We drove up and got to spend time with my dad. He recently went to Taiwan and I was able to have him make voice recordings about that trip. It was really nice to have something specific to talk to him about.
We made several trips up to DC to visit museums and the Zoo. So fun. We also got to see the Snyders. The cousins warmed up. L and V had fun pretending to make a camp kitchen. B and X played with a ball. B is very good at entertaining little children. I'm glad he has that trait.
We had heard that there was a Christmas Orchestra put on by 2 stakes here. It is small so they only asked me to play baritone. P will sing in the choir. We got in because of meeting people at the Stake Choir which we got in to because Brother H mentioned us when it seemed numbers were low. All this is to say that there are people who would really like to sing in the choir and we are lucky to be included.
I've been practicing over the last month and tonight I finally feel like I sound good. I'm looking forward to rehearsal on Sunday to redeem myself after 2 kinda bad rehearsals. My chops just aren't in great shape and baritone was never my primary instrument. But it's sounding nice.
We plan to do a Tuba quartet for interlude music on one of the performance days. I am working on transcribing the Tuba Christmas book so that I can play the Euphonium 1 part on the tenor horn. I don't have the chops to play those parts on baritone.
I went on the class field trip to Burrit on the Mountain with L today. He had a cough, but he had a good time. I kept him home yesterday so he could be ready for today. But the cold and smoke from the cabin fires made it hard. I'll keep him home again tomorrow and maybe Friday. We'll see. It was nice to see his classmates and see how he does have some difficulties because he gets upset by the other children's behavior. And they were doing annoying things... I'm glad I got to see that context.
We went hiking 3 times this weekend, twice at Rainbow mountain. The kids love hiking on the rocks. I love that the rocks are just half a mile from the parking lot. I do love a long walk, but it is nice to get to the rocks quickly so they can enjoy for a long time and not have a long walk back after all the fun.
P and I went on a double date with some friends from church. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant. So yummy. Then we came back to our house and played Dixit. I'm grateful to be in this town and get to know the people here.
We are so blessed.
I'm subbing for Primary singing time for a few months. Tomorrow I am going to have the kids sing songs about gratitude and play the gratitude game wherein we try to come up with 100 things we are grateful for. Name them one by one.
Today I got some pictures of what I have been enjoying for the last few weeks. I am so glad that I ride my bike most days. Being out in this beauty and seeing the daily change has been wonderful.
Also, there are so many awesome thrift stores here. I got this down vest for $9. I have gotten whole sets of pants when the kids needed pants. It has just been so easy to find good and needed things. I wish I had had thrift stores when I was a kid. My parents gave us money to manage our own clothing purchases. I mostly bought stuff at Ross and K-mart. Now I generally avoid buying new things.
This town has so much great musical talent. P and I got to sing in the stake choir. There were 2 two hour rehearsals that were very demanding.
We went to a rehearsal of the Notre Dame choir from France. They were singing in the First Baptist Church which has an incredible stained glass wall in the sanctuary. The combination of visual and auditory beauty fed my soul.
Tonight we went to a concert to hear lP's oboe teacher play with the youth orchestra. LP's friend from school plays bassoon in the 2nd orchestra. It was so nice. The top orchestra accompanied the oboe concerto and also played Festive Overture.
This week both of the girls will have performances. It is intense and beautiful.
I am practicing the baritone to play for the Stake Christmas Orchestra. That's right. Our stake and the Huntsville stake put on a Choral and Orchestral presentation. Nice! P bought us a nice gig bag for the baritone. Feeling fancy.
Tonight lP was practicing her oboe in her room. I was practicing the baritone in the garage. M was out in the shed practicing her horn. Pretty awesome.
I have been preparing to take the GRE so I can apply for grad school. I borrowed a GRE book from the library for several weeks. I have been taking the practice tests with the scheduled test I will take next week. If that doesn't go well I can try again in a few weeks.
I have started the application for grad school. I wrote to 2 past mentors asking if they would write a recommendation and haven't heard back from them. I realize that there are many people I can ask though. It doesn't just have to be these 2 or 3 people who are so specifically able to recommend me. I can have co-workers like ladies I served with at homeschool or in church callings. It will be OK.
When I take a practice test I write down all the questions I got wrong, or take a screen shot of them. P has been very patient to go over them with me. As it is I will be able to score high enough to get into my program. My pride would like to do better but I accept that I am good enough.
I hope to apply for a Masters program at Alabama A&M in Speech Pathology. I like the idea of having a career that is part education, part medical, and that could put me in contact with the deaf population. I enjoyed being a band teacher. Some of the things I didn't like discourage me from pursuing that career again. I only taught for 2 years and the first 2 years were hard. I think things would get better, but I do have a lot of memories of the hard times, sadly.
