{Psalm 37:4}

Hey hey!

It's been so long since I've put up one of these. Shame on me! Hey cool fact since last time: I MET DAVE BARNES!!

BRB I'm crossing that off my Bucket List as we speak! 

To say things have been crazy would be a complete understatement! This semester is busier than any other semester by far. Sometimes I think it's easy to glorify being busy, like the busier you are, the better you are. I know that in my case, it's definitely something that happens from time to time. It's so important for me to take the time to just unwind. I grab a cup of tea, and my Jesus Calling, and I just sit. It's hard for someone like me who is constantly running around doing a million different things, and normally I thrive off of that kind of lifestyle. But even at the age of 20, I can tell that if I don't learn the practice of slowing down, I am going to burn out fast. I'm going to practice slowing down I think. Look at me, getting on my soapbox, and I’m only one paragraph in! Chill out, Emily!



Let's see….what else has been happening. Well, I suppose I could talk about classes, but you don't really care about that! For those that may, they're going good; I'm studying real hard and all that. ;) I'm taking 3rd Year Writing (I love it, Mitchell hates it). The first week of class we watched the movie, The Queen. Basically told the story of how Diana died and how the royal family reacted and all that. The whole thing fascinates me, while Mitchell, sitting next to me, was bored to tears. (I may or may not have spent like a solid hour watching YouTube interviews about Diana when I should've been studying…oops!) I like my other classes, (Copyright, 3rd Year Writing, Survey of Recording Technology, Entrepreneurship, Internship and Career Foundations, and Business Ethics) but nothing has really happened in them yet that's worth mentioning. :)



One thing I resolved to do this year is to attend more writer's rounds and open mic nights. The first week back, Mitchell and I went to check out The Listening Room in downtown Nashville. We had no idea who was playing; we just decided to show up. After all, you never know what you may find when you go to these things. Looking back, we are SO glad we went! Why? Amber's Drive, that's why!! At first, I think its safe to say we were both kind of skeptical, I was contemplating leaving early, but then, out of nowhere, they started playing this particular song, that has been stuck in my head ever since that night! "Gotta Stay Sober" caught both of our attention that night, and we still will talk about it from time to time. Permission to go off on a min-rant? Great. :) One of my biggest pet peeves in music today is the way everything is so centered on going out to the bar and getting smashed. WHY does all Country music have to be about this?! While it applies to some people, what about the rest of us huh?! And who came up with the idea that alcohol will fix your problems or make your girlfriend come back to you, or make your heart feel better? IT WON'T! It annoys me. There, I said it. This song was exactly the kind of song I've been waiting for someone to sing. FINALLY, someone wrote about how getting drunk and getting high won't work. Staying sober is the only way to deal with the pain and issues in life. Plus, it was catchy because I caught Mitchell humming along! ;) He was going on and on about how it was structured in perfect triple AB or something like that, but I was still just too happy that someone finally wrote a song like this! Okay, mini rant over. My apologies. In a nutshell, I loved Ambers Drive. CHECK THEM OUT!





This semester I still have my mentor Jim from Sony Music Nashville. What a hilarious and amazing dude he is! He is just so willing to take me under his wing and introduce me to the right people, and help me in any way he can. I am so grateful for him. As with anything, I believe you learn more in the real world than you could ever learn in the classroom. His official title is "Vice President of A&R" which, for those of you not involved this music business, stands for artist and repertoire. Basically, he's in charge of signing and discovering new talent, as well as finding new songs for his artists to record. In reality, there is way more to his job than that, but that's all you really need to know about it, the rest would just bore you! For a while, I thought A&R is what I wanted to do, but it was within my first few weeks here at Belmont when I decided Music Publishing is where my passions for this business really lie. What is publishing you ask? Let me tell you....



Music Publishers are the people who work closely with the songwriters. They hire songwriters to write songs for them to publish. Once a song is published (which is just a fancy way of saying its been registered and is ready to be pitched), they will send that song out with a song plugger to artists and record labels to "sell" that song. His or her job is to get someone to record or at least cut that song. When that happens, both the publisher and the writer get paid, and everyone is happy. What I love about this aspect of the business is how involved you are in the creative process. Every single day you're working with the people who are the key players in the business. A good song is the very core of this business; it is the heart and soul of the music business. Without a good song, nobody has anything to promote, market, sing, or perform. Without songwriters, nobody on Music Row would have a job. I love the fact that I could be involved from the very beginning, seeing a songwriter go into a room with nothing and then a few hours later, coming out with a song that could potentially be a hit! Am I such a nerd or what?! So many people want to go after the "glamorous jobs" like management, where you're working with the "famous people". I don't know what it is about me that is different, but that has never been a part of the industry I desired. To me, songs have always been what mattered to me, so Music Publishing just makes sense to me.



Speaking of songwriters, there's this new exciting thing happening here at Belmont called Bear House Writer Management . Both Mitchell and I are going to managing songwriters and helping them write the best songs they can. On top of that, we're helping them get their social media launched, get them registered with a PRO (ASCAP, BMI, OR SESAC), help them get gigs around Nashville, hook them up with other songwriters and co-write (two minds are better than one) and other things. The end goal is to get our writer's that much closer to major publishing deals once they graduate. It's still in the pre-stages right now, so who knows how it'll actually go, but for now, we're super duper excited about it and the possibility it holds! A couple of our friends Shawn and Jared have applied...I would be so excited to work with them and create some amazing music! Life in Music City is sooooo good!



One of the biggest pains I’ve recently come to know about growing up is that life ain't free! There's a familiar verse in the Bible that has to do with money. Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." I can't speak for everyone out there, but for me, money is something that stresses me out because everything seems to cost money. School, food, gas, clothing, it's all stuff we need to live in this world, but when you're a poor college student like me, it can be stressful at times to keep my spending in check (let's not talk about how I get inside Target or a mall. It's dangerous.) After a couple months of stressing about this, I remembered back to my personal finance class in high school. Dave Ramsey had a course that our instructor showed. In high school, I didn't take it seriously at all because I thought I would never need to use this information in real life, and if I did, it was a ways off into the future. I was soooooo wrong. That information has proven so useful to me. I started doing some research on Dave Ramsey and remembered immediately why I liked him so much. He understands that money is something that needs to be managed responsibly and FAITHFULLY! I love his philosophy and techniques, so I started using his budgeting forms and I can honestly say, I'm not NEARLY as stressed about my finances as I was a few months ago. For the first time in a long time, I feel in control of that aspect of my life, rather than feeling controlled or constrained by it. If you're having any sort of money trouble, ask Dave. Seriously, he's saving my life! DaveRamsey.com



HOPE

"My sweet Hope,
Words cannot begin to describe how excited I am to be your mama. I'm praying for you and want you to know that I am going to love you more than you have ever been loved before. Even though you may not be born yet, God knows you and loves you, and has a plan for your life that is beautiful. God will bring us together, I promise. Until then, I am praying for you. Love- Mama"



There's a story that not a lot of people know about me, but I think its time I share it. It's a story that is becoming more and more of a reality for me every single day, and the desires of my heart are changing in ways I never imagined.

It's no secret that I've always had a special place in my heart for kids. Everyone who knows me knows that I love children. What I've also always had a soft spot for are kids without homes and loving families. If there were one thing I could do to change this world, it would be placing every single orphan into a loving home. It absolutely breaks my heart knowing some kids go to sleep at night not knowing that they have a mommy and daddy who love them. For as long as I can remember, I've always thought I would want to adopt someday and give Hope to a child that they've never known before, a child I could tuck into a bed where they feel safe and protected, and tell them that as much as their mama and daddy love them, their heavenly father loves them even more. This is a message that so many children never get to hear, but I knew that one day, I would bring a child home from an orphanage. I also knew that if I had the choice, it would be a girl, and I would name her Hope. Why Hope? Because that's the very thing I would want to instill in her life, and that's the very thing I would need to see the process through. Hope changes everything, and that's what my daughter's name will be.

Fast forward to around the time I met Mitchell. He told me about his sister Faith who was adopted from China, probably the first day I met him. You could tell by the way he talked about her that he loved that little girl so very much (he still talks about her that way). I was so happy I had found someone with a similar heart for adoption. I just hoped that one day I would be able to meet Faith. Then, that dream came true! Over Christmas, I traveled to Pennsylvania to meet Mitchell's family (I blogged about that trip earlier). The morning I woke up, I heard her out in the hall laughing her infectious laugh and I couldn't wait to meet her! She was even more perfect than I imaged her being. Faith has this smile that lights up the whole room, and a laugh that could warm even the hardest of hearts. For me, the moment I first met her and she asked me, "do you know where I'm from?!", I knew that I would have a daughter from China too. I can't tell you how I knew exactly, I just did. I had never been so sure of anything in my entire life.


A few nights later, while I was still in PA, Gracie, mother and I were having a candle pow wow in Gracie's room (see my previous blog post if you need to know what this means). The subject of adoption came up and I shared my story with them. I told them how I felt in my heart a calling to adopt, and I told them how it’s always been a dream of mine to have a girl named Hope. I will never forget what mother said to me, "Emily, we were in the process of adopting again. We had the papers and everything, but never got the green light from God to go again, but we were going to get another girl and name her Hope." I couldn't believe it! I knew right then that God's mighty hand was at work in bigger ways than I could've ever imagined. The Steele's wanted Hope in their lives, but God told them to wait. It turns out that they're going to get her after all, just in a different way than expected. God does really cool things through you if you let him! I felt so much joy and that conversation sealed the deal for me. After that night, a fire was lit inside of me to not only dream about this little girl who is to be my daughter, but to do all I can to prepare my heart and life for her. Adoption isn't easy and it's with a lot of prayer that it's possible at all. I started praying for her that night, and writing to her in a journal for her to read when she's old enough to understand. I have never wanted anything more in my life than to be a good mom to Hope, and as soon as God gives us that green light, Mitchell and I will bring her home. I cannot wait!



I feel God making big changes in my heart and at times, it's scary. It's not because I don't trust him because I do. It's just that these changes are challenging everything I've ever known, everything I've ever wanted. My desires from before are becoming less and less important, and are being transformed into His desires, which are far grander and more beautiful than mine could ever be. I was talking to mother about this one night, because she's been there, she's been through it, and she gets what I'm feeling. When I couldn't make sense of what was going on inside of me, she sent me this, and it helped so much:

"We will keep praying about God using us all to do work for Him in this area God will show us. Emily I'm proud of you for not being focused on yourself. Keep being that way. Maturity has so much to do with reaching a point where you finally quit looking at yourself... And you finally focus on how you can serve instead of be served. I was not mature at all at age 20. I think I was pretty self-centered until I had Mitchell. You seem to have a more mature heart than I did at your age... So keep pressing on. Your focus is good. And as far as work and family... We can all help you when the time comes. I told Mitchell tonight that he made a good choice. For so many years now I have said that I want to serve “in the trenches". And God has walked us through some crazy stuff and some various forms of ministry to hurting people that I know he purposed for us to do.... And now I feel like we are just poised at the spot where He is gonna send us on a new task. I know this place. I've been here before. So I'm excited to see what He has for us to do. I'm grateful that God had so obviously placed a common passion within all of us. Keep looking past yourself and looking at others. You are doing a great job. You know I love you.... right?"



She is sooo good to me and I'm so grateful for her! She is everything and more I wanted in a mother-in-love (she doesn't want to be called mother-in-law so we changed it to mother-in-love.) She made me even more aware of God's hand so obviously at work in my life and heart. I can't wait to see where He leads me next. To Him be the glory!



With the major changes taking place in my life, and the ways I feel and see God working in my heart, I’m reminded of one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. What a great promise! Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” This verse has to be one of the most misinterpreted throughout the entire Bible. For a long time, I took this verse to mean that as long as I was happy with God, He would give me what I wanted. Not so. See, when I truly delight in Him and am living fully surrendered to Him, my own desires go away and are replaced with His desires for me. His desires are placed in my heart as my own desires, so I’m no longer focused on what I desire, but on what God wants for me. What more could I want? He knows me better than I know myself, and He knows what I need! I want more and more of His desires! More of God, less of me.



Crazy Love


Mitchell and I started reading the book Crazy Love together and it is life changing, ya'll. Check out this video! I'm telling you, you won't regret it. This book is challenging me in the very best way, and is a testament to the fact that God's love is so CRAZY GOOD!

Crosspoint

Can I just say for a moment how much I love my home church here in Nashville?! Crosspoint is all about loving God and loving people. I'm so proud to call this place my church home.

"Where all are welcome, because nobodies perfect, and anything's possible."

I'm blessed by the opportunity to volunteer with the 4 year olds that come to church on Sunday mornings. There are days when they are CRAZY rambunctious and I feel exhausted after the first 5 minutes, but I remind myself that it's my responsibility when they're with me to share the love of Christ with them. Their smiles and laughter make it all worth it!


Word Entertainment

About a week or so ago, I was fortunate enough to meet one of the nicest guys in Nashville, Rod Riley, CEO of Word Entertainment. I sat with him in his office and got to ask him all about starting this company with his wife, and how he balances work and family, and all that kind of stuff. I love everything about this company. I love what they stand for, I love the people, and I love the music they produce and distribute. It was a great conversation, and I found myself feeling even more on fire and determined to do exactly what he and his wife Susan do. They are in the Music Business, making a difference, serving the Lord through good music! He introduced me to the lovely Janine Appleton who I'm going to be interning with this summer and fall. I couldn't be more thrilled and incredibly excited! Word is a great company with many amazing writers. Here's a playlist of some Word music. Check it out! :)



Chris August – 7x70
Chris August – A Little More Jesus
Brett Rutledge – All I Need
Chris August – Amen
for King & Country – Busted Heart [Hold On To Me]
Andy Mineo – Caught Dreaming (feat. for King & Country)
Everfound – Count The Stars
Jason Walker – Cry
Jason Walker – Don't Know
Jason Walker – Down
BarlowGirl – Enough
Group 1 Crew – Fearless
Dara Maclean – Free
Patrick Ryan Clark – God Is Able
Everfound – God Of The Impossible
Matt Price – God Who Saves
Steven Dale Jones – Goodbye Again
Dara Maclean – Had To Be You
Love & The Outcome – He Is With Us
Group 1 Crew – He Said - feat. Chris August
Matt Price – Heaven & Earth
Group 1 Crew – His Kind of Love
for King & Country – Hope Is What We Crave
Chris August – I Believe
Jason Walker – I Feel Like That
Steven Dale Jones – I'll Be There
Ian Eskelin – Into Your Arms Again
Chris August – It's Always Been You
Brett Rutledge – Just As I Am
Love & The Outcome – King Of My Heart
Big Daddy Weave – Let It Rise
Chris August – Let The Music Play
Chris August – Let There Be Light
Matt Price – Let Your Life Flow
for King & Country – Light It Up
Sidewalk Prophets – Live Like That
Chris August – Loving You Is Easy
Chris August – Meant To Be
for King & Country – Middle Of Your Heart
Patrick Ryan Clark – Mighty Is Our God
BarlowGirl – Mirror
Group 1 Crew – Mr. & Mrs. [I Do This For You]
BarlowGirl – Never Alone
Brett Rutledge – Never Change
Love & The Outcome – No Mistaking [it's You]
Meredith Andrews – Not For A Moment [After All]
Matt Price – One Life
Steven Dale Jones – One More Day
for King & Country – People Change
Chris August – Restore
Jason Walker – Seattle
BarlowGirl – Song For The Broken
Chris August – Starry Night
Chris August – Starry Night
Group 1 Crew – The Difference
Matt Price – The One We Want Tonight
Big Daddy Weave – The Only Name [Yours Will Be]
for King & Country – The Proof Of Your Love
Sidewalk Prophets – The Words I Would Say
Chris August – This Side Of Heaven
Paul Alan – To Bring You Back
Dara Maclean – Wanted
Matt Price – We Won't Waver
Love & The Outcome – What A Promise
Dara Maclean – What Love Looks Like
Everfound – What Love Means
Patrick Ryan Clark – What Was I Fighting For
Jason Walker – When The Lights Go Down
Matt Price – When the Sky Falls
Matt Price – When the Sky Falls
Love & The Outcome – When We Love
Patrick Ryan Clark – Where Would I Be
Jason Walker – Won't Stop Getting Better
Meredith Andrews – Worth It All
Patrick Ryan Clark – You
Chris August – You And I
Sidewalk Prophets – You Love Me Anyway
Meredith Andrews – You're Not Alone
Brett Rutledge – You're The God
Dara Maclean – Yours Forever



I just video chatted with my parents. Gosh I miss them so much! If you're reading this mama and daddio, I can't wait to see you guys in Florida in just a few short weeks!



Next weekend, Mitchell and I are headed to Pennsylvania again to see the family! Kelli will be there, too! WOOT WOOT! I miss them all so much! Gracie and I have a countdown going. Yeah, you could say I'm excited!

I'm so glad you made it to the end of this post. This has been one of my longest posts EVER. I would say sorry, but I'm not! :) I hope you enjoyed catching up on some of the details of my life, and my random ramblings. I promise the next one will be shorter because I won't wait so long to update the blog. That's all for now. Check out the playlist I shared above of some Word Entertainment writers/artists. You won't regret it!


Until next time,


Keep Calm and Listen to Music.



-E