An Unplanned Date Night!

Today I am grateful for a wonderful unplanned date night!  It was an average, ordinary day in December.  It rained most of the day, and I spent a good portion of the day doing research and writing.  I did manage to do some house cleaning, and my mom and Raymond stopped by to visit for a few minutes, but other than running Ty to and fro I didn't really get outside the house to do anything.  By 5:30 pm I was starting to go a little stir crazy so I told Blaine that it was Friday night and we needed to out to dinner or something.  He said "let's go" so we hopped in the car and drove aimlessly to find something to eat.  We couldn't agree on where to stop, and just when tension was starting to build, and we were about to go home and eat chili, we drove past the St. George Tabernacle. We could see people heading inside and could hear music coming from inside.  We remembered that there was a Christmas Choir concert tonight so we decided to go in.  Thankfully we were there quite early so we managed to get a good seat.

Boy are we glad we showed up there!  It was the Southern Utah Heritage Choir's annual Christmas Concert titled "Star of Bethlehem."  It was amazing.  They were definitely Mormon Tabernacle Choir quality!  The choir sang several songs intermixed with two cello performances, two different performances by the "Dixie Strings" a youth violinist group, and two solo performances: one by a baritone and the other by a tenor.  Our two favorite numbers were the tenor's performance of "O' Holy Night" and the Choir's finale song of "Angels We Have Heard On High."  Our spirits soared and our hearts filled with Christmas Cheer!  Afterward we headed to Chili's for dinner. Steak for Blaine and grilled chicken for me.

Inside the Beautiful Tabernacle!

The St. George Tabernacle is a historic building that was built even before the St. George Temple was completed.  It is a beautiful building and much of it's original architecture and interior have been preserved.  Something that is special to us about the tabernacle and the temple both is that Blaine's great grandfather David Milne did the interior work and painting for them.  We thought about him tonight as we sat in the tabernacle surrounded by it's historic beauty, and then we remembered the painting of the "All Seeing Eye" that is situated high on the wall directly behind the podium.

The "All-Seeing Eye" of the Lord by David Milne

David Milne was originally from Scotland.  He and his family were well-known painters. While he was buying painting supplies for his father in England he met Mormon missionaries and joined the church. After returning to Scotland he determined that he wanted to join with the saints in Utah. However, he made stops in New Zealand and Australia for several years en route.  When he finally made it to Salt Lake City he went right in to meet Brigham Young.  President Young said, "David, you had to go all around the world to get here."  He then sent David and his family to the Mormon settlement in St. George to help build the temple.  David Milne ended up with three wives.  Blaine's family is from the second wife Ann Catherine Jarvis.  David and Ann had nine children.  Athole was one of their sons.  Athole is Blaine's grandpa, and it is his home that we are currently living in.  We also somehow ended up with David Milne's 1869 Bible.  I sent it back east last year and had it restored for Blaine for his birthday.  It is a precious treasure!

David Milne 1832-1895

Today's Ponderize Verse:

1 Nephi 18:21

...And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord; and after I had prayed the winds did cease, and there was a great calm.