Archive for May, 2011

Writing a book

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

I haven’t talked about it much, but I have been working on a book that is a memoir about the time in my life when my dad was dying and this music ministry was starting and our young son, Toby was struggling with sensory processing disorder. I’m hoping that it will really encourage people in their faith when they are in difficult times, and that God will use the book as a resource for other parents who are trying to find help for their children with special needs. We’ll keep you updated, but expect the release in the fall – October is Sensory Awareness Month, and that’s my aim. 🙂

Speaking of getting married at the zoo…

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

Mandy and Sam tie the knot (and yes, that's from my piano bench)

This weekend was the craziest one I can ever remember, really. All three of our kids play soccer and this was a tournament weekend for all of them so we had 11, count ’em, 11 soccer games. We also had two parties for out-going coaches, one play rehearsal, church, and my drummer, Sam, married his best friend, Mandy, this weekend and I played the wedding so we had that and the rehearsal. Yikes.

The wedding was gorgeous, though, and Sam is the graphic designer for the zoo, so he and Mandy got married at Water’s Edge, a private pavilion right on the Olentangy River inside the zoo. It was beautiful, and we were actually looking out over the water at the spot where he proposed. Everybody now, awwww!! Somehow they also picked the only two sunny days we’ve seen in Ohio this entire spring, so that was a miracle. 82 degrees, and I had a lovely burn from the soccer fields, but it was still a gorgeous night. Congratulations, Mandy and Sam!

WXML and Youth

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

With Jon and Dan at WXML

With Dan and Bill at WXML

This week was an interesting one. On Sunday night, I did the message for our senior high youth group – our youth pastor’s out of town this week, and he asked me to come and do it. Then this morning I did a station visit at WXML which is only about an hour from my house and covers about a third of the state of Ohio, which is amazing, actually. Then tonight I spoke at the junior high youth group.

Senior high brought back so many memories for me of working with Young Life in New York. I have to hand it to these young men and women who are trying to live for Christ in their world – it’s not easy.

Had a great time at WXML with Jon and Bill and Dan and everyone else at the station. What an incredibly warm and friendly bunch of people – I could just hear their passion for the ministry and the Gospel in everything they said. It was just a pleasure to be with them!

Got back in time to speak to the junior high youth and wow, do they have a ton of energy! I really did have a blast with them, and they were so responsive to the message. So many of the kids are in hard situations, and they are so beautiful and valued by the Lord, I pray that they will know it!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Sunday, May 8th, 2011

New Hope Church - no, not the Polar Bear Exhibit.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there. 🙂 I had a good one, but a busy weekend. Yesterday I did the spring tea for New Hope Church in Powell, OH, just a few minutes from my house. That’s always such a treat since I’m usually traveling all over the place, and it’s nice to just come home after an event every once in a while!

New Hope has been supporting my ministry for a long time, so it’s fun to get to be with them. This was a multi-generational event for moms and daughters, and we had everything from great-grandmas to beautiful little girls in princess dresses. They made a very elegant tea and I did the program. New Hope is also special to me because Nathan and I got married in their old building – I’ve known the pastor there for years. Our church was too small at the time to hold the wedding, so we had it at New Hope. Over the years, the Columbus Zoo grew all around the church until finally they sold the building to the zoo and moved down the street. Now the old building has become the Polar Bear Exhibit, so we always laugh when we tell people we got married at the Polar Bear Exhibit at the zoo. The kids think it’s cool anyway!

Then this morning we did a beautiful arrangement of “At the River” by Aaron Copland with the choir for Mother’s Day (along with all our normally awesome worship music!) which I loved and then my whole larger family went on a picnic and hiking with my mom. Sadly, our oldest is ill, so my husband stayed back with her, and after the hike we opted to stay in for the night so we could all be together. The kids and Nathan made a great dinner (except for the sick one – we gave her a pass) and we just chilled together. Actually, an awesome present of time for us.

Happy Mother’s Day! I hope you had a good one too. 🙂

Incredible weekend

Sunday, May 1st, 2011

Christ Community Chapel

They have a beautiful church.

The women getting their Spring Fling on!

Tyrone Covenant Presbyterian

Speaking at the luncheon

It was a great time!

This past weekend was really busy, but just wonderful. Nathan and I drove up on Friday for an event called Spring Fling at Christ Community Chapel in Hudson, OH. It was especially fun for me because I have a number of friends up there and several of them were able to come. My “handler” for the event was even an old family friend so it was just fun. The only problem was that it was sold out (a good problem to have!) quite a bit in advance so not everyone was able to get tickets.

It started with a beautiful dinner and then I did about an hour presentation of stories, testimony and songs. We’ve had a wonderful response and absolutely saw God using it, so it was a wonderful night.

After the program, Nathan and I packed up and drove about 2 hours to spend the night in Toledo just to get part of the way toward the next event. In the morning we drove the other hour and a half to Fenton for the ladies spring event at Tyrone Covenant Presbyterian. This was also special to us because Nathan’s brother and his wife go to this church and several of Nathan’s family members came.

We had a lunch and I did the program afterwards. Everyone at this church has been so warm, and both churches were so specific about presenting the Gospel and wanting this to really be an outreach event – it was just a pleasure to work with both of them, and I hope I get to work with them again in the future!

After the luncheon we went back to Nathan’s brother’s house for a surprise retirement celebration for his mom who was a college Spanish teacher. Don Quixote cake and everything. It was so great to hang out and see our little nieces and nephews too!

We headed home, discovering a very delicious Mediterranean place in Ann Arbor on the way and collapsed so that we could lead worship this morning. Craziness, but so many blessings, and I would do it again in a heartbeat! God is so good!