SAMESTATE Concert – By M

Still trying hard to keep these posts coming regularly 🙂

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Recently, Staci and I, had the privilege to put on a free concert at Wesley Church where we work.  I have never felt so overwhelmed in my life, and yet never felt so rewarded afterward (… well, actually it at least ranks in my top 5 rewarding feelings for sure).

I never knew there was so much that went in to putting on this kind of event.  I wont go in to all the details or anything, but from booking the band, to providing for their stay, to getting the equipment rented, and trying our best to get this thing some publicity, it was quite a task.

I think one of my favorite parts of the whole thing was actually getting to meet the guys from SAMESTATE and Climbing Blind (we booked them to be the opening band).  They are all great people and it is so awesome to see honest, Christian young men trying to do spread the Word by using what God has gifted them.  It is also cool to be introduced to some new music that I probably wouldn’t have ever known about other wise.

Here are a couple of pics from the show:

Climbing Blind

SAMESTATE

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And Some of students:

You gotta go check out these guys!  They have great music and great hearts!  I wish the best for them and hope that God continues to use them in their ministry!  I leave you with this last thing:

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-M

A Year Ago-ish Today – By M

I feel like I can’t say this phrase enough, and I know I’ll just say it more and more as time goes on, but “time flies!”  It’s hard to believe that it has already been over a year that we began the process of building our house!  About a week ago, last year, we signed all the paper work and got everything all picked out, and our house started the preliminary stages of being built.

This was all we had… Smiles and an empty lot!

Over the summer (which was, by far, the craziest summer of my life) we saw our house go up and have been so blessed to be in our first and brand new home!

And here we are a year later…

We have now been in our new house for nearly 8 months!  And I remember when it felt like we would never be moved in!

God has blessed us so much!   And we couldn’t be more thankful!  We have been given an awesome and beautiful new house! And a little one on the way!  I don’t think we’ve posted anything with his new bedroom that we have been working on, so I’ll go ahead and post a little teaser pic (I know Staci will want to do a full post sometime later on).

And now we’re only a little over 2 months out from our son’s due date!  ….so speaking of crazy summers…. 🙂

That’s more or less what’s new with us… What has been going on with you over this past year?  I know a lot of you are having babies too!  I think Staci and I counted up about 14, or so, couples of our friends who are expecting or have just had their first baby this year!  So Crazy!  So what’s going on in your neck of the woods?

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– M

It’s Been Too Long – By M

I can’t even remember when we wrote our lost blog post, but I can imagine it was probably somewhere back in February about our son, Josiah, who is still healthy, kicking (like a baby ninja), and growing!  There have been so many great things going on for us, and we have stayed so busy that it has been hard to write, but I wanted to give everyone out there a quick update on what’s going on in the world of Michael Elizondo:

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– Staci is currently in week 29 of her pregnancy!  It’s so crazy that our baby boy is dues in less than 3 months!  Wow

– We spent Spring Break working in Josiah’s bedroom and it’s been so fun seeing it come together!  We’re so thankful for our parents who have done so much as we prepare for Josiah!  We also thank everyone who has already surprised us with little gifts here and there!

– I have to give props to my mom, mother-in-law, father-in-law, and sister-in-law for all the help they did for us as we got our flower beds done.  I don’t think I’ve moved more dirt and rocks in my life, but it feels rewarding and looks great!

– New Favorite Artist:  Zach Williams

– Staci and I just finished our 4th time watching the Harry Potter Movie Series all the way through… 4th time… does that makes us freaks?  oh well 🙂

– Cant wait til July!  3rd Batman comes out and it will be epic!

– We’re getting our first real neighbor (If you haven’t been tracking along, Staci and I had the awesome opportunity to build our house in a new subdivision.  Our closest right-side neighbors are a lot over and the closest left-side neighbors are 2 lots over, but now we will have an immediate neighbor on our left!)  Which is nice, because the loud part of the construction, if not all the construction should be done by the time Josiah gets here and that’s on his side of the house.  It does throw us off when we look out our back windows and see men walking around in the backyard next to us.

– Our son is coming so soon and we can’t wait!

– I am loving this NBA season.  Although I am still a little bitter about the lock-out (millionaires fighting over money *roll my eyes* is pretty ridiculous in my opinion) I am loving watching my Spurs dominate.  I’m holding out for Championship #5!  Let’s See it in June!

– Staci celebrated her birthday, and although we didn’t get to celebrate the way that we had hoped it was still a special day/weekend!

– Love our new toys, thanks to our Tax return!  New DSLR camera and HD Camcorder!  They’ll be perfect for documenting our little one and all the family events that we’ll be celebrating in the future!  (I know you nay-Sayers who disagree with getting a return, but it works for us, and it’s nice to get a little gift every spring… better than dreading tax day for sure)

– I hope Fox Renews Alcatraz for season 2!  That was a really good show!

– Speaking of good shows and Fox, Touch is absolutely incredible!  go to Hulu and watch now!  Oh and Once Upon a Time on ABC is good too, but Staci likes that more than me 🙂

– We will be parents in less than 3 months!  That is still so unbelievable to me!

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We hope that all is well with you, and hope to get some more posts up here regularly.  We know that it will be harder and harder once Josiah gets here, but we want to keep you all in the loop!

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Now that you know a little bit more about what’s going on in our world, how are things in your world?

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– M

Worship Leadership – By M

Many of you who read our blog know that I play guitar and love music.  I began playing the summer before 9th grade mostly because I was bored and we had an unused guitar in the close and learning how to play gave me something to do.  Over the next few years I taught myself to play and sing, and eventually became a part of our youth worship band.  I had a great opportunity to continue to learn and practice and was mentored into leading worship.

Ever since the first time I lead worship (my Junior year of high school) I have loved letting that be a big part of my life and ministry.  Of course with the rewards of getting to lead worship, there are also many pressures.  We live in such a musically driven society, and, maybe it’s just me, but I feel like worship leaders are naturally judged based upon their skills, abilities, and styles.  Also, I think singing, much like public speaking, makes me people more subconscious than just about anything else.

So I have always found myself struggling with my vocal abilities while singing, as well as the fact that I’ve never really been a writer (sure, I write on our blog, but that’s not exactly poetic literature or anything).  And it has always made me feel a little “less than” as a musician and worship leader.

Then as I was reading one of the blogs I follow (Ragamuffin Soul) I was encouraged by what this graphic that the author, Carlos Whittaker (Who is a Worship Leader and church consultant of sorts) put up:

I found this really encouraging (Especially coming from a well-known worship leader and Christian icon).  It helps to remind me that even if I don’t have the best voice, or the best musical ability, or the ability to write the best song (or any song at all, for that matter) that God can and does use me as I lead in music worship.

I think this also applies in plenty of other ministries and areas of life.  So if you ever feel a little “less than” just because your not the child prodigy that can do everything without having to think about it, remember that God wants to and can use you no matter what you do!

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Have you ever felt a little “less than the rest” in life?  What’s something you’ve found to be encouraging in your life recently?

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– M

New Disney Favorite – By M

With Staci making all her fun Disney posts, I figure why not make one of my own?!

And, if you haven’t caught on by now, Staci and I are big Disney fans.  Granted, Staci is a much bigger fan than I am, and she is also madly in love with Disney World.  Anyway, the two of us our always buying and watching Disney movies.  It’s great to have all our old childhood favorites and other classics.  We’re big nerds like that.

We’re also a part of the Disney Movie Club because you can get a ton of Disney DVDs for real cheap when you sign up.  We also, want to be prepared for when we have kids, so they can enjoy the movies that we grew up watching.

So we recently made an order for Dumbo and the New Winnie the Pooh movie.  We originally made this purchase, as stated before, for our future child.  We decided to watch Winnie the Pooh to see if it would be any good.  My family had the original one when I was kid and I remember it was funny (for being a 5 year old).  So I honestly wasn’t expecting much.  As the movie opened, it had that same Winnie the Pooh nostalgic feel –the old bedroom with the stuffed animals strewn about the room, the same “Winnie the Pooh” song intro (done very well by Zooey Deschanel), etc– a lot of the events in this story even mirror some of the old story.  Needless to say it started well…

…And to my great surprise got better as the show went on.  Staci will be my witness that this movie had me laugh out loud more than any other movie since Despicable Me.  It really blew me away how witty the lines were, and the slap-stick humor was great!  The only complaint I would have is that the movie is only 60 minutes… I didn’t realize feature movies could even be that short.  Although the Toy Story trilogy and the Lion King will always be my tops when it comes to Disney movies, this new Winnie The Pooh movie has definitely made its mark in my book!  So go rent it, enjoy it, and let your inner child out for a good 60 minutes!

So find a chance to tap into your inner child and check out the new “Winnie the Pooh” movie and enjoy!

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What’s a recent movie that really surprised you in a good way?

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– M

Best of 2011 – By M

Ok… I know that this is, like, 3 weeks too late, but I figured, Hey why not?!

Besides, there were a whole lot of awesome things to highlight in the year of 2011.  So, here goes!

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Favorite Once-in-a-life-time Event:  Skydiving with my wife

This is something that has been on my to-do list since I was in middle school, but I never thought I would have the opportunity to actually go do it.  The craziest part for me was watching Staci fall out of the plane with her instructor right before me and knowing that this was “Go time!”  Check out THIS post that we wrote about it afterward.  And here are a couple of pictures from it.

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Favorite Youth Trip:  California for the Youth 2011 Conference

Although Staci and I had plenty of incredible experiences with our students this year, I think our trip to Cali takes the cake.  The conference was great, the kids were fun, and the sites were awesome!  Can’t beat it for 2011.

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Favorite New Toy: iPad 2

Yeah, it’s pretty awesome!  But I waste too much time on it… but I am getting better!

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Favorite Movie (and Book Series): Harry Potter 7.2 (Harry Potter Series)

I know this is a completely nerdy pick, but you have to admit, the way that the HP story culminates into HP 7.2 is absolutely incredible.  And it makes it even better if you’ve read the books.  I don’t care what anyone says… if you can’t see the story of true love and self-sacrifice through this epic story then you’re crazy!

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Favorite New (or New-to-me) Album(s): Gungor – Beautiful Things, NEEDTOBREATHE – The Reckoning, Owl City – All Things Bright and Beautiful

This is a toughy because we got tons of great music this year, but these are definitely ones that find their way onto my iPod more often than not!  And if you want to see more great music from 2011 check out THIS post.  We also had our best Christmas music of 2011 HERE.

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Favorite Accomplishment: Building a covered porch for a woman in need for our HS Mission trip, U.M. Army

I’ve dabbled in renovations and remodeling with my in-laws, but never have I built something from the ground up.  I blogged more about the whole week of work on THIS post, check it out.

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Favorite New-to-me TV Show: Parenthood

Ok, I have to preface this one by saying, I find a hard time recommending this show because of certain content in this show.  However, I love that this show is themed around family and how important it is to have family in your life no matter how dysfunctional.  I have to admit that this show has put a lump in my throat many-a-time.

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Favorite Concert: David Crowder*Band (House of Blues Houston, TX)

DC*B has been my favorite band since high school.  David Crowder has had a huge impact on me as a musician and worship leader.  I love their music and their concerts are loads of fun.  I’m heart-broken that they’re breaking up and that this was their last tour together, but it is awesome for them to go out on their own terms and make it solid!

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Favorite Event: Catalyst Dallas

Catalyst is an incredible Christian leadership conference that began in Atlanta.  They now have a small version they do on the West Coast in California as well as in the mid-west in Dallas.  Great speakers, musicians, entertainment, and more!  Someday I hope to make it out to the Atlanta conference!  You can check out a post we wrote about it HERE.

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Favorite Purchase: Buying a house

‘Nough said…  There is nothing like having your own home, and it’s even more special to pick out what you like, and watch the building phase from the ground up!  It’s been an awesome journey for Staci and me to be in our new home.

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Favorite Overall Moment: Finding Out We’re Pregnant!

Many of you have read through our pregnancy story and know that this has been a long and difficult journey for the two of us.  So seeing the positive on the pregnancy test was such an incredible thing!  And it’s been fun getting all prepared for the little one to arrive this summer.

Then…

Now…

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Those are my tops for the year of 2011!  I’m sure there are plenty more things I could go on about, but I’ll keep things short there.

What are some of your faves from 2011?

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–M

A Sunday Christmas – By M

This is year is kind of an unusual one.  For the first time since 2005, Christmas falls on a Sunday.  This makes for a pretty interesting December 25th for us Ministers and other church go-ers… To have a Christmas day service or not?  THIS POST by Jon Acuff made me think about this question again, and it made me want to post my own thoughts about it.

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Although our last Sunday Christmas day was only a few years back, I honestly don’t remember what our family did that day.  I had just completed my semester of college, and I do remember that I got pretty sick over the break, so the 2005 holiday is pretty much a blur to me.  Also, it was the first Christmas that my brother and sister didn’t spend the majority of Christmas break at home.  That shook things up around the house a bit.  And to top it off, it was the first of several years that my dad spent Christmas away from home on medical mission trip.  All this to say that it already wasn’t a typical Christmas at the Elizondo’s that year.

The only previous Sunday Christmas day previous to that (that I was old enough to remember) was in 1994.  I remember being bummed out that we had to get all dressed up and leave home for church when I wanted to stay at home and play with my new toys.  Granted, as a 7 year old, their really isn’t much else on the mind other than to play with your toys.

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This year, I have been struggling with the fact that Christmas lands on a Sunday meaning that Staci and I will be at our church’s 10am service rather than staying in enjoying the warmth and comfort of home.  That is, I struggled with this thought until this past Sunday.  During our church service, our senior pastor gave a pretty compelling message why it should be a no-brainer to have and attend church this Christmas day.

He pointed out how ironic it is that Christians are usually pretty good about getting upset that Christmas, the day we celebrate our Savior’s birth, is so horribly commercialized.   We fume about how the mainstream media is pushing the phrase “Happy Holidays” over “Merry Christmas.”  We demand that Culture not take the “Christ” out of Christmas!  Yet… we look at our calendars dreading the year that Christmas fall on Sunday.  Why?  Because it’s too inconvenient to go to our place of worship to celebrate Christ’s birth?  Because we’d rather stay in and play with all the new gifts and toys we got for Christmas?

I don’t post this to sound preachy.  I only post it because I was so convicted as the words came out of my pastor’s mouth.

Hopefully I can make Christmas more about this…

 

And less about this…

Presents, family, friends, memories… They’re all great!  And they are great by-products to the season.  But hopefully we can still put Christ at the front –above all else– this Christmas.

That’s my prayer for me this year.

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– M

Christmas Albums 2011

Last year Staci and I did a post on our favorite Christmas albums. It pretty much covers our favorite albums up to last year. You can check that blog post out HERE.

With the new year and the new Christmas albums that we’ve gotten, I figured it was only right to post about those albums here. Check ’em out and Enjoy!

(Staci’s thoughts will be in italics.)

“Oh For Joy” by David Crowder*Band — The David Crowder*Band (DCB) has been one of my favorite bands since I was in high school. I’ve waited a long, long time for this album, and although it wasn’t what I would have expected, it is an instant favorite. The DCB had its humble beginnings as a worship band, and I feel like this CD kind of takes their newer flare and meshes with their roots in a really creative and moving way. Although I will always love the classic type of Christmas music, it tends to wear on you throughout the Christmas season; so I feel like “Oh For Joy” is a breath of fresh air from your typical Christmas album. Oh and their cover of “Christmas Sarajevo” better known as “The Carol of the Bells” by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra is impeccable!

I haven’t really listened to this one much, but when I have, I’ve liked it.

“Christmas” by Jadon Lavik — This is a great Christmas album that has a really acoustic feel to it reminiscent to Jack Johnson (I think that may be the reason why I personally like it so much). You’ll notice my trend in finding artists who really put their own vibe on the Christmas classics. Although I have never listened to Jadon’s non-seasonal music, I have really grown to love this album.

I’d never heard of Jadon Lavik, but I really like this album! It’s classic, yet original at the same time. The only problem is it has “Mele Kalikimaka” as the second to last song, and it ALWAYS gets stuck in my head. I love the way he does the song, but it’s not so much fun anymore when I wake up singing it at 4:30 a.m. 🙂

“Christmas” by Michael Buble — We share the same first name, now if only we shared the same vocal abilities! A few years back Michael Buble came out with his Christmas EP “Let it Snow,” and I couldn’t believe that he only put like 4 songs on it. As soon as I heard there was full length Christmas album I had to have it right away! And to my expectations, it was totally worth every penny spent on it; lots of fun tracks with his Michael-Buble-buttery-smooth voice to top it off. And I like his old school groove. I almost have to say that he tops Franky and the Rat Pack on certain tracks. The only complaint would be… why on earth would a male do a remake of “Santa Baby”. I will say this track stands out (in a completely bad way) on the rest of the album. Just kinda of wrong for a man to sing that song to Santa. Otherwise, a very very good album!

Oh my. I can’t say enough about this one. I’ve been a HUGE Michael Buble fan since my freshman year of college. And he has the absolute perfect Christmas voice. I agree with (my) Michael that “Santa Buddy” (his remake of “Santa Baby”) is completely ridiculous. But the rest of the album is incredible! He has some really fun tracks, as well as some great classic-style tracks. I think my favorite might be “Jingle Bells”. He just does an incredible old-school style. “Ava Maria” and “Feliz Navidad” are both done in a very good way as well. I could comment on every single track on this album, but you’ll just have to check it out for yourself! This is definitely my favorite addition to our collection this year.

“Snow Globe” by Matt Wertz — If you’re into the pop-ee, Singer/Songwriter genre then this Christmas album is a must have. I like that he has a good mix of originals –such as the title track “Snow Globe”, and “Tennessee Christmas”– as well as the classics. Staci and I are huge fans of Dave Barnes and his Christmas Album that debut last year, and this album kinda of just flows along with it; definitely a new favorite for the two of us!

We’re actually listening to this album right now. I love that it’s so upbeat. He has a lot of original songs, “Snow Globe” being my favorite, as well as a lot of classics. Matt Wertz has been another favorite of mine since college, and this album definitely ranks high on my Christmas favorites!

I also have to say that Dave Barnes’ “Very Merry Christmas” is still my very favorite Christmas album. Sometimes I listen to it multiple times in a day.

And for me, Mercy Me’s “The Christmas Sessions” will always be #1 alongside “Charlie Brown Christmas” by Vince Guaraldi.

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What are some of your new (or old) favorite Christmas Albums?

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Michael & Staci

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Never Too Late To Be Thankful: Updated! – By M

I know that during the month of November a lot of people updated their statuses with things they are thankful for…

Well in the spirit of the Holidays, even though Thanksgiving day has passed, I wanted to make my own brief blog post about the things I’m very thankful for.

– First of all, my loving and wonderful wife!

– UPDATE: A Brand new baby growing in Staci’s belly!  (I wanted to put that earlier, but it wasn’t public yet, but now it is!)

– Blessings of friends and family

– The new house we just moved into in September

– Our job down here and getting to work with the students at our church

– And tons more!

Although it has been a very crazy year, it’s good to look back and see how God has blessed us in so many ways, and be thankful for so many great things in my life.

What are some things that you are thankful for this year?

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-M

Halloween – By M

Is it just me or is Halloween the red-headed step-child of holidays?  We don’t get a day off school for it – regardless of the fact that everyone knows everyone else will be out late trick-or-treating or at a Fall Festival – we don’t get out of work early, half of the Christian community thinks that Halloween is from the devil….

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I really am not sure what this post is about other than to say I’m somewhere in the middle when it comes to Halloween.  I mean when you think about it, Halloween spawned from a Christian holiday, All Saints Day and All Hallows Eve.

I was raised in a family where we celebrated Halloween as kids (by “celebrate” I mean we got dressed up and went trick-or-treating).  Then as we got older, and things got more dangerous, we did the whole Festival thing – as those became more popular too.  Once we got into late middle school and high school, we really didn’t do much except sit around the house and watch a movie, and eat pizza and popcorn.  Now Staci and I are involved in our church’s Fall Festival which is lots of fun.

I do have to admit that some things about Halloween do give me the creeps.  I’m not a big fan of all the dead stuff and spiders and what not, but I don’t think that’s any reason to not go out and get a ton of candy and have a good time.

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What are your thoughts on Halloween?  Any family traditions?

(Us as CTU Agents (from “24”) for Halloween last year)

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– M