Jared is the 2nd kid in the back to the left of the conductor.

Jared came home from school on Monday and said, "I think I have a concert tonight."  After some prodding and texting, we discovered that the Youth Symphony was indeed performing their final winter concert that night at a school across town. Lucky for us it was our family night and we didn't have anything else planned so we were able to make it to Jared's concert with no further difficulty - after we found out where and when it was.  Jared does a great job in the youth symphony but was a little frustrated because the school where they played lacked some of the percussion instruments that he needed so he had to sit out for a few songs.  But overall the concert was really good. I always enjoy hearing him play.

I had a couple rehearsals this week for the community concert I'm singing in tomorrow.   Ruth and I also sang a duet in church today, a lovely arrangement of The First Noel. 

Ruth had a debate tournament this weekend.  I went and judged on Friday but was not able to see Ruth compete.  She competed in Storytelling, an event she doesn't usually do.  The topic was crime and punishment and she said that all the other storytellers told serious grim tales about crime or unsolved murders.  She had prepared a light-hearted comedy retelling of a Batman children's book, that included all the voices and actions and a singing of the Batman theme song.   She said when she saw what the others presented she was pretty nervous and started to second-guess herself, but in the end, decided to go ahead with what she had prepared.  She won every single round, which in debate is called a "picket fence". She has only done that a few times in her debate career. So her risk and bravery paid off.  She also got second place in Humorous Interpretation, her usual event.