This Is me...

Hi, My name is Lizzi. I am a wife, mother, grandma, and everything else that comes with a family. I simply have had a dream ever since I was a little girl. And that dream is to sing, not just to sing but to inspire and invoke peoples thoughts and to challenge them through the medium of music. I believe that God gives us all talents and gifts, some of us never refine those gifts, and some of us hang on to them for dear life. I was raised in the church and this is where I sang in front of a congregation for the first time. This is where I fell in love with how music can touch and move people.

My life was surrounded with music, from my parents who loved to sing, to my Uncle who played the guitar, even my siblings who also played musical instruments. Although neither of my parents played an instrument they loved to be around music. Some of my fondest memories are of everyone coming over after church on Sunday, having a great meal, socializing, and then the entertainment. Today you see talent shows featured on television but, we had our own talent shows back then. I don't ever remember turning on the t.v. when we had guests over. We would listen to records; Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, Andre Crouch, evangelist Leroy Jenkins, and comedians such as Flip Wilson. My brothers used to act out some of the comedy spoofs complete with all the props. We used to entertain ourselves, which I think has become a bygone era. My sister Norma who played the organ would do a selection, my older sisters would sing songs complete with three part harmony. I used to try and join in only to have my sisters say I was "ruining the harmony". This was tough for me because my desire to sing and be a part of the group was so strong. Sometimes I would leave crying but I had lots of faith (childlike faith) and I believed if I asked God, He would give me a voice to sing and I would use it! This was my prayer for a long time.

We of course were very active in the church because my Mama was the Pastor of a small neighborhood church. So being a PK (pastors kid) I helped with teaching a sunday school class, leading worship, we attended church at least 3 times a week. This was my social network and since we spent so much time there we decided to form a band with other church member kids. My brother Abraham played the drums, my other brother the congas, we also had a bass and a piano player, and I was the singer. My Mama would take us along when she was asked to be a guest speaker at other churches and we would perform a few songs. Of course this made my Mama very proud, this was the start of something new and exciting. After that group dissolved I joined another group, then another...

And that is how I met my husband of almost 29 years whew! I went to audition for a band and there he was this incredibly tall, dark, and handsome guy who played the trombone. The band was a Latin Salsa Christian music group complete with a full horn section. There off to the side I saw this handsome, confident, easy going, polite, and talented horn playa. I can honestly say that it was love at first sight. It was as if God said this is it, this is a peek into your future, this young man will be your companion for life. For me usually when things appear too good to be true, well they usually are! But not Sam, with his confident approach to everything he quickly became my best friend at a time when that was exactly what I needed. It didn't take long for him to propose to me at the age of 16 and soon after we were married at the tender age 18 and 19! Young, crazy (everyone said so) that didn't matter to us, we were incredibly happy, it was as if we were playing house (we nearly burned it down a couple of times with a few baking catastrophes).

The children came next, seemed like the natural thing to do since we both loved the idea of a large family. Sam's idea (12) and my idea (4) was a little different. We comfortably settled into five children. To date our children range in age from 27 down to 7 years old. We have one incredibly, adorable grandson who is one year old. I could talk about him all day, but that would be a different blog. It's easy to place your dreams on hold, and although we tried a few musical endeavors, the business of life was the main focus. Raising kids is a full time job, and I made it my priority to do the best I could to guide, teach, and nurture them. My husband has always been the main provider and I the homemaker. We always tried to create the least amount of disruption in our kids lives so me working part time here and there worked well for us. When our kids were school age we began homeschooling them, to many people this seemed like a crazy radical decision. But for us it was an opportunity to help mold, shape, and prepare our children to make a difference in the world. We did this until our eldest son began high school. Then I was presented with an incredible business opportunity!

My brother in law who owned four restaurants decided to downsize and ultimately begin a new business. I used to help out in the office with filing, accounts payable, payroll... To my surprise one day after the three other stores were sold he asked me, ME if I wanted the downtown store. I was shocked mainly because I had no clue how to run a restaurant. Well I knew how it all looked on paper (vendors, distributors, scheduling) I knew the numbers and I knew it was a great business concept Something new, exciting, but again we had to consider how this would affect our children. My husband who already had a full time job said "you can do it Lizzi!". I will help you and we can do it together This is how amazingly supportive my Sam is. He knew that although it would take a lot of time and effort it would be good for the family so needless to say this is how we became the proud owners of Iguanas Taqueria. That lil' store has been a blessing to us all. Iguanas is now owned and operated by our kids and we love the direction they are taking it!

It's hard to consolidate ones' history in to few paragraphs so for this reason I was thinking what is the best way to attack this blog. I know that nobody has time to read someones life story in one sitting so maybe I can break this up into segments such as before, then, and now. I've got to say that my "NOW" is amazing. My life is rich with love, joy, excitement, and adventure (everyday should be an adventure right?) This is the place where I would like to linger. I love to make mental pictures of special moments, I make it a point to lock in certain moments, little gestures, smiles, frowns, events, whatever. Of course I also scrapbook so I can pass along those memories to others. Now that half of the kids are grown and out of the house, the younger ones a bit more independent, I can take a little time for myself and do some of the things I love. Such as quilting, scrapbooking, and of course singing! Part of my dream was to have children who would also have a love and inclination towards music. It is an amazing feeling to be able to sing, with my boys accompanying me. Which brings me to WHY I am writing this blog.

My husband, children, and family have made it possible for me to begin recording again. I will blog, tweet, and film the whole process, from how music is created, recorded, mixed, and mastered, to the end project. I have been blessed with an amazing production team, the "Iklectix" and I would love to have you come along and see what modern technology affords us. This is a summer adventure to see if we can complete this recording while the kids are on summer break and as we go along this creative journey together I will introduce you to the team. I am very excited about sharing this with others and I think it will be an enlightening and entertaining project and I would like to invite you to be a part of "my dream" of recording an album.

Lullabies to love songs, this represents who I am because us moms wear many different hats. And although this is a huge commitment of time and energy I am certain that it will be worth it! Join my blog, tell a friend, and check out my new post tomorrow.

<3 Lizzi




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