January Psalm Sing

On Saturday afternoon we met once again to sing some psalms.  Jeshurun is away just now on a trip to Israel to visit our parents, so in his absence I decided that rather than attempting anything ambitious, we would just sing some of our favorites. :)  I asked James to precent, and put Mark in charge of coordinating things.  Since we didn't have to spend much time practicing unfamiliar harmonies, we were able to sing six psalms.

I really enjoyed myself, as always.  I am so thankful for friends who are willing to come sing with us, and who sing so beautifully, too.  :)  




If you'd like to download these recordings, you can do so here.

December Psalm Sing

It's a rainy day here in Texas and I am finally sitting down to catch up on posting some psalm recordings.  First up are the recordings from December's psalm sing.  Some of the Kuiper family from Canada were in town for the December communion season, so they were able to join us for some psalm singing.  It was nice to have them with us.

We sang Psalm 5 to Stracathro.  The melody line of this tune was already familiar to most of us, but we hadn't learned the harmony before.  I think it sounds very nice with all four parts.

Then we worked on the tune Dundee.  Jeshurun and I really like this tune; the melody line is simple, but (as with St. Flavian) when sung with all four parts and with a lot of feeling, we think it is quite beautiful.  Our enthusiasm wasn't initially shared by all present, but after singing the tune together, a few at least were willing to admit that with all the parts, it wasn't so bad. :) And it is a very fitting tune for the first stanzas of Psalm 22.




As usual, you can download these recordings to your own computer here.

Top Five Posts, 2010

As of the sixth of this month, I have now been blogging at the "Texan Rose" address for one year.  I just had a look at my blog stats program.  Here are the top five most clicked-upon posts for 2010:

1. Psalm Recordings :)
2. My brother's thoughts on education, and a discussion
3. Free Presbyterians discuss homeschooling
4. Running in a skirt?
5. Running + skirt = frustration (or so I thought at the time)

There's a lot of disparity in the numbers on these: the #1 post got nearly five times as many hits as the #5 post.  I guess psalms and homeschooling are hot topics--the psalms especially; it would appear that a lot of people are searching for psalm recordings via internet search engines.  I am happy to see that the psalm recordings have been of interest to others as they have been to me! 

I hope to blog more regularly in the coming year.  I'm behind on posts at the moment (yes, my sister did finally have a beautiful new baby, and yes, I do still have psalm recordings from December to post) but hope to get caught up soon.  Thanks for your patience, friends. :)

Optimism for the New Year

Happy New Year, friends!

I love New Year's Day for the new beginning it represents.  I think the beginning of a new year is a great opportunity to look back over the past year to consider the Lord's mercies to us: "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."  As I consider God's gracious provision in the year past, how can I not be excited and optimistic as I look forward to the year to come? 

And as always, "There's a psalm for that."  Of course, there are many psalms about the Lord's provision in times past, but I think Psalm 18, with its triumphant tone, is especially encouraging.  I love verses 6 through 19!

We sang verses 16-19 at a psalm sing a few months ago, but didn't post the recording online due to kid noise.  But on New Year's Eve as I was thinking about the psalm and listening to the recording, I thought, "You know, if we could edit out the noise at this one point, the rest of the recording is really not too bad."  So I roped Jesh into helping me doing it for me.  As the old clock on the mantel struck midnight--err, would have, if we'd remembered to wind it--we were at the computer playing with Audacity. :) 

Psalm 18 v. 16-19 to the tune St. Magnus

And from above the Lord sent down,

and took me from below;

From many waters he me drew, 

which would me overflow.

He me relieved from my strong foes,

and such as did me hate;

Because he saw that they for me

too strong were, and too great.

They me prevented in the day 

of my calamity;

But even then the Lord himself

a stay was unto me.

He to a place where liberty

and room was hath me brought;

Because he took delight in me,

he my deliv'rance wrought.

(Download the recording here)

(p.s. in case you're wondering, no, my sister still has not had her baby!!)
(p.p.s. recordings from our December psalm sing will be posted in the next day or two)

She's Due Tomorrow

My dear sister is due tomorrow, but her first baby was over a week late, so we'll see...

Doesn't she look lovely?

My apologies for neglecting my blog lately.  We are in the middle of communion season now, and next week I am heading to the Midwest for a week to visit relatives there; so I will probably continue to neglect this poor blog until early next year, when I'll try to catch up on my backlog of "things to post."  And I do have things to post-- psalm recordings, photos, and more.



(In my absence, you might keep an eye on the "recent comments" gadget to the left, as we've had some interesting comments and links posted lately.  Though be forewarned--the gadget doesn't always update right away.)

FCC Psalm Recordings, and a Useful Link

The other day, I was sent the link to the Aberdeen Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) website.  The Aberdeen FCC site has midi files of *all* the psalm tunes from the psalter we use, which is the 1992 version of the split-leaf psalter published by the Free Church of Scotland.

Aberdeen Free Church Continuing--Online Media

I was very pleased to receive this link, as I've had trouble finding audio files of psalm tunes in the past.  I was also pleased to discover, on this site, a few recordings of the psalms being sung.  You'll find three recordings at the very bottom of the page linked above; and click on the "Psalmody CDs" link in the sidebar to find two more recordings, samples from CDs that this church has produced.

The recordings from the Aberdeen FCC site are excerpts from Psalms 36, 68, 85, 112, and 136.  I've added them to this post, which is an index of all the psalm recordings I have been able to find online.

Also, you might have noticed that I've added a "psalm singing" page to my blog (see the tabs at the top).  There's nothing new at this point--just a player with all of the psalms that we have recorded here at our monthly psalm singings, plus a link to the post with the index of psalm recordings; but I thought it might be useful to have that info quickly accessible at the top of the page for psalm-singing fans. :)

November Psalm Sing

After a few delays, we finally got around to hosting another psalm singing gathering last Saturday.
 
We had a really nice time of singing and visiting with our dear friends, some of whom we haven't seen in a while; Jett and Evelyn and their children were here, and Joseph and Carolyn and their children had just flown in from Colorado. After the singing and visiting we had dinner, dessert, and family worship together. 

We worked on three tunes: St. Lawrence, St. Mary, and St. Neot, which we sang to Psalm 72, Psalm 22, and Psalm 69, respectively.  As usual, we had lots of beautiful little children present :) and you'll hear them playing in the background.

We were missing two of our bass singers, so we had to shuffle some people to different parts, but Jesh (who always knows best) thinks that we blended pretty well with the new arrangement.  Still, I missed hearing Sam sing tenor.




As always, you can download these recordings to your own computer at www.archive.org/bookmarks/snikwad.

Why I Didn't Vote

I've always felt a little uneasy about voting for the "lesser of two evils" in our country's elections, but it wasn't until I went through a membership class at the RPCNA (Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America) that I finally became fully comfortable with abstaining from voting.  The RPCNA has a strong history of political dissent, and while their stance has changed slightly over the years, the RPCNA Testimony still has some interesting things to say about the Christian's responsibilities regarding voting.

Here is a blog post I came across the other day, by Rev. Eshelman of the RPCNA, that quotes the relevant portions of the Testimony.  I haven't done any exhaustive study on the topic of the establishment principle (though I intend to, someday, when I get the time), so I reserve the right to change my views in the future, but for the time being, I would say that I am in agreement with the portions of the RPCNA Testimony quoted in this blog post.

A Reformed Voter's Guide

Edited to add: see the comments section for a link to another article with similar conclusions, this one written by an FP.

Excellent Lecture on Christian Education

My brother Caleb, knowing that I would be interested, sent me the link to this lecture by Rev. David Silversides of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Northern Ireland.  Mr. Silversides argues for the necessity of a Christian education for our children.  I stayed up late after the children were in bed to have a listen, and it was worth it.

Do We Need Christian Schools?

Mr. Silversides made some excellent points.  Here is an outline of his lecture, copied and pasted from Sermon Audio:
______________________________________________

The argument and emphasis presented here is for the

consistent godly nurture of our children which

necessarily involves a strictly Christian education.

Positive and biblical reasons are given, and some

objections to an exclusively Christian education are

answered.

Some basic questions:

1. Who tells us what to do with our children?

2. Who does God hold responsible for the care of his

children?

3. Is the nurture of children ever neutral?

4. Does the bible say we must have schools?

5. If we have schools must they be Christian ones?

Some objections:

- The hot house objection. Are you not creating a

hot house for your children?

- Won't children rebel against such a stifling

stricture?

- Are we not in danger of doing the Holy Spirit's

work?

- State education didn't do me any harm.

______________________________________________

I especially appreciated Mr. Silversides' handling of his third point, and his responses to the objections (not all of which are listed in the above outline).

Let me know what you think!

Half an Hour of Unschooling

You may have heard me say that I'm "unschooling" my boys for the time being, except for our more structured studies in Bible and math.  Have you wondered what "unschooling" is?  I'll give you a hint--it's what most parents are already doing with their small children: talking to them and showing them things--only kicked up a notch or two.  Check out this post on our new homeschooling blog for an example.

Half an Hour of Unschooling

I hope you all have an excellent Monday!