"See the Star in the sky....Gently leading the way"

I love Christmas. I love the sights, sounds and smells. I love the home-y kind of feeling that you get when family and friends gather to share stories and sit and have dinner together.

What I love most about Christmas is the music and concerts. Yes, I celebrate Christmas all year long with remember Jesus' birth, death and resurrection, but there is something special about the time God's Son came to Earth to humble himself and become like us. And Christmas concerts do that to me.

I went on Sunday, December 6th, to see the Bethlehem Skyline with downhere, Jason Gray, and Lanae Hale. I got to help run the merch stand and meet some great new people. I got to finally meet Lanae. She is one sweet lady! I also got to meet and work Merch with Walt. He works with Centricity as well as played bass for Lanae on her set on the Skyline tour.

We had a meet and greet before the show and since I had an extra pass, I thought that I would just randomly pic 4 kids out of the crowd. I picked four very sweet little girls who seemed to enjoy every minute of it. I wanted to pick kids, because meeting "rockstars" at their ages means alot to them. One of the girls said she didn't know what to say to them! I told her just be yourself and just start talking about anything. They are all great and they love meeting their fans!

I had too many memories before and after the show to even write here. If you are on the downhere messageboards, you can see the stories there.

But the concert itself was awesome. I didn't get to see Lanae's or Jason Gray's set because I volunteered to watch the merch table so the other volunteers could go and see the show. That was alright. I could still hear the music and I was having my own little concert up at the table.

I got to head down to see downhere and the first couple songs of the show were upbeat, fun and familiar. I was bouncing around like a normal "obnoxious fan" then out of nowhere, I just sat down, closed up, and didn't sing the rest of the night. I could barely look at the guys even. I found myself focusing more on the screens with the words. Something strange happened to me.

During soundcheck early in the day, I got to hear a snippet of Silent Night, and I know the song off the How Many Kings album, so I knew what I was in for. But nothing prepared me for what happened. I tried telling myself I wasn't going to get emotional, but I couldn't help myself. Every ounce of energy I had trying to hold the walls up, broke down.

Silent Night was always my grandma's favorite song. She and I were really close when I was little and the more I grow up, the harder I am finding myself with her passing. Yes, it's been almost 20 years since she has gone, but being 9 you really don't understand what has happened. I have so many great memories with her. Every Friday I would go to her house and hang for the weekend. Our Saturday morning ritual was make scrambled eggs, I would bring her her coffee, then we would watch Gunsmoke or Bonanza, depending on what time we got up. And depending on the time of year, we would go shopping or rummage saling.

I remember when she got sick and was in the hospital. She was in a coma but she still squeezed my hand. Mom told her we would be back later that night to see her. It was about a half hour after we left, and the hospital called. Mom brought me into their bedroom and told me. I screamed. It couldn't have happened.

Every year gets harder, so I think with downhere releasing How Many Kings and putting that on there was really really hard on me. I remember listening to it with Liz on the way home from our downhomiepalooza back in July of this year. I couldn't even make it through the verse line of the song without weeping.

But I am grateful for tears. Tears of joy, tears of sorrow. I have many great memories with my Grandma. I still wish she was here. I know that she would be proud of me, but I want her there in the front row watching me perform, I want her to be the first to hear a song that I wrote. And I know she is sitting with me as I write them.

This blog has taken a completely different turn than I wanted it to. But maybe I needed it. I wanted to tell you about my wonderful experience about the Bethlehem Skyline tour. But in a sense I think I did. This tour means a lot to me. It brings back wonderful memories while making new ones with family, friends, and "rockstars" that I consider like family.

So here are a few pics from the show. You can see more of my pics at: mindyracal Flickr If you get the chance to go, please do! Check out the tour here at the Bethlehem Skyline site.

The Reason for the Season

It's that time of year again!!! HOLIDAYS! And I am not going to shy away to "make people happy" by saying Happy Holidays. It's Christmas time. We celebrate this time of year with the birth of Jesus.

Not Santa. Not candy. Not presents. Not little elves.

There is a reason for this season and people have slowly over the years forgotten the reason we celebrate. Retail has played a big part in everything too. Buy this!-it will make you thinner! By that!- you will make over a $100,000 in 24 hours! Crazy how we let ourselves get caught up in pleasing "us".

How can we forget that one person that humbled himself as a baby, in a feeding trough, in a barn....

Really if you think about it, even as Christians we romanticize the birth of Jesus. We think of Him as this bouncing blue-eyed smiling baby. Ponder the origin of His birth. I am pretty sure He wasn't blue-eyed and fair skin. Nor did He have a halo glimmering around His head.

He was born a normal baby, Mary with complications, like any child. But it was the best birth anyone could have.

Could you imagine being chosen to carry the Son of God? I would be like Mary. I admire her. She was so strong for such a young girl. 13! I have a niece that's 13 and I couldn't even THINK of her getting pregnant in our day and age. But at that time, it was normal.

I wish I had a heart like hers. Even being ridiculed by her peers and village, she trusted God. I want a faith like that.

So with all the hustle and bustle of buying things, take time to really sit and think why we are celebrating. Jesus came for you. He came for me. I will close with the chorus from How Many Kings written by Marc Martel the lead singer of downhere:

How many kings stepped down from their thrones
How many lords have abandoned their homes
How many greats have become the least for me
How many gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that's been torn all apart
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Only one did that for me.


Please take a listen to the song at www.downhere.com

Roadtrip, Rockstars and Running

As I sit here and write this, I am listening to Concerto Grosso in D Major Opus 6, No. 5:Larghetto e staccato and I am overwhelmed by all the crazy and amazing events that took place over the past seventy-two hours. My body is still completely exhausted and having a hard time keeping up, but my brain is on full throttle! But I will do my best to make an accurate account of my downhere weekend.


DAY 1

We started off on our roadtrip to MI at 5:30am. Getting a slightly late start, and making a last minute Walmart stop, we still made it to the venue by 4:30. I know it was really early and there were no cars there yet(except the downhere van...) so we decided to scope things out. We were walking up to the door and a gentlemen points to me and says:"Mindy?" I didn't know what to think or say since I had never seen this man before in my life. His name was Bill and somehow he figured it was one of the crazy fans from WI. I'm guessing it was due to the "Downhere Bound" writing on the back of our car :) We sat and talked for a bit. He apologized by saying he couldn't let me in, but he ran and got something for us. We got guaranteed front row seats since we were here so early and drove so far. So the downhomies would for sure be able to be in front to take pics! Yes! He also told me that I was the first person to buy tix to the show. Crazy.....

Hannah got there and I promised myself that I would behave to make up for the crazy antics I did at the Peoria show a couple months earlier. Well, when I saw Hannah I geeked out. :) What can I say, I haven't seen her in forever!! So I was allowed.

We headed inside and waited around for Gina and Liz to get there. The whole time we were there people kept coming up to us asking if we were the group from WI. Everywhere we went people looked at us. We all had our downhomie shirts on so, we were a dead giveaway that we were there for the band...lol We all had our 15 seconds of fame. I found it funny that we were as "famous" as the band was. Crazy times.

The show was awesome, complete with random dance moves, outbursts about "Pluto" and everything in between you would get from a downhomie. I have never cried at a downhere concert before and I was most effected by "How Many Kings", "A Better Way" and "Here I Am". Something about the songs that moved me so much and meant so much. I have been having a hard time with a lot of stuff I think God was speaking to me so much that night.

Plus I got to FINALLY meet Jess Lewis! Such a sweet lady! I didn't get a chance to say Hi to her at the downhomiepalooza back in July so it was great to see her.

We hung around for a bit before heading back to see the guys. We grabbed our stuff and chatted. The people there taking pics were as interested in us downhomies as they were the band. So we were in a lot of pics. Now I know what the guys go through every night when they just want to sit down and relax.

We gave Marc his birthday present and he got quite a kick out of the Frankenberry and "Freddie Mercury" shirt we made for him. (you can check out pics on my flickr account-link posted below)

We were saying our goodbyes and Jason was like, "see ya guys tomorrow!" And I randomly started singing "Tomorrow" from Annie. See, I told you my brain is slower than my mouth at times....I had forgotten where I was and just started singing. Did I really just do that!? In front of downhere? Oh goodness....

Jason came back and said "Wow. You have a really good theatre voice." *shock*

We headed to the hotel chatted for a bit, contemplated walking through the drive-thru at McDonald's right next door and went to bed. I didn't get much sleep. I was running on 3 hours of sleep the next day.


DAY 2

Gina, Liz, Mom and I all headed to Tim Horton's for breakfast/lunch! It was my first experience and I loved it! I think I may move to Canada just for that purpose alone.

Gina and Liz headed to run some errands and Mom and I headed to Hannah's Uncle's house to record a song I had written. I was so excited. It turned out well, even though I was still getting over a cold thing and had "concert voice". Hannah is going to take it home with her and play around with it and add some stuff! So I can't wait to hear it when it's done!

We headed to the venue to get the merch table set up. The guys were sound checking when we got there, so we had background music while getting the table ready. We got done with that and we went in to catch some soundchecking.

Martel never ceases to amaze me. He started singing "Man in the Mirror" from Michael Jackson and I think I fell in love with him. *sigh* I just sat there listening and having a great conversation with Jaclyn and Hannah. It was good to have girl time too, before we headed to "concert mode".

Everything was set and we were ready for the show to begin. We took turns literally running around the auditorium to get up to the merch stand. We would wait a couple songs and then switch guards. Once again, the show was great and there were more random outbursts, dancing, and just plain downhomieness. During "Rockstars" I had made a sign that says SPAM on it. I tried getting Marc to see it and he avoided me at all cost. So I pouted until he saw me. I think Glenn did at one point and smiled.

Marc had also made a comment about our "square dancing". We were just being complete goofballs and dancing like fools. But it got the people to come out and dance with us. For the longest time I think it was just us.....

But the night wasn't over. We had a few more things up our sleeves. On "Bleed" we pulled out our cue cards for Marc. the past few times we had seen them, Marc always forgot the words on the verses or switched them. So we helped him out a bit. When he saw them, he couldn't help but laugh into the mic. Then continued to follow the cues by reading them. We giggled and danced some more. Then came the echo of the "OOHS". I broke out my best harmony and Marc turned to our side, smiled and said, "Nice harmonies!" *shock once again* Instead of nodding and smiling, I turned around and giggled like a crazy fan girl. I mean, Marc Martel just gave me a SHOUTOUT! WOW! Then Hannah and I broke out the Tambourines for Glenn's part. We found out that he really got a kick out it.

We headed back to the merch table where we sold LOTS of How Many Kings, tshirts, and jewlery! I stood there and smiled and couldn't help but love God and thank Him for letting me serve him in this way. Liz and I were talking in between customers and Marc shouted something to us and was making weird hand motions. We had no clue what he was talking about. But we tried everything on Glenn and Jeremy to let us come to Denmark with them....lol

We hung with the guys for a half hour or so, gave Glenn his VERY BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENT and chatted. It was hard saying goodbye, but I get to see them in a month again.

We headed back to Gina's house. I was extrememly tired and the fog and late night wasn't helping. Gina almost hit a cat and deer. It was soooo foggy. We made it back and talked some more nonsense about hair and other girly stuff.


DAY 3

Liz had to leave early on Sunday, but we still got to hang out. Gina, Hannah, mom and I had a great talk about a lot of stuff and it felt good to have a conversation like that. It was so hard to leave, but after eating lunch at Pizza Hut, we had to "peel the band-aid"

Over all, it was a great weekend and I have so many more memories bottled inside for safe keeping than I could put down here(hahahaha....downhere....)If I did, it would be a book. And I am sure that your eyes are already tired from reading this!!

God it good all the time. All the time, God is good. Thank you for friends, family, rockstars and an amazing witness to the world.


You can check out my pics from the show here:
Oxford Show, MI-November 6, 2009

Farwell Show, MI-November 7, 2009

Ending is Beginning

Coincidence or God Speaking?

For most of you that regularly read my blog or are on the downhere boards know that I have been battling with a decision to leave my church(see previous post...).

Today at church at a wedding I sang at, there on my old music stand that I used to use every Sunday, was a single guitar pic.

I had bought Bob, our worship director, a downhere guitar pic card as a joke gift since he always picked on me about downhere.

On the music stand today was a single downhere guitar pic. I picked it up, looked at it, and choked back a couple tears that decided they wanted to form. On the pic were the downhere name and "Ending is Beginning".

I don't know if this was just a coincidence that that was there or if this was God saying, "Hey...it's okay. I am moving you in a new direction and you are ending here, but a new beginning is coming..."

I know that Ending is Beginning is also a parallel of coming to the end of myself and letting God begin again. Which is also a path that I need to consider. It's always a daily struggle to die to myself every day and let God do His thing. But I am learning as I am growing more and more in my faith to trust God and know that he is providing for me for what I need at the moment of every day.

God is great and I am trusting His plan and what he has in store for me. I know He has something big and exciting planned for me...just waiting to see what it is!!

5 Golden Rings and a Barking Dog

I have been waiting to do a review for this CD for some time now! I was one of the privileged few to receive an advanced copy of the album at our first downhomiepalooza in July. Let’s just say that I can’t stop listening to it! I can’t say anything bad about it, so I am giving every song a synopsis. Here we go!

How Many Kings~ This is the original version with a string section added to it. Still one of my favorite downhere songs.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen~ There is so much going on in this song! It changes directions through out the whole thing. But I LOVE it!!! So many different dynamics…

Angels from the Realms of Glory~ Great, great rendition of this song. One of my favorite Christmas songs and it was neat to see the making of this song. (see vid below…) I love the feel they bring to it. By starting simple, then building towards the end.

Christmas in Our Hearts~ a downhere original. A nice little reminder that even if they take "Christmas" out of every thing, Christmas will still always be in our hearts and we know that Jesus came to us that night to save us all.

Silent Night~One of my favorite versions of this song. It makes me tear every time I hear it. It also brings back many memories of my Grandma. Jason’s voice is amazing and Marc’s soaring vocals add so much emotion to this simple lullaby.

Good King Wenceslas~ "I ask you good king…Wenceslas!" Marc is so funny at the beginning of this song. It has a great groove feel to it. I feel my head bob to it all the time.

What Child is This?~ This has been and will ever be my favorite Christmas Carol of all time. Just Marc and the guitar. Marc also does a verse in French. Magnifique!

Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella~ This is a downhomie favorite and we were ever so glad to see that it made it to the record. Another great Christmas Carol

5 Golden Rings~ I thought, "Oh no…they really didn’t add 12 Days of Christmas." Not going to give anything away on this one. Has to be my favorite track on the album. True downhere style….

Glory to God~ Another downhere original. This song can be found on the Bethlehem Skyline CD where we first got a sample of what downhere can do for Christmas music.

Gift Carol~ One of my favorite downhere Christmas originals. I love the chorus: There’s a gift marked for us/By the angel chorus/ Not in sparkling paper/ But a lowly manger/ Sealed in hopeful promise/ For every Doubting Thomas/ From God with love/ To all mankind. If that doesn’t sum it up right there how much God loves us, I don’t know what will.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas~ The only thing that I could think of on this one was "Shrek the Halls"- on bonus disc that came with my Shrek video when it first came out. So picture Donkey, Shrek, and the Gingerbread Man singing. If you can find a copy of Shrek the Halls then compare with WWYAMC....

How Many Kings Re-Imagined~ Marc sang the majority of the original HMK, now Jason takes his turn on this version and as he declares it in the video below, it’s "different". But in a good way. It took me a few listens to actually get into it. And now, I think I like this version a little more than the original.

So there you have it- downhere never ceases to amaze me with their talent. I’d say for their first attempt at a Christmas album, they have succeeded past my expectations. There is a nice mix for everyone and the downhere boys bring their love, comedy, and passion to this album. Way to go guys! I look forward to the next Christmas album in ten years.


Here are some vids of the Making of How Many Kings for your viewing pleasure. For more information about downhere, please visit:
The Downhere Offical Website
Centricity Music