LIFE

On Saturday I had the great honor of singing a benefit concert for the Beratungstelle Aus-Weg?! http://www.ausweg-pforzheim.de/start.html What an amazing work this handful of people do. So much time, energy, love and money poured into women and men affected by unwanted pregnancies or the emotional pain of coming to grips with past abortions. They are supported solely by private donations because the State will only financially support organizations that provide neutral options to women. This Beratungstelle is anything but neutral. They invest in LIFE. They provide contacts, counseling, money, refuge, and medical referrals in the hopes that some women considering abortion can find the strength to give their baby a fighting chance at LIFE.
I put together a program especially aimed at affirming the LIFE we've been given. Some songs that I've sung countless times took on a whole new meaning in the light of this particular theme. Songs like "Bridge over Troubled Water", "God Bless the Child" "Ich Steh zu Dir", "Seele, Was Ermüdst du Dich", "Weiter auf dem Weg", "Wir Fallen Hin" and "Seine Gnade" can be balsam for the troubled soul.
I'm so thankful for each of these songs- and so many others as well. And thankful that the Holy Spirit carries them in careful hands to so many hearts and minds.
The last song of the program was "Mutterseelenallein". I haven't sung it for years and I must admit, there was an emotional hurdle for me to jump to sing it to this audience.
It is a very personal song, recorded while I was pregnant with my youngest son, Luke. He was diagnosed in utero with a debilitating handicap and it was suggested that I seriously consider an abortion. It turned out that the tests were very badly mistaken and Luke is a brilliant young man who is about to graduate from Gymnasium with a major in economics and philosophy.
And he is so full of LIFE.

Happy Birthday to Me !

You know, you can say what you will about Facebook, (and I definitely feel mixed pickles about FB) but one thing is really cool: I've had almost 100 wonderful birthday wishes come my way over FB today. So many people, some I know and some I don't, thinking, at least for a few moments on me, and caring enough to write a few words to me on my birthday. Some even sending me pictorial wishes like this one from Feli Wolf. Happy Cae!

I got a card today from my darling neighbors and I'm considering writing a song lyric using these thoughts from Mutter Theresa:

DAS LEBEN IST EINE CHANCE

Das Leben ist eine Chance, nutze sie.
Das Leben ist Schönheit, bewundere sie.
Das Leben ist ein Traum, verwirkliche ihn.
Das Leben ist eine Pflicht, erfülle sie.
Das Leben ist ein Spiel, spiele es.
Das Leben ist kostbar, gehe sorgfältig damit um.
Das Leben ist Liebe, erfreue dich an ihr.
Das Leben ist ein Rätsel, durchdringe es.
Das Leben ist Versprechen, erfülle es.
Das Leben ist eine Hymne, singe sie.
Das Leben ist Herausforderung, stelle dich ihr.
Das Leben ist ein Abenteuer, wage es.
Das Leben ist Glück, verdiene es.
Das Leben ist das Leben, verteidige es.

Sorry, those of you who can't read German, but I'm not going to spend my birthday translating this. Maybe later.....

Thomas Mark, the audio engineer at Kangaroo Studios called me to wish me happy birthday and told me this joke-
So a Catholic priest, a Muslim and a Rabi were having a discussion about "When Does Life Begin". The Catholic priest said that Life begins the moment of conception. The Muslim countered and said that Life begins the moment the baby takes its' first breath after birth, and the Rabi said, "No, no, Life begins when the kids finally leave the house and the dog dies!"
And on that note........

Strawberry Time!

The strawberries are here!!! Time to get out the very best home-made shortcake recipes. Yesterday I discovered a new recipe, tried it, and now it's definitely one of our favourites. So easy and so deliciously warm and comforting on a cool spring afternoon.
First of all, you gotta have a nice big basket of ripe, aromatic, juicy strawberries. Pare them, cut them into quarters, then sprinkle with sugar and let them sit so that they make lots of juicy sweet syrup in the bottom of the bowl.
And here is the shortcake recipe:
It says it serves 8. Ha ha ha. It served 3 at my house!
2 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder (backpulver)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 425° F (220°C).
In a food processor, combine the flour, butter, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Process until it looks like course meal. Add the milk and just barely pulse until moistened. Don't overprocess.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. (I turned it out directly onto baking parchment) With floured hands, pat it into a 4 x 8 inch (10 x 20 cm. ) rectangle. Cut the dough into 8 (or in our case 3! ) squares with a floured knife. Sprinkle with a little bit of sugar, slide the parchment sheet onto a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.
Cool just a bit. Split the biscuits in half with a serrated knife and layer with the berries and a lot of whipped cream.
Be sure to enjoy this while the shortcakes are still warm. That is the divine-ness of it.

Let me know what you think.

Reconciliation

In 1043 Earl Leofric and his wife, Lady Godiva (The one who rode naked through the streets of Coventry to protest the heavy taxes her husband had imposed on the people. Her protest turned out to be very effective!) endowed the building of a small Benedictine monastary in Coventry, England. By the 14th century, it had grown into one of the largest parish churches of the country and was officially raised to the status of St. Michael's Cathedral.
On November 14, 1940, in an air attack by the German Luftwaffe, the cathedral was demolished except for, amazingly, the tower and the underground crypts. It was decided to not tear down the ruins of the church, but to leave them as a memorial and build a new Cathedral right next them.
Last week, Eddie and I were able to visit St. Michael's Cathedral. I don't know when I have been in a setting that was so peaceful and at the same time so majestic. And each piece of artwork has been carefully chosen to induce thoughtful meditation.
The ongoing theme in the church is that of reconciliation. "to reconcile: To re-establish friendship, to settle or resolve a dispute, to bring oneself to accept." Now that is a very large order for a people to experience reconciliation with the people who destroyed their lives and their beloved cathedral.
From the smoldering embers of the bombed church were taken 3 charred iron nails from the roof to be formed into the shape of a cross. This has become a symbol of peace and reconciliation for the people of Britain and copies of this cross have been sent around the world.
The first recipient of the "Cross of Nails" was the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche in Berlin. How appropriate! The Gedächtniskirche in Berlin was also nearly destroyed in air attacks by the British. Many lives were lost and a beautiful and ancient church was bombed almost to the ground. The ruins of the original church have also been kept as they were as a memorial to the tragedy of war. And in that church there sits a "Cross of Nails". An exact copy of the one in Coventry.
2 Corinthians 5:
¹⁷Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

¹⁸Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

¹⁹namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Something Bigger

I have now been on antibiotics for 7 days. I hate antibiotics for so many reasons, but I know that sometimes they save lives. My doctor, who is very stingy with his antibiotic prescriptions, has me on a 2 week treatment in the hopes of finally getting rid of a nasty and painful sinus infection and bronchitis.
You know, if I had a normal job, ths would be no big deal. But tomorrow and Saturday I have 2 concerts with 4yourSoul. One in Knittlingen (not far from Karlsruhe) and one in Leihgestern- close to Giessen. The one tomorrow is completely sold out, but I understand that there are still tickets to be had for the Saturday concert. It's starts at 20:00 at the :
Ev. Kirche Leihgestern Kirchstrasse 35440 Linden For tickets: 06403-62078 oder 609928 Timo.Kloes@online.de kirche.leihgestern@t-online.de

I'm doing everything possible to be in good voice for these concerts. But, I would appreciate your prayers. So often I've felt something bigger than me take over a seemingly hopeless situation and turn it into something special. That "something bigger" is my God.
I haven't written in this blog since my concert in Siegen. Oh, my, what a special evening. I'm attaching a couple of pictures from that concert. I loved having Florian with me, and Luke on percussion, guitar and backings. And Eddie manning the merchandise table, with Mokka the dog at his feet. All my peeps! (Except my son in England, of course, but that would have been sort of a long trip for him)
Luke forgot to bring his e-guitar with him to the concert. I will not make a judgement call here, even though I am strongly inclined to! So, he had to borrow one from the young daughter of the concert organizer. (Thank you soooooo much!) It was freshly strung, and did not hold tuning even for the length of one song. So, Luke and I (and lots of other people) were in stitches at the sounds coming out of that instrument. Luke even laughed right out loud at one point, which got my giggle box turned over and almost ended the song. I love it when stuff like that happens!
I spontaneously asked whether anyone from our choir workshop from 2 weeks before were there in the audience. Several hands went up, so I asked them whether they would sing one of the songs with me that we had done together. And one after another came up to the stage to sing with me. And they just kept coming. Honestly, I think there were 25-30 singers on the stage singing "Liebe Trägt Uns Durch" with me. It was a very cool moment for me! I've included a picture of that moment.
I asked Eddie to sing "The Prayer" with me as the encore. What a roar of approval from the audience! Eddie is truly a monumental audio and visual experience!
Maybe I'll see you at one of the concerts. If so, cool! If not, I'll let you know how it goes......

so much for thawing.....

I thought winter was gone for good. Ha! Massive snowstorm yesterday. All my little spring flowers are covered with snow and ice. I hope they live over it.
This week I met a young woman.
Outside description: Tall, blonde, blue eyes, fantastic willowy figure, intelligent conversationalist, very well-dressed.
Inside description: Bitter, angry, disappointed, frustrated, and very sad.
Sort of like the picture of my little primrose you see above. What a beauty she was. But then she became encased in a layer of ice and snow.
After talking to the young woman for a while, I found out why she was like she was. Some might say, she has every reason in the world to be cold and bitter.
But I could see that God had given her so much. He even put people in her path to hold her and help her through her troubles.
Maybe you can relate to this young woman. Maybe you only feel the cold of winter right now, but you long for spring to finally break through and melt the ice.
I'm praying for the sun to break through..... for YOU !

Thaw

After flying home last night from Hamburg, it has taken me all day to get caught up on emails, business, bills, Lifeline mailings, etc. And now, whew, I can catch my breath and greet you all with a sunny first-golden-crocus-of-spring greeting. Yep, 2 of those beauties came up this morning in the garden. In Hamburg it was snowing yesterday and there were MOUNTAINS of plowed snow on every street corner and parking lot. The roads were icy and the wind was cold. So it is good to be back in the warmer region of the Rhine Valley.
Last Sunday was such a fun, but busy and tiring day. Eddie, my darling husband, drove me up to Siegen to do a concert with a volunteer choir of 130 voices. They and their band had chosen the repertoire for the concert and there were lots of oldies but goodies for me to take out and dust off. In the dusting, I discovered that we were to do an old favorite "Jericho". I had recorded this in 1990, or thereabouts as a duet with Henning Rauhut. I really haven't seen him since. But I decided to try to call him at an old telephone number I had for him to ask him to come to Siegen to sing this song with me again. The number was right and before I had finished my request, Henning said he would come. :)
I had no idea what I would find when I got there for the rehearsals. I kind of like that risk of the unknown! What I found was a wonderfully prepared band and a well-rehearsed choir and lots of very happy and joyous people. And Henning Rauhut. Oh boy, did we have fun!
Sabine Heilmann is an excellent choir director and we just clicked. The choir was so flexible and spontaneous in spite its' size. And the band around keyboarder Martin Decker, outdid themselves.
On Monday I had a 4yourSoul concert at the Kammertheater in Karlsruhe. The concert has been sold out for about 2 months already, so there was no point in telling you about it beforehand! :) We invited a guest to perform with us. His name is Dino Soldo. www.dinosoldo.com What a musician! He has played all kinds of instruments for all kinds of great artists through the years. Saxophone, clarinet, harmonica, and electronic wind instrument played for Leonard Cohen, Ray Charles, Beyonce, Lionel Richie, Ernie Watts, Woody Allen, Lou Rawls and 4yourSoul. He just blew us away and inspired us to sing like we've never sung before. What an unforgettable concert that was.
On Tuesday we flew to Hamburg and I spent the afternoon at my favorite bead atelier- Maddy Popper. www.maddypopper.de The owners of the store allowed me exclusive access to their treasure of beads from all over the world. And I went a little bit crazy there for about 3 hours. You will see the purchases from that afternoon popping up in Lifelines now for a while.
On Wednesday we pre-recorded a talk show for Bibel TV. Florian, Eddie and I were interviewed by an interesting man, Wolfgang Severin, who is a Catholic priest in Brussels. Honestly, we could have visited with him for hours and hours. We had as many questions for him as he did for us. I don't know when it will be shown on television, but I'll try to keep you posted.
So, what about Margot Käßman? Forget the fact that she was the first female Bishop of the Protestant Church in Germany. She is the mother of 4 daughters. I, as a mother, cannot imagine getting drunk, much less getting drunk and then getting behind the steering wheel of a car! Lord have mercy! She had to have drunk 1 liter of wine to have as much alcohol as she had in her blood.
What a shame. We met her 2 weeks ago when we sang in Berlin for the EPD 100-year celebration. She is so intelligent, sharp, clever, funny and wise. What in the world happened?
So, moving on......
I will try to put a radio interview on to this blog that Eddie and I did last week with Michael Wieland from Radio Herob. I'm not making any promises that this will work. I am pretty clutzy when it comes to such technical things. See if this works:
https://www.mydrive.ch/download/54264775
Radio Horeb interview with Cae and Eddie
Wishing you a Great Thaw!