What's Been Going On At HymnCharts:
Happy new year from HymnCharts! Over the past two years the website has slowed down and I wanted to give you all an update.
Eight years ago my dad passed away and shortly after I had the idea to build a house together with my mom so I could keep an eye on her. We moved into a huge house where she had her space and I had mine (plus a basement studio.)
After the house was finished and she moved in, one of my friends laughed "how's that going?!" and I replied "surprisingly well!" My mom and I discovered we really had similar personalities, had the same humor, liked the same things and basically became super good friends! We were joined at the hip and did everything together. She wasn't a stereotypical cranky old lady but a really cool and funny person who kept growing and learning. What a nice surprise to actually get to know and hang out with a parent - I was always close to my mom and dad but even though we talked and had lunch often they lived their lives and I lived mine.
On top of that, we inherited my dad's business, a laundromat. My mom and I became business partners, figured out how to run it and somehow tripled the business! Incidentally, a young lady started a wash/dry service for homeless people at our laundry which drew national attention. Mike Rowe profiled it on his show "Returning the Favor" which you can watch on Facebook - the episode is called "Adah's Dirty Laundy." You can see me at about 16:10.
Over the past two years my mom's health began to decline. She had a shoulder replacement and that took a lot out of her. With all her hospital, doctor and rehab visits I found out a year ago I had contracted one of those "super bugs" you hear about in hospitals called "c-diff" (it causes about 20,000 deaths per year.) So on top of taking care of my mom I felt like I was going to die. I'd sleep 10 hours a night and take a 2 hour nap in the afternoon - complete fatigue and brain fog.
After a brief hospital stay my mom entered heaven on July 12 of last year. She was 87, and today, January 23rd, is her first birthday in heaven. The Lord made Himself real to me during that rough time and wow, was my faith strengthened! I don't know how people cope without Him. Still, I felt like a chunk had been taken out of my soul (if you've ever been really close to a parent and have taken care of them you know what I'm talking about.) It's taken about six months for me to feel like I'm coming back to my old self.
Miraculously I found an alternative health doctor last February who diagnosed my c-diff and completely cured it (and he also found out I had an intestinal parasite which I probably got years ago on a church mission trip to Ecuador.) I was a real mess, but now I literally feel twenty years younger as I'm healing up.
Now that I've come back to life (both physically and emotionally) I've got lots of plans for the website so stay tuned. In the works this year will be to:
1. Get as many old arrangements recorded as possible. First up is "Day By Day," originally arranged back in 2004.
2. Create new, modern arrangements (along the lines of last year's "Blessed Assurance.") As worship styles change so will the style of my arrangements.
Thank you all so much for your support and business over the past eighteen years and I look forward to, Lord willing, the next twenty!
