Katie was awesome last night. Some day maybe I won’t be quite so shocked when I see her singing on a stage. But until the novelty wears off I’ll enjoy the, “I can’t believe that’s my baby” and “Where did she get that incredible voice?”

Let me back up just a little bit here. You all probably think I believe my kids to be perfect. Every time I write about them it’s pretty much something positive, never anything negative. I’m not trying to show them in a false light, I just figure the negative is their story to tell and it’s not my place. I may be upset with them, but I don’t want to humiliate them in such a public venue.

That said, Katie is grounded. Her grounding started Saturday afternoon. Her “infraction” was telling Todd and me a falsehood last week. When the lie was revealed I had two thoughts: 1) Disappointment because, well, she lied to us; and 2) Honey, if you’re going to lie make it a good one. She would have been in some trouble and probably would have received a really good scolding if she’d told the truth. But instead she lied about it and ended up grounded for a week.

I had told her she couldn’t go to Youth Group on Sunday night and she was not pleased, though she is accepting everything without pouting and flouncing so she gets kudos for that. This decision didn’t sit well with me because I don’t think it’s right to use church as a form of punishment. But she just has so much fun there and she’s not supposed to have any fun right now, dangit!!

One of the Youth Interns, Adam, came up to me at church yesterday morning and said, “Hey. I know Katie is grounded and you told her she can’t come tonight, but can she at least come for the message? You know, you can bring her when the service starts and take her home as soon as it’s over.” This made great sense to me so I agreed. “But no hanging out with your friends afterwards,” I told her. She was pretty happy with this small victory.

After church the kids and I were eating lunch at the table while Todd was doing some running around and I was telling Katie she needed to unload the dishwasher and pick up her mess in the basement before she could go to Impact (the Junior High portion of Youth Group). It was nearly 2:00 and the phone rang. It was Alex calling to see if Katie could sing. Talk about a HUGE surprise!!

She was incredibly animated – face-splitting grin, large eyes, barely keeping her feet on the floor – and she said, “I’m grounded right now so I’ll have to ask my mom.” Grounded or not, how could I say no? Especially when the very wise Taylor, better known as Smarty McSmart Pants, said, “You’re not going to keep her from working for Jesus are you??” Yeah. That’s what I live with.

So at 2:00 she and Taylor went down to the basement and they worked on the songs until nearly 3:00 when I drove them to the church so Katie would have a few hours to practice.

I like the format we use on Sunday evenings. Impact – 6th through 8th grade – has a worship service from 6:00 to 7:00. At 7:00 they get to hang out with their friends until 8:00 or so. Riot – 9th through 12th grade – gets to hang out from 6:00 to 7:00, at which time they go in for their service. They come out at 8:00 and hang out until about 9:00. This is a great way to do things because sometimes the message for the older kids is a bit more intense. This means, however, that the band plays twice.

When I got to the church a little before 6:00 with my friend, Kris, and her daughter, Shelby, in tow, I asked Katie if she was nervous. She said not for Impact (she is at the top as an 8th grader, after all), but she was a little freaked out about singing for the high school group.

She sang “We Won’t Be Quiet” by the David Crowder Band and “Indescribable” by Chris Tomlin. And she was backed up by another new singer – a 9th grader. She has a few things to work on but some of those will be non-issues when she gets more than a few hours of warning. And as Frank Chiapperino (the current Big Kahuna of Youth Group while we’re looking for a new Youth Minister) said, she has 5 years to hone her skill with the Youth Band.

One of the techies taped her performance and will be emailing it to either Todd or me. She was a little disappointed in her performance – even though EVERYONE told her she was amazing – so I don’t know if she’ll let me post it or not. The fact that this was the first time she’s ever sang with a live band and had no time to prepare didn’t seem to mean much to her. During Impact she started “Indescribable” out of key because she couldn’t hear herself over the band. But she got it pretty quickly and by the time she sang for Riot she was pitch perfect. And she mixed up some of the words in “We Won’t Be Quiet”. Hello. First time ever. Last minute thing. Not much practice. HELLO!

Unfortunately for her, it all had to end. She’s back to being grounded.