Coming live... for KING & COUNTRY 🎶

Thank you for those who commented yesterday regarding my parents, and those who are maybe saying silent thoughts and prayers. So far she's doing okay at home, and has a nurse and a therapist coming to see her tomorrow.

So for some JOY (remember last week's post?)
here's another video of the song, but this time with lyrics.

Friday evening, they will be live from the SHINE-FM facebook page at 8pm (my time)... check it out here for KING AND COUNTRY

I'm hoping it will be added to YouTube so you can see it there if you are unable to do so live.
I have no idea what to expect, but I'm looking forward to it!

Friday's Stitching Ground📻

Early this Friday morning brought me to 95.1 SHINE-FM to volunteer for the Spring Fundraiser. This was the last day and after all the rain we had yesterday, this was my view this morning - the moon shining over SHINE-FM!

This was my view for most of the day while helping out, but minus the laptop and showing the view of Baltimore in the background. I brought some travel stitching with me just in case I took a break... not! Too busy getting donations straightened out in the system.

But when I got home (and after I took a cat nap with the kitties), this was my stitching ground. Nice and toasty warm with my helpers.

After a busy day, do you still find time to stitch?

Sharathon #6 for me!

It was that time of year again,

Sharathon at 95.1 SHINE-FM!

But somehow Mother Nature decided to show up and cause some trouble.

I arrived at 6am on Tuesday, ready to answer phones for a shift, and then help out in the background for the rest of the day. The weather forcast was calling for rain/snow/whatever, and sure enough it started sleeting in the morning. To be on the safe side, they transferred the phones and had us go home. It was mainly wet and slushy on my way home, but not slick.

Nathan came home from school three hours early because it was changing over to snow and by Wednesday evening, I think we ended up with about 6" of ice/sleet/snow. It sure does look pretty out there.

No school on Wednesday and no Sharathon either. Nathan actually went outside with our neighbour and they decided to try and build a fort. They didn't finish, but had a good time!

Memories of the Gmen's first snow in their "sled", which is now being used as a laundry basket. 😉

Still no school on Thursday, but Sharathon was on! Nathan was able to go to a friend's house and I headed in for some background stuff. Still a bit of a slow day there, but the show must go on!

On Friday, they had to go into SNOWvertime to make up for the snow days they lost. I started helping on the phone from 6am until just after 1pm. I spoke to so many wonderful people, all saying wonderful things about the station and how much they appreciate it. 

Because of that darn snow delay, it took until almost 7pm to reach their goal, but they did it!!! Amen!

I ended up staying until just before 9pm to help send letters out and this was my view of Baltimore as I was leaving.

It was another great year spent with wonderful people at the station, I love being able to spend time with them!

And sadly, I've lost my stitching mojo. I'm hoping it will decide to come back soon. Please feel free to send stitchy thoughts!

My Sharathon fun!

Two weeks ago was... 95.1 SHINE-FM's Sharathon!

I feel so blessed, this was my 5th year volunteering. I was able to make it there Tues-Fri @6am, thanks to the Gmen and DH helping Nathan get to school on time in the morning. And even helping in the afternoon if I wanted to stay later.

Baltimore in the morning.

You know you're in Baltimore when you see the Domino Sugars sign!

The set-up changed a little bit this year. There were less phone lines, but more staff answering the phones so they could get the experience of talking to listeners. I was on the phone for a shift or two, then helped write thank you cards to those who donated, and made some calls if necessary.

  Tina, Mike and Erin were FaceTiming with the group in another office, who were also writing thank you cards. 

John and Tiffanie on air in the afternoon.

A few calls I took... Ian said something like this about donating - In the end, it's only a number in an account or a couple pieces of paper.
Another listener said he only listened to CD's until his CD player broke. He found SHINE-FM on the radio and has been listening ever since.
A little boy called and wanted to donate $5, so cute! His grandmother got on the phone and added to his amount.
One woman called to donate and asked for Tracey to laugh before she got to work because she loved her laugh! I passed that one on and laugh she did!

One new, fun thing they did this year was a Blind Challenge. They asked for a certain number of SHINE Partners in an hour and the DJ's and phone crew weren't to know the amount until the hour was up.
I think I got this right - asked for 50, got 91 - asked for 100, got 127 - asked 150, got 155! WINNER! And some listeners called later to find out the results because they were in the car and got to work.

Our background crew - these ladies are wonderful to work with!

A beautiful experience for me? I found out my girlfriend was diagnosed with breast cancer while I was there. I was sitting with Tina and Laura, they stopped what they were doing and we prayed together for her. I'm getting teary eyed thinking about it again. What a blessing they were for me, praying for my dear friend. I'm still praying.

By the way, the goal was met!

And hey, I got a thank you postcard too!

TH Thursday

THinking, THinking, THinking...

THinking THoughts, and being THankful on THursdays.

I'm definitely personalizing this question...

What radio station are you thankful for?

95.1 SHINE-FM, of course!

Ok, this is a very shortened version and I will continue this next week. Getting up at 4:30 in the morning Tuesday-Thursday has made me extremely tired! The Sharathon should be over by tomorrow afternoon so I'll have plenty of time to rest and post about it later.

I'm off to bed, 4:30am isn't that far away!

Another Sharathon Success!

What a wonderful week!

Last week was the annual Sharathon at 95.1 SHINE FM. This was my fourth year volunteering, talk about an awesome, exhausting week! Tuesday and Thursday I was there from 6am until 4:15pm or so, Wednesday from 9:30am to about 4pm, and on Friday from 9:15am until the end, about 8pm.
No stitching that week, early to bed for me!

This year, DJ was able to come with me one day. She's got the best handwriting, so she wrote thank you cards to the listeners who donated and I...

took the calls. I was only in the "hot seat", the busiest phone, one shift this year. That one keeps you on your toes!

  I also wrote my fair share of thank you notes, it's always nice to add a personal note for those that leave comments or prayer requests. DJ was good at that too! I basically went where they needed me and enjoyed every hat!

One of the great things about coming at 6am? The beautiful sunrise over Baltimore.

 The colours were stunning.

Mornings with Tracey, Mike and Dave.

Work Day with John and Tiffanie.

Afternoons with Jack and Erin

I was blessed to meet Lisa, the ultimate prayer warrior! As I was writing thank you cards, I passed along the ones asking for prayers and she prayed for them. I hope she's able to come back again next year, for more than one day!

And hey, I got to see Pastor Jim. (Lisa sat with him too). I sat in his "seat" the day after he did and this is the note that was there, so sweet. 

He was snapping pictures of Baltimore after he left, so I snapped one of him!

  Apparently, I wasn't told to make a funny face!

Much better!

What a great group of people!

And these two? The phones would have been a mess without them in charge!

And they/we did it! Already looking forward to next year.

Just a few stories I heard while on the phone...
A woman who was getting ready to move with her daughter and only had $13 - she wanted to donate $3, then changed her mind and made it $5.

The "starving artist" he called himself - put $10 on his card specifically to donate.

I didn't remember this story, but last year or maybe the year before, a Mom called in and said her children were willing to give up their mini vacation to donate what they would have spent. I spoke to a woman who wanted to pay for them to have a night out.

Goodnight B'more!

One stitching piece relating to this post - His Name is Jesus from Joyful Expressions.
It's a slow start!

Excuses con't

Excuse #9
My third year helping out at the SHINEfm Sharathon!

I normally help out by answering the phone, but this year I was more behind the scenes. This was my partner in crime and we had to sort out all the donations as they came in. In the beginning it was slow, but it got pretty busy at the end of the week.

And one of the perks? The view of the DJ's at work!
The morning crew - Mike, Tracey and Dave.

Tracey is the sunshine in the morning!

This was Tiffanie and John in the afternoon.

Another sweetheart!

Erin is writing thank you notes before going on the air.

Here she is with Jack.

Christina in the evenings did her share of thank you notes too, and Tara was busy all day!

I did get to spend a little bit of time helping out on the phones, sitting next to Pastor Jim - always fun!

A great group of people to be volunteering with!

And if you'd like to listen... SHINEfm

I did get more months finished, here's September. I used the colours I had for the flowers, but I think they're a little too bright. But not bright enough to change! 

For October, I tried to stitch a glow in the dark ghost next to the pumpkins but didn't like the ghost pattern I found. So until something comes up, the ghost button will do.

More excuses to come...

Belated SHINE FM fun!

In April (I'm just a little behind in posting) DJ and I were together before our stitching weekend and I got an email from Vicki at SHINE FM asking me if I'd like to go to a CD release party with Kristian Stanfill.  I could bring a friend and since DJ said she had tried to win the tickets and would have taken me, I took her!  (Not that I wouldn't have taken her anyway!)  So we met at the hotel on a wet, yucky morning, and had a great time.

He was awesome, take a listen for yourself... if I did it right.

Then we got to do a little meet and greet and have him sign our CDs.

Pastor Jim was there with his wife, I met him at the SHINE Sharathon earlier in the year.  

Here he is talking to Erin - she's on the air with Jack from 3pm-7pm.

She knows how to make a girl look good!

On another SHINE adventure, Nathan had to complete an activity for his cub scout badge and visit a radio station or something similar.  I got in touch with Vicki and scheduled a tour for us on what turned out to be another yucky, foggy morning.  Here's their tower... sort of.

This is the waiting area for special musical guests, too bad it was empty!

One of the highlights was being able to visit where all the action happens.  Nathan got to meet the morning crew, Tracey, Mike and Dave.  What a treat!  

Nathan and Tracey had just high-fived each other after she let him press the button for the next song.

Initially he was shy, but Tracey was wonderful talking with him.

And another favourite part was that Jeff, who works on the AM part of the station, recorded Nathan giving the weather report and he sent me the improved version.  I love it!  

Thanks so much to Vicki for making it happen, what a fantastic morning!

So needless to say, another reason I love SHINE FM!  If you're interested in listening too, check it out - 95.1 SHINE FM, and click on LISTEN LIVE! on the left side.  Tell me what you think!