Well, December is quickly coming to a close.
Lisa and I have kept incredibly busy throughout this holiday season, and had a great time through it all. Tonight we close out our Christmas season with a celebration with her grandparents from Greenville (Our wedding was held at their house). That brings our Christmas celebration total to 4 events. We celebrated with my family last Tuesday. Wednesday was Christmas for Lisa and I at our apartment. Saturday we celebrated with her grandparents and family in Hastings, Michigan.
Lisa and I "adopted" one of the "100 Neediest Cases" from the local paper this year for Christmas. So we gathered a list of items we wanted to give to Robert H (our elderly adoptee - case number 56) and went shopping. We bought him all sorts of great stuff that he wanted and Lisa did a fabulous job wrapping it all. We took it all down to the local shelter for him on the 17th, and we know that it made his Christmas very memorable. Hopefully, it also helped him to realize that he is not forgotten, and that there are people who are out their that want to help him. It was a real blessing to us, and we know it was for him as well.
On the musical front, we were all given a great gift last week at practice. Michael told us that Deke had informed him and Robert that the contract negotiations between the recording company and the production company are complete and the contract has been agreed upon. We hope to actually sign the contracts in the next few weeks. (It's hard to know the timeline of these things, especially surrounding the holidays.) God continues to bless us all in our efforts to pursue His will for each of us.
All in all, it has been a wonderful Holiday Season.
It's nice to have someone to share these times with.
It's even better to get to go home with them and talk about it all again later.
This year God gave me a wife, relatively good health and a new full-time job.
Oh, what joys and treasures will come my way in the new year?!?!
How will God bless me in the future?
Stay tuned as I stand amazed at the outpouring of His mercy and grace!
I will readily admit to being more than conspicuously absent on this site recently.
I've just been lazy and haven't been posting anything.
I chose to post today just to let you know that all is well.
Lisa and I are becoming quite comfortable in our apartment, which Lisa has begun to decorate and make feel more like a home. I realize that there is always an adjustment period, but I already feel totally at home with Lisa around all the time. Yes, we are still in the honeymoon phase where everything is great and wonderful. Personally, I want to keep it that way.
With the holidays coming upon us rapidly, I expect to be quite busy through the end of the year. I think we will be doing Thanksgiving with the Walker side of the family and then travelling to Greenville to enjoy some time with the Bonney side of her family. For Christmas, details are much harder to come by at this point. We know we will celebrate with her parents at some point, and we know we will do the same with my family. However, we are not sure of the timing of all of these things, as we do plan on going to Michigan for the Brail family Christmas celebration again this year. So we will be travelling a bit in the coming months.
Regarding the musical:
Well, "The Isle of Dreams" is still in full swing. We are still rehearsing every Friday, and we are still awaiting further news from both the record company and our production company. Progress has been made in the contract negotiations, and we feel as if we are a breath away from actually getting the contract finalized. Of course, we always hope for such news every Friday. but this week there is more of a sense of anticipation on my end than there normally is. Maybe tonight we will hear some great news. Or maybe we will wait another week. Either way, it is good that things are still moving in a positive direction.
I've just been lazy and haven't been posting anything.
I chose to post today just to let you know that all is well.
Lisa and I are becoming quite comfortable in our apartment, which Lisa has begun to decorate and make feel more like a home. I realize that there is always an adjustment period, but I already feel totally at home with Lisa around all the time. Yes, we are still in the honeymoon phase where everything is great and wonderful. Personally, I want to keep it that way.
With the holidays coming upon us rapidly, I expect to be quite busy through the end of the year. I think we will be doing Thanksgiving with the Walker side of the family and then travelling to Greenville to enjoy some time with the Bonney side of her family. For Christmas, details are much harder to come by at this point. We know we will celebrate with her parents at some point, and we know we will do the same with my family. However, we are not sure of the timing of all of these things, as we do plan on going to Michigan for the Brail family Christmas celebration again this year. So we will be travelling a bit in the coming months.
Regarding the musical:
Well, "The Isle of Dreams" is still in full swing. We are still rehearsing every Friday, and we are still awaiting further news from both the record company and our production company. Progress has been made in the contract negotiations, and we feel as if we are a breath away from actually getting the contract finalized. Of course, we always hope for such news every Friday. but this week there is more of a sense of anticipation on my end than there normally is. Maybe tonight we will hear some great news. Or maybe we will wait another week. Either way, it is good that things are still moving in a positive direction.
I spent this afternoon with Michael, Mike and Josh in the studio at Mike's apartment. I watched and listened as M+M worked on the finishing touches of one of Mike's songs. It's amazing to hear how Michael can explain to you what he is hearing in a song, long before anything is laid down on a track. And it's amazing how Mike can listen to that direction and edit it that way on the computer so quickly.
We started on my song with a single track of the complete mixed accompaniment, which isn't the professional way to go about recording, but it was what we had at the time. The original, segregated tracks are on file in Nashville, so if we decide to we can send my vocal track down there for them to mix with the actual original tracks. Anyway, we worked on my song for about 3 hours total, which is not very long at all. Michael had me sing through the song uninterrupted three times, go back and sing a few phrases several more times with different licks and then had me perform the spoken parts of the song. All of this was then edited together to form what is now "my version" of "my song".
This is all very exciting, because up until this point, I have not been in the studio at all to record anything for the production. After many postponed trips down to Nashville to record my song, I finally have a copy of it in my hands. If you are lucky, maybe you'll get to hear some of it before too long. Maybe not... We'll see...
It feels like abig step of progress for me. I knnow that I will be a part of this production when everything takes off, but for so long it has kind of been a thing I am remotely involved in. Now I feel like I have contributed to the musical in a more concrete, tangible way. It's a good feeling. And it's very amazing to have a CD with my voice on it that sounds so great.
God is awesome! I am so thankful for His many blessings.
We started on my song with a single track of the complete mixed accompaniment, which isn't the professional way to go about recording, but it was what we had at the time. The original, segregated tracks are on file in Nashville, so if we decide to we can send my vocal track down there for them to mix with the actual original tracks. Anyway, we worked on my song for about 3 hours total, which is not very long at all. Michael had me sing through the song uninterrupted three times, go back and sing a few phrases several more times with different licks and then had me perform the spoken parts of the song. All of this was then edited together to form what is now "my version" of "my song".
This is all very exciting, because up until this point, I have not been in the studio at all to record anything for the production. After many postponed trips down to Nashville to record my song, I finally have a copy of it in my hands. If you are lucky, maybe you'll get to hear some of it before too long. Maybe not... We'll see...
It feels like abig step of progress for me. I knnow that I will be a part of this production when everything takes off, but for so long it has kind of been a thing I am remotely involved in. Now I feel like I have contributed to the musical in a more concrete, tangible way. It's a good feeling. And it's very amazing to have a CD with my voice on it that sounds so great.
God is awesome! I am so thankful for His many blessings.
Lisa and I made an unannounced visit to dad's church today. On the way home we swung by Sonja and Tim's house to say "Hi". After a few minutes we were off to the St. Charles riverfront for the Lewis and Clark event taking place there. Basically, there are 400 people re-enacting the history of the launching of Lewis and Clark from this place 200 years ago. So we walked around watching canoe carving, hide tanning, yarn spinning, craft making, military units marching, era musicians playing and just enjoying the weather outside. I might get some pictures posted on here in the coming days.
I haven't posted anything on here regarding the wedding plans yet, so I figure I might as well just point you to our wedding website (which Lisa and I finished up last night). It's pretty basic, but I think it will serve it's purpose quite nicely. I hope to add some more interactive features in the coming weeks, but I am not sure if that will happen or not. Until then, why don't you wander over to www.lisajeremy.com and gather whatever info you might want?
I haven't posted anything on here regarding the wedding plans yet, so I figure I might as well just point you to our wedding website (which Lisa and I finished up last night). It's pretty basic, but I think it will serve it's purpose quite nicely. I hope to add some more interactive features in the coming weeks, but I am not sure if that will happen or not. Until then, why don't you wander over to www.lisajeremy.com and gather whatever info you might want?
Well, last night's performance was seemingly flawless. Everyone remembered their movements and marks, we all had great energy and excitement and we all sang what was probably our best collective performance to date.
Deke, Jamie and Jill were thrilled with the performance, as were our two guests from the record company. We only had the chance to meet with them briefly after the show, but they seemed genuinely impressed and kind of had that glazed look about them. (For those of you who have never seen the production, when you do you will understand.)
We went over to Michael's afterwards and celebrated the evening over dinner and great laughter and conversation.
Deke, Jamie and Jill were thrilled with the performance, as were our two guests from the record company. We only had the chance to meet with them briefly after the show, but they seemed genuinely impressed and kind of had that glazed look about them. (For those of you who have never seen the production, when you do you will understand.)
We went over to Michael's afterwards and celebrated the evening over dinner and great laughter and conversation.
I went to Cardinals Opening Day at Busch Stadium. First time I have ever had the chance to do that.
Not to mention the fact that President Bush was throwing out the first pitch. It was the first time an active President had been to St Louis ballgame since William Taft back in 1911. I got a few pictures of the President and the secret service men on the roof which turned out pretty well. I'll get them on here pretty soon. Although the Cards lost 8-6 it was still a good time.
Not to mention the fact that President Bush was throwing out the first pitch. It was the first time an active President had been to St Louis ballgame since William Taft back in 1911. I got a few pictures of the President and the secret service men on the roof which turned out pretty well. I'll get them on here pretty soon. Although the Cards lost 8-6 it was still a good time.
For those of you attempting to keep track of the recent happenings in my personal life, I apologize for the lack of updates. So here's one for the history books...
As of last night, I am officially engaged.
Yep, that's right. As in To Be Married.
Lisa and I obviously don't have much planned as of yet, but we are plannign on a fall wedding. Details will follow...
As of last night, I am officially engaged.
Yep, that's right. As in To Be Married.
Lisa and I obviously don't have much planned as of yet, but we are plannign on a fall wedding. Details will follow...
Lisa and I went to the Butterfly House in Faust Park today. I've never been there before and it was very interesting. They have a little lobby filled with informative displays and a movie room where you can watch and learn about the lifecycle of a butterfly in 16 minutes. I learned quite a few new interesting things about the creatures and it allowed me to marvel a bit deeper at them when we actually made our way into the greenhouse room. It's a nice room, filled with lush plants and picnic benches to sit at and watch the winged creations flit from here to there. There's a nice little pond and waterfall which are an excellent spot to have your picture taken at.
The Butterfly House is actually only one building in Faust Park. There is an historic village of antiquated structures which are quite intriguing in and of themselves. One other cool thing in the park is an 80 year old carousel. They have it housed inside a nice air conditioned building, and for $1 you can let it take you for a spin. Old carousels are just plain neat, with the hand-carved wooden horses. The music that accompanied your ride was produced by a seperate automatic band machine, which I am guessing was at least 50 years old. The whole experience was relaxing and fun.
For lunch we had a nice little picnic on the grounds. What a fun afternoon trip! You can view some pictures of it here.
The Butterfly House is actually only one building in Faust Park. There is an historic village of antiquated structures which are quite intriguing in and of themselves. One other cool thing in the park is an 80 year old carousel. They have it housed inside a nice air conditioned building, and for $1 you can let it take you for a spin. Old carousels are just plain neat, with the hand-carved wooden horses. The music that accompanied your ride was produced by a seperate automatic band machine, which I am guessing was at least 50 years old. The whole experience was relaxing and fun.
For lunch we had a nice little picnic on the grounds. What a fun afternoon trip! You can view some pictures of it here.
Michael talked to Jamie (Deke's son) this morning and we now have a confirmed date for our next big performance. So go grab you pen and prepare to write the "Isle of Dreams" into your calendar on April 21, 2004. I know, that's a Wednesday. But you will thoroughly enjoy it, and it will be worth the slightly tired feeling you may have Thursday morning. It will be huge. There will be various industry people in attendance from Los Angeles, New York and Texas - not to mention members of our group that will be in town from London, Nashville and Atlanta.
The performance will be held at New Northside in St. Louis and, although this is not official or confirmed, I think the event will begin at either 6 or 7pm. We want to have the place packed to the point where people cannot even get into the building (and it's a fairly big place). So invite your friends, enemies, family and strangers to come out and experience the "Isle of Dreams" right here in St. Louis!
I'll post the absolute details on here as soon as I know more...
The performance will be held at New Northside in St. Louis and, although this is not official or confirmed, I think the event will begin at either 6 or 7pm. We want to have the place packed to the point where people cannot even get into the building (and it's a fairly big place). So invite your friends, enemies, family and strangers to come out and experience the "Isle of Dreams" right here in St. Louis!
I'll post the absolute details on here as soon as I know more...
Well, the "Isle of Dreams" hit the road today and we performed in Fulton, MO. We were a part of the Callaway County MLK,Jr celebration at William Woods university and due to time constraints, we only performed the songs in Act II (50minutes). Everything went pretty well, except Michael's knee gave him a little trouble. Evidently, he had been having issues with it all week, and thankfully he had wrapped it quite tightly prior to our show. Part of the way through one of the songs he sings, Michael's knee just gave out, and down he went. The rest of the group stayed with the song, kept our composure and Michael snag the rest of the song seated on the edge of the stage. Other than that, there were no other problems with the performance.
I sat down yesterday to read an article from a magazine called Columbia. (It's a monthly publication of the Knights of Columbus. It comes to where I currently work and is addressed to a person who doesn't exist, so I read it from time to time.) Well, this article was regarding the upcoming release of Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of Christ". It was quite interesting, but the grammatical content of the article isn't what moved me.
Contained within the article was an image taken from the film that affected me greatly. I know the film is rated R for it's bloody, brutal scenes surrounding the crucifixion, and I understand why the film depicts this so vividly. Growing up in the church and going to see "passion plays" at various churches, I have seen depictions of Christ being whipped and the crown being pushed into His brow and the nails being driven through His guiltless hands. Although these depictions are always very powerful, they are always quite clean and void of what I think must have been quite a devastating process to live through for any amount of time. I have never honestly been able to picture the devastation of what the process would leave a human body in.
And then, I saw this picture. (Warning!!! Very graphic)
Immediately, I was brought to a place of overwhelming guilt and distress. I caused that! Christ went through all of that for me! And I still choose to live my life without much thought of at what price my salvation was rendered unto me.
"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."
"He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Isaiah 53:3-12
I am ashamed of the many times I have failed to live a life that pleases God and the fact that I forget what my Freedom cost the Son of God. God help me to remember what was endured for my sake, and because of me.
I think this movie will affect people greatly. Although it may be too graphic for viewers to watch in its entirety (I can see why you might want to close your eyes or turn your head at some points), I think it is going to forever change some people. Will it bring people to Christ? I definitely think that is a possibility (plus God is able through any means). Will it draw Christians into a closer walk with God? I think it will, and I think it already has. If it hasn't already done so, consider me the first in a long line of humbled Children of God.
Isaiah 53:3-12
Contained within the article was an image taken from the film that affected me greatly. I know the film is rated R for it's bloody, brutal scenes surrounding the crucifixion, and I understand why the film depicts this so vividly. Growing up in the church and going to see "passion plays" at various churches, I have seen depictions of Christ being whipped and the crown being pushed into His brow and the nails being driven through His guiltless hands. Although these depictions are always very powerful, they are always quite clean and void of what I think must have been quite a devastating process to live through for any amount of time. I have never honestly been able to picture the devastation of what the process would leave a human body in.
And then, I saw this picture. (Warning!!! Very graphic)
Immediately, I was brought to a place of overwhelming guilt and distress. I caused that! Christ went through all of that for me! And I still choose to live my life without much thought of at what price my salvation was rendered unto me.
"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."
"He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Isaiah 53:3-12
I am ashamed of the many times I have failed to live a life that pleases God and the fact that I forget what my Freedom cost the Son of God. God help me to remember what was endured for my sake, and because of me.
I think this movie will affect people greatly. Although it may be too graphic for viewers to watch in its entirety (I can see why you might want to close your eyes or turn your head at some points), I think it is going to forever change some people. Will it bring people to Christ? I definitely think that is a possibility (plus God is able through any means). Will it draw Christians into a closer walk with God? I think it will, and I think it already has. If it hasn't already done so, consider me the first in a long line of humbled Children of God.
Isaiah 53:3-12
On Saturday, our performance at the MLK, Jr celebration went smoothly and was well received.
Yesterday, we sang for over an hour and a half at New Northside Baptist Church. We had a great time performing as a part of this anniversary celebration, and God was definitely lifted high throughout the evening. It was a blessing to the people in attendance and we were blessed to be a part of what God is doing.
Yesterday, we sang for over an hour and a half at New Northside Baptist Church. We had a great time performing as a part of this anniversary celebration, and God was definitely lifted high throughout the evening. It was a blessing to the people in attendance and we were blessed to be a part of what God is doing.
Happy New Year!
A lot has happened in my life, some of which is as follows:
Our musical group will be performing for 20 minutes this coming Saturday at the Missouri Statewide kickoff celebration at Harris-Stowe State College. We will also be performing for approximately 1 hour this coming Sunday at a local church as part of a pastorial anniversary celebration.
We're still waiting on firm details of an impending return trip to Nashville, where we would once again perform for industry executives and touring companies. We've been told that this trip will happen either the last week of this month or the first week of next month.
[business details edited]
A lot has happened in my life, some of which is as follows:
Our musical group will be performing for 20 minutes this coming Saturday at the Missouri Statewide kickoff celebration at Harris-Stowe State College. We will also be performing for approximately 1 hour this coming Sunday at a local church as part of a pastorial anniversary celebration.
We're still waiting on firm details of an impending return trip to Nashville, where we would once again perform for industry executives and touring companies. We've been told that this trip will happen either the last week of this month or the first week of next month.
[business details edited]
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