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.
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!
“Too Wonderful” (for our Ellie) – free song!
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Click to download "Too Wonderful" mp3 and lyrics (400)
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.
“Speak To Me” – free song!
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Click to download "Speak to Me" mp3 (443)
Some who know me (Laurie) know that in my mommy-hood I go to Wal-Mart to be alone. Oh yes. Wal-Mart. On this particular night I went to Wal-Mart because of that thing… That feeling that makes me want to call everyone I know for some “you’re the most awesome person in the universe” encouragement that my black hole of need tells me I must have.
But, in the spirit of this current season of taking charge of that need and not succumbing to it, I escaped. Not to the beautiful rivers that run just outside town or to one of the hiking trails that I can access just a few blocks away, but to Wal-Mart, the place I go to be alone.
I finished my trip empty-handed. I didn’t buy anything except more time with myself and my self-doubt. It was one of those nights when those voices were particularly loud in my ears, lying to me about who I am, how I behave. And I just kept getting more and more tired of being myself and not someone else who might have it more together than I do.
As I got in the car and pulled out of the parking lot, I cried to the Father out loud: “I can hear everybody else’s voice but yours. My head is so full that I can’t sort through what’s true and what’s not. I’m tired of being so concerned with others’ and my own expectations and opinions of me.” I asked the Lord to get everybody’s voice, including my own, out of my head. “I need to hear it from you. . .who am I to you? How do you see me?”
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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.
“Speak to Me” by Laura Elizabeth Thornton copyright Bricklayer Music Publishing (ASCAP) 2009, registered with CCLI.
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