New CD coming

 New CD coming...hopefully this Fall!

We are in the "birthing" process of Blake's next CD.  This CD has to last us a while.  Blake hasn't had new official material to sing since 2007 and we are in need of new songs with strong messages to bring at concerts.  We have been pouring over the song list and have narrowed the list down to 14 killer songs! We are so excited about them to share with people.  But we are so cautious that this list be perfect.  I feel like we've learned a lot from past CDs and some mistakes we made with certain song selections and about what people will benefit the most from.  Let me just say this CD...will be upbeat and great car-ride music! The hymns CD was awesome, but it's overall tone was more mellow so we want to counter that one with a very energetic next album, and maybe one that doesn't make Blake hit astronomically high high-notes on every song :)  For when he's sick.  We pray to God to keep protecting his voice, this year has been a great vocal year, a welcome reprieve from last year when Blake dealt with the unknown stomach infection for about 8 months out of the year.  It really messed up his voice until we found the cause and got it cleared up.  But, I will say that every concert that his voice is "there" we are so grateful to the Lord for providing that tool to us.

We now enter into a CD project that will start "tracking" at the end of June.  That is where all the actual music is created with a band and instruments.  So we have to pick out keys and arrangements and have all the songs nailed down for sure.  We are afraid we won't be ready in time, but I feel very sure this is the right thing to do.  Also, finances are a hindrance right now.  We only have 25% saved toward the total estimated cost of the recording. And things with our house and equipment keep breaking.  So our savings keeps building only to keep getting nitpicked to death here and there.  But, I don't feel any hesitations for going for this CD.  I feel very strongly that we need to get it done.  It will open a lot of doors for booking and new venues for us to keep going.  God has provided the funds in the past and he will do it again, I know.

April in Overall Review

Things are going well.  All our concerts this past month were at the end so we tightened our belts and tried to eat cheaply until our concerts arrived!  We went to all new places and it was incredible the response that Blake received and the response the people made towards the Lord.  Underestimating, we counted at least 3 salvations this month.  I say underestimating because I think more decisions to accept the Lord were made, but at this one particular gospel-sing, there was not a minister present to receive the people who wanted to make decisions.  Blake led the people who raised their hands in the plan of salvation and encouraged them to tell someone immediately and come back to that particular church on Sunday.  We also had the privilege of leading a revival in Carnegie OK this month.  I think we left as encouraged as the people we ministered to were!  Blake got to even share a small children's concert and 109 children from grades 1-5 were present as he sang songs like I Go to the Rock, I Catch 'Em and Moses.  They were GLUED as he sang Moses.  Between each song Blake shared a moment of Truth from God's word and really tried to make each song a visual example of a memory the kids could take with them.  After he sang, the church workers (without our knowing it) had the kids write us thank you notes for singing to them.  We have a whole sack full of thank you notes!  We went through them and were so blessed to see the children had illustrated their notes with items from the songs he sang about---there were a lot of fish drawn, rocks, stick figures singing in a microphone, and snakes from Blake's Moses song.  One girl wrote that because Blake sang and told her about how each person is given a special talent/gift by God that she feels so special now and she didn't feel special before.  We were really blessed by those kids.  Here's a video of them clapping while Blake sang:

Another neat thing we were exposed to is a ministry from Alaska who spoke a day we sang in Branson, Mo.  A lady named Brenda Crim, who has been with the NAMB until just recently because the NAMB made some cuts, spoke about her incredibly difficult ministry in Alaska and how most of the natives are incredibly prejudiced toward White people.  She explained about the astronomical rate of incest, rape, and suicide Alaskan natives battle.  Her ministry is reaching out to them and breaking down racial barriers so she can provide grief counseling and eventually sharing the gospel one by one with them.  She is an incredibly motivated and busy lady!  Our hearts went out to her mission and here is her information: http://akmissions.webs.com/staff.htm  She has no official funding no except for individual donations I believe.

I need to get back to booking, so I hope to document later some of the beautiful experiences we had in the past couple weeks.

Blake's Billboard and VTN TV Venture

Blake and I went to Southeast Arkansas this weekend and Little Rock.  He had a total of 4 events...we were worn out!  On Saturday Blake sang for a festival...and on our way to it we saw this off the highway.  We had to stop!

 

Then, Blake had a TV recording slot scheduled.  They filmed him singing 3 songs and will air them at a later date.  It was cool!  Very nice studios at www.VTNTV.com 

Blake sing impromptu at Ball Brothers Concert

This was funny.  This group is a friend of ours so it was a hoot.  They pulled random people onstage (including Blake) to sing Blue Christmas....

New Website Design

Blake's website got a facelift!!

www.blakebolerjack.com

Still Here

I'm still here.  I know, it's been a month since I've written! Computer issues at work, paired with traveling, and increased "work" at work has kept me away.  All my efforts and free moments are spent thinking about booking, and promoting this upcoming concert:

It's so exciting, tickets went on sale yesterday and the church sold 60 already.  We were so pleased.  We still have a lot of time to sell a lot of tickets (all of the money goes to the little boy and his family), so I am pouring myself into that.  If you want a ticket, you can get them from me, or call Yukon Church at: 405-354-5809

More on that later.  My mind is full of pastor names and emails and dates.  Must go think about nothing for a while!

Labor Day

We had a really good holiday weekend.  First off, Blake visited OBU (our alma mater) last Friday to see a play written by one of his former classmates, Christy.  They all had a great time and Blake stayed out way too late :) I chose not to go since I'd seen the play before but Blake made the trip and they all had a good OBU Theatre reunion.

Then on Saturday Blake and I packed up for his singing at a festival. Lets just say... we're learning to be flexible.  I say we win the prize for flexibility this last Saturday :)  We had a good time, and it will make a good story.  Here is the sound system provided for all singers:

If you'll notice, the sound system is in that truck, with large megaphone speakers on top.  Yep.  We got a kick out of it.  I think I got more of a kick out of it than Blake, since he was the one having to sing on it.  But, now, 3 days later, he thinks it's funny too :)

Here are some more pictures from that cute festival.

Blake singing with no monitors.

Here is the cute little lady who sang along with every single song Blake did.  She was our first audience member, and only audience member for a few songs :)

 Here's Blake.  A trooper.

After a few songs, our audience grew. :) People walking by would just sit down and listen for a bit, then move on. It is an odd experience singing at fairs.

Afterward, Blake and I shopped around at the antique stores and I found 2 throw pillows for $4 each! They're white with lacing up the middle.  I'll probably change out the color of lace so it doesn't look as country.  I'll get pics of that later.  We also found a recliner we loved! But it was super ugly.  So we didn't get it.  Even though it was the most comfortable recliner ever.  If we change our minds, we know where to go back to get it. ;)

Then we went to eat at a little burger joint on Main street.  The tables and booths were completely full so we were about to leave, but then a couple invited us to sit with them so we could eat.  So we did! Cute little small town.  People were super friendly.

Then, later that Saturday we went to an engagement party for our OBU friends, Rex and Lee.  We got to see more of the Theatre folks who came into town for the play.  Here's us with Sonia.

Then, we went on home and I refueled after being around people so much that day by watching a movie.

Sunday after church we decided to make a date day.  We got a local hotel room and relaxed and got to watch Cable!  Woo hoo!  Hotels are always exciting for us since we don't buy cable TV.  We watched a lot of Food Network, and HGTV.  We went to TX Roadhouse for dinner and then to Jimmy's Egg in the morning!  Jimmy's Egg was incredible.  I have a new favorite restaurant.


Then we hung out at our church family group's house.  We swam and I supervised the kids in the pool.  Not officially, but everyone else kept milling around, so I planted myself poolside, tanned, and watched the kids play in the pool.  Blake got pretty sunburned playing Cornhole (beanbag toss game) and then threw his back out again after trying to throw me in the pool.  Yep.  We're praying his back just gets better.  He's pretty fragile still.  He was healing pretty good, then even before the pool incident he was feel creaky again.

Blake laid on the living room floor icing his back, and I thought it was funny because Doogan was also lying on his back. They looked like 2 peas in a pod.  I cropped the photo though because, ahem, you know men lying around the house...not always dressed completely :)

Now, I'm back at work.  And it's stormy outside.

El Reno Fair

Last night Blake was booked to sing at the Canadian County Free Fair in El Reno, OK. We haven't done many festivals or fairs so we're still learning "the ropes" and fair etiquette.  I have to drop my manager-control-freak-ishness and be totally go with the flow, less we be labeled "hard to work with".  Which is fine, as long as I remember that going into each event :)  Last night Blake's start time was unsure, with an estimate to start around 8:15 PM.  Blake got up to sing around 8:50pm, so that is an example of how we have to adapt to fairs' timetables.  They're liquid.  Also, typically, fairs/festivals get exasperated if you try to bring your own equipment.  This results in Blake having to be VERY flexible with not knowing what type of sound he's going to get, and if he'll even be able to hear the track to sing along, or hear himself to know if he's on pitch.  Most places, you never know.  You just do your set, hope they liked it and get off the stage!  Last night was enjoyable though, even though the crowd really thinned out by 9pm.  Blake sang after the talent show ended and the staff took their time getting Blake's track machine plugged in, so after the 5 min of silence while they hooked in cords, people started clearing out.  But!  That is how it goes.  Once Blake started singing, everyone stayed.  He's good :)

Here are some pictures I got.  I got to be onstage running his tracks while he sang.

Last weekend

This past weekend Blake did a mini-concert at First Baptist Norman, OK and that went well.  On the way to the concert we saw this:

Pretty funny. The bike wasn't even really secure, they just looped the band under the pedal-not through the spokes or anything!

Then we went to a concert to hear a quartet we know called The Williamsons on Sunday night.  We wanted to hear them and they even had Blake sing a couple of solos there, so that was fun

Blake and I had a relaxing dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings last night.  That is our go-to place for when we just want to drain away any stress or talk about how things are going.  We have this one location we go to and they have an outdoor patio area.  We sit back in the chairs under the fans and just watch the sports or whatever they have on the TV.  I could immediately feel my body relax and mind clear...and it was just great for us both.  I'm not a fan of the $30 meal ticket, but hey.  It's like we both got a massage for only $30, we left feeling so good.  Money well spent.  And I have leftovers for my lunch today! :)

Past Weekend Concerts

This past weekend we had concerts in Durant and Lawton, OK. We had a really good weekend, the concerts were very powerful and the people all said they really enjoyed the concerts and were encouraged. We traveled down to Durant on Saturday afternoon for sound checks. You'll see in the slideshow the homemade elevator - I got a kick out of it. They couldn't afford to install a factory made one, so they used some sort of power lift jack....I guess it works!! So I got some pics of Blake loading his equipment in the elevator :)

Then we went to dinner with another pastor friend who lives in the area, and then we headed to our hotel. What a fabulous hotel! It was just a Hampton Inn, but it felt like a luxury hotel. We were so comfortable. We watched Animal Planet and TLC all night til we fell asleep.

So Sunday we headed over to the church and during the concert, the pastor wanted us to have time for prayer for a lady that has cancer. Blake commented later that this little Nazarene church was actually "Nazacostal" because they used oil in their prayer time. I thought it was very special and the whole church gathered around the lady to prayer for healing. I was touched that they took the time to do that and I'm sure it was super encouraging to the lady.

After Durant, we headed on to Lawton and we did another concert there. I didn't get my camera out for some reason, so I don't have pictures of it, but it also went well. :) Blake got a standing ovation at the end (and we got one also for our duet!). We were very blessed by the church's enthusiasm and response to Blake's program. I pray that God uses what Blake sang about and spoke about to permeate their lives with encouragement. I love what we do :)

Weekend to Carrollton, Photography Experiment

We went to Carrollton, TX this past weekend for Blake to sing and we got to see my family, which is always a huge plus :) I love visiting and it's always so hard to leave. My mom has been into photography lately and she upgraded her camera...so Blake and I got to have her old one!! We all (me, Blake, Mom, Dad, and Mark and his gf Meagan) went to experiment with our cameras on Saturday at a greenbelt area. Here are some pics I took of Blake:

Mom took this last one :)

And then Blake sang a full concert at my home church. I was still getting the hang of that new camera, so they're blurry. But I'll get better at it.







Here are some landscapes Blake and I took that I then tried to edit. I'd really like to learn Photoshop. But these I just did with a little picture program called picasa:

I like these of my Dad

I think it will be fun for Blake and I to wander around and take pictures together. :)