My Best Choir Day Ever with My Favorite Conductor in the Whole World

Yesterday was pretty much one of the BEST days of my singing life.  I got to spend the day singing with one of my dear friends and one of my favorite musicians in the whole world, Mack Wilberg.  I was blessed to sing in his choirs for 3 years at BYU, and when he left BYU to lead the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in 1999, I didn't know if I'd ever get to sing with him again.  He is currently one of the most well-known and loved choral sacred music composers in the world.  (You can just Google his name to see how famous he is.)  Well...our timing in moving to Pennsylvania ended up being PERFECT, as it brought Mack and I together for a blessed reunion!

Here's how our timing was so perfect:  Just a couple of weeks after we arrived here, we attended Stake Conference.  Even though we hardly knew anyone, and although I was not liking the new one hour drive between our stake center and our home, I decided I would love to be part of the stake choir performing that weekend.  That was the best choice, right there!

There was only one rehearsal for the stake choir, and that was when I heard the announcement:  Dr. Wilberg would be coming to PA!  The ONLY time they passed around the sign-up sheet for this opportunity of a lifetime was at this rehearsal, and they had room for only 40 LDS singers from our stake to join the large inter-faith choir that would perform with Dr. Wilberg on March 10th.  He was going to come for an American Composer's Choral Festival, hosted by one of the Lutheran churches in Camp Hill, PA (a bit of a drive for me, but HELLO!  SO WORTH IT!!!).  At this concert, SEVENTEEN of his fabulous compositions would be featured, and MOI would get to sing 11 of them, all under his direction.  AWESOME!!!

I don't know if you can imagine how excited I was about this day, I just knew it was going to be perfect.  AND IT WAS!  We rehearsed together for 2 sessions in the morning (that's not much rehearsal time, but it was enough because we had all rehearsed with our local groups on a few other occasions so we'd be prepared for that day), and then had our concert in the evening.  Jazz got to attend the concert, thanks to our rare find of a good babysitter for about 6 hours that night (which also allowed us to go to dinner with our friends and my fellow choir participants before the concert-FUN!).   

I thought I was going to be crying all day from the excitement, but I didn't get choked up until the opening number of the concert, the middle number, and the end number : ).

Aside from the music, the other highlights of the day were getting to speak with Brother Wilberg on two occasions, very briefly.  Even though I was one of probably his million choir students during his time at BYU, he totally remembered me and was surprised and happy to see me on this side of the country.  Awesome.  I got/gave him two hugs, yes I did!  That was so great.  What a perfect day.  Even today I'm still reeling with the beauty of the experience, and remember how on top of the world I felt being there with him, making music--his music--with him once again.  If I never get to sing with him again, this was enough.  It was the BEST.

This is a bunch of very excited LDS friends who were in the festival choir with me, and our completely amazing guest conductor, Mack Wilberg.

The night before our big day, the Lutheran church people had a reception for Brother Wilberg.  They were so impressed with what a remarkable person he is.  So genuine, kind, and wonderful to be with.

The Trinity Lutheran Church in Camp Hill, PA, where we performed.  The acoustics were great, and the setting was beautiful!  I heard that it was big enough to seat 600 people, but they sold out with 800 tickets!  I think they had an overflow room where the extra 200 people got to enjoy the concert. 

After the concert.  I couldn't resist one more chance to speak with my friend. It was fun to discover that there was also a former member of his BYU Men's Chorus participating in our 235 voice choir that night, and another former Men's Chorus member in the audience that night.  I bet he gets to enjoy those kinds of reunions wherever he goes--how fun for him!

LOVE!

Beautiful and Healthy

I presented to my youth group of girls tonight at the church a lesson on how to recognize and cherish "real beauty". It's a subject that means a lot to me, and I hope I was able to pass on some true ideas that will help them.  

We discussed a lot of important ideas, and then we made a craft together:  I had them decorate large paper hearts, and on the back we glued a little list of what we decided helps bring out true beauty.  I told them to keep it in their dresser drawer so that they can discover it often, and re-read the list for years to come, so that they can always remember how beautiful they are!  Here is the message we glued on the back of their hearts:


 

BEAUTIFUL AND HEALTHY

That’s what I am!

1. I think nice thoughts about myself.
2. I don’t talk badly about myself in my mind. 
3. I don’t say negative things out loud that are critical of my body, or anyone else’s body.
4. I know that magazine cover pictures aren’t always true to life!
5. I “fight for fitness!”  I set goals to keep myself active.
6. I compliment others on their beautiful character traits, not just how they look.
7. I know that there are other important things to think about besides how I look, such as being kind, doing well in school, helping others, and choosing the right.
8. I believe in serving others, which helps me feel good about myself.
9. I am picky with what media ideas I view and accept.  I choose media that values women for their talents and personality, and that present women in real-life ways.  I reject and run away from media messages that show women in inappropriate and unrealistic ways.
10. I promise to set a good example for others by not being critical of myself or of others.
11. I know that being beautiful and healthy means more than just how I look!

Here's me with one of the most beautiful people in my world, my Grandma Limb!

 Here's to all of the truly beautiful people in this world who inspire us!

P.S.  I also shared a quote from the following talk, and gave copies of it to the girls that were interested in reading it to pass off a requirement for their Faith in God program.  It's a great talk for all women!  It's called "To Young Women", by Elder Jeffrey Holland.

           

Organized, and I Love It! My Menu Planning System

STEP 1: Choose a filing system.  For now I've got it all on index cards because they fit so nicely in this organizer thing that I bought at a yard sale about 100 years ago.  I'm so happy with the use that I FINALLY found for it!                You will have 3 things to file: Theme Lists, Shopping List cards, and 2-Week Meal Calendars.

Here's the inside of my organizer pouch thing.  The alphabetized tabs turned out perfect for my system.  I file my Shopping List cards* alphabetically (I find this makes the meals easier to find than filing them according to theme).  In the front there's a compartment for my Theme Lists*, and in the back, there's a compartment for my 2-Week Meal Calendars*.       (*shown below).

                       STEP 2:  Choose Themes.  You could choose 7-14 themes, and assign them to a day of the week, or just rotate them.  I just rotate mine.  I just added an extension card to my "Mexican & Misc." card because I've been learning new recipes, but later I'm sure I'll want to just separate that into two different categories.  Some other category suggestions are: Fish, Meatless, Kids' Favorites, Foreign Foods, Grill...  The important part about my theme cards is that I have a visible LIST, not just loose recipes to choose from.                       

Just a closeup of two of my theme cards.  My dots on the right side mean that we had them recently.  I want to do each recipe on the card before I use it again, then I'll mark them in a different way next time around.  When it gets too marked up, I'll either re-write the card, or come up with a different marking system.                   Another option I'm considering is writing my THEME LISTS on a full size sheet of paper, put it in a sheet protector in a binder, and then I could put removable stickers on the meals as I use them (with sheet protectors, stickers can be removable, or you could even use dry erase markers to make a check-mark or something.  When each meal on that theme gets a sticker/mark, then I'll take them all off). 

STEP 3:  Plan your meals for 2 Weeks.  These are my 2-WEEK MEAL CALENDARS.  You can see that I haven't chosen 14 meals for my 2-week span, because surely there will be a Left-overs Night or two in there, or a "We only have time for a 5-minute meal" Night so we'll just  insert Quesadillas or something in there.  For our family, planning 10-12 actual meals for the 2-weeks is enough.  I SAVE THESE, because someday in the future I'll be able to just grab a 2-week Meal Calendar and just re-use it AS-IS, or I can modify it slightly, and BAM!  Planning time is all done in 1 minute for that next 2 weeks!

I write my meal calendars on the cards that can be filed, but I also write the plan bigger on this mini dry-erase board on our fridge.  Now I don't have to answer the kids 5 times a day "what's for dinner tonight, Mom?"  They can just check the fridge.

 As a quick aside, I want to add a plug here for DRY ERASE CRAYONS!  (That's what I use on my fridge menu board).  They are AWESOME!  They won't ever dry out, and I think they're going to last 100 years!  They write beautifully on glass and plastic, and they wipe off dry or wash off completely with water, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them.  If you ever see some in a store, buy them, and you will love them too! 

STEP 4:  Make a Shopping List Card for each meal.  Notice:  These are generally not full-recipe cards.  For recipes that are found in my cookbooks, this is just a list of ingredients for the meal (the recipe location is referenced in the upper right corner of this shopping list card). 

If I don't have the recipe in a cookbook or other location, then I can write the whole recipe here, and this will just be my recipe card and shopping list card at the same time (the "R" in the upper right corner means this Shopping List Card is also the recipe itself).

The best parts about this system for me are:

1.  I do my planning and major shopping now only once every 2 weeks.

2.  We're saving money on groceries because I'm at the store less frequently.

3.  It's SO much easier for me to try new recipes now.
I used to avoid new recipes like the plague because we never had the right ingredients, but now I am using probably 3-5 new recipes every 2-weeks, and my planning ahead assures that we have all the stuff we need. Now we don't have to eat the same things all the time!  Even the kids are getting more brave about eating unfamiliar foods because we're discovering lots of yummy new meals.

4.  Now I am so much happier at pre-dinner time.  So much less stress!
Feeling less stress at dinner time makes me such a nicer person.  No more "I don't know what's for dinner and everyone's already hungry" worries.  

I'll admit, my planning sessions still take some work, since at this point I'm still in the process of making my shopping list cards during my planning sessions (I have just been making my shopping list cards as I plan the meals).  When those shopping list cards are all made, it will cut down my planning time considerably.  BUT STILL, this is only planning stress once every two weeks at this point, and no longer every night!

Please let me know if you have any questions...and good luck in your organizing endeavors!

L-O-V-E Continues...and Giveaway Winner

I really enjoyed reading everyone's replies to my last L-O-V-E post!  Thanks for everyone's visits and Blog Hop giveaway entries.

 I had my winner chosen the old-fashioned way (I have never used the online random number chooser things that everyone else knows how to use):  I wrote everyone's names on little slips of paper, and I asked my 10-year old daughter to draw out the winning name.  The person who won 5 of my hand-stamped cards is...Mhairi!  I was excited when I found out which person she was, because she had left such a nice comment on my Happily Ever Stamping blog:

"I love your dinosaur cards. I have a little boy who would adore these. Have you done any Lego cards - that is the other thing he loves?
My little girl loves spiders, so I will keep an eye out for some of them.
Love your blog. Thanks for taking part in the bloghop."

Thanks, Mhairi, and I hope you enjoy the cards!  They'll be in the mail within the week after I hear back from you.


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Now that everyone's replies are in, I feel compelled to add an addendum to my post.  I feel so silly for some of the major things in my life that I forgot to mention in my original LOVE list... I was in a such hurry to get the post composed and published that I forgot some of the most important things!  So I'm adding to my own list some of my favorite things that were mentioned by all of my new blogging friends:

*God's perfect love!  I love Him so much and forever, and His love for me means everything to me.  I strive to love others the way He does! 

*Hobbies love.  The things we love to do, or make, or witness, or experience.  My hobbies include performing music (especially singing), attending concerts, taking walks, exercising, reading, rubber stamping/making cards, scrapbooking/making photobooks online...

And some of your favorites that you listed that I thought were great ideas are:  gardening, taking walks, QUILTING (of course!), traveling, sewing, drawing, living on a farm, watching critters out the window, and winning giveaways (ha ha!).

Most of the other things everyone listed I think would fit under my previous categories (Family love, Things love, etc.) but I thought a few more of your ideas merit repeating here.  I wish I could give prizes to all the answers that made me smile and laugh : ), including:

*Star Trek!
*The smell of my husband's neck
*The stranger who might need help
*Laughter
*Being able to homeschool
*America!
*"My grandmother's quilt.  If there was a fire, that's the thing I'd grab first even before the family albums."
*The color of fall where I live.
*Peace & Quiet
*Church
*Smell of vanilla
*Putting puzzles together
*Long, hot bubble baths (yes!)
*Smell of rain, sound of rain

I hope you're all feeling the LOVE like I am!  I hope to "see" you all again soon!