Words of Wisdom from Steve

Since Steve does not have a blog, I would like to insert something that he and I discussed the other day as we were worrying over all the challenges that our children are having. Below is what he said:

The gift of the Holy Ghost, the right to have his influence always with us,is one of the greatest blessings given by a loving Father. Sometimes we are distracted by the difficulties and challenges in our lives to the extent that we think focusing most of our attention on the difficulties is our highest priority; yet by increasing the consistency of the gift of the Holy Ghost, his influence,we are blessed in two ways: we are guided in the ways we can meet the challenges, and as we work through them, we are given comfort that all will be well.

But the comforter, whom the Father will send in my name,

he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your

remembrance, whatsoever I have spoken unto you.

John 14:26

It would seem, then, that while we focus attention on our challenges, we should not forget to do those things in our lives that will allow the gift of the Holy Ghost to be more consistent. In fact, if one had to choose, the latter would be the better choice.

And we all know those things to do for the Holy Ghost to attend us, right???

Two weekends

President’s Day weekend was spent with Noah. Steve and I drove to St. Louis Friday night, we went to the temple, and then we spent the night with Emily, Joe, and Noah. Saturday morning, we loaded up the pack and play, the diapers and p.j.s, the smarter-than-grandparents car seat, and, of course, Noah and took him back to Columbia so his mom and dad could enjoy a small get-away at a bed and breakfast in Rocheport. Yea, they were practically around the corner from us and so on Sunday, they joined us for the afternoon and dinner before they drove back to St. Louis. Noah was just great at our house.

He ate well, went to sleep when he needed to, let me wash his hair Saturday night and comb it Sunday morning for church (it tickled Emily that I actually wet down and parted his hair, keeping it in place with spray gel) Here is grandpa helping Noah brush his teeth.

I WISH I had pulled my camera out when those two baked mint brownies together…..

And now this weekend is over and I have been relieved of two big burdens. The string quartet had a wedding Saturday afternoon at 4:00 and then the Civic Orchestra had a concert at 7:00 and I spent every spare minute last week preparing for both events. BIG sigh of relief when the last note was played in the Missouri Theater last night! First, the wedding was booked by a coordinator whose business I want to keep so, even though Siri and Julia, the amazing violinists in the Prairie String Quartet could not take part in this wedding due to a run-through of the CCO concert for that night, I said we would take the job. It took some looking but I finally found two violinists not involved with CCO. OK. Whew. But then I learned the bride’s music selections. She wanted “All I Ask Of You” (which we did not have), “Hallelujah” by Cohen (did not have), and, for her recessional, “Be My Baby” (the old 50’s song – definitely didn’t have that). Add to the mix a tenor who couldn’t sing the “Lord’s Prayer” in C (the key we had) but it needed to be in B-flat. How hard is it to sing just one step higher??? So, I set to work to get the music lined up. I found an arrangement of All I Ask Of You in both C and D (the original is in D-flat) and I bought it! The organist for the wedding gave me piano versions of Hallelujah and Be My Baby and I decided that the first was pretty enough to make a simple string quartet version so I spent some time in front of Finale to do that. Be My Baby was hopefully going to be dumped if parents could talk some sense into the bride and groom so I just decided we would hack our way through a piano copy as best we could. Turned out, it was scratched and the normal Wedding March was put in its place. Hooray. Finally, I decided that having the Lord’s Prayer in B-flat was probably a good idea for future requests so I wrestled with Finale yet again. And this one WAS a tussle because I have a watered-down version of the program and it does not like multi-meter. And the song starts in 4/4, goes to 9/8, spends four measures in 12/8, and ends back in 9/8. Yikes! I did a LOT of cutting a pasting. Then, I had to deliver all this music to the substitute violinists after organizing their gig notebooks with all the music in order. Whew, this is a really long description but now you know why my life leading up to this wedding was so crazy. When the big event actually arrived, things went fairly smoothly except for the fact that the first violinist – a masters student in violin performance – hadn’t even looked at his music for the week he had it! He sight read and did that rather poorly when he had to do some serious counting! The prelude was thirty minutes of ulcer, wondering when he was going to miss-count a rhythmic passage again. That kid is NOT going to get hired by us again, that is for sure. The second violinist, bless her perfectionist freshman heart, DID practice and she was solid as a rock. Yea, Tamara. Wedding over and I drove over to the theater for the CCO concert. It was an all-21^st century composer night which meant much of the music was difficult – to play and even to listen to. When I wasn’t working on wedding, I was practicing my cello. There was one number that I really liked – written by John Cheetham, my former theory prof at MU – and I wanted to play it my very best. When he came to a rehearsal two weeks ago, he sat right behind the cello section and, because I had not practiced it very well, I stank. I was so ashamed to have him hear me play so poorly that I worked and worked on his runs and tricky syncopated rhythms in three flats. And, in the Dark Knight piece, I wanted to get the cool sixteenth note that went really fast. Lots of practice. I am happy to say the work paid off. The concert went well. And, best part was that I had four people in the audience: Steve, Steven, Jason Bell, and Melanie.

Final note (no pun intended) - We had a snow on Thursday that was just beautiful. I couldn’t stop taking photos.

Notice how the snow stuck to everything like there was glue. I call the photo below Trissy's water bowl margarita.....

The comment Blogger won't let me leave...

Julina here...

Blogger (at least in terms of *this* blog) seems to hate me - it won't let me comment - even with several attempts to adjust settings. So, mom made me a "contributor" and told me I should post my comment on the Valentine's day blog this way if it still didn't work after the latest adjustment.

So... here is what I *wanted* to comment:

"Wow, dad, way to up the ante once again for any one who might pursue your daughters' hands!

"I love that we had a tradition of pink milk - that's still one of my favorite Valentine memories/traditions, even when I don't do it anymore, either. But it's such a great way to keep the holiday whimsical and focused on love in its broader sense (not just overwrought "romantic" love). Thanks for being my valentines <3"

Does this mean that I've just completed my first official blog post? Watch out, the universe might implode!

PS, if you want details of my travails w/ the comment function, just ask (:

We had a “Heart Attack” – from the Bear Creek Ward Young Women…….

And, while they were giving us a heart attack, Steve accidently gave THEM all heart attacks. The dogs heard the girls taping paper hearts to the front door and started barking. He thought it was me coming home so he opened the front door and startled the poor young women out of their wits!

Some photos of the Valentine décor around the house

The day passed by without much hoopla – it was a regular busy-old Monday (my busiest days this semester) and the evening was spent with our regular phone calls to Sarah and Elise. I didn’t even dye the milk pink!

Our most “romantic” evening was on Friday, the 11^th. The stake presidency hosted a lovely dinner for the bishops and branch presidents and their wives. It was held in the primary room at the stake center and the decorations were very Valentiney. We all were asked to bring a photo of ourselves as a young engaged or married couple and then we told briefly how we met and one trait we most admire about each other. It was so entertaining to hear and see everyone’s early history. Steve and I happened to be last. I told the “how we met” part and that I love his sense of humor. And then Steve closed the evening with the BEST finish that ever could be. He described what he most loves about me by reciting – completely by memory – the poem “She Walks In Beauty Like the Night” by Lord Byron. WOW!

(It made me fall in love with him all over again.)

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o'er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express

How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

The weekend was full of LOTS of church meetings – mine were on Saturday, Steve’s were on Sunday. Whew – good thing we have adjusted our schedules to facilitate more sleep at night cause afternoon naps are getting more and more rare.

Sadie has adjusted to being back in Columbia. Every time I pet her, though, I feel sad for Sarah. For a few nights at the beginning, she was waking us up twice to go potty and I finally figured out that with two big old bodies in a small bed that were always shifting positions, we were actually waking HER up and, we all know what we have to do when we are awakened in the middle of the night….. On that same note, I am pleased to report that Sadie went “accident-free” yesterday and, it looks like she might do the same today. Woohoo.

SNOW-CATION!

This past week has been one for the record books. On Monday, the freezing rain/drizzle started. Schools were let out early. I called Central Methodist University and told them I was not comfortable driving up there and was told “we don’t blame you – the roads are BAD”. Then, Tuesday morning, the snow began to fall and, due to the forecasts, all the schools closed ahead of time- even MU (which never closes for anything!) That afternoon, Steve and I decided to shovel what had already fallen so that when the storm was over, we would not have to shovel all 18 inches. Here is Steve working on the driveway

It finally stopped Tuesday night and it was so deep, MU cancelled again for Wednesday. Central Methodist closed. The Mall closed! Everything was shut down Tuesday and Wednesday and we were told to stay off the roads. By Thursday, the extreme frigid temperatures were upon us and places were still digging out so MU stayed closed – THREE DAYS! Unheard of! All the grade schools stayed closed on Friday but MU and the other colleges around the area were opened up again.

It was a surreal week. Very quiet and peaceful. We both got projects done. Watched several movies. Steve and I discovered with three days together that retirement probably will be OK – although we WILL have to have two computers by then. Steven had to go to work all week so Steve used the truck in 4-wheel drive to take him back and forth for much of the week.

Thursday morning, we woke up to no television signal and no internet. CenturyLink repairmen came Friday, Saturday, and Monday to work out the problem. Finally, yesterday (Tuesday) one of the guys thought the electronic “noise” on the line, which was so “loud” that it interfered with the router capturing the internet/television signal, might be due to all our snow! He went out to the front yard (we have underground utilities) and proceeded to dig away snow and chink out ice from around the box and voila – he solved the problem! Having no internet was a mixed blessing – ignorance is bliss and then again, it sometimes is not. I have been at this computer all morning just catching up.

Sadie is back. I am sure you all know by now that Sarah’s landlady had given Sadie her walking papers. Having Sadie back here is with such mixed emotions. My heart truly breaks for Sarah and, yet, I am happy to have Sadie back with me. I am so proud of how Sarah handled things in the brief month she had her. Hats off to Beckie who took the time to fly back to Boston to rendezvous with Sarah (who drove down from Maine) and brought Sadie back with her in a carry-on pet bag. We took care of Max while she was gone. He mostly moped for Beckie but occasionally seemed to regard us as acceptable caregivers in her absence.

Steve and I made a quick trip to the St. Louis Temple Friday night. Our Saturdays are so busy this month that it was the only way to make the temple work. We had some church friends over for dinner last night – and it is “Cookies” tonight with two young couples invited to get to know them better. We are cutting our “cookies nights” to just twice a month this year – trying to eat healthier and lose some pounds.