I am a teacher, and I am wrapping up my February vacation week.  My wife teaches in the bordering state of New Hampshire, and therefore has a different week for winter break, but our 13 year old, Rose, is in my class.  So father and daughter had the week off together.  On Tuesday we headed to Augusta for a show at Maine's Riverview Hospital.  We go there twice a year to do special chapel programs through our good friend, Chaplain James.  He does a great job with the patients, and does a great job promoting our show when we come up his way.

Tuesday's show lasted an hour and we had about 25 patients and staff in attendance.  There are things we cannot use in this venue, including machete juggling and any effects that involve fire, but we made it work.  I opened with my balance-board-while-juggling-various-size-balls routine done to Melanie's version of the Hallelujah Chorus. (Hear a live version here:  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb3ofk_hallelujah-melanie-safka_music  ) I ended with juggling five different size balls ranging from a golf ball to a basketball.  I don't do this stunt very often due to lack of space, so it felt great when I got it perfectly.

Then Rose and I did our partner juggling routine.  We haven't practiced together for a while, but we nailed it, and the audience loved to see father and daughter working together.  Later in the show I did my club routine to Larry Norman's "Why Don't You Look into Jesus".  It is so encouraging that, a routine I had to stop performing for several years due to repetitive motion injuries (an occupational hazard) is now back in the show because of some adjustments I've made.

The show went on smoothly through the whole hour, including the standard, but always popular, dove and rabbit productions.  When the show was done, the patients loved meeting the animals and talking with us about a variety of things.  After they were escorted out of the gym, we had a few minutes to speak with James.  Every time we minister there, I encourage anyone with questions about our Gospel theme to make sure they seek him out for an appointment.  It is nice to know I can do that and they will be well ministered to.