August 21, 2010

Hi Everyone,
We are in the Smokey Mountains this week …….. getting some rest after a very busy summer. The view from our cabin is incredible and I’m tempted to pitch a tent here and just stay for the fall season! It’s so beautiful here.

All packed and ready to roll to our cabin in the Smokies !~!~!

The last time I sat down to write a newsletter/update, the ball had just dropped in Times Square to bring in the New Year, and our oldest daughter’s (Brooklyn) engagement had just been announced days before. Now, here we are already in the month of August, and what I thought was a long way off, is less than four months away. We have been busy preparing and working on all the details that go along with getting ready for a wedding. In the midst of all the planning, we received a phone call from another young man who has had his sights set on our second daughter, Courtney, for several years now. At his request, we met at a planned location and enjoyed another complimentary meal (isn’t that nice) as we sat across from a very nervous, but respectful, young man. By the end of the meal we had once again consented for another daughter to be married. Phil and I walked out of that restaurant shaking our heads and wondering how our two little girls had grown up so fast! Two weddings in less than six months! Wow! Needless to say, this is a busy, exciting season for all of us.

As if we’ve had nothing else to do, in our spare time, we’ve had some other exciting things going on. We have just completed two brand new videos that are to be released on September 10, 2010. We have been working all summer on these projects. It has been delightful, exhausting, and rewarding all at the same time. The two videos are quite different from each other……. let me explain. The first one is titled: FEAR NOT TOMORROW and is a full Collingsworth Family concert that was filmed in April, 2010 in Flint, Michigan. We recorded with a full “live” orchestra and what an exciting night it was. This video includes most of our current repertoire with some new added pieces. I was so blessed to be able to do a new piano rendition of The Holy City with orchestrator, David Clydesdale. What a privilege it was for me to work with such an awesome musician and then to be able to perform it in a live setting with the orchestra! Gaither Productions did all of the high definition filming and post work and I think this is something that will be a real encouragement to you. The second video is called A Decade of Memories and is quite interesting. Our four children, along with Phil and I, take a musical journey back over the past ten years of our concert ministry. All six of us join in and share stories, some very funny and some more serious, about answers to prayer and things that have happened along the way. There is a lot of music from the past and present. There are home video clips of the kids when they were very small that we had forgotten we even had in our possession. There are video clips of Brooklyn and Courtney playing their violins at ages eight and nine at one of their very first violin recitals. It’s amazing to watch the age progression and voice changes of each of the children. I think the thing we enjoyed the most as we were putting this project together was reminiscing over the stories and how God has come through for us time and time again. There were a lot of smiles and tears as we remembered. Starting today, we are taking pre-orders on the website for these new projects. Both projects are available in DVD and CD format. For more information and ordering you can go to www.TheCollingsworthFamily.com or call Danette, our office manager, in the office at 513-553-0658.

I know I have already shared a lot of information with you, but let me leave you with just one more thought before I sign off for the night:

If you have received our newsletters in the past, you may recall that I’ve written a couple of times about a particular subject that I know very little about, but a subject that I desperately want to know more about. That subject is prayer! For many different reasons, I feel a deep need for God’s help in my life. I know that in order to get that help, I need to seek God. I know that! However, knowing it and doing it are two completely different things. I also know that eating healthy brings good results, but just knowing it will never help me. I have to actually eat healthy to get the results that I need! At our concerts, it is not uncommon for people to ask for a signature on the CDs that they purchase from us. Most of the time I will sign my name, and underneath that I will put Matthew 6:33 as a scripture reference. It is one of my favorite Bible verses….. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” I know this is true…..I believe it, and I want the good results that obeying this scripture will bring into my life! The real question is…. how badly do I want it? With literally dozens of things clamoring for my attention in this busy season of my life, it’s not easy to take the ‘road less traveled’ and set a planned time aside each day to have real communion with God. No, I’m not talking about grabbing a promise out of the promise box and saying a quick prayer before our day gets started. I’m talking about weeding out the unnecessary things in our lives that are robbing us of quality time with the very One who can move mountains in our lives when we earnestly seek Him! I don’t know what that ‘unnecessary list’ is for you, but I certainly know what it is for me. The busyness of life can leave us so barren! I don’t want to live on ‘Busy’ street and not even realize that I’m missing out on the ‘real’ action. May God help us to go beyond just knowing what is right, and to start acting upon what we know will bring good results in our lives. Jesus said in Jeremiah 33:3….”Call unto me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you know not!” I’m ready to see what he wants to show me, and I think I know what it takes!
Thanks for reading…. I love you all!
Kim

Phil & Kim with Ravi Zacharias, one of the greatest apologist of all time ...... @ Gaither's FamilyFest in Gatlinburg

Kim with "Auntie Anne" of Auntie Anne's Pretzels ........ Jonas & Anne Beiler