Archive for August, 2012

Ministry on the farm

Tuesday, August 28th, 2012

Me attempting to zumba at the back of the room - no place is safe from Donna's camera!

In the semi - very good view from up there!

My Sunday morning alarm clocks

This weekend I got to go to Freeport, Illinois, the hometown of my scheduling manager, Donna. Donna came with me for these events since she was obviously excited to get to go back to her hometown, and the events were hosted by her good friends, Steve and Kim Fricke. I know why they are her good friends now, because they were absolutely lovely. We stayed out on their farm for the weekend.

Saturday night I did a women’s event with their church, Grace Valley Christian Reformed Church, acting as host and several other local church also attending. What a warm and wonderful church! There are several people in this congregation dealing with very difficult situations, including ALS and special needs children – two issues about which we know more than we wish we did – and they were doing it with such courage and trust in God. And the way their church was rallying to their support really touched me!

We had a great time that night, and there was even a part in the middle where we all did zumba (and no, I wasn’t leading it!) which gave Donna a lovely opportunity to take embarrassing pictures of me. Thanks, Donna.

The next morning I led worship for the morning service at Grace Valley and again was just struck by the warmth and faith of this congregation. Especially moving was a moment where a little boy in their church who is in a wheelchair was asking for prayer before he went in for yet another surgery. He was saying that he really didn’t want to go to the hospital again and that he just wanted to be “a regular kid.” It almost broke my heart. I have a new song on the album called “Your Child” that I almost feel was written for him even though I wrote it before I met him. To see the love and compassion on the faces of the people around him was wonderful – they obviously loved this boy. That is what the family of God is meant to be.

On a lighter note, I also got to do another first for me – ride in a semi. Yep, never done that before, but Steve took me. And on Sunday, I was awoken by some sound I couldn’t identify. I often forget where I am when I wake up and I was thinking, “what in the world is that? Oh yeah, I’m in Illinois. What is that sound?” and when I opened my window, there were about 30 cows looking in a me. Also a first. 🙂

In an irony, my husband and I crossed in the Chicago airport – he has to be out here this week for work, so I was trying to beat my kids home from school. With a delayed flight, I didn’t quite make it, but my mom filled in the gap – thanks mom! Back to trying to get the color right on the artwork for the new album – it’s been one thing after another, but I think we may get this album done yet!

Catching up

Tuesday, August 21st, 2012

Picnic with the Pops in downtown Columbus with the fam

The Ohio State Fair from the skyride

My daughter, Rachel, helps to run the table at Faith Covenant Church in Farmington Hills, MI

Ever since ICRS, I’ve been working like crazy on getting the artwork and layout for the new CD done while also listening and giving feedback on the mixing and mastering of the new songs. I really can’t express fully how grateful I am to God for these songs, and I am really getting excited about this album and about what God is going to do with it! I can’t wait to share it with you all!

On August 1st I did a radio interview for a radio show out of New York, NY called Life Lessons Radio Show. This was a new one for me, and I really enjoyed getting to know the host a bit and sharing about my book.

We also did a few family traditions like going to hear Picnic with the Pops with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra downtown and also going to the Ohio State Fair. Every year my whole family goes to the pops and the cousins all dance together and we have a big picnic – it’s a ton of fun. This year, the music selection was amazing, lots of my old favorites, so I really enjoyed it. And no summer is complete without the fair! You have to see the butter sculpture (this year it was 1900 pounds of butter turned into two cows and a birthday cake for our bicentennial – you can’t beat that!) and eat that elephant ear and ride the giant slide. It’s non-negotiable.

Then we headed up north with the family and visited Nathan’s family before stopping at another annual event for us now – guest worship at Faith Covenant Church in Farmington Hills, MI just outside of Detroit. I’ve been coming every year for several years now and leading their services and sharing some of my music. This church has become like family to me, and it’s always fun to see them! This was the first time my whole family got to be there with me, though, and they had fun meeting everyone.

Before I knew it, back to school was upon us and we had a wild rush to get the kids ready to go! Next weekend, onto Illinois.