The Thankful Country Concert

I was first told that the sign in this photo reads "The Thankful Country Concert," then was later told that the translation was wrong and that the word "thankful" actually meant "charity." Too late. "Thankful Country Concert" is WAY better.

On Thanksgiving eve I started to blog about how I was strangely lonely and empty even in the midst of a hundred family relatives. After writing for an hour about why I was feeling sorry for myself, I read over my ramblings, felt much better and then deleted everything. Who wants to be self centered on Thanksgiving? Apparently I DID -- for about an hour. While I was trying to distract myself from my melancholy, I came across some photos that turned my hardened heart to mush.

Last March, Sam Payne and I were invited to do a music tour for a handful of orphanages in Bulgaria. Words can not describe how that experience effected me. To say it was amazing sounds so trite, but it was, indeed, AMAZING. The very last orphanage we visited was up in the mountain village of Bratsigovo. I don't know what it was, but there was something very special about that place.

Sam was a child magnet.

This young lady is 15 years old! Many of the children are small due to improper nourishment and lack of stimulation as infants.

SO sweet.

The children were getting there costumes ready for a performance that evening in which Sam and I would sing for them and they would dance for us.

The picture does not do it justice, but I instantly fell in love with this theater. More than a hundred years old and nearly unaltered since the day it was built, the architecture and furnishings were to die for. We were destined to find each other one day. It was love at first sight.


Backstage, I caught a glimpse of this gorgeous young woman in her costume waiting in the wings for her entrance. Her beauty stole my breath and I wanted to freeze the placidness of that moment.

The dancers were exquisite. I wept at the sight.

I have never known an evening more surreal than the one spent at
"The Thankful Country Concert."