Choir Music from Lenten Prayer

Earlier this month, my choir performed a concert at the beginning of Lent. There are two songs that I particularly like from our set list and want to remember. I really liked the song "Abendlied" ("Evening Song") by Josef Rheinberger that we sang in German. The text translates: "Abide with us, for evening draws on, and the day is fallen." A .PDF for this piece is available HERE.



The other song that I really liked was a version of "Psalm 23" by Z. Randall Stroope (sheet music available for purchase HERE). This song wasn't performed by my choir in the recent concert, but by the women who are in the Chamber Singers group. Here is a recording that includes oboe and violin for accompaniment, but I also think this piece sounds nice with just piano:

Pregnancy Cravings

I sent this photo to J last month, a day or two after he emailed me a picture of the fancy pancake that he had just eaten in Amsterdam. I sent this as a joke, showing J that he was missing out on a very eclectic meal (a chili cheese dog with roasted Brussels sprouts!) while he dined on Dutch food. I didn't plan for Sam and I to eat such a strange meal, but I was struck with a craving for Brussells sprouts that evening and had to indulge myself.

When I was pregnant with Sam, I felt like I had a few cravings but I also felt very limited to eat things that I felt like I could stomach. I remember one day I felt like the only thing in the world that could keep me alive was grapes. My mom called as I was walking into the produce section of the grocery store, and when I mentioned that I felt like eating grapes she gave me a big lecture about grapes and how much they absorb pesticides. I bought a bag of green grapes anyway (while she was still giving me her well-meant advice on the phone), not because I was being defiant but because I was more interested that moment in staying alive! I needed those grapes to give me sustenance! I feel like my mom didn't understand my situation at that moment, either. My mom's pregnancies were not as difficult as mine with Sam (at least, in terms of morning sickness and nausea); she couldn't understand how difficult it was for me to keep anything in my stomach at all. If I ever felt like I could stomach anything, especially during my first trimester when my nausea was at its worst, I tried to act on that.

I think the lowest point in my first trimester with Sam's pregnancy was once at three in the morning: I woke up in bed and felt like the only thing I could eat was dry, stale Cheerios. As I sat there at the kitchen table, pulling the stale Cheerios out of a box and eating them by the handful, I remember crying and considering how my life had become so restricted and limited. Luckily, things improved and I was able to eat more, especially after I began to take anti-nausea medication. (I never told my mom that I took anti-nausea medication, because I knew that would have concerned her.)

I remember that I also ate a lot of oatmeal and peanut butter sandwiches when I was pregnant with Sam. I also craved grapefruit on several occasions. Above all, though, I probably craved barbecue sauce the most. I remember sending J to Gandolfo's to buy me an Urban Cowboy sandwich at least once, just so I could have the barbecue sauce. 

This pregnancy, I haven't been so restricted in my diet, although I did eat and drink some things to help with mild nausea in the first trimester (like ginger ale, raisins, and bananas). Over the past few months, though, I have craved avocados above anything else. I usually have them in salads with (pasturized!) feta cheese, tomatoes, mixed greens, and a little bit of poppyseed dressing. I also have liked eating guacamole. And every once in a while I will make a Brazilian vitamina (or smoothie) with avocado and banana. One or two of my sisters have noted that I must already have an "avocado baby" in my tummy.

The two other things that I have craved most this pregnancy are Brussells sprouts and grapefruit. I'm glad that I'm craving healthy things to eat! I feel like eating sweets and chocolate sometimes, but I'm really trying to avoid eating very much sugar. (And I don't think that my desire to eat chocolate is related to my pregnancy - I just like chocolate!) I really don't want to gain as much weight as I did with Sam, and I figure that avoiding sugar can't hurt that goal in any way. I try to limit having dessert or some kind of treat to once or twice per week.

What do/did you crave when you are/were pregnant? Or, if you haven't been pregnant, do you know of any interesting stories about pregnancy cravings?

"We All Grow Together"

Over the past month or so, I have been helping Sam's class create an art project for their school fundraiser. This is an auctioned event, and each class is supposed to submit a work of art that parents or members of the community can purchase. The project ended up taking more time than I thought - another mother named Maria and I repeatedly had to visit the classroom to have the students work on decorating their hand prints and foot prints.

Last Saturday evening, Maria and I made a collage with the hand prints and foot prints to form a tree. We glued the pieces onto a canvas from IKEA which was spray painted black. Maria titled the piece "We All Grow Together," which I think is appropriate. I was glad to work with her and I appreciated her input on what the children should create and how the final product should look.

I won't be attending the auction itself, so I was happy that I could help with the fundraiser in another way. I am glad to have this image, though, so I can remember what Sam did. His foot print is the solid purple one at the bottom of the canvas. One of his hand prints is in the center of the canvas. There is a white smiley face in the center of his palm; he insisted that he didn't want to color that part of his hand. The other hand print is on the right edge of the tree (a little ways up from his other hand print); it is decorated green and orange with some bluish dots and stripes.

I'm pleased with how everything turned out, and I'm also glad that this project is over! I'm looking forward to spending some time catching up on some other projects.