Staying the Course: June 2008

June 20, 2008

a cheap shirt from goodwill, or the best record of 2008?

BEN SHIVE'S DEBUT RECORD IS NOW AVAILABLE. it's an mp3 download, and it's only $10! what?!? only ten bucks?!??? order it by clicking here then click on "ben shive". you choose. a trip to a fast food restaurant with your sweetie, or owning the best record of 2008. if you don't believe me, check out this promo video back when it was available for pre-order:

can't argue with that. ben shive has played on and/or produced more records than i can list. oh okay fine, i'll list them: this is from his website - http://benshive.com/

p = producer
k = keyboards
a = arranger (strings)
w = writer

Label Records
Andrew Peterson
Love and Thunder (kwa) Essential Records 2003
Behold the Lamb of God (pkwa) Fervent Records 2004
The Far Country (pkw) Word Records, Fervent Records 2005
Appendix A (kw) 2006
Slugs, Bugs and Lullabies (k) 2006

Chris Tomlin
whatever the new one’s gonna be called (k) 2006

Ginny Owens
“Wonderful Wonder” single (k) Rocketown Records 2006

Steven Curtis Chapman
All I Really Want for Christmas (k) Sparrow Records 2005
Musical Blessings (China release) (k) Sparrow Records 2006

Amy Grant
Greatest Hits (k) (played on the new track, “The Water”) A&M Records 2004

Kathy Mattea
Joy for Christmas Day (k) Narada Records 2003

Bethany Dillon
Beautiful (k) Sparrow Records 2004

Erin O’Donnell
Christmas Time Is Here (k) Inpop Records 2004

Ten Shekel Shirt
Risk (k) Sony 2003

Sara Kelly
Living Hallelujah Single (ka) Gotee Records 2004

Compilations
City On a Hill
“The Gathering”: (kwa) (Paul Coleman, Andrew Peterson, Ginny Owens) Essential
Records 2003

Sing Over Me: Worship Songs and Lullabies (k) (Bethany Dillon, Nicole Nordeman, Jana Long, Erin O’Donnell, Christie Nockels) EMI 2006

Christmas Angels (k) (Bethany Dillon, Nicole Nordeman) Capital Records 2005

Wow 2005 (k) (Bethany Dillon) Chordant Records

Wow Christmas 2005 (k) (Bethany Dillon) Chordant Records

In The Name of Love: Artists United for Africa (ka) (Nicole Nordeman) Sparrow Records 2004

Indie Records
Dave Barnes
Brother, Bring the Sun (k)
Chasing Mississippi (k)

Matt Wertz
23 Places (k)
Today and Tomorrow (k)
The New One (whatever it’s called) (k)

Randall Goodgame
War and Peace (pk)

Jeremy Cassella
Faith and Heartache (k)

Eric Peters
Miracle of Forgetting (k)
Bookmark (k)
Scarce (k)

Micah Dalton
These Are the Roots (k)
Advancement EP (k)

Ben Shive
The Ill-Tempered Klavier (pkwa)

Keeley Valentino
The Mechanics of Leaving (k)

James Tealy
Echo (pkw)

Sara Beth
Finding the Reason (pka)

Koo Chung
While We Wait (k)
Parallel (k)

Jinny Kim
Finding Ophelia (k)

Chris Slaten
Under Green Canopies (k) [and the fastest accordian lick EVER!]

Greg Adkins
Lower Than The Angels (k)

JJ Heller
Only Love Remains (k)

with such a long list of people soliciting his musical genius, his own solo stuff has GOT to be amazing. it's just a guarantee. and oh, what's that? that's right! he played on chris' album!! it's a long and wonderful story how that came about. ask me about it sometime. anyway, you NEED this album. chris and i have been listening to it for three days straight, and i keep finding more and more things i love about it, more and more things that move me, more and more things that speak to the deep places. for example:

from Rise Up
Every stone that makes you stumble
And cuts you when you fall
Every serpent here that strikes your heel
To curse you when you crawl
The King of Love one day will crush them all

And every sad seduction
And every clever lie
Every word that woos and wounds
The pilgrim children of the sky
The King of Love will break them by and by

Nothing For The Ache
The world’s a friendly salesman
Blowing down the door
To have is to be happy
What you need is something more

And they charm you with the package
And they bleed you with the price
He can empty out your pockets
Can he fill you up inside?
It’s all a lie

There’s nothing for the ache
The groaning of a heart about to break
You’ll notice when you lie in bed awake
Feeling like you’re falling

And the world’s a pretty harlot
When you’re traveling alone
And a fool can see she’s looking
And a fool would take her home

Cause her love is so expensive
And her flattery is cheap
When you’ve gotten what you wanted
And you’re back out on the street
Then you’ll see

There’s nothing for the ache
The groaning of a heart about to break
You’ll notice when you lie in bed awake
Feeling like you’re falling

And there’s nothing for you here
Your life is like a mist that disappears
Fading like a ringing in the ears
You strain to hear the sound and then it’s gone

How my heart is bleeding
I cry with every beating
Tell me why are we born with these souls inside
That burst and break us open?
Why

If there’s nothing for the ache
No healing for a heart that’s bound to break
And no lover when you lie in bed awake
And not a hand to hold you

With a word that won’t deceive
To bring you in and meet this burning need
In the haven of a love that never leaves
In all your dreams
You were only falling in the arms of God

add some of the most amazing melodies and insrumentation with full strings and harmonies,
and you get some of the best music i've heard in my young 29 years. you can hear one of them on his myspace page - http://www.myspace.com/benshive. so go to the rabbit room and
order it! you will NOT regret it.

June 12, 2008

good stuff

more cat pictures

haven't watched this in a while. so nice.

June 11, 2008

ad-ad-ad-additions!

chris got a phone call yesterday from his new boss. he said "you still have a job..." (when he was retelling me this story, i thought 'oh great! a paycut!') "...you'll still be doing exactly what we discussed, but you'll also be teaching a section of general music...." he was surprised at first, but now he's gotten really excited. teaching english and music? are you kidding me? God said "hm. how could we make this job more tailor made to fit you exactly....hey, i know!!! english AND music!!!"

in other news, it's hot. really hot. and it's barely june. what will july and august be like?!?! chris and i get to spend a long weekend at the nc cabin together in celebration of our 2 year anniversary...oh boy. i just realized i didn't post anything on our anniversary....i'm a bad blogger....it was june 3rd....i was so distracted by jency and nathan's wedding that i couldn't think of anything else!! anyway, we're super excited!! but jency and nathan shirai said that their week up there was super hot - the cabin was really stuffy the whole time. what?! that doesn't happen until august!! not too hot already!!!

here's to 760 days of being married!!!

June 10, 2008

ch-ch-ch-changes!

it's official. i can announce it from the rooftops! everyone needs to know!!! (i am not pregnant...)

CHRIS GOT A JOB AT CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN AS A 7TH GRADE ENGLISH TEACHER!!!!

*whew* i've been holding that one in for a few weeks now. i was about to bust! he didn't want to announce it until his current job knew, and his current job couldn't know until a proper "notice" time was up, which was yesterday. three weeks and he's done with unum. he'll have the month of july to prepare his lesson plans and classroom. (and rest a bit!) he'll be a co-worker with my brother and another good friend of ours! i could type and type all day and never express to you how excited and proud i am!! i really think he's going to be in his element with these 12 year olds! it's so exciting too that, since it's a christian school, he can openly share his faith when the opportunitites arise! so if you think about it during your day, say a prayer for him that God would give him the creativity and ability to lead these kids into a deeper understanding of english as well as HIS spirit. (also say a prayer for us for the end of july/beginning of august - we close on our house and move into it on july 31, and then he starts this new job august 1!!! CRAZY!!)

in other news, forrest and alex get married in 32 days. it's unbelieveable!! i got my final fitting for the bridesmaids dress and it's GORGEOUS. i can't wait to wear it on their amazingly blessed day.

June 05, 2008

jency and nathan's wedding, part 2

borrowed from others! (mostly) a lot of these have weird colorations - we played with settings where the camera only picks up one color. i think they're REALLY cool. especially the purple ones!! :)

beautiful location!

the night before, we made her a true princess!!

jency and her girls (minus sarah) at the rehearsal!

rehearsal dinner flirting!

more rehearsal dinner lovin'!!! LOOK AT THEM! i love this one. good grief......

manly men shoot guns the day before they get married.

and pose beside motorcycles with their groomsmen...:)

jency getting her mama's help - she's gorgeous!!

see?! she's a ringing bell!!!

we needed a lot of help that afternoon....mostly mentally....:)

so we loaded up on the good stuff - ice cream!!!!

i LOVE the look on her face!!!!!

everyone!

here it comes!!!

that's right people - he got the garter with his TEETH!

i don't think they could be happier!!!

gettin' it in front of the cousins!!!

laura and i whispered sweet nothings into each others' ears all weekend. :)

bridesmaids!!

the shirais!!!

June 02, 2008

JENCY AND NATHAN'S WEDDING!

for anyone who doesn't know, jency is my best friend, nathan is chris' best friend, and they got married on saturday!! (as we say - how convenient for us!!:) the day could not have been more perfect. the only time i've ever been happier was on my own wedding day!!! PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!!! i'm sure more pics will make their way here soon!!!

a very handsome and beaming nathan walking his proud mama down the aisle.

proudest matron of honor EVER!!!

the flower girls!! little catie needed her daddy's help...:)

pretty maids all in a row!

i've never seen a prouder papa!!!

have you ever seen anyone more BEAUTIFUL than this girl???

the vows.

we had the honor of praying over them. laura ruth's (aka, my crying buddy) tears kept landing on my arm as i was praying. it might have been my favorite part of the ceremony... :,)