Decorating "Our" Christmas tree

We're so sorry it's been so long since we've posted here - things have been rather crazy in our world over the last few months. However, it's now Christmas time, which means it's time to decorate a Christmas tree!

A friend of ours was snapping pictures during the whole process and when we looked at them afterwards we thought it would be fun to let you in on how our tree gets decorated every year through a series of pictures - call it a "photo essay" if you will...

Erin deciding whether she's going to let Jeremy help decorate.

Erin decides to let Jeremy help but only under strict supervision ("This one goes here, this one over there...").

Jeremy deciding if he really wants to see this task through to the end...

Posing for a picture: "Jeremy 'helps' decorate the tree."

Jeremy decides his time would be much better spent (and FAR more productive) making eggnog ice cream.

The finished product... "We" did pretty good, didn't we!

Double the Fun!

So I've always wanted to try riding a tandem bike and this past weekend was my first opportunity! It was a lot more challenging than I was expecting. I had in mind a nice leisurely ride through a small mountain town. I realized that was not the case once we got started. First of all it was a serious road bike. Not a bike with big seats and handle bars and wheels like I was expecting. This bike was used in competitive road bike races! Plus the guy that was showing us how it worked and riding beside us around town decided to take us on a 13 MILE ride!!! Now, I did not have any padded shorts to wear like you should have on if you're riding this bike. So needless to say... I'm sore!
It took a little bit to figure out how to ride it. The way you start off is the person in back, me, puts their foot in the pedals that secure in your feet while the front person holds the bike steady. Then the front person, Jeremy, steers and puts their feet in while the back person pedals. Then once you start pedaling you need to try and match each others cadence. Then you really need to be in constant communication with each other throughout the ride so you know what the other person is doing. You can easily parallel this with marriage. You have to trust the front person as they are the leader and the back person must follow. One of the tricks I learned is that if Jeremy was going too fast or I felt a bit out of control I could just pinch his but because it was right by my handle bars=}!

Anyway, it was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone, especially couples needing to sharpen communication skills!

Fun in Winthrop

Today we hiked up to Blue Lake in the Cascade Mountains in Washington state, otherwise known as the "American Alps". It was a gorgeous hike!!! It was about a 4.5 mile round trip and worth every step. Most of the artists on Centricity Records went so it was a fun time spent with friends. And of course when we reached Blue Lake Jeremy couldn't help but jump into the freezing water that flows off from the glacier in the background. He didn't last long but it made for a great picture.

Jeremy also started from the road below and climbed a few hundred feet without gear and I was able to get a shot of him finishing.

The downhere family at the top of the trail. Jonah is my little buddy!!

Washington pass overlook... amazing!

More pictures from the hike.

We attended the Winthrop Rodeo yesterday... such a fun experience!

Debbie and I at Sheri's, the popular dessert "hangout" in town... I have chocolate in my teeth from a yummy homemade peanut butter cup!!

Highlights from Northern Ireland

For those of you who have not yet seen these pictures here are a few highlights from our trip to Ireland. What a huge blessing it was to be a part of such a cool event. Downhere played in the Odyssey Arena - the largest venue in Northern Ireland - and opened for Chris Tomlin! It was such a great night and I am so thankful I got to soak in that experience. It was a bit stressful for me as we lost our largest merch suitcase on the way to the event so we didn't have all that we wanted to hopefully sell to 3,500+ people. But I had joyful merch volunteers and we sold out of all our Wide-Eyed CD's. AND I just loved having that responsibility that evening even though we didn't have all our merch. I am so thankful for my job and loved watching the guys give their all to a crowd who ended up loving them by their second song... and who, by the end of the night, enjoyed Chris Tomlin's set, but raved about downhere's set. God is good and he was glorified that night and I got to see him use these guys to make his name known in N.I.

We did get a day after the concert to sightsee around the coast. Here are a few pictures from the 4 days we had there. This was my first time so I couldn't take enough pictures!
Erin

downhere at the Odyssey

Giant's Causeway

Me and my new friend Cherith.

The Dunluce Castle on the coast.

White Man's Overbite

Well, our good friend Krista captured this wonderful moment Friday night in Muskegon, MI. I'm not sure what to say - I know I make faces when I play, but I had no idea they were this bad! Wow...

Jeremy's Week in Review

"Week in Review" - that sounds pretty lame, really. I'll have to come up with some clever title for this like Grandpa's "Weakly Note" - any suggestions, Grandpa? I'm obviously having a hard time hitting the Monday deadline, aren't I!! As usual, we've had a pretty full schedule since I last posted. Let me "break it down" for you:

• Last Friday we drove BACK to Nashville and flew to California where downhere performed at Spirit West Coast in Monterey on Saturday. On Sunday we did a concert in Roseville, CA and then flew back home (finally!) on Monday.
• Tuesday we went to see the Bourne Ultimatum (I'm a big Jason Bourne fan - you can read more about the movie here).
• Wednesday Erin did a Cinderella party in the AM, then we had lunch with some friends of downhere who had travelled in from various places (VA and MI, mostly), and then I was wrapped up in meetings the rest of the afternoon.
• Thursday was spent getting ready to leave town again for 10 days. Erin worked at her part time job and I ran around getting errands taken care of - it was a pretty busy day (and not enjoyable in 100+ degree heat!) and we finished it off with dinner with two other couples from church - so that was great.
• Friday we got up at 2:45am (I'm shaking my head as I type this) to drive to Michigan to play at a festival with Leeland, Jars of Clay, Casting Crowns, and others. Erin's going to post some pictures from the day, and you can read some of my post about the day here as well (we nicknamed them "Jars of Thigh" for the night - need I say more??).

That should be it - we're headed to Ireland next week so it will be probably much more interesting. Hopefully we'll get some down time next week - I'm really feeling like I'm needing it. So we'll see...

Pictures from Creation West

A tribute to our Creator! This festival is definitely one of the most scenic locations we've played. Downhere played on this stage to start off the evening. It was such a treat to have my parents out for this event. They drove from Montana to see us. I had fun getting excited with my mom when she saw Jeremy on the jumbotron. It was a blast sharing this part of our lives with them! They were also a big help at the merchandise table... thanks Mom and Dad!

During their set some lady threw this hat on stage and Jason brought it back to Jeremy for him to wear.

The river by the Gorge had a section that is known for it's dove shape... my Dad took this picture with his phone.

My proud Father waiting for downhere to come on!
My Mom and I with the crowd behind us... Doesn't she look fabulous in that shirt=}!

Update on the last week

Well, I told Erin I would do my best to do a weekly post on Mondays about what we've done during the past week, and I already missed my first post. How did Thursday get here so stinkin' fast?!?

I'll tell you how... we have been trying hard to just keep things together in the last little bit. Here are some of the noteables from the past week (and a bit):

• we went for dinner to The Melting Pot which was a wonderful experience - a first for both of us to this particular restaurant, and a reminder that we need to pull our fondue pot out of the closet! (Read a more detailed post about our night out here.)
• Thursday we (Erin, myself, and the band) flew to Seattle, WA where we arrived around midnight and stayed with some friends there
• Friday we drove out to Quincy, WA and performed at Creation West. What a GORGEOUS venue (I'm sure Erin will post some pictures from the day soon). The day was definitely slammed - we were on the run all day - but it was fun to share it with Erin's parents who drove out from Montana to spend the day with us. We arrived back in the Seattle area by 1am or so to stay with some other friends.
  
• Saturday we got to sleep in a little bit before Glenn, Erin and I went for a run on a beautiful riverside trail in the Redmond area. Erin had one of her better runs, and Glenn and I did 7 miles at a 7:58 (min/mi) pace - the fastest run I've done at that pace for that distance in a long time. We performed Saturday night in a coffeeshop in downtown Seattle where we were surprised by a visit from two of my best friends (groomsmen at my wedding) Wes Morris and Mike Guenter, who drove down from Vancouver. So we were up until 1:15am that night just hanging out and visiting with them.
• Sunday we played three times at Overlake Church - twice in the morning services and once in the evening - before rushing off to the airport and flying through the night back to Nashville, arriving at 8am Monday morning. We were picked up from the airport and drove directly to Lookout Mountain, GA where we set up to lead worship for a camp all week.

And that's where we've been this week - here in GA leading worship for these kids and taking naps in between sessions trying to recover from the crazy weekend. We're pretty much recovered - just in time to mess it all up again by flying out to CA tomorrow for the weekend. I'm going to have to squeeze in some laundry somewhere... Okay - you should hear from me around Monday again - the update will be much shorter I'm sure. Later!

And They Lived Happily Ever After...

Just thought I'd post a quick picture and note commemorating this, our 802nd day of marriage. That's a lot of days... But to put it in perspective, if all goes well and Jesus doesn't come back before our 50th wedding anniversary (although I suppose that would be a far better thing!), we will celebrate 19,052 days of marriage on that day! Crazy...

Kabobs on the Barby!

Well, it's already been a couple of weeks since we did this, but the picture was too good to pass up. Very rarely are we home long enough to actually make a regular, somewhat fancy meal. However, we had the opportunity last month and Erin jumped at it. We had a blast making these kabobs - it's really simple, actually! - and they came off the bbq tasting wonderful. We'll definitely do it again at some point... Good times had in the summer time! Now if only we'd get some rain...

Gift Giving

So if you are up to date on Jeremy's blog you will know that this month we celebrated our 2 year anniversary. Let me tell you that time has gone by SO fast! Anyway, a few weeks before the date I began contemplating gift ideas for my man. Now, I just love giving gifts to people. I love spending time and choosing the right gift for that special occasion and person. But I couldn't think of a single thing that I could get Jeremy that he would really appreciate me spending money on. Most of the things I know he would like are beyond our budget. I could think of plenty of things to get him that I would enjoy, ha=} but that's pretty selfish...so I was stuck.

I spent time finding the perfect card but seriously couldn't come up with a great gift idea. I've spent 2 years living with this man and don't know what he wants for our anniversary?!?! I even called my sister asking her for advice and ideas. She suggested maybe tools or a back massager, but Jeremy has tools and he's not too much of a fixer guy unless he is in the mood - and the back massager I know would spend most of its time in his hands because he's just generous that way. But my sis did give me a great idea for how to know what to buy him for future reference. She advised that we sit down and make a list of gifts that we personally would enjoy that covers different price ranges just to allow for different options. Then swap that list so there won't be any questions as to what to get. So - the day of our anniversary I came home from work a little down because I just had a card to give him. He noticed that I wasn't too thrilled and we sat down and talked and I explained that I didn't have a gift for him, and suggested that we make lists for each other for the next occasion.

Anyway, so of course he was generous and could care less because he was so excited to give me my gift because he knew it was exactly what I had been wanting for some time now. And here they are - two white rocking chairs for our porch!! We use them pretty much everyday now - well when we are home. I'm so thankful for them - way to go Jeremy! So that's the story. Hopefully for his Birthday I'll be able to get him that "perfect" gift. I have some time to plan as it is not until December.

Modern Technology

I am just so thankful for modern technology!! Last weekend my younger sister had a bridal shower in Montana and I wasn't able to "be" there. We were on tour and had a show that night in Burlington, WI. So just before the craziness of the night started I was able to get online and use a web cam and be a part of it via internet! They also have a web cam so when I called, my older sister walked me around the house and showed me all the people and decorations and presents and food and then "sat" me on the coffee table in front of my other sister to watch her open gifts. It was such a treat!! Then my mom wanted to get a picture of her three girls so here it is... quite funny actually! Nevertheless, I was so thankful to be a part of the afternoon. I just love my family and it's times like these when it is so painful to be so far away. So those of you who may live right down the street or even within reasonable driving distance from your family don't take it for granted and enjoy time with them while you can!

What a smile!

This is my precious niece Ella! She has two new bottom teeth and is not afraid to show them off. What a killer smile huh! She lives in Montana so I don't get to see her very often but I love her dearly! She belongs to my older sis! My younger sis is getting married in June so we'll be up there soon. I'm REALLY looking forward to it.

This last weekend went really well. We had three concerts out east and I have some great pictures that I'll post later this week.

Victory Picture

This is my running partner, Krista, (Glenn's sister) as we cross the finish line! What a cool shot! For the record this time is not our marathon chip time because it took us 24 mins. to get to the starting line=}.

Marathon...We did it!

Well we finished! All the hard work and training paid off! Now we can really celebrate and eat lots of dessert this weekend=}. You can check out Sherri's blog to get specifics on times for the other band guys - Jason, Dave and Glenn! Way to go guys! Glenn set the new downhere marathon record (previously held by Jeremy). Jeremy, Krista (Glenn's sister) and I ran together for the first 11 miles and then Jeremy split off and joined the full marathon course. Krista and I finished strong beating our goal of 2:30 by 8 minutes! Jessica, Heather and Glenn's other sister Tracy volunteered to hand out water at mile 8 so we saw them just in time for some encouragement!

We read the Tennessean today and found out that the former running back for the Titans, Eddie George, ran the half-marathon and finished ONLY 20 minutes before me and Krista. George said that running the half-marathon was more difficult than playing a NFL game. His goal BEFORE the race on Saturday was to run the full marathon next year; but AFTER the race he said he's not sure because this one was really difficult. I felt pretty good after reading that article =}!!! And then there was the 71 year-old man who ran the full marathon in 3:48... wow!

All in all it went really well and I'm feeling sore but not as bad as I was expecting to. Here are some pictures from the big day!

Tomorrow Erin and I will be running in the Country Music Marathon here in Nashville. I'm pretty excited about it - we've got a number of friends who will be running also and I'm thrilled to be doing another run. Erin's going to do the half (13.1 mi) - I'll be running the first 11 mi with her and then when the two courses split I'll go on and finish the full. If you have nothing to do tomorrow morning and would like to follow along and see how we do, go to www.bimrace.com/cmm and look for the running name dhJeremy - that will be Erin and I for the first 11 mi and then just me for the rest of the race. The race starts at 7am CST - we probably won't get to the starting line until 7:30am or so.

Thanks - we'll make sure we post some pictures when we're done! Time to start eating some carbs...

Home for Easter

Well, it's been a crazy last couple of months, but I'm home at last - for a week, anyway. And it was great timing - I was able to spend Easter morning with Erin... and all the other folks at Rolling Hills Community Church. We got home at 10:30pm Friday night (after driving 32 hours straight from California) and on the drive home I got a call that one of the drummers had to cancel and they needed a drummer to fill in for Sunday morning. So I agreed, which meant I was up for rehearsal at 8:45am Saturday morning and then load-in at 7am today. But it was a great morning... the sunrise was amazing. In past years I have organized sunrise services with a friend, but the past few years I've been on the road over Easter and haven't had a chance. I wasn't in any shape to put something together this morning, but it was neat to still enjoy the sunrise on my way into town and reflect on what took place this morning thousands of years ago. Many blessings to you and yours - we'll fill you in on our California fun soon!

Jeremy

Map of UK Tour

So this is pretty cool! I have a friend at work and his job is to make maps for the company where I work part time. He works on all different kinds of maps and has entered one into some sort of world-wide contest! I really don't know much more than that other than whenever they are printed out they look amazing! I've talked with him about what Jeremy does and where he is this week and he offered to make of map of the UK tour. Click on it and look at it a little bigger. When they played in Dartford, England they were just about on the Prime Meridian. Oh, and keep in mind that each of these concerts take place each night for one week, so they are having to fly a few times to get to the next venue on time. Crazy! You can read about it from Jeremy's journals at www.jeremythiessen.com. I've been able to talk with him every day by using Skype, an online program that allows you to talk with anyone in the world for free... praise the Lord! He just needs to find internet access and it works! So that has been a blessing.

I've been staying pretty busy this week. Two of my girlfriends have offered to make me dinner this week which was SO wonderful! I went and saw the movie Amazing Grace (the company I work part time for paid for everyone to go see it) and I highly recommend it! It was so well done and such a testimony to what God can do through a simple ordinary man. My Cinderella parties went great and just brightened my day. One lady gave me a $65 tip... whoa!!! And she had tears when I was leaving... so sweet. Tomorrow I'm off to AL with a friend from college to visit another friend from college. Then I need to rush back to get to a baby shower. Then one more week!! Ok thanks for stopping by. I'll fill you in more after the weekend.

From Paradise to Craziness...

So many of you know that we just got back from the Caribbean. It was definitely time well spent and now Jeremy is on his way to the UK by way of Houston, TX and Saskatchewan, Canada. After they have finished their tour in the UK they head to Alaska!! What?! Might as well continue the world tour=}. They played last night in Houston for the KSBJ audience and I guess it went really well. They interviewed the guys live in the afternoon and again after their show at 10pm. I tuned in at 10pm and had a great time listening!

I've got to say that I am so blessed to be able to travel with them (I work for World Vision and get kids sponsored during their shows). But there are times when I do have to stay home and unfortunately this long tour is one of them. If you want to get more tour details you can log onto downhere.com and check out the schedule. I must say I can't help but dread times like these. For the most part I am more of an optomistic, glass is half full, kind of person...but when it comes to being apart from my husband for three weeks it is hard for me to maintain that attitude. I have been praying that the Lord would help these next few weeks fly by for me somehow and he has definitely answered my prayers. This weekend is crazy busy as I will be going to see Amazing Grace, the new movie that comes out today, then babysitting in the evening. Then on Sat. I have two Cinderella parties to do (I dress up as Cinderella and put on Birthday parties for children as a side job) which really fills up my day. I'll be working all next week and then will go visit a friend of mine in AL who just had a baby. Then the following weekend the same friend is coming up to visit me. I am also starting to do Cinderella parties at the Rec. center and they start the second weekend in March. I just want to use my time wisely and make the most of my time alone and really journal and blog and read and sew and other domestic things=}. So I'm trying not to get too busy at the same time. That's kind of a hard balance for me. This morning my Bible reading for today was from Psalms 39. The parts that stuck out to me were verses 4 & 5 -

"Lord remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away. My life is no longer than the width of my hand. An entire lifetime is just a moment to you; human existence is but a breath."

These verses create a sense of urgency for me. We only have so much time to learn about and bring glory to God with our lives. How will I choose to do that with the time I've been given. These next few weeks for me will be to use my time wisely and not just mope around until Jeremy gets back. And I guess that can translate into our lives as a whole. Jesus is coming back so let's use our time wisely. Spend time with Him and be others-centered and have an eternal perspective on life. That's my two cents from what I learned this morning! Thanks for reading.

Oh and please be praying for safety for Jeremy and the band and also for health. Marc is not feeling well right now. With all the travelling they are doing it really takes its toll on their bodies. Thanks guys!!

Images of Paradise!

Swimming with Stingrays in Grand Cayman!!

One of the many towel animals that were on our bed after we returned from dinner. I went to a class on the ship to learn how to make them! I hope I remember!

downhere in concert on the ship.

Awww... I miss it already!

Our room with a view! I so enjoyed sitting on our window sill and just taking in the vast expanse of the ocean.

Formal night with my hunk!

Enjoy this picture everyone...you won't see them this snazzy very often=}.

Enjoying the chocolate buffet!

Paradise... thank you Lord!