Turn Your Eyes + Grace that is Greater...making progress

Yay! Ryan gave me some help today on this song combo. So here is my attempt at taking what he said and putting it into practice. I realized I was using the wrong timing.  So, this is a quick, no frills recording.  It's not perfect (as you will see), but I'm pretty pleased with how my transitions are coming along.  This would make a nice song for church.

turn your eyes upon Jesus

[edited]

I'm working on a lot of songs lately, but today this one just kept stirring in me.  I've had this chorus stuck in my head ever since the Tommee Profitt concert.  Knew I had to get it out of my system.  So I looked up the chords and then combined it with another chorus....just because I can.  I'm not sure how we can literally "look full in His wonderful face", but I guess we are just supposed to imagine what that would be like.  I honestly can't imagine!  What could we possibly feel standing before our Savior?  I think I'd feel completely overwhelmed.  But the lesson I'm trying to learn is that if we DO focus on Christ, everything else becomes minimal.

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus- Grace, Grace


Only a few more days and then we are headed to Michigan!  Seems like a long time since we've been at our new house.  I'm glad we can go and spend some time there.  We plan on doing some work on the house, making some repairs and whatnot.   We also have a couple of parties to attend.   Looking forward to meeting our new neighbors.


This is the first recording I did without the additional chorus inserted in.  Not sure which one I like better so I'm posting them both.  Ryan gave me some pointers, so I might be doing it over anyway.

Turn Your Eyes

God's perfect timing

How many times have I heard lately, "It's all in God's perfect timing"?  I have even said it quite a lot myself.  I'm almost sick of hearing it.  It's like the cure-all answer Christians give when we don't have any other answer, and we don't know what's going on.

Some people ask me what God's will is for my life.   Or they ask me if I'm running out ahead of God's will.

My answer is, "I have no idea." How would I know?  I have never read anything in the Bible that indicates if He prefers me living in NJ or MI.  I don't hear any voices speaking to me, and I don't think it really matters.  I don't think there is some divine reason for staying here...or one for leaving.  I think that God's will for me is to live according to His word no matter where I am, even if it's in Timbuktu.  And if there IS some divine purpose to be somewhere at a certain time, I can be sure that God will make the pieces fall together without me going crazy trying to arrange it myself.  We're not in Michigan yet, so obviously it's not His will YET.

We've had no showings on our house for over a month now.  We are going to reduce the price next week.  Our flesh has the tendency to get nervous or anxious when we are making all these huge decisions.  But I'm trying to just let it all go and let God figure it out.  We will just continue doing the best we can.

Tommee Profitt concert

Yesterday we had friends from church over for the afternoon.  It was super nice because it's something we rarely do.  We were able to enjoy the pool, and lots of food, and conversation.  

Last night we went to Tommee Profitt's next to last concert ever that he will have.  It was so wonderful.  I'm glad and thankful that we decided to go.  It was great to worship with them.  Tommee invited us over to his house to see his studio when we get to GR.  That will sure be sweet.  Ryan said it's a cool place.

swimming with Ethan and Dana

fun in the pool

Grandma and Ethan

Grandpa and Ethan

Ethan trying out my rebounder

We had the best visit with Dana and Ethan today.
God is good.
Even with all our FAITH, He does so much more than we expect Him to.
He is full of surprises, and happy endings.
He doesn't give us all the things we want, but He gives us things that are far better, at just the right time.
I say I trust Him... I say I surrender.  But do I really?
If I did, wouldn't I just roll over and shrug when things don't go my way?
Or when people hurt me?
Why don't I trust God enough to get me through those times?
Why do I let myself get so hurt?
Is it because I am so passionate?
Joseph in the Bible didn't get hurt, even though he had every right to when his brothers sold him into slavery.  He kept a good attitude.  God was with him always, and he prospered.
I have tried to have a good attitude over the years, but I failed in the end.  I gave in to the hurt.
Doesn't that say I wasn't really trusting God's provision?
You know, it almost seems like nothing should phase us, ever.
Why can't I have the attitude of "God's in control of this"?
I should feel that way about every situation in my life, but I don't.
I worry... I plan...I fret...and become hurt, bitter, and unforgiving.

Oh well.
There was only One who was perfect.
The rest of us, well, we just plow through with our imperfections.
Day after day.
I need to learn to shrug more.

Thank you God, for reminding me who's in charge.
Please remind me again tomorrow.

Everst VBS...come and gone

me and Jadyn

It was so sad saying goodbye to her

my group at snacks

VBS ended today.  I struggled to go this week.  I almost decided not to.  I'm glad I stayed on the high road though.   Felt utterly weird, lonely and crappy being there without Ryan and Kyle.

Here are some things we learned:

God has the power to provide. (2 Corinthians 9:8)
God has the power to comfort.  (2 Corinthians 1:4)
God has the power to heal.  (Psalm 147:3)
God has the power to forgive.  (Nehemiah 9:17)
God has the power to love us forever.  (John 3:15)

It went pretty well.  A lot of children said they trusted Jesus as their Savior.  I'm glad I was there to help them learn.  This was a good age group.  I don't do so well with the younger kids, especially the very disruptive ones.

My biggest challenge for this week, and possibly in the coming weeks is trying to make my heart forgive.

Kyle and Hilary are engaged

The big news last week.  What we all knew was about to happen has finally happened.  Smiles and happy tears for the couple.  I'm so proud of Kyle, and so delighted that Hilary will be my daughter.  I see such good times in our future with both of them, and eventually their children.  The Vegh household will never be the same.

re-making Your Great Name

I decided to re-make one of my old songs just for the HECK of it... sorry, I can't stop myself... no matter how much I get beat down.  I have so many songs inside me that must come out... I'm just warning you.  Even though the phone is a super lousy recording device, look people, that's all I have available to me.  When I go back to Michigan I am bringing my mixer and mic back with me!  So there, bleh...

Your Great Name


In case you are interested, here is the first time I tried singing it...less than 2 years ago.  This was my 1 month progress report playing guitar.

Your Great Name - first try

Wow, can you believe I kept at it after how horrible I sounded as a newb? Aw well, some people still think I sound horrible... Holy cow, I've made a ton of progress in under 2 years! I'm praising God that I haven't given up yet!  There must be something in me that just keeps going, like the guitar-energizer-bunny-mentality...you aren't gonna stop me!!  I know God put this passion inside of me, and I'm not wiling to give up on my dream or let my God down by being a dang quitter.  Some day God WILL give me an opportunity!

Holy Spirit, You are welcome here, but bears are not!

Today was an icky day. My back was out, once again... I hobbled around for half the day. I was becoming irritated at some things, and stressed at others.

I saw 2 bucks out the window bumping their heads together.

Later, out that same window I saw a a bear. I usually have my phone with me, but I didn't this time, so I only could catch him as he walked into the woods.

I finally found chords for this song and tried so hard to get it right. I think it went pretty well, but dangitall, it's frustrating the way the sound comes out so AWFUL using my phone as my recording device.   I tried doing it in the living room today because it's very open, but the sound was way worse than it usually is.  It's also very frustrating not having my mic, so my voice doesn't pick up that well.  And please, let's not even talk about how my guitar sounds....  Ugh...

Well, at least I learned a song, and I practiced my guitar till my fingers were so raw that I couldn't type.  And I spent a good time worshiping God in the midst of singing this song.  It made me feel more calm for a while.



My thoughts now?  Whatever....

I feel very discouraged that even my practices turn out like crap....  I'm not sure what I'm going to do anymore.

I've made 15 videos between June 16 and July 16.  I've taught myself all of these songs....and many, many more.

Commission my soul

Today I only managed to get one song done.  I'm blaming it on my headache.  This is one that I loved even before we sang it at Frontline in June.  Ryan had suggested I learn this one, so here we go.  As usual, I'm not perfect, and never will be.  And as usual, the sound quality of these videos is very poor, so using ear buds does help quite a bit!

Commission My Soul


I have another song brewing for tomorrow. I'm trying to get as much done as I can while the house is quiet.  So many songs to sing, and so little time!!

Christ be all around me as I wonder forever...

Yesterday morning I heard this song for the first time, and it touched me so much, it nearly brought me to tears. I knew I had to sing it.  It was written by Leeland, and co-written with All Sons and Daughters.  Well, this is my first attempt of "learning" it. I think it would make a nice praise song for church...I see some churches are using it.

I know... I had the crazy camera standing up instead of laying down...I don't know what I was thinking!  I really miss my mic, my music stand, and my recording equipment!  Everything is sitting in my music room in Michigan.  Using my phone doesn't give the best results.  Darryl said the recordings never sound as nice as live!!  Thanks Darryl!

Christ Be All Around Me


The next one is another Leeland song that I really like.  Obviously, I'm only learning songs that I like, since I'm not on any worship team.  However, some of the songs I'm learning are likely going to be incorporated into Frontline's song list.

I Wonder


I tried singing this one, Forever...probably a little high for me, but I gave it my best shot in the key I was working with.

Forever


Today I'm going to work on learning 2 more songs that are being sung, or will soon be sung at Frontline. I'll leave you guessing as to what songs they are!  I also need to get back to doing "remakes" of old ones I've done before.  Come on, toughen up little fingers!

It was quite nice doing these without hammering in the background... *wink *wink

just a little update after WV

our first potatoes of the season

can you guess how these flowers are suspended in space?

Can you figure out how that flower is suspended in mid air?  no?  haha... ok.  I'll never tell.

We are home from Mom's house.  We had such a nice time there with her.  It was great we got to go there and hang out with her for the week.  It was good to see her laugh, and enjoying life to some degree.

So, I forgot to tell you my Stevia project was a bust.  I ended up making 2 batches.  The first batch turned bitter, even though it was less than 36 hours.  The second bath just was not really that sweet, and it had a somewhat funky smell to it.  eh... oh well.  It was worth a shot.  Afterward I found liquid stevia in the store for like $2.  

I threw some rotten potatoes in the garden in the spring and they are growing like crazy.  I got our first 2 harvested today.  I know there are a bunch more out there, but I'm not ready to eat them yet so I will leave them under for a while.  We have lots of herbs and hot peppers.  Kinda exciting.  Tomatoes aren't ripe yet... but hoping we get them before the deer do.

Nobody is interested in buying our house.  We decided we are ok with whatever happens.  If we don't sell the house by fall we are taking it off the market.  I told Darryl I'm not spending another winter in NJ.  So no matter what, I'm outta here!!!   I miss being in Michigan.  I want to get my life started there.  I want to sing and worship God with people who actually want to sing with me!!

I am Joy

dinner at CJ Maggies

We are having a wonderful time with mom, and also visiting with Scott and Flo.

We got some amazing deals at thrift stores.
We sang some great songs.
We got some small jobs done.
We did some work, and some relaxing.
We had lots of conversation...solving the word's problems of course.
We had lots of laughter; so much laughter that I might have to go back to my childhood name, Joy.
I love to make people laugh.  I love to make them happy.

It's nice to be here.

Independently surrendering it all

I recorded this one the other day when I did the other one.  There was a little interruption at the end... haha...



Oh, did you want to see the old one?  oh ok... here it is.  This was after 5 months of learning guitar, Jan. 28, 2014.



And for Independence Day we enjoyed fireworks, snacks and fellowship at Lake Hopatcong.  It was a nice night out away from all the thoughts of working on our house, or any other stresses in life that weigh us down.

Today we drove to my mom's house.  Having a very fun time laughing with her...not to mention a dandy of a Mexican dinner.

Shout To The Lord remake

I thought it would be fun to go back through my blog and re-do some of my earliest guitar songs.

Here's one I did only 4 weeks into it.  I remember it so clearly.  I didn't think I'd ever be able to learn to play.  Oct. 4, 2013



Here's a quick remake of it I did today before supper.



Yeah, so I'm going to post some more as I get them.

the sweet truth of the matter

Today I started making liquid stevia... I hope it works out because it's very expensive in the store.  Here is my Stevia plant.  This was taken after I harvested some from it.  I didn't take it all because I want to be sure this recipe is a good one.  I've had this stevia plant for a couple of years but I never knew how to extract the sweetness from it.

I took the leaves off and washed them.

Then I put them in the sun to dry.

Then I put them in a dark jar and covered with cheap vodka.  You can also do a water version, but most recipes use vodka so that's what I went with.

This will sit for 24-36 hours, and be shaken up a few times during the day.  After that I will strain it and simmer the liquid gently for like 20 minutes to cook off the alcohol.  After that it goes in a small dropper bottle.  Man, I hope this works.  I'll let you know in a couple of days.

Oh, by the way... here is the Tai hot pepper plant that I had brought in the house for the winter.  It did magnificently well, and now it is producing a great crop of peppers.  They will soon be turning red.

Ok, so today I won't talk about anything serious... because as it was, my day was way too serious.  I tried to play guitar and sing 2 new songs... and Darryl said I sounded really good.. but you know, it is hard to sing when you are upset.  My passion definitely came out... but then I had to have wine to calm my nerves.... so nothing serious will be written tonight.