Merry Christmas!

Music at Christmas

I've participated in the Christmas music program at church just about every year since I was old enough to participate.  When I was ten I was the "official" page turner of our church choir just so I could sing with them.  Even though I'm always a participant, today was only the second time I've been the one who actually put together and organized the Christmas program.  I don't get to do as much with my music these days as I would like, so I really enjoyed putting the program together and starting up a ward choir again.  I love Christmas music, so this was even more fun than usual working with the ward choir.

One perk of being in charge is that I can assign my husband to sing (cue my evil but loving chuckle). He sang an adapted solo version of "Manger of Bethlehem."

One of my favorite quotes from the Christmas program narration:

Sister Jo N. Jepson, former member of the General Primary Presidency taught us how make the birth of the Savior relevant and motivating in our always busy and often distracted lives.  “I believe that each of us can re-create that familiar scene in Bethlehem in our own lives. We can have a star to follow just as the Wise Men did…The scriptures can light our way, and our testimonies can be a light from within. The voices of angels can be the voices of our beloved prophet and His servants. We can kneel at the feet of our Savior just as literally as the shepherds and the Wise Men, but we do it in prayer. The gifts we bring are our talents. We can shout ‘Hosanna’ like that angelic choir and spread the good news by bearing our testimonies. Each new day is an opportunity to bind ourselves to act according to what we know.  By works of righteousness, we can come unto Him each day of our lives just as if we had trod in our sandaled feet the rocky path to Bethlehem, holding a staff or bearing gifts.

“I pray that Heavenly Father will help us be wise men and wise women—wise enough to accept His invitation, nourish His word, and follow a ‘straight course to eternal bliss.’  May we all cheerfully answer, ‘I’m coming.’”

A Mini-Job Update

We thought December would be the big month for movement/news on the job scene, but the timeline keeps getting pushed back.  Here are just a couple of updates:

-Joel heard back from Penn State Hershey, and they ended up having a candidate interview in December, so they won't be deciding on the second round of interviews until January now.

-Joel had a phone interview with Cleveland Clinic over the Thanksgiving holiday and he felt good about it.  They will be finishing up their phone interviews this month and hopefully Joel will be a part of their first round of interviews in January.

-Joel also applied to 3 more job openings:
Mesa, AZ
Detroit, MI
Des Moines, IA
That puts him at a total of 44 CVs sent out.  Nice.