Ethiopia Adoption Video

This post is a bit different, although I will return to my usual battling self soon enough. As many of you know, my two sons are from Ethiopia, and Ethiopian adoptions resonate deeply within me, as do the Ethiopian people themselves. Here is a moving video from the Forrest family as they celebrate a year of having brought home two young children from that proud and beautiful country.

(Be careful. It is a 100-meg download and I would not try this on a system that cannot handle it. I'm using my computer at my office.)

The first 3-1/2 minutes are accompanied by a most moving song by Andrew Peterson, "Canaan Bound." Here are the lyrics, which speak of faith, the love of God, and following God's leading even when you don't know what will be the end of the journey, or the heartache and triumph you will experience on the way. It is like our own adoptions, and like our own journeys into the Kingdom of God. Experience and enjoy.

Sarah, take me by my arm
Tomorrow we are Canaan bound
Where westward sails the golden sun
And Hebron's hills are amber crowned

So bid your troubled heart be still
The grass, they say, is soft and green
The trees are tall and honey-filled
So, Sarah, come and walk with me

Like the stars across the heavens flung
Like water in the desert sprung
Like the grains of sand, our many sons
Oh, Sarah, fair and barren one
Come to Canaan, come

I trembled at the voice of God
A voice of love and thunder deep
With love He means to save us all
And Love has chosen you and me

Long after we are dead and gone
A thousand years our tale be sung
How faith compelled and bore us on
How barren Sarah bore a son
So come to Canaan, come

Where westward sails the golden sun
And Hebron's hills are amber crowned
Oh, Sarah, take me by my arm
Tomorrow we are Canaan Bound

Patrizia Ciofi Sings Monteverdi

This one is a real treat! Italian opera star Patrizia Ciofi sings Monteverdi, accompanied by the incomparable Emmanuelle Haim and a number of fine musicians playing period instruments.

Joshua Bell and "The Girl With the Flaxen Hair"

One of my favorite violinists, Joshua Bell, gives a wonderful rendition of "The Girl With the Flaxen Hair," by Claude Debussy. Notice that he is playing a Stradivarius for which he paid nearly $4 million!

The Weekend in Texas

My wife, Johanna, and I went to Texas last weekend to take part in the premiere of the choral work, "Lord of the Small," of which Dan Forrest, Jr., did the music and Jo did the lyrics. The work was performed at A&M Methodist Church in College Station, Texas, across from Texas A&M University.

The choral work was quite lovely (and when I can get a recording, I will link it on this blog), as Dan really put together a wonderful piece of music. It was done as a commission by two parents in College Station whose daughter died of cancer just before her 12th birthday a couple of years ago, and we had the pleasure of meeting them at the service.

Jo and I also attended the Mises Circle meeting in Houston, and the different speeches given by Doug French, Tom Woods, Rep. Ron Paul, and Lew Rockwell were superb. Nearly 600 people attended the meeting at the Post Oak Hilton, and there seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm.

So, a great weekend for us in Texas. Thanks to all of you who provided hospitality.

In Houston for Mises Circle Event

Johanna and I are in Houston, Texas, today for the Mises Circle event: "The Failure of the Keynesian State." Ron Paul is the featured speaker, and with nearly 600 people attending, this is the largest Mises event ever. (Don't worry. The Mises staff is one of the best one can find anywhere, and they know how to run things right.)

Last night, we had dinner with Tom Kirkendall and his very lovely wife. Tom, a Houston attorney, run the "Houston's Clear Thinkers" blog, which I think is one of the best blogs out there, period. Yes, a great time was had by all.

Afterward, we are on our way to College Station, where the choral piece "Lord of the Small," with lyrics written by Johanna, premiers at A&M Methodist Church Sunday morning (January 24). This is a great event, and Craig Courtney will be conducting the choir with Dan Forrest, Jr., who composed the music for this piece, accompanying on the piano.

Yes, yes, I am utterly proud of my beautiful wife. Glad there is at least one intelligent person in our family!

"Arise, Shine" CD Has Arrived!

I received my new Dan Forrest, Jr. CD, "Arise, Shine," yesterday, and it even was better than I had anticipated. If you love good, contemporary choir music, this CD certainly fits that bill.

The music is wonderfully-balanced, and has both sacred and secular texts, including texts from Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson. You can hear excerpts of each track on Dan's website, but trust me when I say that the CD really is good. The singers are from Bob Jones University, which has first-rate departments in music and the arts.

Like all lovers of good choral music, I await the next CD that Dan produces!

Dan Forrest's CD is Available!

A great moment in the history of music, indeed of Western Civilization, has arrived. "Arise, Shine," the new CD from Dan Forrest, Jr., featuring some of his choral works, now is available. While I have not yet received my copy, I have heard snippets he has made available on his website.

I had not heard many of these compositions before, and when I heard them for the first time, I was stunned. As one who has sung and listened to the music of John Rutter for the past 25 years, I can say that Dan Forrest, Jr., is the American answer to Rutter. You simply have to hear this music to appreciate it.

On another note, our church choir sang Dan's "Hymn of Hope" yesterday, and it was a rousing success. Granted, we could not give the piece the same justice as the Bob Jones University choir has done, but nonetheless I was pleased with it, as it is a powerful piece of choral music.

An Evening with Violinist Sonya Hayes

Last night (Saturday, August 1), a good-sized audience in Cumberland, Maryland, was treated to a wonderful performance with violinist Sonya Hayes and John McCrary on piano. As one who has been taking violin lessons the past three years, seeing something like this always is bittersweet, as I love hearing the instrument played well, yet I know I never can create those same sounds.

Ms. Hayes has a wonderful future with this instrument, I believe, and is one of the few African-Americans who is playing publicly. That may make her unique, but as she and everyone associated with music knows, there is no affirmative action when it comes to producing the pleasing sounds that the audience wishes to hear.

That being said, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and watching this lovely young woman produce some wonderful music from her instrument. She was this year's featured artist for the Alta Schrock Memorial Concert, which is dedicated to early career support of young musicians, and from the reaction of the audience, she clearly did not disappoint. The concert was part of the 2009 "Music at Penn Alps" series that is put on each summer in which accomplished musicians play either at the Penn Alps complex in Grantsville or in Windsor Hall in Cumberland.

It sounds almost trite to point out that great musicians are fundamentally sound, but I will say it, anyway. Ms. Hayes really was a picture of knowing how to play an instrument correctly. Her motion with the bow is flawless and watching her control that bow was a pleasure to watch, and you can bet I watched her carefully (realizing that everything my teaching has been telling me to do was put on display for me to see).

I wish this young woman the very best as she pursues a career as a violin soloist, and I hope to be able to hear her again soon.