25 October, 2007

Not quite so Lost

I did it. I figured out how to walk downhill both ways in the Belmont parking garage. (For more information on this problem, please see the previous post titled "Lost".)

Today I parked fairly close to where I was when I got lost in the parking garage. I was on the row that goes downhill between level 6 and level 5. Since the day I got lost, I also figured out that there are two elevators in the garage, one on the west side and one on the east. The row I was on goes from west to east, downhill. So I walked downhill to the east elevator and rode from level 5 down to the "pedestrian level", and when I finished teaching, I walked to the west elevator and went up to level 6, and then walked downhill to my car. It was very exciting.

07 October, 2007

Holy Spaces and a new church

My mom and I visited a new church when she came to visit in August, and I realized so much that I've been missing my church in Luxembourg.

Today, the girls decided to go with me to "the organ church" because of communion. It's World Communion Sunday, according to the Methodists, so in honor of that, they invited the choir from a Korean church. The ladies were wearing traditional dresses, and they all looked so beautiful.

After church, the girls and I went up to look at the organ. It has three keyboards (I've forgotten what they are called as a group, besides their individual names: Great, Swell, and Choir), and at least 3 octaves of pedals. The pipes and the trumpets are so beautiful, along with the really beautiful windows in that church.

A history of the project, some good photos, and specifications on the organ are on the Milnar Organ site.

Pictures of the sanctuary windows are on the First United Methodist of Murfreesboro site on their Photographs page.

In Sunday school one day at the Assembly of God church we had been (or still are?) attending, one of the ladies was saying that it was disgusting to look at all the opulence of the European cathedrals, especially in the Vatican. I think she's wrong. I think there is something to be said for holy spaces. Solomon's temple was filled with holy and opulent things. The tent of the tabernacle as well. I think that the concept of a holy space is entirely Biblical, and it makes me sad when churches have no regard for this concept at all. It's nice to be in a church again that understands the idea. Is it too much to have stained glass windows and a pipe organ if that makes the sanctuary a holy space and helps lead us all toward God? I think it's exactly the right idea.

Hopefully, we'll make it to choir practice next Sunday.

It's just so amazing to have this church in the middle of nowhere in Tennessee. I'm really starting to feel more at home.

02 October, 2007

Lost

I'm so far behind in blogging, and there is so much to say, and I'm so tired.

I had yet another break-down today. I suppose that partly it was related to my thinking about Dad, but partly related to frustration. Though I hesitate to mention this because it sounds like a joke, I got lost in the parking garage after teaching today. I remembered walking downhill to the elevator in the morning, and I got on the elevator at Level 5. So as I was leaving, I decided to go up to Level 6 so I could walk downhill to get to my car instead of walking up the ramp from Level 5.

When I was a child, my dad used to give classes on how to give IQ tests to little kids. My brother and I used to help him with his demonstrations. I don't remember a lot of details about the test or the classes, except for this one day and one question. There was a set of questions where Dad would read a story, and we had to tell what was wrong with the story. One day, as I was telling what was wrong with the story, everyone in the class started laughing. I looked at Dad to see what was wrong, and he said, "Honey, I have to ask the question first." After that, I didn't get to go with Dad to his classes anymore, and I felt really sad about it. The story was about a man who would walk downhill to the store and downhill back to his house, and the answer to the question was that he couldn't walk downhill both ways.

So today I'm trying to walk downhill both ways in the parking garage by getting off at Level 6, but somehow I made it down to Level 4, and I didn't pass my car. While I was on Level 4, I knew that my car was just above where I was, but I somehow never made it to that particular row on Level 5, and I couldn't figure out how to get there. Eventually, I found my way back to the elevator on Level 4, and I rode back up to Level 6 and tried it again, and this time I managed to walk past my car. I really think that I didn't even go down the right row the first time, not that I walked right past and missed it. But I'm not really sure. It's hard to see through the tears sometimes.

Sunday was the six-month anniversary of Daddy's death. I went to the Methodist church because I knew I couldn't handle the Assembly of God church. The people at the Methodist church are nice, and I love the organ music and the choir. I'm going back because they will have communion and the Assembly of God church won't because they don't do communion.

The choirs at the Methodist church start practicing for Christmas next week. I'd really like to start going to choir practice. They have bell choirs, too, though I've never tried that before.

I have lots of things to blog about, but I'm too tired. Getting lost is really exhausting.