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Brice's Essays |
Multi Grammy award winner Floyd Domino states that "…the Voetberg family is unique, wonderful, talented, entertaining, and a joy…” and since their first performance in 1999, the family band has followed a serendipitous path of bluegrass, gospel, country, folk, jazz and Celtic influences. The ten children – ranging in age from six to twenty-three - have garnered many awards including eight Washington state fiddle championships, eight WSMTA awards for outstanding keyboard and vocal performance, seventeen regional fiddle championships, eight Top Five placements at the National Fiddle Competition and the title of 2007 National Young Adult Fiddle Champion.
by Brice Marie Voetberg, 16 years old, July 17th, 2002
Scrawny, athletic, and the master of elephant jokes ("What time is it when the elephant sits on the fence?")...this was my Dad. Tall, slender, vibrant, with a liking for elephant jokes ("How do you hide an elephant in a cherry tree?")...this was my Mom.
Mom and Dad met in 1974. Both were fourteen years old and a friendship ignited between them that was destined to last a lifetime. In 1980 they were engaged. Two years later, on September 11th, 1982, they were united in marriage.
During their teen years Mom and Dad made decisions that would affect generations to come; they both committed to follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. It is through this commitment alone that we have been able to succeed as a family - not because of Mom and Dad’s determination, though this has benefited us, but because of Christ saving and changing them and in turn, each of us children.
God has said that children are a gift and a blessing. We believe that our lives have been made more rich and full with the addition of each child in our family. Mom and
Dad’s
conviction is that there is no greater joy than the privilege of raising children.
As for us kids, we consider our brothers and sisters our best friends and couldn't
imagine life without even one of them. Since Mom and Dad liked us kids sooo much, they decided to teach us all at home. Dad and Mom are our main teachers, but many people have contributed to furthering our education. We kids have benefited greatly from learning at home, enjoying the time we are able to spend with each other.
Our mom grew up singing under the tutelage of her father, a music instructor. Her love of singing, plus our dad's love for music in general, motivated them to make music a daily part of our lives. Twelve years ago, when we three oldest children were just 6, 4, and 2 years old, we ma
de
our debut "performance" at a local home school meeting, singing Three
Cheers for the Red White and Blue. Chubby, dimpled, and smiling, we
sang as beautifully as we could manage.As the years passed, our family grew and so did the choir. We continued to sing with Mom at church, took piano lessons and gradually added seven fiddles and a guitar to the living room decor. Summer of 1999 we performed our first musical program and since then we have been able to share the gift of music with others all across the west coast. This we consider a wonderful adventure and incredible opportunity.
Who would have guessed what God would do through our mom and dad...who were two teenagers with a liking for elephant jokes.