Valentine's Day in Edwardsville

This morning, we were up and enjoying breakfast at the hotel by 8:30.  We left at 9:00 to head over to SIUe to orient ourselves a bit.  We wandered around Dunham Hall for a bit.

While she was at IMEC, Annah had visited the SIUe booth in the exhibit hall and had met some of the SIUe music faculty, including Dr. Emily Truckenbrod, who is Director of Vocal Studies. When Annah told Dr. T her story, and that she was scheduled to audition tomorrow, Dr. T invited Annah to come today and have a lesson with her and sit in on the voice area studio class this afternoon!

We found Dr. T's office and a practice room right across the hall for Annah to warm up before her lesson.  She loved every second of her lesson and cannot wait to study with Dr. T!  She is like a tiny little bundle of sunshine and just so wonderful!

After the voice lesson, we had a little time, so we went to find the Transfer Office and asked a few questions.  We learned that Annah should send her transcript including this semester's classes in now so they can begin to look at what classes will transfer from Greenville and what will not.  We think she may end up needing to do 4 years at SIUe, since her GU Honors Program courses may not transfer as gen eds, and she wants to take Music Theory 2 again, so she will just start over at Theory 1 and basically remain a freshman with a lot of credits next fall.  

We also visited the main Admissions Office, and Annah asked some questions about scholarships and dates for various transfer student checklist items. We verified that as a transfer student she is only eligible for one small academic scholarship, so we really hope her audition goes well tomorrow!

After leaving Admissions, we went next door to the amazing student center.  We visited Starbucks and saw the bookstore and other things available to students there.

The SIUe mascot is the cougar, so it won't be too big a change for Annah to go from a GU panther to an SIUe cougar.

SIUe was hosting composer Libby Larsen for a 4-day residency, and the voice area studio class Annah had been invited to was actually a masterclass with Libby Larsen!  We heard 4 students sing her incredibly difficult pieces very well, and she worked with each of them. We were blown away!  The singers at SIUe are SINGING!!!  

After the masterclass, we met up with Ryan.  We were going to try to go to Texas Roadhouse, but we decided we didn't have enough time before Ryan had to be back to campus to work. So we ate at Fazoli's.  Annah is always happy to have fettuccine alfredo.  Really, she was just happy to see Ryan, because they hadn't seen each other in about 2 weeks.

We went back to campus, hoping Annah would be able to get a walk-in appointment at the hair salon in the student center, but we were told they were completely booked.  Ryan went to work, and Annah and I hit the SIUe bookstore to get her a school sweatshirt and water bottle.  Then we decided to head out to Walmart.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Caeden was making a delicious dinner of tater tots for himself and Sylvia.  

She looks pretty cute.

I had brought some Valentine's treats, including a puzzle, for Annah.  Ryan came to the hotel after he got off work, and I ran next door to get some food from Sonic.  

They match!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Visiting Annah

Since Sylvia and Caeden had school last Friday and couldn't go with us when we took Annah to college, we all visited her this weekend!

We arrived early yesterday afternoon, and Sylvia got to go in and see Annah's dorm room and meet her roommate.

We admired the note board for the girls on Annah's hall to leave notes for each other.

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We decided to go to the St. Louis Galleria Mall.  It was really busy when we arrived, and as we were looking for a parking space, we saw 2 policemen running, at least 1 of them had a gun in his hand!  Caeden said he had seen a man run around the corner and thought he had a gun in his hand too, but then he thought there was no way he could be seeing that!  As we went into the mall, we heard police sirens and saw more police gathering in.  Later we found out that the man had a gun in the mall and when police asked him about it, he ran.  They chased him out of the mall, across the street, and into a bank parking garage where they fatally shot him.  

Fortunately, once we were inside the mall, we didn't see any more commotion regarding the incident.

Galleria is a really nice mall, and we enjoyed walking around.  We were mostly window shopping.

Ryan's dad has saying people know him for, and one of them is, "Don't be a dillard." So we made sure not to go to Dillard's, and took this picture for just for him.

Jeremy told Annah that she and Ryan got to choose where we would eat.  None of the kids had ever been to Cheesecake Factory, so here they are waiting for a table there.

Caeden and his tacos--and gang signs?  I don't know.

I had an amazing kale salad with salmon.  

And of course we had cheesecake!

After the mall we hit IKEA!  It's always so fun to walk around and see all the cool stuff there!

We got Annah a body pillow because I am worried about her falling off her loft bed with no railing.  Caeden got one too, because he has a big full size bed all to himself.  

Here's the guy with all the money...

Sylvia got a cool light for her room.

Caeden playing with silicone oven mitts...?  Again, I don't know.

After IKEA, we stoped by SIUE and Ryan gave us a nighttime tour of campus!  It's a big place with lots of nature (We saw a very friendly skunk!), and we could tell even at night that it is beautiful.  It's no wonder he loves it there.  We even ran into his roommate, David, and met him and some of Ryan's friends who were on their way to get something to eat.  I hope we can go back and visit in the fall sometime to see how beautiful campus is then!

When we got back to Greenville, Jeremy, Caeden, and Ryan went in to see Annah's room and chat with Tori, since it was during visitor's hours in the dorm. Caeden thought Annah's dorm room was pretty cool, and was a little bit fascinated with how all of their things are organized into such a small space.

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This morning, Jeremy ran to Walmart for some things Annah needed.  He got her a new BigJoe beanbag chair, a padlock so she can get a locker in the music building, AA batteries for her computer mouse and Wii remotes, and maybe some other things.  He took them to her and picked her up at her dorm to join the rest of us at the Huddle House for breakfast.

We took Annah back to her dorm after breakfast, where she waited for Ryan to come pick her up for church.  

It was really hard for Sylvia to say goodbye to Annah and leave her at school!

Caeden also didn't want to let her go.

A selfie looking into the sun...

Everyone but Jeremy) the driver did some snoozing on the way home.  

What blessings to get to see Annah and Ryan in their new homes and adjusting so well.  

We made one last quick visit to Indiana before the end of summer!

Annah and Wrigley

Uncle T knows how to get really relaxed.

Bryce-boo, trying to spit water into Sylvia's belly button while she played in the sun

cousin swim!!!

Annah and Tess went for a walk around the yard.

Bryce got to lick the beater!

Just a few cucumbers and squash from Dad's garden

Waiting on the homemade ice cream

Playing CLUE!

I forget what this game was called, but it was really fun!

Grayson, trying to show me his swollen hand where he got stung by a wasp

Talls and smalls 

It was such a beautiful weekend, and a wonderful time together!!!

Purple and Gold Days

Today we took Annah to attend Purple and Gold Days at Olivet Nazarene Univ.  It was a super busy day, with a full schedule from the moment we arrived.

We'd been told her audition was at 11am, and thankfully we arrived early for 10am check-in. As we were handed her schedule for the day, we noticed her audition was at 10:00!  She hurried to change, and we practically ran to the music building to warm up her voice!  She sang beautifully, and was asked to either come back to do a violin audition or submit on via video. Then she took a theory placement test.

Admissions had scheduled her for a meeting with the Worship Teams coordinator at 10:15, and there was no way we were making it across campus for that. So, one of the professors who heard her audition was so kind to call the Worship Teams coordinator and he came to meet us!  He took us to the Rec Center where he treated us to Starbucks while we chatted about how the Worship Teams work.  

We were scheduled to meet with the Marching Band Director next, but since we arrived late to that meeting, we waited outside his office. He still met with us and another family even though he had a lunch to get to as well.  We really enjoyed talking with him, and Annah would definitely love to be in his marching band if she attends Olivet!

We next ran back across campus to attend the fancy luncheon.

Dr. Bowling spoke, and there was also a question/answer panel of Olivet students.

After lunch, Jeremy attended a financial aid session, and Annah and I went back to the music building for an info session with Dr. Jones.  We had attended basically the same session with him last spring, but had some good questions answered today.

Probably the most informational session of the day was with two wonderful professors in the Education department.  They talked about state licensing and testing requirements for teachers, the student teaching process, and gave Annah a sheet detailing all the coursework she would be required to complete.  They were so kind and knowledgeable, and it was very helpful! 

We also realized it would take more than just 4 years to complete a Music Education degree at Olivet, and that she would need a car on campus right off the bat for observing in her education major--things we hadn't thought of before.

After the last session, we met Marissa in the library, then walked to her dorm to drop off Annah's things so she could spend the night.

Annah thought Marissa's dorm and room were pretty cool.  Marissa is in her first semester at Olivet, and is LOVING it!!!

We took Marissa and her fiancé, Tommy, out for pizza at Mancino's. Yum!  

They told us about how they've started a worship team at a struggling church a few minutes off campus.  Annah went there with them tonight to watch a movie.

Annah and Marissa stayed up until almost 2am chatting, so I'd say Annah got a little taste of the real college experience!  She says she feels a little intimidated by the campus, but knows she would enjoy the experience if she attended Olivet.  She has several friends there too.  It will be exciting to see where God takes her for her college education!