Looking for response :-) :’( :-/

Someone shared this video with me about a guy named Matt who has certainly seen the world.  He was a video game designer who had made enough money to see some places he’d always wanted to see.  In the process, he took video of himself dancing at these places, stuck it on the internet and it took off.  Now he’s sponsored by Stride Gum and is paid to make this stuff.

I’ll edit my thoughts into this post in a week or so, but for now, I’m curious what your response is when you watch his video.  There is the regular version here, but if you go to YouTube, you can actually watch an HD version that is much prettier.

Where The Hell Is Matt

A tribute to My Girl

On December 29, My Girl had our 4th baby boy.

Now, that’s impressive enough – that’s a lot of babes to grow and push out – AND it’s impressive that God has designed her to return to the same shape she’s been since we got married after each delivery, but what really gets me is that she lives with those boys all day every day and none of them have “mysteriously” died yet.

Let no man deceive you:  there is no job on earth harder than being a good, stay-at-home mom.  If it were me at home with these young lads that bear my semblance, they would all end up gagged and duct taped to the wall by 5pm.

She allowed me to take this picture, and I feel it reasonably sums up her life and my awe of her.

Moms of the world:  be Proud of your daily task and the weight of your responsibility.

My Girl:  I love you.  I’m proud of you.  You make me happy.  Don’t forget.  :)

Another fear faced…

This past Saturday, January 10, I faced a hidden fear and everyone said they enjoyed it.

My freshman year of High School, I was in my first band:  The Seventh Seal.  This band was epic.  Trust me.  (Imagine me in the Ninety’s equivalent of a hair band…)  The Seventh Seal broke up after 4 years because we sucked our drummer moved away.

For six months after High School, I co-lead a group called Twenty Two Twenty that formed for one show, and broke for “creative differences.”

Later, my freshman year of college, I started playing with two friends – T.j. Bayer and Jason “The Man” Todd  - calling ourselves, HBT or Hartke, Bayer and Todd.  After adding Eric Bausell, we created the name More Than Me (because HBBT was getting weird).  More Than Me went through many changes, watching friends come and go, over the next 6 years, and having accomplished some really fun events, finally broke up.

A couple of us from More Than Me, started a side project called Feeling Nedly that had a few shows, and lasted for about 6 months.  That was the last

I’ve never been through a nasty band break up, but every time an endeavor fails, it’s frustrating.  The last 12 years and 5+ bands left me deflated and trigger shy, but I still had an unquenchable desire to write and perform music.  Every band I tried seemed to fail, and I had a self-conscience fear of being on stage without the security blanket of a band behind me.

This past Saturday, though, I performed my first venture into “solo-dom.”  I got to play at a St. Louis favorite, Blueberry Hill, and a few friends helped make the music sound a little prettier.  Here are some selections for you to see.

How Deep is Your Love

This song came on while driving to my parents house this morning, and Will, from the back seat says, “Oooo!  This is a nice song for a husband and a wife to be in love together!”

So, in honor of the Bee Gees and my son’s astute observations, all you husbands, go grab your wives, cuddle up next to YouTube and “be in love together.”

It’s beginning to look a lot like… Crowder.

So, when you have kids, Christmas time = crafts a’ plenty.  We’ve definitely had a few come through here already.  Here’s a few that are currently on display at our house…

…and then there’s this little piece…

This is one of my favorites for 3 reasons:

1. It’s really creative.  Hands and Feet make one cool lookin’ reindeer!
2. It looks really stressed OR slightly insane; both are fun depictions of the Christmas season as it’s been consumerised.
3. It oddly looks like one of my favorite worship leaders, David Crowder.

As to the last one, I did a little a little photoshopping to try to visualize this phenomena, and I’m happy with the results.

So, Merry Christmas, Mr. Crowder!  You fill our Yule Tide with Joy!

Things you don’t say

You don’t describe your art as “Ok.”

You don’t say “no” to mom.

You don’t say you’re praying when you’re actually falling asleep in church.

You don’t say, “I’m almost done with this level,” when you’re wife calls down from 3 screaming kids upstairs.

Comment on what else you don’t say…