Playing the organ in the celestial room...

It was a very exciting day yesterday for me and a very anxious day, as well. I was able to go to our new temple and practice on the organ preparing for the dedication session this Sunday. Because we do not have a chapel waiting area with an organ in this smaller temple, they brought one in for the dedication and placed it in the celestial room. All the furniture and plants were moved out (by some of our fantastic YSA Elders). The director of our choir and some other organists and I thought through where the organ would be best positioned as it has no external speakers. They are located on the inside in the front of the organ. It was placed by the wall in the corner so that the speakers would come back to the wall and carry the sound around so that the choir could hear it best. But, the problem is that the organist hears the sound very loud and it was very difficult for me to get a feel for how loud I should play. It sounds way too loud, but then you are hearing all the sound as it comes from the organ. We got all the stops figured out, it is a different organ than I am used to playing. It has two volume pedals, one for the great registry (keyboard on the bottom) and one for the swell (keyboard on the top). I was stressing to keep moving back and forth from the other as I practiced playing from one register to the other with the different verses. I stayed an extra hour practicing...just me in the celestial room playing. People would come and peek in, like the workers who were touching up paint and nicks on the wall from the open house and those who were getting things set up for the dedication. I felt very overwhelmed because I just kept thinking about how was I going to play for the dedication session with the prophet and other leaders there, members from our stake, and I would only have one other time to play, that evening when our choir did a run through. I decided to say a quick prayer before I left to ask Heavenly Father to please bless me that my efforts would be okay. I dedicated my upcoming performance to Him and thanked Him for the opportunity to play and for the talents He gave me. I felt much better as I left.
Before our choir began rehearsing that evening, the organist from the previous choir was commenting about the organ as I was setting up my music. She just happened to mention how you had to play both volume pedals at the same time, place your foot in the middle of both of them and then you didn't have to move from pedal to pedal each time you moved from the keyboards. Wow! That was such an enlightening thing for me. It made all the difference in the world, I could just pedal like I was used to with one pedal. It was a bit awkward at first to feel and push them both down, but with keeping my shoe on, I could do it! (I usually take my shoes off to play). I was grateful that this organist felt the need to mention that technique to me.
Collette and I and the other choir members had a great rehearsal and the sound was incredible. It echoed because of the emptiness of the room, they hadn't gotten all the chairs in yet. So we had to remember to adjust whatever we were doing to how it was going to be with many chairs and lots of people inside. They kept telling me to play louder and louder...needless to say I had a slight headache when I was through, but I know the Lord will bless me to remember just where to place the volume pedals down for the right levels. The Hosanna Shout blew me away. I had to play so loud that I thought the chandelier would break!
It is going to be a wonderful and very spiritual experience this Sunday. As mentioned before, we do the last session which will be broadcast to all the stakes outside our temple district. Chad will be able to see it at his stake center in Pocatello.
May I ask all of you to keep me in your prayers for Sunday, I would appreciate it.
Can't wait to blog about the experience next week.!

Montana birthday and blessing

We had a great time traveling to Montana to be part of the Orr birthday and blessing weekend. It was great weather and we went up through Cascade this time to enjoy the scenery. (We usually go around on flat, boring roads to temper the motion sickness.) Zadyn had a fun birthday and really had fun with all her presents. She clung to Grandpa Clark for the weekend, he thought that was pretty special. Her princess crown cake was a huge hit with all the cousins and George's dutch oven peach cobbler seemed to be a bigger hit for the adults. Everyone loved roasting smores over the firepit, too. For those of us that ate way too much, we went for an evening walk with Alisa, Ryker, and Zadyn. They have a nice walking path that runs around their subdivision and further up to a creek bed. Zadyn loves throwing rocks.
I was a bit jealous because Ryker smiled ALL the time at Collette and I could only manage a few smiles for Grandma...must be losing my touch! Sunday was special with Ryker being blessed. Grant gave a beautiful blessing and I was so proud of him. He is serving in the bishopric in their ward and he gives countless hours of service. He was conducting and all of their music people were out of town, so I was able to help him out and played the organ for sacrament meeting. We rocked on Called to Serve for the closing song!
We feasted on pulled bbq pork with salads, watermelon, etc and etc...as we sat outside in 70 degree weather, visiting and enjoying the day.
Here are a few pictures I took...Collette took most of them so we'll get her posting some more on her blog.

We so enjoy our trips...few as they are...to visit Alisa and family. Looking forward to having the kids come spend a week with Grandma in October.

Loving the Grandma Visits

Being a Grandma is such a wonderful thing...I only wish all of my grandchildren were closer. I spent last week at Jeremy and Sarah's helping with Mikelle. She is such a sweet little baby girl. Big brother Isaak loved watching movies with Grandma and taking our daily walks to the park for lunch. The school district there brings around a mini school bus that serves lunch to any kids that come from age 1 to 19. And they were great lunches! They featured a main item, such as a ham and cheese sandwich, pizza stick, corn dob, cheeseburger, etc. They served milk and juice, with some kind of fruit snack and a chips snack. Isaak loved climbing on the playground and going down the slides over and over and when his energy was spent, we got his lunch and he enjoyed eating it at the park. We played outside in the cool of the evening and went one night to watch Jeremy play league softball. I loved rocking Mikelle and of course Isaak wanted Grandma to rock him, too.Isaak loves to hold his little sister and give her kisses, but sometimes shows her just how much he loves her a litttle too hard, but he is learning. Sarah is doing remarkably well and is a very patient mother. We are looking forward to seeing them all again the first of September when Mikelle will be blessed.