from the music department at school for a fun afternoon.

Gorgeous place

For the past couple months, about every other week or so, we’ve been hosting an Evangelism Gathering.  It’s a time for college-aged people to get together, encourage and build each other up, and be challenged in our faith and to witness to others.  Each time we meet, we have dinner together, play a game, then watch a video of Ray Comfort (he has a whole series on witnessing), discuss the video, share stories about people we’ve witnessed to, and encourage and challenge and pray for each other.  It’s been great to see how many people really want to share their faith and hear how they’ve done it.  We’ve had some great discussions on lots of different topics and always look forward to the next gathering.

Enjoying all this color!!

I told my mom last week that there’s always this time during the beginning of the year where we don’t take many pictures.  Seems to happen every year.  That time has now ended, though.    Within the past week, our camera chip has become loaded with pictures….mostly because four different sports leagues were started.    But before I post the pictures from this week, I wanted to post the ones left over from this past month…and even some from February.  :gasp!:

I think it’s hilarious how people are saying “FINALLY spring is here” when we hardly had a winter.  But it *is* beautiful with all the flowers and greenery.  The pollen level has been out of this world, though.  Hopefully that part of spring will be over soon.

Missy is now a 2-wheeler girl!  She’s also progessing very well at the piano.  She can pick up any tune and play it!

L O V E these pictures of Missy.  I remember doing that with my dresses over the vent…..except I wasn’t that young. 

Some portraits

I went with a group to Florida in mid-February for a retreat.  It was refreshing and relaxing.  We studied on how to draw near to God.

We stopped at the beach on the way to the camp.  I loved the camp driveway!!!

Gorgeous

We’re having our windows repaired.  And the little girls are always a great help in the kitchen.  Here, Missy is helping me make my MILA muffins.

Christopher had a concert a few weeks ago.  Some friends came out to watch him.

Christopher practices the violin all the time.  We played a duet for offertory last week and had a blast.  He’s so much fun to play with!

Dr. P!!  He’s been conducting the CSYO since 1987.

I took some students to a retirement home before they had their piano competitions.  They played their pieces and played a game with the older people that I came up with.  It was fun seeing them all interact together.    I love going to retirement places and playing music for them.  Seeing their faces light up just brightens MY day!

One of our home-made cards that Jen made.  And yes…….Valentine pictures.  Hey, it’s only March (for a few more hours)!!!!  I’m only a little behind. 

Valentine’s breakfast and dinner.

Our beloved doggies

Outside fun

Spring is officially here!!  Flowers are blooming, grass is greening, and pollen is pollenating.

Until next time!

(which will be sooner than a month this time )

Last week, our family went to Dorchester Retirement Home.  We had fun playing our instruments and talking with the folks there.  They had fun, too.    Our neighbor set up a beautiful Valentine’s table with lots of goodies that she and the little girls decorated the night before.

The people there were so nice…..and funny!! I love older people and hearing their life stories.

Christopher was the hearth-throb of the night.  The ladies LOVED “that violinist” and ooed and ahhed over him the whole evening.  So funny!!

The girls played their own piano pieces and then did a Canon in D duet.  Sounded really good.  They both have good ears and remembered what I taught them.    Missy had just learned the melody line and did a great job staying with Marianna.

Marianna is doing well with the violin.  She started last month and is loving it.

Nana pat is such a sweet and special lady.  Glad we could come visit her and her friends.

We’re a fun group.  Really, we are. 

LOVE this!!!  So un-planned.  Christopher is definitely the center of attention here.

With Nana Pat

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Marianna had a Junior Bible Quiz meet last weekend.  She’s doing well learning the questions and answers.  I remember doing JBQ and miss it!

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Last Wednesday, I slept in a little and was doing my BSF study in bed when Marianna came in with this delicious breakfast of heart pancakes that Mom had made.  So sweet!  Even the ice in my water was heart-shaped. 

No, I didn’t make a mistake with the title.  Nor am I trying to be humorous.  Once you get to the end, you’ll understand. 

I came downstairs on Monday to a full-blown breakfast made by Marianna for all of us.  It was so nice!  She had gotten up early to make eggs and put out bread, butter, chocolate pound cake, and juice on a fully set table.  What a GREAT way to start the week as school and work begin afresh.

Tonight, Marianna and Missy went over to a neighbor’s (Mrs. George) house to decorate cupcakes, brownies, and strawberries.  We are going to Mrs. George’s mom’s retirement home tomorrow to play our instruments and spend time with the people there.  Mrs. George wanted the girls to decorate the goodies she’s going to bring.  They had a fun time together, and were overloaded with sugar when they came home to “go to bed.”  

Our sweet neighbor, Mrs. George.  The girls had a fabulous time.

Lots of piano playing going on at our house!  These little girls are going to town and are doing a great job with their piano assignments.  We’ve got some composers on our hands!

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On Wednesday night, Pastor read from Zechariah 3.  Zechariah is a rather difficult book (for me) to understand, and I’m thankful for what I’ve been learning the past few weeks about it!  Part of the sermon focused on the Devil and who he is.  From reading the Bible, I know a lot about Satan and know he’s not someone to be joked about.  But it was good to be reminded about how serious spiritual war-fare is and how, yes, there are spiritual forces at work in the world.  Below are some of the notes I took during the sermon.

The real description of Satan as stated in the Bible is politically incorrect, sometimes even “religiously” incorrect, and downright offensive.  Satan is not a red-cape-covered man with beady eyes, a large hood, and a narrow pitchfork.  His demons are not dwarf-sized baffoons running around in red tights.  It doesn’t matter that our culture portrays Satan and his army this way…it’s just not so. 

If Satan came to earth in human form, we most likely would not find him in a night club or casino.  We would most likely find him in a pulpit or ministry or somewhere associated with something good, drawing people away from God.  He is the angel of light.  Beneath his disguise, however, he is–as the dictionary states– ”the profoundly evil adversary of God and humanity.”  He knows our weaknesses.  He knows how to fool us. 

Now doctrinally, Satan is finished.  Jesus defeated him on the cross.  Practically, however, Satan still has power while he roams the earth “on bail.”  He still influences and tempts people.  

Many people view Hell as Satan’s dominion.  It’s where he will rule.  NOT SO!!!  Hell is designed for Satan.  Satan is the #1 prisoner!  He.does.not.want.to.go.to.Hell.

Our culture has done a good job dumbing down who Satan really is (and what Hell is…but that’s another subject that I won’t go into right now).  Yes, he is often portrayed as evil, but it’s an evil that people are attracted to…hence all the evil-filled movies, games, books, etc. that are filling people’s minds.  He’s not someone people try to avoid. 

Even churches make light of him.  Many of them portray the devil and his demons (like I said at the beginning) as funny-looking creatures running around in red tights so they don’t look so evil.  Guess what.  That’s e-x-a-c-t-l-y what Satan wants us to think!!!  He doesn’t want us to really know who he is and how extrememely dangerous he is.

I remember watching an “interview” between God and Satan.  A church made a video of it and showed it to the people attending.  They portrayed Satan as an immature and sarcastic baffoon, making jokes throughout the “interview” and keeping things light (so as not to lose the attention of those listening and to keep them laughing, of course).  If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought–after watching that interview–that those who thought Satan a dangerous being were totally over-reacting.  In fact, Satan almost seemed kinda cool (besides the red tights)! 

Again, that’s exactly what he wants us to think.

How sad.  How scary!!

Spiritual warfare is a real thing.  There are spiritual forces (Satan and his demons) that are continually trying to draw people away from God.  We, as Christians, need to be strong in our faith, praying against such forces.  It is very easy to be led astray if our focus is not on God.  Satan is very clever.  He seeps into our culture in a very appealing way.  Just look at the books and movies that are all the rage right now.  What do they glorify?  Look at what is being infiltrated into our culture!  It so important that we be discerning as to what enters our minds. Our lives. Our homes.  Do not even give Satan a small foothold!

Concerning the church, the devil will not try to destroy the church outright.  He will JOIN the church.   He will then cause division and strife.  He will encourage gossip and give people ammunition to use against each other.  The church is not destroyed from the outside.  It is destroyed from the inside, when Satan is given a foothold and allowed to take precedence over God.  (self-check: how often do I give the Devil a foothold in my life?)  Another thing…Satan is NOT omnipresent.  He can only be in one place at a time.  Most likely, he will not be in your particular church or home.  However, his demons are spread through the world doing his bidding to ruin lives, churches, and families.  Beware!!

We cannot use the excuse “the Devil made me do it…it’s his fault.”  Nope, not gonna fly.  We need to take responsibility for our sins…the wrong things we think, say, and do.  That’s not to say evil forces weren’t at work…we just weren’t strong enough resist them.  It’s sometimes hard to stand against Satan.  He’s so appealing at times!

But we do not have to be under Satan’s yoke. 

I am so thankful for God’s grace…for sending His Son to earth to take the punishment for my sins.  So thankful for the FREE gift of salvation.  John 1:12 says “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God.”  It’s that simple!  Yet it’s a conscious decision every individual needs to make.  To confess one’s sins.  To believe in Jesus as Savior.  To accept the gift of salvation.  To live for Jesus and to bring Him glory, honor, and praise.  Only those who have believed and received the Lord will spend eternity in Heaven.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I know I was reminded of how real Satan is.  How terribly frightening Hell is.  How real God is!!!   And how magnificent salvation is (though how undeserving I am).  The world we live in is a playground for Satan and his demons, but those who have God as their Help and Strength can stand against them.

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The following “story” is partly from a sermon I heard a few months ago.  I don’t remember who was talking and I forgot a lot of the details…but I remember the main point.  So I rewrote it and added in my own details (keeping the lesson and application the same).

Say you just bought a house and are about to move in.  The old man who sold the house has just one request: that he own the nail sticking out of the mudroom door.  Strange, right?  Right.  But no big deal.  Sure he can do that.  What’s the big deal?  It’s just a nail.  And he’s just a lonely old man who just wants a teeny tiny piece of the house he lived in for decades.  What can the man do with a single nail? 

A few months after moving in, you are happy with the house, the decorations you bought, and how “homey” everything feels.  Then you notice a mildly foul smell.  Your nose leads you to the nail on the mudroom door.  There, hanging on the nail, is a dead deer.  “What on earth????” you yell out loud.  You call the man who sold you the house and demand that he remove the carcass.  He refuses, saying it is HIS nail and he can put whatever he wants there.  You hang up the phone, furious.  You can’t *believe* you gave into the man in the first place!  After a few more days, the carcass’ stench has infiltrated the entire house. 

Everything smells.  The furniture, the food, the beds, the blankets.   Even the nicest room in the house, complete with antique furnishings and stylish accessories, is permeated with the smell of rotting animal and no longer holds any beauty.  Everything in the house is ruined and has to be thrown away.  All because of one little nail at the end of the house.  Amazing how that one nail could hold something so disgusting and affect the entire household.  

You might be thinking, “Who in their right mind would let someone own a single nail in their house?  How ridiculous.  Serves them right.”  Yes, it does seem absurd.  But let me put this in a different perspective…one that is more relevant:  It’s like some of us in our Christian life. 

You may be reading your Bible, saying the right things, even serving those around you…but if you let Satan get just a small foothold, that *one thing* will eat away at your life.  You might think, “It’s not a big deal.  I can handle this.  What’s the harm?  I’ll stop soon.”  Before you know it, that foothold you gave Satan will infiltrate into every aspect of your life.  It will affect everything you do.  You won’t be able to ignore it.  You also won’t be able to serve God with a clear conscience.  You cannot be living in sin while living for and pleasing God at the same time.  That’s not to say you can live a sinless life…we all are sinners.  But when you are deliberately living in sin and are consciously holding onto something—small as it may seem (it was just a nail!)—that you know we shouldn’t be holding on to (whether it be a relationship, activity, music, reading material, etc., etc.), even your best “spiritual behavior” will be tainted with this sin.  Your prayer life may even dwindle and possibly become nonexistent.  Your spiritual life will be filled with the stench of that sin…that one little thing you convinced yourself was no big deal. 

Just a tiny nail in the house.  No big deal right?  Wrong.  Do not give Satan ANY foothold!!  While it’s never too late to repent and get our lives focused on God again, the bad decisions you make now and the footholds you give Satan can have lasting consequences, both for you and other people that are involved.  Food for thought!

We’ve been enjoying spring whether for several weeks now. Either winter forgot about North Carolina or it’s just held up in other places. Most people around here don’t miss winter, but I do! I would love a good snowfall. But in the meantime, I will enjoy the 60s and just look at my nice winter coats that I’d love to wear.

I’m also just figuring out how to use photobucket instead of uploading pictures straight onto xanga.  I think I almost got the hang of the picture sizes…almost, but not quite.  Oh well, they came out good enough for this post.

Missy and Marianna with some gifts from a sweet neighbor.  They also went a visited a friend at her home last week and had such a good time with her. 

It was Africa Day at Patriot Club last week!  The girls had fun dressing up.  They are always in dress-up clothes…usually princess dresses. 

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We girls did a mini-photo shoot back in December and I just haven’t posted the photos. Here are a few!

I admit, I’m not always cooperative with planned photo shoots.  I almost didn’t do this one, but Jennifer made strongly encouraged me to come outside.  Glad she puts up with me.  Now I have a new fb profile picture. 

The picture on the right bests describes me while Jen was taking pictures.   We got lots of those ‘poses.’

Jen definitely knows how to handle a camera in front of her.  Love these pictures of her!

I don’t know how Bethany gets her hair to look so good.  She does the coolest styles!

The Three Muskasisters

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This is a quarter of a mile down the road from our neighborhood.  We girls were on our way to a Bible study two Fridays ago and saw a blue flashing light at the end of our street.  We asked the officer what was wrong, and he said there was an accident around the bend.  Found out the next day five teenagers flipped a pick-up truck, two or three of them flying through the windshield…one dying.  One of our neighbors was the first responder and knew the boy who died.  So sad.  And so avoidable.  It was a wet night.  If only they were driving slower.  If only the other four had their seatbelts on. 

I pass this place every day…whether it’s to work, the store, or church.  For a week, the tire tracks were still extremely visible in the mud where the truck lost control and flipped.  It’s a good reminder as to how quickly a life can end.  None of us know when our time on earth is done!!  We all plan to live long lives.  Some of us do.  Some of us don’t.

Are you ready to die?

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Because of the wind at our New Years party, we had to hold off on the bonfire. Thankfully, we had a beautiful weekend a few days later and were able to burn our 50 trees!

Side note:  Do NOT try this at home!!!  Unless, of course, you have someone who’s experienced with ‘handling’ fires and have a safe place to do it.

I’d also like to make it clear that everyone who watched the fire was far enough away as to not be in danger.  NO ONE was hurt in the process of burning these trees.

Getting started

Dad did an awesome job. These trees were heavy (we know…we lifted them into and out of the truck!) and the fire was hot.  But Dad loved it…brought out the firefighter in him. 

Go Dad!!   

So cool!!

Dad puts only one or two trees on at a time. It’s amazing (and scary!) how quickly these trees burn and how high the flames go.

I love seeing all the trees lined up behind the fire.

So thankful that there was no rain from the time we got the trees until we burned them.  There were some reallllly dry trees (can you tell??) that made for a great fire. 

Until next year! 

We had so much fun getting ready for our New Years party a couple weeks ago (can’t believe it’s already mid-January!!!!).  One of my favorite times of year is the week between Christmas and New Years when we go out and “hunt” for Christmas trees at the end of driveways.  I love the thrill of seeing a tree on the side of the road, jumping out of the car, throwing the tree in the back of the truck (and oftentimes having to tie it down because of the # of trees), and unloading them into our backyard…..so we have room in the truck for another round!  We’ve fit eight or nine trees in the truck, though sometimes we can only get three or four if the trees are really big. It is SO MUCH FUN!

This year, the McGarty’s and Edward’s joined our tree quest. 

One of the houses we went by had a large screen playing a Justin Beiber movie.  Good grief.  It was pretty cool though.  

Some trees were quite a challenge.  And we had our fair share of big dogs chasing us and people yelling at us from there houses.  I guess we did look suspicious…but we always told them what we were doing and they were fine.  The dogs, we came to find out, were on an invisible fence.  How were we to know that??  All I’ll say is that they were big and loud…and fast…..until they got to the edge of their property.  But that’s definitely a you-had-to-be-there story…or it at least needs to be told in person.  lol   Yes, lots of exciting memories while tree hunting!!

Christmas Tree Bandits at their finest

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New Years Day rolled around before we had time to blink after Christmas.  Probably because we were pretty busy that week.  Bethany and I went to Camp Good News in Asheville to help with a 3-day teen retreat.  The day the retreat ended, Bethany and I met our family at a wedding in Charlotte.  We got back to Charlotte, but didn’t have time to go home.  So we stopped at a Taco Bell to eat and get dressed, then headed straight to the wedding.  Our “getting ready” was quite a sight that thankfully was not caught on camera.    There was a bit of yard work to be done around the house, so that took up some time, too.  Before we knew it, our party was under way!

The traditional tree maize for the kids.  We got about 50 trees!

People of all ages having fun!

Dad did an AWESOME job with the fire.

Ultimate Frisbee in the field across the street from our house. 

Mom and Dad doing what they do best…serving others! 

S’mores and hanging around the fire. 

It ended up being too windy to burn the Christmas trees on New Years. We had another gathering the following Friday for the burning.  Pictures of that in the next post. 

There was a small group of people who stayed later.  We hung out in the kitchen, went for a walk, ate cake and drank hot chocolate, played Dutch Blitz, and watched Tangled.  LOL!    It was a very late night…but a fun one nonetheless! 

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In other news…..

Missy had her first piano lesson at the music school last Thursday!  So excited for her.    She is a great student and is picking up on the piano very quickly.  Marianna is a great big helper, too.

We and the McGarty girls met at a cute coffee shop last week to spend time with them on Becca’s birthday.  It was so.much.fun just relaxing and playing Seafarers of Catan.  We were there from 11:00 until 3:30!

 This is Missy doing P90X with us.  So cute!!

Bethany’s cello shots.  Love these! 

Umbrella painting day. 

Stay tuned for the fire pictures!