My Wife the Organist

I'm so proud that my wife and her new calling which brings music into the church every Sunday. I don't know if she's made this clear, but she's secretly wanted this calling ever since we moved into our Ward last Summer. She already had a great talent in playing the piano and wanted a chance to develop her skill playing the organ. I like her having this calling because they let me sit next to her so I don't have to sit alone in the congregation (at least until we have little munchkins of our own running around). Why would I want to sit on the stand? Well, for one thing we always have a place to sit, the chairs are more comfy, and I sit right behind the organ so no one can see me in case I ever nod off during sacrament meeting.

The calling is also a little hard on Melyn because it means she has to be to church extra early every Sunday. Every other week she works the Saturday night shift, so often she won't come home until after midnight. This gives her less than 7 hours to sleep (like today, for example). On top of that, she has only a couple hours after church until she has to go back to work again for her Sunday shift. But miracles sometimes happen like today when the power suddenly went off near the end of sacrament meeting. It never came back on, so the Bishop excused everyone to go home early. This meant Melyn would have time to take a nap before work. Melyn felt guilty about being happy about church ending early, but I told her that Heavenly Father had blessed her since she was so faithful in fulfilling her calling. Normally she would have to stay to the very end regardless because she also plays the piano for Relief Society. I didn't mind having time to take a nap either.

What an awesome weekend.

It seriously was so great. I made a vow to not talk about work or anything that would make me unhappy the whole weekend and it made things so much better! On saturday we went up the the DC temple together. It's the first time we've been able to go to the temple together since we've moved, and it was a wonderful experience. The DC temple is so beautiful. We listened to the radio on "scan" almost the whole 2 hours up there because we couldn't find a good station to play more than one good song in a row. We finally found one about 20 minutes before we arrived :) I had been to the DC temple once with my friend Lyanna and there were about 5 other cars in the parking lot. I thought for sure it would be the same on Saturday...not so! The ENTIRE parking lot was full (about 200 cars), plus the church parking lot right next to the temple was full. It was absolutely insane - a madhouse! I couldn't believe how many people were there. It was a wonderful session though and much needed.

After the temple we decided to go to Cheesecake Factory in Arlington, Virginia. The drive through downtown DC and the suburb of Arlington was so crazy! The lanes were so narrow and people were driving like mad. We finally made it though and walked through the 15 degree weather to Cheesecake.

Sunday was awesome too. I got another calling (I know, I know!) as ward organist. I'm really excited for this calling because it will help me accomplish my goal to learn new organ pieces every 2 months. It went very well during sacrament meeting.

After church, I got ready for a Richmond Mormon Chorale performance downtown. We were singing as part of an interfaith concert celebrating the efforts of Martin Luther King, Jr., and commemorating the lives of those who fell on September 11. It was held at a Jewish synagogue, Beth Ahaba and was sponsored by Living the Dream. The concert was called "Sing out for Freedom, Pray for Peace". Eleven choirs sang: Episcopalians, Gospel choirs, Jews, Christians, Presbyterians, Mormons, and Unitarians. It was great! We had an amazing time, and I may be a little biased, but our chorale was the best there :)

Welcome 2011!

It's been a great year already! I've made my new year's resolutions and I'm excited. I love setting goals and seeing what it's possible to achieve. My inspiration for setting goals and making them are here and here and here!!

We've been going to Gold's Gym a lot - and I did the yoga class today and it was so good. I LOVE yoga! Jordan's been doing a lot of running, something he hasn't really been able to do since we moved because of the humidity and then the cold. I love going to the cardio cinema and watching a bit of some great movies.

I've set up a plan to learn new pieces in the piano AND to learn the organ. I plan on learning a new piece in each instrument every two months. I'm also going strong again in the Richmond Mormon Chorale, and we have a performance in three weeks!

That's just a couple of my goals. Jordan says he didn't make any new goals, but I know that he wants to get honors in his classes. He's begun embryology, physiology, and histology!

I'm going to start browsing for new jobs and applying only to jobs I REALLY want. Like psych or oncology jobs. So far, none are really available. There was this sweet promotion put on by Bon Secours that if you applied between January and March and got hired, you would get sent on a vacation of your dreams or given $3,000. I was so excited...and then found out that you have to have two years experience! Boo!

Oh, and I just finished reading "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. It is SO good! I loved it - it's the same kind of genre as "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen, one of my other favorites. So if you're looking for a good book, read it :) I'm now reading "Beloved" by Toni Morrison, an American classic.

That's all for now folks!

New Calling!

It's official, I have another calling! We met with the Bishop tonight and chit-chatted a while. Then he verified that I play the piano. I was totally thinking that I was going to get choir pianist - our previous choir pianist had a stroke a few months ago. Then he said, "Have you ever played the organ?" What? Yes, I have played the organ, but not publicly, and not well I might add. But then he went on to say that we needed an additional organist for sacrament meeting. One organist is already the relief society president and another just had a baby. He asked, "Would you be willing to be another organist for our ward?" It took me a minute to respond...I was pretty shocked! And worried...for the reasons stated above. But I agreed and he said he would give me a key to practice in the chapel. So, I have two callings: relief society pianist and ward organist!