Ice Storm

I don't know how many of you have ever experienced an ice storm, but they are absolutely incredible.  I took some pictures of the tree right outside our apartment so you could get an idea of what the ice looks like an individual branches.

  

 From a distance, it looks like snow or frost, but everything in these pictures is ice.

I know that it can't be fully captured in a picture, but it looks amazing.  It definitely gives a different meaning to a Winter Wonderland.

  

  

 

  

  

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Joy to the World Christmas Concert

Combining with other stakes in the area, our stake has put on a large Christmas concert the last two years, held in large performance halls and flying in guest conductors (last year it was Craig Jessop and this year it was Cory Evans).

It was a huge time commitment as practiced for months in addition to about ten hours of rehearsal with Dr. Evans the week of the performances.  It was the first time Sarah or I had performed in any type of choir outside of a few ward choir songs in sacrament meeting.  I think we both had a lot of fun doing it, but I realized during one of our performances that my preference is to be in the opposite seats during a concert, listening to the beautiful music rather than trying to create it.

The attendance was lower than expected (most likely due to an ice storm that hit the night of our first performance), but it was fun working with Dr. Evans and learning from him.

 

 (Sarah's "pearls" are actually from a plastic Christmas tree garland.)

 

 Here we are with Dr. Evans - I told him this would go on our blog with a readership of about ten people and he was okay with that.

I'm sure my mom was hoping for more than this when she hinted at it in her weekly family email, so I'll share a thought that I had during one of our performances.

For those of you who have ever heard me sing, you know I'm not much of a singer, so learning to sing my parts was a challenge for me.  (If you haven't heard me sing, consider that a blessing, as Sarah mentioned to me one day when we were practicing my parts that I sounded like Kermit the Frog when I sing.)  

In our performances, it took a lot of concentration for me to sing my part, and during one of the songs by a soloist, I asked myself, "Am I forgetting the Savior this Christmas season, particularly in this concert as I focus so much on my parts?"

For some reason, my thoughts then went to Simeon and Anna in the temple when Jesus was brought to the temple to be presented to the Lord according to the Law of Moses.  Later that night, I looked at the account in Luke chapter 2, and I noticed a few things that I never really had before.  First, for some reason, I had always assumed that Simeon and Anna were together in some way (married or served together in the temple), but that doesn't appear to be the case.  

Simeon is described as a just and devout man and that the Holy Ghost was upon him but it doesn't appear that he served in the temple but rather was prompted by the Spirit to go to the temple that day.  Prior to that time, he had received a revelation from the Holy Ghost that he would see the Christ before his death, but he didn't know when that time would be.  Although Jesus was only forty-one days old, he was able to recognize the Savior because he was close to the Spirit and its promptings.

Anna, on the other hand, had been a widow for about eighty-four years and served in the temple day and night.  She also recognized the Savior despite him being such a young baby.  The thing that stood out most to me from this story is that both Simeon and Anna were close to the Holy Ghost regardless of what they did (Simeon doesn't appear to serve in the temple while Anna appears to have done so for a very long time) and that it was the Holy Ghost that helped then identify the Savior, in the very same way that the Holy Ghost helps each of us to identify the Savior and the influence He has on our everyday lives.  I hope that at this Christmas season and throughout our lives, we strive to be close to the Spirit so that we can find the Savior in our lives.

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Christmas Card 2013

I assume that the entire readership of this blog received an actual copy of our Christmas card, but in case I unintentionally missed someone, here is the Brockbank Family Top Ten List 2013:

10. Not realizing how big they would be, we ordered gigantic Christmas cards online.  Hope you enjoy the big picture of us.  If you care to see additional pictures or updates of us throughout the year instead of just at Christmas time, check out our blog at bsrepor.blogspot.com.

9. The missionaries serving in our ward challenged Bryan and a few friends to a game of basketball.  Initially it was going to be a one-time thing but neither group wants to be the last one to lose.  If you’re in Norman at 6:15am on a Saturday, you’re welcome to join.

8. In a matter of months, Sarah went from being a primary teacher to a counselor in the primary presidency to a Sunday school teacher.  Bryan’s calling changes went even faster as he served as primary teacher, assistant executive secretary, and then executive secretary all within a month.  He thought he would get a break when the ward boundaries were changed and everyone was released.  That lasted about ten minutes, then he was called as executive secretary in our new ward.

7.  Since the Healthy Sooner 5k around OU Campus is free for students and their families, we decided to both run in it.  We were surprised when we saw the results because we both finished second in our age divisions and in the top 15 overall.

6. Stephen Beus (look him up on YouTube) invited us to the recording of his piano CD.  We went and ended up being the only people in the audience other than three of his piano performance graduate students.  I think everyone involved left happy—we got to listen to a concert pianist perform for two hours for free and he gets to say his CD was recorded before a live audience.

5. Bryan’s parents and two youngest siblings came out to visit for their spring break.  Highlights of their trip included getting soaked in the rain while visiting the University of Oklahoma campus, seeing someone faint at the National Weather Center, visiting the Oklahoma City Memorial, going to the OKC Zoo and attending the 37^th Annual Medieval Fair, complete with “live” jousting.

4. In May, two incredibly devastating tornadoes hit one day apart just a few miles north and east of where we live.  Bryan experienced two firsts in helping with the cleanup – using a chainsaw and falling through a roof (not to worry – he wasn’t doing both at the same time and didn’t get hurt in either case).

3. A teaching conference for Sarah took us to St. Louis in July, which we used as an excuse to go to Nauvoo.  The highlight of the trip for Bryan was giving directions to Elder Dallin H. Oaks, who was there for a family reunion.  So, if anyone is looking for direction…

2. After five long years, Sarah defended her dissertation in June and graduated in August with her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering.  Way to go! 

1. Sarah didn’t want to know what life would be like not going to school, so she got a job teaching chemistry at Oklahoma State University – Oklahoma City.  Bryan told her to pretend she was a student on the first day to see if anyone would notice, but that plan was foiled when she had to unlock the door to the classroom for the students who were already there waiting.  There’s always next semester…

Unless of course, you are Ben and Alyse, then numbers 2 and 1 were combined with a new number one:

"Finding out that the first Brockbank grandchild is on the way.  Congratulations Ben and Alyse!"

(I didn't think my mom would approve of me sending that in a Christmas letter to everyone when Alyse is not pregnant.)

And here is the picture from our Christmas card:

 

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Healthy Sooner 5k

Most of the people who read this blog probably think of me and Sarah as runners.  You would probably be surprised to know that it wasn't until a few weeks ago that we ran our first race together since moving to Oklahoma.  There aren't very many races around here and we haven't been running as much as we did in Utah, but when we found out that the University of Oklahoma puts on a free 5k every fall, we decided we would do it.  (I did it last year, but that was before Sarah came out to join me.)

We set some pretty modest goals for ourselves, but we were surprised at how well we did (with both of us running a couple minutes faster than our goal).  Here are the overall results:

 

As you can see, both Sarah and I placed in the top 15 overall of about 200 men and 230 women.  (We were both second for our age division.)

We also ran into a family from our ward, so we have a picture from our first race together in Oklahoma. 

 

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Sarah's Trip to Utah

Graduation meant a trip out to Utah, and a trip out to Utah meant spending time with family, including our two little nieces.

 

 Abby

 

 Delcie and Sarah's dad Wes

 

Sarah's cousin Bryce and his wife Sylia, Sarah's brother Tyler, Sarah, Abby, Sarah's mom Lisa, and brother-in-law Quinn

 

Lisa, Wes, Delcie, Grandma Purcell, Jennie and Sarah

Sarah also visited my sister Gwen, who had recently received a bone marrow transplant.  The day Sarah visited her in the hospital, she was losing more and more of her hair from the chemotherapy she had done before the transplant, so she decided to use tape to design her head like a BYU football helmet - BYU's biggest fan and an inspiration to all of us with her great attitude and wonderful smile.  We love you Gwen!

 

 

   

  

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Sarah's Graduation

I don't know how many of you receive the BYU Alumni Magazine or maybe see the fliers at church, but the advertisements for the Bachelor of General Studies always makes me think of Sarah and smile.  For those of you who haven't seen them, this is what the advertisements look like:

 

 

We've joked about it ever since we moved to Oklahoma, and sometimes wondered whether she really would be able to finish at home what she started at BYU, but after a total of nine years at BYU, including five years working on her Ph.D., Sarah finally graduated.  Excuse me, I should say Dr. Sarah finally graduated.  Initially, she would think of her father-in-law when she heard Dr. Brockbank, but I think she's getting used to it now.  (For those of you who don't know, she got a job teaching chemistry at Oklahoma State University - Oklahoma City.)

I didn't go out to watch Sarah's graduation, but I was able to get a quick summary from my mom's pictures.  So for those of you who didn't attend, here is the condensed version of Sarah's commencement ceremony.

  

  

  

  

  

Here is Sarah with her adviser, W. Vince Wilding.

 

 

Sarah with her parents and my parents.

  

 

I think this sign sums it up pretty well.
 

  

 

   

 

 

 

 

Congratulations Babe!  Way to go!

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