in highschool and college i took adderall. i don't anymore for a number of reasons including the $100/month price tag, not being safe if you are pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or nursing (which will probably always be my life for the next 10+ years) and just wanting to make the lifestyle changes/choices that will help me manage everything without the need of medication. let me just say, i was doing really well with everything until i got my new calling. i'm a wreck these days. seriously just trying to get by and not screw up anything major. the plus side is that the add is really just focused on young women stuff. so hopefully with practice i can get it under control. in the mean time, i'm just trying to stay afloat.
if my house is messy, i can not function. absolutely can not. i also get mean, snappy, and stick to my bed... mourning my messy house, and hiding under the covers too fearful to face it. tonight honey took out the trash and recycling and when he came back inside, he saw me on the floor with baby, playing with her favorite look and find book, and what did he do? he went to the sink and washed every dirty dish that had accumulated this weekend! i made my heart sing! i honestly couldn't even believe my eyes that he noticed there were dishes in the sink and that he did them without me even asking! i think my husband is fabulously attractive all the time, but i swear he is the very most attractive when he's doing the dishes. made my day. it is so very important to me to start my days with a clean house (ps- house mostly just means kitchen... it would be impossible for me to keep my entire house clean all the time... my baby makes sure of that).
today at church i realized that having at baby that loves nursery definitely comes with it's own challenges. don't get me wrong, i am grateful to the moon and back that my baby loves nursery, but it's kind of a little overboard. during sacrament meeting, baby girl did well for the first 20 minutes. after that, she kept running up the aisle to the door that leads out to the hallway. this is embarrassing because we sit up front, on the fifth row or something< and i was chasing her up the aisle to the back of the chapel every 3 minutes. i didn't want to take her in the hallway though because i was really interested in the speakers/musical number and i am determined to not make the hallway thing a habit. she's never done that before and it didn't take me too long to realize that she was trying to skip out on sacrament meeting to get to nursery. i tried to explain to her that nursery didn't start til after we said a closing prayer and i pointed out all the kids in the chapel to show her that no one was in nursery but she didn't get it. does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this?
on that same nursery topic, after sacrament ended i walked her to nursery. she was walking, holding on to my left hand. my right hand was holding my huge young women binder, on which i was balancing my clutch and my scriptures. nursery has two doors. at the beginning, one is closed, and the other is open, with a baby gate in front. we accidentally walked past the closed door to the gate, but since my arms were full, i couldn't lift baby over the gate... so i told her we needed to walk to the other door. "NOOOOO! she squealed" so i tried to lift her over the gate one handed but stopped for fear of detaching her arm from her little body. so i insisted we walk back to the other door "you can go to nursery through THIS door back here...i promise!" well, a group of moms in the hallway got a big kick out of what happened next as i literally dragged my screaming, crying, tantruming baby backwards 10 feet to the other door. as soon as i got it opened and she saw it was nursery, she immediately stopped crying and ran in as happy as could be, tears still fresh on her cheeks, and never looked back. holy crap, baby. seriously?!?!
i woke up at 6:20 this morning... because i go to ward council now. it was a little nerve racking because everyone there is a real adult and i still feel like a kid. i didn't say anything the whole time until the very end when we were going over auxiliary goals and even though everyone else had several months to get their goals together and i had only had a week, i put forth some pretty awesome goals. i even spoke with confidence and the words just came. it was a triumph moment for me. but since they still haven't called a laurel adviser yet, i was in charge of teaching the laurels third hour of church. the words weren't coming, i felt so scattered i might as well have been on drugs, and there were only three girls since the rest were either out of town, dealing with a family emergency, skipping class, or some other variety of "couldn't come." it just wasn't happening. i had been so excited to share with them the joys of homemaking and our divine potential as women but seriously, it was like i was in a stuttering, stumbling haze. and then BISHOP came in. made me a million times more nervous and it made the girls comments go from sparse to none. longest 25 minutes of my life. none of the girls remembered their personal progress books so they didn't have anything to journal on and the journal paper/pens i'd brought for them were in my diaper bag that my christopher had taken out to his car. fail and fail. i think i kept repeating myself the whole time, i wasn't sharing any of the stuff i wanted to, and i think i was stuttering. who know's though because it's all foggy to me. can you tell i'm still absolutely mortified?!?! and when i got home everything came rushing to me... all of the thoughts and stories i wish i had shared and the thought of "WHY ON EARTH DIDN'T I JUST PUT BISHOP ON THE SPOT AND HAVE HIM DO IT ALL FOR ME?!?!" uuuuugggggghhhhhhh. this is the kind of the equivalent for me of that one sunday i royally screwed up leading the music in sacrament meeting. seriously, the sooner i forget about this, the happier i will be.
okay, literally, this very second, my first counselor just texted and gchatted me and told me that since it was the second sunday, the laurels were supposed to go into relief society for the third hour. SERIOUSLY?!?! it could have been avoided?!?! oh my goodness i need to get over this. forget it. forget it. forget it. i am so traumatized.
after church we ate and played and put baby down for a late (can i even call it that anymore?! it's kinda the norm these days) nap at 2 15. at 4 15 i finally let myself fall asleep thinking, "i won't have trouble sleeping tonight because baby'll wake up soon so it'll just be a short little power nap." not the case. because when i woke up at 5 45... baby was still sleeping. how does one child require so much sleep?! anyways, i blame her for not waking me up. totally not my fault.
i know i've mentioned it at least a million times before but, i am insanely in love with my electric blanket. i turn it up on high until it transforms my bed into a sauna. a dry sauna.
i've been writing this post over the course of over an hour. i need to stop taking naps.
okay... now it's been close to two. i need to stop gchatting with chelsey.
and now it's 1am and i'm going to bed. wish me luck.
Showing posts with label i lead music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label i lead music. Show all posts
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
another sunday
i really love sundays. i really love every day, but sundays are extra special.
i completely hadn't expected any adjustment time but it feels super weird to sit with the congregation during sacrament meeting since i'm not on the stand leading the music. like seriously, super super weird.
we decided that in young womens, we're going to have a combined lesson the first sunday of each month, instead of breaking up into classes. as members of the presidency, we're going to take turns teaching it. today was my turn. i prepared a lesson on "finding joy now" with the main theme coming from that verse in mosiah 2:41 where it says,
baby girl was so good during sacrament meeting. at least six times she fully emptied and reloaded the entire contents of my purse. the family behind us was loving it. especially the dad. after the meeting he extended his arms to baby to hold her and she wouldn't go. i told her he was going to take her to nursery and she dropped all reservations and lunged towards him. ha. this girl looooves nursery. honey said that when he went to get her after church, she saw him and turned around to keep playing. when he called her name some more she went to her friend michaela and grabbed her arm. someone wasn't too eager to head home.
at church today i met with a member of the bishopric to ask about a couple of things, namely, when i could expect them to call a laurel adviser. as we were finishing up he said, "are there any other questions you have?" to which i replied, "actually, yes. i'm going to call a meeting with my presidency this week. what are we supposed to talk about at those?" i wonder if anyone is second guessing that revelation they received. just kidding. kinda.
two weeks ago i started unbroken and after two pages wanted to return it to the library and never look back. but everyone and their brother.... just kidding, i everyone and MY brother, said it was amazing and that i had to read it. 200 pages in i still wasn't liking it but was forcing myself through it. the last 100 pages i read all this afternoon. sadly, the thing that kicked me in gear was that i got an email from the library that it's due on tuesday. but, that was the thing to make me read a few more pages and get hooked til the end. it really is an incredible story. and written in easy language that would make it a really quick read. unless you're like me and you lead a really sheltered life that consists of rainbows and butterflies. then it'll be emotionally difficult to read and with every page you'll want to pull louie out of the book and tuck him in a warm bed while you feed him comfort foods. i guess i'm glad i read it, but i'm also glad it's over... which is extremely rare for me with books i read. but this book made me intensely sad and i'm kinda in a hurry to forget about it. and typing that out makes me feel guilty like a really bad person.
moving on.
tomorrow i'm taking dinner to a family in our ward. whenever i take someone a meal, i take this taco bean sort of soup i make that i'm in love with. someday though i'm going to need to branch out. anyone have any good suggestions for meals that are great to take to people?
there is so. much. snow. holy cow, it's like every road and sidewalk that's been plowed has a ten foot wall of snow built up on either side. none of it has gotten dirty yet and it's all still perfectly white. it is stunning. i mean seriously, it is absolutely breathtaking. on our way to church i commented to my christopher about how it looked like a blanket of diamonds. to say it was shimmering seems like a gross understatement. driving by a small field covered in untouched snow, it was hard to look at it straight on. the sun was reflecting from it so brightly and it was glittering out of control. oh my goodness. i really can't get over how gorgeous it was. it left me speechless.
i forgot how long cold's linger with you. baby and i got sick over a week ago and i kept waiting for it to get worse but it never did. baby's only symptom was/is a runny nose that i wipe a million times a day. luckily for both of us, she still loves blowing and wiping her nose. my symptom was a sore throat that got worse and worse until it turned into that light feathery cough that you choke on whenever you try to speak. as far as being sick and having a sick baby, this is as cush as you could ever hope for. that being said though, will it ever go away?!
and lastly, before i go to bed, i'd like to express my appreciation for the superbowl. on the weekends, nap time in our house goes something like this: baby goes down for a nap, i get in bed with a book... that will hopefully soon lull me to sleep, honey tells me he's not going to nap, i fall asleep for about 20 minutes before i'm woken by our crying baby, looking to my side, honey has passed out. i don't know how he does it, but it seems like honey always manages to fall asleep right as our baby is waking up and then i'm on my own for the next two hours, bitter that we're not all in bed (bitterness comes from the fact that baby's weekend naps are freqently shorter than her normal naps during the week). today though it went like this: baby down for nap, me reading unbroken, honey went to church for clerk stuff and came back, i'm still reading, i fall asleep, i wake up at 5:30 realizing that honey had closed our bedroom door and gotten our baby up from her nap an hour before. so i'll say it again, thank you superbowl, for keeping my honey awake this afternoon so he could play with our post nap baby while i enjoyed some sleep. because really, he'd been awake since 5 am and there is no way on earth that would have happened otherwise.
ps- honey put baby girl to bed tonight and immediately brushed his teeth and got in bed with me (i am always in bed with my electric blanket... because it is heaven on earth) for scriptures and prayer. he was asleep before 9 pm. how precious. i sure love that guy.
i completely hadn't expected any adjustment time but it feels super weird to sit with the congregation during sacrament meeting since i'm not on the stand leading the music. like seriously, super super weird.
we decided that in young womens, we're going to have a combined lesson the first sunday of each month, instead of breaking up into classes. as members of the presidency, we're going to take turns teaching it. today was my turn. i prepared a lesson on "finding joy now" with the main theme coming from that verse in mosiah 2:41 where it says,
41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and ahappy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are bblessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out cfaithful to the end they are received into dheaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.i'm terrified of speaking in front of groups, and the idea of giving a lesson is especially daunting because i can't just type it up on a paper and read it. well, i had faith and just stood up there and started spouting whatever came to my mind... for over 30 minutes. i was afraid it would just come off as one huge ADD hot mess so the first things i said were "teaching is not my thing" and "the objective of this lesson is to know that we receive joy and happiness when we keep the commandments, so if you ever get lost, that's what you're supposed to be learning. ha, i'm glad none of the bishopric was there. but really, all in all, i think it went okay. it's amazing how much i love those girls already. even the ones i don't know yet.
baby girl was so good during sacrament meeting. at least six times she fully emptied and reloaded the entire contents of my purse. the family behind us was loving it. especially the dad. after the meeting he extended his arms to baby to hold her and she wouldn't go. i told her he was going to take her to nursery and she dropped all reservations and lunged towards him. ha. this girl looooves nursery. honey said that when he went to get her after church, she saw him and turned around to keep playing. when he called her name some more she went to her friend michaela and grabbed her arm. someone wasn't too eager to head home.
at church today i met with a member of the bishopric to ask about a couple of things, namely, when i could expect them to call a laurel adviser. as we were finishing up he said, "are there any other questions you have?" to which i replied, "actually, yes. i'm going to call a meeting with my presidency this week. what are we supposed to talk about at those?" i wonder if anyone is second guessing that revelation they received. just kidding. kinda.
two weeks ago i started unbroken and after two pages wanted to return it to the library and never look back. but everyone and their brother.... just kidding, i everyone and MY brother, said it was amazing and that i had to read it. 200 pages in i still wasn't liking it but was forcing myself through it. the last 100 pages i read all this afternoon. sadly, the thing that kicked me in gear was that i got an email from the library that it's due on tuesday. but, that was the thing to make me read a few more pages and get hooked til the end. it really is an incredible story. and written in easy language that would make it a really quick read. unless you're like me and you lead a really sheltered life that consists of rainbows and butterflies. then it'll be emotionally difficult to read and with every page you'll want to pull louie out of the book and tuck him in a warm bed while you feed him comfort foods. i guess i'm glad i read it, but i'm also glad it's over... which is extremely rare for me with books i read. but this book made me intensely sad and i'm kinda in a hurry to forget about it. and typing that out makes me feel guilty like a really bad person.
moving on.
tomorrow i'm taking dinner to a family in our ward. whenever i take someone a meal, i take this taco bean sort of soup i make that i'm in love with. someday though i'm going to need to branch out. anyone have any good suggestions for meals that are great to take to people?
there is so. much. snow. holy cow, it's like every road and sidewalk that's been plowed has a ten foot wall of snow built up on either side. none of it has gotten dirty yet and it's all still perfectly white. it is stunning. i mean seriously, it is absolutely breathtaking. on our way to church i commented to my christopher about how it looked like a blanket of diamonds. to say it was shimmering seems like a gross understatement. driving by a small field covered in untouched snow, it was hard to look at it straight on. the sun was reflecting from it so brightly and it was glittering out of control. oh my goodness. i really can't get over how gorgeous it was. it left me speechless.
i forgot how long cold's linger with you. baby and i got sick over a week ago and i kept waiting for it to get worse but it never did. baby's only symptom was/is a runny nose that i wipe a million times a day. luckily for both of us, she still loves blowing and wiping her nose. my symptom was a sore throat that got worse and worse until it turned into that light feathery cough that you choke on whenever you try to speak. as far as being sick and having a sick baby, this is as cush as you could ever hope for. that being said though, will it ever go away?!
and lastly, before i go to bed, i'd like to express my appreciation for the superbowl. on the weekends, nap time in our house goes something like this: baby goes down for a nap, i get in bed with a book... that will hopefully soon lull me to sleep, honey tells me he's not going to nap, i fall asleep for about 20 minutes before i'm woken by our crying baby, looking to my side, honey has passed out. i don't know how he does it, but it seems like honey always manages to fall asleep right as our baby is waking up and then i'm on my own for the next two hours, bitter that we're not all in bed (bitterness comes from the fact that baby's weekend naps are freqently shorter than her normal naps during the week). today though it went like this: baby down for nap, me reading unbroken, honey went to church for clerk stuff and came back, i'm still reading, i fall asleep, i wake up at 5:30 realizing that honey had closed our bedroom door and gotten our baby up from her nap an hour before. so i'll say it again, thank you superbowl, for keeping my honey awake this afternoon so he could play with our post nap baby while i enjoyed some sleep. because really, he'd been awake since 5 am and there is no way on earth that would have happened otherwise.
ps- honey put baby girl to bed tonight and immediately brushed his teeth and got in bed with me (i am always in bed with my electric blanket... because it is heaven on earth) for scriptures and prayer. he was asleep before 9 pm. how precious. i sure love that guy.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
a new calling
today was my last sunday leading music at church. i'm kinda sad about it. i got released from three callings (ward music chairperson, sacrament meeting chorister, compassionate service committee) and got one new one. today at church i was sustained and set apart as the ward young women president.
please pray for me.
please pray for me.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
bedhead
i guess these are the only photos i took on my camera today. sooo, bedhead it is.
this is the typical style upon waking.
and i have no idea why she was so sad. but she continued to cry between bites of banana for at least three or four minutes. so random. although maybe it has something to do with those two bottom teeth peeking through.
ps- my baby is growing up so fast. today while i was sitting in bed, she pointed to the stack of books i keep on my nightstand. more specifically to the green hymn book (because i lead music) and i kept trying to stall because i didn't want her to play with my hymn book... or my scriptures... or any of the other books sitting there. so then, i kid you not, she pointed at the book and looked me directly in the eye saying, "i want that book." i about died. and then she said it about fifty more times. so then i tried to pawn off a different book on her. no go. "that book" [as she points to the green hymnal]. seriously? four word sentences? i'm not ready for this.
frequent words as of late include shoes, boots, poop, diaper, backpack, book, milk, and NOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
an unexpected birthday present!
a week ago last sunday, baby girl decided she would like to start waking up around 7 instead of her usual between 8 30 and 9 30. this lasted for a whole week but ended on my birthday. hooray! i woke up to the sound of a text (from my blogging sister emmy!) but i could hear that my phone was in the kitchen. this immediately woke me up all the way because, weird, i for sure had my phone on my nightstand when i went to bed. did baby steal my phone? does that mean she's awake? so christopher must be home already. did he get her out of bed?
well, yes he was home from his church meetings, but baby girl was actually still sleeping. he'd stolen my phone!
so when i went into the kitchen he said "okay, i have news for you and you're going to really love it or really hate it."
long pause.
"you're not speaking in church today."
WHAT?!?! well, apparently bishop forgot that members of the stake were coming to speak in our ward and they couldn't be rescheduled. so all of us regular speakers assigned had to be bumped to three sundays from now. GREAT!
so that's why he'd taken my phone, because he didn't know if i'd set my alarm and he wanted me to be able to sleep in on my birthday. i did a happy dance and then ate the french toast breakfast he was planning on serving me in bed. then baby woke up and the three of us all played like a precious little happy family and it was just marvelous.
and i opened up my present. and it was great. honey got me a fire station for my christmas village! i don't really care about presents and so it works out well that he can just give me a village piece for my birthday so i can enjoy it during the christmas season. he also got a smaller church building and the most adorable little hot chocolate (and cookie) stand, which is seriously amazing and i love it way more than the fire station even though it's so much smaller. so anyways, we didn't get any pictures of it but i'll need to take some when we get back home so we can remember. we decided we're going to get little stickers for the bottom of all of the village pieces so we can mark the date and know when each one was added. i think it'll be fun years down the road to know that sort of stuff.
and then church was great and i wore my new brown boots and a new dress to church which was fun. and i didn't even mess up the songs at all while i was leading music during sacrament meeting. and all in all it was just a real nice birthday.
well, yes he was home from his church meetings, but baby girl was actually still sleeping. he'd stolen my phone!
so when i went into the kitchen he said "okay, i have news for you and you're going to really love it or really hate it."
long pause.
"you're not speaking in church today."
WHAT?!?! well, apparently bishop forgot that members of the stake were coming to speak in our ward and they couldn't be rescheduled. so all of us regular speakers assigned had to be bumped to three sundays from now. GREAT!
so that's why he'd taken my phone, because he didn't know if i'd set my alarm and he wanted me to be able to sleep in on my birthday. i did a happy dance and then ate the french toast breakfast he was planning on serving me in bed. then baby woke up and the three of us all played like a precious little happy family and it was just marvelous.
and i opened up my present. and it was great. honey got me a fire station for my christmas village! i don't really care about presents and so it works out well that he can just give me a village piece for my birthday so i can enjoy it during the christmas season. he also got a smaller church building and the most adorable little hot chocolate (and cookie) stand, which is seriously amazing and i love it way more than the fire station even though it's so much smaller. so anyways, we didn't get any pictures of it but i'll need to take some when we get back home so we can remember. we decided we're going to get little stickers for the bottom of all of the village pieces so we can mark the date and know when each one was added. i think it'll be fun years down the road to know that sort of stuff.
and then church was great and i wore my new brown boots and a new dress to church which was fun. and i didn't even mess up the songs at all while i was leading music during sacrament meeting. and all in all it was just a real nice birthday.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
glam up
today was a good day.
we slept in til our usual time. but then, because of daylight savings, we got an extra hour. so i wasn't pressed for time on making phone calls for my calling, practicing my hymns for sacrament meeting, or getting baby fed and ready. also, since it was my first time fasting in TWO WHOLE YEARS (pregnancy plus nursing really takes you out of the game for a while) i didn't have to take the time to feed myself. anyways, all of this meant that we all hung out, played around, set up a christmas tree out of boredom (i'll explain later... maybe), and got baby a nap and had a fantastically leisurely time doing it.
also, i was asked to sub in nursery today so baby and i spent the second two hours of church hanging out and playing with other kids and moms (they're going through a nursery transition so there were a number of adults) which was a nice change to trying to chase, wrangle, feed, etc my precious mobile bundle of terror joy. i love my baby more than words can say, but honestly, she puts me through the wringer at church with how fast she is when she runs for the exit anytime she finds an open door. anyways, baby loved nursery and i'm really excited for her that she'll get to go starting in january. and 2012 will be double delicious because not only will baby get to go to nursery, but we'll also have morning church so baby can still get her afternoon nap. i look forward to this part immensely.
anyways, tonight we were hanging out and turns out, baby loves to sit on my bathroom counter (go figure because my bathroom is by faaaaarrrr her favorite room in the house) and put on makeup with me. or just lip gloss because she tends to break and hide all other makeup. she's looking to her left in all those pictures because that's where our big mirror is. and who puts on makeup without looking in the mirror?!?! not us, that's for sure.
disclaimer: her hair is not actually yellow. it's just the intense bathroom lighting. thank goodness.
 |
and as if my day wasn't good enough. i rocked my baby to sleep tonight for the first time since i don't even know when. i'll write a novel on it another time, because it's so worth recording. it. was. heaven.
ps- baby's newest word? "church" the hilarious part is that she says it with absolute exactness. like everything spiritual should be.
happy monday!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
leading music: what not to do
i really love my calling. go ahead and think i'm weird. i know i do. i one hundred million billion percent was sure i would hate it. i thought i would have major anxiety every sunday for the rest of my life because i had to stand in front of the congregation and lead music. well, i was anxious the first sunday, but also excited. and ever since, it's just been a little nervous but in an excited sort of way.
every saturday morning, i meet with my friend jodi, the organist, and we go over the songs i've picked for sunday. it calms my nerves and if there's anything weird about the song, strange time count, formatas, whatever, she can teach me the correct way to do it and then we can go over it until i know it and feel comfortable with it. and then every sunday morning i practice all the songs a time or two on my own, normally while baby eats breakfast. today all the songs i picked were really easy so i totally wasn't worried about a thing.
first, our ward believes in intermediate hymns. every sunday there is either a musical number or intermediate hymn. no one told me that we're supposed to stand for the intermediate hymns, so i just treat it like a normal one, with everyone sitting. well today, jodi was about three measures into the intro when the bishop stood up, then his counselors, and then random members of the congregation. it was confusing for everyone. watching it from the stand it was the most awkward thing you've ever seen. like a strange sort of flash mob with no moves other than standing up. i actually started laughing and turned to jodi (still playing the intro) and whispered "oops! was i supposed to have them stand?!?!" you could tell she was trying not to laugh as she smiled and said "yeah, but it's okay, just lead the music" so by the time we were two lines into the song, most of the congregation was standing and singing. whatever. i love my ward and feel totally comfortable in it. so this embarrassing situation was not really embarrassing for me, just really funny.
christopher gave an excellent talk today. it was on service. he was the last speaker, the one directly after the intermediate hymn. so while he walked up to the stand, i walked down to our seat, and we passed baby off in the process. when he ended his talk, i handed baby to the family sitting directly behind us. i probably should have arranged this with them in advance but they were fine with it anyways. i walked up for the closing hymn, not really paying attention to anything. the bishopric member conducting the meeting finished what he was saying and i got up for the closing hymn. it was going great. everything was perfect. i was making sure to look around the congregation and not look at my hymn book too much. then as we're finishing up the third verse i made a mental note that we only had one verse left. at that very moment, i saw out of the corner of my eye, my bishop and one of his counselors close their hymn books. i panicked. "what?! did they say we would only be singing three verses?! i thought chris ended his talk on time." i looked to the congregation and thought maybe i saw a person or two close their book too. soo i thought "okay, i guess that's it. i guess we're not singing the last verse." so i cut everyone off for the third verse and then never lead in for the fourth. sat i sat down jodi leaned over and said "did we forget the last verse?!" ummm whoops.
so i talked to the bishop afterwards. i repented. just kidding, i apologized. "bishop! i'm so sorry! i had no idea we were supposed to stand for the intermediate hymns! i'll start having everyone stand from now on!" "no problem, no problem, you're doing great." "and bishop! i'm so sorry to have cut off the closing song a verse early. i saw you close your hymn book and followed your cue!" (i realize now how ridiculous this sounds but it was the truth!) he started laughing and explained that sometimes he and one of his counselors will sneak out one verse early so they can be in the foyers to greet people as they leave the chapel. "OHHHHH! good to know!"
whoops.
as i said, i probably should be embarrassed except that everytime i think about this i start laughing out loud. if i've said it once, i've said it a million times, they called ME to be the ward music chair and chorister?!?! what a joke. on a more serious note though, i know these men are inspired, and for that reason, if i'm called to a calling, i'm going to say yes, regardless of how incompetent i am. maybe i would be more self conscious had i applied for this or seeked it out (seeked? is that a word?). but i didn't. i was called and i accepted and already i've spent many dedicated hours to magnify this calling as best i can. (because goodness knows i did not magnify my last). anyways, here are two very important lessons i learned today:
1. as the chorister, you lead the music and you lead the congregation. everyone follows your lead. if you screw up, everyone will follow you in that screw up. the organist, the congregation, even the bishopric. no one in the chapel is exempt from following your screw up.
2. always follow your church leaders. unless you are the chorister and the subject in question is singing the fourth verse. then it is expedient NOT to follow your church leaders. in that particular situation, proceed as if you are almighty. because you are.
every saturday morning, i meet with my friend jodi, the organist, and we go over the songs i've picked for sunday. it calms my nerves and if there's anything weird about the song, strange time count, formatas, whatever, she can teach me the correct way to do it and then we can go over it until i know it and feel comfortable with it. and then every sunday morning i practice all the songs a time or two on my own, normally while baby eats breakfast. today all the songs i picked were really easy so i totally wasn't worried about a thing.
first, our ward believes in intermediate hymns. every sunday there is either a musical number or intermediate hymn. no one told me that we're supposed to stand for the intermediate hymns, so i just treat it like a normal one, with everyone sitting. well today, jodi was about three measures into the intro when the bishop stood up, then his counselors, and then random members of the congregation. it was confusing for everyone. watching it from the stand it was the most awkward thing you've ever seen. like a strange sort of flash mob with no moves other than standing up. i actually started laughing and turned to jodi (still playing the intro) and whispered "oops! was i supposed to have them stand?!?!" you could tell she was trying not to laugh as she smiled and said "yeah, but it's okay, just lead the music" so by the time we were two lines into the song, most of the congregation was standing and singing. whatever. i love my ward and feel totally comfortable in it. so this embarrassing situation was not really embarrassing for me, just really funny.
christopher gave an excellent talk today. it was on service. he was the last speaker, the one directly after the intermediate hymn. so while he walked up to the stand, i walked down to our seat, and we passed baby off in the process. when he ended his talk, i handed baby to the family sitting directly behind us. i probably should have arranged this with them in advance but they were fine with it anyways. i walked up for the closing hymn, not really paying attention to anything. the bishopric member conducting the meeting finished what he was saying and i got up for the closing hymn. it was going great. everything was perfect. i was making sure to look around the congregation and not look at my hymn book too much. then as we're finishing up the third verse i made a mental note that we only had one verse left. at that very moment, i saw out of the corner of my eye, my bishop and one of his counselors close their hymn books. i panicked. "what?! did they say we would only be singing three verses?! i thought chris ended his talk on time." i looked to the congregation and thought maybe i saw a person or two close their book too. soo i thought "okay, i guess that's it. i guess we're not singing the last verse." so i cut everyone off for the third verse and then never lead in for the fourth. sat i sat down jodi leaned over and said "did we forget the last verse?!" ummm whoops.
so i talked to the bishop afterwards. i repented. just kidding, i apologized. "bishop! i'm so sorry! i had no idea we were supposed to stand for the intermediate hymns! i'll start having everyone stand from now on!" "no problem, no problem, you're doing great." "and bishop! i'm so sorry to have cut off the closing song a verse early. i saw you close your hymn book and followed your cue!" (i realize now how ridiculous this sounds but it was the truth!) he started laughing and explained that sometimes he and one of his counselors will sneak out one verse early so they can be in the foyers to greet people as they leave the chapel. "OHHHHH! good to know!"
whoops.
as i said, i probably should be embarrassed except that everytime i think about this i start laughing out loud. if i've said it once, i've said it a million times, they called ME to be the ward music chair and chorister?!?! what a joke. on a more serious note though, i know these men are inspired, and for that reason, if i'm called to a calling, i'm going to say yes, regardless of how incompetent i am. maybe i would be more self conscious had i applied for this or seeked it out (seeked? is that a word?). but i didn't. i was called and i accepted and already i've spent many dedicated hours to magnify this calling as best i can. (because goodness knows i did not magnify my last). anyways, here are two very important lessons i learned today:
1. as the chorister, you lead the music and you lead the congregation. everyone follows your lead. if you screw up, everyone will follow you in that screw up. the organist, the congregation, even the bishopric. no one in the chapel is exempt from following your screw up.
2. always follow your church leaders. unless you are the chorister and the subject in question is singing the fourth verse. then it is expedient NOT to follow your church leaders. in that particular situation, proceed as if you are almighty. because you are.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)