Jennifer Knapp Rocks!

Sorry again for the delay in posting. The past few days have been full with all manner of schooling, domestic tasks and fundraising efforts (almost done with those baskets & about to mail letters). I also wasn't feeling well for a couple of days so my creative energy was low for writing.


Food wise we've been on the bean track as I'm sure you figured out by Dave's video in the last post. He had been waiting since we started this thing to post that video...it was weird, huh?


One funny thing happened yesterday when I ran to Cosco. I went there to stock up on tropical fruit and nutella and across the aisle, in the freezer section, I see the word "chipati" on a package. Sure enough, they sell pre-made chipati at Cosco in a package of 30! Boy, had I known that before that fateful Sunday when I cooked 40 of them for a meeting, my life would have been much easier. Of course I bought some (only $6) but I'm pleased to report that my kids like the taste of their mother's chipati over the Cosco version, probably because Mom's chipati is cooked in Crisco and the Cosco version is cooked on a dry griddle. Still for those of you who shop Cosco and have a hankering for beans, this chipati taste good and gets the job done.


Right now, Austin is hosting the South by Southwest Music Festival (SXSW for those in the know) and it brought with it a special treat...Jennifer Knapp. Jennifer Knapp has been a favorite Christian singer of ours for several years, but after enjoying some measure of popularity she literally vanished from the music scene. I'll admit, we've done our share of speculating over the 6 years that she spent in hiding - Was it a sin issue? Did the Christian music business have too many hypocrites for her? Did they try to mold her into something she wasn't?


Whatever her reasons for hiatus, we were THRILLED to hear that she was playing a little gig in Austin last night. Even though we didn't have wristbands for the festival, we went down to the concert anyhow and were lucky enough to get a seat at her show. Just a girl and a guitar, but her venue was an old Episcopal church with great acoustics.


I do not exaggerate when I say that one day, when I die and go to heaven, I hope I get to sing like Jennifer Knapp. What a gift she has! Her voice is powerful yet she has such beautiful control of it. At first I had a hard time just enjoying the show because I was hanging on every lyric of her new material searching for clues to why she disappeared. It was just hard to relax and enjoy when I was listening for innuendo. Then she sang one of her older songs, Martyrs & Thieves. Of course, she has no way of knowing it, but I am deeply connected to that song. During my season of dancing for the Lord, I cannot tell you how vividly I imagined dancing to that song. There were many private dance sessions in my living room where I tried to work out the details, but no matter how far I'd get, I would always find myself standing still, eyes closed, mesmerized by her voice.


Hearing her sing it live in that old church made me cry. And even though I sat perfectly still (mesmerized once again) on the inside, I was dancing.


May God bless you today with something that makes you dance on the inside!



- Julie