Ballet & Opera

In my last post I mentioned that I was planning to do something special with each of the older two kids.  Last Saturday it was monster trucks with Zachary and this Saturday it was the ballet with Bethany. 

The Grand Rapids Ballet Company performed a ballet for kids which was all based on fairy tales.  It was short (40 minutes or so) and it was all about fairy princesses and prince charmings.  It was a great introduction to ballet – for her and for me. 

For this particular event the ballet also teamed up with the Grand Valley State University and also presented an opera called, “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Do His Homework.”  This was also about 45 minutes and was a great introduction to the world of opera.

In both performances that costumes and props were amazing and the singing and dancing was very professional – at least to my very untrained eye.

It was fun, however, what was much more fun was how excited Bethany was for the evening.  We both got dressed up…Jessica did her hair and she wore a dress (which she picked out the day before already!)  I put on a shirt and tie and even wore a suit jacket.  She came downstairs after getting ready like we were going to the prom…it was fantastic! It’s a memory I hope we’ll both hang on to for a long time (the picture is below).

 

After the ballet we had supper together at TGI Friday’s and we sat next to a table young ladies that was having a bachelorette party.  The bride to be was wearing a fake veil and a T-shirt that said something about getting hitched. 

They were having a great time and I couldn’t help but wonder how I’ll feel when Bethany is the one sitting at TGI Friday’s with her friends in a fake veil shortly before her wedding. 

The truth is, I don’t know how I’ll feel, but I know how I hope I’ll feel—at peace.  I hope that she’ll marry for the right reasons and in the right way.  I hope that’ll she’ll marry someone who loves Jesus and they’ll have a marriage that is rooted in God.  I also hope that I’ll be able to officiate the ceremony. All of that hoping made me realize even more how much we need to depend on the Lord for all things. 

There are so many things that I can’t control, but there is one thing  I can control, and that is how much I can pray for my kids and their futures.  I know that, for right now at least, I doing the best I can to raise them right.  But I also know that it doesn’t depend on me…my plan for them is hopeful, but God’s plan for them is sure.  I take great comfort in that truth.

In the meantime, I’ll keep praying for them, and for me—to raise them the best way I know how.  And just maybe, by God’s grace, I’ll get a few more things right than wrong by the time they walk down the aisle and start families of their own.