To begin, as some of you may already know, we are expecting a baby girl in July! Joshua, who is turning three this next week, is excited about having a baby sister. It will be fun to see the two interact. From time to time, he will put his head up to mommy’s tummy to say, “I love you baby sister.” Precious.
Family Developments
Joshua is a little genius and a tech geek. He knows his alphabet already and can spell and type his name and our names in addition to a handful of other names and words. He can tell you about Facebook, Twitter and “Hafoo” (Yahoo) and even knows short cuts on our Mac (command-Q for quit, command-O for open, etc.) He enjoys looking at books, playing the piano, dancing and he loves to jump (he jumps on his trampoline as well as every bed in the house). Right now, his favorite song is “I’ve got a river of life.” His imagination continues to develop. He often talks to his animals for an hour after we put him to bed. We are so thankful that he is a healthy little boy.
Short of some back pain, Crystal is doing well with her pregnancy. Given her age and placental abruption with Joshua’s birth, the doctors are taking extra precautions this time around. We have already had two level-two ultrasounds, and to date, baby girl seems to be healthy and active. Crystal will be 25 weeks this coming Monday. (Pictured is a 3D ultrasound from several weeks ago)
Crystal continues to work two days a week and I work about 35 hours a week at a restaurant as a server and do freelance audio/music work when it comes around. I recently completed music for a new PC game and also filled in as an audio technician for a week at a local production house.
Baby Steps
In music news, we are planning a second trip to Nashville in May to record strings and guitar overdubs. This time, Joshua will be coming with us and we will stop at a water park in Cincinnati on the way back to Columbus. This will probably be our last mini-vacation before baby arrives.
The new album, Right Where You Want Me, continues to take shape. The most difficult task right now is to wait. For the most part, I’ve done everything I can do until our trip to Nashville in May, except for a little bit of editing. I’m anxious to hear the live strings and the added layers of guitars. We will be recording strings at David Davidson’s home studio and will be recording guitar overdubs at Mike Payne’s home studio (both David and Mike played on my last project). We’ll be recording strings for two songs and for the bridge of a third song. Robert Nugent and Rich Barrett each arranged strings for one song.
After this next trip to Nashville, I will start recording vocals at my home studio. However, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to capture all the vocals before baby is here. If not, it may be a challenge to record with a toddler and an infant at home, but where there’s a will, there’s a way!
The album will then need to be mixed and mastered. This stage is rather expensive, but fortunately, it requires the least amount of work from me. I usually put all creative efforts aside at this point and focus on making extra money (through freelance work and extra hours at my day job).
I really believe that this new album will be a blessing to many people and I’m amazed to see how God continues to provide for its production. I’d appreciate your prayers as we continue to step forward in faith. Please pray that God will give strength to Crystal as she walks beside me and inspiration to me as I continue to refine the songs. In addition, pray that God will provide extra freelance work for me. As with any Christian effort, there is an underlying spiritual battle, as the enemy doesn’t want to see Jesus’ name proclaimed.
We are excited to see what the rest of this year holds! Thank you for your continued support and encouragement.
