Messiah in America, Easter
What a week. My brain hurts from all the excitement. Concert week! We made it through with flying colors. I can honestly say my plate feels MUCH lighter now with two huge items removed. I feel very grateful for my Savior. He is my all. It was a marvel to sing about Christ for two days then celebrate Easter with family.
The first part of the week was quite tame. I scaled back my lesson plans at school to something basic to keep things uniform for the substitute covering me on Thursday. The older students love doing Blooket, so we had fun doing that. Mrs Douglas and I conducted a fun science experiment with her class on Tuesday using dry and wet soil and the Mirco:bits. Amelia was asked to prom by a boy in her English class. He gave her some roses and a bowl of smarties and dum-dum pops: will you be a smartie and let this dum-dum take you to prom? YAYAYAYAYAY!
I attended a combined YW and RS lesson with my girls on Easter traditions we can do in our homes. I presented the Resurrection Egg thing I used when my kiddos were younger. The past two years the content in Come Follow Me for Easter week is fantastic, so we are using that now. It was fun to hear what other members in our ward are doing. One sister got 100 resin sheep she hides around the house for Easter! Fun!
Thursday’s curtain call was 2 pm, but I needed to arrive at 1:30 to set up. The morning went really fast! I had to run an errand to Walmart for electrical tape and to UPS to drop off a return. The girl’s hair was a complicated production. It needed to look cute, era appropriate AND last through 10 hours of intense movement. Sara and Cara were my concert assistants for the technical run through and the 8 pm concert. We were on our feet until 5 pm pinning undershirts to costumes (so they didn’t show), fixing seams that ripped, sewing about 40 sleeves onto costumes (probably those what didn’t get their costume checked), cutting threads off, switching accent pieces so the stage presence was balanced, and etc. The first show was amazing! My team had about an hour to rest before costume issues came our way. We ate some dinner and rested up for the crazy concert flare ups. I got to watch Amelia sing from stage right when the youth were on the risers. Evelyn was selected to sit on the stage near Jesus for all 3 concerts, her little heart was bursting with joy. Phillip was a banner holder on stage right as well. The rainstick I ordered came that very morning so, Amelia got to join in the rain makers during the destruction movement. Jesus walked through all the holding rooms visiting with the youth before the concert started. I caught many glimpses of Him hugging a child with tears in both sets of eyes. The actor who played Jesus walked with compassion among the crowds of children and youth. We finally got home with sore feet and hearts filled with joy around 11:30 pm. It was a very long day.
Friday morning I took the boys to get their hair trimmed, it was too long to style and not long enough to be worn hanging down. Phillip was grateful until I showed the hairdresser a mohawk style. It looked more in line with the era but not this exact era. Thankfully, curtain call was pushed back an hour so we did not need to arrive until 1:30 again. Justin spent the afternoon playing “whack a sprinkler head.” Friday was less frantic repeat of Thursday, lots of safety pins, sewing split seams, cutting threads, and even wrapping up several pairs of sandals with excess fabric to cover very obvious modern buckles. Everett’s group had a chance to go on stage at the 5 pm show, he got to give Jesus a hug during the concert. He will remember that for a long time. He expressed several times how often he felt the spirit testify that Jesus is the Christ. Most of the backstage crew watched the last concert, I hear the crew was reduced to bare bones! I found Justin, Mom, Dad, Nancy, Esther, and Clare heading toward their seats! We had a moment to visit before locating correct auditorium door and our seats. Our seats were almost level with the angel’s balcony! James et al and Jennifer Gingerich were the last ones to join our group, thankfully right before the performance started. Honestly, I was little hesitant about how MCO would present the content in 3rd Nephi. It is easy to move into dramatic and cheesy. I heard most of the music over and over but did not see much of the stage action until I saw it Friday night. I loved the music, Gentri sang beautifully! The angel was magnificent, probably my favorite part of the show. Seeing the children surrounded by Christ and angels brought tears to my eyes, seeing my girls up there surrounded. I think more than the show the stories that came from back stage melted my heart more than anything. The magic of Jesus walking with us all back stage was amazing. After the concert I tried to get my family back stage, no go. Justin took them around to the spiral staircase where I brought out the kids and Amelia and Phillip met up with everyone. The older kiddos stayed to help me pack up and get our stuff to the van and back home. Amelia wanted a photo with Brett…and we saw Christina Bishop back stage, the conductor most often in Idaho. We got photos with both conductors! Hooray! It is a strange thought that Amelia will not be in MCO unless she makes it into Grand Chorus now. I hope she had an amazing last concert series!
Saturday we met up with the Lances at the Warhawk museum in Nampa. Gracious, that museum is a dusty treasure house filled with hundreds of biographies in binders about soldiers who served their country during wars predating WWI and through 2010s. We lucked out on the date because a gang of motorcycle dudes and dudettes also toured the museum. Yeah! The kids filled out 3-4 treasure hunt forms finding obscure objects here and there. What a fun place. James, Dad, and Seth stayed another 2 hours after we left just to get through more of the museum. The docents were ready to deliver a wealth of stories and information! Amelia and Lia went on out on the town for a bit to the mall. I got grocery shopping done on my phone. We relaxed until 5:30 when we headed to El Guero for dinner. We were seated out on a patio, it was a bit chilly. However, shrimp quesadillas warmed us right up! Everett finally got to try octopus tentacles, pretty tasty considering the source. Miekka and I picked up my grocery order, went inside to get fruits, ice cream, and of course knives. Justin found these knives at Walmart modeled after a very expensive knife for only $10, now Dad, James, and Seth match Justin, Phillip, and Everett. Hooray.
Sunday was our ward Easter program. I was a bundle of nerves knowing the choir did not get to practice our song more than a couple times. We arrived at 9:45 to practice a couple times before church started. Sometimes the Lord takes our pitiful efforts and makes it into something magnificent. Linda and I worked hard finding quotes, speakers, and music that would make a meeting focused on the Savior. Amelia sang, “Consider the Lillies” I could barely see the piano music to play the notes, her voice was gorgeous. Everett came for a hug with tears running down his sweet face, he said Amelia sounded like an angel. He is RISEN! Indeed, He is RISEN! What a miracle.
After church Justin and I made chilaquiles verdes for lunch. The Lord’s chips were especially delicious. James, Miekka, Seth, and Lia headed home after lunch was over. I love having family up to visit. I love my Miekka. I love my James, even when he’s a nerd. Mom and Dad had a nap at their hotel…we had a nap as well. Even Evelyn took an hour nap. She was running a fever when she woke up, too much stress for her little body. I created a 30-clue treasure hunt sending the kids up and down and around the house for about 45 minutes! Yes! The baskets were hidden in my bedroom, ha ha ha. Mom and Dad came back for dinner of sandwiches and conference talks. We had a very relaxed evening. I took a sick day for Monday. I needed a day to catch up on all the things, well at least some of the things like this entry.
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