An Introduction...

I was born in Chattanooga, TN in 1967. When I was born I had 8 great grandparents, and 4 grandparents! Was I blessed or what?!! We have always been a very close family and I love that. I grew up in a musical family. My Grandfather and his brothers were "The Hartman Bros. Band" and sang Country/Western Music. Family reunions on Signal Mountain, surrounded by their music, listening to the banjo, guitar and fiddle and my Grandad and Uncles singing cowboy songs and old hymns was a highlight of my summer. My father also sang frequently in church. I grew up going to church at White Oak United Methodist Church, where I was saved at age 13 during a revival. In my teenage years we joined Mountain Creek Baptist Church. It was there that I started singing in the choir at the age of 15. At the same time I was also singing at school in choir with a director we called "Mama Branch". She was awesome. She taught us black gospel music by rote. If you don't know what that means, she taught us to sing by singing it to us first, line by line, part by part, until we got it. Then we did it over and over until we had it memorized. We never had sheet music. It was awesome! One day in choir Ms. Branch was looking for someone to sing a solo part and she pointed at me and asked me to come down and sing. I was terrified!! I was extremely shy, and though I loved to sing, and wished I could sing, I didn't think I could. She stood me by her at the piano and started to play the solo part and I was so scared nothing would come out but a squeak! She turned around and looked at me and said, now I know you can do better than that...take a deep breath and let me here you SING! So, I mustered all the bravery I had and I SANG. When I stopped she spun around on her piano bench, looked at me and said, "Child, you can SING! Why are you so afraid? God gave you a gift, and you gotta USE it!" She told me I would be singing the solo on that song and I said, "oh no I can't do that!" and she said, "You will....or you will get an F!" and she winked at me. I have never been so sick to my stomach as I was the first time I sang that song. But it lit a fire inside of me...and it is something you simply cannot control! I have heard preachers say before that when God gives them something to preach it is like there is a fire inside of them that cannot wait to get out! It is the same way with singing praises to God. It just HAS to come out! It was at Mountain Creek Baptist Church where I met my future husband. He was the choir director! Trust me, everything happens for a reason people. I may not be the very best singer you ever heard. I may sing some wrong notes, and certainly the wrong words sometimes, but to God it is perfect. When that music of praise rises up to Him, there is nothing sweeter, and the result is my heart being filled to overflowing with His love. The bible says, "Sing to the Lord a new song!"...not "Sing to the Lord a "perfect" song". Whether you can carry a tune in a bucket or not...Sing to the Lord!... and He will fill you up to overflowing with His love! :)