3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th of July Weekend
Bart’s family was in town for the 4th of July. Well actually it was the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th of July but who’s counting? I don’t think our kids have ever slept less than they did this weekend. We ended up hanging out every night until some ridiculous hour roasting marshmallows, swimming, talking and hoping one of the kids didn’t wander off in the dark.
Since they were staying with MercyMe’s manager, he was kind enough to let us take over his house for a few days, riding four wheelers, more swimming, and blowing up fireworks. The boys loved it. Bart and I ended up having to clean up some of the firework mess, but that just started an awesome sword fight and then we wandered off. You know how it goes.
And here’s the funny thing. This was one of the first times that we got to hang out as families. The kids instantly clicked and could have played all day and all night. Kristin and I were talking about how weird it was that Bart and I have known each other for years, but as families we were just getting to know each other. Weird dynamic, but we had an absolute blast.
Now to talk them into moving here…
Monthly Fests
So, back in the day, when Kristin and I lived in California and before kids we started a monthly tradition at our house loosely based off of Oktoberfest. Except it was monthly. If I remember correctly it was the second Tuesday of every month. Although I could be completely making that part up. Anyway. If it was January it was ‘Januaryfest’, February, ‘Februaryfest, March, Marchfest… You get the idea. Basically all it was, was a time for our friends to come over and hang out. We’d barbeque some food, and hang out. You know, a monthly excuse to hang out with people.
Well, since we’ve moved out here we haven’t really had a chance to do it. We haven’t had the time. Or really the group of people wanting to do it with us. But here we are. I’m wanting to start up this thing again. The low-key hang out at our house with food and friends appropriately named after each month.
I’m not sure if we’ll have time to fit in a Junefest, but I’ve got my sights on Julyfest. Now, I don’t know details yet, and Kristin and I haven’t even really talked about it all that much, but I think it’d be fun. Who’s in?
What A Week
Dang. It’s been a heck of a week. Over 1,700 miles, meeting up with over 40 friends, 1 wedding, a couple second degree sunburns, and a cracked windshield. I’d call that a success. Well, except for the windshield.
It’s been a long time since we’ve taken a vacation like this. In fact, I don’t know if we’ve ever taken a vacation like this, but it was a good one. We had amazing time in the car, the boys were fantastic, lots of time to talk, listen to music, watch some movies, play some Words With Friends, you know… all the stuff you’re not supposed to do while you’re driving.
Luckily the oil hasn’t made it to any of the beaches we went to, so it was nothing short of perfect water to swim in.
I’m still sorting through all the pictures but here’s a few of my favorites.
Everything Is Different, Safe & Alive
I’m going to ask you to spend another two dollars today. You know why? Well, first because it’s my blog and I can do whatever I want on it, and second, I want you to hear my friend Michael’s new song and also my friend Phil’s new song.
Pocket Full Of Rocks released their new song “Alive” today to iTunes and it’s absolutely worth picking up. I’ve known Michael for a while now. Him and his wife live down really close to us, but in ‘Nashville language’ that means that we have to schedule time to get together three months out and even then it’s hard to get together. There’s a rumor that we might be getting lunch one of these days, but I’m not sure when…. Sorry… long rambling story about how I wish we could hang out more. Anyway…. go now and first check out Pocket Full Of Rocks’ “Alive”. Then come back here for your next mission.
You back?
Okay, next up is a Mr. Phil Wickham. Phil’s new single “Safe” featuring Bart Millard from MercyMe is also available on iTunes today for the low (though fairly standard) price of 99 Cents. You see how I did that? I made it seem like a reasonable price by saying “for the low price of”… Clever marketing right there folks. Seriously though. If you haven’t heard Phil’s song “Safe” yet, you’re missing out. Seriously. There’s something missing from your life. And that something only costs 99 cents. Can’t beat that can you?
So let’s recap your mission at iTunes today shall we? First up, we’re going to get Shane&Shane’s “Everything Is Different”. Then we’re heading over to get Pocket Full Of Rocks’ “Alive”, and finally we’re grabbing Phil Wickham’s “Safe”. All in all I think it will set you back exactly $11.97. Not bad for 17 songs eh? Go now and you can come back and thank me later.
Humane Society And The Myriad
My friends in The Myriad sent me over this little video and I’d love to know your thoughts.
Steven, their guitar player mentioned that they did a video specifically addressing the issues of factory farming and that surprisingly its been a little controversial among Christians. I’m curious what the crowd here thinks.
And while we’re here talking about The Myriad boys, they are out on tour right now with another guy you need to check out named Tyrone Wells. Tyrone used to be in band called Sypark, but his solo stuff is ridiculous. Check out their dates and see if they are coming close to you…. and then you must go and tell them hey for me.
So back to the original point of this post. Factory farming and cruelty to animals? Controversial or a no-brainer?
Ready? Go.
Too Busy
I’m not normally one to preach on here. Mostly because there’s plenty of other people out there that will say things far more thought provoking than I would, and on the flip side of that, I don’t think so highly of myself that I need to make this blog any sort of authority in your life. That being said, there is one thing I have wanted to mention for a while now, and ironically haven’t had the time to sit down and hash it out.
Growing up I never really noticed it, but the older I get the more I realize that people are quite honestly too busy to care. To care about people, to care about community, to care about anything but what they are doing causing them to be busy. Whether it’s a job, a charity, a project, or something as simple as living day to day. And to be honest with you, I fall in to that too. I get too busy to care about other people. Sometimes I even notice myself getting too busy to even really take the time to focus on my family. And that’s crappy.
Dad’s, are you too busy working or advancing your career that you forget to spend time with your kids? Church’s, are you too busy making sure your Sunday runs smooth that you forget to connect with the people walking in the door? Mom’s, too busy checking off your ‘to-do’ list to make sure that you’re spending time enjoying your family? Friends, are you only interested in hanging out if there’s some project to accomplish?
This is something that Kristin and I have talked about a lot over the past few months, and I’ve sort of just been chewing on it for a long time. When Kristin and I first got married we would have people over all the time to just hang out. Nothing else. There was no purpose, no objective, no projects that needed to be done. We just enjoyed hanging out. A community. Now the older we’ve gotten, the busier we’ve gotten and quite honestly, since we have moved from California, we’ve noticed that people just don’t seem to want to hang out if there isn’t something to accomplish. It seems like if there isn’t a reason to ‘hang out’, no objective, no one is interested. Is it like this with everyone? Is this how adults operate? Something we’ve just got to get used to? A southern thing? Or it’s possible I’m just crazy.
What do you think?
More Craziness
It’s been a crazy couple weeks in the life of Brody Harper that’s for sure. With everything that happened with Billy and dealing with all of that last week, to having a week “off” and an amazing anniversary date, to waking up this morning to a flurry of text messages from concerning the tragedy last night involving MercyMe’s bus it’s been a lot to keep up with.
Again, I’m not really ‘allowed’ to say too much about details, and quite honestly there’s not a lot more that I know that isn’t all over the internet by now anyway. What I do know is that the guys are pretty shaken up emotionally and are very concerned for the families of those involved. It’s another sad situation and I hope that there’s some resolve for everyone connected to it.
Thanks for your prayers and support to the guys.
Pigeon Forge With The Renstroms
So last week we took our last ‘mini vacation’ of the Summer and drove out to Pigeon Forge to meet up with Daniel Renstrom and his family. Their family was having a yearly family reunion and we were invited to crash it for the weekend so we made the drive out to East Tennessee for a couple days. Daniel and Danielle have quickly become some of our favorite people in the world and we’re slowly working on getting them to move to Nashville, and their extended family that we met out there were equally as awesome. All thirty something of them.
The first night we got there around dinner time and had dinner with everyone, then we went and tried out a little mini-golf. Kristin had been trash talking all day about how good she was at mini-golf so we challenged her to prove it. Daniel and I ended up tying with the best scores, which happened to be a way better score than Kristin had, but in her defense there were kids running around like mad the whole night.
The next day we packed up early and went to Dollywood and the water park that is connected. Kristin took Blue on some of the bigger kid water slides and I stayed with the little ones the the more age appropriate stuff, then when we went over to the ‘theme park side’ I took Blue on his first roller coaster ever. Which is absolutely one of the funniest videos I have ever seen. We were there for the day, but then I had to make it back to Nashville for bus call.
All in all another great little getaway and I’m glad we took the time to do it. Thanks to Daniel and Danielle and the rest of the family for including us. We had a great time.
Oh, and by the way. Daniel has a new Christmas record that you all will buy this October when it comes out, so just a heads up on that. A-Mazing.
Roots
My friend Chris needs your votes. Okay, well he may not need them, but let’s say he would greatly appreciate them. See, Chris designed this t-shirt and over at RedIsWhite.com and you have the opportunity to vote on it’s success. Now, if Chris’ design wins, RedIsWhite.com will print the shirt and sell it on their store. Not a bag deal eh? All it takes is logging in and clicking the ‘5′.
There’s also some pretty cool shirts over there if you decide to browse around. So head over there and check it out.
Fee’s Photo Shoot
I tagged along today to Fee’s photo shoot for their next record. Obviously these are ‘behind the scenes’ photos of the photo shoot, which I’m glad Josh didn’t get mad at me for taking. We spent most of the day outside of downtown Nashville in some rundown areas, and under the freeway. You know, where bands normally hang out when they are getting their pictures taken. We had a great time hanging out and trying to not step on any nails and I think the pictures are going to look great.
That’s all for now. I’m tired and Kristin and I have an Office to watch.
