The books are BORN -- the twins are here!!

Today was like any other day at work, with the phone busier than normal this afternoon...but my head was not really at work. I knew KC was working on mixing down all the songs, so my thoughts were more on the music than on corporate America.



As I left work, I was contemplating what decisions awaited me here at home. The last CD proofs were already done, but the sales tax license paperwork remains outstanding, as does the embroidery digitizing quote...



I walked up the steps and on the second to the last one from the top was a brown box from Xlibris. I thought it was the book markers and business cards. Then, as I started to open the box, I caught of glimpse of the cover art, which was way toooooooo big to be a book marker.



Then, as if I were a kid on Christmas morning, I tore into the box in a flurry and there they were: The soft cover and The hard cover edition of Gems from the Jewelry Box: God Loves You MOST!!! I looked at them - flipped through them - kept looking at them - and then looked at them some more. They are skinnier than I imagined they would be and the pictures are clearer than I thought. I keep looking at them...amazed by God's goodness...



I texted one person, then the next, and then received a phone call from this friend, and that friend. The evening has been filled with texts back with congratulations and well wishes...after the texts asking who I was were answered. It occurs to me that I have been in a book and CD bubble since December and haven't really been too communicative. No, it was even before that - maybe November or October even, and it is now the end of April. WOW!



They are really here, after all these months and it is really happening - this labor has been completed and I am the proud parent of two baby books. The hard cover has the cutest little dust jacket and the soft cover has its skinny little spine. AWE! So cute!!



It took a few minutes after I actually opened the box for the tears to come. I am overwhelmed by God's goodness and life changing power. For the longest time, I could never have imagined anything so cool happening in my life...a book --- and



Now, I await the birth of the octuplets, the 8 song CD filled with originals...



I await anxiously to hear all the songs put together in one package, and hear all the tweaks that are being done on the months of work, really years of work that have seemed to suddenly have flown by, the years that have brought us to this place musically. I can't wait to hear the fruit! Thank You KC!!!



I don't know how, but I have to try to sleep now - resting in God and all His promises...



Today's manna was pretty amazing - My God is pretty amazing!!



I pray you are all blessed and that you all rejoice with me as the next journey in terms of the book is about to begin as well...the teaching, preaching, and evangelizing that will go forth!



There are moments in life when you reach a point, and you know life will never be the same - this is such a moment and I thank God and those of you who are a part of it, those who have supported me along the way, and those who continue to spur me along!!



I love you all, but remember...God loves you most!!



jewels

It Starts...is this beginning of the beginning?

Tonight IT started, i think - I was actually in the kitchen (not cooking, no need to call 911). I was cutting strawberries, and just started...with one, and then the next, and just kept rolling. I didn't even come out to play the actual song accompaniment tracks until about half-way through. I ended up singing all the songs in the order that they will be on the CD...it was really just a time of worship until the last one. oops!!

The last song, Shine, happens to have a lot of lyrics. It is a fun one and I actually figured out how to growl -- HA HA!!! (funny because I'm so afraid of dogs) but it's the funnest thing, that growling is! It was the only song that I got lost on, instead of being lost IN. God is good though!

I'm getting excited to start on this new phase - the actual ministering of the songs and taking them forth. Though it is still quite something to grapple with, and though there are many more details to be worked out, I can't help but praise God for HIS goodness. It is overwhelming...HIS love and faithfulness! HE is awesome --

I went back to Psalm 18 last night - it is actually what The Rock is based on in part...though God didn't lead me there until after all the lyrics were written...funny how that happened. Most of the early songs would come all together with lyrics and melodies, and then God would show me/lead me to scripture that said the same thing.

The Rock - there actually was a rock in WV about 13 years when the song started...before i knew it was God - i had hiked up to this outcropping out by Beckley in some state park that was in the middle of South Nowhere, and was all alone - there was NO ONE around -- a frequent happening in many of my WV mother nature adventures...

I sat on this rock, and was so lost, and so sad, and really was really ready to fling myself off of it...i thought i had nothing to live for. I sat and watched this storm roll in, with leaves literally flying upwards, towards the sky - the clouds came in - thick, black - and the birds soared all above my head in the current - and all of a sudden I began singing...I wanted to fly away but something kept me from doing anything stupid...nothing but God - only i didn't realize it then --

That melody came back 10 years after it started...and now - that baby is born...like the woman who gives birth who is filled with joy - i haven't forgotten all the anguish, but it feels like it happened in another lifetime - and maybe that is because i am new! Amen!

He really did rescue me from myself, and from all my confusion, and brought me out of the depths of the deep blue sea. HE SAVED ME!!

Remember, God loves you most!

Last VOCAL DONE!! It's a wrap on THE RAP

Well, the last check mark was placed beside the last song...I LOOK UP!

How appropriate, as my help cometh from on High!

Last night, after I got home, I was so excited and so pumped I couldn't really sleep. I was up until all hours. Tonight, I'm exhausted as usual, but in a good way!

The reality of the book and CD seem closer than ever - and yet still feel so far away! The CD must be turned in very soon in order for me to actually get them in time for the 6/7/09 Allison, PA concert.

There is a...I'm not really sure I can even articulate how I feel right now...I'm at a loss for words!

I'M EXPECTING WITHIN THE NEXT THREE WEEKS

I am so excited to announce that I submitted the galley approval form this morning!!! (Thank You Lord!)


Sample copies of the hard back and soft cover editions should arrive within the next three weeks!!!


The editing phase of the book is FINALLY over...so, no more corrections! This has been a very trying time and has taken months to complete. There has been nothing easy about publishing this autobiographical devotional, just as there was nothing easy about pressing the send button after I initially wrote them to be emailed out. At the same time, there is nothing like the soul satisfaction of seeing this instrument brought to life!

This is a VERY early draft of the cover, and may actually be the first one that had words on the picture. This book cover grew and changed several different times, just as the inside contents have. The blank spot on the left is actually the back cover and is now filled with pics and some other things. Before starting on this journey, I had no idea what dust jacket flaps were.

It is a very humbling thing to see this all happening and coming together, but I pray that God will use all that I have been through to help grow His Kingdom. I know I am to share my testimony and live out the Great Commission! I am only a planting for the display of HIS splendor!

I sincerely pray that all who would read the pages would find God in them, and see how REAL HE truly is...see His restoring power, His love, mercy and grace in action.

In a world filled with spiritualism, where the general population knows more about movie stars than any scripture, I pray that His story through my testimony would shine and that believers would have a deeper walk in their own lives, and that all unsaved readers would turn their hearts over and accept Jesus, as their personal Savior...

I would always end all my emails with "Remember, God loves you most!!!" Thus, that is the subtitle of the book, because HE truly and deeply loves all of HIS people - no matter who they are or what they have done!! It is my prayer today that in your own life you have renewed belief, faith and knowledge of this fact!!

God Bless!

and Remember, God loves you MOST!!!

jewels

It's only a few weeks away...

This beginning of an end...It has been a long journey that has seemed to have suddenly speeded up within the last five months or so. The CD and autobiographical devotional will be fully brought to life within the next several weeks. It is approaching the end of a very long season of preparation, and approaching the dawn of the next.

The first song came in Feb. 2006 and my once-music-pastor, producer, arranger, and friend, Kerry Crespo started playing around with recording the originals that God blessed me with in October of that year. There were many canceled sessions and months where we did nothing. I never gave up hope, though there were times it looked with my human eyes as if the dreams and visions God had showed me, along with the numerous prophetic words spoken over me would never come to pass.

Now, we are sitting on the precipice of the CD release because GOD IS FAITHFUL and HIS WORD does NOT RETURN VOID. I only have one more vocal track to go. It actually has a dirty south beat behind it, and a rap. Most of the songs are really worship focused and jazz-infused, but there is a Southern gospel type jam at the very end and a rockin' song to start the whole thing off.

The book is still being edited. If anyone in the future finds any typos, please do not tell me. I have scoured over the 185 pages over and over and over again and can't continue to focus on that. It needs to be born. The labor pains have been just that - painful but like the scripture, the woman who gives birth forgets her anguish and is filled with joy.

The first concert approaches on 6/7/09 in Allison, PA, followed by a block party event on 6/27/09 at N. 4th and Madison (behind Hope of the Nations) and a Worship Concert in July at Hope of the Nations in Reading, PA to benefit a local missionary who is trying to get back to Liberia to do missions work (Thank you Elena for editing!).

I am so excited to see where God will take this, and it is my prayer that HE is glorified through it all...It is all for Christ's renown and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be used as a vessel.

You are welcome to join me on this journey and I pray you are blessed!