More and more exciting news!

Hello all! Christa here!
I come with some really great news! Zoë has decided that it is high time for her to start taking up....(drum roll, please) none other than....DRUM LESSONS! Yes, that's right! Our non-drumming drummer might live up to her title once and for all! ;) I was excited when she gave me a ring last night and told me this amazing news! She's going to be taking it once a week, I believe with CBC's drummer, Kristin. So, here's hoping for the best!

Annnnnnnd, to add to this excited news, here's another tid-bit of awesome information Zoë dropped off to me last night... (another drum roll, please).... we might actually have a bass player!!! Yes, yes! Someone who actually knows HOW to play it, and who has one! Exciting, no? This young man that she's talked about goes to her old school, is a Christian, and is not currently in a band. AND, going by Zo's opinion, he's very excited about playing with us.. (he was like asking what time our practices were, etc., so therefore Zoë decided it would be a good idea to actually MAKE a scheduled practice time once a week. Right now we're thinking Sundays after church, possibly) I practically screamed her eardrums off when I heard the news!

AND to add to all this excitement going around, I have started a design for a CD cover. Are we ready to see it? Alright, here it is!


^Click on the thumbnail to see the full-sized image^

I hope that you like it! Of course, it's a ways from being done. That long blue rectangle floating around up there is going to be where the album title rests. Obviously, we do not have an album title as of yet.

Hmm. What else...oh, right! I do not believe I have recorded my most recent musical news on here..I have decided not to go after the bass guitar, and rather pick up the violin! A few months back, a guy at our church told my dad that he had an old violin body just collecting dust up in his attic, and asked if I wanted it (because my dad had told him that I had been wanting to play one for a while). So that afternoon we drove over and picked her up. She's an unusual color, what's called a "blond" violin. She is not the common deep brown, but rather a lighter tan-ish color. Her name is Ivy, by the way. So me and my father went out on the endeavor of attempting to build everything else she needed. We glued the fingerboard on her (which ended up sliding too far up), we have the bridge whittled and resting on it, chin rest, tailpiece, pegs, bow, and strings. The only problem we've encountered is the bass string breaking. So that's what we have to fix next! But, yes, Ivy is almost finished! Needless to say, I so cannot wait until she's done!

Here's some scripture that I came upon today, and thought you might want me to share it with you:
"Extortion turns a wise man into a fool,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.

The end of a matter is better than its beginning,
and patience is better than pride.

Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
for anger resides in the lap of fools."

(Ecclesiastes 7:7-9)

I think we all tend to be prideful in one situation or another; it's only human. We also tend to be quick to react and anger in different instances. But if we take our Father's example, and be slow to anger, and slow to react, we would be much better off.

God bless your day!

-Christa B. <><

Worship Team and Conference

What's up everyone, sorry I haven't written in a while. I have recently joined the worship team at EBC (Evangelical Baptist Church) and it has been pretty awesome so far. I have had struggles and all but that's expected. For the most part it has been a really awesome experience and I have really grown in my ability to play with others a lot.

Although I love playing with the band there are some struggles that come along with that, that I had to adjust to. The other members of the band have been playing together for a long time and for me to come in and start playing with them was rather difficult because I had to get used to the worship leader's technique and everything and also get used to making a lot of changes within the songs which I was not really used to, but other than those things it has been going well.

The purpose of this band is to worship God and that is the only purpose we strive for. Worshiping God doesn't just deal with music though. Worship is a lifestyle, a way of living as we strive for an intimate relationship with God. Through that relationship and his passion and love and glory shining through us we are able to express that to others. I was once told that when a you bow a violin string, strings on violins near by resonate. If we let him, God with be the musician and bow our strings and then we will make the other people resonate.

Peace,

Zoe

Rockin' the House

Hey.... just cuz Christa came back doesn't mean you'd get rid of me!!!! LOL, somebody, please laugh.... :P
Annnnnyway. It's Beth. *tee hee* In case you haven't figured that out by now. So I want to send a BIG THANK YOU to the 3 guys who helped us last night.... you are all amazing and talented. (Don't know what 3 guys I am talking about? Please direct your attention to Christa's most recent post, then continue from here.... lol) And honestly, to hear what I plan out in my head come to life like that is soooo awesome. Plus I love having drums. Yes, drums are so wonderful to have. And another guitarist, one you can just take off on a solo like that, so we can still get the nice fat sound of the chords continuing, but have a face melting lead guitar in there.... gotta have that. :) And last but not least, a bass.... cuz what's a band without a bass may I ask??? You have to have that rhythm pounding away back there. Gotta gotta. :)
Josh (our sound guy...... another person that Destination: Paradise is absolutely depending on) recorded the song Freefall for us.... and it sounds awesome but for the vocals. Why?

1) Due to our extreme rocking of the house, it was basically impossible to turn up the mics without getting a lot of feedback. A lot. So the mics were very very very quiet. This will change though.... we just have to rock quietly. Sheesh. :P

2) Because the mics were quiet and the guitars and bass and drums were so loud, Christa and I couldn't hear ourselves. Nope. Nada. So we winged it. And poor Christa did pretty well. Well.... let's just say we can't wait to hear ourselves next time we play :)

But besides that..... GOD IS INCREDIBLE. No kidding. He is moving in ways I don't understand, just when I feel like throwing in the towel, cuz someone makes me feel like I'm not good enough, cuz someone makes me feel like I'm chasing dreams, for any reason, it is like I can hear him whispering, "Hold on a little bit longer.... I have such a beautiful and perfect plan for you if you can trust me. So what if you can't hear yourself, and it may sound terrible, it may sound repetitive or 'not cool'..... but if you are playing for me and living for me, I will make your lives into such beautiful things." And now this!!! Playing an original in front of (who knows?) 70 to 80 people..... God will always be the source of great things. And I'm only beginning to see that.

Beth

Stay strong, rock on!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Destination: Paradise is coming to Meredith!

Hey!! It's me, Christa!! (I know, finally.. I thought you guys might have gotten a little sick of Beth after forever. Haha I kid..)

So anyways, yesterday Beth and I got the amazing opportunity to sing with 3 awesome guys - Jack Cornwell on the drums, Ethan Goddard on the lead guitar, and Kevin Ashley on the bass. (practicing for CBC's youth night) But it was so awesome and loud and the guys are just totally awesome and made our song like 50 times better.. I had never sung on stage with everything blaring like that, and let me tell you it was the coolest thing ever. But it also made me realize that we really need more people in our band and we can't really pull it off with just us 3.. not that we're not good enough or anything, it's just that we don't really know how to work the instruments and everything yet. Speaking of which, I'm hopefully going to the used fret shop in Meredith soon to get me a bass!! Woot!!! Because, as everyone knows, a band isn't a band without a bass. It's just boring. So I totally can't wait to get one and start learning! Sometimes I wish that I could just pick something up and already be an expert at it. But that's not how it works. Sadly. (Patience, patience...)

Lately I've had an urge to really get into this whole music thing. It's just so hard, though, because I want to know if it's ever going to go anywhere. But that's not how God works, as we all have been learning! So we will just have to "wait upon the LORD" no matter how hard it might be!!

But something that made me excited (and I'm sure made Beth excited, too) was that Josh Brown (the sound guy) made us a CD of the song we did yesterday (which, by the way, was Freefall) and so we now have our first demo!! Yayyy!! :D And I sent it off to Zoe (she couldn't be here, sadly, because she's in Colorado - so jealous) and she listened to it and now wishes she could be here for Thursday. But, you know, a person can't do everything!

So anyways, I was able to go to Soulfest 2009 (my first time going) and it was totally amazing. The scenery and everything was beautiful and knowing that our Creator is the one who made it all is just an awe-inspiring thought. How could someone not praise Him for who He continues to be? He is truly an awesome God. "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." (Ecclesiates 3:11) We can rest assured knowing that God has a plan for us, and that He will take care of our future, that we need not worry about what tomorrow will bring.

God Bless!
<><

Oh the Joy of Being Humbled....

Hey Hey Hey!!! It's Beth. Again. :P
Sooooo.... Soulfest starts today, and where else would a guitar/music/rock minded almost 16 year old girl be? Ok, ok, so I'm playing field hockey tonight.... :P
But for the rest of the week.... I'm gonna be jammin'.... sadly, my faves won't be there, like BarlowGirl and Bethany Dillon :( But Fireflight WILL be there on Saturday, so I'm in excitement mod :D
Besides the point. So we had our youth Sunday last Sunday.... I played guitar and sang, Zoe sang and did piano.... it was cool. And our music director even let me start a song!!! I must be growing in the fine art of guitar playing. Makes me even more happy. :)
But you gotta love when God humbles you... so I've joked about dropping my guitar pick during a song (cuz I sweat like a guy..... even my hands in a small and hot church) annnnnnnnd.......
Yep. I dropped it. So the first thing I thought was, "OH MY GOSH!!!!! I'm ruining the song.... slowly grab it... make it look natural..... slooooooowly....."
Surprisingly, when I asked everyone afterwards if they noticed anything go wrong, they all didn't notice. God thing!!!!! :P
And I'm hoping to get2gether with Kristin Brown on Sunday... for either a partial Destination: Paradise gathering for Youth Night, or just me..... we will see... (no rhyming intended)
Annnd, my mom is home! Cool. (sorry.... random....)
See some of you at Soulfest for a INCREDIBLE TIME!!!!!

Love,

Beth

Stay strong, rock on!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

A New Direction

Hi! It's Beth again..... :)
The title of today's post is also the title of Zoe's song. We have been working very hard on it and it sounds.... INCREDIBLE (not that I am biased, lol) Our style is starting to become noticeable.... harmonizing, with an pop/rock/acoustic sound..... it's cool! :D As Zoe mentioned in the previous post, our voices are really blending nicely, and we are having so much fun picking up harmonies and different voice parts.
But anyways.... we had our voice and piano recital yesterday evening.... Zoe played and sang a song she wrote and it sounded great. I sang last in the program but God kept me from having any jitters (thank you!) :D
And I got to talk to Kristen Brown.... who mentioned a youth night at Calvary Bible Church... and having the opportunity to play some songs, original and others. It would be more than just piano and acoustic guitar! And we would have drums! Yahooo! This is very exciting to me... but everything is exciting to me :P
And back @ Zoe's and my church, things are going great. (In terms of youth sunday prep, I mean) I still have these moments when I question how far I can go.... when I want to say, "What if I look silly? I've only been playing for 1 1/2, maybe 2 years... what if I dissapoint people because they think I'm something amazing...."
But I'm going to let God do whatever He is planning on. He'll do it anyway :P
So it is very possible that soon the world will hear a small sample of Destination: Paradise!
God willing. :)

stay strong, rock on!

bethie

xoxoxoxxoxox

New News

Hey everyone guess what? Someone other than Beth is writing something on our blog. lol
anyways I just had an awesome week at camp and was totally on a spiritual high if you know
what I mean; it was amazing. Anyways I think that I have definitely gotten better and more improved in my piano playing since the last time I wrote on the blog. Beth and I have written some knew songs and Christa is helping. We had a band get together today and totally rocked out and
I think that our voices are really meshing together really well. Well we are actually about to eat some pizza so;

love God, live life, and have fun

peace out