When I was a freshman in high school my family moved to England for six months. I know I’ve talked about it before…how I almost withered away and died but how incredibly grateful I am, looking back, for that little blip in time where I grew more than I ever could have imagined.  And I’ve driven my poor husband crazy trying to maneuver ways for us to take our kids away for six months so they can have that same kind of experience.  And how it’s somehow not working out for us…at least not right now, darn it! Anyway, side-tracked.  While we were gone I missed my friends and life back in Utah like nobodies business. And the worst part: I had to wear a dark brown school uniform and go to an all-girls school. The only silver lining I could see at the time was that at least I had my sister Saren to hang with me.  We had one “class” together that saved me.  It was a chorus class.  One where we happened to learn Handel’s Messiah…all of it.  I swear, we learned every single song in that thing because I remember all the parts to this day.  I’ve had such an incredibly soft spot in my heart for that beautiful Messiah music ever since.  Every time I hear that stuff, my heart gets all mushy. This year, our friends invited Claire and Grace to go to a music concert where they sang along for the Hallelujah chorus and of course they loved it. 2012-12-01 iPhone 65846 It started this yearning in my heart for hearing more it. So I snuck Dave away one night while our little kids were at the annual Christmas “Nana Sleepover” and we went and watched an amazing performance of Handel’s Messiah.2012-12-14 Christmas prep 67000 I sat there with tears welled up in my eyes and sniffling galore (at one point Dave asked if he needed to go get me a tissue) because there is nothing like beautiful music.  Especially when that beautiful music has so much sentimentality attached to it.  2012-12-14 Christmas prep 67005 When I called my sister to reminisce our old England days she gave me the great idea to have the kids memorize the verse from Isaiah this week to help them get in the whole spirit so we’ve been listening to this each morning: And they now all have this memorized:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

–Isaiah 9:6 It makes me so happy. Then last night I took my little girls to the Jon Schmidt/Steven Sharp Nelson (The Piano Guys) concert.  (Max and Elle got to go last year (here), it was Grace and Claire’s turn…Dave got to have a little “date” with Lucy.)2012-12-21 Christmas prep 66981 Oh man, I know I’ve said it before, but I LOVE the Piano Guys. Once again, I cried.  Claire cried. I think Grace may have shed a tear or two.  Because when you hear music like this you can’t help but get emotional. (I think that’s my fav. song in the whole wide world.  …Aside from “The Messiah.”) Ok, and this one is so awesome.  You’ve got to check out how fast Jon’s fingers move near the middle.  Grace and Claire’s eyes were popping out of their sockets as they watched. They showed some of these videos while they were playing.  I sat there in awe not only at the music but at the cinematography.  Seriously, is that beautiful or what?  I wondered who did it and what they used, etc.  And there are a lot of other breath-takingly beautiful ones on youtube you must check out.  Man alive, serious talent. Then they happened to talk about that very thing just as I was wondering.  This guy does it. 2012-12-21 Christmas prep 66988 (I am nerdy and had to get a picture.)  He does that with his new Canon 5D Mark III and has done a bunch with my camera (the Mark II).  Wow, I better start taking more video footage cause I’m sure I could probably copy him exactly… 🙂 Yes, music is amazing.  I’m so grateful for how it can move you.  I’m so grateful for parents who exposed me to a lot of it. The girls were spell-bound and determined to meet Jon at the end.2012-12-21 Christmas prep 66986 We saw the amazing Steven Sharp too but it was so darn late we couldn’t wait in another line.2012-12-21 Christmas prep 66987 …and then we had to get some hot chocolate on the way home.2012-12-21 Christmas prep 67060 In other news, Power of Moms is giving away an awesome podcast for Christmas.  The offer ends on Christmas so hop over here to get your free deliberate Motherhood podcast.

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11 Comments

  1. Oh man, am I glad you shared this. Way back when I graduated with a music degree & I so miss all those concerts I use to attend. This inspired me. I think I'll go practice the piano now…as my 3 little babes hang on my limbs 🙂

  2. oh I love jon Schmidt, I think I have said this before, but all my wedding music was his!! I walked down the isle to Bells of freedom ( UK wedding, civil first, then sealing).. then I walked out to waterfalls…. soooo beautiful!

  3. I love the Piano Guys, too! I have been a fan of Jon Schmidt since he was a solo artist, and went to his Christmas concert every year until he got too famous and didn't give one in Utah this year. Sad for me, but happy for you and your girls.

  4. Thanks for sharing this. I too have wonderful memories of singing The Messiah the first time at the "tender" age of 16 with our church choir in Switzerland. I was very fortunate indeed that I was able to sing it at the Sydney Opera House during our time in Australia. I then sang it again when we lived in Jakarta as well as Singapore. Happy memories of wonderful music. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

  5. Researchers Katherine Cotter and Paul Silvia, department of Psychology at the university of North Carolina, and Kirill Fayn, branch of Psychology, college of Sydney, collaborated on studies to research the feelings that humans experience whilst tune makes them sense like crying. Evoking emotion is the factor of tune, after all, so perhaps we shouldn’t be too amazed that songs can placed a lump in your throat. song can calm or excite; it is able to encourage–unite worshipers in peace and devotion, or pressure human beings, to the sound of drum and bugle, into struggle. Likewise, crying is a complicated human behavior which could accompany a ramification of intense stories. Crying can be provoked by way of grief, as at a funeral, however additionally by means of the opposite: severe happiness, as at a marriage. however helplessness and gratitude and other diffused emotions also can initiate tears. What emotion do most people feel while they're moved to tears by means of music?

    The researchers surveyed 892 adults to decide what number of had skilled feeling like crying at the same time as listening to track, and what emotion they have been feeling at that moment. the primary finding is that being moved to tears by way of music isn't uncommon. 89.8% of the humans inside the look at suggested that they had experienced feeling like crying by listening to song. The participants have been requested to rank their emotional emotions accompanying that reaction, throughout a spectrum of 16 emotions, consisting of euphoria, happiness, awe, nervousness, sadness, melancholy, etc. The researchers found that individuals who were moved to tears by using song might be surely separated into agencies: those who felt disappointment, and those who felt awe. The big majority (63%) pronounced feeling sad while song made them cry, and 36.7% mentioned feeling awe. Is there some thing about the personalities of people in those two exclusive businesses that might provide an explanation for why these two very distinct emotional reactions—sadness and awe–provoked tears at the same time as paying attention to track? https://bestringtonesfree.net

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