Always surround yourself with people that are better than you at what you do.

This is an egomaniac's nightmare...but for one that is willing to take the time to grow and hone their skills, it is an important thing to do consistently.

Al Clifft came to Midway this weekend and reminded me why being a choir director is awesome sauce.  That dude has mad conducting skills and (as Nooni would say) is a musical genius. 

It is good to be around people that are better than you...they challenge you and teach you, and most importantly--keep you humble.

Thanks, Al.

Our almost six year-old son Noah has autism. 

You probably already know this, because...come on, the thirteen people that read this blog probably know our family personally (or have been automatically subscribed because I stole their email address and signed them up myself...MUAHAHAHA).

Well, this past Monday he started first grade in a regular, non-special-ed. class.  Not a big deal for someone without autism, but a big deal for Noah.  We are incredibly proud of his progress over the past 4 years and are  thankful to the therapists from Lovaas that have been working with Noah since 2006.  What a difference it has made in his life!  Going back to watch old videos of him before Lovaas, we can barely believe it is the same boy.  Glory!  We are also incredibly grateful for the Burbank School District and for his teacher last year...she was awesome. 

Last year Noah was in a half-day Kindergarten class.  It was great.  He made friends and participated like a normal child would, with the occasional hiccup.  For example, one time he told one of his male friends/classmates "I love you".  Not a big deal, except it was weird.  The kid said something mean to Noah and ran away; Noah burst into tears...he did not understand! He was only repeating what we say at home all the time! Right? Poor little guy...so we instituted a program to teach Noah to only say "I love you" to family members, and "I like you" to friends.  It took him a little while to adjust...but he did it.  There were also a few other things he wasn't supposed to do at school, like stare at nothing...have a "wiggly" body...and so on...it worked out well. Kindergarten was a fantastic success!

THIS year, the first grade class is a bit different--he is at a new school, with a new teacher, and is going a full day (until 2:30pm).  Ooooooo...
In order to prepare him for success in this new environment, the therapists from Lovaas and us came up with a list of rules to go over at home to help his classroom adjustment.  We reviewed things from Kindergarten like, "look at the teacher when she's talking", "raise your hand if you want to say something", "don't say 'I love you' to friends", "have a calm body while sitting at your desk", and so on...there are probably 15 or 20 rules on our home list.  We have been reviewing the list daily--several times a day--to ensure proper social interactions and classroom protocols.

So, of course, on the first day of school, his teacher starts going over the classroom rules for school...probably many of them similar to the ones we've been working on at home...so in her explaining of the school rules and the concept of rules to this darling group of 6 year-olds--AND in order to spur on some classroom interaction--she says to the class--something to the effect of-- "These rules are like the rules you might have at home.  Do any of YOU have rules in your home?"

Eager to participate, Noah enthusiastically raises his hand. 

The teacher calls on him...

"What are some rules you have at home, Noah?"

He so proudly responds in that big, loud voice of his...

"DON'T SAY I LOVE YOU!"

Sincere apologies for the lapse in blogging.  So much has been going on...and now I'm ready to debrief.  Shall we?

1) Nashville Trip
We had a great time in Nashville!  Christy is pretty deathly afraid of flying, but something about this trip changed that for her.  We already have another trip planned in October, so she just came to terms with the fact that flying is a normal part of life, and got over it.  It also helped that the American Airlines flight was incredibly smooth...and that we bring DVDs to watch on our laptop.  Regardless of the reason, I am proud of her for conquering her fear.  Go baby!

While there we got to hang with our favorite Cottrell family.  You would be hard pressed to find a bunch more precious than these.  We love them dearly, and we are eagerly anticipating our return in October with Nathaniel and Noah so they can play with Jack, Levi, and Lily-Kate.  I'm sure they will have a BALL (though Nathaniel & Lily-Kate already hit it off when they visited out here for Easter time...I hear wedding bells!! HAHAHA!!).

Monday morning we recorded my string charts for Travis' new Easter choral project "Run to the Cross".  You guys, this project is KILLER.  Travis and his crew really worked it out on this one.  I haven't seen the entire thing cover-to-cover, but the songs are POWERFUL.  I can't wait to see the project in its entirety!  We also spent some time meeting folks at the Brentwood-Benson headquarters and hung out with the B-B peeps.  It was great fun.

2) Roundhouse Kick
I would also like to make an announcement.  I learned a new Wii game while in NashVegas:   Super Smash Bros. Brawl. 

Well...actually...learn is not the proper word...I DOMINATED it. OK..OK...ok...lets just say that Jack was talking about it non-stop on the way to his house trying to explain to me all of the characters and the moves and the special weapons and powers and so on and so forth...and then I beat his booty on the second round I played.  I think after that we switched over to Guitar Hero...which we are going to try and possibly buy the kids for Christmas...it is SO fun!

3) Mustached Lip
Tuesday was Word Music day as we got to have lunch with a couple of our heroes, David T. and Celeste Clydesdale, at J. Christopers (where our waiter was a spittin' image of the West Virginia Ninja, in word and deed. UH JUDEY CHOP!).   Then we headed over to Word Music headquarters on "music row" in DT Nashville where we met a bunch of the Word folks and had some top secret meetings about the work we are doing over there on a new kids musical.  Stay tuned for a Midway Baptist debut Christmas '09 and a release for your kids choir for December 2010.  We are working diligently on this project and are loving it.  I mean, I wrote a disco track on Friday,  how can it get any better?

4) Tender Kiss
Tuesday night we also got to hang with Joli Rosner and her sweet little ones.  It was great to see this old friend, and I'm glad she made the drive out to hang, even for just a few hours.
And just in case you're wondering where my crazy paragraph headers,  I will leave you with this video...which is probably one of my Top 10 all time favorite SNL sketches/videos.  I don't know why, but I just love Jason Sudekis...and I doubly love him when he dons his 80's rock star garb and sings about the young Chuck Norris.
Make sure you watch the whole 2.5 minutes...it's worth it.

Christy and I have had two wonderful, surreal days in Nashville hanging out with friends, having meetings, and recording music...

I wish I could accurately and adequately sum up for y'all the experience, but I don't know that I am able to do so...it has been euphoric. 

We feel extremely blessed to be doing what we are doing...SO blessed.

Check out our facebook profiles (especially Christy's) for pictures and to see the haps.
And thanks for your prayers and support...you guys are awesome (all 11 of you that read this...hahaha)

and now just a few more hours until we head home and see our little boys again...awww we miss them...

Wow...

I was shocked to receive this email today:

WHA????

How is this possible?

I know the Twitterverse is smaller than we all suspect, with fans of mega stars now possessing the ability to follow people on Twitter and see into the very minutiae of their daily lives...and yes, today I decided to follow Rick Warren on Twitter (no big deal....he has thousands of followers) but it is much less often that these so-called mega stars FOLLOW YOU BACK.

Now, I'm not naive enough to think that it's ACTUALLY the Honorable-Reverend-Doctor-Sir-Richard-Warren himself that is following me...it is probably an intern or assistant of some sort that is in charge of his media, social networking, etc...but still...it's weird.  Just weird enough to make me pause and think to myself..."oh goodness...I need to watch what I Twitter!" No more "That's What She Said" jokes with @cottrelltravis or "your butt" jokes with @heids124...this is big time.  I'm a Twitter celebrity.

NOT

But still...I will think twice before pressing that send button from now on.

Rick Warren is watching.

If you ever, ever, EVER want to freak the bujeezus out of someone, just put my kids in monkey masks.

Just wanted to pass along that yesterday Nathaniel was baptized in the Pacific Ocean near our church in San Diego.  He had been asking about getting baptized for a long time, and we kept putting if off because we really wanted him to be old enough to know and understand what he was doing.  Well, yesterday was the day!  Our Executive Pastor, Steve Boschen baptized him...

I need to explore this...but it looks pretty darn great from afar.

(I'm currently running Logic Pro 8)

They say that if you want to hear a musician complain, just give him a gig.

HA

Someone said that yesterday at my session and it reminded me of my ridiculous tendency to stress out about the fact that I don't have any work when I don't have any work, and then to turn around and stress out about all the work I have to do as soon as I get work. HA. I'm a mess...

I'm actually not a mess, today, I feel AWESOME.

I started a new routine this week--one of discipline.  I've been getting up at 5:30AM--no matter what time I go to bed--and using the extra time to exercise, read my Bible, pray, and get started on my work before I have kids yelling and climbing all over me.  It's been absolutely wonderful...and I'm pretty convinced that being disciplined with my time is the only way for me.  I'm just always going to do it...and doing it this week has reminded me of my freshman year of college--I was the nerd that went to bed at 10pm and woke up in the dorms at 6AM (when everyone else was going to sleep...weirdos...).  But I was super balanced that year--one of the most challenging years of anyone's life--and I believe it was a result of the discipline.

Also, it's helping me get my work done. Yahoo!

Ah--so on the work front...tons of stuff to do...it's awesome.

Projects I'm working on right now:

--Just finished orchestrating for a Curious George Broadway Show.  Sessions were yesterday and Monday.  I love hearing the music I write played in the studio. It's exhilarating!
--Orchestrating Travis Cottrell's next Easter Musical. Rhythm records today, strings in early August, and the whole orchestration is due in September. I am blessed beyond belief to be working with this guy.  SO BLESSED.
--Writing a kids musical with my wife for Word Music.  That records in October in Nashville and our kids choir will premiere it this Christmas in San Diego.  My wife is so talented.
--Composing for another episode of Travelscope this next week. This will be episode number four!

We're also going to squeeze in a few days off to celebrate our ten-year anniversary this November, along with my 30th birthday.  Our calendar is becoming increasingly full...and so is our hearts...full...with joy and exuberance...and excitement...and hopefully creativity...and musical notes...and stuff...

Well, I'm off to get back to work.