All about the Baby

I have decided that babies are THE MOST PRECIOUS creatures on earth....and I can't wait till the day I have some of my own :) Until then, I am taking a lot of joy in my friend's children...This post is all about my best friend Sarah's newest little baby boy, Isaiah Micahel, born on Tuesday December 23rd around 8:47 a.m. and weighing in at 8 pounds, 4 oz. He LOVES to eat. He coos and moves his eyes around when he hears your voice. He cries very little. Sarah, her mother, my mom, myself and the baby went out tonight to Applebees. He slept the WHOLE WAY through!! So anyways, these pics are from today, at only 5 days old. Enjoy and feel free to say "aaawww!!!" as many times as you feel necessary :)

Getting ready for my outing with the girls
Checking out this new person

She's not so bad...she fed me & burped me! Now I can sleep again.

Sleeping before my first "night out on the town"

Meeting Elizabeth's mom. These two girls are already fighting over me!

Nobody does it like Grandma does :)

Christmas 2008

SURPRISE!!! Elizabeth got a digital camera for Christmas! Yipee!! I've been having fun learning how to use it...and FINALLY my blog has pics now!!! Mom and I are hoping to see baby Isaiah today (see below for my 1st pic with him). Hopefully I'll be down-loading a bunch more after our visit. Enjoy these photos and Happy New Years!!!

Nick and Myself, saying goodbye...that coat was definitely UNnecessary today...70 degree weather!!

Saying goodbye to my brother 12/27 (Dad, Nick, Mom)
The only Etnoyer who could have cared less it was Chrismas :)

Baby Audra at 10 months--friends stopped by to surprise us on Christmas!

Isaiah Michael and "Aunt Elizabeth"--2 days old Christmas day!

Etnoyer's Christmas Tree...and my piano's side-profile :)

6 Days Til' Christmas

Tell me someone. Am I the only one shocked that Christmas is only 6 days away? I'm so glad it's coming, but also a little sad because I know in 7 days it will be over til' next year! Here are some updates from me. Things I'm thankful for, happenings, not happenings, etc. :)

1. My brother Nick is home for Christmas. He hasn't been home for Christmas in 3 years (due to his job), so we are very happy to have him this year. All 5 of us will be here Christmas morning.

2. School is over and I got a 4.0 :) That makeups for knowing I needed to practice more. And now I'm looking forward to a new semester of less classes and more piano playing and recitals!!

3. In 2 days my friend's going to have her 3rd baby boy. That in itself is a reason to be really excited about the season. What a great reminder of Christmas!!!!

4. I was able to make it to my friend Jaime's house on a day when it didn't snow!!! We had a wonderful visit and the kids were so much fun to play with and the baby was irresistable to hold :)

5. I got my stuff moved out of my apartment....not happing...selling the place!!!! I'll keep praying about it and would appreciate help in the prayer department there too!!! It's nice to have my things home again though.

6. Not happening: Lots of "down time". And I wouldn't have it any other way :) It's actually been a nice balance of Christmas shopping, games, visits, and then down-time watching movies, talking, S-L-E-E-P-I-N-G!!!! Just not too much down-time to the point where I get antsy.

7. My church's children's Christmas play was adorable! They did such a great job. And this Sunday we'll be singing the adult cantata. Plus, I get to play a beautiful arrangement of a Christmas song with a friend who plays violin, while the congregation sings. It should be a nice addition to the service.

8. For once, not swiping the credit card to erase the guilt of not buying enough Christmas presents is actually allowing me to relax more and remember the true meaning of Christmas. I'm learning that time with my family, cooking, making memories, is a lot more valuable to me than wrapping and opening gifts. And I seem less stressed too staying away from all of the frenzy!!!

9. I am very thankful that I didn't get sick once this whole semester!! (Knock on wood!). My parents and I all had the flu before school started in August. Since then I've felt a few oncoming bugs but they've disapeared! Maybe I'm starting to learn the importance of sleep, even when I am overly busy, and that's helping keep my immunity up.

10. A warm house, food to eat, clothes to wear, family and friends, an education, jobs, solitude, pets, utilities,....ok. I know that's a really random list. It's just that I've had some close-encounters recently with loved ones who are struggling to meet the basic necessities. I guess it's just teaching me not to take advantage of even the most basic needs.

If I don't get pictures up here soon, Merry Christmas to everyone! Next time I get some good pics (hopefully Christmas day) I'll do my best to share them.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

My Shortest Post

My shortest post I've made of late
Quickly learning to savor each day
Practice for hours and let go of stress
Sit in the quiet and learn how to rest

Don't be distressed cause life's sometimes a mess
Just be content that it's all for the best

Trust in the Lord in all that you do
Forget your mistakes and know He loves you

When you feel clumsy ask God for His grace
And when you feel scared ask Him for more faith

Forget about yesterday and look to tomorrow
Praise God for the blessings and let go of sorrow

Enjoy this moment for it won't last for long
and reach out to others in action and song

When someone attempts to tell you your wrong
Consider the thought, but don't hold it for long

Many will push you with worries and frets
Just pray for the insight to know good from wrong
And live your life joyfully without any regrets

Happy Advent Season. I hope this finds you each enjoying the season and anticipating the celebreation of Christ's birth.

THANKSGIVING

This post is sweet and simple. I am FINALLY on my Thanksgiving break, and so I thought it would be nice to share some things I am thankful for (good practice for Thursday :)

I am thankful for:

A hair cut and a good hair dresser!! :) :)

Ok #2 Friends and family (haha! Just kidding..of course this should be #2)

Oh wait!! #3 GOD!! Ok...I'm not off to the best start here am I?? Let's start OVER!

#1 GOD, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, my Salvation in Christ, my church family, etc. (I think I covered my bases there)

#2 Family and Friends plus co-workers, teachers, mentors, in general..PEOPLE

#3 Good health

#4 A job...well, a few jobs.

#5 A roof over my head (well, 2 roofs over my head :)

#6 Clothes to keep me warm in the winter...and for central air and heat

#7 My grand piano :)

#8 My cat Tommy and dog, Jack (somehow I don't think they would appreciate coming AFTER the thing they hate hearing the most, but oh well...they can't read :)

#9 Surviving my first semester of my doctorate

#10 The beautiful snow-fall we got this past week..and for not wrecking my car in it

#11 For piano students who add joy and meaning to my days

#12 Hot chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream....CHOCOLATE!

#13 Pumpkin pie, turkey, and all the other great stuff we get to eat this week :)

#14 Internet and phone...the ability to keep in touch with people I other-wise would have no clue how they were doing right now...so, it DOES have it's up sides

#15 Free-will. The ability to choose devotion to God, and to WILLINGLY accept His grace He has to offer us. Also, the opportunity to make life-choices, although not always the right ones, and God's sovereignty which guides us when we get off track

#16 The ability to look at each day as a gift from God, and to live it in gratitude. To leave behind regrets and to anticipate the future and to appreciate the present.

#17 MUSIC(This feels like it belongs higher up). The ability to participate in it, share it with others, and reflect on one's self. My teacher has a wonderful saying. "The piano is not just an instrument with black and white keys. It's really just a big mirror"....think about it (it may make more sense to you if you play an instrument)

#18 CHRISTMAS DAY. The one day of the year that we can all get so excited about. The Christmas trees, ornaments, gifts, decorations, cards, and more. I am thankful that we have symbols such as wreaths and candles to make these days resonate with all of our 5 senses so we can carry the joy with us through-out the year.

#19 Remembering my dreams...it always gives me something fun to talk about the next day :)

#20 My dear bloggers who read my plain, no picture blogs and appreciate them anyways.

And now I must go... What are you thankful for this year?

Long Time...NO BLOG!

Hi there blogging friends!! Are you still with me? Hopefully I haven't lost ALL my interested readers...I know it's been QUITE a while since I checked in! I suppose since it's been such a long time since my last posting that an update is in order. And maybe some pictures soon after :)

1)I am now going into the last week of school before Thanksgiving Break! I only have one more week of classes after that, plus finals/concerto-preliminaries competition week, and then it's time for Christmas!!!

2)I am super glad the elections are over!! Perhaps not entirely excited about the outcome, but still glad they are O-V-E-R!!! Now comes the part where we all dutifully start or continue to pray for our country...

3) My diet has been at a stand-still! I'm finally getting back into woring out again. Mom's helping by cooking healthier meals when I'm home (and when I'm not home). I no longer purchase groceries for my apartment, so I try to eat-out inexpensively, or take a morning trip to Krogers for just that day, on the days I'm there.

4) One of my best friends is down to about 1 month until baby #3 arrives...I'm so excited for them!! :)

5) My Walk to Emmaus....that really needs to be a blog in itself. It was an amazing life-changing experience. I highly recommend you experience it at some point in your life, if you have not yet. They have one for men, and one for women.

6) Jon and I are back together again...and so the saga continues :) I'll be a woman of few words on this topic...just pray for us when you think of it!! Thanks :)

7) Did I mention school is almost over??!!! YIPEE!!!!! Oh yeah, and I got smart this time, after a whole semester of struggling over whether to continue the DMA degree program or not (which by the way, I'm not entirely finished struggling with) I at least wised up and signed up for 10 credits in the spring, instead of the SIXTEEN I took this semester!! No wonder I felt burnt out!!

8) My good friend Malorie visited me a few weeks ago. We hadn't seen each other in over a year! She's in the air force and just got re-located on the east coast...it's about time!! Not only did we have a great time together, but since she visited our friend Beth in Virginia, I also got my silly blue cow-girl hat back that I left at Beth's house in 2007!! AND, even more exciting, I get to be in a wedding next summer....beth and I both..in Malories!! We're very excited. It feels like the reunion of the three muskateers....watch out for those donut groomsmen cakes Mal!!! HAHAHA :)

9) I'm still stuck with my apartment in Morgantown, although I've been advertising around town, on line, word of mouth, etc. Just going to have to keep praying. I'm dealing with it by moving stuff home each time I come home (probably about 1/2 or almost 1/2 of my belongings are home now) and being away whenever possible. It makes the weeks a little more stressful than necessary, but then again, even if I had my own place, I think I'd still be out all hours of the night at the library, practice rooms, etc.

10) I've gotta go eat!!!

Hope that was at least minorly interesting to my bloggers...I'm going to try real REAL hard to get some pics on here soon!! First I've got a 15 min. presentation to get started, a concerto to work on, a movie to go see, a 15 page paper to right, and counterpoint assignment to finish...among other things :)

HOPE ALL IS WELL WITH THE REST OF YOU!! LEAVE ME A MESSAGE :)

Elizabeth (why do I sign my own blogs???Oh I don't know..but it feels right...

AAAAHHHH!!!!

"And He will give you peace which transcends human understanding"...as usual for me, I don't know the location of that scripture...but I know it's in the Bible!! And, it's going to become my quote for the weekend, for the week, for the semester, and for the rest of this year!!

You see, I have spent the past aproximately 13 hours, give or take a few small breaks to teach a student and finish a couple of chores/errands, but most of that time was spent at my desk, at home, studying Beethoven sonatas, and reading reading reading!! My word for today is "axiomatic" You don't know what that means? Well, it's SOOOO axiomatic!!! :) (look it up and you'll get my joke :)

As I mentioned in an e-mail earlier today...I'm beginning to seriously question whether my dollars are paying for an education in music, or the art of sounding snooty when I talk to people :) It's bad enough that musicians use words like exposition, thematic development, modulatory transitional material, recapituations (which I one humurously confused with another word on a vacation...I said "I'm all recapitulated!!" I think I meant to say turned around or something like that...everyone in the car looked at me with the "HUH?!" look :) Or how about this, taken from one of many obserdly over-complicated passages in an article I've been reading for the past several hours.

"All of which is tantamount to the truism that sonatas can no more succeed without significant ideas, however these may be defined and typed, than without convincing rhythmic flow, compelling tonal organization, or euphonious, idiomatic scoring"

I KID YOU NOT!! I literally looked at the page I was reading (Before I got off-track with blogging :) and just randomly selected one sentence from the page...I've been stuck in this world of lofty musical analysis for hours!!! Let me see if I can sum that sentence up into laymen terms! "A sonata won't sound good unless the musical idea or theme is just as convincing as the other elements of the music (such as the rhythmic flow, tonal organization, or idiomatic scoring..meaning the piece fits the demands of the instrument it's written for" ....any better???

Well, I'm back to my idiomatic, axiomatic, altruistic, contemplative, and obscurely dissolutional world of Wm Newman's chapter on "Romantic Sonata Form: Process, Mold, and Unicom"

and would someone please do me a favor, after praying for me, and remind me WHY IN THE WORLD did I want to get my doctorate????

THANKS! :)