Stake Conference Choirby Angie

Sun
24 Aug 2008
10:08 pm
0

Stake Conference is in a couple of weeks, and the special musical numbers are being provided by a volunteer choir of women in the stake.  Tonight I went to the first rehearsal and it was so wonderful!  There were lots of sisters there that I remember from the Christmas choir last year and other familiar faces I’ve come to know since then.

We are performing two numbers:  an SSA arrangement of “This is the Christ,” which is a beautiful piece based on a poem written by Elder James E. Faust.  I’ve sung it before, and I love it, so it is a treat to be singing it again.  The other is the lyrics of “Joseph Smith’s First Prayer” arranged to the melody of an old Scottish(?) folk song called “Homeward Bound.”  If you’ve heard MoTab’s CD “Love is Spoke Here” or BYU Singers’ “The Road Home,” then you’ll know the tune I mean.  William Joseph has an orchestrated arrangement of it that I love, too.  It is just gorgeous with the words describing the First Vision.  The only drawback is that we only really sing two verses!  I wish it were longer!

It’s wonderful to be singing again.  Our ward choir has taken a month-long haitus, and I’m defnitley in withdrawl.

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Independence Day!by Angie

Fri
4 Jul 2008
10:07 pm
4

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!  How wonderful it is to live in a free country!  We watched the Livermore city firework display from a park a few blocks away, where we met Jon and Michelle as the sun was going down.  We brought blankets and camp chairs, two decks of cards, and a frisbee.  It was great!  The city arranges for a couple of the local radio stations to play music that accompanies the firework display, so people can just crank up their radios wherever they are to hear all the favorite patriotic songs along with the light show.  I think this is going to be a family tradition for us in the coming years.

Love & Sympathy for the Chapman Familyby Angie

Mon
9 Jun 2008
7:06 pm
0

Many of you know that one of our favorite music artists is Christian singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman.  You may not know that in addition to being an incredibly talented musician, he is also a wonderful husband and father.  In fact, after having two sons and a daughter of their own, he and his wife, Mary Beth, adopted three more daughters from China.

We just learned that last week the youngest of those three, five-year-old Maria Sue, was killed in an accident last Wednesday.  Our heartfelt love and sympathy go out to that wonderful family.  I know this must be a terribly difficult time for them, and they will all be in our prayers.

Here is a sweet video of Steven and Maria washing dishes together, including music and dancing!  If washing dishes were this much fun at our house, there would never be a dirty dish left in the sink  🙂  (for those of you who checked out the links above, it is the same as the second video in the mlive.com article).

Curious about our tag line?by Angie

Thu
17 Jan 2008
8:01 am
8

Several people have asked me where the quote below our blog title comes from. Here are a few hints, and if anyone knows the answer, you win a prize! Ok, well, the first person to submit the correct answer in the comments of to this post will win the prize 🙂 Good luck!

It’s from an album of music that (I believe) is widely available to the LDS community. The little interview is intermingled with a very popular song. Here is a little more of the conversation:

“I think…California.”

“Why California?” “Because, it’s sort of a cheerful place.”

“Do you know where California is?” “Sort of. Under Utah? …a little? I know where Maine is!”

Springtown Ward Christmas Programby Angie

Sun
16 Dec 2007
8:12 pm
0

Today at church, we participated in the ward Christmas Program for Sacrament Meeting. There was a violin solo, a guitar solo, and a trio of sisters who sang, “Born to Wear a Crown.” Jim and I were both in the choir, which sang three hymns, and we also sang a duet: “No Room for the King.” We were both pretty nervous – I got the hiccups shortly before Sacrament Meeting started, and I was terrified that they would come back while we were up on the stand! Luckily, no such disaster occurred. Everything went great. After the meeting several people complimented us, and they were all amazed and impressed that my mom had written the song.  Our Relief Society president enjoyed telling everyone that, because she had been sitting in the choir behind us, she could see that we were holding hands while we sang, and she thought that was the cutest thing ever. 🙂

This afternoon, Jim had to go to a presidency meeting for the Teachers Quorum, which overlapped a little with ward choir practice. I walked there on my own (our choir director, Brother Senecal, lives right around the corner from us), and we were about fifteen minutes into our practice when Jim arrived and joined the basses. They were very relieved that he “finally” showed up, since none of them are confident reading music, and Brother Senecal announced to Jim that, “It’s people like you that make ward choirs a success!” I love seeing Jim flattered and embarrassed and pleased all at the same time.