February was filled with lots of travelling and business work for Scenic Roots and March is shaping up to be very similar.
-Feb 6-7 I taught at the Colorado Dulcimer Festival. There are a few pictures posted HERE
-Feb 14 I launched the first ever Scenic Roots email newsletter. If you would like to join the mailing list, please use the "Contact Me" link on the right side of the page to send me a message. Make sure you include your email address and "Add me to the email list" in your message.
-Feb 20-21 Amber & I attended the MidWinter Bluegrass Festival in Denver, CO with two of our classmates. The highlight of the trip was when we had the priviledge of eating dinner with Jason Thomas (fiddler for the Claire Lynch Band) and got to ask him a few questions about life as a professional musician. He was very encouraging and kind to share some of his time with us.
-Feb 27-March 1 Amber & I put together 50 promo packages to send to various bluegrass festivals and venues around the country.
-March 1 Amber & I did a special program at the First Baptist Church in Levelland. I had missed sharing in churches, so it was really refreshing for me.
March 6-8 Amber & I, along with "Uncle Lester" (classmate) flew to Dallas to attend the Argyle Bluegrass Festival. Mom & Dad drove down from Kansas, so we all got to enjoy a festival together. Highlights were seeing Tony Rice for the first time, and the shows by Michael Cleveland and Mountain Heart.
-Today Amber & I are home for Spring break. Amber's best friend gets married tomorrow, so she's busy doing Maid of Honor duties today. Our friend Kasey is coming to spend part of the week with us and we have a few small shows throughout the week.
-Sunday, March 15 at 3pm, we're giving a Celebration of Life Concert at the Concordia Brown Grand Theater. This is a free concert (donations will be accepted). The Lord has brought our family through a lot of difficult days in the last couple of years. Now, we want to celebrate the gift of music, life, and health, and we want you to be there!
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Now, for the matters of the heart. God has been hard at work in my life over the last month. I want to share with you some of the things He has been teaching me in the hopes that you will be encouraged and challenged by them too.
-Sometimes God drops things into your lap without you having to work for them at all. Other times, He gives you a vision and asks you to take some steps of faith to make it happen. Thus far, my music career has been a lot about waiting for God open doors in front of me and then push me through them. Lately, though, He's been challenging me to step out and start knocking on a lot of doors. It think there are often opportunities awaiting us, but we miss them because we are too afraid to walk up to that door and knock.
-Looking ahead to the future is not an easy thing for me. Even as I began trying to walk in my calling and start knocking on those doors, I became terrified of planning too far in advance. As a cancer survivor, I learned in a very real way to take one day at a time and trust God to provide for my needs each day. I also learned that you never know what the future may hold and your life can change drastically in just a moment. I am now learning to trust God not just for today, but for all of my tomorrows too, to trust Him to fulfill the promises He has given me. I have spent a LOT of time crying out to God to give me the courage to look ahead a year or more as I think about finishing college and entering the "real world" as an independant musician.
-Praying for other people's specific needs is really important. I have been very convicted recently to ask people more openly how I can be praying for them. And then to pause right then and actually pray for them and with them. To simply say "I'l pray for you" does no one any good; there must be follow-through. Through this exercise of asking people how I can pray for them, I have discovered that we rarely know how to answer that question. Unless we are in the middle of an illness or grieving the loss of someone special or going through some traumatic life experience, we don't tend to think about asking people to pray for us. Even so, we can all use a prayer covering all the time. I challenge you to ask your friends how you can pray for them, and then think of specific needs in your life too.
-God loves to surprise His children with unexpected blessings. Two weeks ago, my dear friend Justin Keith asked me out to dinner-- on a date! Scheduling conflicts prevented me from being able to go, but we had a nice long walk and "define the relationship" talk on Sunday, March 1st. He shared his intent to get to know me better and I accepted. I am new to this whole "relationship" thing-- I nearly made it 22 years without a boyfriend
-- and it is a bit awkward at times, but I feel very blessed! Justin & I are both dedicated to doing this relationship God's way and seeking Him for every step of the journey. Little Sister is not overly excited about letting a BOY in on Big Sister's life, but we've had a few long talks about things and she is okay with it. I'm excited to see where the Lord will lead us, and I covet your prayers for us as we seek the Lord together.That's the news for now. I really hope to do better about giving short updates more frequently instead of these LONG posts irregularly, but I make no promises. May God bless each of you. Thanks for reading!
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