Spectacular

The concerts were spectacular.  But, of course!  Was there ever any doubt??  ;-)

~ Josiah is on the front row, second from the right

When I met up with Josiah after last night's concert, he was bubbling over with excitement.  He loved performing, could hardly wait for his next chance to be on stage, and exclaimed, "I could sing five more concerts!!"  I think the performance bug bit him hard last night.  :)

~ it's kind of hard to spot him; but if you find the microphone that looks like it's looming above the choristers' heads, then follow that down to where it intersects with a crossbar, you'll find Josiah to the right of that, in the front row again

Sons of the Day was the featured group that performed with SVCC, and they did a phenomenal job, too.  In fact, both Jeff and I thought that they showed tremendous improvement since the last time we saw them.  It was extra-special to have them perform in this concert because our friend Chris is in that group.  :)

~ Josiah is standing beneath Julia White's (she's the director) outstretched left hand...David is one of the children standing on the steps to ring bells during Jingle Bells; he's wearing a dark green sweater, and is about the 5th child from the left...although David sings with abandon when he's here at home with just the family, he tends to get shy (or something) when he's with a group...before the concert, I had reminded him to actually sing on Jingle Bells and not just ring the bell...afterwards, he said to me, "I forgot to sing"...that's OK, sweetie; there's always next year  :)...Caleb, the son of Julie who commented on the previous post, is the tall guy in the back row on the far left of this picture

Some other things I want to remember:

~ Jeff and I both ushered last evening, and my parents stayed home and babysat our three younger sons...then today, Jeff stayed home with Tobin and Shav; and the rest of us went to the concert...I ushered again, and David sat with my parents who reported after it was over that he did a super job of sitting still (in Grandma's lap for most of the time) and listening...Jeff and I really enjoyed ushering, and hopefully we'll get to do it again

~ shortly before the concert started last evening, I happened to catch a glimpse outside as someone came in the door of the auditorium; and I realized with wonder that it was snowing!...our first flakes of the year...it was the crowning touch on a perfect evening, as if God said, "Here, let me dump even more joy into your heart this night"

~ the first thing my dad said to me after the concert today was how he got all choked up when Josiah came onto the stage, so much so that he couldn't even sing!  (the audience was singing a Christmas carol with the choirs at that point)...and then later in the concert, when Josiah's choir again came on stage, Dad got choked up again!...as we rode home in the Big White Van, Mom told me how she had gotten teary-eyed, too; but I fully expected that...after all, I got my leaky tear ducts from her  :)...but Dad!...I think he's turning into a big softie in his old(er) age  ;-)

~ one of the songs that Sons of the Day sang was What Child Is This...I love that song; it's so beautiful...but both last night and today, I was jerked out of my musings of "oh, this is such a nice, sweet song" by the lyrics of the second verse...I don't know how you're used to singing it, but I grew up singing "this, this is Christ the king, etc." as a refrain for all of the verses...as it turns out, each verse actually has its own set of words until the last phrase which they all share, "the Babe, the Son of Mary"...in the second verse, at the pinnacle of the song, these words come crashing in:  

Nails, spear, shall pierce Him through,

The cross be borne, for me, for you.

Woah...that's intense...smack dab in the middle of a lullaby about the greatest child ever born lies a prophecy about his violent death...it got me thinking about what lies ahead for each of my children--and how grateful I am that I don't know the future and that my children's lullabies don't include a description of their death!...and then I got to thinking about Julian Assange...really, I did, all because of lyrics from a Christmas carol...in case you live under a rock news-wise (like I usually do) and don't know who that is, he's the founder of WikiLeaks, and he's on the run, hated (and that strong word isn't even strong enough) by a myriad of individuals and governments around the world--all because he exposed the dirty, corrupt world of politics...I'm no prophet, but it doesn't take a prophet to sense that the end is coming for him, and that it might be violent...but you know, he was once somebody's baby...somebody once fed him and bathed him and changed his clothes and diapers and (hopefully) played with and sang to and cooed over him...and then Julian grew up and had a son...did Julian bounce his son on his knee?...did he toss him playfully up in the air and delight in his laughter?...I don't know where I'm going with this...I guess I'm just recording my thoughts spurred on by the concert today, even though they're jumbled and senseless!...what if Julian's lullaby had included a prophecy about what would happen to him in the last month of 2010?

~ towards the end of the concert, the Concert Choir sang Noel by Todd Smith (of the group Selah)...I love that song!...but in all my times of listening to it here at home on my Selah CD, I never realized that the translation is this:

Noel, Noel, Jesus has come to live with us.

If you want to know the Child, you have to come kneel.

I like that.  I really like that.  

And I really, really have loved this weekend!