One of the many blessings I’m able to enjoy in my marriage (of 15 months and counting) is my wife’s beautiful singing voice. Back in April of this year, she posted five videos of herself singing on YouTube. Perhaps later she’ll add more songs, and even eventually some of the original songs she’s written which have never been shared publicly. With her permission, here are those five songs from seven months ago:

1. “Can’t Give Up Now” by Mary Mary (Cover)

2. “Shackles” by Mary Mary (Cover):

3. “Miss Celie’s Blues” (Cover):

4. “The Lord’s Prayer”:

5. “You Can See With Your Heart”:

For anyone who notices that most of these songs follow a theme of hopes and dreams, it might be good to point out that they were posted at a time when we were forced to give up on St. Paul Cultural Village, the multicultural marketplace and community center we were developing. By April 30th, less than a month after they were posted, we had vacated the building we were renting for that purpose. Once I update the St. Paul Cultural Village website, I plan to share in more detail what happened with that project. For my wife and I, January – April 2013 was a period marked by a lot of pain and shattered dreams, but God kept and sustained us then, and He continues to do so now.

-Adam