What to write... There’s not a lack of things to write, it’s choosing what to write about. I was just thinking too, I really have no cohesive way to share all my thoughts tonight.  This might all be very random...so hang with me.

It’s been a busy few months for us, hence me just now updating my blog...oops.  I really do think of it every other day, but the stuff of life comes first when you have kids, leaving an absence of space to just sit and articulate life in this season...  I was just talking about this with my husband last night.  We figured out that because our son is almost 9 ½, we’re pretty much on the back half of his life at home with us...  How can this be?  Seems like yesterday that our 9lb 14oz baby boy came into this world...yes, you read that right... Anyway, when I think it through, I realize that the “stuff of life” really does matter a ton to a spirited, nine year old boy...and to the two beautiful daughters we’re raising here.  So we run the errands, we make it to the music lessons, we search until the favorite stuffed toy is found, we read the favorite bedtime stories, use pink bubbles in the bathtub and make the sandwich just the right way! Life is full and sometimes I don’t recognize the memorable moments when they land on me...like our two year old fluttering through the house in the new butterfly costume that grandma just sent...so precious...but wait...did she just dump the whole plate of cookies I just baked onto the floor? Yes, just take a deep breath and enjoy this season, whatever it brings... I’d rather find ways to enjoy it now than regret that I didn’t later. The truth is that one of these days I know I’ll miss that tiny butterfly fluttering around here, making grand messes.  Annie Rose...she’s truly delightful and her chubby legs are one of my favorite things in the world right now...

An epic moment through and through for us this last month was Nathan having the honor of baptizing Noah and Elliana, our two oldest children.  It was truly one of our sweetest moments as a family.  Nathan had me share a little bit about Elliana and how I’ve seen Christ in her since she made the choice to follow Him.  In Elliana, I already see a love for God’s Word and an artistic way of sharing Truth... it’s so fun to watch. Nathan shared about Noah, through his tears, about the passion that we see in him and how we pray he’ll use every bit of it for the glory of God throughout his life. Nathan pretty much had everyone tearing up as he said, “this is my only son and I get the honor of baptizing him today”...  Our pastor, Louie, stood in the water with Nathan, with just our core PCC family gathered around...what a beautiful day!

This is so my favorite time of year...October through December really.  Autumn is my favorite in particular, and it’s starting to look a bit like it around these parts.  Nathan has been on tour with Matt Redman, who has been touring this fall with Casting Crowns.  As you may know, Nathan and I have traveled together for years and rarely apart, so this was an adjustment for us!  He only did the first part of the tour and as I’m finishing this blog he has just walked through the door... The kids will be so excited to wake up and see that Daddy’s home!  We have saved the pumpkin patch outing for his return home. It’s always a highlight, though somehow in the past few years we’ve picked the only autumn day that it reached well above 90 degrees outside. We’re hoping for a cooler one this year...it makes for a better pumpkin hunt when you’re not in a tank top and flip flops.

I look forward to some great days at home this season, I’m not traveling much until Christmas-time.  I’ll be heading out on the “Glory in the Highest” Christmas tour with our good friend, Chris Tomlin and our pastor, Louie Giglio. I’m getting really excited the more I think about it...  I finally got to hear the record this week and it’s amazing! It actually sounds the way it felt recording these beautiful worship songs together...some old, some new.  I’m blessed to have been a part of it and to get to carry the songs on tour this December with some of my favorite people!

So...like many of you, I was able to see U2 this month.  My friend Janet asked me to go with her and we were two peas in a pod...  So there I was in the Georgia Dome with tens of thousands of others, to see a band I’ve followed and loved since the 7^th grade.  My favorite moment of the night was “Magnificent” – I remember the first time I heard this song...I was on the bus, while on the Hello Love tour, watching U2 play on Letterman. When I saw Bono sing this song I had to leave the room afterwards because I was on the “boy bus” and I didn’t want them to make fun of me for being weepy!  This song really moved me...for some reason it made me remember some of my very first conversations with God as a child. As a singer and a worship leader, I recognize when someone is carrying a message with intentionality and I respect it... Watching them the other night was so heartening!  They have the unique ability to lay the message of the gospel inside the cradle of some downright amazing music and send it out into total darkness...it’s beautiful to watch.  I also loved the fact that Bono pretty much had 70,000 people interceding for a woman in Southeast Asia - during “Walk On” - before they even knew what was happening. So...call me crazy, but I was fully engaged with God at a rock concert and I ended up talking to Him all the way home in my car that night...and then some.  It has even inspired a worship song or two. I hope someone could say the same about hearing me sing recently...

“ I thank You... for noises day and night, and loud music, and loud noise that passes for music: Today I offer this racket to You as the praise of “everything that has breath” in this house (Psalm 150:6) and thank You with each decibel of devotion.” -  from Powerful Prayers for Your Children by David & Heather Kopp – “The Music of Loose Ends”

“Make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Ephesians 5:19 - 20

Love,

Christy

(p.s.-you can follow my blog from my website christynockels.com- that gets updated more frequently)

So I was on here tonight (first time since May) and decided to blog...partly because I realized my last blog was called "Mustache Wednesday"...that is ridiculous...and also because I have something to blog about!

First I want to thank all of you for writing me messages and comments. I do read them all, but there's no possible way to answer them all at this point in my life. I wish I could! Some of you have asked me very specific questions and I'm sorry that they've gone unanswered. Maybe in another season of life I can be better at answering - like when my kids are grown? : ) Anyway - thank you so much for all of your encouraging words.. I do read them!

So....this early Spring we made a decision to leave Franklin, TN, our home of over 10 years and move to Atlanta, GA to be a part a new church. We've had messages asking questions and to confirm the "rumor", yes, it is with Louie & Shelley Giglio and some of the other worship leaders of Passion. Since the day we first heard about this idea our hearts were completely there... I even dreamed the night before that we sold our house and in some way I felt already prepared to "let go" when we heard the news. We never planned on leaving Franklin - we loved our home there, loved our church and friends and all 3 kids were born there...it's home! I'm sure some of you have experienced this before - but you don't understand until you do - God will just take your heart and completely lift it from where you are and move it to where He wants you to be... we all of the sudden had this ache to be in Atlanta and knew that the season was over in the Nashville area.

We moved because we had a genuine sense of God leading our family there to be a part of the very beginnings of this church... not because anyone asked us to, or because we felt like it was a great opportunity...but because of God's leading. There's no way we'd uproot our little family for any other reason. I remember the day we got the news about the church I prayed and said, "God if this is really you, reveal this to Nathan and I'll follow". Just a few days later Nathan came to me and said, "I feel like we're supposed to go and we need to put the house on the market". So we listed the house and before we even put a for sale sign in the yard the house SOLD for WAY ABOVE what we ever thought we'd get for it! It sold in just 4 days...all glory be to God! We know that is nothing short of a miracle in this market!

God has continued to cover every part of our leaving and our arriving...we're astounded... So we're here in Atlanta...actually right now we're in a little beach house on the Georgia coast. I guess I forgot for allot of my life that Georgia had a coast...it's actually really pretty...we came through Savannah...lovely. We've had to be out of our house this week for renovations and so we decided to take a quick drive to the beach for one last summer trip! The kids have LOVED it! Noah did get stung by a jelly fish this afternoon - he said he'd never go in the ocean again...but I have a really good feeling about tomorrow morning... :) Ellie, our oldest daughter pretty much looks like the Coppertone girl - you know with the blonde curls and the tan line on her bottom? She was made for the beach! She could just stay out there all day and be happy... She starts Kindergarten next week and she's counting the days! Annie Rose ate two handfuls of sand today - one this morning, one this afternoon...she's exfoliating her bowels I guess... She crawls fearlessly towards the ocean,it freaks me out... she also crawls fearlessly towards the Seagulls and gets SO MAD that they keep walking away the other way... she so wants to get her hands on one!

Anyway - we have a busy Fall coming up with traveling - Nathan is going to England for two projects and I'll be going on part of the Passion World Tour in October. We hope the whole family can go to Mexico City - we so want the kids to see with their eyes what God is doing all over the world. Pray for us if you think of us! Check out the World Tour on 268generation.com. Also - check out onemillioncan.com - a website that enables you to make a difference right now, tonight, where you sit...to impact the World forever...for real... : )

We also plan to finish my record! I know we've been saying that forever - but we've also known about the church for quite a while and that has consumed our hearts and we needed to move this summer to get the kids situated before school starts - so we plan to get writing again and finish the project. I keep trusting that God knows the timing for it all! It will come...

Blessings to all of you tonight - please pray for us if you think of us - pray that God will bring wisdom & peace during this transition for the kids especially and that we'll shepherd them well through all of this....

love
christy

I decided to blog tonight since it’s been awhile... It’s Spring Break here so it’s been a fun week with the kids out of school. They have been crazy hyper all week. We’re going to Houston tomorrow to see my brother and his family...and singing at their church this weekend for Easter. (Faithbridge- Spring, TX) So...the kids are pumped about seeing cousins and such...

Ok so it’s late but I just wanted to give you a quick update on the record... We have had a few detours along the way - which have all been amazing to say the least...but we’re still on track to hopefully have some music by the end of the year. I know that’s much later than what I said before, but it’s all going to be worth it. Even just the writing process being stretched out is just heavenly to me! I’ve never had this much time to just "sit" with songs and to really take the time to learn from the worship leaders and songwriters that are in my life. I’m so incredibly grateful...

God is doing so much in and around us right now that I keep saying, "God help me stay awake and keep up with You"... I’ve been journaling recently - mostly prayers, but I think that’s why I don’t end up "blogging" as much...if you can even call this "blogging"... I really want to get better at it, but it’s usually only in the wee hours that the house is quiet enough for me to even think...

I determined this morning that I was going to get on here and update you... As I sat down to type, all I could remember was the faces of 5 dear friends today... They all decided it was "mustache wednesday"... Yep, you read it right... The participants are basically the Chris Tomlin band & their producer...minus Chris Tomlin. They’ve been in the studio for a few weeks making a record and I think it has definitely caught up with them. The word "hideous" comes to my mind... My only regret about "Mustache Wednesday" is that I didn’t get a picture with them... Nathan and I went up for a visit and got to hear some of the new songs...which are amazing...(surprise!) But anyway - the mustaches took on lives of their own...you’ll probably even be able to HEAR them on the recording they were so loud...

Okay - so my battery is dying and my charger is downstairs - I’ll come back soon...blessings to all and have a WONDERFUL EASTER!

Christy

Hi everyone - just thought I'd blog today since I have some time...it's not quiet at all, but I do have a moment away from my everyday normal life... We're at our friend Joe's house cutting some tunes.. he has a studio here... It's funny, here in Franklin, TN sometimes making a record just looks like visiting friends, house to house...seems like everyone's got a studio in their back room now.

It's really fun to be making a studio record again - anything recent has been "live". It's crazy but we just prayed and asked God to show us if this was the right thing to do...we asked specifically that the money would be there (cause it wasn't) and the time would open up - both things happened right around Christmas time - 2 projects Nathan had for January and February got moved to later in the Spring so everything cleared out right when we had asked...which means I have a really amazing producer all to myself...yes!

The creative process looks so incredibly different now - the writing process for me is almost unrecognizable... I love it though - it's challenging, it's real and it means my family has not been left behind or forgotten. The girls are here - we have the "pack and play" set up in one room for Annie Rose and Ellie is playing with Joe's kids - Noah is at a friend's house today - no school to observe MLK Day... I've had to learn that the creative process can be something that is just a part of my life and it can "flow" at any given moment - wherever I am...whatever I'm doing. I've always resisted that whole multi-tasking thing, but crap, it's true..mom's have to - and we are really good at it, I must say...

Our writing process has been almost hilarious at times - Annie Rose loves that "Johnny Jump Up" thing, you know? She bounces in- time to the songs we play and she grins... We're still writing even though we're recording this week...we're doing a few songs today and tomorrow and then the rest in a few weeks... There will most likely be some co-writes on this record. That is a new one for me...but I'm thrilled. It's a process that has been surprisingly enjoyable. If anything it brings unity and it connects me to people...it's also very humbling...

So the website will launch with the record -christynockels.com - right now we're hoping for March or April - the website is just sitting there with this splash page on it right now... I haven't had the head space for it yet - so we're just waiting to launch it all at the same time.

So...the heart of this project is really just to resource what I'm already called to do... it feels almost like a necessity at this point - so it's not to launch a new "Christy Nockels singing career" it's to resource a calling that continues in my life and in my heart. I'm thankful for the freedom to shape it musically, and for friends who have come around us to help shape it as well... I'm so very grateful. So I stand in the mercy of Jesus, the Creator of the universe, as I mimic Him today...in all His creativity...and make music.

Happy 08 to all of you!
Christy

Okay - so many of you have been wondering what's up with our little family...just thought I'd update you a bit. Hope all is well with all of you! As you may have seen on the newspage, we welcomed our daughter Annie Rose on June 26th. Needless to say, we've been in a "baby haze" but have ventured out of our hiding into a few months of more travel than usual! First of all, she's precious...oh my goodness! She's 4 months old today and has already blessed us more than we imagined. Even Noah & Elliana think the world of her! She has brought a sweet balance to their relationship and I'm constantly blessed to watch them interact with each other.

We traveled in August which ended up really great! We took just Annie Rose on the first date, then all 3 kids to Chattanooga for the National Precepts Convention with Kay Aurthur. They did really well actually...of course, Granny & Papa were there to help, and there was a swimming pool!

September was an exciting month because school started! Noah is a first grader this year and is loving it! Ellie is in preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but wishes she could go everyday like her brother! Annie Rose and I have 2 days a week that we spend together in a quiet house which was strange at first, but now we enjoy it quite a bit!

October has been a really fun month, but full of travel! We spent the first weekend at a conference in Minneapolis with some friends from Integrity. The second and third weekends will be Passion Regional Events...Boston was amazing, Chicago is this weekend. If you're in college and want more info please go to 268generation.com.

Many of you have inquired about the Christy Nockels website. We're waiting to launch it when some decisions have been made about recording. Yes, you read that right. We feel the go ahead to start making a record this Winter. This recording will be a resource of new songs for the young church, mainly focused towards 18-30 year old women. I'm currently leading as an "artist in residence" with Nathan at our home church in Franklin. I'm also leading worship at various conferences & events as well as speaking some. There is a need to create a resource for the songs that are stirring up in me and I'm also co-writing for the first time with various worship leaders - which Im really excited about! There will come a time when this website might truly be no more, so I'm trying to bridge the gap while I can. You can also check my Music Myspace page http://www.myspace.com/christynockels for updated blogs until the website is completed.

You know, there has been much confusion over our "retirement". I think that word is hilarious by the way - at least when it's used to describe Nathan and I. We're in our young 30's - we can't retire! I WISH we would have sold that many Watermark records! What we did was recognize that a season had come and gone...and it was good...both the beginning and the end. We needed to lay some things down and start over...and that's what we did. It has been the most freeing time in our lives...just to be available again! I was clear at our live farewell concerts to say we ourselves are not "retiring" because when you are called to further the Kingdom of God, you're called for a lifetime. You never "retire" your gifts. But I guess our industry needs an explanation for the process we're in - a definition of sorts - so that was the ending verdict - "retired". And you know what? That's okay. As much as I wish I could explain every facet of this process with everyone and make them understand me , I can't! I can't expect everyone to understand the heart process of where we've been for the past few years. There's a point where I have to just leave it up to God. We retired the Watermark "brand" and the name, but not the heart or the song behind it. As long as I live and breathe I'll be ready to sing a new song unto the Lord - I've been doing it as long as I can remember. But by retiring the Watermark journey, it did give us a chance to breathe...for me to be more present with our children..mind,body, soul...and it was worth it. What hasn't stopped though is my desire to see God move in the lives of young women & college students.

So...with all that said, it's with joy that I start praying and writing towards this new recording. You might say, "what's the difference?" Two things - the approach and the target. I'm approaching this purely from a resource standpoint. The target is young women who attend the various conferences that I lead worship for - they simply want to leave with the songs that God powerfully uses to stir and change them during our time together. There's really nothing complicated about it...there's just a simple need. If God chooses to use it beyond that approach and target, He has the freedom to do that because it's His! Here's the best way I know to describe it.. A dear friend of mine approached me about a year and half before we felt God telling us to close our Watermark journey. She told me that she wanted to share something with me that she felt like the Lord had put on her heart for me. She shared with me that God had shown her a picture in her mind of concentric circles - a "target sign" basically. There was much more to the conversation but basically I wrestled with this idea of "concentric circles." For the next several months God began to confirm this "word" over and over in literally every way I could imagine. Eventually I would realize that God was using it to comfort me throughout the process of ending our Watermark journey. You see, He showed me that the focus of my life really only needed to be a few things...my heart towards Him, my husband & my children. This is a much smaller list than I had been carrying (like the weight of the world) on my shoulders. I was overjoyed!

This past year I have experienced the joy of just staying focused on those few things and that HE will take care of the outer rings of the "concentric circles". I don't need to worry about each layer or the impact they will have on the world...that's His job! Before, I was too involved in every layer... After 5 records with our label as Watermark, the layers were thick, the expectations high, the focus much too broad...so tired and frustrated we felt as if we weren't hitting any target at all! Now, even though I consider this next step of making a record, I still just lock in to the core of where I'm supposed to be...God & family. He's so faithful to show me that He has the next layer already covered and it's His to use as He pleases...I can relinquish that burden.

Anyway - I hope this makes some sort of sense. If not, you still have to give me a little credit for the effort! : ) So pray with me if you will - that we will follow God's leading in this. That I will trust Him with every layer and stay focused on the core needs of my home & family. I trust Him with this and I'm overjoyed that He is putting a new song in my mouth for His fame. Blessings to you! Christy Nockels p.s. there's no spell check and it's late, so cut me some slack! thanks!

So I'm home tonight from Boston - what an amazing city. Nathan and I, and little Annie Rose ventured there on Friday to be a part of the Boston Passion Regional. What a beautiful city! We had a pretty amazing view of Fenway Park from our hotel room...we could see the game last night. It was still going at 1am... I was honored to lead with my sweet friend Chris Tomlin and his band - and have the honor to stand before a generation of students that are hungry to see God move in a mighty way... I am taken back and continue to be so encouraged by the merging together of many different cultures and campuses - in this case, mostly the New England area...but how amazing to look out and see beautiful faces from Brazil, Korea, the Ukraine...black, white and everything in between! Sometimes I can hardly contain myself as I look out at their faces..I fall in love with their hearts to see God move - their prayers, their passion... We did a few new songs that are still ringing in my heart...partly because they are typical amazing Tomlin songs, and because they are confessions that are powerful when we sing them as we're sowing into the things of the Spirit...I sang them outloud over Boston as our plane flew over the city this morning...feels like I left a part of me there. When you get the chance to see them worship like that - it changes you forever..mostly because I know they will put movement to those words - they are not just singing songs -some of them may eventually give their lives for this Jesus they are singing to and dancing for... Last night I was reminded that even though I'm in a season of life with small children and it limits my ability to "go", I can still impart things to these students when I'm with them - even if it's not one on one (how I wish I could stay and talk to each one...but Annie Rose was waiting in the back for "mom") I can pray on their behalf, speak truth over them, sing over them, lead their hearts to sing to God...in some ways I feel like a cheerleader. That sounds weird - but I do feel in many ways I'm cheering them to go where in this season, I cannot. I'm not saying I can't "go" with small children, it can be done, but I always want to do it all - and I can't do it all... But what I can do is be a part of leading the generation who can... That is something our family will sacrifice for... That is something we'd give up things for and feel uncomfortable over... So tonight before bed I pray for those students...that Monday (tomorrow) would be a brand new life...that they'd never look at their campus the same...that God would not only use what He wrote on their hearts for this generation, but from generation to generation...

Hi everyone...I cancelled my other myspace page so hopefully you'll come be my friend again on this one... All is well here! I'm beginning to write now for a new record that we will hopefully release in the Spring sometime. I've been in a "baby haze", many sleepless nights but so worth every second...she's beautiful..little Annie Rose was born June 26th of this year. We've been on the road some...I'll try to post tour dates soon and blog more when I'm a little more awake - just letting you know that a new christynockels.com will be coming soon and that I'm still alive and kicking!

Love to all
Christy