walk like an egyptian

that was my absolute favorite song from my childhood. every time it would come on the radio, i would have to stop whatever i was doing and start dancing. i am definitely a child of the 80s. even if i was in the car, i would ask mom to stop the car and let me out to dance. almost like chinese fire drill team. but, one thing you need to know about me is that i'm a horrible dancer. and i had to be in dance class when i was a little girl. ballet, tap, jazz. the whole nine. i hated ballet. i would rather eat glass chips than be in ballet. tap wasn't good either because my taps were never taps, they were more like thuds. and jazz was ok, but i had to wear lipstick, so i didn't like that at all. i was miserable. much like this little girl.

so i quit dance as fast as humanly possible. much to my brother's excitement because he was forced to sit through 3 hour long dance recitals just to watch me for 30 seconds look miserable on stage wearing a leotard that no human should ever be forced to wear.

i thought i was freed from my dancing woes, but then i got into my senior year of college and realized that i need one more kinesiology credit. i thought, no prob. i'll do anything. basketball, power walking, underwater basket weaving, whatever. but guess what class was the ONLY one that was open? intro to ballet. 

leotard required. 

i was devastated. but i had to do it. so i did it. i stuck out like a sore thumb. i was the girl who walked like a basketball player among little graceful girls who walked lightly. my teacher kept yelling at me: lindsey, walk lightly. i would respond with anger "these feet are incapable of walking lightly." anyway, i almost failed the class, but because i put alot of heart and effort into it, i came out with a C. 

i would even practice my moves for hours in a great hall with wood floors. i was still horrible. no amount of practice would reverse the fact that i was like a giant elephant in a china cabinet.

so why am i telling you all this? well, the one dance i loved when i was a little lassie, was when i got to dance to my favorite song walk like an egyptian. i owned that dance. or at least it felt like i owned it. i was probably a disgrace to the entire dance community, but i felt good about my performance. 

well guess what? i will be walking like an egyptian again! yup, that's right! i'm headed to egypt this friday and i'll be there until the 21st and i couldn't be more excited! i will definitely blog all about my experiences, so stay tuned. but for now, i'll just tell you about the awesome things i'll get to do while i'm there!

lead worship, give a concert in english where everyone might blankly stare at me because they mostly only know arabic, tour the nile river, enjoy sweet fellowship with believers in cairo, hang out with university students at a youth conference, visit the biggest evangelical church in the middle east, visit the oldest mosque in the islamic world, visit the pyramids and the sphinx, and my favorite part: ministry to the kids in the orphanage, as well as painting a garbage dump community, shopping in the old market of khan al khalily, stopping by paris on a layover, 20 hours on a plane to contemplate life and why clouds exist, and finally, attending a sudanese refugee meeting. 

wow. i can't wait! if you think about it, you can pray for me and the team as we walk like egyptians, and more importantly walk like Jesus. 

"You're kinda weird" - Stephen Baldwin referring to me

so there i was just this morning co-hosting The River 102.3 morning show with heather. in walks stephen baldwin, who i knew was coming in for an interview after me. he was there promoting an amazing event that's happening this saturday in austin with extreme sports and evangelism. 

though ashamed, i thankfully have only gotten star struck with sandra bullock. so i was excited i didn't get star struck with stephen. so i'm sitting there just chillin and letting him talk about the event, realizing i'm not cool enough to be a part of this particular radio experience. so, like a middle school shy girl, i sulked back to the corner of the room, letting him do his thang. 

i actually enjoyed spectating and watching everything. and stephen was totally nice and cool. very ecclectic and passionate! and he used my favorite word: "authenticity" so instantly i liked him. i mean, look at that face, how can you not like him? especially with that cute hate on.

we met and he was sweet and we got a picture together. normally i dont ask for pictures with famous people, but i couldnt resist. he's got that cool hollywood star pose. here's me trying to imitate the pose. i think i failed miserably. 

then randy phillips encourages me to give him a CD, which of course i didn't have. i stopped carrying CDs in my purse a long time ago. but i gave him a card and then heather told stephen about my showcase concert this friday night and he politely seemed interested. he even said he was going to try to come. to which my response was, "ya right, you have so many better things to do!" but the fact that he said he would try to come was cute and endearing. i can assure you stephen probably has better things to do than go to my concert! but who knows. stranger things have happened. c'mon stephen! if you come, i'll give you a free cd!

but here's where it gets good:

he leaves the studio and i realize he's left his energy shot drink. i thought, "well, i could run after him and give him his energy shot and risk him thinking i'm a crazy stalker fan... or i could just play the 'finders keepers losers weepers' game and keep the energy drink. who knows, maybe i can sell it on ebay?" in my lapse of judgement, i chose to take the energy shot and stick it in my lunch bag right next to my turkey wrap and peach. i stinkin' love peaches. i felt no remorse for stealing his energy drink... until... me and heather and jenny are laughing and having a good time and in walks mr. baldwin... looking for something.

desperately looking for something. i knew that "something" was deep down in my bag. 

i know exactly what he's looking for: his favorite energy drink shot. heather yells, "you're so busted!" thanks heather. and then i yelled out of sheer conviction "i stole your shot!" sweetly he forgives me and then offers it to me and i'm red as a stop sign at this point. i refuse the drink i just stole. he turns to me and says, "ya know, you're kinda weird. i like weird. i'm gonna come to your concert." i say, "ya right, i wont hold my breath stevo." well, i didn't call him stevo but i wanted to in retrospect. and he said, "ya wanna bet?" and i said "no, i dont want you to lose your money." we'll see :) but i wont be holding my breath. 

back to his comment: amen stephen about my weirdness. you hit the nail on the proverbial head. you are correct sir. i am weird. and i have this apparent problem of stealing from celebrities with the initials "SB". go back and check my blog about when i stole from sandra bullock.

maybe i'll make a trifecta out of it. who will be my third celebrity SB that i'll accidentally steal from? 

what a coincidence!

so there i was at the gas pump the other day, which i frequently visit these days, unfortunately! summers are crazy and require me to drive miles upon miles and then more miles. i even drove 7 hours to a camp last week! good thing i just had XM radio installed for my bday. otherwise, it could've gotten ugly. i might have even started hallucinating flying camels basket-weaving or something crazy like that. 

i have this obsession, or challenge really, where i love to fill my car up and try and make the dollars be exactly to the whole number. meaning, i don't like 100.50, i will try and get it to stop at 100 and so on. but no matter how hard i try, i can't ever get it. it's always like 1 cent over. it's very damaging to my sense of accomplishment.

but i keep trying and everytime i get a little closer, which gives me hope. 

but then last month, i finally hit the jackpot. i was half-way expecting gold coins to pour out of the pump as well. i stopped randomly (without even trying) on $75. i thought, WOW! that was amazing. i wasn't even trying and it stopped right on the money, literally. so i drove off, patting myself on the back for my amazing feat. 

then about 3 days later i filled up again. and much to my surprise, it was $75 again! what? are you kidding me! i thought, this is too crazy, this is amazing! after 10 years of trying to get the pump right down to the penny on .00, i get exactly $75 two times in a row! i figured God's favor was just with me. i thought, what a coincidence!

then, 3 days later i go to fill up again. yep, you guessed it. $75 again! in my stupidity, i actually thought "WOW! this is amazing!" and then it dawned on me that the odds of that actually happening for like the odds of me marrying mel gibson. so i sat down, perplexed in my car, and a little depressed that i'd already filled up 3 times in one week... and i realized that it wasn't a coincidence! i'm actually an idiot! the pump is automatically shutting off at $75. 

no wonder my car never got filled up the whole way. for some reason, i just kept missing it. then i thought, wow, you know gas prices are bad when you can't even fill your car up all the way. ouch, cutting me off at $75 each time i fill up the ol' car. i keep thinking, if only i could sell my car. but its the only car that's big enough to haul around all my music stuff! 

is anyone out there trying to get a car to run off coffee? because i sure function great off coffee.

pilates/yoga background vocals

so there i was... in pain, in utter embarrassment, in disbelief. why was i there? why was i allowing someone to tell me how to twist my body in ways it was never intended to twist? was this a modern day twister game for adults? why does everyone else say this is so great and why does no one else look like they're about to die from sheer pain and discomfort.

i went to a yoga/pilates class today.

i even went to target and bought a yoga mat. as if i even knew what one looked like. i asked someone and they took me on a tour of the yoga aisle. i picked out the cheapest one and headed to the check out counter. i felt so cool. until i actually went to the class.

one of the worst decisions of my life. i've always liked the idea of yoga. it's alot like running. i so long to run but i can't and it just plain hurts. in fact, i don't run unless i'm being chased. so i decided, well maybe i'll try yoga. how hard can it really be? sure, i can't touch my toes, but oh well! i'll probably be good at it.

no, i'm horrible. i was the worst in the class. for the betterment of everyone's life, the instructor should've kicked me out. not only did i look like an awkward ape trapped in a tennis ball, but my face winced in pain with each new position. down dog? really? more like ouch dog. more like "where is the basketball court? why am i trying to touch my nose to my heels?" 

then she asked us to do a back bend. ya right. i elected not to tell her that i was basically asked to leave gymnastics when i was younger because i was the only kid in the class that couldn't master the back bend. all the memories came rushing back. my eyes welled up with tears. not because of the awful memories, but because literally my hamstrings were revolting against me. i was the only one who didn't try the backbend. and i had no shame. i wasn't scared. i was born to look silly like this. i happened to like offering a spectacle for all to look at. the other people in the class were slightly entertained. 

it reminded me of when i was forced to take a ballet class in college. mandatory attire: leotard. i'm not kidding. it was humiliating. i almost failed.

so then, just when i thought it couldn't get any worse, the instructor started singing along with the music. i've had instructors do this before, but typically only one word would slip out and usually they were on  key. not this gal. nope. couldn't carry a tune in a coach purse with a hypoallergenic dog in it. and she was singing and didn't stop. then on the 3rd song she actually tried harmonizing with the track. she knew no shame. i realized we weren't that different. there i was trying to be a yoga expert and there she was trying to sing. it was a perfect picture of how fun it is to try new things. but it was painful to listen to. and needless to say, i'm sure i was painful to look at. she's probably blogging about me right now. who knows!

but it was a blast. well, by that i mean, the "blast" part was when i got home and threw my brand new yoga mat in the trash can. good thing trash day is tomorrow. 

yoga = not fun for me

but i just might persevere because i know flexibility is important. and i still love the idea of being a yoga girl. here's to you, background vocal singing yoga instructor! maybe i'll come back to your class. also, i might just hire you to sing bgv's for me. only if you let me shadow your class someday. it could be a match made in heaven.

nursing home conundrums

so there i was sitting at my computer when i received a fairly humbling email.

but you need the background info before i start on my tirade. 

one of my best friends in the entire world is my granny who lives in lubbock. granny has alzheimers but is the happiest and sweetest most divinely proper woman i've ever known. i rarely get to see her because lubbock is so far away and i travel alot. but i think about her often and love her dearly. though granny doesn't remember much, she always remembers my music. she loves listening to the tapes that my granddad herbie has made her from my cds. i always thought about how awesome it would be if someone would visit her and just sing to her. she loves when people sing to her. 

then i took that thought a step further, hmm... i bet there are plenty of sweet old ladies here in austin who might enjoy a song or two. and then in church one day i heard a verse from james that says something along the lines of pure and undefiled worship being this: visiting orphans and widows in their time of need. and, since i'm a worship leader, this was an extremely challenging verse/thought.

all this to say, i started calling around some assisted livings and nursing homes in austin to see about singing there once ever so often. i struck out alot but then i found a place that wanted me to come and sing for an hour during "special music time" at the nursing home.

it was perfect. these people were so endearing. some were bitter and mean, but most were pleasant and reminded me of granny. i was able to live vicariously through loving these people. it satisfied my desire to love on granny when i can't because i live so far away.

then two things happened that are hilarious now, but at the time very humbling.

i got an email from the guy in charge of the nursing home booking, if you will, and he fired me. yep, i got fired from a voluntary nursing home singing gig. honestly, who has been fired from a nursing home? i haven't heard of such a thing. it wounded the good ol' pride, but then i figured it was good for me. but ouch. fired from volunteer nursing home singing. say goodbye to "singing the hits and hymns with lindsey" afternoon once a month. it was over. i was sad. when i asked why, why was i cut from the roster, so to speak, they answered me with this ironic statement: "The residents couldn't hear you." i don't know if that makes anyone else smirk or not, but i found it hilarious that i got fired because they couldn't hear me. did i mention that i brought an amp and microphone? i had amplification, yet i still could not be heard. thus, i was told they wouldn't be needing me anymore. double ouch. my question though: if they can't hear me, who can they hear? oh well. suffice it to say that maybe if i looked really sweet like the red head in the photo above, i might not have been kicked off the island. 

and then two weeks later, i was asked to sing at another nursing home in town, and on the day of that event, i called them to make sure everything was in order and they said, "Oh sorry, we forgot to tell you but we won't be needing you today. We double booked with Larry the piano puppet guy. We'll call you."

they never called. really? really? i got knocked out by piano puppet man? 

thrice ouch. larry, i wish you the best of luck.

gee wiz, good thing i've got other gigs that keep me afloat, otherwise i would be toast. so i've basically struck out of most opportunities to love on the elderly through my singing abilities. but, lo and behold, there is one assisted living place in austin that i get to sing at once a month. and it's definitely one of the highlights of my month. these people are so adorable and cute, and last week, they actually applauded as i walked in the cafeteria. i think i'm making head way. 

if you're reading this, you should totally just go visit a nursing home/assisted living place close to you. just go in and talk to people or better yet, listen to them. they're inspiring and fascinating people who have lived real lives. 

the following blog was sponsored by AARP copyright 2008.

just kidding. 

tag fetish

this is going to be completely random and probably extremely non-applicable to your life, but because i joined the blog world, i have to blog about what i'm thinking, however random and potentially uninteresting it might be. having said that, here's what i've been thinking.

so there i was last night at a concert and i was completely distracted by a lady two rows in front of me who was doing something, unbeknownst to her, that was completely stressing me out. i know it's probably no big deal to the rest of the world, but to me, it's always been an issue.

the tag was sticking out of her shirt.

oh big deal! you might say. and i know, it's silly. kinda like the metal on metal thing. but i have this obsessive compulsive desire to go and put the tag back into the shirt, though she's clearly a stranger and would think i was nuts.

can anyone else relate? 

and then i was sitting there wondering, will someone please put the woman's tag back in her shirt. and then i though, what if i did? what would her response be? what would my response be if someone did that. i would probably say thank you.

so, yes, i've always had a thing for tags. my parents remind me that when i was little, i was obsessed with the tags on stuffed animals. i didn't really even care about the stuffed thing. i wanted the tag. i wonder what it is about a tag that is so appealing to me.

just had to share... i hear it helps to get things out. 

and i was laughing with a friend the other day about how somehow there always seems to be a  spiritual application with strange things that happen to me or go on in my brain, but not this time! nope, no spiritual application here! just another weird quirk. 

compassion international

so there i was singing at a methodist church in the woodlands last sunday. for those of you that don't know, i have the awesome opportunity of partnering with an incredibly life and world changing ministry called compassion international (releasing children from poverty in Jesus name) check out www.compassion.com for more details.

i had two minutes to share about compassion in all three morning services. in the first two services, i seemed to stumble over my words. i didn't really know exactly what to say in two minutes that would make them want to come back for the 2pm concert to learn more about compassion. i tried to tell my story but it seemed so rushed because i only had two minutes. so finally in the third service, during some silent prayer time, i finally went before the Lord and started surrendering everything. i confessed that i'd been trying to do it in my own strength... again... and i prayed and prayed that God would speak through me and bring the exact group of people that he wanted at the 2pm concert. i surrendered each of the 20 children whose packets i had brought, to Him, almost as if to imagine laying them at the foot of the cross. as i began praying for the children and reading over verses about the poor, i could see some of the faces of the children. i immediately began weeping (and i'm not a cry-er). then i started balling. and this was literally minutes before i was supposed to give the 2 minute compassion presentation. i couldn't stop crying, but i was able to stop enough to go to the front and talk about compassion. i shared from the depth of my heart about Jesus' passion for the children and how it was a possibility to end poverty. i started crying again. it was embarrassing, but in that vulnerability, it made me real to the congregation. we connected. i could feel it. then i couldn't even finish what i was saying because i started crying again so i smiled and sat down. and the tears kept coming.

sidenote: during the sermon i was looking through an old journal that i had taken with me to the Dominican Republic compassion trip in october. i found a set of lyrics i had written about the children who had so deeply touched my heart. i have been praying that God would give me a song for the children and these lyrics jumped off the page and right back into my heart where they came from initially! so i tore the page out and decided that it had to be a song. but i didn't have a melody, just lyrics. so i waited to see what God would do. more on that in a moment...

after that service, i was confident that whoever came to the concert would be the exact people who God wanted there.

right before the 2pm concert, at 1:55 i sat down at the piano (because i just couldn't wait any longer and i could literally feel this song rising up in me) with the lyrics that i had found earlier in my hand. i started playing and a full song, in its entirety started to pour out of my heart. people start showing up but i had to keep singing. in fact, i couldn't stop. for whatever reason, that sunday at exactly 1:55pm right before my concert, the Lord decided to give me the song i'd been waiting and praying for. the theme song of my heart for the children. a song for Compassion and for my own personal love for the kiddos. the song was born and i didn't even have to try. i didn't even have to work on it. the lyrics fit perfectly with whatever i started playing on the piano and whatever melody i started singing. i knew i had just been given the song that i'd so been desiring for so long, so i told the sound guy to start recording. he did. and i sang the song, for the first time as a full song, straight from God. and he recorded it! i'm going to tell you how you can hear the song in just a second.

then the concert starts and i'm on fire because i just wrote this song i'm so pumped about! and i'm about 30 minutes into the concert when i begin the official compassion presentation. i started sharing my heart with the audience. there only ended up being about 38 people there, which was less than we hoped there would be but i knew they were supposed to be there. everyone was locked in and listening. my words just start flowing and i'm telling the stories and i felt myself literally being a voice for the voiceless. a champion for the children. then (though i hadn't initially planned to) i realized that i wanted to sing the song i had just written. so i tell the audience the story of how i wrote the song literally 5 minutes before the concert started. i sat down at the piano, played the slide show of pictures and verses that i had created, and i started singing. i had volunteers ready to pass out packets and by the end of the song and slide show, all 20 packets had been passed out.

there was not a dry eye in the place, including mine. i could barely get through the song because i could see the slide show from where i was singing!

at the end of the concert i went straight back to the table. all 20 children were being sponsored by loving and excited people! people were finally getting it. they were realizing that the way to truly end poverty is to change the life of one child. one child changes a family, a family a church, a church a region, a region a country and so on and so forth. lives were being changed right there on the spot. out of the seemingly small number of people, all 20 children found mentors and friends for life! wow wow and wow. it was truly amazing how God moved. i had prayed for all 20 to get sponsored and He did exactly that, in His sovereignty and kindness.

just had to share God's glory story with you, the blog world!

on another note: i just found out that a producer in san antonio is giving me a half day of free recording. he's been asking me for months to pick a song and i couldn't think of one. then last sunday i knew, that i'm supposed to record this song. and hopefully it can go throughout the world on behalf of the children! it's called "Least of These" and i hope it blesses you as much as it has been blessing me. keep in mind, it's a very raw recording because we recorded it as i was writing it! so some more work needs to be done, but you'll get the gist of it :)

to hear the song, the only way i've figured out to send you to it is through my myspace page (because i have no idea how to insert an audio file into my blog)

so go to http://www.myspace.com/lindseykane2 and look for the song titled "Least of These". let me know your thoughts and responses. and please, if this touches you in any way, YOU TOO can sponsor and change the life of a child! just check out www.compassion.com and you'll find tons of sweet kiddos that need your help and love!