Time for Surgery

I am actually quite relieved.

The ups and downs of a child not feeling well and the helplessness feeling that goes a long with it. We were first referred to Az Early Intervention because I brought Ryland to the Dr because he was not sleeping well...always had a runny nose and deep lung cough and somewhat hallucinating because of lack of good sleep. Instead of getting any medical help or advice we were given developmental help and advice. I do appreciate the help because Ryland has come a long way. But the medical stuff was pushed to the side and ignored. It amazes me that we were never advised to take Ryland into a Ear Nose and Throat specialist even though he was diagnosed with a severe speech delay. I finally got Ryland in to see one because London was given a referral and at her appointment I asked if I could make an appointment for my son. When he heard that Ryland had a severe speech delay he wanted to see him asap. After two evals, our ENT Dr. has decided that Ryland has too much pressure in his ears and his adenoids need to be removed and tubes put in his ears. The Dr is not sure if it is causing some of his speech delay but told me today that if Ryland did not have a speech delay he would probably just monitor the pressure to see if it disappeared in a few months. Since there is the delay, he wants to go ahead with surgery as quickly as we can.
Again, I am so relieved. Mothers intuition I guess. My child is now talking and picking up new words every week so why the delay? He has had croup three times this winter. He has had a cough since he was about 18 months and his nose is always runny.
Unfortunately this takes me back to that first Dr appointment where we needed some medical help but were only given developmental advice. It has been a long road but hopefully....hopefully this is the start of the end.

I just pray this eases some of his discomfort and clears things up for him.

Easter

Therapy and Cooking

Today after church I came home and spent time with my bride before she decided to take a nap. While the kids were sleeping, I decided to watch the movie, "Julie & Julia", starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams....It's a cute movie about the famous Julia Child and this women, Julie Powell, living in Queens, N.Y. who decides to cook her way through Julia Child's famous cook book in a year. 524 recipes in 365 days.....

Long story short, I liked it and it got me thinking about how therapeutic cooking has been for me over the years. When the kids and Adrienne woke up, I asked Adrienne if she wanted me to make my dad's famous pizza for dinner (famous in the Gibson family.)

So, I did. I haven't made his pizza recipe in years and for an hour I just thought about my dad. It was great therapy for me and a great time with my family.

Adrienne took some pictures.

Jonsi's Go Record

I'm saying it now, in April...I think this might be the best record of the year. Bright, melodic, interesting, moving, and incredible production...

A Life of Worship

I opened the services this morning with this video. I've become less and less of a video guy during church service over the years, but I loved the point it brought home....

grace and peace,

Matt

New Records, Songwriting, Vulnerability, and Life Lessons

Recently, I have felt a lift in my songwriting block. I've had a writing block for sometime now...

I don't ever talk about this part of my life, because to be honest, it's one of the most vulnerable things to me. Writing your heart down on paper, then recording it. What if I change the way I feel in 10 years? 10 months? 10 minutes? or Why do I even write and feel the need to record in the first place? These are questions and thoughts that constantly go through my mind. God has blessed me to be able to write...It doesn't mean the songs or melodies are any good :-), but the fact that I can write and make melodies is a blessing; That the Creator allows the created to create is humbling to say the least...I'm blessed that some of my songs have cause people to worship, feel encouraged, or to think differently about God.

Over the last 6 to 7 years I've been blessed to write with several different artists...from female to male artists and from Christian to mainstream pop music. But, the more I have written with other artists over the years, the more I have chosen to not focus on my own personal writing. Well, I think that season has changed. Some of you know I recorded my first worship record in 2005. A long story, as short as possible...for that record, "Needed Confession" I was given a large sum of money to make a debut record that most artists would dream of. I took the money with the idea that I was going to pursue traveling full time on the road and have the ability to pay the money back as a label backed artist. During the mixing of the record, I felt the Lord tell me that my role was in the local church...this was a hard one for me, but I listened. I stop talking with labels and friends who had connections in Nashville and just prayed the record would sell as an independent.

Flash forward 5 years into the future. Adrienne and I are still unfortunately making monthly payments on that first record. Ouch, I know. It has been an incredible lesson. A painful one. Now that I produce and engineer records, I could probably make the same record for about half of what we spent....the point is though, that God is always teaching us. He is so good. So faithful. I had to learn some very hard lessons about life with my first record that I might not have learned any other way.

With these new songs a few themes have come into focus recently. I'm not sure when, but in the next few months or years (probably years) I will be collecting songs for 2 new records. One record will be my 2nd worship record. Themes about God's faithfulness through pain and songs about the great story of life and redemption He is telling through us.....And the other record will be kind of different for me. This will be a "side project" for a lack of a better word. This record is already shaping as I have written 3 songs this last few weeks. The themes are my dad's death (never written about), a broken but hopeful marriage, loss, and hope. This 2nd record will not be a "worship" record. Obviously, I believe that EVERYTHING I am and do is a reflection of my worship of God, but this will not be a congregational worship record. This will be a record about pain and suffering.

In my last paragraph, I would ask you to pray. My conviction is to not record another record of my own until my debt is paid on the first record, but this is difficult for me. I want to move forward with my new vision for my art, but feel a wall in front of me. Also, pray for the vision of these next few records. Adrienne and I believe our monthly finances have been taken care of through our amazing community where I serve, so we believe that the profit from all records I sell should go to others. My vision is to partner with a couple of non-profits and that EVERY penny would go to support those in need. I would basically represent these organizations and when people would buy my record, they would get info on what their 10 dollars just went to support (food for the hungry, charity water, etc.)...Pray for wisdom on what organizations to partner with. Pray for wisdom on if that means I need to seek becoming a non-profit and all that entails. Ok, I need to be done writing now. Sorry for the long post. It's been a while since I've blogged and it felt good. Thank you.

Thank you to those who actually read all the way down. :-)

grace and peace,

Matt

She just might be a Hippie

Today marks my first day of cloth diapers....YIKES!
I make my own baby food, have a 10 month old that is still nursing and we are now cloth diapering our cute baby bottom. I just might be......