we've got to whisper for a while...cause you know as well as I do that it's perfectly illegal to do anything for yourself while you're in college...sorry it's taken us so long to rendevous...this college thing is sucking me in like so many dust bunnies in a vacuume cleaner...
I considered about appologizing ahead of time for the length that is about to insue, but while reading a journal entry of Andrew Peterson's the other day (which itself was quite lengthy), I realized that that is not needed. Read if you want...don't if you've got something better to do, but in the meantime I'm going to try to document the highs and lows of my last few weeks.
School is school...going fine but very time consuming. I just made it through my first round of tests which feels good...but midterms are also aproaching with scary movie music begining to sound in the distance. Our bio labs have been FACINATING of recent weeks...we're studying basically every phylum in the universe...and memorizing them all for my test thursday Lord willing...it has been great to finally learn to use microscopes and get a handle on such a large knowledge base.
I've been getting really involved with some of the IV kids recently...going to prayer in the evenings almost every night ( a great time of reflection on the day and supporting each other), going to large group meetings when I can, and attending training sessions for next year's leadership team, which I hope to be a part of. This has been really good for me...a great chance for being challenged and staying accountable.
This past weekend was vocal jazz fest at MU, when a bunch of high school jazz groups came to perform and spent a half hour with a clinician for some tips. I helped chaperone a group around for a while and then my jazz group sang at the end of the day. It was fun...and a great experience for our young group of singers. May I say that kirkland stage feels huge when there are only 9 of you and the microphones up there...
Had some of my music buddies over to the house the other night for games and a movie...that was a blast. I think it scared a few of them to knock on the door and have "DR HOLMES" answer. :) hehe...it really does crack me up some times to be the daughter of my dad...I hope he doesn't mind having his students in his refrigerator one minute and in his class the next.
Speaking of music, next Saturday we'll be performing a major work...a requiem by Verdi with full orchestra and soloists from Chicago. Composers for hundreds of years have been using the same texts to set their works to...a requiem is just a specific set of latin texts which many different composers set their own music to. Most of the work is spent singing about "Dies Irae"...the day of judgement. The requiem was typically a funeral mass, and in some lights you could see this concert as and hour and 15 min of singing about hell fire and brimstone in Latin...but if you could hear these choirs...the HUGE sound, the orchestra, and the pleading texts "Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death, on that fearful day when the heavens are moved and the earth when thou shalt come to judge the world through fire. Rest eternal grant your children, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine on them. Lord have mercy...Christ have mercy" ...wow...I get shivers just thinking about it. So while this concert means four extra rehersals this week, I'm very excited about it...
I've been reading through the gospels in the last couple of weeks...trying to get through them before easter as a precursor. I haven't ever just sat down and read these books as a whole so I'm really excited about it. A few days ago I finished the sermon on the mount in Matthew. Took me a while to look at it all slowly and carefully...some facinating lessons there. I'm amazed over and over about how Christ takes the state of the religious people there and attempts to show them how much they have missed the heart of the matter. "You have heard it said that you should not murder, but I tell you that he that is angry with his brother is guilty of the same sin." "You have heard it said 'and eye for and eye' but I tell you do not resist the evil person...when your enemy strikes you, turn the other cheek" "You have heard that you should not commit adultery with another man's wife, but I tell you that he who even looks at a woman (or man) lustfully has already committed lust in his heart." Why is it that I get so tied up on the rules...the things I have to do in order to "pass the test" and totally miss the motives of my own heart? It's a challenge that I can't overlook and one that I know will be a life long struggle. Somehow I pray that I can learn to live a life of freedom by the spirit and yet use that freedom to surrender myself...my whole self...
Ok wow...so I have class in 3 minutes and I really have to run. If you're reading this, thanks for listening...if not...that's Ok too...
Blessings on your new week....
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