Sarah Em FTW

Taking time off this blog may not have been the best idea – I have definitely become lazy.  I just want to give you guys a quick update on what’s going on with me and I’m posting two Sarah McLachlan songs this week!

The relationship building is going well, and I have recently been reminded of what great friends I have been blessed with.  I have started a French class for the summer and it is pretty intense.  There is a lot of homework – to give you an idea, we are covering 10 chapters in 5 weeks.  This means 2 Chapters a week including being tested on each chapter.  Also, French is not a thing like Spanish outside of some things that simply make it more confusing to learn.  Pronouncing the language has proved to be a huge challenge for me.  Oh well, after this summer I will never have to study another foreign language if I don’t want to.  Outside of the class I’m trying to keep things taken care of around the house, get some exercise, get the dogs out of the house as much as possible and spend some quality time with Zoe and Tristen.  That usually includes Dawson’s Creek.  Don’t judge me.  Please.

I actually have several songs already recorded, it is the writing that has slowed me up.  This week you get to hear two songs by one of my favorite singer/songwriters of all time.  I feel like Sarah McLachlan can express herself in ways through music that I am not able to in any way.

This first song is with two of my favorite people in the world.  I got to sit down with Kyley Snow and Kelsey Noelle the week that Kelsey left for Scotland (check out her blog for details on this, it’s awesome).  We recorded the Prayer of St. Francis as performed by Sarah McLachlan and I love it.  Kyley even managed to get some encouraging words in before and after.  Kyley sings the higher harmonies, I am on melody (strictly by default, I didn’t know the song as well as they did), and Kelsey chimes in with some beautiful harmonies and also ends the song for us.  You can also find some of Kelsey’s original music on her site.  Seriously, go check it out!

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The second song I kinda cheated on.  I really don’t feel that my piano skills are up to par with Sarah McLachlan, which is obvious, but I also just found out that you can drag MP3′s right into garageband.  Finding this out made me wonder what it would be like to work with a karaoke track.  While I won’t do this again in the future, I am not too disappointed with how it came out.

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I chose this song not only because it’s beautiful, but it speaks to me so much about God’s redemption.  About falling away from the Lord and feeling like there is no one close to you that can love you through it.  All too often in the Christian community we turn our backs on people we believe have “left the church” or “started to backslide.”  The problem with this is that we cannot leave the church as believers in Christ – we are the church.  Once we are His, we are His and He will always welcome us back with open arms.  I feel like even though Sarah is not a Christian, this song could easily be written by a Christian.  We are so scared to admit our sin to each other and repent and move on that we try to hide it, we are embarrassed for one another when we should be encouraging each other.  I could go on about this for longer, but I think you get the point.

This next week will be some good ole’ country music inspired by watching the movie Crazy Heart.  If you haven’t seen this, you definitely should.  It’s a good one.

Thanks so much for listening and reading, I hope you all are doing well.

-Amanda