Like an Avalanche on a Silent Night

Darryl and I had no idea when we arrived at Joe's house that we would be singing! We've never "performed" together before, so this was a completely new experience for us.  I would say we both had a blast. We had no songs picked out, and no practice, but we ended up singing about 12 songs together.

Joe took videos of most of the songs we did, but this was the only one that ended up on my phone. Maybe I'll get more later.

So, this is a recording of the last 2 songs we did at the very end of the night...probably somewhere around midnight.   I'm glad I have this video. Such a nice time and such a nice memory this will be. There were some technical issues at this point in the night, and you will hear some bad feedback from one of the mics.

DC in a nutshell

Pentagon

After leaving Joe's house we decided to take a quick drive over to Washington DC.  We didn't have a whole lot of time so we tried to drive around and see as much as we could.  I think we were able to capture quite a bit in a short amount of time.  We ended our "tour" at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Overall, a really wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

a visit with Joe's fam

"bye"

our guest room

computer in the wall

movie theater

bar

karaoke stage

gym

mixing drinks

infamous logo

entrance to a playroom

entrance to movie theater

Joe making a speech

Darryl and I singing

goat curry... yum

one huge clock

We had a marvelous time with Joe and his family.  Stayed up till wee hours partying and singing, and praising God together.  Such a delightful family.  We truly enjoyed ourselves, and were humbled by their hospitality and graciousness.  We were treated like guests of honor.  Really wonderful experience.

riding the Appalachians

On our way to Joe's house from Mom's house.  The roads were crazy... up and down mountains, around curves...sometimes no guard rails.  It was not a relaxing car ride.  I had to keep holding on.  But I was so glad we did it anyway.  I really enjoyed seeing the mountain range, even though the camera just couldn't capture what I saw and felt riding through the mountains for 4-5 hours.  Oh yeah, and we saw a LOT of windmills.  They looked so robotish dancing along the mountain tops.

warm West Virginia Thanksgiving

singing Christmas songs

after a big meal

It was a sweet, and bittersweet Thanksgiving.  Truly wonderful to have all the siblings together for the first time in more years than I can remember, but also very sad to be the first Thanksgiving without my Dad.  I'm glad we could all be there for Mom.  It was also nice to have them sing with me!

Tomorrow we are off to visit with Joe and his family in Washington DC.

my birthday Desert Song

This is a good song.  I sang it and played guitar, and then for my birthday Ryan did some mixing in with different instruments and cool sounds.  It was such a nice gift!  Thank you Ryan.  I will hire you to do my first CD.  haha  :D

This song speaks to me of God's faithfulness, to get us through the deserts of our lives - those spells where we feel like we are waiting, thirsty, hungry, and alone.

Almost a year ago, I posted about living on a shelf... different analogy, but holding the same meaning.  It's a time of being alone, and on your own...sometimes feeling like you are starving for something that you just can't have.  It's so lonely and it hurts, and in a lot of ways it tends to shatter us on the inside.  It's a feeling of being forgotten, or ignored, or rejected.   It's not a comfortable place to live.

But it's also a time when all you have is God, and He's doing all kinds of stuff to you.  He's making you find comfort in Him alone.  He's making you trust in Him alone.  He's making you fall before Him in humility because you have nothing to stand on.  He's making you work hard, because nothing is free or easy.  He's refining you.

I love the lyrics to this song...it suits me well.
God is faithful, and I do have a reason to sing.

Desert Song

This is my prayer in the desert

When all that’s within me feels dry

This is my prayer in my hunger and need

My God is the God who provides

This is my prayer in the fire

In weakness or trial or pain

There is a faith proved of more worth than gold

So refine me Lord through the flame

And I will bring praise, I will bring praise

No weapon formed against me shall remain

I will rejoice, I will declare

God is my victory and He is here  

This is my prayer in the battle

When triumph is still on its way

I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ

So firm on His promise I'll stand

All of my life, In every season

You are still God

I have a reason to sing

I have a reason to worship

This is my prayer in the harvest

When favor and providence flow

I know I'm filled to be emptied again

The seed I've received I will sow

bye-bye blue mazda

Scott and DeeDee and me

this was taken 6 years ago

I had a delightful time with the Rolffs, driving back to NJ, and spending another night with them.  What nice folks!  We are all so thankful how God worked out this whole car situation.  So glad we were able to help them out.

Bye-bye blue mazda...you were good to me and I enjoyed you very much.  I'm sorry you got hit by that drunk driver!  But now you will have a long happy life at a home where you are loved and cared for.

Sing to Jesus...it's what I do

This is one of the songs I recorded that my friend Mike did bass for. And then Ryan did some harmony on it.  I love this song.
 

Forever He is glorified!

here's the quick recording we made before I left yesterday... thanks for recording it Kyle!

goodbye Michigan and road trip with Rolffs

son of mine

voice lesson

and new hair cut by Mom

I’m sitting in the back seat of my car headed to NJ.  Thankfully Scott is driving.  It’s going rather well.

I spent the night at the Rolff’s house last night.  They asked me to bring in my guitar and sing.   I think that went rather well too.   I played some CCM songs, which we all sang, plus I did the 4 songs that I wrote.  It was nice having Kyle and Hilary there for the evening as well.  And dinner was yummy.  It was a nice time of hanging out with new family.

Tonight the Rolff’s are spending the night at my house.  I’m looking forward to cuddling up on my couch next to the fireplace.

I had such a nice time on this trip.  It was pleasant, fun, not too busy, but I still did a lot.  Ryan and I did a voice lesson yesterday.  He also did some harmony on one of my recordings, added instruments to another recording, and we did a video of Forever right before we left.   Kyle was kind enough to pause his homework to record it for us.   Ryan taught me a bit more on strumming, and introduced me to a cool guitar app.  He also started teaching me how to use different recording software for my songs called REASON.   So, I sure will be fiddling with that a lot.