Just found out about this. We’re going to try to go if it’s not too hot.  Maybe “how did you find me here” will compel this baby out of Danielle.  haha

Anyone else in RDU going to be there?

Danielle was due yesterday, and even though she was two days late last pregnancy, we thought for sure that this baby would come either on or before the due date. But no go.

We’ve tried a few tricks. Like eating Mexican food…..we actually did this the day before Bennett was born, but it didn’t work this time. We tried to walk the baby out. We spent almost 2 hours at a shopping center yesterday walking around. Danielle and Bennett got some great shoes out of it, but no baby.

One other things we’ve been working on is her “contraction face.” Think it and it will come, right? ha, ha.

So I guess now we just wait.

I love this guys voice.

When Adore and Tremble first came out, I had this idea to contact a few people, who have interacted in the worship genre a good bit, that I thought might consider reviewing my CD. One of the guys I wrote was Aaron Niequist. He has served at some really well known churches, recently as the worship leader at Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids Michigan. Aaron was so gracious to write a really nice review for Adore and Tremble. It meant so much coming from such an accomplished artist.

About a month later, Aaron released a CD, and I was able to get a copy of it. I had the intention of writing a review for it then, but got so busy finishing out the school year that it just didn’t happen. So I thought I’d take this Positive Post Tuesday to talk some about Aaron’s CD.

The CD is called “With Broken Fists.” It’s a collection of songs that Aaron has used for corporate worship for the last few years at Mars Hill. There are even a few songs on the CD that were recorded live at the church (”All Sing Hallelujah,” “Bend my Knees”).

The cool thing to me is that this CD sounds nothing like any other worship album that I’ve ever heard. It actually really reminds me of a indie rock album….like The National or something (actually a lot like The National, except for the deep voice).

The songs have these elements that you never see coming, like horns on “Already Here” and “Here are my Hands”….almost Sufjanish. One of my favorite things about the CD is the choir vocals that come in on the bridge of the opening song, “Resistance.” It is a beautiful song about the struggle that Christians find themselves in. We’re a part of a world that is fallen and hurting, but we have these glimpses of hope that remind us of a future with Christ, when things will be made right. This seems to be the message of the CD… that in Christ we have been changed and see a small glimmer of change happening around us. But this change in us causes us to look at all the hurt around us and say “how long.”

The first four songs have such longing to them, so when you get to the fifth song, “Changed,” it’s like you’re ready to go over a hill in a roller coaster. “Changed” has such a beautifully accessible melody….my favorite of the CD.

Aaron does a phenomenal job of expressing expectant hope. This is certainly a bold CD, considering the type of music that most worship songs are set to these days. Aaron is a great writer and musician, and I’m excited to hear how these songs find their way into corporate worship.

You can buy With Broken Fists on itunes, and here at CD baby.

Also, go check out Aaron’s website and blog.

*This post is a part of Positive Post Tuesday

This guy did an interview with Coldplay in their studio….pretty interesting stuff.

Hope you enjoy.

This melody is killer.

The best part of the video is the mandolin player at 1:45. He seems utterly engulfed in whats happeing.

Brody Harper started a new project, where you find out who your top five referrers were from the past month, and express gratitude by thanking them for pointing people your way.

I actually didn’t know that I could check who my top referrers were….this was a fun project.

Hope you enjoy.

1. Blonderenstroms- This is my wife’s blog. She started it as a way for our extended family to keep up on Bennett’s life, and it’s turned into something she really enjoys doing. Danielle doesn’t journal a ton, so she has really used this blog as a way to mark the day-to-day life of our family. Any of you that have met Danielle know that I married far out of my league. She’s an awesome mom, and I think the blog reflects that.

2. Brody Harper- I think it’s really crazy that I’ve never met this guy in person, but he feels like such a great friend. I wrote him an email a few months ago asking some music/business type questions, and he responded with a really long, helpful email. No one else knew that he was doing this for me - he wasn’t helping me out to get more blog viewers or anything like that. That’s really the way he has been since then. He has gone out of his way to be kind to me, for no reason that I can figure out. It’s been a huge privilege to get to work with him. One thing that I’ve always thought was so cool about Brody, is that most people that are involved with the christian music world don’t have many good things to say about it. But Brody seems to genuinely care about the direction of this industry and wants to invest effort into making it better.

3- Rebecca Schlieman- Rebecca is a friend of ours who also happens to be an amazing photographer. She took some pictures of me a few months back that I’ll be using for some advertising very soon. I’ve know Rebecca for a while now, but just got to meet her husband for the first time when we did the shoot. It was fun hanging with them both…we hope to do it more in the future.

4- My Facebook and Myspace- They are actually #5 on the list, but it’s kind-of lame to end this list with Facebook and Myspace, so i’ll put them both as 4 and get on to another referrer.

5- Andria- I’ve never met Andria either, but she is one of the people who has read and commented on my blog from the very beginning. She is also involved in music and always has such helpful/insighful things to say.

This has been a lot of fun. You should do the same….Brody’s blog has all the instructions. So go check it out.

Some friends of ours got married in Atlanta over the weekend. And since baby number 2 could come any day now, Danielle couldn’t come along. So I headed down by myself to the ATL in my sister’s line green VW bug. Very manly.

We’ve been looking for a chair for Bennett’s room. I found one at Ikea, but misjudged the size of it….driving through Atlanta like this was a humbling experience.

$2.75 @ ikea. And my Costanza wallet.

Got the chance to go to Buckhead on sunday. This is their video editing room backstage.

Sunday night I meet up with James and Mike in Charlotte and got to lead worship for a High School ministry event. Headed back this morning on 4 hours of sleep. Hope to get caught up on sleep before the baby comes.

Last night our friend Shelly took some family pictures for us.  We’ve wanted a few pictures before Baby #2 comes…..but have just been dragging our feet.  So anyways, we went out with Shelly, and she got some great shots. 

Seriously, isn’t this picture the most precious thing you’ve ever seen? Come on… she’s beautiful. 

Thanks so much mo.

With Baby #2 due in about 2 weeks, we have a lot of house projects that need to get done.  My family spent the whole weekend helping us check things off our list.