Back in the Saddle

It's been several months since we've practiced on a regular basis, or posted....Sorry, little blog. We plan to do both more regularly however, starting now.

   Our upcoming event is a 40's throw back, hosted by a church group in Atlanta.  There will be several people in uniforms, and of course, the Andrew Sisters will be there.
   Mama, Daddy and Moriah visited an army surplus store and dug through bins and piles of vintage clothing.  They did eventually find five skirts, shirts and ties, so after just a little alterations, we should be good to go.
 Yay for nifty stores and for mama sewing!

late night practice...aughh.

GHEA Conference

I heard a Robin  this Morning .... Did you?
    





The GHEA Conference was the first summer singing event.

       As much as the anticipation for singing was present, our anticipation for hearing Ken Ham was even greater!

As I was scurrying through finals, Mamma delivering babies, Gabrielle shooting several events and Merry graduating, we tried to fit this one into all the between spare time.
So in the midst of all the shuffle we hopped in the car and headed to the music man's house in Huntsville, AL.
There, he did his magical work for two days. Long hours of practice lasting from 9:00 AM to 10:30 PM.
     And while we practiced Mamma sewed,  I studied for finals (while warming up), Gabrielle practiced her new lighting techniques during the varied practice hours,  and summer has been in full gear since that time.

The mind behind all truly great earthly creations, our mother.

The changing room experience becomes ever so much more delightful if music, laughter, dancing and keds(of course) are added to the equation.

quiet on the set....no wait..roll film! no - i mean, oh, just say cheese!"

  Sometimes we girls don't prepare that well.  For instance, the day we found out that we needed to take pictures for the cd cover that day.  What did we do, you might ask?  Well, we panicked, like any bunch of girls would.  "What ??!! TODAY??? I thought it was next week or month or - but today???"    We rushed around hooking and plugging hair dryers, curling irons, irons for skirts, dresses and shirts while applying (as Abrum calls it) our War Paint.   Mission "PHOTO SHOOT" would have been an epic fail had it not been for Anne.  You see, the real element of sanity in our posse of girls is Anna Grace.  She thinks about matching factors, color co-ordination, placement co-ordination, foot, hand and eye co-ordination and whether we're all looking in the same direction or not.  (Thing is, by the time she's got us all placed up and dandified and to where she can decide which position she's going to use, we've all broken our position to look and see what everybody else's position is.)

   So, posing isn't our strong point, you see.  And for a while we were having to put the timer on the camera, and run back into position until finally by some token of kindness,  one brother saved us.

Oh, yes, you may have guessed it.   It was the one, the only - a resident of Mansfield, GA -- yes folks, it was indeed, CHRISTOPHER ELIJAH FULMER.
  < (Wild cries of huzzah! ascend)  He came in and loosened us all up.  You see, after a half hour or so of running back and forth between camera and wall, over ground that is speckled with glass and metal and then having to pretend like you don't feel the fire ants that are right where you're standing but you have to keep smiling because of the necessity of getting that there picture - and then losing your place and trying to negotiate with the members of the party that "really don't want their picture taken anyways".... Then you can see

how glad we were when our brother came.   He has always had a certain effect that is rather enchanting.    When  he used to live with the rest of the clan at the Grey Submarine and work second shift at Delta, we'd sometimes wait to hear the creak of the front door around midnight or so,  as it opened and he came in.  Then a pause and the click of the dead bolt locking.  Sometimes (if we hoped extra hard and Chris was his sweet self) he'd come to our room and read us poems - silly poems and sad poems and far, far away poems.  So many characters were played through his voice and he could always sweep us away in imaginary lands to see all sorts of creatures and people.     

      To this day, there is something not altogether real about Chris - something curious and far off.  It's something about him that is completely unpredictable.  At moments, you can almost see this "something" in his eyes, for they twinkle something fierce at times.  I don't think he can help it.  It's as if he got to keep the kiss in the side of his mouth just like the Darling Mother, so that he has never completely lost a portion of Neverland.  I suppose this is one of the reasons why he is so much fun to be around and explore with, and imagine with.
      Well, after coming to our aid, he made sure we laughed, and that we didn't let our feathers get ruffled over our unproductive shoot thus far.  We did some calisthenics, acted silly, and danced in the streets.  Finally it came: a picture suitable for the cd.  This, however,  wouldn't have happened (I'm convinced) had it not been for the dear knight that swept onto our Castle set and saved the day.

Thank you dear sweet brother!
    

    - bella,
  21 years of agedness,
   #5 in line

been thinking lately

      If I had been an only child, I'm pretty sure that, by now, the only place you could visit me would be on exit 91 in Alabama at the mental facilities.  Some people know how to cope with that lonerism.  I am not one of them.  Don't get me wrong, I like my time box where it's just me and space, but you keep me in there too long, and things start getting nutsy.  This past week Mamsie and all of 

     my sisters (with the exception Anne) have been gone and the house has been quiet something odd.  Daddy has been very sweet and has shown his colors once again.  He's made sure I've been up in time to leave for work, fixed Anne tea and took it to her while she was in bed, fixed breakfast, (with the fried eggs just right - not to much soup, not to much hardness) and warmed up the car for me so it wouldn't be cold when I left.  Besides that, he made chili for church,  read my book to me by the fire and kept Anne and me laughing by singing very boomingly and quoting  Mr. Collins from Pride and Prejudice.                              

 

 Daddy is tremendously kissable and has figured this out after having five girls who bombard him with the things every day.



THE MERRY
   SQUARE...
Chris has dubbed her so. (So let it be written, so let it be done.)  I think she must have inherited our ancient Cherokee grandmother's genes for concentration, details,  determination and spunk.  If they had lived at the same time, I believe they would have been found together, sewing buffalo skins in their tepees with their long hair in braids and woven with feathers.  Merry is a blunt little thing and keeps us in line.  But she has a compassionate heart and seems to sense other's hurt.  She knows how to comfort, and has had a good bit of experience doing so already.
  
Oh Milly!!!

 Once, I found Melody.  But that was only once.  She is a rather floaty spirit and blows in and out of a room as quiet as you please.  Only, sometimes, her tickle box gets knocked over and then she laughs, and when she does that, it's silly to think you won't as well.  I sometimes compare Milly to a well.  Deep, calm and lovely.  She thinks heaps, and you can see it in her eyes, but seldom do things disturb her surface waters.

 Dawn and gold teeth.  Well, this tooth wasn't gold.  It was silver, and one of her best prizes.  Dawn was so forlorn when the last of her six silver teeth were gone.  She expressed herself to be "mentally attached" and made a new life goal to work up to getting at least two or three gold teeth with diamonds right in the front of her mouth so that she could #1. Be rich.  #2.  Be like miss Cocoa, the mail lady, and #4 put her name in the gold so that when someone asked her her name she could just smile.

MAMSIE 

I shan't lie and say it's been peaches and cream this week.  Mamsie makes so much of a difference that nothing's quite the same when she's not home.  

 

It's pretty amazing how much Mamsie does, in fact.  I realize this more and more each time I'm given even a portion of the responsibilities she has.  Cooking, cleaning, teaching, arranging schedules, planning graduations, parties, birthdays, trips abroad, being a pastor's wife, and delivering babies.  This, and lots more that it would be impossible to name, she does with a smile and still has time to have deep life conversations, drink hot tea, bake bread, play piano and ride her bike.  Yeah, pretty muchly she's a superhero in disguise.

   There's a mix from the stewing pot.  I can't go through the whole family today, for I'd be old and grey by the time I finished, but there's some for now.

  - gabrielle
 21 years
#5 in line.
          
                                                  

baby bird

Once upon a time,
   At 304 Campbell Road...

  I remember exactly where I was when Mama and Daddy told us.  I was sitting in my place at the big table for Sunday dinner.  Everything was as it should be:  the china was out, laid on a fine table cloth and set with good smelling foods surrounded by all the family.  Mama said " We have something to tell y'all." and everything went from humming and laughter and talking to dead quiet.  "We're gonna have a baby!" The silence lasted a minute longer as the shock ensued, but I barely remember that, for in an instant the whole room erupted with shouts and "when's?!!!"  and we were all so plum happy we barely knew what to do with ourselves.

 Ever since that time, the baby of our family has been that extra measure of joy in our lives.  From the minute she was brought home from the hospital to now she has been an incredible blessing.  We would have to set the timer for all nine of us to get a turn to hold her and we loved to show her off to any and everyone.  It wasn't unusual to see, as she was napping, four or five curious and  heads to be peeking through a slit in the doorway and the instant she made a squeak a host of bodies would surround her cradle cooing and shhh-ing.  

   Our little baby bird continues to be a constant source of amusement and joy.  Moriah has a tender heart and loves to make people laugh. I don't know how many times I've been down or out of sorts and come in my room to find a bouquet of flowers on my nightstand or a little hidden note for me.   One of her best friends is her imagination and she and it have a way of entertaining not only themselves but all who are around them.  She has an incredible sense of adventure and loves to run and jump, fight indians and storm castles.


  

 I have been thinking lately just how glad I am she has been our little  Dawn and just like the dawn, she ever brings new sunshine to us.

  I do so love our baby and am so thankful God gave her to us.  - gabrielle fulmer 

  21, #5 in line.

    

The Bendginning

"Bendginning is the word that I have created for this project...each time we think that we see an ending, it is really just  another  beginning.

On our way to Atlanta, Mamsie and I were ore'taken with a feeling of anticipation : The final step in this process of a non- too- small endeavor, namely, CD making.  Mamsie said, "Well, this is the final step." The end seemed to be like a lovely little train station from 1905 shaded by a large oak seen from the train window. However.... the lovely little train station was no station at all. It was actually the camp of the laborers who were fixing the tracks.

We took the CD's home to merrily pack them in their cases.  Alas, there was a tree down on the tracks!  The covers wouldn't stay in the jewel cases!  Surely, we are learning patience the only way that can be learned--having to wait.  So, the train came to a halt and we have been waiting to reach that little train station shaded by the grand oak.

Thank you all for waiting patiently with us!  All will come to pass in God's time, not ours.

"My times are in  Thy hands,"
Anna Grace and Mamsie

Step in time!

One time my sister and I were in Spain at the base of a mountain, looking up at our grandmother's old home place.  We wanted desperately to climb the mountain and explore the shell of the home we had heard stories about from our daddy.  That mountain was so high! We could not find a path or foreseeable way to climb.  After praying, God showed us how to put one foot in one rock and a hand on a piece of brush  and PULL!  Bit by bit, He helped us climb to the house and a breath-taking view.

This journey with "Sweet Rivers" recording has been a lot like that memorable climb.   We thought some of you might like to follow the journey with us.  It's been great to see the way God has worked.  He's showed us how to climb a "mountain" that looks unreachable, time after time.

Since this project has all been financed by an extremely limited budget, we haven't been able to go the standard route of recording.  Matt Bell (one of our project heroes) taught us how to make our own pop filters out of clothes hangers and panty hose.  (Pop filters were needed for the microphones.)  Our neighbor, Mr. Daniel Henderson (another hero), not only let us use his studio, but let us almost camp there til wee hours of the morning for a week this summer.  Brother Tim Cannon(we can't say enough about our commander-in-chief) has invested his time, energy, thoughts, gas, schedule, etc., in this project.  Others have given their services at a discount or donated time, energy and talent.  But, I'll tell you about all that at a future time.


This last week, we seemed to be at another impasse.  Brother Matt Bell, who did such an excellent job recording, thought he had a studio where he and Brother Tim could finish mixing the recording.  Much to all of our dismay, that location didn't wasn't available.  So, after waiting for two months for this opportunity, all doors seemed closed, and we didn't know what to do.  Wednesday night at prayer meeting, the church at Shoal Creek prayed for us a place to mix and master the recording.  (Mixing and mastering has to do with sound quality and volume.)

Early this week we had at least TWO men whose hearts and studios were opened to help us.  Both offered discounted rates to us.  One of these men, Tracey Cain, is in Huntsville near Bro. Tim.   He is committed to helping this project be finished by Thanksgiving. This location was an incredible blessing for Bro. Tim.  Thank you, Sis. Fran Adcock, for helping with this and praying for us!

The other offer was from Mr. James Newman in McDonough, GA, about 15 minutes from the Fulmer household.  He had already been of great help in a second recording session we had about two weeks ago.  Mr. Newman will be doing some work on this end in conjunction with Mr. Cain. He seems to have a real heart for this work.  We felt we were receiving showers of blessings!

What a fun time the girls had with Meredith Adams on Thursday, video-recording a couple of songs for U-tube!  They went to Mansfield, GA, and recorded there in front of some old buildings, with the townsfolk watching the sight and offering a friendly welcome.  Meredith eventually hopes to make a DVD of the whole "Sweet Rivers" journey.  Meredith was another special God-send this week!

Thank you, Lord, for all the generous people you've brought into our lives, and for helping us to climb this mountain day by day!

Please continue to pray that this recording will be for the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

~Mamsie~