Just Monday

Plans for today include general cleaning and straightening of the house and then down the hill for my practice time on the pipe organ and one student this evening. I'll chat with David about a few things that are on my heart regarding the new organ. I was told last night I need to decide whether I want my back to the congregation as it is now or if I want to face the pulpit with my side to the congregation as it was several years ago. Honestly, I don't know. If my back is to them I feel a little like a child when they cover their eyes thinking you can't see them, which gives me a measure of comfort and invisibility, but if I ever get the opportunity to play a wedding there, it might be helpful to look up and see who is entering the church etc.

I stole the above graphic from Linda - my heart is still very heavy for my friend and teacher, Dr. Gordon Page. He met the oncologist, Dr. Lynch, and we've been asked to pray for her and for all the Drs. and nurses that will tend Gordon. He will have a chemo orientation on Wednesday of this week and Thursday they put in a port for the chemo. They are hoping chemo will start sometime in the next couple of weeks. He is already in a lot of pain and can only be in one position for about 5 minutes or so.

Other things that remain on my heart are my kids - Daughter's health, son's relationships, Daughter #2's anxiety, the organs arrival and installation, Finances and Hubby's stresses.

The young man that we gave the old organ to has strong desires to be a serious organ student. It's so exciting to see him positively giddy about learning the organ. Last night one of our orchestra members handed him an extra copy of the ring bound hymnals for him to take home and use for practice. His face lit up like it was Christmas morning! What I find particularly interesting and exciting is that when all this first began about possibly purchasing an organ, our new pastor was concerned that I am too old to be playing it much longer and that they would be wasting money because no one is going to want to use it once I am done. I tried to explain to him that if we had an organ of quality perhaps God would send someone else along who is interested, someone perhaps I could teach to follow after me. He scoffed. It's so wonderful to see this young man step in and whether or not he stays around once he's finished with school, it still speaks to the fact that there are young people out there that want this, that it's not as dead as Pastor wanted everyone to believe. It's as if God is giving us confirmation that the new organ and the timing of everything has been in His will all along.

It looks like we will see the sun a good bit today and that is also a blessing!