Changes!

We had a great year last year and I am so excited to see what God has in store for us this year! So I figured I would start this year off with adjusting a few things, and  since it is just a few days into the new year I figured I would share with… Continue reading »

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White Christmas

For the first time in over 6 years, my entire family has been together and we have had a wonderful time!  My sister, Amanda, flew in from Lynchburg; Natalia & her boyfriend, Jance, from Arkansas; and my brother, Burt, threw a 75th birthday party for our dad last night.  He was totally surprised (which is… Continue reading »

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Changes! White Christmas

Jan
12

Changes!

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We had a great year last year and I am so excited to see what God has in store for us this year! So I figured I would start this year off with adjusting a few things, and  since it is just a few days into the new year I figured I would share with you a couple of my “New Year’s Resolutions” although I don’t believe I would  call it that, more like my New Year Changes!

On December 31 I decided to set down and make myself a goal sheet of changes not just for 2012 but for many years to come . And my first thought was; life gets extremely busy and it is very easy for our priorities to get unbalanced and that is when it came to me about my relationship, not with my husband, but my relationship with Christ! I have found with work, class, kids, and a husband that travels, often I find that I put Christ on the backburner, which is completely unfair considering I wasn’t put on the backburner by Him. So I have had to do a personal evaluation of my life and and get some things in order, not for no one but myself, and I will admit it is  and will continue to be a working progress! So with that being said my number one goal is to strive to seek the Lord like never before!

Next on my goal sheet is soda! I have tried many times in the past to quit them and to be honest I have failed. So I have decided to take a different approach this time, I know I can do anything I set my mind to but at times even if it is something as simple as quitting mountain dew,its tough! So I have decided  when I think about how I believe I “need” a soda,I think of the scripture Phillippians 4:13- I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me. It maybe easy for some to just kick that habit, but  its not easy for me though, because I truly believe I am addicted, is that possible?!? :) But I am very proud to say I have not had a soda in 12 days, YAY!

I have a few more in mind that I am certian I can conquer through Christ but I’ll spare you all the boring details :) But I am curious did you make any goals for 2012?

Also just to let you know what’s been going on with the boys, Elijah is making Dave & I so proud, he is doing so good in the 1st grade. He brought home his report card yesterday and we were so excited, he made the honor roll, straight A’s. Not only is he doing good in school he is also being a very good big brother and he has been teaching Ethan math. Ethan thinks it’s the coolest thing that he can do math problems by  adding them or subtracting them on his fingers! So I do believe Ethan will be more than ready for kindergarten this year, but I’m not sure if  Dave & I will be though :)

Dave is off this weekend so we will be going to our home church together on Sunday (which doesn’t happen often) and then we will be heading to Greeneville after to church to see some of my family and we are planning on going to church with my papaw Sunday night, the church I grew up in & that’s actually where  Dave & I met :) But thats about all of our plans for the weekend. But before my weekend can actually begin I’ve got to catch one more Zumba class! FYI, if you have never been to a class it is a must you go, such a fun workout!

I do believe that’s it for now!

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Dec
24

White Christmas

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For the first time in over 6 years, my entire family has been together and we have had a wonderful time!  My sister, Amanda, flew in from Lynchburg; Natalia & her boyfriend, Jance, from Arkansas; and my brother, Burt, threw a 75th birthday party for our dad last night.  He was totally surprised (which is a big deal where my dad is concerned) and over 60 people attended to show their love.  

Speaking of Christmas, we are planning on a white one!  This was the view yesterday when we got up…

...but the snow is melted already!  When you are in Maine, though, there is always the possibility of more snow, so we’re counting on it!

Many of you who ordered “A Collection of Hits” have received your orders and are already listening to your CD!  Thank you for the support that you have shown our ministry.  Let us know what you think of it and if you haven’t ordered yet, you need to!  Sale prices will be off after Christmas!  You can listen to a sampling of the music right on the home page of our web site.

I hope you all have a blessed holiday, free of stress, and full of contentment.

Merry Christmas!

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Dec
09

An Extraordinary Trio

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It was the most dramatic event in the history of the world and it nearly went undetected.  A child was born to a controversial young Jewish couple named Joseph and Mary in the time of Caesar Augustus.  The birthplace was a barn, the cradle a feeding trough, and the attendants mere goats and donkeys.

This was no ordinary baby, of course.  He was the only begotten Son of God, one of the Trinity, sent from the splendor of Heaven to be the Savior of the world.  There was no huge birth announcement and celebration; just angels proclaiming His birth to commonplace shepherds.  You’d think on the day that a king was born, there would be a national holiday and presents brought from a representative of every country in the world; instead, everyone went about their business except three “wise men” who brought a gift apiece.

The parents were an interesting case. Consider Mary, a young teenager engaged to be married.  Every girl of every culture and every era of time dreams of her wedding day.  It’s just a girl thing.  She had kept herself pure for her husband.  The family was excited; mom was making the wedding dress, the girls were all talking about how cute Joseph was.  Then in a few moments her life changed forever.  An angel came to Mary and announced that she was going to become impregnated with the Son of God and the Father would be the Holy Ghost!

Joseph was merely engaged to Mary when she was found with child.  That was a crime worthy of stoning back in those days.  He knew he wasn’t the father, so imagine what he must have thought!  He had to be quite a man, though, because he decided to break off the engagement quietly and secretly with the idea of saving her reputation as much as was possible under the circumstances.  Then an angel told him to go ahead and marry her (which he did), because the child growing in her womb was conceived not in sin but of the Holy Ghost.

Much can be learned from such an extraordinary trio of people.  So often we romanticize this story and don’t think about what it really would be like.  Jesus gracefully left royal perfection to not only stoop to become human, but to be born to very common people in a stinky stable.  When Mary found out she would be a mom and she hadn’t even been with a man, she didn’t think about it or throw a fit; she said if that was what God wanted, so be it (Luke 1:38)!  Imagine being Joseph and trying to tell people that your fiancée is pregnant and you’re not the dad, but it’s OK; the Father is the Holy Ghost!

There are times in our lives when we are faced with circumstances that are not ideal.  No matter what our plans, they are often altered.  Our natural human tendency is to reject change.  We like to be comfortable, so much so that we often miss out on God’s best for us.  May we learn from Mary to accept with grace the will of God, no matter how difficult; from Joseph, to not be ruled by public opinion; and from our Savior, to humble ourselves for the sake of saving others.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

–Sonya

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Nov
02

Baby, It’s Cold Outside!

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OK, so it’ not FREEZING, but I got your attention didn’t I?  It is colder than I remember this time of year being in East Tennessee.  The frost has gotten my flowers, the autumn leaves are falling, and we’ve unpacked the long-sleeve shirts!  My Thanksgiving decor is out and the soaps and plug-in’s have all been changed to fall scents.  Ahhh, I do love this time of year.

We had an incredible time in Bardstown, KY, last week.  We started revival on Sunday, but on Saturday, the church served breakfast, then I spoke to the women and Tommy spoke to the men.  It was my first “official” speaking engagement and the Bardstown Church of God ladies and I had SO much fun!  It was a great learning experience as I studied and sought the Lord for months preparing.  God really came through for me.  He is faithful!

The revival that followed was miraculous!  Matt preached 5 Spirit-filled services with 4 saved and many lives changed.  After that, we left for Tupelo, MS, for another great concert.  We had a wonderful time with Heaven’s Highway and Mike Upright.  Matt got to preach again that night and God really worked through him.

I must say we were pretty tired after that run!  We drove most of the night to get back from Tupelo to spend part of Saturday home and head to Wise, VA, for a Sunday AM service.  After that, we headed home for some much needed rest!

I’ve been catching up on sleep, office work, housework and every other kind of work!  Tonight was my first night back to Zumba after almost 2 weeks off.  Wow, was that a workout!  I think it may take a few trips to class to work off all that restaurant food!

We’ll be heading out to New York and Pennsylvania this weekend.  My brother, Burt, who has been staying with Matt & I and playing guitar for us is going back to Maine until Christmas.  My dad has a huge Christmas tree business that Burt has helped him with for years and he promised Dad when he left home that he’d go back to help with it again this year.  So he’ll be leaving me after this weekend for awhile.  Boohoo for me, but I think my Mom and Dad are pretty excited!

We have cut tracks for a new hits project that will be released in a few weeks.  It will be here in time for Christmas presents so stay tuned!

Remember–the best is yet to come!

Come see us soon!

–Sonya

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Oct
19

Mums & Golf

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It’s a beautiful fall morning, and I am enjoying my second to the last day home before we go on the road for 10 days or so.  I have Dunkin Donuts coffee in hand and thought I’d take a few minutes to update our friends on the last several weeks’ happenings before I hit the to-do list that is always calling my name.

To celebrate cooler weather, I have done 2 things: planted mums and played golf.  I enjoyed one more than the other, but they were both pretty good.  The mums are GORGEOUS.  Matt has been bugging me all summer about hitting the course with him.  My excuse has been the heat, but when cooler weather came around, I ran out of excuses.  So, being the good wife that I am, we played 9 holes yesterday.  I didn’t throw any clubs out of frustration, so I figure that was a bug success!

“Fall on My Knees” music video has received tremendous response and is still going strong.  We have received countless stories of how God has worked through that song to touch people.  It is so encouraging.

Our 2 days spent at Dollywood a couple weeks ago were fantastic.    We performed 6 shows in that time and even got to ride a few coasters while we were at it!  We ate at Miss Lillian’s Chicken House and David got a chance to perform a song with her.  It was a pretty big hit and my brother caught it on video.  Check it out here!

Have you been wondering when we are putting out a new record?  Well, wonder no longer!  This Friday, we are cutting tracks for a new hits project!  Yes, they are songs you’ve heard before, but several of them are not even available for purchase anymore and in a few weeks, you’ll have some of your favorite songs on one CD!  Stay tuned!

We will be in revival in Bardstown, KY, this coming Sunday-Wednesday, then traveling on to Tupelo, MS, for Friday.  This Saturday before revival, Bardstown Church of God is holding a special event called Breakfast with The Browders.  Tommy will be speaking to the men and I’ll be speaking to the ladies.  In fact, I need to close this out and get a little more studying in before we head to a rehearsal at 11.

Do something that matters for eternity today.  Life is short.  Make every day count.

In Christ,

Sonya

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Sep
21

Summer is over!

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It’s that time again, school time! Elijah is in the first grade and doing fabulous. He received his first progress report and he had 3 A’s and 1 B, we are so proud.  I also have started classes again, and I have discovered that my Humanities class could very well be the reason I get my first gray hair :)   So my Tuesday’s & Thursday’s are crammed pack full of classes, but so far so good!

Ethan has renamed himself, as I was leaving to take Eli to school this morning he me told his name is now Ralph (his and Elijah’s newest obsession is the teenage mutant ninja turtles) and I believe Eli said he was Leo or Donnie, Dave is Master Splinter and I’m April O’Neil. I have to admit I do love their imagination!

Dave has been enjoying his time home. He’s got a busy schedule for the next couple of months!

So we have had a good summer, Elijah got to take a couple trips with Dave, we had to take the bus a couple different places for repairs and we enjoyed that time together, it almost felt like “mini vacations” we had fun, and we made sure we stayed in motels that had a pool. Its funny because, last night Eli said, ” Dad we need to go somewhere to have more family time, we need to find a motel with a pool” and of course Ethan had to put his two cents worth in and he said,”Dad we need to stay at either a Best Western or a Hampton Inn”, it sounded so funny coming from a 4 year old (but hey at least he has good taste in picking out motels).  

 I also got to take a road trip with Dave, I got to go with the group to Branson, MO, that was fun, I had never been to Silver Dollar City before! But one of the coolest things about the trip was Dave gave me a driving lesson, I actually drove the bus! I was a bit nervous about driving a 40 ft. bus because I hadn’t drove anything that big before, and I’m use to drivng our car, which is a VW Golf and the bus is probably 3 times the length of it! But I’ll be honest it was empowering!  I’m thinking I need to go on another trip so I can have a 2nd lesson! 

Well it’s time to get off the computer, I got to go get Eli from school soon and head over to my Zumba class.

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Sep
05

Music Video Launch, Silver Dollar City & Visit From Mom

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Exciting news in the Browder family this week!  If you haven’t already seen via facebook or twitter, we shot a music video for “Fall on My Knees” in Nashville a couple of weeks ago and it will be ready to launch to YouTube this week!  This song has already moved to #3 on the charts and we have received some incredible stories of how God is working in people’s lives through this song.  YouTube is a great tool for us to get this message to people who might have otherwise never heard and you can be a part of this undertaking!  We will let you know the exact moment it will launch and we want you to email, repost, share, retweet, whatever you can do to help spread the word to your friends and family.  We can hardly wait!

It was a lovely weekend in Missouri and Oklahoma.  We had to go a couple days early to do a radio interview in Springfield, so we spent a little time at the mall in Springfield (that was my idea), did our interview, then went to Branson where we promptly played miniature golf (that was Kim’s idea).  We had so much fun.  We ate dinner, got a good night’s rest and spent the next day at the pool and the Coach Outlet (Kim and I thought that one up together).  They were running a huge sale and Matt told me I had to get a purse (not common for a husband to say).  Kim and I couldn’t make up our minds which ones to get so Matt came in to help make the final decision.  David said we should just get white purses because it matches everything and Burt said it was a waste of time and money and we could be at the mini-golf.  Oh, such good times!

Well, we did go back to mini-golf that night and promptly locked three sets of bus keys in the bus.  Kim and I took a cab back to the hotel to get my keys which I had fortunately left in our room.  That was an interesting ride!  I think Kim was a little scared of the cabbie, but we made it back fine.  The course was handicap accessible so even Tommy played!

We started setting up at 8AM Saturday at Silver Dollar City for our shows at 11, 12, & 1.  It was a crowd of a thousand-ish each time and we met the most lovely, appreciative people.  My sister and some of her friends drove in from Little Rock to be with us, so after the show, we rode some coasters!  I do love a good coaster!  I loved spending time with my baby sis.

After SDC, we went to a church in Muskogee, OK, and had a wonderful service there.  We are truly privileged to spend time with some of the most wonderful people in our travels.  God is so good to us!

The only down side to the trip was when the generator decided to quit running the A/C for the umpteenth time this summer.  With it being nearly 100 degrees outside and no windows in the bus, needless to say we were candidates for showers much of the weekend.  Turns out, it was an alternator and we were able to “rig” it for the ride home.  We got back around 6 AM Tuesday.  Kim started her college classes that day at 9 AM, so we got her back just in time!

My mom came down for a visit from Maine and I picked her up Tuesday afternoon.  I have so enjoyed spending time with her.  Thus far, we gone to 3 Zumba classes, painted the living room, gone grocery shopping, and she has cleaned much of my house.  It doesn’t take a lot to entertain us!  We say we make good old people!  We had the weekend off so I got to take her to our home church and keep her all the way through next week!  Woohoo!

Please be praying about the video launch.  Wouldn’t it be neat to go viral with this?

Don’t forget: God is good and the devil is defeated!  The best is yet to come!

In HIS Service,

Sonya

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Aug
12

Weekend on the Road

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We spent this past weekend doing concerts in Kingsport, TN, Bluffton, IN, and Kokomo, IN (and no, I don’t think it’s the one the Beach Boys sang about).

Friday started us out in Kingsport on stage with Michael Combs.  We had never performed with him before, and we were certainly very excited about doing so.  We were definitely not disappointed!  He was super nice, SO much fun, and really puts on a great concert.  The crowd was AMAZING to sing to.

Before I move onto Saturday’s events, you must know about our traveling situation.  Because of an unusual glitch in our generator, the bus had no air and had to be taken 4 hours away to a company in South Carolina to be fixed.  That put us in Tommy’s van and trailer, leaving home at 5 AM Saturday after 3 hours sleep for the 9 hour trek to Bluffton.  It surely made for an interesting weekend!

We had a delightful evening at the Gospel Barn.  We met some of the most precious people.  Sunday morning, we had a wonderful service with our friends in Kokomo and then we piled in the van, headed home, pulling in at 2:30 AM!

We’ve enjoyed this week home resting some and working like crazy on some projects we have coming up.  The big one is a surprise, but I’ll share it with you soon.

Did I tell you I have a speaking engagement coming up in October?  It will be the 22nd in Bardstown, KY, and we’ll start revival the next day.  It’s a women’s event and I’ll let you know the time when it’s confirmed.  Pray with me about the this opportunity and I hope many of you will be able to attend!

That’s it for now!  See you soon!

–Sonya

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Jul
27

I’m Back!

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Hi, Friends!

It’s been so long since I blogged news or a devotional that I couldn’t even remember my password to log in!  Not only have we been completely busy the last several months, but I’ve sort of felt like my brain’s been on vacation.  Ever felt that way?  Well, I’m back now, and I commit to you that I will be working on publishing a new devotional every month.

April was my last “news” blog, so I’ll give you an overview of the last several months starting with May.  Our golf tournament was a huge success.  We had over 60 golfers and all attested to having a marvelous day.  Also, we sang in Sunbright, TN, and during an unplanned stop at WalMart on the way, Matt led 2 young men to Christ in the parking lot.  That was pretty cool.  I love how bold and caring he is in that respect.  I’ve learned a lot from him in that department.

June was our annual trek to New England.  That, of course, means time spent in Maine with my family, the greatest people on the planet!  My mom has taken up Zumba and I went to 2 classes with her.  I’m no good at it, but it surely was fun!

My brother graduated high school this year and drove his car down to stay with Matt & I for awhile.  He’s one of the coolest people I know, and after having him spend the last 4 summers with us, I am thrilled to have him back again.  Burt is playing guitar with us while he’s here!  Matt & Tommy showed him a few things on it a couple of years ago and between that and youtube instructional videos and hours of practice, he’s turning out to be really good!  I know you’ll enjoy meeting him at an upcoming concert.

“Fall on My Knees” will be #7 for September!  Now would be a great time to call your local station and ask them to give it a spin.

I got some super exciting news this weekend.  We’ll be going to Peru with Compassion in January!  Matt & I will get to meet our Maria whom we’ve been sponsoring for nearly 4 years.  I can’t tell you how THRILLED I am!  If you have not yet sponsored a child, click on the Compassion link on our home page and sponsor today!  You will love it, I promise, and you can make a difference!

Come see us at Silver Dollar City or Dollywood this year, will ya?  This will be our first time performing in these venues and I, for one, would love to have some familiar faces there!

Thank you for praying for us.  Ke

–Sonya

 

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Jul
05

It’s been a while!

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Wow I just realized I haven’t been on here in a while!  Hmm, where to begin!?!

 Well Eli is on Summer break, which he is enjoying. He was able to tag along with the group when they done their annual New England Tour, he had a blast. He’s a bit nervous about returning to school as a 1st grader though, he’s not to enthused with the idea of them not having toys in the classroom!

Ethan is just being Ethan, mischievous as ever! But ever since summer began he has wanted to do two things, one go see Cars 2, which was one of the things we did to celebrate the fourth of July! Now he’s looking forward to going to Dollywood in a couple of weeks!

I am on Summer break also. When I made the decision I wasn’t taking any courses this summer it felt good to have a little break, but it will come to an end soon, classes start back up August 27th. I am kind of excited though, I have enjoyed the experience of being a wife, a mother, and also a full time student, basically I enjoy a busy schedule! I not big on just sitting around with nothing to do  :)

Dave’s schedule has calmed down some, so he’s just been hanging around the house enjoying his time home. He doesn’t get to do that often so he takes advantage of it as much as possible!

Well I guess that’s it for now! We shall continue enjoying our summer and I believe I am gonna spend some more of my time off  by the pool :)

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