12 June 2022

On Wednesday Gibson submitted his Eagle Scout application. When our church stopped sponsoring Boy Scouts of America at the end of 2019, Gibson joined another troop in our community. We thought it would take Gibson about 6 months to finish the requirements in order to receive his Eagle rank. Then covid happened and it ended up taking 2 years and 6 months. Our district advancement committee will meet the end of June and schedule his board of review.

After 15 years and over 308,000 miles, we donated our van to public radio. The van still runs great and is very reliable, but we don't need the extra space anymore. With gas over $5 a gallon, it seemed like a good time to downsize. 

Siskiyou Violins held a benefit conference to raise money for Ukrainian refugees living in Nuremberg, Germany. The concert was held outdoors at a science museum.

This is a photo of Helen with the director of Siskiyou Violins and her violin teacher, Faina. Faina was born in Ukraine and left as a teenager to study music at a prestigious school in Kazakhstan. Except back then everything was part of the Soviet Union. Faina has a deep love for her homeland-- all of her homeland including Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Russia-- and has been devastated by the war in Ukraine. Her love has motivated her to raise over $25,000 to send to her sister who lives in Germany. Her sister uses the money to buy Ukrainian comfort food to give to refugees. 

This is a group photo of the kids who played at the concert. The program included Ukrainian, Russian and American music.

Meanwhile, Brandan and Gibson were attending another music recital. Gibson and Ed played Cello Ascends together for Ed's piano recital. Cello Ascends is a Piano Guys arrangement of music from Kung Fu Panda and Chopin's Prelude No. 20.

Still more music! On Saturday we attended Helen's violin recital. This is the first recital her teacher has held since the pandemic started. We were super impressed with all of the beautiful music played skillfully.

Helen played Allegro di Molto by Mozart. The name of the song means "an extremely fast tempo." Helen started playing the violin in 2009, just before she turned 5, and she has matured into an accomplished musician.