Twenty-Three
Good morning! Before we head out to help Ellie make her first snowman, we thought we’d post this Good Song Sunday video for you. It’s the song Twenty-Three, by Aaron Strumpel. If you haven’t already, go to Aaron’s website and buy everything you can: www.aaronstrumpel.com. You will not be sorry. In fact, it might be the best worship cd purchases you’ve ever made.
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.
You, My Love
Okay, I couldn’t resist posting this one here as well as at peartreemommy.com. It’s just fun, and it’s a video.
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.
Reckless
Thought you’d enjoy this video of me singing my newest song, Reckless. This is the song Aaron and I worked on this morning, and we recorded some crazy string parts on it that brought the song to a whole new level!
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!
It Is ON!
It’s finally happened, people. We decided two weeks ago to make the album we’ve been talking about making for the last 2 years. I know, we’re excited, too.
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!
Merry Christmas!
Aw, we shouldn’t have. But we did because we love your ears.
“Mud Song” – Simple Series
Lyrics, CD quality downloads, & more here!
The story of being rescued from slavery and coming into family and then into our inheritance as heirs and rulers can be seen all over the scriptures. Whenever a story becomes a motif–a theme–we know it’s speaking something important. It’s not just archaic happenstance; it is revealing God’s heart for you and me. From Egypt to Canaan. From Joseph’s prison cell to his throne. From the lost son’s pig sty to his welcome home feast! This story happens time and time again.
And it is happening.
African and Chinese orphans are the beloved sons and daughters of some of our good friends. Girls redeemed from the sex trade are finding places of refuge in the people of Jesus who are risking life and limb to call these “nobodies” their own.
And then there’s your journey…
“What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate… Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”
Galations 4:1, 5-7
“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. . .”
Romans 8: 15-17
So enjoy this barnyard party song about adoption and leave a comment to share with us how the Spirit testifies of your sonship and we’ll celebrate together.
You can share and download “Mud Song” and the whole Simple Series for free, or you can sow some dollars into the project.
How To Get A Songsheet With Lyrics And Chords, & How To Download Free:
Pretty slick: When you download the whole Simple Series album, a songsheet with lyrics and guitar chords for Mud Song will accompany it.
To download free, click here to open our music page then choose “Download” for Simple Series or the track you want and enter “0″ in the “name your price” field. We’ll ask for your email address so we can give you a chance to opt-in to future posts electronically. Despite what the computer tells you, you won’t be subscribed automatically. If you are already subscribed, everything will remain cool.
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If you like this song, please share it!
By Timothy Floyd Thornton and Laura Elizabeth Thornton (ASCAP)
CCLI song # 5588794
© Bricklayer Music Publishing 2006. All rights reserved. Please email us for a license to re-record or include this song in media.
“Whisper Your Love” – Simple Series
Tim and I wrote this song specifically for someone we know who has been living under the weight of things she feels as though she will never be able to overcome or defeat. It’s been years of her own wounds dictating in her mind who she is and what she’s worth. The enemy comes and lies to all of us–he sneaks in through anything he can and tries to separate us from the love of the Father and convince us that we are destined for nothing great. As children of God who are filled with his Holy Spirit, we know that our redemption, not only from death but also from what the enemy would have us believe about our lives, has already been won.
For more meditation on these themes, take a look at Psalm 57 and Psalm 18. We were reading these as we wrote this song.
Songwriting and recording notes: I have a love-hate relationship with this song. Over a year ago, we published a podcast with the informal just-arranged first version of it. Well, I don’t think we’ve played the song since that recording. We loved the song, we just didn’t feel like it did what we wanted it to. We knew it needed some changes, and although it would get in my head constantly, I couldn’t figure out where it needed to go. So now, one baby and a move to a different house later, we revisited it, leaning in the direction of a worship song–we cut out the end section, we changed the melody of the verses, we changed the lyrics to the second verse. Aaron Strumpel came to our house with an arsenal of preamps and mics and we recorded it live for the Simple Series. I finally feel like it’s done. Ha!!
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If you like this song, please share it on facebook, twitter, or (imagine) in person.
By Timothy Floyd Thornton and Laura Elizabeth Thornton (ASCAP)
Registered with CCLI
© Bricklayer Music Publishing 2006. All rights reserved. Please email us for a license to re-record or include this song in media.
“Too Wonderful” (for our Ellie) – free song!
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Click to download "Too Wonderful" mp3 and lyrics (399)
Inspired by Psalm 139, this is the first song I wrote after the birth of our first daughter, Elizabeth Caroline, whose name means “Beautiful woman consecrated to God.”
I wrote it for her as a mother’s blessing, that she would know her place in the Father’s heart and trust in his goodness.
I wanted to post this as the next song as we are inside 3 weeks until the birth of our second daughter, and my heart is full of joy and anticipation.
–Laurie
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If you like this song why not leave a comment? Please share it with friends; feature it on your facebook, blog, or what-not; and put it on your next mix. If you wish to sow into our ministry or join our partners community, that would be great. If you don’t want to right now, then keep on rockin’ in the free world.
“Too Wonderful” by Laura Elizabeth Thornton & Timothy Floyd Thornton, copyright Bricklayer Music Publishing (ASCAP) 2009, registered with CCLI.
“Your Glory Falls” – Simple Series
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Simple Series #01 Your Glory Falls || $.99 iTunes
“Nature gave the word glory a meaning for me. I still do not know where else I could have found one.”
So said C. S. Lewis, as if he was from the Rocky Mountains.
Thousands of years before, the ancient poet looked up and wrote what we know as the nineteenth song in the book of psalms. He had no trouble gasping at the beauty of the changing sky in one phrase, then in the next contemplating that there is something eternal and pure and beyond those skies–and realizing that his own heart and life needed to reflect it.
Not to be outdone, I wrote this song a fishing season or so back, while waiting to be picked up for a day on the river in Eleven Mile Canyon. It is a true Colorado boy’s song to the Creator. It was inspired by Psalm 19, so I thought I’d include part of that text below so you can see how I used it as a way to enter into my own song of worship.
In the next post/podcast, we’ll talk more about the ancient psalmists’ sun, wind and clouds, and their harmony with my Colorado’s quaking aspen trees and rainbow trout.
Meantime, if this song gets to you, make it a prelude to an hour on the porch with a nice beverage and a copy of “The Weight of Glory” by C. S. Lewis. If the nearest porch looks to a place where created things have been suppressed, a potted plant will do. But don’t just look at creation. Listen to her song, for as Lewis observed, “we are summoned to pass in through Nature, beyond her, into that splendour which she fitfully reflects.”
from Psalm 19:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
Who can discern his errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
and from Psalm 135:
The LORD does whatever pleases him,
in the heavens and on the earth,
in the seas and all their depths.
He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
he sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
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If you like this song why not leave a comment? Please share it with friends; feature it on your facebook, blog, or what-not; and put it on your next mix. If you wish to make a donation or join our partners community, that would be great. If you don’t want to right now, then keep on rockin’ in the free world.
“Your Glory Falls” by Timothy Floyd Thornton copyright Bricklayer Music Publishing (ASCAP) 2009, registered with CCLI.
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