Sharon Update - request for flu prayers

This is a Sharon update, but I thought I would just add that I wrote a longer review of the Ballet if you want to read it, it is after this update.

Hi family,

It's been another eventful week....including...

* An awesome visit from the fire dept, to my preschool. This weeks theme was Heroes and Helpers, because most of my little boys seem to think that all heroes do are use their martial arts skills and run around and yell. So, we had a day on firefighters, medical emergencies, police, helping our friends...and of course superheroes. I got the local firefighters to come for a visit, and they ended up staying for a whole hour, gave a really thorough tour of the truck, and let the kids climb around it, including sitting in the drivers seat. They brought big stickers and little plastic hats for everyone. So cool.

* Anthony's Birthday! Thanks for all the calls and singing. It was also our first day of Lamaze classes. It was weird being around so many pregnant women. It seems like it'll be a pretty good class, especially when combined with what I've learned about the Bradley Method and a some of the relaxation imagery from Hypnobirthing. Don't worry, it's not as weird as it sounds.

* Ant's interview in Connecticut went well and they love him. Who couldn't? So, he'd be doing a 2 year leadership training program with GE starting January 10th. That's right, 6 days before the baby is born. Crazy!!! Anyway, it seems like an awesome program, and we're hoping they'll let us push back the start date till say...March 1st.

* Midwife appointment. Everything's on track. For my last appointment I couldn't believe that I was gaining a pound a week, but now it looks more like 2 lbs a week! Woah!!! The baby is head down which is a huge relief. Just stay that way please baby.

* Yesterday started off the way every Saturday should. Sleeping in, whole wheat waffles, grocery shopping, and then my body sort of started to shut down. We bought a thermometer for the first time in my life, and my temp was 100.5, at least. Ant's was coming up around 96 and 97, so I wouldn't be surprised if mine was actually closer to 101, 102. I called my midwife and he called in a perscription for Tamiflu. I feel much better today. My head, throat, nose and energy level are still not where they should be. But I'm feeling much less achy and a little less pukey. And my temperature is down. If you guys could keep us in your prayers that would be great. Now that my temp is down, I'm more worried about what the medication could do the baby. Tamiflu isn't suggested for pregnant women since there hasn't been any research on the effects on the baby. In rabbits and rats, it looks like it could cause minor bone deformities in offspring. Eek.

Love you guys!!!! Hope all is well with you!

Sharon

P.S. I forgot to mention that we went to the ballet Friday night to celebrate Ant's b-day. It was amazing! The performance was called "Light/the Holocaust and Humanity Project." It made me cry...and also want to dance again. But at this point the dance would probably include other dancers rolling me around. :)

Light/ The Holocaust and Humanity Project

Over the summer some friends in the ward contacted Sharon about going in together on season tickets for the Pittsburgh Ballet. The idea was that they would buy one set of season tickets and each person would choose one performance they wanted to see. It worked out that they all wanted to see different performances. We jumped on the opportunity to see Light / The Holocaust and Humanity Project. This ballet was created at Ballet Austin by the artistic director Stephen Mills.

Background: I guess the guy in charge of the Holocaust Museum in Pittsburgh and the director of the Pittsburgh Ballet talked about doing something around the Holocaust, one thing led to another and Stephen Mills from the Austin Ballet ended up coming and helping produce Light with the Pittsburgh Ballet. It makes sense to have a project like this in Pittsburgh where there is a fairly large Jewish community.

The Ballet: The ballet was divided in seven sections: Adam and Eve, Family, Target Behind Doors, Isolation and Degradation, Boxcar, Ashes, and Hush. Each section had its own piece of music and was contributed from five different composers. It was amazing how it came together and flowed.

Thoughts:

• I was thinking this could be really cool, or it would be really lame. Lucky for us, it was really cool.
• One thing that struck me as we were waiting for the program to start was that it really took a step back and started from the beginning creating the base that we are all brothers and sisters experiencing the World.
• The dancing was beautiful and very artistic.
• As the name suggests, light played a huge role and I really liked that. It was used not only to create mood, but added to the story serving as a driver to the plot as well as creating scenery.
• My favorite section was the ashes section. The choreography was beautifully danced, combined with a great score and dramatic lighting, it proved to be very moving.
• It was interesting that most of the sections were danced in customes that made the dancers appear nude. There was really only one section where they had clothes on, but at the end of that section they striped and the next section was danced as if they were in their undergarments. Some might find this distracting, but I thought it added to the dramatic effect and really helped focus attention on the human and suffering side of the holocaust.
• I really liked that no where in the ballet were the oppressors represented. None of the dancers were dressed in Nazi uniforms, swastikas, or anything else like that. It seemed to be more focused on the inner feelings and human sufferings experienced.

So, those are some of my thoughts. If this is ever performed in a ballet near you, I highly recommend it. I've embedded the ad PBT (Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre) had on youTube and a slideshow so you can get an idea of what it was like.