New Year's Ball

January 2, 2015 -  I can’t believe that 2015 is finally here!  What better way to inaugurate this year’s blog posts than photos from the New Year’s Ball?
A quick word about 2014:
2014 has come and gone and the year brought forth a lot of change and growth within the dynamics of our family.  God has been incredibly gracious to us this year.  I was so thankful that we were able to able to celebrate and bring in the new year together.  That said, I am very excited to see where the Lord leads us in 2015 as we continue to grow and mature!
Okay, I could go on and on reflecting over the past year, but let’s get this party started!  It’s time to celebrate the new year with one of the biggest social events of the season…the New Year’s Ball!

I always have to throw in some still-life shots. ;)

This enchanting passageway led to the beautifully decorated dancing floor:

I always love the sense of “space” that lights strung overhead create and how their dim light adds to the ambience of the room.

This one photo captures the many forms of socialization that occurs at these dances.

Little gatherings of people engaged in conversation, hugs with friends, and photos being taken – in my case, while standing on a chair.

Larissa, Emma, Daniele

Sara, Brittany, Marjo

(Same as above + Larissa’s outstretched hand)

Marscel and I

The Regency outfits were absolutely stunning!

Josiah and I

Alexa

Alexa and Meghan

Micah & Larissa

Danielle and Mr. Martin

Hannah, Melanie, Rebecca, Sarah, Mrs. Thomas

DANCING

“There were more Dancers than the Room could conveniently hold, which is enough to constitute a good Ball at any time.” – Jane Austen, 1799

We danced many of the favorites from the Regency time period

Watching a dance demonstration

The evening ended with an encore dance, “The Scottish Polka.”

Driving home

Belleville’s decorated main street looks like it came from a story book

Thank you for your continued interest in our family and our blog over the past year – I look forward to sharing future posts in the coming year!
– Andrew Wong

An Independence Day “Ship’s Cook”(Video)

July 4th, 2014 -  I know that many of you have enjoyed the nearly-90 dancing videos that I’ve posted on this blog over the years…so I hope you enjoy the one below!

Unfortunately, my camera didn’t capture some of the guys doing some epic breakdancing “helicopters” off-screen during the gentleman’s “turn.”

The Rapture!

May 13, 2014
Our church has a monthly men’s bible study and we’re working through Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology.  We’re ending the study with eschatology.  This month’s topic was dispensational premillennialism, so my brothers and the Thomas brothers arrived early and “staged” a rapture:

Left Behind books, clothes, watches, eye glasses.

Just in case you're curious:
While studying the different eschatological views, I've adopted an Amillennial position. Here's a great, 4-minute overview from Shai:

 

Music @ the Jones

  This evening we gathered with friends at the Jones home for dinner and to play some music together.  It’s so much fun to get two musical families together like the Thomases and the Jones.  We played a couple hymns and some worship songs.
Afterthought: Would’ve been fun to have some video. 

Michael on the acoustic guitar, Mr. Thomas on the drums in the back and Mr. Jones playing a “mean” bass guitar!

It was great to hear Mr. Thomas on the drums…

He brought his drum kit all the way up from OK!

Later we switched up the instruments playing.  In this song, Ashley is on the piano, Michael is on the violin and yours truly is playing the acoustic.

Micaiah playing with a mini djembe.

Jack & Brittany

Mrs. Jones, Cedric, and Zach

Marscel

(stole his brother’s guitar while he switched to violin)

Matthew
(stole his brother’s guitar when he wasn’t looking…)

Kate & Melanie

I was finally coaxed into playing my guitar, but with great reluctance.  It was really my first time ever playing my guitar with anyone, whether that be vocals or other instruments.  It was a lot of fun and a great learning experience.  Since then I’ve been trying to practice with other people and I play with Kate throughout the week.

I seem to have a hard time finding the rhythm of a song, but I can usually follow along with someone who has.  Also, after playing solo guitar for so long, I tend to go into full right-brainer mode and don’t stick to a consistent number of beats or stick with the chord structure or a strumming pattern!  Trying to work on that …