What I've been learning from the Lord lately

I got up early and reflected today over my Bible Study's verses this week.  I really felt connection with the Lord and I feel like he's answering my prayer to grow my affection for Him.  This verse came to my mind as I was praying:

Philippians 2:14-18

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁴ Do all things without complaining and disputing, ¹⁵ that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.¹⁷ Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. ¹⁸ For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me.

Strangely enough, I was convicted over verse 17...being willing to be "poured out" without expecting anything in return.  I will have to mull and pray over that verse.  That picture should directly affect how I approach work each day and when we travel. I want my purest motivation for working and pursuing concerts to be that people will be able to hear the good news and lives will be changed.  We've already seen that happening with multiple people surrendering their lives to Christ this year, I'm excited!  

I do thank the Lord that we are getting to experience his literal provision each month.  I know our faith wouldn't be tested in that area or strengthened if we both had traditional jobs.  I can view it as a blessing that God gets to teach us first hand about providing work each month for us to complete.

Lasting compliments and funny pastors

Blake got to sing at a church in OKC recently and the guest speaker was OK Representative James Lankford. After Blake sang James and he got to talk and James thanked Jim and said he sang with excellence. Blake just beamed and beamed that James thought he did well since Blake looks up to him so much.

We just finished another concert this weekend and the pastor was a hoot. He entertained us with stories of his encounters with other groups and other pastors. He definitely was a character. He told us about how he was conducting a funeral and another pastor was helping out that he didn't know. They went into the church to grab coffee before heading to the gravesite. This pastor we met poured out the coffee for the other pastor and asked; how do you like your coffee? Hot and black, like your women? Lol, that caught us so off guard. That line is from the comedy movie "Airplane" so we got it, but this other pastor apparently hadn't seen it. And got pretty offended! But oh that made us laugh picturing that exchange.

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.

Recipes I want to try

I've filed these recipes away to "make at a later date."  I need to go grocery shopping so I'll make sure I get the ingredients to make these.  They make my mouth water looking at them:

Blackened Chicken and Cilantro Lime Quinoa
Ingredients (Serves 2-3)
•    2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
•    ½ Teaspoon of Paprika
•    ¼ Teaspoon of Salt
•    ¼ Teaspoon of Pepper
•    ¼ Teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
•    ¼ Teaspoon of Onion Powder
•    ¼ Teaspoon of Cumin
•    1 Teaspoon of Olive Oil
•    2 Cups of Low Sodium Chicken Stock
•    1 Cup of Quinoa
•    Juice and Zest from Two Limes
•    A Dash of Salt and Pepper
•    2 Tablespoons of Cilantro, chopped
1.    Combine all the dry seasonings in a small bowl. Mix them together and then season both sides of each chicken breast.
2.    Add the teaspoon of olive oil to a large pan or skillet. Heat the olive oil for a minute over medium/high heat. Add the chicken breasts to the pan. Cook for seven minutes on each side with the lid on.
3.    Add the chicken stock and quinoa to a medium sauce pan. Bring to a simmer over medium/low heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for ten to fifteen minutes with the lid on, until all the stock has been absorbed.
4.    After the chicken breasts have cooked all the way through, remove them from the pan and let them rest for seven minutes before slicing them.
5.    Add the warm quinoa to a large bowl. Toss in the lime zest, lime juice, salt and pepper, and chopped cilantro. Mix to combine.
6.    Serve the sliced chicken breast on top of the quinoa. If you find the blackened seasoning too spicy, you can add a quick and easy avocado cream sauce to cool it down.
7.    Just place the flesh from an avocado along with two tablespoons of Greek yogurt in a food processor and puree until smooth.
8.    Things to love about this meal: low sodium, chicken breast is a lean protein, it is gluten-free, and if you keep eating meals like this you will be ready for beach season in no time!!!

Spicy Skilled Honey Chicken

Ingredients
•    3 Boneless skinless Chicken Breasts
•    1/2 tsp chili
•    1/4 tsp cumin
•    1/2 tsp garlic or garlic salt
•    1/4 cup apple cider
•    1/4 cup Honey
•    salt and pepper
Instructions
1.    Filet your boneless chicken breasts (you don't have to do this, but they will cook faster, if you cut them so they are not so thick)
2.    Drizzle about a Tablespoon of olive oil in a big skillet. Heat on medium heat, and add chicken.
3.    Season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, combine the chili, cumin, and garlic seasonings.
4.    Sprinkle all of the seasoning over chicken.
5.    Turn chicken over once chicken is nice and brown. (Do NOT turn until the one side is brown).
6.    Once the second side has browned nicely, pour apple cider and honey into the skillet
7.    (Tip: spray the measuring spoon with non-stick spray so the honey falls out nicely).
8.    Cover, and reduce heat.
9.    Cook for 10 minutes (flipping the chicken often) or until chicken is done and sauce has thickened.
10.    Serve with your favorite side. (It would be great with potatoes or rice!)





Crockpot Chicken and Zucchini

Ingredients
•    3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
•    1 onion cut into chunks
•    1 can of dice tomatoes
•    1 can of water
•    1 tablespoon of Italian Seasoning
•    Salt and pepper - Garlic Salt (to taste)
•    3 zucchini coarsely chopped
•   
Instructions
1.    Place chicken in crockpot with onions and seasoning.
2.    Pour tomatoes and water on top.
3.    Cook on low for 6-8 hours on low.
4.    In the last 2 hours, mix in zucchini.
5.    Once Zucchini is soft, cut chicken into smaller pieces.
6.    Serve over Pasta.

It happened series

I'm going to start a new series of "It Happened on the way to/during/after the concert".

It happened on the way to:
At that same church, while sitting in our car waiting for someone to let us in, we watched a lady pull her car in the driveway and instead of going In her front door, climbed inside through her window. A little later, she exited the house the same way!

It happened during the concert:
The pastors 6 yr old daughter made her way to the stage during a power ballad sung by the quartet. She remained onstage with them for the duration of the song.

It happened during the concert:
The emcee made Darth Vader noises in the mic while filling time in between the groups.

It happened during the concert:
Blake swallowed a fly while performing outside at a festival

It happened during the concert:
Blake had to sidestep manure while singing in a cattle auction cage.

It happened after the concert:
We were offered cash "so we wouldn't have to pay taxes"

It happened after the concert:
Blake was told that he talked too much and needs to just sing more. Blake said, "well I think I only took about 6 minutes to tell my testimony." the guy looked shocked and said, "oh, it seemed like forever."

In December we added Insulation to our house

In December we added insulation to our attic as a Christmas gift from my parents.  We are such newbies at home stuff, we did it the absolutely hardest way possible.  I should have flaked off individual chunks of the insulation (made from newspaper and plastic bags), but instead I fed handfuls of the stuff in the blower, and it just floated up and blew all over me.  Here are some pictures of the results:

Thank goodness Blake had a mask.

The best picture from the event:

Us Standing on our neighbor's doorstep

Our neighbors took pity on me and blew me off with a compressor:

But guess what, our home is nice and toasty warm now

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.