Free Music

I came across this two weeks ago but I just keep putting off posting it here. However I like to share good stuff with my friends and I can see how some of you might like this. Let's face it, free is for me.

The idea is simple. Get the music back in people's hands. It's called NoiseTrade.

Back in 2006 Derek Webb gave away his album Mockingbird for free online. I actually posted about it way back then. Love or hate him, it was a cool idea and he got 80,000 people to download his album. So this was the start of the process.

So basically they want fans to be able to tell other people about good music and share music. So you can go there and download as many albums as you'd like. To do this they ask you to do one of two things. Either pay what you think the album is worth to you, or tell 3 friends about their site and what they're doing. Pretty cool.

Now for those who fear that you don't want to download another Derek Webb album because the last time you listened to me it went badly for you....there are lots of other artists on there. I downloaded a cool album by Waterdeep who I love. It's worth checking out.

I just went back and looked at their site and in the two weeks since I found this they've added another 10-15 albums. That's rad. So go.

Monday morning updates

Imitation is the truest form of flattery? Well Marko from Youth Specialties does a new thing on Monday mornings that recaps his weekend and looks forward to his week. As I read it this week, I thought, wow I could really use that....for myself for than everyone else.....so I think I"m going to try and do it for awhile.....starting today.

the weekend that was: This weekend we had the pleasure of my in-laws coming down for the weekend. They arrived Friday afternoon and left Sunday afternoon. Good times seeing them. We realize that because of where we live and our schedule we never get to see family quite as much as we'd like. Highlights were swimming in the Holiday Inn pool...illegally. Playing WIZARD (which is one of the most amazing card games ever!) and church on Sunday was out at Chapman Dam.

where i am at the moment: sitting at our table with a mouth full of gauze because I had (hopefully) the last two teeth pulled out to make my mouth better

on my to-do list this week: I have a bunch of stuff to do this week. I have to write complete percussion scores to two marching band pieces as well as write our cadence for this year. I must do this by mid-week so the director and arranger have time to look it over before next weeks' band camp. I also have to pick worship music for church for the next month or so, so I can justify going to Africa for two weeks

Africa update: As of Friday we were told we have an Embassy date on August20. So we have to be in Ethiopia that day. We're planning on flying in much earlier than that and staying a couple days later to. Why fly all that way and only stay two days? VERY EXCITED!

procrastinating about: this is a hard one...only because I procrastinate about everything...right now I'm procrastinating about writing music.

book i’m in the midst of: Reinventing Sunday by Brad Berglund

music that seemed to catch my attention this past week: Wrap Me in Your Arms by Michael Gungor (download the mp3 for a limited time below...or go buy it at iTunes)

how i’m feeling about this week: slightly stressed because i need to accomplish a lot. The first part of the week my mouth is going to hinder my ability to do what I like to do. That's frustrating. I'm also feeling like I"m where God needs me for awhile. I like that.

Wrap Me In Your Arms-Michael Gungor.mp3

Gotcha Day

In the midst of the hustle and bustle that is summer time in our house, I didn't post this very important event. July 13. Gotcha Day for Corban. That's the day we gotcha. 2 years now and it seems like he's always been here.

He showed up crying and scared. For a long time he just kind of stared at everything and everyone.

Today as I type this he's talking my ear off and running around the downstairs of our house playing cars and trains and jumping on the couch. ("Corban quit jumping on the couch")

Every morning I wake up I'm so excited to spend time with my son. After all that waiting, we finally GOTCHA.

The first picture is Mari and Corban minutes after he finally would go to her in the airport when we met.

Splash

I realized the other day that I get a lot of inner joy when I can drive through a big puddle along the side of the road. For some reason it makes me very very happy.

And the Results Are In......

Before I begin I again just wanted to say thank you thank you thank you to all our prayer partners around the world who have been uplifting us for months...and years. You have blessed our lives. There are people praying that we don't even know and we just want to thank you.

So today was the day our paperwork was suppose to go to court in Ethiopia. As I said before, Ethiopia is 7 hours ahead of us. Our agency however is 3 hours behind us. So we're dealing with a 10 hour conversion of information.

Once again, God did crazy cool stuff. I will forever be in awe of how he works.

So late last night I got online and checked our agencies bulletin board. I saw a two line post from the head of our agency. All she said was that the lady who normally contacts families was out of the office yesterday and that she (the head of the agency) contacted the one family who didn't pass court and everyone else passed.

So that was confusing.....because we weren't suppose to go to court until today....not yesterday.....

So I immediately e-mailed her. I just received the response. Sure enough, we passed court YESTERDAY. So instead of letting us get all worked up today and waiting until late this afternoon to hear the news, God took care of things before we were even expecting it. Everything with Tobiah's adoption has gone that way. God continues to clear the path way ahead of us. The road has been smooth. We have continually been blessed and amazed as we watch God do the work for us.

So what's next? We will hear in the next couple days when they'd like us to travel. We're expect that it'll be the 3rd or 4th week of August.....so basically a month from now we might be meeting our new son!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am completely blown away at God's goodness to us. GOD IS GOOD ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL THE TIME.

I think Corban's too big to do this....

Prayer Clarification

Ok this has been brought to my attention and I thought I should clarify. I sent an e-mail out the other day to a bundle of people (my apologies if you weren't on that list....maybe you should e-mail me to make sure I do in the future) asking for a specific prayer request.

Next Wednesday our paperwork goes to court in Ethiopia. We need to pass. This is the last major hurdle before going to pick up Tobiah. So we have asked that people and churches be praying Wednesday.

If you look in the right hand column of this blog you will see a clock that's set for Addis Ababa time. You will not that it is roughly 7 hours ahead of EST...and if you live in other parts of the country even more so. So if you wake up at 8 am it's 3 pm in Addis....there's a good chance the paperwork has already gone to court.

Someone suggested we tell everyone to pray Tuesday instead.

Couple things:
1. We've been praying for Tobiah and this process for over a year....so Tuesday, Wednesday is all the same to us.

2. We won't hear from our agency whether we passed or not until late afternoon on Wednesday OUR TIME anyway. So praying Wednesday seems like the logical time. I know that our senses will be heightened that day while we wait....so that seems logical to me to be in prayer.

3. I think we serve a God who knows no time. I think we serve a God who knows the longings of our hearts. I think we serve a God who saw this day coming before time began. If that's true, I think that he will be listening to our prayers at 8 am EST no matter what's been going on in Ethiopia.

4. Who am I to tell you that you shouldn't pray Tuesday AND Wednesday? Go for it.

If I could just add a little to the prayer request.....since you're praying anyway....I will be away from the Internet most if not all of Wednesday. So I already know that I'm going to be frustrated waiting for news. It may be good so I don't just sit here hitting refresh all day, but it'll also be unnerving.

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts.

New Song Obsession

It's not what you think.

Corban loves for me to find little kids videos for him. So I was digging through YouTube for some Veggie Tales stuff. I have to say that I haven't watched any new Veggie stuff for years....so this was new to me. So he wants to watch it every day. He sings it around the house. Now I sing it around the house too.....whether I want to or not.

Quotes

Today I just have two quotes for you. They've been bouncing in my head so if I put them down here I quit trying to remember them.

Talk to a friend of mine (who has two kids of his own) about Tobiah coming home and taking care of two kids. We were talking about a picnic we had gone to with Corban and keeping him entertained. He said "Wait till you have two. You have to quit playing man to man and switch to a zone defense."

The second was funny in the context of when it was said, but the more I've thought about it the more real it's become. Corban was having some potty issues one day....Marjorie said, "You need to know when to let go and when to hold on. All of life is knowing when to let go and hold on." I laughed when I heard it, but now I'm blown away by the simplicity of that statement.

So I told you we had new pictures of Tobiah. Mid-as-well put them up now. They're great because he's actually smiling instead of looking all stressed out. I've said it before and I'll say it again, "DANG he's cute.