Also, mark your calendars for Worship@8500, June 25-27, in Divide Colorado. Bring your instruments, your hacky-sacks, your tents and sleeping bags and join me (Laurie), Tim, Aaron, and many more of our Worship Circle friends for an entire weekend of worship jams, encouraging talks, and Colorado mountain hang time.

The 411:

Origins Community | Boulder, CO
When: Sun, Feb 7, 2010 6:00 PM
Where: 1421 Spruce St., Boulder, 80302
Origins on the web

Don’t be bashful–tell us what you think. You can even share it on facebook and twitter if you want.

By the way, if you’re interested in lyrics, you can find them on peartreemommy.com –’member, this is part of Good Song Sunday.

Warning: This video was orginally made for peartreemommy.com, so I wasn’t afraid to show off my chaos a little bit more than I usually would. So…bear that in mind.

PS I post a video every Sunday on peartreemommy.com –it’s Good Song Sunday!

Our great friend Aaron Strumpel (writer of the songs Twenty-Three, Centuries, and co-writer with us on Trouble Won’t Go, Too Proud, and Sweep Me Away) agreed to co-produce the project with us, and we love the flavor that he brings to our work. Aaron challenges us in the best ways to stretch the boundaries of our music, to really push ourselves creatively, and to fully understand our vision for the album. And we do know this for sure: this is an album of songs of worship.

We’ve tried not to put many limits on ourselves and on the work–and the work has been so fun as a result. Tim has been living out quite a few of his secret dreams, in fact. The latin percussionist, the Bruce Springsteen, and the crazy goat-hoof shaker guy all thrive within him.  And with this project, they finally have their outlet!

And I get to pursue some secret dreams of my own.  No, I haven’t gotten a Shakira moment yet, but yesterday I put a string section on Whisper Your Love that involved “Sugar-Plum Fairy” strings. High, flitty, and super fun to play. That’s almost as good, right? I also get to continue my foray into the wonderful and frustrating world of the cello. Most of the time, if I keep it simple, the cello does what I tell it to.  Yesterday, however, it almost got itself thrown off the back deck because of its disobedience.

We’re recording in Aaron’s house here in Woodland Park–here’s the view heading up–

and we’re thinking about splitting the studio to be in our house, too, so that we can continue recording when the babies are in bed. It’s a completely different thing than our last album; we’re working around our kids, we’re recording in a home studio, and we’re having so much fun experimenting, drinking coffee, making pancakes, and then experimenting some more.

I’m not sure when the new CD will be available for you to hear and enjoy. I know we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we’ll be done tracking our vocals and instruments by the end of this month, but with our chaotic family life, we just have to hold everything loosely. Rest assured, though, you’ll have it before Christmas for sure!

There are lots of ways you can keep up with our recording process. The best way is to be a fan of us on Facebook. It is so easy to upload pictures and one-liner status updates, so we do that often.

You can also follow us on Twitter, which also has some one-liner updates.

I am also updating my new blog for mommies with reflections about how this process fits in with my life as a mom of two small kids. Those posts that are less about motherhood and more about the process will also be posted here, I think.

So there you have it! We’ll try to be updating often, but until the next one, we’ll see you on Facebook or Twitter!

OK, so you got a guitar, a set of pottery tools, a canvas, a fly rod, a snowboard, or a [insert yours here] for Christmas. You lucky. Someone loves you enough not just to give you another sweater, but to give you a pursuit. A hobby. A discipline. An entry to your gold mine of overflowing talent that has remained hidden until now.

But you feel it don’t you? The pressure. Are the voices already telling you you’ll never get good at that? That your new gift will end up in the closet like everything else you’ve ever tried?

Well, then this post is for you. We can silence the criticizing voices, or at least laugh at them. A few practical steps can help us to make baby steps of progress that will keep us going instead of getting overwhelmed at the magnitude of the task. You need to buckle your bindings before you huck a 360 off a snowy cliff. Ready?

Step 1: Love yourself no matter what.

God does. So you can too. Fear is the enemy of creativity and adventure, and I know someone who would love for you to remain in a “safe” place of self-criticism and what you already know instead of the freedom of trying something new. Hint: it’s not Santa, but you can get his name if you rearrange the letters.

Step 2: Get a good guide, or at least the cell phone number of one.

It’s easier to get going when someone is beside you with an excited look on their face and plenty of stories about the way they fell, fumbled, faltered, and repelled the opposite sex when they were first learning. You might think this step is cost-prohibitive, but consider this: you may not need a professional. You are asking someone to share about their skill and their passion. Offer them dinner, coffee, beer, or whatever they like. I don’t know a single person who doesn’t want to hang out talk about and do the thing they are best at, even with a beginner, if it feels like a party.

Step 3: Survey the territory.

Let’s keep the analogy of exploring going. You have a guide. Now you look at a map. This is where some people stop though, so be careful. You don’t have to understand all the symbols or know the exact scale. Ask your guide to show you the major landmarks and pitfalls as you plot a course to somewhere you want to go.

Did you hear that? If you want to hike to the lake, you don’t need to consult a geologist about the chemical makeup of the soil. You don’t need to be a herpetologist, able to identify every tree. You don’t need to distinguish between the call of the great horned and spotted owls. You just need to know what you’ll encounter between the trailhead and the lake, and how to handle it.

Step 4: Strike out with courage.

You will be using new muscles and firing new synapses. It will be awkward. And awesome. Laugh at yourself. If you get frustrated, relax. Look around and breath fresh air. Unless you are in a dark room or refinishing furniture–then just think happy thoughts and get a respirator.

Step 5: Do it again. Watch your guide.

You may want to quit now, but remember Step 1. You have nothing to lose by trying again and again. Try on your guide’s movements and attitudes. With enough repetition, you might start to discover a new part of yourself emerging.

Repeat step 5 a few times.

Step 6: Now you are ready to do it “for real” and maybe with others.

By now you might have leaned how to play one song on your instrument in relatively good time. Take it to a group of musicians. Play it at the fellowship sunday morning. There is safety there as long as you remember Step 1. If you are learning to kayak, you have your roll by now. Ask your buddy to take you to a mild section of river because you’ve mastered the pool. You’ve paid your dues watching your lumpy clay pots slide off the potter’s wheel. Now keep a few. Glaze them and show them to some potter friends. They will be kind. If they are not, they need to know about Step 1, and you are just the person to inform them.

Step 7: You are a success. Sit down with your guide and talk about how great life is.

Talk about what you’ve accomplished. Back on the explorer analogy, talk about your course through the woods. What did you see along the way that you might like to explore further? What challenged you that needs more work? What was your favorite part?

Now repeat all the steps, but aim at expanding the “route” of your expertise. Don’t forget to be willing to share what you’ve learned with others, and don’t dismiss yourself as “knowing nothing.” You know how to get to the lake.

What creative, adventurous territory are you going to take over in 2010?

Did I miss any steps or nuances? What are they?

Aw, we shouldn’t have. But we did because we love your ears.

Tim’s new book, Back to Basics: Eight Sure Foundations For Kingdom Living, is now available on our site for regular price. Just follow the link to our merchandise page to grab one.

As a “thank you” for making an end-of-year donation of $50 or more to our ministry, we’ll send you (or ship directly to the recipient of your choice) this Christmas gift:

An autographed copy of Tim’s brand-new book, Back To Basics, which he co-authored with Doug Roberts and Ben Pasley this year (read the back cover below for more). Yes, we’re officially announcing the release, but the book is so new and the printer so busy that we will have only 25 exclusive first-edition copies in time to ship by Christmas.

So we thought we’d make our initial copies available as Christmas gifts to those who remember our ministry with their year-end giving.

When we receive your $50+ donation by Monday, December 14th at midnight, we will ship an autographed copy to the address you designate, set to arrive by Christmas. Be sure and enter the shipping address of the gift recipient, and feel free to include a brief “gift message” which will be printed and sent to the recipient along with the book. If you’re not sure whether you got the proper information entered, just email donate@theblackthornproject.com and we’ll make sure the details are right.

Click here to make a secure donation. You don’t need a Paypal account.

This special Christmas offer is valid while the first 25 copies last. If any last copies remain on 12/15/2009, they’ll be available on theblackthornproject.com for the regular cost plus shipping, though we regret donations will not be tax deductible, and we cannot offer autographed copies, gift messages, or guarantee Christmas delivery at that time.

You will be glad if you join her. She is full of wisdom and honesty and loves a good party.