Hope of Israel

Concert week!! This past week was so busy and crazy. I am relieved it is over, happy everything went smoothly, and excited to sign up for MCO again. Justin stayed up late on Monday to file our taxes. He is up against a lot at work right now, that means he carved out some minutes/hours to get that done. We did not expect much back this year, pleasantly surprised we have a decent refund! Yay! Once again, thanks to our family finance expert. 

I took the kids to an event in Meridian at the Locust Grove chapel called "The Living Christ." The church was beautifully decorated for an Easter themed event showcasing one of four authorized replicas of Michelangelo's Pieta. The gym was draped in white cloths on which was displayed large scaled artwork of Da Vinci's Last Supper. We learned about each of the Apostles. Carl Bloch's "Woman at the Well" and Joseph Brickey's "Hope Risen" were also beautifully displayed. In the center was a depiction of a Passover feast. As a group we viewed a video about the last week of Christ's life prior to his death and resurrection. The highlight was a presentation in the chapel using live models to replicate the three mentioned painting above. We were all impressed the actors barely blinked during the 3-4 minutes each scene was revealed. We heard testimony and a song with each portrayal. It was an impressive display! We quite enjoyed ourselves. I was a bit on the grouchy side because dinner was late putting us late for our time slot.  

We spent some time this week cleaning and organizing the loft and bedrooms. The boys room was so cluttered it was hard to navigate. They needed a mama clean. I ended up moving most of the books from the bedroom shelves to the loft shelving. It's nice to have most of the books in one place! Phillip is thrilled about his clean Lego desk. The boys wanted to hang some of their favorite hats on the wall like Justin now has in our closet. I helped them hang 4 hats each on a wall of their choosing. 

Phillip met a goal he recently made. It is a HUGE success for him, something he's wanted to reach for a while now. I am so impressed with his progress, especially in this one area. Hooray for Phillip!!

Wednesday was my last day teaching art in Everett's class. The kids loved learning about Escher, it's been the favorite art project of the year for most grades. Thursday it snowed. A large cold front swept down from Alaska this week. We traded temperatures in the 60s for the 30s. My garden boxes are all covered, hoping for the best. I was gone most of Thursday first to help the Salas family clean their house as they moved and then going grocery shopping. I got home with enough spare minutes to put away groceries and urge the kids to pack dinners. Charity and Kenny arrived shortly before we left for a Grand Rehearsal at Middleton High. We passed out hugs and kisses as we rushed out the door. I volunteered for Children's Chorus and Youth Chorus in order to stay inside the building. Justin came around 8 to pick up Everett, Evelyn, and Josie. The older kids got chewed out for missing every cue on He Lives in You. Brett was ready to nix the song, he gave them another chance to fix that song. The kids stepped up and sang that song beautifully. I was standing behind the risers monitoring the Children's Chorus, Professor Jenson requested the dummer stay with her directed tempo, the drummer audaciously replied, "well, if you stayed with MY beat we wouldn't have a problem." Interestingly, he was NOT at the concerts on Friday. Jenson did not engage just let it go, dealt with it privately. The kids were on their feet until 10 pm, a very late night for us all. 

Concert day! Phillip was the only child who went to school. He is in the middle of ISAT testing in the mornings, so he went for the testing period. All morning was a rush to get outfits ironed, tears repaired, shoes polished, children bathed, hair styled, dinners packed, and such. I picked up burritos and tacos for a very quick lunch since my planned crock pot spaghetti lunch (dinner) did not pan out. We literally ran out of the house and arrived to the Morrison Center with just a minute to spare, 12:29 pm. I stopped at the SCUBA store on my way home since it is never open when I am in the vicinity. The owner set me up with a mask complete with -8, -7 corrective glass inserts. I can actually see underwater now! I am signed up for a refresher course on April 25th, until he said the class was for that evening. I was upset because the next class is not until the end of May. Since he texted the incorrect date the owner offered a private class on May 3rd. I rushed home to change into all black clothes and pick up Josie. At the last moment I got updated concert order PDFs, of course the printer went all weird so it was not printing at all. All the last moment things put Josie and I a couple minutes late. I was asked to be the Young Singers Coordinator, meaning I got to wear a secret service ear bud and carry a walkie talkie. My job was to supervise the 6 volunteers and make sure the kids were to the stage at the right time and moment. The constant chatter was difficult to filter out, 90% was irrelevant to my group. Unexpectedly, I was left with only two volunteers and 40ish children aged 4-6. We managed to get the kids down three flights of stairs and into the main hallway near stage right. I kept the kiddos quiet with silent mimicking games and a pocket full of smarties. I finally heard the "GO, GO, GO" signal, my two sections crept behind the stage and waited quietly for their turn. Gratefully, the Young Singers sang both their songs back to back so we logistically had an easy time getting them on and off the stage once. The rest of the concert was Lord of the Flies chaos. My group was tucked up in the highest holding floor/rooms. Our assigned toilet was down a floor, the kids quickly learned how fun it was to visit the solo toilet. Kids were sliding all over the slick linoleum floors, tearing holes in tights and turning white tights a nice splotchy gray, Several kids did not have any food, I divided up my lovely sandwich and food so they wouldn't perish. At one point the noise level was worse than the monkey house. Kids were running, sliding, pushing, falling, screaming, colliding, even found two kids inside washing machines in the kitchen area. Problem was there was not anything to amuse the kids besides the antics of three adults! We enjoyed a moment of silence while I played Going on a Bear Hunt for 20 minutes. The 7 o'clock shift was 45 minutes late, I struggled to get shirts tucked in, shoes back on, hair neatened, faces wiped, before the next concert just a few minutes away. I was a sweaty, gummy, dirty mess by the time I plopped into my seat for the concert. That was quite an experience. I accidently used my CB handle "Big Bertha" over the comms while reporting for duty. I am sure some folks were laughing. As crazy as it all was I would do it again...next time armed with games and activities to last 2-3 hours. 

The flip side of the concert was amazing. Justin had a seat saved for me next to Nancy and Clare. Ironically, Justin's company CFO and family were seated in front of us! I got to meet them before the concert started. My favorite songs were of course the ones my kiddos sang. It was fun to see Everett, Evelyn and Josie jiiving to Shut the Door and sweetly singing Remember Me. We loved the Hunchback arrangement so much, Professor Stewart arranged to have the children sing "God Help the Outcasts," which was so moving. I loved the "Penguin-Llama" song because the initial African words sound like penguin-llama, it is actually "He Lives in You" from Lion King arranged by Sam Cardon. The Sopranos and Altos had a secret dance battle going on. In my opinion, the sopranos won, those girls were very enthusiastic. My favorite part was the last two songs of "Be Still My Soul" and "Redeemer of Israel." The youth came out during the last verse of Be Still wearing white robes like a host of Heaven. My soul was raised, hope bloomed for our future generation of youth. My kids looked angelic singing their hearts out. Phillip had tears in his eyes during that last song. We are excited to sign up for another year of MCO starting this September. Justin and Clare were tasked to meet up with Phillip and Mia, they had difficulties because Amelia did not have her phone. I was grateful the ladies found my jacket in the holding room because my child claim ticket was in one of the pockets. The kids were really worried about the gas tank level since it was quite low. We "made" it to a gas station and home safely before 11 pm. Nancy rode with us, we enjoyed talking about the concert and MCO during the ride home. 

Saturday we were all super tired. Charity was in a lot of pain, they almost returned home except that it was too late in the morning to head home. We enjoyed a laid back day coloring Easter eggs with Charity. Kenny played a couple board games with Josie, she was in heaven. Charity got several makeovers and pedicures courtesy of the little girls. I worked on our Passover meal most of the afternoon making Challah bread, charoset, braising the lamb meat, Israeli salad, and etc. Amelia made lemon bars, she used the yolks as required in the recipe. I was confused why the dessert was not setting up properly, then noticed the bowl of yolks on the island. Her dessert still tasted really good, now we know that egg whites work just as well as yolks in custard. After studying the Passover and Moses the week prior we all had a better understanding of symbols. 

Easter Sunday! He is Risen! The kids woke up to new squishmallows the favorite toy around our home. We had Stake Conference on Easter this year. I've never had Stake or Ward conference on Easter before, felt a little odd not to have meetings with our ward. After church we drove to a park for Easter photos in our Sunday finery. Everett and Evelyn discovered willow branches make amazing whips. The kids were excited to find their Easter Baskets. The kids baskets this year were very basic: a chocolate bunny, a book, a game, and small squshmallows. The girls had a couple extra items like sunglasses, bubbles, and a toy. The Ostler's came over for dinner. We celebrated with fancy soda drinks, salad, beef stroganoff, ham, sweet potatoes, and warm bread.