Skip to main content

About Me



Hi! I'm Holly Israels. I am married to my amazing husband Kyle who is the best partner in crime I could ask for. We have two babies in Heaven and two boys at home: Tyler and Caleb. They are my world and always an adventure. We have awesome families and love to spend time with them and learn from them. 

Besides my family, music is a big part of who I am. I love to play piano and sing, especially with other people. I get to play keys and sing at my church and teach vocal music. I teach middle school and high school choir and musical theatre and it is a blast. I love my students - past, present, and future. It is a privilege to watch them grow as people and musicians, and it is amazing to watch them gain confidence and self-esteem as they have opportunities to shine and be successful in the arts. 

I also love to learn and help people. I am certainly not an expert, but am always learning about so many different things and love to share it with anyone who is interested and would find it helpful. I love to study personalities and have dabbled a bit in Enneagram and Human Design. I also love to organize, scrapbook, read, travel, and now even write! 

Mostly, I am excited to see where God is leading me next. He has brought me one surprise after another lately, and this blog is one of them! Let's learn and grow together! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How would Jesus do my job??

Recently, I listened to two of John Mark Comer’s books Practicing the Way and The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry . I highly recommend both of them, but they sure hit me in some sensitive spots. John Mark writes about how he seeks to be more like Jesus by being his apprentice, much like Jesus’s disciples, spending time with him, doing what he does, and becoming more and more like him.  At a couple of points, John Mark mentions that Jesus had a “normal” job as a carpenter for a long time before he began traveling and teaching as a rabbi. What challenged me was when John Mark said, “Jesus could have done any job. He could have done the same job as you” and then challenged his readers to think about how Jesus would have done our jobs. This has had my mind spinning for several weeks. Jesus - a middle and high school choir director?  I have been a choir director for twenty years, though In some ways, I feel like a first-year teacher every year. One of the best parts of my job is tha...
Post a Comment
Read more

"A New Song to Sing"

  Today is September 5, my son Zachary’s 10th heavenly birthday. I usually have a very hard time on this day and cry a lot, but today is different. Today I am filled with joy and excitement because God has been using this little boy who lived only a few minutes to do something BIG in this world that he never knew. I am honored that I get to be a part of this project as I try to follow the Holy Spirit’s nudges and do as he leads. A lot is going on, and because of this, today is different.  Today, I have something to offer my son for his birthday. I have written his story. It’s not ready to publish yet, but I had hoped to have a rough draft finished by Zachary’s birthday - and despite it all, I did it! I am not writing this book because I had the idea, but God made it clear to me that I was supposed to. Something in these 41,128 words is supposed to help someone…somewhere.  Maybe that someone is me.  Because of Zachary, I learned about hope and joy amidst sorrow. I kno...
Post a Comment
Read more

Peace and Joy Among Sharks

  Peace and Joy Among Sharks Recently, I found myself swimming in shark-infested waters. For real! My family and I were on a cruise and had chosen to snorkel with sharks in the ocean, off the coast of a Bahamian island. This was not a shark rescue and there were no cages. Are we crazy? Maybe! But it was one of our best memories with the four of us!  We took a 30-minute boat ride from shore to an area of the ocean in which we were told these two breeds of sharks liked to hang out. During this time, the crew distributed masks, flippers, and life jackets. Some people on the boat were very nervous. This may have been increased by the waivers we’d signed on shore. However, we were assured that the sharks were not interested in us (unless we made a lot of small splashes, they might come directly to us…so try not to do that). We were told we could get in the water, put our masked faces down in the water, and enjoy watching some sharks swim around us. (Look, but don’t touch.) This was...
Post a Comment
Read more