Bullet Forwarded!

Here's an update on my recording of "Bullet the Blue Sky".  It was "forwarded" (as opposed to "returned", AKA rejected!) I guess it was screened by the president of the company seeking recordings. We'll see if the company really ends up using it for something. For now, I'm pleased that someone liked it.

In the howling wind...

The latest TAXI challenge from my song-writing group did not involve me actually writing a song. The challenge was to record a classic "Anti-War" song in a new way. I decided to give U2's "Bullet the Blue Sky" a try. You can check out my slightly Texan acoustic rendition if you'd like...

The song is HERE on my MySpace player.

We'll see if I can get back to finishing a few of the worship songs I'm in the middle of recording! :)

Professor Anderson

The most recent challenge to my song-writing group with Chris and Knoles was a James Bond-ish spy tune. I came up with a little diddy. In honor of Scott Anderson's birthday, I've decided to call the tune "Professor Anderson"....Check it out HERE.

I was also challenged to write a country song. "Her Hand" was the result which you can also hear right HERE on my myspace player.

Underneath the Butter?!

Uncle Jack always leads us in his famous gibberish song, "Aba Neezer" after holiday dinners. It's a good laugh for all involved. Let's just say you have to be there! Abby has grown to love the song and decided to put her own twist on the tune.

Cambria Get-a-Way

We spent a few days in Cambria for some family fun! Thank you Jill for setting us up with a great place. It was very good for us to just kick back and soak up some fun.

In addition to this cute picture of the kids at the Cambria house, I have a bunch more pictures from the trip HERE.

Love is All You Need

Happy Valentine's Day everybody. After enjoying our heart-shaped Rusty's pizza, Abby and I decided to sing a classic "love" song. Enjoy the video...

Cousin Buds

I have tons of pictures of Abby and Nolan having fun together. I decided to put them all together in this collage. Abby keeps asking us, "When can we see Nolan again?" We're trying to find a free weekend...being busy can be stinky.



Click on image to ENLARGE.

A Country Song?

Chris Mundell and I are in a song-writing group. The group challenged me to write a country song. So I did. Chris hammed it up with some Nashvillish vocals. I'd love to hear some feedback, especially if you actually listen to country music! Head on over to his site to take a listen....

Also, I'd like to say sorry for the lack of posts in 2008.  I promise to get back into it!  

White Christmas 2007

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2007

• A fun-filled family reunion in beautiful Boulder, CO.
• Inspiring and chaotic weekly meetings with our homegroup buddies.
• Seeing our two cute kids laugh together.  (tough to beat!)
• Experiencing the thrill of Disneyland through a toddler's lens.
• Andy produced the "Our Emmanuel" Christmas CD for SBCC before December.
• Angela wrote and/or recorded several new under-appreciated songs.
• Abby was practically a mermaid at her 3 weeks of swim lessons.
• Aaron learned new important words like Mommy, Daddy, love and MORE!
• Andy was generously gifted a Chris Tomlin signed guitar by his class.
• Angela is doing a great job at her new 5th/6th grade teaching position.
• Abby started her second year of pre-school and is loving it!
• Aaron learned to crawl faster than Lightning McQueen.
• Andy keeps this blog up-to-date so come back all year for more updates!

We have many things to be thankful for. Above all, we are grateful for the love and grace of Jesus this Christmas. His unending mercy is a cherished mystery. Also, we have the world’s best family and friends. (That’s you!) The love and investment you all have made is unmatched. Our church and weekly home group has been a tremendous encouragement.



Andy and Angela are both teachers and are rewarded by this challenging charge. Andy also teaches over 20 students with “Good Times Guitar” and continues recording side projects in his home studio. Angela has grown significantly with writing superb songs and preparing magnificent meals. One family highlight was an awesome family reunion this summer in Boulder, Colorado. 

ABBY UPDATE

Abby is loving life. Yes, she frequently claims she is a “princess” and she adores pink. Pink clothes, pink CD’s, pink ponies...ANYTHING girly and pink. But there’s a rich depth to be found beyond the surface with Abby. She is a deep, spiritual thinker, a true friend to all around, a gifted artist and a passionate singer. She loves to please her parents and her wonderful teachers at school. She talks a mile a minute and she’s sweeter than strawberries.

AARON UPDATE

Aaron is ALL boy. The little guy has been grunting since day one! He is super sweet too though. He loves to giggle, crawl, sing, use sign language and most of all...EAT! Twiggy as he may be, this little man can CHOW! He is a tremendous blessing and each day gets better!

DADDY DAYS

"Daddy Days" with Abby are the best! Check out the note she made me today! Three more work days, then 14 Daddy Days. Woopee!

Ian & Jeremy Singing!

The McCarters brought over their whole clan tonight for some dinner and singing. Oh yes, it was good times. We managed to get the twins into my studio for a bit of singing! If you think you're up for ten minutes of cuteness, take a listen to their beautiful singing! Just CLICK HERE and listen in!

Also, we took Abby and Aaron to the snow today. Well, not snow in the mountains...the kind that you have to drive far to get to. Instead, we went to the snow that was ten minutes away at the Natural History Museum in SB! We snapped a few pix of the fun while we were there...

Abby takes a break from chuckin' snow balls at me...


A rare photo of all four of us...


Even Santa loves Natural History!


This event included face painting too! Pretty hip museum!

Annual Clark Christmas Song

CLARK has recorded our annual Christmas song. We should have an entire album by 2015 for sure! Please feel free to download this year's song, "We Three Kings."

The song is RIGHT HERE.

Last year's song was "Drummer Boy." It can be found HERE.

Elfin' Fun

Our friend Jill made us this hilarious dancing elf e-card. The groovin' card was SO elfin' hysterical, it had us all rolling on the floor laughing! So, I decided to make one with all of the cousins. You've gotta go check out Abby, Aaron, Nolan and Gwen doing the elf boogie. CLICK HERE!

Ok, I added one more. Here's more FAMILY BOOGIE!

Abby Talk

Here's a fun email from our awesome babysitter, Kjaere.

Home from School car conversation:
(Abby going about a million miles a minute)

Abby: (Your Grace is enough playing) "I know this song! I went to a Rock n Roll concert and they played this song and it was AWESOME! Do you know who sings this song, KJ?"

Me: "Yep, Chris Tomlin"

Abby: (astounded) "How do you know that?"

Me: "I'm very smart."

Abby: "Well, Chris Tomlin gave MY Daddy a new guitar."


....... walking to the house, juggling Aaron, papers, and talking to Abby who's holding Advent candle thingy she made:

Abby: "Can I go to Heaven and talk to Jesus, Kj?"

Me: "Um, what do you want to tell Him?"

Abby: "I want to tell Him that this candle is for Him... Do you think He knows this candles is His?"

Gosh... got to love your kid ;-)

Thanksgiving 2007

GOOD NEWS!!

The "Our Emmanuel" Christmas CD's are here! They actually arrived in the mail two days before Thanksgiving. Phew! You can buy them at SBCC on Sunday's or online.

We had a good time in Templeton this weekend! Here's some pictures of the fun...


Even though they aren't smiling, Aaron & Gwen are pretty cute!


Here's a picture of the very first Thanksgiving...ok, not really!


Abby loves Gramma Rachel & Papa Ron!


Good Times with the cousins!

I was gifted a Chris Tomlin Signed Guitar!

What an amazing gift! I received a big surprise at the Evening of Thanksgiving on Saturday night. The parents of my class gave me a beautiful, brand new Epiphone guitar, signed by my favorite worship song-writer, Chris Tomlin!



I have to tell you the whole story! I have actually been wanting a second acoustic guitar for about two years, but I’m afraid diapers have taken the priority in our budget. I love my Taylor, but it has been quite burdensome to take it back and forth between home and school constantly.



When I arrived at the Evening of Thanksgiving on Saturday night, I realized that I had completely forgotten I was supposed to bring my guitar for a special song. I saw the beautiful Chris Tomlin guitar on the auction table and pondered the idea of borrowing it from the highest bidder. However, I quickly decided that it was far too special and I had no business borrowing such a unique instrument from the fortunate winner. (Little did I know, that blessed individual would be me!) I raced home to get my guitar. However, I did not end up needing it! After Brent Reichard presented the Tomlin guitar on behalf of the third grade parents, I KNEW I could play it!



This Guitar Will Go to Good Use!
I am thrilled to have this guitar! I have been researching guitars and this Epiphone AJ-200 is EXACTLY the one I’ve had my eye on! Can you believe that? God amazes me! It’s new home will be my classroom at El Montecito School. My class was thrilled to see the guitar this morning. We sang “Your Grace is Enough” for the first of many times! I will use this guitar every day for worship with my class and every week at chapel. You will probably also see this guitar being used at SBCC and at special school events like the Christmas program and Extravaganza. I'm sure I will record with it and play it with bands. Lastly, it will also be used to teach others how to lead in worship. I am so grateful for this generous and thoughtful gift. Thank you so much!

Come Little Baby

This post is for everyone from SBCC that is is helping with Kathleen's "Come Little Baby" song. The song is on the "Our Emmanuel" album due out by Thanksgiving. You can hear the song if you click HERE. (allow a few seconds for loading...)

Here's the lyrics:

COME LITTLE BABY
By Kathleen Sieck

VERSE 1
Little Jesus, precious Savior
Holy Son of God on high
We will sing your praise forever
Our Emmanuel

VERSE 2
Alleluia, Alleluia
Child of light and greatness come
Cleansing us from worldly sorrows
Come Lord Jesus Come

CHORUS
Come, Oh little baby come
Come, Our precious Savior Come
We will sing your praise forever
Our Emmanuel (END: repeat “Our Emmanuel”)

Repeat Verse 1
Verse 1 + Chorus (2x)

Two Songs at Good Times Studio MySpace!

You can listen to two full songs from the Our Emmanuel Christmas album! Just head on over to the newly remodeled Good Times Studio MySpace page. You can pre-order the album online at that page or right here. Remember, they make dandy Christmas gifts and ALL the proceeds go to a great charity, IJM.

Scroll down and click "Buy Now" to order...
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Chris Tomlin Concert

Abby had a blast at her first "rock n' roll" concert. At first she was mesmerized by the lights and volume...by the third song, she was dancing and singing! Half of Elmo was at the show. It was fun to hang with friends...here we are with Jaime, Jill, Elie and Dawn.



We had amazing seats. Turns out the third row of the County Bowl is about 10 yards from the stage and about 5 yards from a rack of bass thumping sub-woofers. From now on, Abby will expect all concerts to be viewed from the third row! It was a great time of worship. Abby's best comment was, "Daddy, this is WAY better than the music at church!"

Major props to Kjaere for watching Aaron for us even though she watches him every day! Here's a insanely cute picture of the buddy the next day....



More concert pix on my FLIKR page.

Halloween Rockin'

Abby and Aaron had a blast yesterday at school and at the "Light the Night" Halloween alternative. They had about 4 billion pieces of candy, plus games, music, bounce houses, etc. Abby REALLY got into the live music. You can see her rockin' out in the video below!



Aaron was a tiger, aka "Rajah", Jasmine's sidekick.


Abby was a bumblebee at school.


Light the Night even provided make-up for Jasmine!


Need more? See more pictures RIGHT HERE on my FLIKR page.