This Reminds Me

Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Just a little musical interlude for you today – “I Saw Three Ships,” performed by the Reagan High School choir, including Lois.

I love Christmas music.  In fact – In 1994, Keith convinced me to abandon over-the-air TV for DISH because of its holiday music channel.  Pretty funny, since we both work on U-verse now.

Lois is top row, second from the right.  She was 15th chair region choir alto for Southeast Texas this year, too.

Tomorrow, it’s the children’s and youth choir at church leading worship.  And Monday night – Hannah in the Bush Middle School choir.

Gotta get my clapping hands ready!

Just a little number my homies and I choreographed.

Kanye West says it’s way better than that silly thang of  Beyonce’s.

Until I went digital in 2003 – I was always a “Nikon gal,” going back to my 1979  Nikon EM (“The plastic Nikon,” as my friend and professional photographer Steve sniffed).  My digital cameras have all been Kodak models, largely because -  I confess – I like the software.

But my latest Kodak  – a 2005 5.0 MP 7590 – has been sputtering with its shuttering for several weeks – slow and hard to focus, turning off by itself, etc.   I knew I needed a new camera, but didn’t want to spend the money on a new one, or take the time to learn it.

Keith removed the decision from my shooting finger by surprising me with a new camera for our anniversary.  A Nikon!  An SLR!  With a fabulous 18 – 105 lens (be still my heart!)  But dang – the thing has an instruction book an inch thick (literally).  I can barely squeeze in my 20 minutes of bus reading every day.   When exactly was I going to find the time to ingest the college course necessary to use the sucker?   I confess:  The thought exhausted me.  So the poor thing sat on my dresser – alone, unused, unloved – for more than a week.

Tonight was “Harvest Festival” at church – a pitch-in dinner followed by a fantastic choral program.  I hadn’t planned on taking pictures, but our music minister – whom I adore – seemed disappointed when he asked me if I’d brought my camera.  So Keith bolted his dinner, then raced home to get my camera.  My new camera.  My new Nikon.  Which I literally had not touched, for fear of the massive learning curve required.

It was time for some on-the-job training. Ten minutes’ worth before the program began.  No pressure.

The full choir and orchestra, from the back of the church.  Mono pod on a pew chair using the wide-angle 18 setting.  It felt so, so good to be twisting an SLR lens again.

Buds in the choir.  Mono pod.  Telephoto (105) lens setting.

After the service – Hannah carrying Samaritan’s Purse boxes for crating.  Our church is one of two San Antonio collection centers.  Hand-held; mid-range.

We crated about 1400 boxes Wednesday night.  There were probably 1000 more to crate tonight.  Need a ceiling-bouncing flash to illuminate the distant people.  I’ll have to get that figured out.

I confess:  As busy as the next few weeks will be, my Nikon would probably have sat unused on my dresser until after the holidays.  But as it is – I had to use it tonight, so…..

Thanks, Phil for motivating me.

Lois is getting her wisdom teeth out tomorrow.  I’ll have some reading time as I wait.

I confess – I’m thinking there’s a manual I need to read.

Confession is good for the soul, doncha know?

The girls and I are fairly tired and definitely sweaty after a full day of filling, carting, stacking and banding Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child boxes.  We’re not sure how many boxes we have just yet.  I’m never even  sure what we have to pack until I start dragging it out and slicing open boxes.  “Oh!  Here are Shelley’s bags!  Omigosh, it’s Lisa’s crayons!  Look in these socks – they tucked a check inside!”

All I can say is – I have the world’s most generous friends, without a doubt.

So stay tuned for box count announcement.

In the meantime – we indulged in a “station break” at the Region 12 Choir Concert in which Hannah performed as 11th chair Alto.  She’s the (spunky) brunette in the very top row, 7th from the right.   She and her fellow Bush Middle School 8th grade girls’ choir members wore black formals, of which there were a disproportionate number peppered among the students representing 37 South Texas schools.

Listen to the sound of my voice

Can you hear the beat of my heart

Listen to the questions I have

Listen to me

It’s all very simple to see what we need

Give us hope

We’ll never hear the voices of the kids that receive shoe boxes.  We’ll never hug them and hear their hearts beat, or ponder their questions.

But maybe.

Just maybe.

We can give a little hope.

If you helped in any way with shoe boxes this year, know that you have that shared that hope.  You’ll never get a thank-you note, or something colorful to tack up on your fridge.  No swollen-bellied mother is going to stand behind her ragged child,  point directly at you and hiss, “Now you go say ‘thank you.’”   Nobody is going to pat you on the back at church.  There may be only One who knows what you’ve done – how you’ve practiced true religion.

We are the future

Help us believe

Give us hope

And we’ll show you the way.