I was blessed this weekend to be able to sing at five, count ‘em, FIVE services at my home church, Calvary Chapel Boise. I was one of seven people on the stage. It was an awesome time of worship and it was equally fun to meet so many new people.

Something I did not expect was the amount of encouragement I received from the people I was blessed to meet. Thank you to all of you who talked with me and shared your experiences, thoughts, and ideas.

If you have not already done so, sign up for email updates from me. I will be sending out monthly (at least) emails with goodies (mp3s to download, polls for what should be on the new albums, etc) and I would love to allow for a lot of feedback!

For those of you who were at the service, you were able to hear from Brandon Bee, a singer/songwriter/PRODUCER from Tacoma, Washington. One of the main reasons I went on my little vacation with my sister and nieces last month was to visit his studio. He and I worked out a timeline for getting my first “all me” worship album out there. So far I’ve written four songs that I think will make it to the CD. There are two others that are real possibilities. I’m praying for the Lord’s guidance on the rest.

But to prepare for that, I need finances! I’ve used a lot of the money that I’ve received in the past for traveling, promotion, production, etc. of the old CD. It’s time to move along! So I’ve thought up an idea.

My friend Steven Harder has agreed to help me make a short EP of hymns. I’ve found a few really awesome obscure hymns for which I’ve rewritten the melodies. I’ve also included a few favorites (It is Well With My Soul is in there somewhere).

So that’s where I’m headed. The hymn EP is scheduled to finish production late in May and will (Lord willing) be available in early June.

Keep praying and thanks for your encouragement!

- MB

I spent a long night last night setting up Esterlyn’s new MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/esterlyn).

It’s looking pretty amazing. What they did, with their EP, makes me think of doing something similar. Perhaps I should make a five song CD of hymns in the beginning, just to get rolling. I have already decided on the layout for the CD cover. But that’s just like me. I will have the artwork finished before the music is even partially recorded.

Steven Harder and I have decided that it would be a good idea to work on a Christmas album early in the year. People were very encouraging that I should make one. I had a crazy idea that I would do it this year. Steven was on board and everything. But I think that he knew I would fizzle out. There is just too much to be done at the moment to worry about that as well.

I’ll be posting some pictures from our train ride through the mountains last Saturday. Probably not tonight, but in the next couple of days. I know that every aunt must think this, but I have the cutest nephews and nieces in the world. No kidding.

Anyway, I hope that you have a safe and fun-filled New Year!

Melissa

My last update seems like it wasn’t really that long ago, but how the time flies! We still haven’t made much headway on the new album. It appears, however, that I will not be making a hymn album with Engage Records. They want to go in a different direction with my music and I’m not opposed to doing so.

Steven and I have agreed that it would be a good idea to continue work on the hymn album on our own. We have laid down tracks for four of the songs so far. Steven is very, very picky, which is good. It’ll keep the quality level on the songs high. I’m hoping that this will be done sometime in the next year. This all depends, of course, on how the Engage Records stuff goes.

I started teaching two classes at Foundations Academy, a local private Christian school, and it’s been going well so far. The kids are great and the year looks like it will be very promising.

I was also on the radio last week. A local station, KFXD (kfxd.com), interviewed me about my American Idol experience. It was good fun and I really enjoyed myself. John and Chris are great to work with. If you have a chance, take a listen. The audio will be up on their site for the next few days.

By for now,
Melissa

UPDATE: I’ve attached a copy of the radio interview to this post so you guys can take a listen.