This is the year that Spotlight (formerly Christian Youth Theater) came into our lives. First, Bonnie was invited to teach voice for the Lake County group. Then last summer, Bonnie costumed the Spotlight Adult show: Thoroughly Modern Millie. The talent (of Bonnie and the actors and the other people responsible for the production, including Elle who was the vocal director) was truly awesome. Michael got to see the show Every Night and loved it more each time he saw it! Bonnie got to make lots of new friends and work with some very talented people. Subsequently, Bonnie taught a voice class at the North Cook Spotlight group and is assisting in a Lake County class for the fall/winter session. Spotlight is a great organization dedicated to highlighting Jesus Christ through the performing arts. To complete the Spotlight part of the letter, Elle (Erin Laurel) is now a full time Spotlight employee working in several areas of the company, but mainly in marketing. This spring Elle will be directing a show for the Kenosha group and she has already invited Bonnie to work on the costuming.
You may have gathered that Elle must have left the Fred Astaire system, and you are correct! This is a huge change for her to leave the world of Ballroom and be totally involved with a Christian organization!
Another big, big change: Bonnie and Michael have closed the door on the Ballroom Dance Gown business!! The business was bought by our friend Michael, owner and manager of the Burr Ridge Fred Astaire. Michael always made us feel welcome in his studio, even before it was his studio and he made the dresses an important part of introducing his students into the world of Ballroom Competition. Once the Lord led Bonnie away from ballroom, it was a marvelously short time from that realization to the dresses leaving our house for Burr Ridge.
So, you might think that Bonnie might take a little time off to recover from years of intense work: you would be wrong. In addition to large, labor intensive contracts with the Mundelein HS Show Choir, Bonnie has started a new Etsy business: Bonnie’s Belle Babies, making infant and child clothing and accessories!
Giles, our SIL, has done a lot of graphic work for us. He made the banner above, but Michael inexpertly inserted our granddaughter’s picture over Gile’s graphic. Briana and Giles are working hard to realize their dream of a successful startup company. Cool Perks (mycoolperks.com) is a kind of electronic couponing company that uses smartphones and computers to actually pay people who distribute coupons to their friends. This kind of startup takes a tremendous amount of work and delightful and intelligent people (Briana and Giles) to explain and sell the concept to businesses.
Did I mention how Delightful it is to have Giles, Briana, and Giselle living with us? Getting daily exposure to this family and watching Giselle grow up is awesome!
We don’t get to see them every day, but Joel, Jen, and Sloane are just 30 minutes away. Sloane is awesome and Jen keeps us up-to-date with her amazing pictures. Joel works his computer magic mainly from home, so they are the Nuclear Family. We’ve had some great times with them this year.
Bonnie went to Haiti for the third time this year, then had surgery to repair her left thumb. She liked it so much, she’s going to do both again this coming year, but this time the right thumb. Michael had an ankle fusion and (finally) returned to daily bike riding and he hasn’t been physically so well off for a number of years! He’s teaching math two days a week at College of Lake County and spends another couple of days watching Giselle and Ezra, both great kids! He gets to read a lot of his favorite Dr. Seuss books and watch SpongeBob and Phineas and Ferb.
We’ve had a lot of changes, a lot of fun, a lot of little children, a lot of work, and, as always, we have found that God is Good, All the Time!
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