travel log : seattle

while josh was in the last few weeks of his year & a half-long album project, the kids & i drove up to seattle for a few days to give him some uninterrupted recording time.  we were having such fun, and josh was getting so much work done, that we extended our stay from three to five days.  time with the billupses, the bents, the ramsdales, and the garrelses was just so sweet!

: we went to the seattle aquarium with grandma marti & aunt teal :

: heron got to ride on the back of an orca in puget sound!!! :

: this was the worst portrait of us, but the best one of the fish :

we stayed the first few nights with marti, then stayed a night at the ramsdales.  

heron had her first "sleepover".  

it lasted thirty minutes.

heron chose instead to sleep upstairs with mommy.

our last night we stayed again at mike & marti's,

where mike had just returned from michigan.  

heron was glad for some snuggles & storytime with grandpa!

guest book : alli + josh

josh's sister alli works for the company guess in washington & oregon, so she gets to come down here on business from seattle once a month.  we always look forward to her visits!  this time alli's husband josh came along with her & they extended their stay into the weekend, so we enjoyed several moments with them.

: to everyone who walks in the door, heron asks :

"will you read a book to me?"

: dinner at mamma mia :

: heron enjoyed jumping onto the bed in their hotel room:

: later in their stay we met up with them again, for lunch & an afternoon walk :

The Small Voice Record, Vol. 4

Greetings, friends!

It’s been a long and frustrating, yet ultimately fruitful winter of work for me here in Portland. Frustrating, because I was struck down with wave after wave of sickness for almost four months, resulting in my singing voice being rendered fairly useless for recording. Although physically healthy now, my voice still isn’t restored to the place it needs to be for me to record these new songs. I’ve never felt so incapacitated, especially during a season in which I would have hoped for optimum health! Needless to say, this has created a sort of crisis within my process, and forced me to exercise trust and faith that all things will in fact work together for good... and in the right timing. I’ve been praying that the Lord would be my physician, and I’ve been trusting in His promise that, “those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall rise up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not faint.” As humbling as it is to feel a sense of powerlessness in regards to my mortal frame, I take heart in the words, “Not by might and not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord.” I’m confident this album will be completed, but only with the help of God's strong arm. In the meantime I’ve felt like Noah, toiling away in the desert, building a big boat with the expectance of the coming rains. For months and months I’ve been building and collaborating in recording all of the instrumentation for the album. Each song’s been built from the ground up using my initial scratch vocal tracks as the guide, and as it stands, nearly all of the instrumentation is completed for the entire 18-song album! Now the music is just waiting for the voice. Let it rain!

Recent Studio Guests

Video : "Words Remain"

Three of the songs on my next album were headed up by a gifted production team called Mason Jar Music. They’re a group of composers, music engineers, videographers, and musicians, all working together in Brooklyn, NY. This past summer they invited me out to shoot an orchestral version of my song “Words Remain”. It was such a magical night, and I was so impressed with their work, that I asked if they would consider doing some orchestration on my next album. To my excitement they said yes! Here’s the video from that night in New York. Timeframe I’m down to my final four weeks of recording, and my wife Michelle is working hard on the album art! Our plane tickets are booked, and we’ll be flying out to Boulder, CO to mix and master the album with David Wilton on April 10th. We are still hoping the work will be in production by May and in our hands (and yours, too!) by some point in June. Prayer Partnership Here are ways you can pray for me right now: That my voice would be healed and restored to the health needed to finish this work with excellence. That I’d continue waiting and working in faith and trust, and not give way to fear and anxiety. Financial Partnership God has been faithful to carry us through this project with the help of friends. If you feel led to contribute towards this final sprint to the finish, here's what your gift will go towards: The final costs of mixing and mastering the album in Colorado with David Wilton. Art production and overall album layout. Manufacturing of the first pressing of 2,000 copies of “Love & War & The Sea In Between” You can send a check to: Small Voice Records c/o Josh & Michelle Garrels P.O. Box 11500 Portland, OR 97211 Or you can donate electronically by clicking here or by visiting the "Store" section of my website Thank you for all of your love and support! Warmly, Josh ©2011 small voice records | P.O. Box 11500 Portland, OR 97211

rent it at redbox!

our brother-in-law just let us know that "walking on water", a film we toured with for three weeks in 2007 as it premiered on the east coast, is now available at redbox. our friends russell, nick, and matt made the film, and josh's music is woven throughout.  if you haven't seen it yet, check it out!  since the documentary follows two surfers in their early teens, i think it would be especially fun for kids to see!

dirtbike princess

still wearing the pink princess dress every day and sparkly princess shoes, while riding her motorcycle!

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princess heron

heron has entered "the princess phase" of a girl's childhood.  she wouldn't let me take an actual portrait, but here she is in her favorite pink "princess" dress (inherited from the older girls across the street, along with other dress-up clothes).  if she were a boy, she would now be donning her superhero costume every single day, wearing it everywhere, and i'd have to wash it covertly while she slept, replacing it in the exact spot she left it at bedtime so she'd find it clean again in the morning.  (though she does put it on first thing in the morning every day, & i do wash it while she sleeps, she just wears it at home, & understands that she can't wear it while it dries on the rack the day after washing it.  i'm glad she's not too intense about it!)

meanwhile, sheppy is discovering what it means to be little brother to a girlie-girl...

as it turns out...

... the trick to a happy shepherd during diaper changes is to sing the happy birthday song!  it took me a year to discover the one thing that would get him to stop crying & writhing during these times.  he must have fond memories of all that cake, & the song whisks him away to that happy place...

millet muffins

now that shepherd is standing firmly on his own, he can stand on the stool in the kitchen & join me & heron in our baking adventures.  this morning we made millet muffins with a recipe found here, my new favorite cooking site.  

: the kids barely left any yogurt for the recipe :

: shepherd helped squeeze fresh lemon from our recent citrus box :

here's the recipe:

millet muffins with honey

makes 12 muffins

ingredients:

2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/3 cup raw millet

1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1 cup plain yogurt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup unsalted butter, barely melted

1/2 cup honey

grated zest and 2 tablespoons juice from 1 lemon

directions:

preheat the oven to 400F with a rack in the top third of the oven.  butter a standard 12-cup muffin pan or line with paper liners.

whisk together the flour, millet, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  in another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, eggs, butter, honey, and lemon zest and juice until smooth.  add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until the flour is just incorporated.  divide the batter among the muffin cups, spooning a heaping 1/4 cup batter into each one, filling it a bit below the rim. 

bake for about 15 minutes, until the muffin tops are browned and just barely beginning to crack.  let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn the muffins out of the pan to cool completely on a wire rack.

i love this.

every night before bed josh sets up his morning coffee station.  it makes it that much easier to get up at 6:15.  (i think it's so cute)

our family rhythm has worked much better since we both started waking up early intentionally (rather than getting woken up by the kids).  josh gets the first hour of the day for "quiet time" while the kids get "mommy time" with me.  then he watches them for an hour (and the kids get "daddy time" before he starts his work day) while i have some "quiet time".  by nine o'clock he is in the studio, & my day with the kids begins!  we used to take turns sleeping in on the weekend days, but then we really missed our morning time with the Lord.  so, even on the weekends--6:15!  we can't function as parents (or spouses!) without this time we give each other at the start of each day.