Greetings all you wonderful people out there! I keep forgetting to write in my blog. I'm just not used to it. So please forgive me; I promise I'll get better! Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who reminds me ALL THE TIME! Oh and here's something - my husband and I are starting a blog together called WHOLE LIFE RENOVATION. We bought a 4475 sq ft raging-1970's-style house out in the country last year and moved in right around this time. We had occasionally discussed "up-sizing" and looking at bigger houses at some point because the kids were getting older, we already had a few grandchildren, and when everybody was here in town there wasn't enough sleeping space. Well one thing led to another and it was obvious that God's timing was sooner than later, because when this house popped up on the market we knew we had to throw an offer into the pot. We actually preferred something we could renovate, so the fact that this gem boasted lots and lots of wood paneling, layers of flowery wallpaper and borders, multi-colored earth-tone shag carpet, lavender walls, olive green walls and a wrought iron spiral staircase in the living room really didn't bother us. We are getting ready to launch the blog and you can follow our renovation at wholeliferenovation.wordpress.com.

The latest musical project I'm working on is an instrumental album. I have so many little "fiddly diddlies" as I call them, that have never had names, never been charted or notated, but have logged many hours as incidental music when a pastor is speaking, someone is being prayed over, or someone needs "wallpaper music" for their dinner party. Well my dear friend and performing buddy Allison Brazzel has been hearing these fiddlies for years and challenged me to organize all this music and record it. So she comes over every week, spends the night (in whatever bedroom is the least covered in drywall dust), and stays for the better part of the next day helping me develop these ideas into independent, beautiful pieces. Our writing styles and musical preferences could not be more opposite, but we work great together. I prefer instrumental music to vocal music any day, so this album project is easy for me and pure joy. We have decided to name each song an emotional/spiritual subject so as people listen from beginning to end they can pray, weep, dance, and have a soundtrack for working through whatever they're going through. It is our prayer that as people listen they will be healed. I have learned from getting so many orders for I Love Her 'Cause She's My Mom, it's time I take my music seriously. So I pray over each piece, pray as I write and arrange each note, create the instrumentation, I pray for the people who sing it, and pray for the people who listen to it. Music is warfare! Our Enemy understands this, it's about time we take it seriously! So you can trust that when you order one of my pieces, whether it's a children's song, solo, duet, or instrumental, it has been saturated in prayer and love, and so have you. I've lived in Nashville since 1984, but it's never been easier to get your music out there than it is now. I know I would not have children's choirs all over the world singing my Mother's Day songs if it weren't for YouTube. One post of one little Mother's Day performance in 2010 was all it took, & now I have friends all over the globe. I am very thankful for each of you, and I will keep the songs coming!