Keal Family Letter, May 2006

Hello Friends and Family. Happy May to you all!

We are slowly reclaiming our yard after the sewage system went in. We've lived with a yard of dirt and mud for many moons now, and finally we are starting to re-brick our paths, and re-seed our lawn. Hopefully by mid-summer, we will have a normally green yard again.

Our big news for this month is that Tirah got a huge promotion at work, at Jo-Ann Fabrics! There is a three-tiered manager hierarchy: there's the main store manager at the top (called the Store Team Leader, or STL), then under her are two other managers, and under them are 3 or 4 other managers or supervisors. Tirah started out on the third level down as the Soft-lines Supervisor. Just recently, one of the managers on the second level quit to go back to school, so a position was left open, and the STL offered it to Tirah!

So now Tirah will be the Operational Team Leader (or OTL), which is a salaried job, and so she will be getting paid a lot more than she was as the Soft-lines Supervisor. She'll have to work a 9 hour day instead of an 8 hour day, but the increase in pay means that we will be able to afford to have her stop working for Carl Smith as his bookkeeper. So now when she comes home from work, she won't have to work for somebody else in her free time. The increase in pay also means that we'll hopefully be able to start hacking away at our debt, and working towards a more healthy financial life. So we're pretty excited about all of that! Tirah will be training for that job this month, and then starting in June!

Some other good news is that our tax return this year will take a huge chunk out of our medical bills debt!

Thea and I just recently got our homeopathic constitutionals done, and we are both going through the ups and downs that accompany that. Hopefully by next month, I'll be able to report that she and I are feeling much better over-all, but right now we are both cranky, tired, and sore.

Cirdan will be turning two next month! Can you believe that? His most recent accomplishment is: actually getting an inch or two of air when he jumps. He's very proud of that. He is an extremely active little boy. He's constantly running, jumping climbing, exploring, digging in the dirt. He's also really started singing a lot more. He can't quite get the right pitches to really sing a melody, but he has a good sense of rhythm.

Thea has mastered the art of holding a melody. Her latest attempt is to learn harmony. She's aware of the fact that the harmony to a song is not the melody, she just hasn't quite found out what it is. She does her best though, and sometimes she will actually find some harmonic notes to what we are singing to her. It's very cute.

Cirdan is old enough now that he and Thea are much more capable of playing games together. They do their fair share of sibling warfare, but they spend a lot of time running around, playing hide and seek, tickling, cooking pretend supper, or just playing some unexplainable kid game that seems to center around lots of giggling.

Here's a funny story: We were sitting around the kitchen table, and Thea was holding a conversation with me and Dee-Daw (my dad), and it went something like this:
Thea: "Papa, tomorrow I'm going to go to work at 8 o'clock."
Dee-daw: "Some of us might still be asleep at 8 o'clock!"
Thea: "We'll see about that Dee-daw!"
Dee-daw: [laughing]
Thea: "I'm funny because I'm a big girl."

As well as being a musician, one of my goals in life is also to write books. I have several ideas in mind. One of which is a book about Christian parenting. It's fun to think that as a stay-at-home dad, I'm doing active research for that book. It's very comforting at times to think about that: [Screaming children] "I'm doing research for my book." [Louder Screaming Children] "I'm Doing Research For My BOOK!"

I'm still working on advancing my music career. Last month I upgraded a lot of things in my studio. I got a new computer (iMac G5), and I upgraded my recording software, and I purchased a new condenser microphone that will be perfect for recording things like vocals and flute. I'm working on finishing the compositions for my next solo piano album (possibly called "Peace of Heaven"), and I have several other recording jobs as well.

This December 1st, I will be performing in my very first Whisperings concert! Check out my website for more details on that. (http://www.solomonkeal.com)

Tirah and I will be celebrating our 5th anniversary next month!

Well that's about all for now.

May the Lord bless all your lives!

Love,
Solomon, Tirah, Thea, and Cirdan