Easter Week

Today we performed the Easter cantata at our church. We had a very nice turn out and also a good size choir. Our pastor's wife Susan directed us, and did a wonderful job.

My excitement for the day was getting to play piano for the regular 11:00 service on a slanted sanctuary floor. You see, our church is in serious need of a renovation, or possibly a new building all together. So, today the keyboard was moved from it's usual place to the side of the sanctuary so there would be room for the cantata choir risers. As a result, the keyboard was situated on a slanted floor which meant I kept scooting up the bench to keep myself from feeling like I was falling off. It was interesting because I did not want the pastor or his wife to feel they had inconvenienced me, so all the while he was preaching I kept nodding my head and keeping good eye contact to show I was listening, but in reality, half of me was trying to keep from falling off the piano bench and trying to figure out how to get in and out around the people and palm branches. It was a very nice service though, regardless of the situation.

While I am mentioning it, it seems appropriate to ask for prayers for our church. We are in the middle of a long process of deciding what is to be done about the church building. We have a committee that meets regularly to discuss it but the building is on it's way to being an unsafe environment, because the roof is slowly caving in on itself and eventually it will not be safe to sit inside the church, unless a major renovation is done. The church is so old that building a new building may very well be the more affordable and long-term practical decision, but of course as with any church, there are many who grew up in it and are very emotionally attached to the building and hesitant if not adamant about changing their place of worship. So, if you could pray for our church, as well as the committees, prayer groups, and the pastor as he is often unfortunately a target for many harsh critical comments from those who have strong feelings of what they individually feel is best for the church.

Enough about the church. I don't have too much else to say right now (for once!). I will say that I am needing to lose a lot of weight. I feel kind of silly asking this, but since that is what friends are for, I would appreciate it if you would pray for me to get in better shape. It scares me a bit because each year I weigh a little more than the year before and my older brother and I both keep gaining weight and our whole family is trying to make changes in our lifestyles to be healthier. It is especially a concern for my brother and I because on our father's side of the family we have a history of diabetes, obesity, and heart conditions, and on my mother's side more heart problems, cancer, arthritis, etc. So, while we are still young, we need to make changes that are practical for a life-style rather than a "crash-diet" or expecting myself to run 6 miles a day.

I also realize that I'm bringing all of this up during Easter week. It would be helpful if we could go into Easter week remembering the true meaning of the holiday, and not feeling obligated to eat chocolate and candy all week because "everyone else does". Honestly, I'm ready to dump it all it and go to the grocery store and buy a bunch of vegis and fruit.

Ok, nough said! I'm done complaining now :) Hope to have more exciting news in the near future so I'll have something worth talking about!

Good night