winter snow

It’s finally cooled off here, hopefully for the rest of “winter.”  Enjoy this gorgeous song along with me, will you?

iii

I’ve been listening to this song practically non-stop since the middle of October.  It’s beyond gorgeous.  (Be sure to listen to the end – if you don’t have chills at about 4:45 minutes in, I don’t understand why.)

Child of all creation, don't let the world define you
And if you can't remember who you are, Let these words remind you
On the path of the empty handed
He will speak to the heart of the abandoned
These orphan hearts will find a home;  Run to these arms, be not alone
Light is leading
Love will find us all  Love will find us all

So hard to feel the fires of home when all we see is darkness
We forgive but not our own and grasp what's around us
Till the dawn starts to break around you
Let all the stars in the night remind you
These orphan hearts will find a home; Run to these arms, Be not alone
Light is leading
Love will find us all  Love will find us all

we laughed, we cried, etc.

In case you need a good cry, listen/watch this song by Steven Curtis Chapman.  His daughter was killed in an accident last year.  Her name was Maria.  This song pierces me and scares me and gives me hope and it's gorgeous. 

Now, if laughs are all you're after, check this one out.  This video reveals aspects of my children's personalities that are very interesting. 

a list

• I would like to see some Olympic events (winter or summer, it doesn't matter) in person sometime in my life, preferably before I'm in a wheelchair or in The Home.
  
  
• I wish I could just do things that need to be done.  I'm so, so lazy.  Anything I don't HAVE to do doesn't get done, it seems.  I really hate this about myself.
  
  
• I am thrilled at how long our weather has stayed cool.  It will make the warm days (who am I kidding... the HOT-AS-HADES days) that are coming be a little less annoying.  My bones feel cooled off.
  
  
• Henry's getting his hair trimmed today for the first time since August.  After he came home SCALPED from his last haircut, I decided to take over the haircutting arrangements for him.  He wants to look like Leeland: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  He's off to a good start.  But it is getting really shaggy and it's time for some cleaning up.
  
• 
  
  My week with my sister, niece, cousin, and nephew (I'm just going to go ahead and refer to him that way, regardless of it's correctness.  It's more reflective of our relationship than calling him my first cousin, once removed.) was SO wonderful.  It cements my resolve to one day build a compound where we can all live together.
  
  
  

incredible (now with even more incredibleness)

• I just discovered a singer/songwriter named JJ Heller.  This girl is OFF.THE.HOOK amazing.   I mean, I feel like I did when I heard downhere for the first time.  If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know this is a V. Big Deal. 
  
  
• I got my first PR pitch email (apparently generated from a post over at the photoblog).  Most big-time bloggers get dozens of these a week, so it’s not surprising that I haven’t gotten any before.  I just laughed at their proposition, and wondered why on earth they picked me, a blogger with less than 2 dozen subscribers and just over 200 unique readers?
  
  
• I revealed my life plan for the next couple of years in this photoblog post.  More than one person thought this photo meant that I was pregnant.  NO.  NOT EVEN A LITTLE.  After my fantastic birth experience and subsequent awakening to the reality that is today’s obstetrics method and practice, I have decided that I would like to be a doula.  I want to help people have the best birth they possibly can.  I want to support women in regaining ownership of their bodies.  I want to shower families with love as they experience one of the biggest moments in their lives. 
  I’m not quitting my job – this will be a career that takes several years to get going, and so I’m committed to staying put where I am until God says “HEY, IT’S TIME.” and then I’ll make the change.  It feels so right – today I actually cried as I read in my book the positive things a birth partner or doula can say to the laboring mother, as I know there are countless women who never have someone say to her what an amazing work she is doing.  This is shameful.  I can’t wait to correct this, for even a few women.
  
  
• Seriously. JJ Heller.  I can hardly concentrate on typing this blog post as I have her album playing and it’s THAT.GOOD.  GAH.  
  
  ****EDITED TO ADD****
  I'm listening to her song "Your Hands" right now - the lyrics are pretty appropriate as we all remember those Haitian souls, both those on earth and those gone on:

When my world is shaking, HEAVEN STANDS.  When my heart is breaking, I never leave your hands.

Amen, and amen.

tender-hooks (tenter-hooks? whatever.)

That's how I feel these days. I wait for the other shoe to drop, the ax to fall, the stuff to hit the fan. Right now my attorney is handling the traffic ticket, the insurance is (I hope) handling the property and bodily injury liability claims. My body is in a constant state of tension. Occasionally my mind allows itself to function normally, like a person who is capable, cheerful, and not in a CONSTANT STATE OF PANIC. But then I move my body and it all comes flooding back. The lights, the van in front of me, the BAM of the Cadillac hitting me. I relive my last lawsuit, remember the day I got served with papers the day after Christmas on our way out the door to the airport demanding $200,000 of me. I can't come through THE INTERSECTION in the same direction as I was going that night, not even when someone else is driving.

Yes, I've talked it out with people - OVER AND OVER until if I have to tell the story one more time I'll shriek. Yes, I practice deep breathing, relaxation and prayer. Yes, I've taken more Unisom than I'd like in an effort to sleep more deeply and restoratively. (Never more than 2-3 times a week.) Yes, I have a feeling it's going to take a very long time to feel free of the fear and anxiety that's taken root.

We went to a soul-rocking concert on Saturday night. I've been glad to listen to this song on repeat since then. All I need is a sunrise, just a moment of dawn.



(I know my more emotional posts really make some of you, if you're still here, uncomfortable. I won't say I'm sorry about that.)

atlantafest

Taking the youth group to Atlantafest, a Christian music festival held at Stone Mountain Park was a lot of fun… even when our fuel pump died in the hotel parking lot, just as we were loading in to head to lunch.  God gave us a hand by hiding the Chik-fil-A we were going to stop at on our way to the hotel (so we didn’t get stuck there); putting a Goodyear repair shop 2 doors down; keeping our other vehicle, an 8 passenger van in good working order; helping everyone remain patient; etc etc etc.

The bands were awesome, and the youth were almost always perfectly behaved.  What more can you expect from a bunch of teenagers, am I right?  We headed straight to the park after getting the van limped over to the repair shop, and enjoyed worship led by Fee, a new-to-us band who was awesome.  Then we were properly introduced to Leeland, who have taken the title of “MY NEW SECOND-FAVORITE BAND.”  Any guess of who’s my FIRST FAVORITE BAND?   I believe I’ve mentioned this before.  The night was capped off by Skillet, who aren’t always my thing – but at least the guy was sparkly. 

Day 2 we refined our routine and ate lunch before heading to the park.  We pulled up and were loading our chairs, cooler, and other flotsam in our arms when I heard the unmistakable dulcet tones of Mr. Marc Martel of my favorite band Downhere (duh) as they took care of their sound check.  They, too, had been cursed with van and trailer troubles and were probably exhausted, but you’d never know it.  We met up with them at their merch table before their praise and worship set, for as soon as they were done playing, they had to head to the airport and fly out west for a week or so.  I acted maturely and was able to make conversation instead of feeling like a total moron.  I’m sure you’re proud.

That night we were treated to a 90 minute kick drum solo set from Kutless.  I was rather confused by the lead singer’s choice of tight pants, long sleeve white button-down, and leather jacket, given the fact that it was SO SO SO HOT.  [as an aside, I waited each day to see which performer or speaker would use the names “Hot-lanta” and/or “ATL” – oh, I was not disappointed.]  At least some of us had fun dancing!

Day three we perfected our process, and found the place to where the shade would arrive first but would still give us a good view of the stage and screen.  It was great – we enjoyed each other’s company and the music.  The highlight of this evening was Family Force 5 – they are always so much fun.  And their attire was the SUPREME WIN of the whole weekend:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In case you’re having trouble catching that – they’re wearing denim knee-length shorts, white wife-beaters, mesh wife-beaters, gold belts, and golden football pads (also gold sparkly high-tops).  It was awesome.  The night ended with an incredible show by Casting Crowns, complete with candle-light.

I had a blast with the kids – who knew J could fit her entire fist into her mouth?  And guess what?  In 3 weeks we get to do it all over again!

warming up

I put in a CD a few minutes ago, one I haven't listened to in probably a year or so. I am singing along, coughing in between songs still, but it feels good to give these old vocal folds a decent workout. Sunday morning the praise band slammed a few of my favorite songs, but none were too challenging on my still healing throat. What a difference a few years makes - in May 2000, I stood terrified to sing my first and only vocal jury... stomach full of knots and palms leaving sweat prints on the curve of the piano as I hung on for dear life. I wasn't supposed to be a singer. Turns out I am one, and it feels good. Sunday will bring a solo, and I'm ready.

diagnosis: SICK.

Here's the scoop:

• I finally had had enough of the coughing, fever, pounding head, blocked nose, etc. and called my doctor at 2:30 yesterday afternoon. He was able to see me at 3:15.
• It's a big deal since our insurance changed for me to go to the doctor. We will have to pay the full fee for the visit, no co-pays anymore. Lovely.
• I have a sinus infection and bronchitis. God bless the Z-pack.
• On my way to the doctor (excuse me for a second while I stray from the real story) I had occasion to shake my fist in the air in irritation with our local Christian radio station. You might know that downhere is my favorite band of all time - I may have mentioned it once or twice before. Well I was surprised to hear their latest single played yesterday afternoon - they sadly don't get much airplay (something that is a total mystery to me). After the song was over, the DJ was saying how downhere's been around a long time, how they are a fun band, and how THEY HAVEN'T HAD MUCH GOING ON LATELY. Um, WRONG. She referred to their "upcoming" album (came out last September) as "The Ending Is The Beginning" - Um, WRONG. Also, she must not have known about their album that came out in May 2007. Or their Christmas album with other labelmates that came out in Dec. 2007. Or their near constant touring. Whatever. Good thing I keep all this in perspective!
• I was WIDE. AWAKE. from 4-7am. It sucked.
• Okay, that's all.
  
  
  

he's got rhythm, he's got music

eight

Not to be outdone by his little sister, Henry was enjoying a Jr. Frosty while watching her video slideshow from the other day, and decided to sing along. For those of you who don't know, that song by my dear friends in the John Kelly Band is available on iTunes...



Oh, and Maria had her two month checkup yesterday. She's 9lbs, 9ozs, 22 inches and perfect. That's all!

goin' back to find...

I want to dedicate this awesome love song to my dear friend and his lovely bride-to-be. Congratulations, guys. We couldn't be more excited for you.

weekend

Soooooo, how was everyone's weekend? Ours was busy, but nice. Friday started things off with quite a bang... I took 6 youth to a concert in another part of the state, purportedly headlined by our favorite band ever, downhere. It took us 2.5 hours to travel a distance that should have taken 1.5 hours. Nice. But we kept being reassured, thinking that we'd just miss a little of the two opening acts and be right on time for the boys. HA! We walked in the door of the mega-church where the concert was being held and heard the sounds of downhere coming from the sanctuary! WHAT? So, yeah. They were the opening act. But we only missed one song, and their show, while much, much too short, was incredible, as usual. Frankly, even if they'd played for 3 hours, I'd still want more. The upside to them playing early was that we had plenty o'time to chat with the band after they played. And that's some of the best part of downhere - they love to take time with their fans. After I re-introduced myself to Jason and Jeremy, they remembered me from previous shows and their two visits to our church (even though the most recent of which was in 2003). And, I wasn't my usual starstruck dork moron around them this time. I actually conversed like a grown-up, a fact about which I am exceedingly proud. *sigh*

Then Saturday I had confirmation class most of the day. Not much else to say about Saturday except that we watched The Kite Runner, and it was incredible. Just as awesome as the book, although I'm weird that way, and usually like both the movie and the book it's based on. When you watch it, you'll probably be as incredulous as me at how amazing a country Afghanistan used to be, and how wrecked it has become, first by the Soviets and then by the Taliban.

Yesterday we went to church, then to the church picnic for a short time, then we headed to the ballgame, to see our mailman pitch. He did great, even though I got a crummy picture of it. The game was crummy too, with our hometown ballteam losing 6-0. Oh well. We were able to get close to the field before the game and Henry was pretty focused watching the players warm up and the mascot fooling around. The giveaway at the game were some wristbands, which Henry promptly put on and posed with. They didn't come off until we made him do so at bedtime. He wore them to school today.

Okay, now for the pictures!

Mailman Eric winds up to pitch

what'cha lookin' at, henry?


oh, him. that's the starting pitcher, warming up.


still wearing the wristbands, even while eating
cereal for dinner (we are the parents of the year)

One more photo, and I can't even believe it - here's the bump, at 19ish weeks:

hey kat:

Could you catch a quick flight and help me perform the Original Cast Recording of Peter Pan in my living room? I bought it on iTunes today and I need someone to play all the other characters while I do the Mary Martin parts.

Yeah, that's right - we used to perform elaborate recreations of Broadway musicals (Miss Saigon, Annie, A Chorus Line, etc) in our living room as kids. What about it? We were also very, very popular as you have probably already assumed.

i wish it was christmas toda-ay

you can be honest

You all were getting a little sick of me, weren't you? I was inspired by Krista over at bigandlittle and took some time away from posting. Not that I got any cute felted animals made or advent activities done (aside from opening the doors to help Henry find his daily advent chocolate), but all the same... check out her blog - she's always got something amazing happening in her house with all those kiddos and I have to say, I'm a smidge jealous of her location. I'll let you discover her for yourselves.

We're basically obsessed with listening to Dan Zanes over here. His most recent album is FANTASTIC for everyone in the family. He has so many kinds of sounds and songs all tied together and it's wonderful. Henry is singing along in Spanish and English, singing protest songs, gospel, folk, blues, African and rock. Timon and I love it, too. Occasionally we see Dan on Playhouse Disney in between shows and he seems like so much fun - hopefully we'll get to catch a show sometime.

We got our tree last Saturday - with no functional camera I'll have to make do with as reasonable a facsimile as possible. Last year's tree was the same variety, and I used mostly the same ornaments, minus the red bow, so you'll get the idea.

this one's for monk jeanne

It's never too early to teach the message of peace.



(please check out MonkMail)

could you hear the universe rocking?

Last Friday, I took a bunch of kids (15!) here:

... for this event:


We got to see some awesome concerts, like FamilyForce5, who put on quite the circus! No pictures of them, sorry. I remembered to take out the camera for Jars of Clay who've been at this music stuff for eons, it seems. They have hilarious concert outfits this year - 1970's gym shirts and shorts with pulled up socks and headbands. You can sort of get the idea here:


They seem to have inspired some followers:


I saw this next band, Mercy Me, on this very same stage 4 years ago. (Remember, Chad? You were there, too.) I was pregnant with Henry and didn't even know it yet. The screen behind them is made of small light bulbs and they have a cool show going on during their set. It reminds me a little of U2.


The last show we saw was Casting Crowns, and they did some great stuff. You can tell an event is sponsored by a Southern Baptist university (Liberty University, in this case) when there are only a teensy handful of women to be found in any kind of performance capacity. The only two women musicians of any kind all night were in Casting Crowns (who rocked it out, I'd like to add).


But by far, the most impressive and for me, moving sight of the night was this talented lady right here:


She was an artistic interpreter for all the concerts at this stage, and she was amazing. It was truly a gorgeous sight. There's just something so beautiful about how she signed.

The next day, we all took naps, and I was able to capture this sweet sleepy face:


Then when he woke up, he posed for a quick glamour shot.

Is it silly to say that this smile is sufficient to rock the universe?

magnetic north

So we're losing another friend to the north. A. is leaving Sunday and we had him over for another meal last night to give him his present and for Henry and me to say goodbye. He has to work today and part of tomorrow, so Timon will see him then. I'm having some dejavu, thinking back to when Chad, Henry's godfather was getting ready to move up north and trying to squeeze in as much time together as possible, mostly centered on feeding him beer, hard-boiled eggs and ice cream home-cooked meals and reading books about Mormons or wilderness survival. Last night was similar, enjoying a nice dinner with A. and then gathering around the computer monitor to watch old clips from Sesame Street on YouTube. Like this one, for instance:

My siblings and I were raised on a healthy musical diet of Sesame Rock & Roll and Vivaldi, Billy Joel and Broadway musicals like this and this. Schizophrenic tastes, but all classics, to be sure. What's your favorite childhood musical memory? Kat - I'm sure yours is the piano-four-hands.

what's really important

Ok, vacation was great, blah, blah, blah. What you really need to be doing right now is not scrolling through a bunch of awesome photos from our trip, but rather hightailing it over here to vote without ceasing for my friends in The John Kelly band in the "Living Room... LIVE!" contest. The voting box is in the top left corner of the page. GO! NOW!!! (please?!?) I promise to have trip pictures up soon. What are you still doing here?!?

Oh, and if anyone's still reading, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to AMY!!!