Hey folks! It’s been QUITE a while since I posted anything. The music went from front burner to back burner….and stayed there a little longer than I thought it would! I guess that’s reflective of the constant rumblings of my life, with new milestones and constant change. The biggest milestone….my oldest son, Luke, graduated from high school last May!!
He now attends Liberty University and loves college life. Ok…Let me back up to the beginning of his senior year (fall of 2016). I thought through what I’d like to see happen come May and I realized I wanted to be more intentional with him and his brothers, doing music together as a family, creating good healthy margin in my life – to make sure I was more present on the home front. So…. music (at least MY music) went on the back burner. We started to play/lead worship together for the kids ministry at church…once a month – doing music and serving with my boys… A good move! The “Launching of Luke” was a primary focus of the year. (as well as making a sweet family trip – a cruise – happen that fall!) And of course the many activities and needs of the other 3 boys!!
After he graduated in May I thought….”ok, summer is here and I can try to carve out time to move the music back to the front burner….” Then the beginning of June my 3rd son, Nathan, gets a rash, that starts to blister – ALL OVER HIS BODY!! A trip to the pediatrician on June 12th reveals something VERY serious and life threatening. He was admitted to Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital that afternoon. So began 3 WEEKS in the hospital managing the unbelievable symptoms of Stephens-Johnson Syndrome. Look it up…..it’s not pretty!! He was at Scottish Rite for 2 weeks – 3 days in intensive care and then transferred to
Grady Hospital’s Burn unit for a week. Yes – BURN UNIT!! His skin blistered and sloughed off on 80% of his body….leaving him to look more like a burn victim. Pain management and avoidance of infection were top priority! Thankfully he is mostly on the other side of this and is healing up – but will have some “souvenir scars” from the ordeal! So I guess it was actually good that my music wasn’t on the front burner!! As HE was!! YIKES!! But I’m so glad that I could be totally available for him….AND so thankful for the army of family and friends that gave us love and support during that time!!
All that to say….. my music has been on the back burner….and hopefully to move to the front burner soon. I played music for a benefit for Spectrum Ministries last month with a friend and I’ll be doing a private home concert in a few weeks…. then a coffeehouse in Roswell in May (which I’ll try to let you all know about) So although my music hasn’t been exactly on the front burner…maybe, just maybe it’s moving in that direction. I’m just trying to remind myself to be intentional with my life and music, use those hot pads while I’m moving things from back burner to front burner….and for goodness sake – try to keep OUT of burn units!!!