We're moving to...

Stephen and I have FINALLY made a decision about the fall!

It has been quite exciting to see how Stephen compares to other vocal students outside of BYU. He was accepted to University of Tennessee, University of Houston and Indiana University, each offering scholarships. Unfortunately the Curtis Institute rejected him (after he made it past the preliminary round). They only accepted about 2 or 3 people and they were all of different voice parts...they probably only took half of a baritone. :P We're still happy with how far he got in the Curtis auditions and know that his voice is in a good place because he did so well.

As of last week we narrowed our options down to Tennessee and Indiana. He flew out to both schools this week to take lessons from the teachers he was interested in. Best idea ever because he is coming home tonight feeling completely at peace with our decision (even though it's the most expensive). We'll be going to Indiana University!

I couldn't help but notice a small miracle in this whole decision making process. Stephen tried to set up a lesson with Andreas Poulimenos (at Indiana) and was unsuccessful: He said he doesn't offer sample lessons because he'd be doing them all the time if he did. Stephen decided to observe a couple of his lessons and towards the end of the last lesson Poulimenos turned around and offered to work with him for a little while. Stephen knew instantly that this was the teacher he wanted. After a bit of effort, he was able to get in touch with Poulimenos who agreed to have him in his studio.

Had Stephen not had the small window of opportunity to sing with this teacher, he may not have been able to easily say he wanted to go to one place or the other (especially since the other lessons didn't go as well as he had hoped). I'm grateful to have received such a distinct answer to our prayers and even more grateful to have made a decision!