Shannon Bunch Music Flies the Friendly Skies

I receive quarterly broadcast royalty checks from BMI for any song that I have written and/or published that is receiving airplay through any media venue.  BMI is a royalty collection agency with which I have both writer and publisher affiliations.  They are responsible for monitoring and logging music that is played at radio, tv, downloaded, used as background music, and yes what is being played and listened to by passengers on airlines!  Imagine my surprise when I recently received my royalty statement to see my  music is currently being played on several major airlines!  Now for my twisted slant on the details.  The songs which were logged on this report were The Harvest Is Ripe (which if you are flying low enough to know this you have either just taken off, just landed or bracing for impact), It All Starts with a Song (if your flight starts with a song with what does it end?), One Lamb, One Cross, One Time (this song is all about sacrifice and the death of a man, need I say more?).  Even I can make jokes about my own music.  That is a virtue of a great writer!  LOL!  By the way, this airline royalty made me an extra $1.28.  What shall I do with all the money?

Just Back from the Low Country

During my Sunday evening concert in Charleston, SC at Charleston Baptist I began to feel not so good.  I hadn’t felt “normal” since lunch.  And I know what many of you are thinking…”Shannon you are NOT normal”.  It was different this time.  But I managed to get through the evening and then it hit me!   Oh my, did it ever!  Long story short around 2:30AM (Monday) I left Melissa and Emme at the hotel and drove myself to a local ER where I was treated for food poisoning receiving meds and IV fluids.  I thought I was going to see Jesus that night and once I got to Heaven I sure wanted to know what I had done to deserve such a slow agonizing death.  I was released around 5AM.  When I got to my vehicle I was so weak I could barely turn the steering wheel.  Thankfully, it was only a 2.5 mile trip.  I slept intermittently for the next 5 hours and as we proceeded to think about leaving we thought again.  I wasn’t going anywhere.  So we are still in Charleston and leaving for Nashville tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.  I’m still not “normal” but almost there.

 

Emme Blu has just finished her second road trip in gospel music.  Her first stops a couple weeks ago included Villa Rica & Bowdon, GA.  Of course, she was very well received and very well behaved.  She is sleeping and eating well.  Today she was 7 weeks old.  I know they grow up fast but where does the time go?  As Nationwide Auto Insurance states, “Life comes at you fast”.  Oh my, does it ever!

The Diamond Award Top 10 nominations have not been released yet.   I will keep you posted if I am nominated.  Then you will have the opportunity to vote again.   Thanks to all of you who nominated me. 

 

In my last email regarding a recent trip to south Texas I failed to give a big “thanks a BUNCH” to Butch & Ms. Judy Pressley for hosting my stay in Corpus Christi.  They always have a room for me.  It was an extra treat this time since Ms. Judy had recently purchased a latte/espresso coffee maker.  Yum, yum!  It was like being at Starbucks or as Butch calls it FourBucks because you can’t get a coffee there for less than four bucks! 

 

The 2009 year is shaping up nicely.  I still have many choice dates available if you or your church would like to book one of these open dates.  I look forward to each and every week when I can share with you in music and conversation.  This is what I love to do most.  Melissa and I are grateful you have afforded me this opportunity. 

 

Each time I close out a B-List update I’m afraid I have forgotten something.  And usually I do.  But that’s all I can think of at this time. 

Home at Last, Home at Last…

Thank God Almighty, we’re home at last.  We’re doing well.  It has been a little bit busy but otherwise a great day.  Next update tomorrow, try to have video by tomorrow night.

Emme Blu Update

Emme Blu and Momma will both go home tomorrow (Friday).  We are very anxious to get home and get settled, at least as settled as you can get with a new baby.  So far all tests performed have returned normal results.  We are so thankful.  We will try very hard to do another video update (vlog) tomorrow evening. 

Not much to report…

But, I guess that’s a good thing.  Shannon has been on the road non-stop since Labor Day.  This past weekend he took off for the purpose of spending time with me on my birthday.  Saturday we ventured to Monteagle, TN and Sewanee College to see our dear friends Nick and Robyn and their daughter Alex who was playing volleyball at the college that day.  Alex plays for Centre College in Danville, KY.  It was a beautiful day, the weather was great!  On our way home we stopped in Murfreesboro for a bite of dinner at Carrabba’s and celebrated my birthday.  Sunday morning we went to church and then took it easy for the rest of the day.  It was a good weekend.

Walter is keeping us entertained these days by camping out in the nursery.  Shannon and I put the finishing touches on it several weeks ago and since then, Walter thinks it’s his own space.  There is a twin bed in the room and that’s where he spends most of his free time.  Honestly, he is in for a rude awakening.  I think he will get over it though!  For those of you who don’t know Walter, he is our rescued Cairn Terrier that is about 5 1/2 years old. 

There are new pictures on Shannon’s MySpace page that you can get to from the website.  Don’t worry, you don’t have to have a MySpace account to see the pictures!  Just click on the link and they will pop right up.  Anyhow, the new pictures are from our 27 week ultrasound and one of the nursery (and Walter too!) 

Speaking of the ultrasound, I am happy to report that the cyst found on the head in earlier ultrasounds is GONE!  Glory to God for that good news.  There is still an echogenic focus on the heart (basically a calcium deposit) but nobody seems to be too worried about it.  Emme weighed 2 lbs 5 oz when we had the ultrasound last week.  That’s heavier than I thought!  I’m not in a hurry for her arrival, but I sure won’t complain when the day comes.  Many of you have asked about things we need for Emme, so here it goes.  Shannon and I are registered at Wal-Mart, Babies-R-Us, and Target.  You can access all of those sites through the website on the Baby Bunchkin page, through the stores pages outright, or the good old-fashioned way of going to the store in person!  We appreciate everything that people have done for us thus far.  What a blessing. 

I guess that’s about it for now.  We are counting down the days until Turkey here.  I am looking forward to my Mom, Grand-Mother, Step-Dad, Twin Sister, Brother-In-Law, and Nieces and Nephews all coming in town for T-Day.  Shannon and I aren’t traveling this year for the holidays, so they are coming to us.  It should be a great time. 

Until the next time…

From Melissa (and Emme too)

It’s a beautiful start to my Saturday here in Tennessee…The skies are blue and there are few clouds in sight.  Shannon is in south Texas this weekend.  He sang last night in Cuero, Texas and reported he had a great time.  I know he is looking forward to his stop at Agua Dulce on Sunday, and he always likes to visit with his friends in the Corpus Christi area. 

Meanwhile, I am planning on a relaxing weekend because my feet and hands can’t take much more.  For some reason, they keep swelling at random times.  I know that it only gets better from this point.  At 23 weeks pregnant, I still have a long way to go.  I can’t tell you how thankful we are for all of the prayers and support we have received over the past few weeks.  It’s been amazing.  I’ve learned that when we are in need, God always places the faithful in our paths. 

Speaking of need, I have a request.  About the same time that we were awaiting results for Emme, a young 3rd grader at my school (Makenzie) was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  She has since had surgery to remove the tumor and the family was given the news that it was indeed cancer.  She has a long road ahead and is slowly regaining some strength.  The family is very special, Mom teaches with me at Stoner Creek Elementary and other siblings include an identical twin sister in the 3rd grade (Madison) and brother (Justin) in the Kindergarten.  Dad is a LifeFlight nurse for Vanderbilt.  Just the simple fact that Makenzie is a twin is special to both Shannon and I.  Many of you may not know that I am a twin, and Shannon has twin nieces. Anyhow, the Matthews are strong believers and have requested to be put on any/every prayer list that is possible.  You can read more about Makenzie at www.carepages.com/makenziematthews  You will have to register and log in, but it is free and a very simple process.  I know that all of you are faithful with prayer, so let’s put this family at the top of our list!

On the subject of school, I only have one week left to teach before the Fall Break begins.  Shannon’s schedule is full during my time off, but we are planning a little R&R.  He will be singing in Beebe, Arkansas next weekend and then we will travel to one of our favorite places, The Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Missouri.  While we are in Missouri, we plan on visiting a restaurant that we found out about earlier in the year called Lambert’s.  If you’ve never had an opportunity to go to Lambert’s you must try.  It’s plates full of food and of course some ‘throwed rolls too.  I am looking forward to our week of vacation together.  Shannon’s schedule is very hectic for the remainder of the year (what a blessing!) so we wanted to take advantage of our last opportunity to spend time together alone before the baby comes.  On our way back, he will sing in Louisville, KY and Cynthiana, KY.  It’s always nice when I get a chance to travel with him.

I guess that’s about it for now, I’ve not written in awhile and wanted to share while I had a free minute.  We love you Bunches! Until then…

Baby Bunchkin Update

Baby Bunckin Update

 

To say that Melissa and I are relieved and elated would be an understatement!  But it was good news late yesterday evening when Dr. Jeanty’s office called us with the preliminary results of Baby Bunchkin.  We will receive the detailed report in a few days, but the good news is the bad news was wrong.  Keep watch on the Blog News section of the website for further details.  We are still very interested to read the final comments to better understand why these “markers” for Down’s syndrome had occurred.  This will be an educating process for many of us.  However, I also want to note, that by no means do I share my news in a boasting kind of way.  For we know that there are parents who have special needs kids, and this is not intended to be insensitive to their situations. 

 

Melissa and I, though very scared, had submitted to God’s will for our life.  That very first night while I was still in Louisville, KY I knelt beside my bed and began to pray for this situation.  Here are my words verbatim.  “God, above all things I want You to…”, then I hesitated.  Now I was thinking in my mind, “God, above all things I want you to correct and heal this situation.”  However, the Holy Spirit interrupted me and this was my final & revised thought of prayer.  “God, above all things I want You to be glorified.”  Trust me, it wasn’t easy to find the strength for that prayer.  But that is exactly where God wanted us in this situation.  He wanted us to trust in His Word, (Romans 8:28) that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

 

In closing, I need to make another clarification regarding a statement I made in the last email.  It was misunderstood by some.  However, although we were asked by physicians if we would terminate the pregnancy, it was never our intent to do so.  We had already firmly answered the doctor with a “No.”  This circumstance simply brought Melissa and I to a more defined and compassionate level to those who are faced with these very tough questions.

 

In case you did not know, Baby Bunchkin is girl.  She is named Emme Blu (pronounced Emmy Blue).  Check out Baby Bunchkin link to see where Emme Blu is registered.   

 

Don’t forget that we love you and appreciate your love, prayers and support during a very difficult week.