Patience

Hello Friends!

Well, if this were an actual conversation, I would start with the idle chit-chat about the crazy weather we've been having or how nice it is for things to settle down after the holidays. But since I am the only one talking here (sorry for the readers) I will just get right down the meat of it. I like being real.

We have 25 students enrolled in classes. There has been a lot of interest and people are continuously stopping in to find out what we are about and planning to enroll their children or grand-children. All of the enrolled students are having a total blast! Our teachers are fantastic and unique and all the parents wish they could join in on the classes (which they can in our Adult program!)

We should be overwhelmed by the bills that we know are coming the first of February and the income of the school, which does not match up. But God is not a God of numbers... He is a God of Power! And so we are laying our trust in a trustworthy Lord and surrendering it all to Him.

This is not to say that we are just sitting back in our easy chairs with our cup of coffee, saying "Ok Lord, I will just wait for you to do it and be amazed." We are doing everything that we can think of (and that money allows) to get students in the door---not so that we can have their tuition----that is ridiculous! We know that God will provide through whatever means necessary, not just tuition.

We want students to come through those doors and feel something different in SSA. We want them to experience the presence of God and to learn what it means to worship him through the arts. We want to make sure that every student in that place knows the name of Jesus and how worthy He is of everything that we have and of all of our praise!

And yes, we are not spiritual robots, so it is necessary to remind ourselves constantly of the promises of God and remember that He is never late---He is always right on time. I go in constant circles from anxiety to trust... anxiety to trust... TRUST.

Above all, I feel the Lord is teaching me patience. He has been so amazingly patient with me throughout my life. And therefore, if I truly want to be like Jesus, I must learn to be patient. I am a fan of the quote from the movie "The Devil Wears Prada", where Meryl Streep chastises her assistant for moving too slowly and says, "By all means, move at a glacial pace... You know how that thrills me." Likewise, I am not very excited by the speed at which the Lord is moving right now, but thankfully I am not the one who calls the shots here. I am going to patiently wait for the Lord because He has got it all worked out from the beginning of time until the end... Praise God!

So, I sincerely ask you to pray for us---that we would have patience. Also, please pray that we would continually surrender the company and the school to the One who created them. We cannot hope to teach the students at Surrendered School of the Arts what it means "to surrender" if we have not already learned the lesson ourselves.

I just love Him. Isn't He great???!!!

Sincerely,
Cathleen

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it's finally here? 2009 has arrived and our adventure has begun!!

As I sit here typing this blog I'm listening to "Praise the Lord I saw the Light" and watching Holly teach her adult Pilates class. Whew, what a whirlwind, but we've arrived and Surrendered School of the Arts has been born. Praise the Lord! We are all in awe and I'm constantly in tears when I think of the Lord's faithfulness.

Faithful is what He is and will forever be, regardless of our failures and inadequacies and I am so thankful His word and promises remain true. We have all been under enormous attack, in ways you would not believe! I'm not even going to give Satan the pleasure of mentioning them again, we're just moving forward knowing He's in control and that He will provide everything we need.

Our classes at Surrendered are slowly filling up, please pray with us that the Lord will bring His people to our door. The response we've received thus far is amazing, so many people are excited to be involved in ministry and are thrilled about the programs, classes and workshops we're offering. We'll keep you updated on how things are going, be prepared for an outstanding report! We're so happy to have you on board!

Paradosi is gearing up for our spring season, continuing performances with The Worship Project and A Walk with Paul. Now we're just focusing on getting back into shape from our Christmas break, what a blast we're having! Hey, if your in the neighborhood and see us frollicking in the studio, drop on by and say hello!

Bless y'all!!!
Tennille

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I can't believe it's already a week before Christmas. The time really flew by so quickly. I feel like it should be a few weeks before the Paul premiere, but here we are almost ready to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Well, I think Holly's last blog was pretty precise. We haven't been doing a whole lot of dancing lately, but alot of painting. I think by the time we are finished transforming the shack into "Surrendered School of the Arts" I will be a professional wall trimmer:) And my favorite colors are officially mossy green, chocolate brown, and burnt Orange. The studio is coming along great. We are pretty much done with all the painting, we just have to sand the beams....which look wonderful by the way. We also have to finish the floor and some other last minute things.

This is the last blog that we will be writing before Christmas break. Everyone will be going home to family and friends to enjoy a much needed break! Please continue praying for us as we are finishing up the new studio. We still have some needs, but are confident that the Lord will provide them in full! You can also see esactly what they are by looking at our website. www.paradosiballetcompany.com. Also be praying that the second we open the doors of the new school, that our attendance would be exactly the amount we need to run, and Lord willing more.

Thank you again for your prayers and support! They are very much appreciated!
Merry Christmas!
Whittannie

Hello Everyone!

So sorry this is a tad late. I tried to think of an excuse, but well there are none. I just kept forgetting to write it.

This past Saturday we had a performance in Kent at the church that Michel and Amanda attend. We did " The Worship Project" for a women s breakfast. It was really nice to worship the Lord with other sisters in Christ.

The latest project we are attacking is Surrendered School of the Arts. For the past two weeks our days have consisted of taking ballet class in the morning and then heading over to the new space to transform it into a studio. It seemed a little daunting at first, but after the paint went up on the walls you can begin to see what the final product will look like. Quite exciting really!

Well that is it in a nutshell, I have a baby screaming in my ear right now so I am going to keep it short. I am a nanny, I do not have a child of my own.

God bless you all!

Holly

Ok, here it is..FINALLY! So I figured since we all had a break from the studio last week, that perhaps a break from the blog would be appropriate..hope this didn't throw anyone off! But, never fear! The blog is back..and in style..ha ha OK, enough with the procrastination already and on with the show...

Speaking of procrastination...any of you have roommates? that distract whilst trying to write blogs?:) AH HEM..

So, as all of you know in the last blog we were getting ready for the 'A Walk With Paul' performance, and now it's over! Thank you all so much for your prayers and support leading up to this performance, and for all of the volunteers helping us out, and the extras..you guys rock! The day of the performance pretty much consisted of getting there early that morning, setting up all day for the silent auction and our set, dress rehearsal, eating, and turning right around and doing the whole show all over again! We were totally going off of God's grace that day!

From the Silent Auction we raised enough for the first two months rent for our new studio, Praise God! And the performance as a whole pretty much went off without a hitch..it was so exciting to see the dream that Joel and Tenille had had for years, and that each one of us has adopted as our own, finally come out to play. Of course, as with any production, there are always things that need to be tweaked, and I think we are all very eager to get to work on those things, but it is very exciting to see the potential that it has to be a tool that God can use. After all, we can't do anything on our own strength, only with His!

Well, I do hope you all have truly had a wonderful past two weeks, and I'm sure the next person to write this will be more timely;). God Bless!

~Sarah

WE'VE ARRIVED!

Well guys, this is it! We are thrilled to be twenty-two hours away from our "A Walk With Paul" premier! The lights have been set, the props have been prepared, the costumes have been sewn, and the last minute touches have been made to the choreography. Every single thing that we can conceivably think to do has been done. This concept occurred to me as we were praying this morning before our final rehearsal: we have accomplished everything humanly possible, and now the show in it's entirety is out of our hands. However, this is just where the Lord desires for us to be! We have nothing to do but place our complete trust in our God, and guess what? He has promised that if we commit our way to the Lord and trust in Him, He will bring it to pass! (Psalm 37:5)

The show will open with "A Worship Project," a collection of choreographed worship songs that are designed do just as the name conveys- worship! After a brief intermission will follow the premier of "A Walk With Paul," a forty-five minute dramatic ballet recounting the life, testimony, trials, and death of the most infamous apostle in the Bible.

Tomorrow is going to be insane. We are probably going to be out of our minds. People are going to be stretching, practicing, sewing, sleeping, decorating, folding, eating... most likely simultaneously! When seven o'clock hits, though, all of that will mean nothing to us. Our purpose is twofold. We long to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and relay the good news of the Gospel to everyone in that building. Our prayer is that not one person leaves the show untouched by the Holy Spirit's presence.

Ours is going to be a powerful account of the story, and lives are going to be changed.
Will yours?

~"Fun Size"

I KNOW IT'S LATE.....BUT HERE'S A FEW THOUGHTS

For those of you who keep up with our blogs on a weekly basis, you may know by now that you can expect to find a new blog on Monday. And if it's not there by the time you go to bed on Monday, it's sure to be there at least by Tuesday. So where has the blog been this week?!? I know you are probably worried that we have fallen off the face of the earth. But alas....WE ARE STILL HERE! I blame this late blog on the costumes for the new ballet. I literally have been dancing in the morning, sewing until its time to make dinner and enjoy some time with my husband, and then it's back to sewing until it's time for bed. But aside from some purchasing some essential items for the roman soldiers and a few stiches here and there- I can say that costumes are about done. And its a good thing too since tomorrow's Dress Rehearsal. And since the costumes are so close to being done- I feel obligated to inform you all on what's been going on with us.

So let me rewind to last week so that you don't feel left out. We had a crazy week of rehearsals. On top of the usual, we had an extra rehearsal on Friday night from about 9:30 pm to midnight. And after a couple hours of sleep Friday night, we were up to drive to Leavenworth to perform at a woman's conference. We rented a 15 passenger van for the day. Talk about hilarious! 10 girls and 2 guys on a 3 1/2 hour drive both ways. And even though the van seemed to be falling apart and had gum on the seatbelts- it was so fun to be all together. If you were able to be a fly on the wall for that roadtrip, you would find Cathleen sewing wine skins, Audrey and Sarah giggling to no end- driving Tennille (and probably Joel) crazy, Amanda making roman soldier arm guards, Michael thinking that we were all too crazy and trying to tune out the giggling, Cara squished in the very back seats next to stinky costumes and everyones bags and all of us singing along to the ever so famous "Friends" by Michael W. Smith. Let me tell you that there is nothing like being with the Paradosicals in the van for 7 hours!

But about the performance- it was great! I (and others) felt very out of it. I mean we literally jumped out of the van and onto the stage. And we all learned that God works best when we are weak. Thank you Jesus for that! It was an amazing time of worship with these women. Their workshop theme was "Be still and know that I am God" and I think that is a great thing to remember for each of us.

Aside from the crazy weekend of dancing- we are finishing all the details for our Premiere! It is officially about a week away and we see the light.

Please keep praying for us. (as you can tell by this blog- we are all a bit crazy and need all the prayer we can get!)

Enjoy your weekend and we will see you next Friday!

Blessings to you all!!!
Amanda