Your Love Never Fails

08/29/2011

I can’t promise I’ll post everyday this week. We’re heading into a storm…

Your Love Never Fails
by Chris McClarney

Nothing can separate
Even if I ran away
Your love never fails

I know I still make mistakes
But, You have new mercy for me everyday
Your love never fails

You stay the same through the ages
Your love never changes
There may be pain in the night
but joy comes with the morning

And when the oceans rage
I don’t have to be afraid
Because I know that You love me
Your love never fails

The wind is strong and the water’s deep
But, I’m not alone here in these open seas
Cause Your love never fails

The chasm was far too wide
I never thought I’d reach the other side
But Your love never fails

Thank You Jesus, thank You Jesus, ooh

You make all things work together for my good

5 Comments | Art, Art: music, Faith, Family, Family: Foster Parenting, Family: Ladybug | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Pages and Tracks

07/05/2011

I don’t usually post on media but I thought I’d share some new music and books I’ve been enjoying lately.

A friend loaned me her borrowed copy of Our Own: Adopting and Parenting the Older Child by Trish Maskew. It’s a little ahead of the game for us but I’ve found a lot of interesting information on culture issues with kids from different races and ethnic backgrounds and behavior issues with kids who are dealing with trauma, grief, loss, insecurity, anger, fear, etc.

Jason and I are Tina Fey fans so he knew I’d love the Bossypants book he got me for my birthday. I started reading it immediately and couldn’t help laughing out loud a few times. She’s smart, funny, successful and so is the book. I like it. Jason isn’t great at surprises. He asked me, “What is it that you hate about hardbacks again?” That kind of gave it away since I had mentioned I’d like her book. It’s only available in hardback. (It’s because they hurt more when they hit my face, in case you were wondering. I often read until I fall asleep.)

On the road earlier this year Jason had the honor of spending an evening with author Andy Andrews. We weren’t familiar with his books before but Andy generously loaded Jason up with books and DVDs. We both absolutely loved The Noticer. It’s a charming true story all about perspective. It was totally a life changer for us. Andy gave Jason this one free but I think we’ve bought 4 or 5 copies to give to friends. Everyone should read this one.

Last week, I told you about Matt Hammitt (of Sanctus Real)’s song “All of Me”. I got an advance copy of the album Every Falling Tear that I’ve been wearing out. Musically speaking it’s not what I typically love but I was totally sold on the stories. (Releases 09-13-11)

With an iTunes birthday gift from my brother, I got Marc Broussard’s new self-titled album. I’ve been a Marc Broussard fan for years but this is the first album I’ve bought since Carencro. I love this one. Again, it’s the stories. The songs are very real and story like. But with this one, I love the music, too. I found this interview while I was trying to figure out if he and his wife had split up (based on a couple of the songs.)

In recent months I’ve become an Adele fan. I usually prefer male vocalists (I don’t know why) so this is new for me. I bought both of her albums, 19 and 21, and I’ve been playing these over and over again too.

And, full disclosure, I’ve also been collecting kids books. I got a bunch of great ones from friends but recently added a few more classics from a used bookstore. Mostly Dr. Seuss and an old Shel Silverstein poetry book. I can’t resist reading the Dr. Seuss books. Aloud. Alone. In the kids room. They’re just so fun to read and I can’t believe how well I remember the illustrations from my childhood. Thank you, Dad and Mom for reading me lots of Dr. Seuss books.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

All of Me

06/28/2011

A few weeks ago a friend asked Jason and I if in our classes we were trained how to not get too attached to the foster kids we’ll soon be welcoming into our home. We explained that, no, they actually want us to get attached because it would be impossible to love these kids the way they need loved and at the same time hold back and guard our hearts. It’s hard to understand why someone would voluntarily sign up for a program that is likely to end in heartbreak.

We’ve heard others’ accounts and we’re trying to prepare ourselves as much as possible for what lies ahead. I’ve heard other foster parents explain that reunification or releasing a foster child to another family feels a lot like losing a child, like the death of a child. How the heck do you prepare for that?!

Then there’s this metaphor: If a doctor told you as expectant parents that there was a 75% chance your baby would only live for one year, what would you do? Would you rather not love or attach to the child at all? Or give everything you’ve got to give for that year, knowing it will hurt like hell if you have to say goodbye?

Through my job, I was recently invited to a press event where musician Matt Hammitt was promoting his new album, Every Falling Tear, which releases September 13, 2011. He explained the struggles his family has gone through in the past year and the story behind a lot of the songs. When his wife Sarah was pregnant with their son Bowen, a serious heart defect was discovered. The odds of Bowen surviving birth were not great, and even after that he would need a series of at least 3 open heart surgeries to repair the problem. As an artist, Matt began to sort out his emotions through songwriting. This one was written before Bowen was born. I wasn’t prepared for how hard it would hit me as a soon-to-be foster parent…

All of Me

Afraid to love something that could break
Could I move on if you were torn away?
I’m so close to what I can’t control
Can’t give you half my heart and pray He makes you whole

You’re gonna have all of me
You’re gonna have all of me
You’re worth every falling tear
You’re worth facing any fear

You’re gonna know all my love
Even if it’s not enough
Enough to mend our broken hearts
But giving you all of me is where I’ll start

I won’t let sadness steal you from my arms
I won’t let pain keep you from my heart
I’ll trade the fear of all that I could lose
For every moment I’ll share with you

You’re gonna have all of me
You’re gonna have all of me

You’re worth every falling tear
You’re worth facing any fear
You’re gonna know all my love
Even if it’s not enough
Enough to mend our broken hearts
But giving you all of me is where I’ll start

Heaven brought you to this moment
It’s too wonderful to speak
You’re worth all of me
You’re worth all of me

Let me recklessly love you
Even if I bleed
You’re worth all of me
You’re worth all of me

Written by Matt Hammitt and Bernie Herms. (lyrics from here)

In case you’re wondering, Bowen was born, had his first heart surgery, almost died, had his second heart surgery, and is now doing great as a 9-month-old. He has at least one more surgery in the coming months. I’ve been following their story online from the beginning so I really enjoyed getting to hear this not-yet-released album and the passion behind the songs.

Visit Matt & Sarah Hammitt’s blog, Bowen’s Heart, to hear the work tape of the song and read about the day they thought they lost him. (It’s available now through iTunes, too.)


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Posted by mahlbrandt

Full of Hot Air

06/07/2011

Over Memorial Day weekend I went with Jason down to the Hot Air Balloon festival in Decatur, Alabama. Jason was playing with Guy Penrod so the guys got the VIP treatment in an air conditioned RV (it really wasn’t very fancy) while the wives and kids wandered around in the heat and enjoyed all the arts and crafts, bouncy houses and greasy food. The highlight of the day—besides the concert, of course—was when all the hot air balloon suddenly started popping up out of the ground. At least that’s what it looked like.

This first one was my favorite.

Up it goes…

I wonder who sponsored that one?

Thanks Decatur! The balloons were lovely.

The night ended with fireworks—which I LOOOVE—a cheese pizza and a long drive home. Thankfully Jason let me sleep because I was beat.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Moving Movies Monday

04/25/2011

I had a wonderful weekend with family and friends, celebrating the resurrection of my Savior! I hope you did, too. There is so much that I’m thankful for. We watched this video at the end of our church service. It was very moving to me and I couldn’t help crying like a baby by the end of it. That’s my King! Either you know Him or you don’t. And if you do, it changes everything.

This second video is from Thursday night where Jason and his buddy Jonathan Crone were playing an original acoustic guitar duet of “Nothing But The Blood” at a concert up in Adrian, Michigan. My wifey-heart swells with pride when I hear this beautiful conposition. They originally arranged it for a Christmas celebration at our church back in December and I was busting with pride then too. I made sure I was the first one up outta my seat to give them a standing ovation and a whooping cheer, and I was quickly joined by the rest of the crowd. I’m thoroughly amazed by my husband’s talent. I can say that, right? The picture quality is not great (Jason Ahlbrandt on the left, Jonathan on the right) but the audio is clear.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Swedes Abroad

03/15/2011

This weekend we had the pleasure of hosting my distant cousin Marcus and his girlfriend Petra from Sweden. They’re in the middle of a 7 week vacation around North America: NYC, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Toronto, Nashville, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Cuba, Miami and then back to Sweden. Quite a busy adventure!

My parents picked them up from the airport on Friday afternoon and took them to Centennial Park to see the Parthenon. After that they went to the Nashville Farmers Market for lunch and back to my parents house to rest for a bit. Jason and I met them for dinner at Allium, a delicious new neighborhood favorite with a great view of downtown. After dinner Jason and I took Marcus and Petra downtown Nashville to see the crazy neon signs from the bars, hear music of all different styles pouring out of every other doorway, get bombarded by the crowded streets and eventually end up at Big Bang Dueling Piano Bar. The music was pretty good and a variety of pop music from Elton John to Jason Mraz to Ben Folds. It was good until it got crude. We didn’t stay long as the Swedes were tired and a bit overwhelmed.

Saturday morning my parents brought Marcus and Petra over to our house for a quick tour and some pictures.

After a Starbucks stop we went to the Ryman Auditorium for a tour which was quite interesting. The auditorium was originally built to house revival services before becoming the home of the Grand Ole Opry. Eventually the Opry moved to another venue and the auditorium was renovated by the Gaylord Entertainment and now is the venue of everyone from One Republic (who played there on Sunday night) to Kelly Clarkson to Jonny Lang to Vince Gill. Jason and I saw Dave Brubeck perform there 6 or 7 years ago.

From there we went to Hatch Show Print, Nashville’s historic letterpress shop where all the great country music concert posters were printed back in the day and where most of Nashville’s biggest concerts still have their posters printed today. As a graphic designer this is always one of my favorite stops.

We had to stop in one of the many boot stores downtown. Marcus wanted to try some on just for a picture. Meanwhile, mom and I kept seeing some that we actually liked. I’ve never owned a pair of cowboy boots but I think if I spent enough time in here I could be convinced. This particular store, Boot Country, is Buy 1 Pair, Get 2 Free. Of course, all the ones I really liked were in the $275-399 range. Fun to look anyway.

After lunch at Piranha (which took forever but was good), we walked out over the pedestrian bridge to get a good look at downtown.

We walked along the path of the Music City Walk of Fame on our way to the Country Music Hall of Fame. The hall included lots of facts, outfits and instruments of lots of country musicians that none of us really cared about. Turned out it wasn’t really worth the $20/person admission for us. We all agreed we enjoyed the Ryman more. Serious country fans might disagree.

After that it was back to my parents house for naps and rest before my dad’s birthday dinner and my mama’s yummy homemade cheesecake for dessert. We had planned to go to dinner at Pucketts Grocery where a country band was performing but we were all too pooped. We ended up just visiting for the rest of the evening. It was a fun weekend and I’m so glad Marcus and Petra made a stop in Nashville on their busy vacation. Did I mention we had perfect weather? Sunny and highs in the upper 60s both days. Jason will most likely be going back to Sweden again this summer and I’m hoping we can find a way for me to go along and tack on a few extra days in Stockholm to visit Marcus and Petra again, and hopefully Marcus’ brothers and parents too.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Nashville Christmas Parade 2010

12/22/2010

A couple of weeks ago I went to Nashville’s Christmas tree lighting and parade. It’s on a Friday night downtown, which I thought was so weird when we moved here but I guess it makes sense with the lights. This is the first time in 7 years I’ve made it out to watch the parade. Usually we forget about it until we’re stuck in a traffic jam due to the closed roads. Anyway…

My friend Laren and I went down to Public Square to meet our friends Kala and Nate. Nate was busy doing some video thing for work so the three of us waited for the tree to be lit. (Jason was on the road with a music gig, in case anyone is wondering.)

I was glad I had my new hat cuz it was COLD!

Waiting … waiting … waiting …

There it is!

As soon as the tree was lit, fireworks started going off … 2 blocks away! We could hear them echoing through the city streets but we could barely see them. I love fireworks! Who planned the timing and location of these 2 events? Oh well. We set off to find Nate, who didn’t have his phone with him.

Found him and a high place to stand and watch the parade.

Music City offered some pretty good marching bands.

And several fun Christmasy floats. They were really the only thing worth photographing from our perch. A candy cane, followed by a bizarre bloated rocking horse…

A Jack-in-the-Box…

A big green donut…

A T-Rex … wait a second … what does this have to do with Christmas?!

A Godzilla-size Gingerbread Man …

And an ornament.

According to tradition, the parade ended with Santa Clause. I didn’t get a good picture of the big guy because we had moved over by this propane heater to thaw out our feet and make awkward conversation with the other people huddled around it.

3 Comments | Art, Art: crafts, Art: music, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Jason’s Studio Before

10/14/2010

I shared some pictures on Monday of the not-quite-finished main part of Jason’s studio remodel. I was able to find a few before pictures but the rest must be on a different hard drive. When we moved in the room was carpeted. (I can’t find any of those pictures.) Then our cat peed on the carpet various times in various places and we ripped it out and threw it away. (I hate cats. And carpet. Sorry to anyone that I just offended.) Under the carpeting we found that the original flooring had been painted some some kind of white something. It was dirty so we painted it with Kilz. Then we painted it chocolate brown thinking maybe it would match the rest of the house. It didn’t look good. (Again, can’t find any pictures …) Then, we decided to do the whole room in black VCT tiles. Cheap, durable, dark … good for a room that people are dragging amps and guitars and drums in and out of. As this room has evolved into less of a practice room and more of a full-blown home studio a real remodel was desperately needed. Here are some pictures from the previous state:

We love this gigantic, unbelievably-heavy gold vinyl mid-century sofa bed. Besides weighing as much as a car, it’s really long and in the original floor plan of the room there was only 1 option of where it could fit. Right smack in the middle of the room facing the door to the living & dining room.

Jason’s brother’s drums lived in the corner of this room for about 3 years.

Jason’s desk was fitted into the space between these 2 closets covering an impractically high window seat. Not conducive to proper studio monitor acoustics.

This is without a doubt Lucy’s favorite room in the house. She always keeps her toys in here. When Jason is working at home she’ll curl up on the couch or under his feet. Sidenote to a sidenote: I HATE this leather shag rug. I thought it was a bad idea from the beginning. I remember when Jason picked it out at the store and I was distracted on the phone with my sister and couldn’t say “What are you thinking? How are we going to clean that thing?!”

Lucy also loves to look out the backdoor. It’s a window just her height. I always imagine she’s waiting for him to get home from a tour. (Actually, here she seems to be staring at that guitar, doesn’t she?)

The original floor plan was this:

The new floor plan is this:

It’s amazing how much bigger this space feels now that it’s cut in half. Even the main space feels bigger than the old space. Jason took out of the closets which allowed us to fit that giant couch perfectly into that nook. The space behind it is half the impractically high window seat and half a ledge that will eventually be shelves on top. The smaller room, “the loud room”, will be used for storage and tracking. It’s still needing insulation, sound absorption and drywall; shelves; lighting; rug; etc.

I’ll have some finished after pictures whenever the room is fully finished. Don’t hold your breath – it might be a few months. Check out Monday’s post if you didn’t see the pictures of the mostly-finished main space.

1 Comment | Art, Art: interior design, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: modern design, Art: music, Family, Family: Jason | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Help Us Rebuild Nashville

05/18/2010

Shortly after the catastrophic Nashville flood 2 weeks ago, a local graphic designer came up with a design for a t-shirt that she hoped to sell and put all the profits toward flood relief and clean-up. She partnered with a company called Render Apparel, which is co-owned by a friend of mine. The idea exploded via facebook and they’ve already sold more than 12, 000 shirts!

You may notice that I added a button on the left side of my blog that links back to Nashville Flood Tees. I realize not many people outside of Nashville will be interested in these, but I still wanted to spread the word. Buy one if you’d like to help rebuild us Nashville. They come in mens, womens, kids and baby onesies!

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Posted by mahlbrandt

CCM – April 2010

04/20/2010

Remember when I took a short leave from my blog a few weeks ago? Here’s one of the projects that was eating up a lot of my time.

This is one of the magazines I design at my day job, CCM. The cool thing about it – it’s all digital. It looks like a magazine on screen but it is interactive with videos and audio and links throughout.

Do you read any digital magazines? If so, which?

(If you go to the link, you’ll have to log in with your e-mail address. This is just a one time thing. Everafter it connects you automatically. The e-mails you’ll get notify of when the new issues are available.)

1 Comment | Art, Art: graphic design, Art: music | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

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