IrishOboe

 

Sounds like the title of a German lesson essay.  I think I need to start studying again rather than just communicating.  Today I learned that you do not buy train tickets (kaufen) you use another word (lösen).  It matters little for communication, but it’s slightly frustrating to know I’ve been saying it wrong this whole time.

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I’ve just returned from a Christmas Eve service in a small town called Lausen (not to be confused with Lausanne).  The Stuecklin family had four of us from church over for Christmas Eve supper.  We had a traditional dinner of sloppy joes for the practical reason that we all wanted to spend our time enjoying the company and not working in the kitchen.  After dinner we sang carols and read the Christmas story from Luke.  I played oboe and Cornelia and Stephan played piano.  I can’t get enough of singing in intimate groups like that.  At 10:30 we walked to a local church and enjoyed an 11pm service all in Swiss German, with the exception of the hymns which were in high German, though we sang Go Tell it on the Mountain in English. :)  Both in the church and at the Stucklin’s the Christmas tree had real candles.  The trees are much thinner than what I’m used to, but the bare simplicity and that live light of the candles makes for a really beautiful picture.

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I’ve been running around so much I can hardly believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  I remember checking the advent calendar a few times a day as a kid and now I find I often miss a few days.  I have some presents from loving relatives but my room is such a disaster (robber’s den as they say in German) that I don’t really see them in the mess.  I know, I shouldn’t write about it, but clean it, but it’s either write an update or go to bed, and somehow the echo Mom’s voice carries across the ocean . . .

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That means vacation.  A very good word no matter how much you like your work.  I’m exhausted and am looking forward to sleeping.  I still have reeds to make for Sunday and Tuesday, but other than that I’m forgetting school responsibilities.  Wahoo!

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I’ve got to run and hit people with sticks, but I want to share a bit.  I’ve been stressing out about school again and loosing my mind waiting for Christmas break (though it’s not even two weeks long!).  Life has not been that fun therefore but I read this in my quiet time this morning.  “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.” Hebrews 4:11  Take a look at the context, but I found it intriguing that entering God’s rest would lead to obedience.  It’s so easy to get worked up about how I’m not doing enough for God and not obeying Him and not living fully in Him and letting my imagination plan my life rather than listening to God, etc. etc.  As seriously as God wants our obedience we cannot attain it ourselves, we must enter His rest and act in His strength.  I simply though about entering into God’s rest today and the day was very much better!  I had a good voice lesson (“Now you are singing!”) and I felt the difference this time.  I hope I can get that consistently – it’s fun to sing when the voice is placed correctly.  We sang Christmas carols, which might have had something to do with brightening my mood, too.  Speaking of which, yesterday I skipped the fondue party at my German Bible study so I could go to the carol sing at Valda’s with BCF Bible study.  We sang for nearly two hours and it was wonderful, glorious!  Rebekka played piano most of the time so we had all the parts and a few of us held the harmony.  It did my heart good to just sing and sing and sing around the piano with people I love!  All previous piano gatherings come together in one collage of a memory that I’m so grateful I have!

Today I walked into ensemble class and was told I’m performing in Italy all expenses paid.  I’m sure glad I decided to show up today.  Details coming soon, but there’s some festival in May at which early musicians from various conservatories will gather and perform.  Oh yeah.  I’m excited.

Well, I burnt myself out working so hard the week before and wasn’t as efficient with my time this past week.  I lucked out and had a few classes canceled, which saved me some stress.

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Some dear friends I respect recommended “The Sacred Romance” and I started it without looking at the authors (a bad habit of mine) and kept thinking “this sounds familiar.”  I must confess to not having read Wild at Heart or Captivated though I’ve heard many opinions about both.  Sure enough the book is by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge (the author/co-author of Captivated).  I was rather disturbed by the beginning of the book but kept going out of respect for my friends.  I am a logical person and one important aspect of logic is that for the conclusion to be true the propositions must be true.  Thus, propositions are terribly important and Eldredge picks some very shaky propositions to base his arguments on, namely, the human heart and its desires.  “The heart is deceitful above all things” and I surely know my emotions carry me places that I ought not to go.  Still, Eldredge concludes with some deep truths about the life and joy God made us for.  If we find truth in the end does it matter how we got there?  The ends do not justify the means, but I wonder if I should not have a bit more humility before our maker who teaches us of His character through all our false ramblings and searchings.  If Eldredge starts out his journey selfishly (and who doesn’t?) but ends in the heart of God, who am I to judge a man in God’s bosom, or even worse, condemn the path that God lead him through?  I can only worry that some readers will follow Eldredge’s propositions and logic and end up in the wrong place – a very wrong place.

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I'm not going home for the holidays and I still have the "I don't want to do my work" blues.  While researching why men's and women's shirts button differently in order to determine whether the story I knew was Tapioca or Truth, which was important to discover since I told it to impressionable young ladies at church, I came across Dr. Douglas H. Plume's Fountain of Genius website.  He seems to be the only one that did not confirm the story I knew because, you know, checking three websites on Google is enough to extrapolate the claim that everyone agrees and that makes it truth.  Well, I'm still convinced that when buttons came about men dressed themselves and most people were right handed so the easiest way to button is to take the button in the right hand and push it through the holes on the left.  Women, on the other hand, had help dressing (one version says this is because women's clothes buttoned in the back) so the buttons were reversed for the one doing the dressing.  Dr. Plume tells a different story but I'm writing to share with you his expert opinion on personal pronouns because I found it funny.  I know, I laugh easily, as illustrated by Richard's shock and hurt by the fact that I didn't react at all to a pun he made at Bible study last night.  It's just that usually his puns are more creative than that.  Okay, I've got to practice.  Have a lovely day!

In an attempt to learn to write concisely (or at least not using as much time) I’m writing this before I run to class.  This weekend was lovely.  Saturday was a bit tiring as I went into school early to practice harp for the BCF Christmas production then had rehearsal for it from 10-2ish.  I was impressed with how far we’ve come.  After rehearsal I’d planned to practice more, but gave it up because I was too mentally exhausted.  I cooked dinner for Veronika for a change, which made me feel very much better, though she was too appreciative.  I made potato salad, which she loved and American omelets.  Stephanie sent a text to see if I wanted to hang out and I thought it was a lovely idea.  She brought over chocolate chips, brown sugar and American measuring stuff and as she arrived Veronika’s guest came home so I fed them both and all four of us went to look at Christmas lights on a castle with a moat.  How romantic!  I have to say it was so lovely to be domestic for a few hours and bring people pleasure by serving them.  Stephanie was gracious that most of the time was spent in English/German conversation with everybody and baked the cookies with talkative company, but around 10:30 we got the kitchen to ourselves and had some lovely girl talk time.  She is such a blessing to me.  Praise the Lord for his abundant provisions to us.  Even better, she appreciates my friendship too. :)

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I am happy to report that I am no longer in a bad mood and have found myself closer to getting the ‘no reason happies’ than I have been in a good while.  God has filled my heart and given me the strength to do the work given me and I have enjoyed the activities of the week even while they consumed my time and energy and I am not very exhausted on a Friday evening.  No, I can’t prove that it is God and not something I ate, but at the same time I have no doubt.  I still don’t understand His ways, but surely he provides what we need and nothing else can ever satisfy!

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Diana gave a children’s ‘sermon’ on Advent and the church advent wreath that worked well.  I still hold to my beliefs, but I can appreciate a job well done.  Rehearsal for the Christmas program went very much better, and it does a heart good to play Bach on the oboe no matter the level of the orchestra.  They’re all doing a fine job and I’m proud of them.  It’s nice to finally have no stress that I’m the worst one and must make up for it somehow.  Funny how it makes it easier to play, too.

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Like the tapioca story, the story of Einstein sailing in the Connecticut river where my father’s side of the family has been for generations has been told convincingly year in and year out.  I believe every word that comes from the mouths of those I love and respect, which I’m sorry to say is often mightily abused.  ;)  So, did Johnny Dingle, or some other character really see Albert Einstein capsize his little boat in the sound and row out to rescue him?

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I have homework I don’t want to do so I spent some time finding old friends on Facebook and now I’m writing an update.  I always did composition homework at the last minute because I’ll spend too much time on it if I don’t have a deadline.  Why is it so hard?  I suspect my ego is getting in the way.  So, what have I to tell you besides I miss the fantastic discussions that used to go on in my blog.  Maybe I should say something inflammatory.  I’m converting to Catholicism.  I’m eloping.  I’ve joined the Democratic Party.  (That should get one famous quite reader to comment about dinosaurs).

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