A great, quick read

Cason just sent me this link to a little bit of an essay by my hero G.K. Chesterton about babies. It's pretty awesome. Read it.

This site is full of awesome stuff, tons of great stuff to read, and some beer mugs that I really want.

this little piggy...

So I am officially an amputee. That's weird. Oh well. Life goes on. Thankfully. I'm still in quite a bit of pain, but today it's been a TON better than yesterday, or any of the week prior. Last night, after the amputation, it actually hurt worse than it did before, and I was pretty disappointed about that. But today, when I woke up, I was pleasantly surprised. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being stings a little, 10 being the first ten minutes after cutting your toes off in a lawnmower, my last few days had been a 4 or 5, yesterday was a 6 or 7, and today has mostly been a 2 or 3. Praise God.

Don Chaffer was in town today and he came over this morning to write. He's producing a project of a "re-telling" of the Psalms. Different writers are basically para-phrasing different Psalms, and the songs are being written from those para-phrases, and then an album will be recorded, in about two weeks, of these songs. We wrote a song this morning for it. He was in town to write with me, and also Derek and Sandra, Matthew Jones and Phil Keaggy. I know that Derek and Sandra, Jill and Andy G, and I will all be working on the record, but I'm not sure who else. It should be a lot of fun, though.

This was the first I'd worked at all since the accident. it felt good to be working again, and especially to be writing. Since the words already existed, all we had to do was write melodies to fit the words to. A nice, simple way to get back into writing. It also made me think about trying to write lyrics without music, something I haven't done for a while. I can get in over my head while writing sometimes, because I have done so much more production and guitar work than I have songwriting the past few years. Before I finish a stanza I'm figuring out the instrumentation and the tones and the players. I'm going to try this approach then, of writing lyric freehand and then writing musically later, sometime soon.

Don was in a band called Waterdeep for the past number of years. During the early days of The Normals they were one of my favorite bands. A lot of how I write songs can be pretty directly attributed to Don. He is a great writer, and his songs on their albums "Sink or Swim" and "To Chase Away the Birds" really opened up a number of doors for me. He has a great knack of working Biblical imagery into stories of modern people and places and I have very intentionally worked for some of that same imagery in my songs. He is also very good at writing about himself and his struggles without seeming whiny or self-important, something that is very hard for young, honest, Christian writers. I have been very, very blessed in that my career has allowed me to become peers, and even friends, with a lot of my heroes. Don was definitely a hero, and I enjoy knowing that he now looks at me as a friend. Today was the first time we've written together and it was a big honor for me. I really hope I'll be healed enough to travel to Kansas to do that record with him.

Cason is over right now, and taking a nap on the loveseat while I've got my foot up over here on the couch. He got off a tour with Derek a few weeks ago, and since then has been over here quite a lot. He has helped out a TON this week while I've been laid up. He watched Ella the other day while we were at the doctor and came home to find him reading her a book while she slept on his lap. The book was a biography of Bono, or "Uncle Bono" as Cason has introduced him to Ella. It's been a lot of fun having him back in town. Jason, and Alison's good friend Adrienne, have both helped out greatly this week too, and I really don't know how we would have gotten through this week without them all. I am so glad to have lived in the same city for eight years, to have friends who are close as family, who can babysit when we don't have money to pay them, and can be comfortable taking a nap in your living room in the middle of the day.

My wife Alison has been absolutely amazing this week, as well. She does such a great job with Ella. She has to get up every three or four hours in the middle of the night to feed her, as well as has to feed her every three hours during the day. She has to feed ME too, cause I can't get up to do anything right now. She has not complained once even though I know she's got to be so tired. And she's just smiling all the time and making me laugh doing the craziest things. I thank God for her, and hope that I can make up to her just how awesome she's been this week. And she's really pretty.

Well, I should get going, everybody was napping when I started and now they're up and about. Ella's got this little mat she lays on that has little stuffed animals hanging over her to look at and touch, and she is just staring at them with her wide, little eyes. It's hard to believe I came here eight years ago with a tiny Mazda, acoustic guitar, a few clothes and books and a demo tape, and now I have a family, my wife and my daughter, I have amazing friends, a job I love and a house that I call "home". I may only have nine toes and eight bucks in the bank, but I am so grateful. Oh, and a frozen pizza in the oven! Life is good!

One Last Day

So I just got back from the doctor. They're going to amputate my toe tomorrow morning. I'm glad. It is hurting really badly now, even with the medication. He said once it's off the pain will be a lot less and I should be able to walk within a few days. Granted, I won't have ten toes, but whatever... I haven't been doing much the last few days, mainly because I can't, but I've really been enjoying getting to spend time with my family, and lots of friends have been dropping by, and it's been nice to have time to catch up with them. I'll have to get back to work on Monday, so this week of recuperation has had its blessings. Thanks again everyone for your prayers and kind notes during this time. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

Happy Toe-day!?!

Well, I went to the doctor today to see about my foot. The bandage has been on since my operation Saturday, and I couldn't believe what it looked like when they took it off. I won't describe it, because it's gross, but maybe I can set up a place to look at pictures, if you're really curious and not squeamish. Anyway, the doctor said it didn't look like it would make it, but that we ought to give it another two days to see if it would improve. It's going to have to improve pretty drastically, though. Otherwise, when I go in on Thursday they'll schedule the amputation for Friday.

I've dealt with the thought of losing this toe now for a few days, and I'm ok with it. I'm not excited about it, but I have seen with my own eyes people living lives in uncompromised misery and squalor, and missing a toe would be heaven to some of the Indian orphans I spent time with last year. So don't feel bad for me, because I don't. That being said, I do feel bad for my wife who's having to take care of an eight-week old little baby girl, and now a 26-year old doped up on pain medicine who thinks he can do far more things than he's truly able to do. I don't know if I've ever realized how great she is, but I'm realizing it now and praying for her rest, patience and sanity.

My pain medication has been making me kind of nauseous, but I tend to feel a lot better before noon. Each morning Alison has brought Ella into the guest room, where I'm sleeping right now, and she stays with me for a few hours, while Alison gets a little more rest and gets ready for the day. Ella is still learning to smile, and she's most likely to try it out in those morning hours, and that's really fun. I am so in love with my little girl. Here's a picture I took with my phone this morning, to show you why, toe or not, no one should feel sorry for me.



Thank you also, to the many of who you have sent me e-mails of encouragement and letting me know you were praying for me. That really means a lot. And I really feel that people are praying for us. The doctor said we were waiting "on a miracle" with saving my toe, and so I'm not counting on keeping it, but I'm not giving up either. Whatever the Lord wills, I know He has a reason, and I know He answers prayer.

I would like to ask for prayer for one other thing, as well. Because of my inability to get up and move around I have had to cancel over a week of studio work, and a few shows, one in Florida with Andrew Peterson. The Lord provides, and I have seen Him do that more than most people, I am pretty sure. With the cancelling of those Caedmon's tour dates so we could have Ella, and all the little things with a new baby, and now all the medicines and doctor deductibles on this toe, though, I'm curious how He IS going to provide right now. I think the fact that I have to sit around and not do anything doesn't help when I get to worrying. I know everything will work out, but I would just like to know that our finances are being lifted up as much as my little, purple friend. So thank you for that, as well.

In other news, Matthew Perryman Jones and Cason have been working today on a great new tune for Matthew's new record, that we'll hopefully be working on sometime soon. The rumbling from the basement sounds pretty great, so I'm excited for that to get going. Hopefully, I'll get some good writing done whie I've got to sit here, and if any of my new stuff sounds like "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" just know that I'm on some good painkillers! Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers, and I'll keep you updated. Thanks.

who needs ten toes?

Hey everybody,
I had an accident while mowing the lawn today, and I cut two of my toes very badly. Three of them are broken. I just got home from the emergency room. They operated on them, and I still have them all, but one of them, my middle toe, was just short of being sliced off. I go back on Tuesday to see if it "took". So I don't know if I'll get to keep it. My big toe, the other one that got badly cut, is better and will probably heal ok. I'll be on crutches for a while, though. Please keep me and my family in your prayers. Thanks.