Eight: RIPA!

Ripa! That’s what I named this picture. I’m sure I’ll get mixed reactions by admitting that I love waking up to LIVE with Regis and Kelly. With my cup of coffee in hand and plate of eggs on the table (made by my lovely wife Sarah :)). I laugh out loud at the corny comedy and awkward co-host chemistry. Well, enough of that. Here’s how this picture happened…

The band and I were walking trough Central Park in New York City on a day off. As we were passing a side trail, I saw none other than Kelly Ripa walking towards us out of the corner of my eye. I called out to the guys and told them as discretely as possible that I was going to talk to her. As she came closer I made the “sorry to bother you!” face and, surprise, surprise, said, “I’m sorry to bother you! But would you be willing to take a picture with me?” She politely stopped and said, “Sure!” As she took out her ipod headphones I pulled my digital camera from its nerdy belt case. After snapping a picture, I asked her what she was listening to on her ipod. She chuckled and told me she was listening to Madonna. I said, “Just wondering, thanks!” and she smiled and went on her way.

Seven: Fast Cars

Today I organized the entire contents of my computer, several hundred files that I hadn’t organized for over a year. Amongst them I found old song demos, lyrics, and pictures that I had completely forgotten about. I picked a few of my favorite pictures and decided to use them for my next couple of blogs.

The picture above is probably my favorite of Steven Curtis Chapman and I. It was taken in Charlotte, North Carolina on the Winter Jam tour in February of ’07. Eddie Carswell (of Newsong) took some of us to the Richard Petty Experience at Charlotte Motor Speedway. I have a certificate of how fast I drove somewhere at home, but I think it was about 128 mph. You can imagine that I was on an adrenaline high at the time. I can’t claim to be a big NASCAR fan, but I gained a lot more respect for the drivers that day. We also had a chance to visit the camp for special needs children that was built in honor of Adam Petty after he passed away in a racing accident. It was uplifting to see what an escape it was for kids who went there. After touring Camp Victory and driving fast cars, I topped off the day by performing at Cricket Arena in front of over 10,000 people. Now you know why I love this picture.

Six. I Got It!

The wonder of watching Emmy share her Magnadoodle with Big Bird.

Five. Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve...so close to seeing my daughter rip open those nicely wrapped gifts for the first time! Last year, she was still an infant and had no clue what those boxes were all about. She's not much older now, but she get's the idea. It's a little sad, however, to think that one day her excitement could fade and her holidays be clouded by the stress of adult life. What I would give to truly anticipate more than just good food and a couple hours to relax...to get that child like excitement back, feel the wonder of the gifts under the tree, and know the wonder of the gift of Jesus like it were the first time. So this is my Christmas prayer- "Lord, the gift of Jesus will always be enough, but if I could ask for something extra this Christmas...give me the gift of wonder."

These are the first draft lyrics to a Christmas song I wrote a couple weeks ago. I really wish I could figure out how to post audio, because I really love the melody.

"We Are Not Alone"
Words and music by Matt Hammitt

Oh, to sing on Christmas Eve
The final night the world will sleep fearful of the dark,
For there’s a shining star
Leading wise men to the humble place
Where they will find the gift of grace lay before their eyes
Their hearts will quake tonight

For it is known that Christ is born
The King of love has come and our hearts will be His throne
It is known that Christ is born
His name will be Immanuel, God with us, for we are not alone.

Oh, to sing on Christmas day
To look upon a child’s face and know that God’s a friend
To weak and sinful men
For soon enough this child would walk
His strength would bear the rugged cross
And when from death he rose, heaven and earth explode!

For it is known that Christ is born
The King of love has come and our hearts will be His throne
It is known that Christ is born
His name will be Immanuel, God with us, for we are not alone.

Four

Wrote a cool song yesterday at 5am. I just finished a demo and can't figure out how to post it here. Guess I'll try again tomorrow.

Three

After a lifetime of counter top microwave technology, I have finally mounted one over the range. Ahhh, the joy of simple things.

Two

This afternoon, I had new appliances delivered from Lowe's. We bought them on "black friday" because they were supposedly selling them below cost just to get people in the store. Guess it worked. I had fun ripping out cabinets to get my fridge to fit and then installing my over the range microwave. I've always wanted one of those...less wasted counter space. I'm not done yet though, I still have to put the dishwasher in. My wifes (Sarah) uncle Jay is gong to help me so I don't screw it up. We won't do that 'til Thursday. In the meantime, I need to shave.

One

I'm Matt, thanks for viewing my blogspot. I've tried using myspace, but I like the simplicity of this place. I just spent a bunch of time setting this up and I don't want to bore you with those details, so I'll drop in over the next couple days and actually write about something interesting. Yes, it will be interesting.

Matt