Behind the music: The Blascoes

Well after a long week of late nights preparing for one of the most important shows for The Least of These, I'm amazed at the way God works! We played for a crowd of about 40 friends and family as well as one of the top A&R guys in the Christian music industry. It was a huge succes! If nothing else everyone had a great time and the show was awesome (in my own humble opinion). But that's not all. After the crowd had thinned a litte, the band sat down with Otto Price (the A&R guy from Word records) and discussed what's next. It's difficult to sum up our hour long conversation but I'll try anyway. Otto loved what he saw and would like us to continue to book shows, write music, and do what we do. At this point if we keep doing what we do, he can then do what he does, namely sign bands and help them achieve their goals and vision. He'll spend some time going over video of the night with his team in Nashville over the next week or so and then let us know their thoughts. Essentially the more we do on our own, the more he can do to help us. We could not be in a better place right now and all thanx be to God!!
All that said, our family could also not be in a better place, pursuing God with every aspect of our lives. After much though, discussion, frustration and prayer, Jess has decided to take a new position at Harvest Bible Chapel in Elgin. This has been far from easy but has brought our family to a place of complete reliance on God and his promises for us. Between that and the Band, we've not had any shortage of of uncertainty, but God is faithful, it's us that need to be faithful in return and simply trust.

Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist

Such an amazing book. I've been so challenged and encouraged by reading this book. Thank you God for people who write in such amazing ways. Keep inspiring her because she's touching so many lives!

Here are a couple quotes/inserts from this fun book about celebration.

"Life with God at its core is about giving your life up to something bigger and more powerful. It's about saying at every turn that God knows better than we know, and that his Spirit will lead us in ways that we couldn't have predicted. I have known that, but I haven't lived that.
There is a loosey goosey feeling to the future now, both a slight edge of anxiety, like anything can happen, and a slight bubble of hope and freedom that, well, anything can happen.
There are moments when I feel, suddenly, lucky and thankful and shocked at how happy I am. I have called this the hardest season in my adult life, which it is, and it is not what I had planned in the least, but it is also a secretly beautiful, special season at the same time. It's hard because some relationships still feel broken, and because we have a lot less money, and because I am afraid, sometimes, about the future, but at the same time, I surprise myself with how okay it is and how okay I am with not knowing exactly what will come next." (206)

Ever feel like someone is writing about your life. This is one first books I came across that I've felt this way. Maybe it's the way she writes on such a personal level, it just speaks to my soul.

Life is good....

"I have to remind myself that it is good. I have to create hope in my life, because there's something inside me that has radar for the bad parts of life. I walk into the kitchen and all I can see are crumbs on the counter, and I look in the mirror and don't even see my face, I just see all the potential wrinkles forming. I have a dark, worst-case scenario sensor, and it takes over. It's all true. There are crumbs on the counter. I am definitely getting wrinkles. I just don't want to live in only that reality.
Because there is another reality. A better one. Hope and redemption and change are real, and they're happening all around me. So I choose to act out that reality, because the other one makes life too hard, day after day. Life is painful, and we carry with us so much disappointment and heartbreak. But I'm fighting to save some space inside me where I can create hope. I can't live there in the disappointment anymore. I've missed whole seasons of my life. I look back and all I remember is pain. I guess I went to work or to class during that time, but I don't really remember. I've wasted a lot of time wishing I was different. I didn't love the gift of life because I was too busy being angry about the life I was given. I wanted it to be different. But being angry didn't change those things. I just wasted time. I can't take away the things that have happened to you or to me, but what we have, maybe as a reward for getting through all the other days, is today. Today is a gift.
It's rebellious , in a way, to choose joy, to choose to dance, to choose to love your life. It's much easier and much more common to be miserable. But I choose to do what I can to create hope, to celebrate life, and the act of celebrating connects me back to that life I love. We could just live normal day-to-day lives, saving all the good living up for someday, but I think today, just plain today, is worth it." (234)

Daddy's a Hero!

I (Jess) get home from work the other day, I give Emma a hug and give Ben a kiss; all pretty normal things. Ben proceeds to tell me about Emma's near death experience. Ahhh! She was helping make pizza w/ daddy on her cute little stool, when she decided to turn her head to look out the window. Now when kids turn, they don't just turn their heads, they turn their whole bodies. Emma lost her footing on the stool, and to keep her from hitting the back of her head on the tile floor (ouch), Ben grabbed her arm. She was in mid-air when he grabbed her. If Ben would have been farther away from her, she would have probably died from the impact of the fall to her head. Thank God for Ben's ninja like reflexes.
It brought to light how fragile Emma is and how easily she gets into situations that can cause her harm, just from being innocent.

Not just about Emma...

I have thoughts! Crazy, huh? I've decided that we're not only going to post pictures of Emma, but also thoughts on life in general. God is doing some amazing things in our lives, and I want to share. Don't get me wrong there will be pictures of Emma too (so our family's don't go through withdrawal); we just want to share our lives and that's not just Emma.

Sidewalk Chalk!

I can't believe I forgot to add these pictures. They were taken on a nice day in March. I had picked Emma up the night before from Opa and Nana's house; she was there for a WHOLE week. I had to work and Ben was recording in MN. We decided to spend some quality time together and play w/ something new. We went to the store, found the chalk @ Target in the dollar spot (love the dollar spot), and played w/ it until daddy got home.