Music Memory + Why I love my siblings!

Last Fall, I sang in the Women's Choir at BYU-Idaho.  I loved singing in this choir.  I felt so spiritually uplifted, refreshed with greater capacity to face my daily challenges through cheerful interactions and positive, happy people, and blessed to be in the presence of such great talent and choral skill that made me want to be a better musician.  This was such a great experience.  I felt especially tender when we rehearsed the hymn "More Holiness Give Me."  

Each Tuesday afternoon at BYU-Idaho, pretty much the entire campus shuts down for a school-wide devotional with a special speaker and musical number that lasts about an hour long.  I enjoyed going to those devotionals from the beginning of my college experience.  However, I felt a different spirit at them when I got to SING in them. :)  [The auditorium where the devotionals are held is huge with 15,000 seats, equipped with cameras, fancy teleprompters, and a large stage used for a variety of meetings and performances.  Basically, it's quite the venue for a mere 70?ish ladies to fill with {hopefully} beautiful sound for all to hear.]

For one of the devotionals, we (Women's Choir) sang "More Holiness Give Me."  My favorite moment of singing that song was actually during a rehearsal we had previous to one of the performances of the song.  It was so powerful because I felt the combination of emotion and musicianship eloquently carry the message of the song to be more like the Savior.  It was truly unique.
To date, it holds a special place in my heart and I love to hear mass choirs sing it. :) 

I am so excited to attend BYU-Idaho again in the Winter and look forward to the many more positive memories to unfold there! :) 

Serious Sisters

Funny Sisters

...sisters either way! :) 

For now, I am living at home and it is different than living away from home as any college student who has left and returns (or anyone who every has) is familiar with, but it's not unbearable. I have a different set of challenges that make me grow but also many blessings that accompany those challenges.  Most recently I have appreciated the cheerful company of my sister.  She is involved in work, school, church, and music right now and SO busy!  But somehow we manage to find time to laugh, cheer each other up and hear about our concerns, goals, funny moments, and enthusiasm in our lives. :)  It's a blessing I cherish in this season of my life!  :)  

In addition to her, my brother Andrew has also been quite entertaining lately.  He comes home with stories, practices his french in the car ride, at the check-out line, or just around the house, and generously showers our home -and yard (see below)- with his vibrant personality.  Whether it's mowing his initials with a display of his new age into the backyard for his birthday, or practicing the trumpet into the wee hours of the night with an energy that can hardly match an ordinary practice session, I am glad he and I are around together for at least this season more before my adult wings get too ambitious for long spurts at home. :)

Why Winter 2014 is Looking Different

-A Piece of My Path-

In the past few weeks I have made a major decision.  Along the way, I have learned a lot about faith and how to receive guidance for my life.  

To describe the feeling that I've had about my life for the past 8-9 months especially, I'll share the words to a favorite hymn I have called "Lead Kindly Light" 

1. Lead, kindly Light, amid the’encircling gloom;

Lead thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home;

Lead thou me on!

Keep thou me on!

Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see

The distant scene—one step enough for me.

With the onslaught of significant life decisions facing me in June, when asked by a friend about how things were going, I summed it up about like this:

I feel like I am in a VERY dark cave.  There is something great at the end, a great distance away.  However, for now I have only about one foot of light ahead of me to see where to go. 

She is older, wiser, and simply further along that road than I am so her reply was consoling as she reassured me.  She readily agreed and basically said “keep following the light.”  She told me of her decisions at my age and was encouraging, believing that things would work out. :)

Day by day and sometimes more like hour by hour I was guided, going on with that little bit of light.  It has stretched my faith and trust in all the promises I've received that things will work out because just like the hymn says, sometimes the weight of the unknown, unsettled decisions feel like “encircling gloom.”

At the turn of the year, I felt especially impressed to consider serving a full-time 18 month mission for my church and yet so many anxieties held me back.  By April, I felt faith enough to set side what was left of the anxieties and pursue the beginning steps –mainly securing finances.  In July, I began the paperwork process.  I only got so far before I was seriously questioning this path and thought I should look into my main alternative option: going back to school.  

Much prayer, soul searching, questioning, seeking, knocking, and pondering went into the following weeks of re-consideration. 

Upon finishing my first draft plan for gradation with degree requirements, electives, and {hopefully}enough time to also work a part-time job, I found that I felt going back to school starting January 2014 is the next major step for me and in the same day, I emailed my former employer seeking an open position for Winter 2014.  The response was positive and I look forward to what Winter 2014 brings!   

Anyone who has ever experienced an odd but discernible insight knows that the puzzling quality to the notion doesn’t negate the sense that it feels right and you can’t deny it.  I don’t know why exactly that serving a full time mission does not seem to be meant for my immediate future but for now, I say: “one step enough for me.”  

 There are still lots of unanswered questions about the future that I still don't understand fully.  But the last verse of the song goes like this: 

3. So long thy pow’r hath blest me, sure it still

Will lead me on

O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till

The night is gone.

And with the morn those angel faces smile,

Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!

{"Lead Kindly Light"; Text: John Henry Newman, 1801-1890;

Music: John B. Dykes, 1823-1876}

As far as a missionary work goes, I am convinced {largely in part because of the experiences I've sought in preparation for a mission} there are so many good and needed ways to be a missionary without committing to full-time missionary service.  Looking back and forth to the past and then the future, I can see better how these experiences that I've had as I have pursued full-time missionary service have blessed me in the ways I needed to become what I am now and what I need for the future.  I am grateful for this and look forward to using my new knowledge and skills in new and different avenues. :) 

Keep you posted, 

Heidi  

Shout out for Mindy + a memory

One of my favorite music artists, Mindy Gledhill just released a new album!  It's called:

 "A POCKET FULL OF POETRY" 

and my favorite song from the album so far is called "I Take Flight."  It's sweet, a little spunky, and creative! :) 

Also, I can hardly post on September 11th without a memory of when I was in 3rd grade and heard of the Twin Tower crash as I safely sat on the alphabet carpet "criss-cross-apple-sauce" at the feet of my kind and gentle teacher who carefully told us about the current tragedy of our country.  I am grateful for the hope we can find from experiences like this.  Here is a great video called Finding Hope  about one man working in New York that day who miraculously survived the accident.  Now he finds greater meaning in his life. :)  Enjoy!