The Sounds of Sabbatical...

As we've traveled about hither and yon between Sonic and to Sweet Frogs and bookstores during our time away from home, we've discovered some new music that will forever be linked to this summer.

Often, if our trip is going to take longer than ten minutes, I'll pull out a book to read aloud as we go because school time is approaching and we really do need to exercise the ears and the "sitting and listening" muscles a bit to be ready. It doesn't hurt that those muscles get lots of help from the seat belts which is why I'm warming up to a captive audience in the car.

The book is called The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin Jr. and it is, so far, about a rooster named Chanticleer and his brood of hens. It is an allegory told through the lives of animals and is fantastically reviewed and highly esteemed by so so many readers...NONE of which happen to be part of my family, except for Molly who never fails to find a way to sit atop of her mother's graces. When I pull out the book Molly says, "Yeah! The chicken story!"

Another says, "KILL THE ROOSTER! Do you have to read to us? Pleeeeeassssseeeee, a different story!"

"Oh no here comes the dung cow again."

"Mom, I brought my own book to read."

I respond by saying, "Chapter 4, here we go..."

{I submit that my gang will soon come round to The Book of the Dun Cow of which one reviewer writes

Recently, I reread it and deeply appreciated the emotional depth of the characters and of their relationships, both with each other and with God (who appears in this book through the animals' prayers and through his messenger the Dun Cow}

After I'm done torturing them, or at the very moment when I pause to take a breath between paragraphs, my Man will hit play on one of the following CDs and there is a great sigh of relief from amongst the villagers. (Click on the album and song titles to see videos and see the albums on iTunes.)

Rivers In the Wasteland 

by NeedtoBreathe

My Man's favorite song on this one is "Wasteland".

Welcome to the New

by MercyMe

Molly's favorite song is "Shake".

Unspoken

by Unspoken

We like the song "Light a Fire"

My favorite album is Selah's new one called:

You Amaze Us

My favorite songs are the title song, "You Amaze Us" and "Soon and Very Soon" and the piano on the "The Old Rugged Cross" is pretty special too.

Finally, one of my favorite musicians, Andrew Peterson shares his music in a cute little corner of the internet called "The Rabbit Room" and it has a channel which plays his music and the music of some of his peers, all of whom I thoroughly enjoy and I tune it in every time I come into our home away from home as part of our background music. You can stream this channel from HERE.

My all time favorite Andrew Peterson song...

"It was harder than we'd dreamed but that's what the promise is for."

{Best line!}

That's what's pumping into our ears these days. 

Now I've gotta go, there's a rooster and a dun cow and an adorable dog to read about and I've a bunch of kids who need some ear filling of their own!!

{It's just 2.99 on Kindle right now if you want in on the fun!}