Setting up at Pillar Community Church before service

130 of Ralph and Nancy’s closest friends

I just got back from Florida in February, and that is always a good thing, but this trip, while great, was bittersweet for me. I wasn’t planning to go down there now, but we have family friends, Ralph and Nancy who have basically known me since I was born, they are family to me, who are also struggling with cancer now. Ralph’s cancer is incurable, and he is getting to the end of his life. My mom and I decided to fly down to see them, and while we were there to see other dear friends, the Kusmers and the DeMarcos, and also my grandma and my uncle.

When we were setting up the trip, the Kusmers’ church, Pillar Community in Vero Beach, asked me if I would be willing to do their church services since I was in town over a Sunday. I was more than happy to, especially since this was a church plant only a couple of years ago, and we’ve been praying for them ever since – it was so fun to see how God has blessed them! The people there were absolutely wonderful, and we had such a great morning. The Holy Spirit was in that place! I was also so touched that our friends, the DeMarcos, drove all the way up from Delray Beach to see us! We were able to stop and spend some time with them too on our way to see Ralph and Nancy.

Ralph and Nancy had asked me if I’d be willing to do a “house concert” for them while I was there. I did that once for them several years ago, so I said sure – I was picturing 15-20 people in their living room. Well, they rented a space and had about 130 of their closest friends there! They’ve always been such an encouragement to me and in my ministry, and they are so proud – I feel like one of their kids. It touched my heart to see how much Ralph was enjoying it, and we felt so blessed that he still felt relatively well that week. Even today, just a few days later, Nancy tells me it would be too much for him now, but God was sweet to us all that week. It was so hard to say goodbye to them. But we know we will see each other again – it’s never really goodbye when we love the Lord. But it hurts – I will miss him so much until then.

We went and had some sweet time with my 96 year old grandma (for those who have been to a show, yes, she still rides her bike to the grocery store) and my uncle. Then home to the snow. I’m so glad I went, but it was a hard trip. Would love you to keep Ralph and Nancy in your prayers!

The Music Technology majors at Capital University filing in for my lecture on music business.

Yesterday I got to go and guest lecture for the Music Technology majors at Capital University here in Columbus. It’s a pretty amazing program that they’ve built – my friend Neal is a professor there and he asked me to come in and share some of my story and talk about songwriting and niche marketing and such.

Most schools have traditional music programs, and it’s pretty hard to find one with a major in music production which is basically what this is. They have about 200 majors in Music Technology, and if you’re in the field, you know it’s mostly male. So it was pretty funny to get up in front of the 175 or so who had come and see about 6 girls, and all the rest guys, most of whom were tatooed and pierced and dread-locked, etc. Basically, they were so much cooler than me!

While Capital has roots in a church denomination, the school is not considered a Christian school anymore, so it’s always a little tricky to know how to share. Several times someone asked a question about how I made a business decision or decided on the next project or whatever, and I had to stop and think, “Do I tell them it was really just because I prayed about it and felt that was how God was leading me?” And so, I did. 🙂 If God’s going to give you open doors, you ought to walk through them!

I miss teaching – I loved my years teaching at a University level – and it was fun to get back in there. Hopefully I’ll get to do it again soon!

Donna rocking her new wig after the going-away party for her hair

My Rachel before

And after

It’s been a really busy month. I’ve finished writing all the new Scripture Memory Songs, and we’re already about halfway through all the tracking for the project. Tracking is basically recording all the instruments and voices – you put each one on it’s own “track” so you can edit them later, making different things louder or softer or whatever. I’m really enjoying working on this project! I’ve been doing this one here in Columbus, so we’re working with different musicians and a new engineer and studio. It’s been challenging and also really fun to produce the whole thing myself as well. After this we go to editing, mixing, mastering, package design, and finally manufacturing and we’re looking at a May release. In total we’ll have 39 songs on this project! We’ll keep you posted!

I know many of you have been praying for my assistant, Donna, as she’s back fighting cancer. She’s had her first two sessions of chemo, and they had told her that given the kind she had and the fact that it’s stage 4, chemo was going to be “pretty brutal.” We’ve been praying so much that God would sustain her and let her do what she needed to do. Praise God, while she’s been really tired afterward for several days, she didn’t have nearly the nausea or side effects she was fearing! I am so grateful, and so grateful for your prayers for her – she’s so loved. She just had a “going away party” for her hair – she’s hilarious, and meets the challenge with such an amazing spirit. I’m thankful she’s my friend.

And in honor of Donna, my younger daughter, Rachel, decided to donate 12″ of her hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths which makes wigs for women with cancer. After we cleaned it up, she lost about 14″ and clearly, she still has a lot of hair, but I was so proud of her.

Just had another review posted about my book “Life Not Typical: How Special Needs Parenting Changed My Faith and My Song.” I especially loved reading this review because it’s by another special needs mom, and it’s always so encouraging to hear that our book was encouraging to her! God has been so good to us, and to our family, and it’s fun to watch Him use the book now too. You can see that here.

The gorgeous sanctuary inside The Barn Church – Liberty Presbyterian

Yep, I’m in there somewhere with all those poinsettias!

Okay, I admit this is a few days late – we had this thing called Christmas, went to Michigan to have Christmas with the in-laws, came home, remodeled a laundry room and half bath, and had New Year’s. Nothing like taking it easy over break!

Just wanted to say Happy New Year and post these pictures of Liberty Presbyterian Church. I got to sing there on Christmas Eve, and it was one of the prettiest churches I’ve ever been in. They call it the Barn Church because the original building is historic and tiny, and they weren’t allowed to add on to it, so they built a new sanctuary off the huge barn on the property. It’s a pretty amazing space inside, and the had a small orchestra, two 7 foot grands, a band, and even a hammer dulcimer player. Truly a beautiful candlelight service, and I was so glad I got to be there!

I had an article come out today on Crosswalk.com about how to help your family be more thankful at Christmas. Hope you enjoy!

5 Ways to Put the Spirit of Thanksgiving into Christmas

Christmas seems to come around faster every year, and with each new season, people seem more stressed. Whether it is not enough time or money, hard-to-please kids, or strained relations with relatives, it becomes more difficult to slow down and maintain meaning and gratitude at this time of year. Since retailers now decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving, it’s time we brought the Thanksgiving to Christmas! Here are five practical ideas:

Reach Out
The fastest way to increase thankfulness is to focus on others. It puts things in perspective. You could serve a meal at a homeless shelter or take your kids to visit people in a nursing home. You could offer to help stock the shelves at a food pantry or bring a meal to someone who is lonely or ill. Every year we pack shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child that are sent to kids in poverty all around the world. I have the kids pack things they would want themselves and then we send them to a child their age. This teaches our kids to serve others and be thankful for what they have, and it always reminds me of my blessings. We have also encouraged our children from a young age to give handmade or personalized gifts. One of the greatest joys for me is seeing that they are often more excited to give their gifts than to see what they received, because they spent so much time and thought on what others would enjoy.

Downsize
Christmas can be overwhelmingly materialistic. Take the emphasis off acquisition by giving the gift of experiences or time together, or gifts that remind your family of their blessings and the needs of others. Give your family a zoo membership or tickets to a show or game you can attend together. In our family, it’s become a joke that we always get practical things like socks and toothbrushes in our stockings along with little fun things, but it’s a reminder that we are blessed to have the things we need, and not to take them for granted. We often give the kids the gift of choosing something from Compassion International’s Gift Catalog such as clean water or emergency food for a family in poverty, and they love knowing they are making a difference for someone else. One good rule I have tried to adhere to when it comes to gifts for kids is, “Something you need, something you want, something we can do together.”

Draw In
If you don’t have any family traditions, this is a great time to start some! Every year we make a unique kind of cookie together and then drop them off on neighbors’ porches. We spend one day making a special coffee cake that is only eaten on Christmas morning. When I was growing up, we set out a “manger” and made it ready for Jesus by doing kind things for each other in secret, and for every good deed, you got to add a piece of hay. Since we have allergies to hay now, it’s evolved to pieces of paper, and this year we’re going to take it a step further and write on the paper which character trait we showed in our good deed like kindness, patience, or thoughtfulness. We have traditions for our little family, as well as traditions for our extended families, and that gives our kids a sense of belonging and connects us to a deeper experience of the Christmas season.

Re-Think
Things are not going to be perfect. Everyone is not going to adore everything you got them, and you’re not going to make an amazing Christmas dinner while keeping your hair flawless. Choose the things that are most important to you, prioritize them, and don’t be afraid to say no to the things that will get in the way. It’s okay if you don’t go to a fourth neighborhood cookie swap or agree to organize the church Christmas pageant while your whole family is in town. It’s okay if your Christmas tree looks crazy because you decided to decorate it all together with homemade ornaments rather than choosing the perfect color-coordinated scheme. And realize that saying no to some things allows you the time to really enjoy the things you have decided are most important to you.

Look Up
You’ve heard it before, but Christmas is not about stuff and Santa. Christmas is one of the holiest holidays on the Christian calendar. In the weeks before Christmas (called Advent on the Christian calendar), our family reads a page of our Advent book each night after dinner, every day telling a bit more of the Christmas story. On Christmas morning, we always sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus, and then read the story in its entirety from the Bible before we open presents. It’s a reminder of what this season is about and teaches our kids what we are actually celebrating.
Christmas can be overwhelming, but it is also an opportunity to love and care for others. If we can remember to be thankful, it will make it less harried and more merry.

Jennifer Shaw is a Telly Award winning speaker, author, singer, songwriter and five-time Top 40 Billboard artist. She is also a wife and mother of three whose favorite holiday is Christmas. Visit her online at www.jennifershaw.com.

Christmas Brunch at Cornerstone Alliance Church

Merry Christmas from our dogs – you would not believe how long we worked to get this shot – someone needs to train those dogs!!

I had such a fun time last weekend with Cornerstone Alliance Church in Marion, OH! This was such a sweet bunch of women, and a beautiful event. We had such a wonderful time with Sue, the coordinator, and her husband and team – very special people! They do a big annual women’s brunch, and since Christmas is my favorite time of year, it was so fun to really focus on “Immanuel, God With Us” and the true meaning of the season!

With fun things, though, there are often hard things. We also learned very recently that my assistant, Donna, has a new form of cancer and it’s very serious. She has had cancer twice before, and this is not a recurrence, but rather, a new kind. She had surgery this morning, and while she came through very well, they found in surgery that it has spread, and is officially stage 4. This is such hard news to hear – I just love Donna and her whole family, and we’ve been working together for years. Her last cancer was also stage 4 and they told her at the time that she only had a few months but tried an experimental treatment and 11 years later she is still here – God can and does heal, and we are praying. But I hate knowing that she has to go through this again. She will take this month off to heal from the surgery and then will start chemo – we would absolutely covet your prayers for Donna and her whole family!

In other news, I have started the writing for a new Scripture memory project. Over the years, many of you know that I have written several mini-albums of Scripture memory songs for kids – they are word for word from the NIV and include references, and we’ve always used them for a VBS curriculum along with a play that I write with my writing partner Terry every year. They’ve just commissioned me to write 3 more years worth of music, so I’ve got 18 new songs to do, and we’ve decided to publish them along with the other mini-albums in one giant Scripture Memory collection. I’m writing a song a day right now, so hoping to have them all written by Christmas and then we will start production after the New Year. They are fun and upbeat, and aimed at grade school kids, and we are really looking forward to seeing how God will use them!

Some of the over 100 clocks Christine used to decorate

Presenting “For Such a Time as This”

This past Saturday I got to present the life of Esther at Genoa Church’s women’s retreat in Westerville, OH just north of Columbus. It was such a great group of ladies, and I so enjoyed working with Amy and Christine who were organizing the whole event.

I call it “For Such a Time as This – A Study on the Life of Esther” and Christine went and found over 100 clocks and had them placed all around the room! They were centerpieces and hung on the wall and on stands and at the tables – it was pretty amazing. I so love sharing the Bible with people, and the history behind the stories which takes the people from characters you can read about impersonally to real people who lived and made mistakes and heroic decisions and everything in between. When we see the people in the Bible as real people, we can learn so much from their lives! Esther is one of my favorite, and I’m so glad they gave me the chance to share it!

Children dressed in the traditional costumes of the nine countries they serve

Presenting at the Remember Nhu benefit to aid children in danger of human trafficking

We got back from Nicaragua late Friday night, and Saturday morning I got up and drove up to the Cleveland area to do a benefit concert for the group we went to Thailand with two years ago, Remember Nhu. This is a wonderful organization, still quite young, but it is amazing to see how God is blessing their work!

Nhu is a Vietnamese woman who grew up in Cambodia and lived with her grandmother in profound poverty. When she was twelve, her grandmother sold her into the sex trade. Carl Ralston, the founder of Remember Nhu, heard her story from some missionaries who ran the school Nhu attended and felt that God had called him to “remember Nhu” and find her. Six trips to Cambodia later, he located her and was compelled to start Remember Nhu which seeks to stop the child slave trade through prevention. They are operating in nine countries now, and Nhu works with them and is just an amazing young woman. We got to know her well when we were in Thailand, and it was so good to see her again! I hope we raised a lot of money for their homes, and praise God for the children they are helping. Poverty is the number one reason for children being trafficked, and it is one of the reasons we feel so passionately about helping those in poverty and protecting the most vulnerable!

At Alvin and Joel’s house (Alvin in the purple) with his mom and Joel’s teacher and the other boys who work with him

Alvin showing us some of the first mussels he found

The neighbor girl playing in a boat on the mud flats waiting for the boys to return

The boys coming back after several hours of working – you can tell it was a bad day because Alvin only has half a bag of mussels for the four of them

One of the neighbors showing her fish for the day

The mom from our first home visit here getting water from her neighbor’s – her house has no water, and this water is not safe for drinking but they share with each other

The fishing boats coming in where the mom from our home visit works – she can gut up to 250 pounds of fish by herself in a day

Now as the tide is coming in, you can see how this sewer empties right into the water behind their homes

Milagro’s home – one of the nicest we saw because it had a floor and concrete walls

The washroom and bathroom at Milagro’s house

Milagro looking so pretty in her backyard – you can see the trash and barbed wire brought in with every heavy rain

To view larger images of the pictures, just click on them.

Our last full day, we spent the entire morning and early afternoon with one family, just doing what they do all day. We were split into groups again, one going with the men to cut wood, one group staying with a family who would help bring the catch in and process the fish, and our group going to a home where we would be “collecting sea shells.” You can imagine when they announced that one on the bus! Compared to chopping wood and gutting fish, sea shells was sounding pretty awesome! We had many invitations to switch with other people! When we got there, though, it certainly wasn’t what we were expecting.

We ended up at the next door neighbor to the house we had visited the day before. That was interesting because when the mom from that house saw us, she came with us and spent the whole morning with us. We had brought her a few things like soap and towels, and she wanted to thank us, but in the end, I think she just wanted to understand why we were there and why we had come to see them.

The family from this day had three children. Their son, Joel, was in the program (and in the pastor’s wife’s class – she was so proud!!). They had a baby who was too young, but they were planning to put him in when he got old enough, and an older son named Alvin who was not in the program. When we asked the mom why, she said she needed him to collect shells, so he was not able to go to school or be in the program. She looked a little embarrassed, but I don’t know where dad was, and she obviously couldn’t do it without her son. It made me so sad. He was such a cool kid, too, 15 years old and a very hard worker who clearly loved his mom and family.

He took us down to where he collected shells. We were picturing a sandy beach (we were right on the Pacific, remember) but it was actually the mud flats we’d seen the day before where the sewage was draining. We realized he was collecting mussels not just shells, which made so much more sense, and would sell them at the market, 12 for forty cents. We had a dilemma because he was wading calf deep in this mud and feeling around under the banyans, well past his wrists in the mud to find these mussels. Since we knew it was contaminated and also that there were scorpions under the banyan trees, we didn’t feel safe doing this – waterborne illnesses can be really nasty and our bodies would never have been exposed to anything like that. We went with them, but we really couldn’t participate, and I felt terrible. Our translator explained, but it still felt bad. They seemed happy just to talk with us while the kids hunted, though – I hope it was okay.

Alvin and four other boys went looking. We talked to Alvin’s mom and also the mom from the other day for a long time, and when the boys finally returned, they told us it was a very bad day. The four of them had gotten about a half bag of shells. They were large, but that didn’t make any difference to the price they got for them. On a good day, they would all get at least half a bag.

We went back to their house, and then Alvin’s mom took us to the fishing pier where she worked. While Alvin looks for shells, she guts fish for the fisherman. She is paid in fish which they can eat and she can sell at the market. She works with three other women, and on a good day, together they process 1000 pounds of fish. A bad day is more like 400 pounds. This woman will gut 250 pounds of fish herself on a good day and then have to turn around and take her portion to the market to sell it to make a few dollars to buy food to come home and cook it for her family and turn around and do it the next day all over again. Again, these people work incredibly hard, it blew my mind!

We went back to their house and shared lunch with them and met Alvin and Joel’s grandmother who was a hoot! We stayed and prayed with them for quite a while and gave them some gifts also of food and soap and towels. I am praying that now that Joel is in the program, maybe some of the pressure will lift and Alvin may be allowed to go to school. Culturally, if one child can get an education like Joel, they will help their whole family, so at least they have that here.

We had time to stop at Milagro’s house. She was so excited we had come! She had been very shy the day before, but now that she had had time to think about what we had said and had looked at the pictures and card that Donna sent her about her family, she was like a different kid. Her house was nicer than many, with a cement floor and walls which would hold up better in an earthquake. They had almost no belongings, though, and their backyard where they bathed and washed their dishes was literally the sewer for the neighborhood and full of trash and barbed wire. Her dad said that he and his neighbors had recently tried to dig a trench to get it to drain better, but it had washed out in the next rainstorm, and they didn’t know what else to do.

We gave Milagro a present that Donna had sent. It had art supplies and toothbrushes and soap and hair ribbons and a brush and candy and all kinds of things she would like and could use. She liked that stuff, but it was nothing next to the most important thing Donna could have sent apparently – a doll! Her eyes got so big when she saw that doll, and she snatched it right out of the box and wouldn’t stop hugging it. I asked her what she was going to name the doll, and without missing a beat she looked at me and said, “What is my sponsor’s name again?” and I said, “Donna” and she said immediately, “Her name is Donna.” It made me cry! And if you’ve met Donna, you know that she was bawling!

It was a good way to end the trip. Nathan and I both said this was the longest, shortest trip we’ve ever taken. For some reason, this one was just grueling. It is always so hard to see people living in terrible poverty, but these people were trying so hard and just needed some support. We are to be the hands and feet of Christ, and I was so encouraged to see the Church able to be the Church here! There is still so much more to do, though, and I am left with a fire to share and to help, and praying for wisdom about how to communicate all we’ve seen!

We have so much in the US. We don’t have any idea how good we have it. And there’s so much we can do to help. It’s not just throwing money at the problem – it’s addressing the issue of poverty in a way that makes sense with all the complexities that are present. Compassion is seeking to address poverty from all angles – economic, social, emotional, and spiritual. They are giving people hope in the name of Christ, an education and a future, while supporting their physical and emotional needs today.

I was so impressed with everything I saw. It was hard to see, but I also saw the hope and the progress. I’m proud to be sponsoring children through Compassion, and I know that God is using them all around the world. Will you join me? If you’d like to sponsor, feel free to email me at info@jennifershaw.com and we will set you up, or you can contact Compassion directly through the link below and tell them I sent you. 🙂

To sponsor a child today, please visit Compassion following this link!