On the Road to Home....

I woke up this morning snuggled under a quilt made by my great grandmother Cox, to the beeping of a smoke detector, and the strong, welcoming smell of bacon....pretty fantastic. After 24 hours at my Great Aunt Lena's I am full.... of stories, hearty food, and love for this crazy family I come from. Mountain folk are strong, and these aunts and uncles two generations removed from me survived wars, the Great Depression, and growing up poor in the holler. Corn was grown straight up the mountainside, and they may not have had much, but they were rich in love and adventurous stories.

I didn't realize how important it would be to have Lena's blessing on my restoring and using Tiv's guitar.  But I felt a definite exhalation when she said it was right for me to have it and that she knew I would "do right by Tiv and the family."

This is just a quick update....Dad and I are on our way home today and stopped in the wilds of West Virginia at a Wendys to throw back some burgers and chili.  I am beyond thankful for this man who easily wanders along with me....or allows me to wander with him. :o)

More from Kentucky to come......

INAC14 and Georgia Street Worship

Maybe Saturday afternoon is a random time to post....but I find my heart full and my body sitting still this afternoon.... which is a rare moment in the past few days of constant movement, conversation, and the occasional yelling. :o) The Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church holds a very special place in my heart.  This was my third (and most likely final) time at the Annual Conference....a gathering of all the pastors and delegates from each church.  I hung out at the Lion and Lamb Festival booth, played at the Georgia Street Worship event, and just generally caused the noise level to bump up a few notches.....par for the course.

My first year at annual conference I led worship at the Friday night service, I was nervous, scared, and unsure. God moved powerfully that night and it was amazing.  Last year, we introduced the Lion and Lamb Festival by hosting a booth in the exhibitor space.  We had no idea how to design the space, and so I can sum up the time as one of little sleep, lots of stress, and ironing bedsheets to act as the backdrop after midnight in my hotel room.  Add to it my car breaking down as I tried to leave Fort Wayne AND a disastrous evening where I lost my iphone temporarily and spent a good 30 minutes sitting on Monument Circle crying because I couldn't work past the tiredness and frustration.  But despite all that, there was a fabulous evening had at the Hard Rock Cafe and the Eat, Preach, Praise Dinner..... good times.

This year..... was a new game.  We went in with a plan, adjusted as needed, and had time to register people, connect with new and old friends, and explain the vision.  I adore so many of these pastors, who love Jesus and people.... can't say it enough.  I hope they know that all the excited yells, mild heckles.... that is love overflowing... hahaha.

And on Friday, (yesterday), I was a part of the Georgia Street Worship event right outside the convention center....worship without the boundaries of walls, ceilings....endless sky and city streets.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day, full of food trucks, balloons, and Indy area people out for lunch.  Sixteen Cities led worship at 12:30, as conference folks came piling out of session to grab lunch and enjoy the sunshine.  Very thankful to meet such a great and encouraging group of guys that are passionate about people encountering Jesus......and actually guestimated correctly on the mic height this vertically challenged girl would need.... a rare commodity.

My dad flew into Indy yesterday to make the trip back to Virginia with me.  We are in the Indy area today (house concert tonight) and tomorrow (worship at Fishers UMC) and then we'll pass through Greensburg, IN on our way to Aunt Lena in Kentucky..... I cannot wait for the Uncle Tiv stories and to learn more about this fabulously crazy family I come from.  New stories coming soon.....I promise. :o)

From the Road....

It has been a full and beautiful few days out on the road, traveling between Indy and Fort Wayne, leading worship, spending time with friends, crawling around with babies, and enjoying the gorgeous sunshine. I have come to the realization that there are not enough meals in the day to let my dear midwest comrades feed me... :o) I have to yet to experience the life of a "starving artist"....hahahaha I left Virginia last Friday, right smack dab in the middle of the joyous Memorial Day traffic. I may have seen my life flash before my eyes several times and may have encountered travel plazas full of tour buses, but the midnight gelato at Grey's once I reached Fort Wayne made it allllllll worth it! We hit up brunch Saturday morning, and then my friend Jess and I headed for Indy to shop, chat, and eat delicious Greek food.

Sunday morning was a uniquely special time leading worship at The Stream, the 11am service at Carmel UMC. It was delightful to lead with a couple of their instrumentalists, Mina and Tom, musically gifted and servant hearted folks.This is a great church with welcoming people.... and it was definitely a new experience to set up a little table in the back with CDs and info on Lion and Lamb....thank goodness for a good friend like Jess to come help out for the morning!

Sunday afternoon brought me back to the Fort and since then I've been running around visiting as many friends as possible....no worries if we didn't catch up, I'll be back in August!!!

And oh how I love these little people...who want to start the day bright and early and with my favorite.... sports.

Today I'm headed back to Indy to work the Lion and Lamb booth at Annual Conference. I am excited to see so many friends from around the state that I over the last few years...and to be a part of the Georgia Street Worship event on Friday morning.... and with a house concert on Saturday, and worship at Fishers UMC on Sunday it will be a full slate through next week. My dad flies out Friday morning and then we'll be on our way Sunday to Kentucky to visit with my Great Aunt Lena....who has all the Uncle Tiv stories....can't wait to share more about that crazy, lovable, mentally unstable man!

Friends....you do not know the power of your words...every encouragement, every download/cd sale, every hug.... is a beautiful gift. Thank you.

My Friend Zach

This past weekend, a dear old friend from high school, Zach Arnold, passed away.  He had spent the past couple of weeks on life support after an unknown medical condition sent him into cardiac arrest. My heart breaks for his family, for the hard decisions, the sleepless nights, the hope wrapped up in grief. I wanted  Zach to be ok. I wanted him to wake up and recover and get back on the improv stage. I wanted to see him grow out his mop of "crazy hair" and hear him laugh. I have this list....it's of people I want to see since moving back to Virginia. I've been tackling it slowly, several people a month, coordinating schedules and meals and coffee dates.... I had planned to reconnect with Zach this summer, to go watch him in action at Comedy Sportz.

Zach was an amazing man.  Kind, humble, giving, way talented.  He drove three hours when we were in college to take me to my winter formal when my date couldn't go.  I drove down to a concert at his school once, and when he didn't show, asked some fellow students to draw a map to his house and I tracked him down. It was late. He was in his pjs.

The past couple of weeks have caused me to reflect back on high school....more than a decade now since we graduated....really?!?!?!?  The ragtag bunch of kids that made up the drama program....a mismatch of religions, backgrounds, dreams....who all found  a place to belong at the graffitied room at the end of the hall.  We spent hours together memorizing scripts, singing songs, constructing sets and costumes.  It was in their midst that I learned to take on characters, explore new emotions, and even experience kissing a boy on stage... :o) The rehearsals, the lack of sleep, the travel for competitions.... we did it all together.

And so this past weekend hit a little close to home.  I have celebrated the success of my fellow lee lancers who have landed amazing jobs, or that part in a movie/commercial, or found their way to a culinary school in Canada.  The marriages, the babies, the moves.... it has been such a joy to see where these precious friends have found themselves.

I am proud of who Zach became. He continued to pursue his love of acting and made a huge impact in the improv/theater community of Richmond, VA. It has been an affirming testament to his life to see the posts and pictures shared by his friends and loved ones.  The odds are, you my dear reader, did not have the privilege of knowing Zach. Picture someone you would instantly like, felt like you had known forever, and who would have made you laugh in the very first conversation.

There are many videos and pictures that have been circulating, but I adore this commercial Zach was in for the VA Lottery a couple of summers ago. He is the guy who pushes the shopping cart out of the way. So classic.

Coming Home to You....It's Here! It's Here!

Friends!!!!! It's May 6th!!! Coming Home to You!!! Who knew we would make it this far?!?! I didn't!!! Haha.... I certainly had my moments. :o)  I've thought a lot about how to sum up this album, and I would say that it is my heart bottled up in a cardboard (or virtual) square....You can find it EVERYWHERE….from iTunes, apple music, amazon, Spotify, Pandora…..

And to celebrate this grand occasion, I'm hanging out at Pub Theology with Aldersgate Kingstowne for my very first podcast at Forge Works Brewery tonight!!! If you live anywhere near Lorton, Virginia...come check it out!

Mountains, Jesus, and Espionage

It might have been the moment I lifted my soggy sneaker back out of the sludge cleverly hidden under dry and brittle leaves along the rocky trail by the creek. Or it might have been the moment I tried gracefully to sit at the campfire to innocently roast marshmallows that found the log rolling and myself with it back into the dirt. Regardless, I once again thought, "I am not made for the outdoors."

But I love it anyways. Mostly cause I love clumsy and awkward stories. :o) But I especially loved hanging out this past weekend with 35 or so 6th graders on their confirmation retreat from Aldersgate UMC.  They were all bundles of energy and foolish scheming....WHY CAN'T WE RIDE THESE UNSTEADY LUGGAGE CARTS DOWN THIS MOUNTAINSIDE???? And I adore how fast the conversations go from what they have learned about Jesus, their faith and worship....to quickly devolve into, "when are we eating?", "do we get to choose which cabins we sleep in?"  "How many tacos is TOO many tacos?"

Most special to the weekend was working alongside a dear old friend, Teer..... by "old" I mean, we have been on a couple of youth mission trips and I've had coffee with him and his wife Allison (and now baby Camden!) three times over the past two years.... so we're pretty tight. :o)

AND add to the weekend staying in cabins built in the 1930's and then used to train spies during WWII.... I'm sold. Mountains, Jesus, and Espionage..... love.

Easter At the Firehouse

There was a moment this past Sunday morning, when I questioned whether I was there to lead worship or a weekly game of bingo.... but then we pushed back the bingo table and I pulled out my guitar... :o)It was an absolutely gorgeous day this past Sunday....and it was Easter! I drove up to my hometown of Springfield, VA...well technically I drove over the train tracks that take you into Franconia....but details, details, to lead worship at the Franconia Fire Station, in the bingo hall where my Grandma Cox used to gamble every week.

The service was one of two locations for Aldersgate: Kingstowne, a growing satellite campus of Aldersgate United Methodist Church. The bingo hall is vintagely awesome with authentic "smoke stains" in the 70's ceiling tiles and large light up bingo boards hung on the walls around the room. But with breaking down the tables, pulling out speakers and mics, lining up rows of chairs and setting communion on a small table up front, we had ourselves a unique worship space.

It was a special morning to be a part of something new that God is doing in the Kingstowne area, in a place that is so close to my heart.  That 2 mile radius around the firehouse is where I grew up, worked, worshipped, went to school, and returned "home" so many times. It was odd yet good to feel at home amongst welcoming strangers. We sang, we prayed, we asked hard questions, took communion, and celebrated in the resurrection.  A beautiful and set apart time. Amen.

And I was delightfully surprised when this kid showed up:

Matt and I worked as summer counselors at Camp Alta Mons back in 2005/2006. Matt is most remembered in my heart as someone who HATES flip flops and horses....and he may have stolen a chainsaw once...The last time I saw him was when he visited The Vine, a church plant I was leading worship for back in 2010. But the beauty of social media allows us to stay connected and I am so thankful he came! Grabbing lunch with an old friend was a wonderful way to pass the afternoon before heading down to meet the family for some classic Easter bowling!!Ok, we've never bowled on Easter before, but with Nana and the uncle's side of the family heading off on their week long cruise, the pressure of a large family meal was off and we had a brilliant time missing the pins and having dinner at a nearly empty Chili's. Perfect end to the day.

My First Community Theater Experience

It was a blistery and cold Saturday afternoon when I climbed the two flights of creaky stairs to find myself in a photography studio reading for parts in six different one acts. The directors were spread out, partially hidden behind semi-permanent walls and backdrops and the auditionees shuffled back and forth, first reading for an old lady/man at a reunion here, a man in hospice over there, a woman yelling at her ninja husband in the corner. Stage Door Productions, a local community theatre here in Fredericksburg, VA, puts on a One Act Festival each year. Playwrights from all over (mostly the U.S.) submit their original one-acts which are read and the top six are selected and produced. It's a beautiful weekend of theater that ends in a few cash prizes for the winning playwright... :o)

I've always wanted to get involved in community theater...I loved drama in high school and in college I did a play where I had a living, breathing, hairless and toothless cat on stage with me....that's probably a tale for another day. And with a desire to make friends here and be around creative people, the one act festival seemed the perfect, short term avenue to pursue.

I adore the casts of the two shows I acted in. I was an ex-finance in "Brothers" where I merely walk into the waiting room where my ex is talking with a nice older lady, make the scene awkward, and scurry off to the other side. My larger role was in "Last Words", where I played a hospice nurse for a dying playwright who wants his last words to be remembered. I spent much more time in rehearsal for Last Words, and Michael, Bob, and Jackie were witty, inviting, and just plain fun to be with. It was also magical that we rehearsed in that same photography studio, on the third floor of a building in downtown Fredericksburg, a street that has seen so much history dating back to the revolutionary war!!So this past weekend I made my Fredericksburg "acting debut", it was four days of shows, hanging out backstage (lots of whispering!), and grabbing ice cream/food/drinks into the evening hours. We performed at the Downtown Library and got to meet a couple of the playwrights who were local enough to make the drive. I met a gal in another one-act who literally lives down the street from me here in Colonial Beach (small world!). And while there are no further plans of acting for me.... I do think I could make a pretty fantastic usher at their next run of shows... :o)