Lights! Camera! ... Wait.

After much discussion and prayer, we have decided NOT to sign on with AMTC. I talked to a friend who has been in the industry for a few years, and she said that she wouldn't recommend spending all that money to go to a conference. There's no guarantee that the right people will see you, or that would will be called back even if they do. I know Jonathan is relieved, and in a way, so am I. We were looking at a LOT of money to go forward with this. Of course to me, this opportunity was like a golden carrot dangling in front of my nose with the very dream that I have been chasing my entire life at the tip of it. It would have been almost impossible for me to say no to that on my own. Nevertheless, I'm glad we went, because the girls had never gone to a large audition, and it was a good experience for them. Going forward, we will try to sign on with a local talent agency, and perform in as many productions as possible!
Now, for today's little one: A tiny girl named Kayleigh. She wasn't supposed to survive, and has been in the NICU for almost nine months!

The results are in!

I'm sure you're all waiting anxiously for the results of our audition on Saturday, but before we get to that, how about a little on our preparation? On Friday, we basically spent the day practising our monologues and songs for auditions. Celestia was to recite the closing Dorothy monologue from The Wizard of Oz. We worked some on expression and body language, but as this is her favourite movie I had no real concerns about her remembering it. I struggled to find the perfect song for her sweet little alto voice to sing acapella (per the requirements for audition) and finally settled on Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid. Tatiana learned a monologue from Alice in Wonderland, and sang Castle on a Cloud from Les Misérables. We spent several hours (my how the time flies!) taking pictures of the girls, as we all needed photos to leave with our applications. I have quite a few that my mom took of me for auditioning, so I wasn't particularly worried about that, but as many cute pitcures as we have of the girls, I didn't feel like I had the best individual photos possible. Of course, the girls wanted to take a few pics of me, and this is the best one from that session. :)
Once we got to the auditions on Saturday, I realised that this thing is SO much bigger than I had known. I really thought that we were going to be auditioning to get a local talent agent, and be a part of their organisation. Come to find out that we were actually auditioning for the privelidge of attending a 5 day convention in Orlando, Florida and auditioning in front of 50-100 of the top names in showbusiness and modeling! The children all went first, because they were actually mindful of the fact that kids are squirmy, and not really able to sit for all that time. That was pretty impressive to me, because the girls and I have been to events before where the children went LAST, because it was really just clear that the people running it did not think of them as important. Sweet Celestia was the VERY FIRST person to set foot on the stage to audition. She stepped in front of the judges, spoke with them, smiled, and froze. The most horrified look came over her face as she said "I forgot! Hang on!" So, she ran off the stage, grabbed her words (Thank God I brought those along for everyone to read over just before they went on!) jogged back on stage (losing a shoe on the way) and proceeded to read her script TO THE PAPER! Bless her little heart, I have never seen her get stage fright like that! She sang her song, and I suppose did well, but there was just too much noise in the room for me to hear. I was just SO PROUD of her for finishing up, speaking with the judges afterwards, and smiling. It just didn't seem to faze her a bit that she had gotten stage fright. What an awesome kid, don't you think? Tatiana went next, and thanks to her sister breaking the ice, remembered her lines. The judges had managed to quiet the audience down, so I was able to hear her sing, and I can tell you that she sounded very sweet! I managed to get towards the beginning of the line for adults, so we didn't have to stay until the very end.
Now, the part you've all been waiting for... (drum roll, please) We got called back!!!! All three of us!!!!! I am in absolute shock. I was told that of the 200 or so people who auditioned, only 30 were called back, and all three of us made it. Any of you who know me will be well aware that this is what I have wanted to do my whole life. It looks like Celestia is following in my footsteps, so for her to have this opportunity at 11 years old is amazing! With all positive news comes a down side however, and the down side to this one is... MONEY. It's not cheap to receive the training they give you before the convention, and a trip to Orlando is also not exactly free. For all of my praying friends out there, please pray that if this is something we are supposed to do, that God will provide a way for it. AMTC (Actors Models and Talent for Christ) has fund raising opportunities, but you have to put a deposit down to receive those materials. They don't want you just flashing their name around and raising sizeable sums of money for a new wardrobe, after all. Jonathan is still not sure what to think of this, and he is in Chicago in business, so we are not able to sit down and talk about it seriously. We may yet decide that this is the end of our road with AMTC. For now, we can only wait and pray that we will make the best decision!
I almost forgot in all my excitedness (is that even a word?) my promise to let you know about some wonderful babies that need our prayers. Today, my pick is a little boy named Seth who is deaf, and waiting for cochlear implants so he can hear.

Sweet Babies!

Hiya folks! I am becoming more and more addicted to this whole blogging thing! Our lives lately have been fairly laid back. We have actually settled into a somewhat normal routine with me job searching in the morning while the girls work independently, and really getting some good one-on-one teaching time with them in the afternoon. The last few days, we are all going a bit crazy, because it's suddenly COLD again after being in the eighties, and rainy out. These girls have all sorts of energy, and need to run some of it off outside, and are just not able to do that right now. And don't even get me started on the dogs! Yep, we're all going nuts!
I still haven't received any calls about my pet care business despite dozens of fliers left on doors, at the local donut shop, and E-mails sent, so I fear that it may fall through. I DID have an interview yesterday, and the guy interviewing me said that he had received 200 inquiries about the job. 200! He also said that I was there because he liked my personality and this job is fairly dependent on a bubbly personality, so keep your fingers crossed for me!
The girls and I are auditioning this weekend for a Christian talent agency in the areas of singing and acting for all three of us, with the addition of modeling for my little ladies! Any of you who know me will know that when I grew up, I wanted to be a singer, or a race horse jockey, and a mommy. Since I am now the mommy of two beautiful little ladies, I think it's time to sing and act away! (A side note to those of you who have budding entertainers in your lives: Please don't tell them that they need to have a "fall back". People make their living singing and acting every day. You know of the top 5-10%, but there are SO many more. Think about comercials, jingles, demos for choir music, the possibilites are endless! No one ever told Jonathan that he should have a fall back when he was studying computers, and the tech industry crashed the year before he got his degree. We are JUST NOW beginning to see the benefits of all his hard work from a degree that he received in 2002. Sorry for my soapbox, but I was recently talking to a friend who has multiple degrees in theatre, and she also experienced this. Nothing makes you feel less validated than having everyone in your life tell you that what you love and KNOW you are supposed to do with your life is useless. OK, side note finished!) I will be posting more pictures, both from our photo session since I need pics of the girls to leave with the talent agency, and of the actual audition process itself!
Now, for my final note today... I have recently stumbled onto blogs for all sorts of wonderful, sweet babies that need our prayers! I've wanted to put all their little buttons on my blog, but there simply isn't room on my sidebar, so I plan to post one at the end of each blog for a while! Today's is a sweet little boy named Jonah, who has a rare skin disorder. Doesn't he have the most precious little mouth?