February’s Dreamer in the Spotlight!

17 Feb

In honor of President’s Day this month, I thought it would be appropriate to look back at one of the nation’s greatest leaders – Abraham Lincoln.

I recently listened to one of my favorite (audio)books, The Rhythm of Life, again.  In this book, author Matthew Kelly discusses the perseverance of Lincoln and the many obstacles and difficulties that he faced during the course of his life, particularly while pursuing his political ambitions.  Several times he ran for different levels of office and lost before finally winning a seat in Congress in 1846.  Even after that, he lost when he ran for re-election in 1848 and lost again in 1854 when he ran for Senate.  Yet, he still decided to run for President of the United States in 1860.  And of course, the rest is history – we now know him to be the 16th President.

Not only is Abraham Lincoln a great example of staying focused on a goal despite many failures, but he also had his priorities in order.  In his famous speech, The Gettysburg Address, Lincoln noted the importance of Americans moving forward together as a nation under God.  Clearly, it was God’s plan for Lincoln to be president at this point in history.  Who knows what our country would look like now if someone else had been president?

Just as Lincoln was meant to be the 16th President of the United States of America, each one of us has a purpose and a role right now.  We all are on earth at this point in time for a reason.  I believe that true joy in life comes from discovering what God is asking of us and then striving to achieve that dream – ultimately becoming the person that we were meant to be and fulfilling the special role we were meant to play.  The road will likely not be easy, but anything is possible with God’s grace and guidance!

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Support THE LiNE on The Voice!

7 Feb

Did you watch The Voice last night on NBC?  If so, then you saw that the duo, The LiNE, comprised of Hailey Steele and Leland Grant made it past the blind auditions!  If you missed it,  click here to read an article about how it all went down on last night’s show and view the video of their performance of “American Girl.” 

The LiNE and Adam Lee on the Nashville To You Campground Tour (photo by Abby Corcoran)

Hailey and Leland performed on the Nashville To You Campground Tour with Adam the past two summers.  They sang harmony on each other’s songs, which Adam loved since he is obsessed with amazing harmonies!  On the weekends, they all played beach volleyball during the day and sang around bonfires with campers in the evening.  So it’s pretty crazy to see them on The Voice now!  We are so excited for them and can’t wait to see how they do on this journey! 

Good luck pursuing your musical dreams, Hailey and Leland!

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Tim Tebow: Too Radical? (January’s Dreamer in the Spotlight)

15 Jan

Tim Tebow - Credit: Jeffrey Beall on Flickr.com

Earlier this week, when I woke for my daughter’s 4 am feeding, I started thinking about Tim Tebow.  Why? I have no idea.  Maybe it had something to do with the recent playoff win against the Pittsburgh Steelers combined with a brief article that I read the night before regarding his response to quarterback Jake Plummer stating he wanted him to limit the Jesus talk.  (This happened back in November and Adam had sent me a video link of the interview, but I forgot to watch it.  Click here to read about Tebow’s response – amazing!)  All I know, is that a lot of connections and revelations were going on in my mind at a time I am usually half asleep…

As I was thinking about these things, I realized that Tim Tebow would be the perfect person to feature for this month’s Dreamer in the Spotlight post.  He, without a doubt, is focused on doing whatever God’s will is for his life and is not fazed by what others’ say about him.  He was told he wouldn’t be successful in the NFL, but look where he is right now in only his second year.  He has people who talk trash about him, but he continues to possess a noticeable joy and unashamedly expresses his faith.  He does a lot of volunteer work and has his own Tim Tebow Foundation.  He has worked hard and kept his priorities in order.

Later that same morning, when I was getting ready for work, I noticed a quarter on the counter in the bathroom.  I picked it up and looked at the front to see the words that I already knew were printed there: “In God We Trust.” I don’t think it is a coincidence that the NFL is at its peak in popularity right now and God is working through a Heisman trophy winning quarterback to turn America’s attention back towards Him.  Adam told me that he heard that more people watched last weekend’s wildcard playoff game between Denver and Pittsburgh than any NFL game last season, besides the Superbowl.  In addition, so many people started researching verse John 3:16 that it trended on Google.  (And no, I don’t think the 316 total passing yards or 31.6 average yards per pass are coincidences either.)

Is Tim Tebow too radical?  I think it says a lot about the state of our country, when a man is getting so much attention for publicly giving God gratitude for all his blessings and for doing so many self-less acts.  It says many of us Christians aren’t radical enough.   We aren’t shining bright enough and unafraid to live a life uncommon.  Tebow has been an inspiration to those of us who haven’t had enough courage to stand up for our faith or pursue our dreams.  Some of you reading this may be thinking that I’m too radical right now.  If believing that God has a plan for each one of us and that miracles do happen makes me extreme, then yes, I’m radical – and proud of it!  I need to continue to step up my level of faith and “radical-ness,” especially after reading Psalm 34.

Below are some quotes and verses that came into my mind in the midst of thinking about all this Tebow stuff…

“Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.” -Basil King

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” -Philippians 4:13

“With God, all things are possible.” -Matthew 19:26

Tim Tebow should give each of us the confidence to not be afraid to show others who we truly are.  We all have talents that God has given us to make the world a better place.  We all have been given a role to aid humanity.  Tebow has definitely been an inspiration to Adam to be bolder and work harder.  He wrote a song last summer, simply and powerfully, titled, “Jesus.”  I woke Adam up after my 4 am revelation to tell him that I felt God was wanting him to share this song.  So please check out the YouTube video “Jesus” by Adam Lee and you’ll see what I mean…

God bless!

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Life is Good.

7 Jan

“Gratitude is the best attitude.”  -Author unknown

“Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are.  When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”  -Lao Tzu

The two quotes listed above were referenced in the book Chicken Soup for the Soul: Positive Thinking.  I just finished listening to this audiobook and these words stood out to me, in addition to several personal stories that were shared about a decision to view life with a positive attitude and a grateful heart.

One story was about a man who lost his job and had to stay home with his baby daughter while his wife worked, since they could no longer afford daycare.  At first, this father was devastated over losing his job and had no idea what to do with a baby all day.  This man shared how he eventually developed a routine, he knew what her cries meant, and they formed a very tight dad/daughter bond.  He said he wouldn’t have given this time up for anything.

That particular story touched me because I thought of Adam and the time that he spends with the girls during the week while I’m at work.  He has grown so close to our oldest daughter and adores our youngest.  I rarely ever have to tell him what to do with the girls or how to handle certain situations, since he is so comfortable doing all that needs to be done in regards to their care.  It made me realize that things are exactly how they are meant to be right now for us.  Often times, I struggle with feeling that we are not where we are supposed to be yet in life.  I think, “Someday, we’ll have a nicer house” or “I won’t have to work a full-time job,” etc., but if Adam had a more successful music career already, he probably wouldn’t be as close with our girls and, maybe, they wouldn’t have even been born!

Adam and I have so much to be thankful for.  Adam recently said, “If I could be guaranteed that life would get no better or no worse, then sign me up!”  We both seem to be approaching life with a much more positive outlook and we express gratitude daily for our beautiful daughters and our family.  I think going through a rough patch of sleep deprivation helped draw us closer together because we both saw that the other one was sacrificing a lot.   We also have come to the realization that God isn’t “holding out on us,” but is blessing and guiding us each day.

One other message that got my attention, while listening to this Chicken Soup book, was the idea of a “gratitude journal.”  What a great concept it is to write down the many specific blessings we receive daily – big and small!  I’m at peace and very content with exactly where we are today.  It’s great to have goals and dreams, but it is comforting to know that we are living out God’s plan right now!  Our lives aren’t being put on hold because we haven’t achieved something specific yet.  Like Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Life is a journey, not a destination…”  Each day that we have together is truly a gift!

 

 

Photo above via Felixco, Inc/freedigitalphotos.net

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December’s Dreamer in the Spotlight

30 Dec

This month, I have chosen a group of people to feature rather than just one person – those who have written the familiar Christmas carols that we hear year after year.

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I have been reading the book Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas by Ace Collins and have been amazed at the perseverance and faith of may of these poets and songwriters.  Some of the writers were facing religious persecution and some were trying to find joy in the midst of a depressing situation.  The journey that many of these songs have traveled on their way to becoming world-famous Christmas treasures is miraculous.  For example, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was originally a story created by a father for his daughter who was feeling down about not having a mother who was well enough to do the things that other girls’ mothers did.  Since the family had little money due to his wife having cancer, Bob May decided to write this story for his daughter as a Christmas present.  At a company Christmas party (he worked at a well-known department store), he read his finished story and the boss believed in it enough to have several copies made and sold them in the stores.  The book became a best-seller and his brother-in-law eventually made the story of “Rudolph” into a song.  The song was turned down to be recorded by some well-known recording artists before finally being cut by Gene Autry.  Now it is one of the most known songs of all-time!

Reading the history of these songs, has been, yet, another source of inspiration.  What a great reminder that we must continue to believe and pursue our dreams, since we have no idea how God will use us to affect others now and in the future!

Happy New Year!  Hope everyone has a great 2012 filled with blessings!

Above photo by Idea go/freedigitalphotos.net

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A Custom Creation

13 Dec

Custom Cake by Abby Head

Adam’s birthday was the other weekend, and I had a friend (August’s Dreamer in the Spotlight), Abby Head, create a special cake to surprise him with for his birthday.  She posted about the process and took some great step-by-step pictures on her blog, Creative Crumbs.

Please click here to view this awesome football/music creation!  It took us awhile to figure out exactly how to combine these two, but we were able to make it happen!  If you can believe it, the cake tasted even better than it looked – easily the best chocolate cake I have EVER eaten!  I wish you all could taste it!

Abby, your future in delicious confections continues to look bright!

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November’s Dreamer in the Spotlight

30 Nov

The young woman that I’m featuring this month is truly an inspiration!  Her name is Katie Davis and  I ran across an article about her story last month in the Tennessean.  She is a perfect example of how God can use each of us to do extraordinary things if we will listen and be open to whatever He asks.  Easier said that done, right?  I’m sure a lot of people were skeptical of her plans and worried about her, but she is making a difference and shedding God’s light on so many lives!

Please click on the following headline to read the online version of “At 22, woman is mom to 13 Ugandan children”.

As the article mentions, she also has a blog called Kisses from Katie and recently released a book by the same name.  I’m looking forward to checking it out when I get some time.  She makes me think about how amazing it would be if all of us embraced God’s plan for our lives! The bible verse “Yet not as I will, but as YOU will (Matthew 26: 39)” is the status on Amazima Minstries‘ Facebook page!

(photo above courtesy of africa via http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1803)

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Side note:  I realized after I published my previous post, that I forgot to include a main part of my sleep deprivation story, so I’ll include it below.  This is just a perfect example of my mommy brain in action!  Here we go…

As I mentioned, I had a week where I was very irritable and unpleasant towards Adam.  That Saturday, while Adam was working, I cleaned the house and did several chores while watching the girls.  I even had time to make dinner.  I felt like I was being a good wife/mother and wanted Adam to feel relaxed when he arrived home.  Of course, shortly after he walked through the door, my attitude and moodiness overshadowed my good intentions and homemaking skills as my exhaustion kicked in after a long, busy day.  I made sure Adam knew what a heavy load I carried and complained about all of my responsibilities.  So much for him relaxing, huh?

The next morning, we went to Mass and the first reading was from Proverbs 31.  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!  I felt like God was specifically talking to me and I started to cry, because I wanted to be a good wife and was ashamed of how I had been acting.  I had been blaming Adam for not helping me, when I should have been asking the Lord for grace and strength to deal with a tough time.  Sometimes it can be discouraging to just “suck it up and deal with it” when mothers have to continuously sacrifice, but I know that it is a privilege and a blessing to be called to marriage and to be able to raise children.

The sum of all of this is:  Husbands, help your wives get sleep and they won’t be so psycho and will be more appreciative of all of their blessings!  I know Adam has seen the benefits of a more rested wife already!

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Tired Mommy on Board – Stay off the Road!

26 Nov

I can’t do it all… Shocking news, I know!

The past month has been a challenging time mostly due to sleep deprivation because my 7-month-old has decided to wake up like a newborn throughout the night again.  I’m even struggling to organize my thoughts right now to write this blog post that has been floating around in my head for a few weeks.  This is the first chance that I’ve really had to start typing it all out…

First of all, I hate when the time changes and it is pitch black outside when I get out of work in the evening.  It throws me off my schedule and puts a major kink in my routine with the girls.  This year, it happened to coincide with “Little A” dropping her late afternoon nap, which equaled the perfect storm of disrupted sleep for baby AND mommy!  Adam was also on the road for two weekends in a row, so I was not able to catch any extra zzz’s and my sleep debt continued to accumulate.  Needless to say, the value of quality sleep is not to be underestimated – just ask my husband!  He had to deal with an irritable, moody, impatient Stefanie every night for a week straight.  There is a reason that sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture!  I, apparently, wasn’t the only one being tortured!  “A happy wife is a happy life”, right?!

Anyway, after sending Adam some articles on the effects of sleep deprivation and him convincing me to leave work early to take an afternoon nap, I have started to slowly return closer to “normal.”  At least I know I’m a little less dangerous on the road.  (Driving while sleep deprived is about as risky as driving drunk!)  Adam has been great with the girls and has let me sleep in for a couple hours for a few random days recently.  I am even going to a nail salon later today with my mother, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law for a manicure and pedicure – something I never do.  It will be nice to have some time for myself and relax for a couple hours!

I want to thank those of you who have been keeping up with my random blog posts.  My hope one day soon is to have a routine day each week that I post.  This is one area that I have given myself permission to let go for now, since I have so many responsibilities and things to juggle on a daily basis.  It’s helping my sanity right now to sleep instead of blog!  Hopefully, I’ll find time to squeeze in November’s Dreamer of the Month in the next few days before it’s too late!

 

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“Off-Season” Update

11 Nov

 

Adam Lee and Tommy at The Listening Room

 

Here is a little rundown of the latest in Adam’s music career journey:

1. Adam Lee/The Adam Lee Trio/The Adam Lee Band – As Adam mentioned in his own personal post a couple weeks ago, he has been rehearsing with his drummer (Tommy) and bass player (Ed) to start playing gigs around town.  (It just so happens that the drummer is my cousin and they are both Adam’s closest friends!  And all of us wives have been able to hang out and watch our babies while the guys jam, too!  Nice bonus!)  Adam has also added a fourth member, who has been a long-time acquaintance and was briefly part of the same 80’s cover band a few years ago before landing a tech gig with Joe Don Rooney of Rascal Flatts.  Dave, a guitar player, has been itching to get out and play again and this allows him an opportunity to do that.  Adam will now be able to play keyboard for several songs.  How awesome is it that he has found three talented guys who believe in his music and will play for free?!    Adam has set it up, too, where he can play a solo acoustic gig if certain people aren’t available, can do a trio if Dave is on the road, or can play a full band set if everyone can make it.  The goal is to get a regular weekly gig at a club downtown, so he can get his music out there!

2. Lending a Voice – Adam played a benefit show last weekend in New York for a charity called Crew’s Voice.  Adam was able to get involved with this fundraiser through a group of friends that he has met and gotten to know over the past two years doing the campground tour.  Adam also has a benefit show this weekend for the West Alabama Food Bank.  A woman that he regularly sings demos for asked him to be a part of it.

3. Eich Audio – I think it’s so cool when people can help each other’s dreams come to fruition.  A high school friend of Adam’s (Jesse Howard) has started a custom guitar pedal business with another guy (Martin Eich).  They are making Adam a customized guitar pedal and want him to represent their business.  Adam went up to Kentucky about a month ago so they could get familiar with his sound and style and create something special just for him!

4. Co-Writing with a duo out of L.A. – A sound engineer that Adam was associated with through his days of playing with Emma Jacob has asked Adam to write with a duo that he is producing from California.  They have written a few times so far when they have come to Nashville.  Adam seems to like the stuff that they have come up with, so who knows where it will go…

5. Too many new song ideas to keep up with – Adam has shown me some new melodies and lyrical ideas for a handful of songs that he has recently been inspired to write.  The ideas are flowing!  His sound is leaning more towards a pop/blues feel now.  As my cousin Tommy describes it – Maroon 5 meets John Mayer meets Los Lonely Boys.

Life continues to be busy with our daughters, work, and music…  There’s hardly ever a spare moment, but life is good!

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Adam Speaks, er, Writes!

24 Oct

I had Adam write a little update about what has been going on lately in his own words.  Here it is – from the man himself!!

This is my first official entry for the A Dreamer’s Wife blog and I’m so excited to share with you what I’ve been up to these past few months.  From May thru September, I was on the “Nashville 2 You Campground Tour” with five other artists from Nashville.  We traveled from Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan to upstate New York, Virginia and North Carolina.  This was the second year of the tour and my second year playing as a solo artist.   The coolest thing about this stripped-down acoustic tour is that I got to meet many wonderful people and it challenged me as an artist to set myself apart from other artists on the tour.  It has made me think this thought over and over, “Who am I as an artist, and what do I want people to remember about me when they see me perform?”

Adam playing downtown during CMA Fest 2011

God answered this question through a couple of people.  The first, is a man named Ashley Swan who works in the music industry, and to make a long and awesome story short, he asked me one simple question, “What do you want to do with it (my music)?” I must admit, I was taken aback by my response and couldn’t believe what I had said a second after I said it, which was “make money”.  EEEEK!!!  Needless to say, that was the wrong answer and I will only say that Stef and I were struggling a little financially at the time and that was weighing heavily on my heart, but there is no excuse for my response.  I didn’t move to Nashville at 19, ask my wife (then girlfriend) to move to Nashville away from her family and everything she’s ever known to just make money.  Don’t get me wrong, money is a necessary commodity and it’s my responsibility to provide for my family, but it can’t be my major motivator.  He helped me realize that I’ve been chasing the wrong things.  I had been basing every desicion I made on getting recognition, making others happy, money, and acceptance from the people who call the shots in Nashville’s music scene.  I’m not a country singer, yet I tried to write and sing country songs.  I’m not a sideman, yet I played on the side.  I’m not of the world, yet I hid my Christianity.  TRUTH – that is what I want to be about – living my life as I am, not who others think I should be.

The second person that God put in my path to help me answer the question is an amazing artist, Jenn Bostic.  Jenn came on the road with the tour for a couple weekends and she sang a song called “Jealous of The Angels” about her Dad who had passed away 15 years ago.  She was very open with her faith and her loss on the microphone, in front of complete strangers.  She had the courage to be who she was and did not put on a front.  She taught me that as Christians/secular artists, we have to be willing to speak the truth – no matter what!

So now let me try and answer the question, “What do you want to do with it?”  I want to create music that brings joy to peoples lives and speaks the TRUTH!!!  I am currently rehearsing with 2 of my best friends – Ed Hardin (Bass) and Stef’s cousin, Tommy Gravelle (Drums), and we are unofficially calling ourselves “The Adam Lee Trio” or “The Adam Lee Band” as soon as we find our fourth member.  I want to thank my wife Stef for all of her love and support and patience through this journey.  For the first time, I feel like I know where I’m going and I have a pretty good idea how to get there and I wouldn’t be here without my wonderful wife!

Till next time,
Adam

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