Like we have mentioned before, we are living (Elise and I) with friends right now because we are waiting on an apartment to become available for us closer to where we want to live....anyway..Yesterday morning I accidentaly left the front door open to the house and the owners cat got out and was missing all day and night. Today, the cat has been found. PHEEEW! I felt so horrible for that! Anyway, thats just a little update..

Elise and I were discussing that we thought it would be better to just have ONE Journal page for people to go to istead of 2 or 3 seperate for each of us. So, this is the new JOURNAL page and we are excited about it...yay *More confetti flies*.
So because it is now on the front page, the entries will take a more serious, yet still FUN approach. So we hope you enjoy! God bless you today!

Lord would you take us and shape us more into your image today. May you be glorified with our every part of our lives.

My brain on Piano

I have been spending a lot of time working on this instrumental record and it seems to be going a lot slower than I anticipated. Part of the reason I think is because I dont have an actual ACOUSTIC piano to record the album on like I originally had access to...however, I made some phone calls and have found access to a 7 foot BALDWIN piano at a local Christian College. I just need to get the A-OK to spend some countless hours recording and being alone.....I have found that the best way for my creativity to flourish is in the solitude of my own thoughts and sometimes even sitting in the dark....
No I am not weird...ok, I am..a little. Shhhh don't tell my wife. :)
I am coveting your prayers as I delve into this project. It is something I have wanted to do for years and so it has special meaning to me. God bless you.

Locked in the basement!

Ok so this is just lame! I woke up this morning about 3:00am because that is when Elise gets up to go to work. I tried to fall back asleep but I just couldnt...so after saying my goodbye's to Elise, I got out of bed and went down to the basement of the Town Home we are staying in...it is a MAKE-SHIFT office and studio right now as I am working on the Piano CD.
Anyway, so it is now almost 11:00am and I just tried to go upstairs but the owner of the house left and locked me INTO the basement. I am totally and udderly stuck in here.
3 problems with this....

1. I am in my pajamas and cant exactly go walking out down the street to get help..
2. My Cell phone battery literally just died.
3. I am starving and havent eaten yet!

So here I am.

God has a sense of Humor

What a strange, comical and eventfull evening we had last night. Elise and I were getting ready to head off to our concert at a local church here and right before we left, Elise asked me to grab the CD's and the cash box. Well, Rob kinda forgot ALLL the CD's and the cash box back at our home in Northbend. Yeah, so we didnt have any Cd's to sell. My first reaction was a panic...I mean most people want to come to a concert and then buy a CD...however, my feeling of panic was soon overshadowed by a sense of laughter and "Im such an idiot". You see, we have become so acustomed to selling CD's after a concert that we forgot what it was like to NOT have CD's. I think God put us in a situation to make us think about where our priorities were. Were they in the music? Were they in the expectation that hopefully more than 2 people would come see us? Were they in the expectaion that we will sell Cd's? At that moment I gave God thanks for reminding me that our place is at His feet, in worship. We went to the concert with a new appreciation for why we do what we do...plus, we found 15 OLD STOCK CD's at my mom's house in a box somewhere....these are the ones with a previous artwork on them but the same songs.
The concert went VERY well although my voice is fried to a crispy crisp. I have been struggling with getting through an entire set since about 3 weeks ago. I think I am just tired. Anyway, on the way home from the concert Elise informed me that we sold 12 CD's right away and that was it...it seemed as though we JUST had enough...infact 1 CD is on its way to IRAQ and another is on it's way to a new believer in EGYPT! Can you believe that?? PRAISE GOD! I am just thankful we had the CD's we did. THEN......Elise informed me that a lady came up to her and asked how many CD's we had left...we had 3 left....this lady hands us some money (more than enough to cover 3 Cd's) and says "Ill buy all 3".....Now tell me God didn't plan for us to have exactly 15 CD's and to also learn the importance of just worshiping him and not worrying about anything else!!
If we learned anything on this tour this summer, it was the importance of trusting God in all things. Knowing that since he planned this tour and confirmed in us to GO, he was going to provide a way and a means to get there and back! Praise God...I am thankful that I learning to listen to him more....i hope I am always listening and always learning.
By the way, Elise is a horrible driver...we almost died on the way to the concert....Mrs. "I drive better than Rob"...sheesh..yeah right.

Blackberries and Dial-up Connections

Elise and I came over to my mom's house which is about 50 miles from where we are living currently. She lives in Manchester WA. overlooking the seattle skyline...it's quite a site! Anyway, I love coming here to relax and pretend like there is nothing to do. That doesnt last long. We are playing tonight in Bremerton WA. (as I stated earlier) and before we get all busy with that, Elise wants to go pick some nice juicy blackberries that line the driveway here. Sooooo, i would have been out there 10 minutes ago if I didnt' have to deal with an AOL dial-up connection here....come on mom, get with it and get some cable modem action! haha.
I love my mom...I love blackberries...but I hate Dial-up. Word.

Finally with the program.

Ok, so it's been a long time since I said i would start an online :journal: of some sort...here it is. Yay, (confetti is flying and I hear fireworks in the distance) Rob has been officially welcomed to the "future."

Ok so now that I have gotten that out of my system. I just got back from dropping Elise, my lovely and beautiful wife, off at work. She works for Starbucks when we are'nt driving around playing concerts. Now for those of you who don't know my wife personally, you have to understand that there is an unusual addiction she has to this company and it's tasty beverage...it's so unusual that she makes her WONDERFUL husband get up at 3:00am to drive her 40 minutes to work....that's not an addiction, that's a disease that needs some serious treatment. Don't tell her I said that, although you are probably reading this my sweet, sweet, beautiful Snookiepoo. :)

So it's now 5:45am and I should have just come home and went right back to bed...but no, I decided to create a new BLOGGER and type up my first journal entry, of which you are reading now, unless you have gotten so bored that you have gone to watch re-runs of some fishing show. In that case, I don't think I will bore you any longer...I should probably get back to sleep before someone see's me without my makeup on....ok so THAT was a joke...only to be told and understood when one is really really tired. Yawwwwwwwwwwwn.

If you like, please pray for Elise and I as we have our last concert for the summer tomorrow (Saturday) night in Bremerton WA. For your information, it is at Calvary Chapel Bremerton at the Roxy Theatre. Starts at 7:00pm and it's free. GOd bless you all!

-RL