BSO and Thanksgiving Day

Hello Everyone,
Can I tell you what a busy couple of weeks I have had? Church is kicking into high gear with the Advent season and Christmas coming right around the corner. I even got to preach today. How cool is that? Busy Busy. I am looking forward to Christmas Day - when I get to see my family and friends, and also beginning a long vacation. Until then, lots of things are happening here.

First - I had the wonderful wonderful experience of being invited to see the BSO. What is the BSO you ask? That is Bostonian for....the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a small little musical group up here. :-) Can I just say - WOW. One of our members invited me to attend with her. After about two seconds of consideration, I said YES!!!! We listened to Hayden's Symphony #4 and an amazing Mahler Symphony #1. What a wonderful experience to witness and be a part of. You really really should listen to those pieces. I don't know the "classical" lingo, but I had goose bumps after Mahler and I was just blown away. Two of our adult members play in the BSO and their two daughters play in the Youth BSO. They taught me a lot about what I heard.

As far as Thanksgiving goes, I missed being with my family and had a wonderful time talking with them on the phone. However, do not be worried, because I was well taken care of in Massachusetts, specifically, in Needham. I spent the day at Charley and Mireille's home with their LARGE family. Charley, if you have not followed my blog, is my colleague, boss, and friend. Mireille is his better half. What a wonderful family. Mostly from Connecticut and Massachusetts, there was a little Romania in there and even a Charlottesvillian!!!! Is that a word? We talked for a while. Yippee.

Most importantly, it was family and I got to be a part of it. The pictures that you will see are me with Charley and Mireille and then me with each of their children, Phoebe and Emmett. I fell in love with Emmett and his blue eyes. Phoebe is the sweetest thing that is deep into the two year old world. I won't go into details, because it's too much to share with the world, but know that I was treated very kindly and welcomed like if I were one of their own. I had a great day.

That evening, I had a chance to call the family in Richmond. Sounded like they were having fun. I am sooo looking forward to seeing all of them on Christmas Day when I arrive in Richmond around 1:30 pm....well, according to my flight plan. As we learned last year, that is NOT set in stone.

Please keep me in your prayers. This is going to be an EXTREMELY BUSY time for the church, for Charley and for me. Until Christmas day, we are going to be running like crazy. But it will be worth it. The season of Advent and the celebration of Christmas are two wonderful times of year that we get to celebrate and remember what life is all about...giving. I may not be able to post as much as you would like, but know that my busy-ness will be for good reasons.

PS - did i remind you that Duke is 6 and 0? oh.

Installation Service

I promised that I would post about a special thing that happened at church. On October 21st, I was officially installed as Minister of Christian Education. It was a remarkable day, and quite humbling. We had a regular service and then added the installation part. There was special music: the choir did one of my favorite pieces, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. One of the youth performed a beautiful piece on his oboe. Someone from the children, youth, and adults read scripture. The chairperson from the search committee shared how I ended up at First Baptist Church, calling me a light and the "moore" that we needed. Then Charley blew me away with his message/sermon too. I still get teary eyed thinking about what he said, especially when I see his daughter and her smile. I could not believe all that was said and all that was done to celebrate this day.
I am in a good place. So much has changed for me - all for the better. Don't get me wrong, there are challenges and obstacles that I encounter every day, but I know I would not be able to face them like I do, without the support of the people that I work with and the people I work for, and the One that I work for too. Most importantly, I now I am in the right spot and i am starting to realize that I am doing the right thing - especially when I keep my focus on the right person.
Look at the bottom picture. I am in the center and they are laying hands on me and Charley is praying. I will let the picture speak for itself.