Hooray!!! They did great!!!

Today was our ward's annual primary sacrament meeting presentation. IT WENT GREAT! I have been the chorister for 3 years now (well, 3 years in January, but this is my 3rd program) and I really believe that this was the best one yet! The program was very well written (I had nothing to do with that) and the children (for the most part) all had their parts memorized. We were asked by the bishop to have them memorize their parts so that the message of what they were saying became more internalized and a part of their individual testimonies. I was amazed at what a difference it made. (we always encourage them to memorize their parts of course, but we made a much bigger push for it this year, and it was fantastic.

The kids sang the following songs:

* I am a Child of God (with obbligato on 3rd verse)

* Tell me the Stories of Jesus

* I know that My Redeemer Lives

* We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet

* Home

* I love to See the Temple

* Called to Serve

* When Jesus Christ was Baptized

* A Child's Prayer (duet part was with children singing child's part and male teachers singing Heavenly Father's response - it was great!)

* If the Savior Stood Beside me

They did such an amazing job. They sang out loud and clear, they followed me, they were reverent (for the most part) while they sat up on the stand... I LOVED IT! We had a few minor glitches, (like on one of the songs when I didn't stand them up right, and then I forgot to sit them back down again. Don't know where my brain went on that one. And on Called to Serve we had a couple kids who just couldn't help themselves - they HAD to march along... My fault for letting them march while we were learning the song. it is just so much fun to MARCH to, ya know what I mean?)

We sang If the Savior Stood Beside Me as the closing hymn and it was WONDERFUL! If you want to hear the arrangement that we sang, go to this link http://www.defordmusic.com/ifthesaviorstoodbesideme.htm, then go to the option of MP3 Recording featuring vocals by Becki Madsen: (i'd put it on here for you if I had any idea how to do that - but I don't so you are on your own. It really is a beautiful arrangement. We did it with the 2 flutes playing their part, and the Activity Day girls singing the special 3rd verse that was written for the Young Women. There is a part after the girls sing their verse, where there is a big pause before we come in on the 4th verse. Every time we practiced, we just couldn't seem to come in together. (It didn't help that they just FINALLY got a permanent pianist called 3 weeks before the program, and he was home with sick kids one of those 3 weeks, and up until a week ago I was also trying to play one of the flute parts, since we couldn't seem to find anyone else who played. Have you ever tried to lead a song and play the flute at the same time? It's a bit tricky...) All that not withstanding - today - it was PERFECT! I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Right now I am totally exhausted and ready to crash for the night, but I just couldn't go to bed without shouting to the roof tops that we are done and it when all is said and done, it was SUPER FANTASTIC!!!!

(I almost want to be released right now - end on a high note, ya know? I just can't imagine being able to match this next year... yet my brain is already starting to think and plan and pick my songs for next year - so I guess maybe I have one more year left in me:)