Maywood has officially sent submissions to Rock the Light (strangely not at the 'light this year) and Santi-Cali-Gon. If you'd like to see us at either of these events, please lift up a prayer to that effect - that our submissions are seen and seriously considered. We are always looking for places to share God's love and gift of salvation through song and side-stage fellowship and these two events are arguably the largest in the KC area. So send up a prayer, if you'd be so kind. And hey, if you happen to know someone with influence to this effect, send them an elbow nudge for us. A gentle one, mind you!

INSOMNIA HITS ME IN MY CORE!
 
i hate this computer...i just typed out a few sentences, and hit something on accident and erased it...and i don't know how to get it back.
 
anyway, today, i feel as though i totally BOMBED my spanish final...then i went and helped my uncle-in-law (?) fix the car that i've been driving for the past year.  ps...NEVER BUY A FORD FOCUS, or as my cousin(the ford mechanic) says, "the throw away car".

Boy, I'm slow at this, huh? It's been 20 days since this concert! And I still have video to upload for you all! AAUGGH! One day, my sweet friends, God might bless us with full-time Maywood jobs. Then, maybe I'll actually be good at this. 

It was a beautiful day at Bonner Springs Nazarene Church. There was much fellowship and the usual goofing off before the show.

Scott playing upright bass and inadvertently pinching the basketball hoop. 

We didn't have a table for merchandise, so I set the shirts up in the back of my Subaru Baja. Party in the back ...

After the sound check, we set up the merch table. 

We didn't sell much. It could be that these personalized, hand-crafted Ts are an acquired taste. Or, perhaps the people were put off by the scary bearded man taking the orders.

Either way, we are extremely grateful to those of you who are supporting us by donning a MW shirt. If you don't yet have one or you'd simply like another one, please email me - sarah@maywoodband.com - and we'll hook you up!

Josh, Lauren and Jared.

The sweet crowd!

Right about now, you're probably asking your monitor, 

"WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG??"

"Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it...." LUKE 14:28
 
Our Lord was not referring here to a cost which we have to count, but to a cost which He has already counted.  The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal, and hatred, the unfathomable agony He experienced in Gethsemane, and the assault upon Him at Calvary--the central point upon which all of time and eternity turn.  Jesus Christ has counted the cost.  In the final analysis, people are not going to laugh at Him and say, "This man began to build and was not able to finish." (14:30)

Can't stop watching this. BRING IT ON KANSAS CITY!

The above is streaming live from the KC IHOP.

As a musician, and as a member of a Christian band, my goal is to inspire, to move, and to lift people up.  I think the other guys (and girl) in Maywood would agree that we're achieving our mission when we're able to use these gifts and talents God has given us to bring people closer to their faith.  Because of this mission, every once in a while we're given the chance to be a part of some truly amazing experiences.  I feel like tomorrow night's show is one of those occasions.
 
In case you weren't aware, tomorrow's show is the Danner family benefit concert at St. Pius X High School.  We're playing to help raise money for the Danners, a family whose faith has been challenged and tested by unimaginable tragedy.  They're enduring more than any family should.  We've been asked to help lighten the load on them, and it's something I'm honored to have been asked to do.
 

Do you ever get tired of the ordinary?  I do all the time.  This time maybe it's just the season I'm in (probably is, after all what is life if not a series of changing emotional/spiritual/theological seasons?), because it's almost summer break.  Two weeks left of school.  I think God designed this time of year to feel transitional and hopeful.  So part of me understands why I feel the way I do.  
 
The rest of me is totally confused and ready to do something drastic.  What?  Oh, I don't know.  
 

I can tell the severity of the rainfall by the frequency of the taps I hear on the air conditioning vent in the ceiling of my office.
 
I am not a happy camper.
 
It started raining sometime before lunch.  That's maybe an hour ago.  I found out when Jess sent me a text asking what we're going to do about tonight.  Which leads to me exactly why I'm not a happy camper.  Hillsong United plays in KC tonight.  I've never seen them live.  My first Hillsong show.
 
Stupid rain.
 
So here I am, sitting, praying for a little bit of clear sky, just for a little while tonight.  I know a lot of people who could benefit from this concert tonight.  I hope it clears up.

I met my wife, Heidi, on New Years 2007.  Less than two months later, her sister Kelly was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer.  You might think that I only know the "sick" version of Kelly, but this is not your ordinary patient.  As her father Larry put it, Kelly is the type of girl that, if she came in complaining of a hangnail, you better call 911.  She was tough as nails and feared nothing!  When they told her she had cancer, her reply was, "Okay, so now what?"  As I became a part of the Strobel family, Kelly became my sister, and I will forever cherish the few years in which I knew her.
 

Last week, the world lost a musical legend, and someone who was extremely dear to my heart.  His name was Luigi Waites.

I met Luigi when I was about 16 years old, just learning bass guitar in high school.  He was 68 at the time, but you would never have known that from his energy level.  I was a teenager, barely able to keep up with him.  I met him through my high school's percussion teacher.  Her band needed a fill-in bass player, and she thought I'd do the job nicely.  I had no idea that one of the vibraphone players in her group would have such a lasting impact on my life.

Just ordered a whole case of it!

And don't forget to check out the screaming knife while you're perusing the page. 

One day I will visit this place. It has captured my imagination ever since the first time my school teachers took St Patrick's day off to make crafts fashioned into shapes of shamrocks, rainbows and pots of gold. 

In today's installment of "how to improve society":
 
Today, I was driving on the highway and a woman pulled out in front of me.  So we're driving on the two-lane highway for about 50 meters when she slows down, so I take it she's wanting me to pass her.  When I attempt to do so, she moves over in the middle of the road, cutting me off (again).  She then turns right, heading in to Burger's Smoke House, not before giving ME the finger.  I have a list of things that I did NOT do to deserve this.
 
Then, while at school, I had to try to explain to a kindergartener why she should not pretend to smoke her magic marker.  *sigh*
 
People!  If you must smoke, don't do it in front of your kids!  You're not even giving them a chance.  Ever heard of second-hand smoke?!  You're giving your toddlers an addiction without even giving them the consideration.  Stop that!

So I woke this morning at 3:00am, choking on my own drainage. Lovely, no? I tried sitting up, turning over and nothing helped. I was like a broken faucet of snot. Then, of course, the pets were awake and concerned. The cat started her morning routine early by jumping from surface to surface barking her little "mawr mawr mawr." And the dog, while much more respectful than the cat, was breathing heavy and trying very hard not to let her whines escape her jowls. Fail. 

Yesterday was a wild one.  Maywood had a great morning at Prindle Studios and Eatery (thanks Liz for another awesome meal), writing/editing songs and working a little bit on the record.  But that was just the beginning.
 

At work. No, they still haven't blocked maywoodband.com, even though it may seem that way from my lack of blog activity. I've been blogging on Facebook, actually. My husband and I just got back from vacation in America's Polynesian island, Hawai'i, and I've been documenting our experiences on that networking site. If you're not my FB friend, look me up. I'm listed as Sarah Fluff. Why? Eh, I dunno. I'll probably change it back to Sarah Sheldon soon.

Please pray for my mixer (an Allen & Heath ZED R16, also referred to as "Allen")
 
...and my computer (a Macbook Pro, which I call "Mackenzie").  
 
...They're having some medical problems.
 

Unless you've been living under a rock for a while, you've heard about the disasterous earthquake that hit Haiti.  The earthquake, which measured around a magnitude 7.0, was centered just southwest of Port-au-Prince.