Hey ya'll! (late) Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

Howdy folks! So, another update on The Concords! We've been extremely-- and I mean EXTREMELY blessed recently!

First of all, let me catch you up on everything we've been up to! We sang for almost 3 months straight. Although an amazing and blessed time, it was quite exhausting considering we had to travel in Mom's Impala.  Nice car, but NOT nice for traveling with 5 full-grown adults plus 4 ladies' luggages, accessories, and shoes! Dad could pack his clothes in a WalMart bag and be content =) haha!

Thanks to so many gracious and loving donors, including a huge donation from our wonderful home church, we were able to purchase a bus! We have plans on remodeling the inside so we have room for all of us plus Wes, and all our other family members who plan on traveling with us! Oh yeah... did I mention we'll need room for my baby? Ha! Yep, Wes and I are expecting! I'm due next Aug 2011 and we can't wait. Of course Mom and Dad are no less than thrilled.

We've been working on our new CD since summer but we just keep running into issues with it.  First, we had soundtrack issues. Then after starting to record, we had to postpone recording because we got sick. Then we got sick again. And again. And now.... again. =( It's sad because we hate to keep dragging this on and on, but the devil keeps preventing us from getting the project finished. Please pray we get better!

Our new project will include our single "God's Not Finished With Me Yet" written by Gerald Crabb.  December 2010 it hit the Christian Voice Magazine Top 100 chart at 78! As if we weren't thrilled enough, it hit 61 for January and is climbing for February 2011 as well! Let us know if you would like a copy of the CVM or would like to subscribe to the magazine for a year! It's only $20/year!

Well, I trust everyone had a joyful & blessed Christmas. I pray you have a safe & prosperous New Year!

Jesus LoVeS you!
Liz*

Holiday Challenge!

So, each year around this time I notice people dreading Christmas. It's really sad that Christmas-- the best time of the year-- does this to people. This year, I want to challenge you and you should pass it on to everyone you know!

*Take time with your whole family to decorate your home

*Read the Christmas story-- the actual Christmas story about Jesus

*Then read another Christmas favorite at another time throughout the season

*DON'T stress about what to buy and not having money. Be creative. Shop thrift stores, purchase used toys from friends whose kids are too old for the toys (trust me... they'll be happy to get rid of them). Find sales.

*Sign up for newsletters from your favorite stores. They'll send sale notifications.

*Write down what you are grateful for. Don't forget to be thankful for simple things (water, electric, a job-- even if it's not the best paying)

*Share past Christmas stories with your family with the TV, Computer, and games OFF

* Force yourself to smile more

*Tell everyone you talk to "Have a blessed Christmas". Trust me. You get better reactions than "Merry Christmas"

*This one is great all year long: Create a family night. One night where you all sit down and watch a movie, play the Wii, board games, etc.

*Tell your kids you're proud of them

*Make a budget

*Make a list of gifts you have/going to buy

*STICK TO THE LIST

I hope these help you become happier and less stressed at this wonderful time of the year! Pass this list on to all your friends!

Have a blessed Christmas,

Elizabeth Clary

NQC

For most all southern gospel followers, you know that National Quartet Convention is a highlight of most people's year. It's a wonderful convention that displays the industries most popular artists, as well as the up-and-coming and the not-very-known artists. This year, I'm guessing there is about 1,000 booths in the hall. It's amazing. I've been here 5 days and still have not seen all of them.

I've been here before, but this is the first time we've had a booth. We've met & caught up with so many amazing people so far this week. Some of them include: Ernie Haas, The Browns, Les Butler, Paul Heil, Daniel Howell (works at Gaither Studios in Indiana), SEVERAL wonderful  promoters, DJ's, and radio personnel.

We've handed out over 100 promotional packets. They're pretty awesome & everyone continually praises them.

Tuesday afternoon we sang at the artist regoinal showcase. We sang "God's Not Finished With Me Yet". It went really well. Scotty Inman of the Triumphant Quartet introduced us. You can watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtBdEhkOock

Thursday morning we sang for the Southern Gospel Promoters' Association Showcase. We sang "How Great Thou Art" and "God's Not Finished With Me Yet". We had great response. Our new buddy, Jim Hefner, President of the association, said he was impressed and in a few years we will run with the bigger groups. What a blessing to here!

Listen to us sing here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep5cA01wbg4

I also made a new friend, Lindsey Graham. She is SUCH a sweetheart, as is her mom and dad. Check out her website at: http://www.lindseygrahamministries.com/. Lindsey is from Naples, FLa; but originally, her family is from Kentucky. Thanks, Lindsey, for giving me your Christmas CD. Can't wait to listen to it.

Adam Brown (sings with The Browns) invited us to attend "Bowling With The Browns" last night. It didn't start til midnight and ended around 2 a.m. My sisters & I bowled with our new Nash-vegas friend, Lindsay. I won the first game; then she kicked our butt the second game! lol Mom & Dad played also. Mom thinks she sprung her wrist somehow, so she "granny" bowled. She won the game with 130 points! Pretty awesome for not being able to REALLY bowl! Thanks to The browns for hosting the games & for providing pizza. We really appreciate you.

Well, it's Friday morning... wait, I mean afternoon. Mom & Dad went to the Promoter's Breakfast and left the girls & I asleep. When they returned to the room, they said "GET UP! It's 9 'til noon!" Since the curtains were shut, the room was very dark and we slept half the day away. Oops. At least we're rested for this evening.

Well, I'm off to get ready. I was going to head over to the convention center to hear The Browns sing, but since I didn't get up til noon-ish, I don't have enough time to make it over there. I'm going to wear a pretty new babydoll jacket I bought at a boutique at the convention.

Have a blessed day,

Elizabeth

It's Back 2 School Time!

Well, summer is nearings its end and kids, teens, & young adults are heading back to school & college. My sisters and I started our Junior & Senior years of college. I can't believe we're old enough to almost be college grads! Pray we all have safe journeys to and from school.

Blessings to all the kiddos out there! Have fun & be sure to spread the word of God to your friends.... enemies.... everyone!

'Til next time,
Elizabeth

I'm Baaaaackkk!

Well, once again, it has been a super duper long time I last visited you, blog. I did not do it on purpose, however! You see, I forgot my password. Woops! BUT I'm back now and all is good.

Hey everybody! Guess what? It's that time again for The Concords to release a brand new single! I'm so very excited about it because I absolutely LOVE this song. It's called God's Not Finished With Me Yet! For more info about it, visit our "news" link at concordsmusic.com!

Also, if you would like to hear it, go to www.concordsmusic.com and it should instantly begin playing! It has a good little snap-your-fingers beat to it. This is one of the new songs that will be on our new project, hopefully it will be released soon.

Also (again)... it's almost been an entire year since Wes and I got 'hitched'. No, I'm not an old married lady yet, but I'm getting there!

Blessings! Talk to you soon (if I don't forget my password again),
Elizabeth

Dad and I being silly after singing at the Gallipolis River Recreation Festival July 3, 2010

April Update!!

Happy Easter everyone!!!
I know, I know... I'm a little late! But why not rejoice in our risen savior everyday, right?

     Easter is always a ton of fun in our family. Each year we head to Mamaw and Papaw Miller's house and have a delicious lunch after church. This year, Amber & Ashley helped Mamaw make her famous homemade noodles! They were AMAZING! I would really like to have more right now actually =)
     Before we got to the food, however, we took the family Easter pictures. They were beautiful because Easter was just the perfect day with the best weather!
     After lunch, we moaned around for a little because we all ate too much, then prepared for our annual Miller Easter Egg Hunt! We hid eggs for the babies... well, more like tossed eggs in the yard and watched them run around and laugh!  Next, we hid eggs for the young kids. The third hunt was for the "Big Kids", which is me, my sisters, cousins, husbands/wives, etc. We're the ones that everyone laughs at because we take our egg hunting serious! After all, prizes were at stake! After our big hunt, we took a few minutes to catch our breath, then we hid some eggs for the "elders"...ha! Our parents, and even Mamaw hunted eggs!
It was a lot of fun and a gorgeous spring day!
                                                                                                                                                                
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     This past weekend, we traveled to Akron, Ohio area to sing at a benefit for a Christian School. The next morning, we drove to Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. That night, we sang at Lillyville Church of God to sing. We met some great people and had a great time! Some people were truly touched.
     While in PA , I continually took mental notes for my blog! Most of them are funny stories:
1) We stopped at KMart to buy batteries. As we stood in line to check out, I stood there zoned in at the Steelers lawn chairs, thinking "Why on Earth do they have all of this Steelers stuff?" Then it hit me... "Duh, Liz... you are 20 minutes from Pittsburg!" I completely forgot I was in PA. I giggled about it a shook my head. Mom asked what I was laughing at. When I told her, she said, "I was thinking the same thing!!" It was pretttty funny!
2) That same evening, we sang. We wore our black and yellow outfits.  When we arrives at the church, several people were calling us Steelers fans. The announcer even talked about it! Amber looked at Mom and said... "We're Steelers fans?" Mom said, "Today we are!" ha!
3) Dad and Am and Ash and I were talking to the man who booked us to sing in PA. He said, "So, you girls are farm girls, eh?" We said yes... pretty much. He said, "Well, I gotta ask ya just onnnnne question. Green tractors.... or red tractors?" Almost as if we planned it, all together we said GREEN! He grabbed his chest and said Oh, you just stabbed me in the heart. Man, I thought I was gonna like you girls, but maybe not! lol! He was a hoot! I love jokesters!
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     I recently updated our website! Check it out! It has some of our new pics on it; plus, it looks very springy!
Also, check us out on MySpace and Facebook. We are much more active on Facebook than MySpace (FYI).
http://www.concordsmusic.com/
www.myspace.com/theconcords
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Concords/169643257530?ref=ts

 Please keep us in your prayers, as always!

Also, if you would like to schedule The Concords, please e-mail us at theconcords@att.net.
 Love & Blessings,
Elizabeth

Advice for the month: Being a GOOD person does not make a SAVED person. I know many people who are wonderful and would go to the ends of the earth for others; however, if one does not accept Jesus into his or her life, they will not inherit the kingdom of Heaven. Also, when one is saved, he or she MUST remain committed to Jesus, or they will fall away from Christ. If you want to be saved, it is SO simple. Just ask Jesus for forgiveness and believe in Him... ask from the heart; not just from the mouth. Jesus loves you!

Let the Sonshine In!

I've been singing this a LOT lately because of the gorgeous sunshine, so I thought I'd share it with you!  Beautiful weather really does show how much Jesus loves us!!
Let the son shine in! Face it with a grin. Smilers never lose; and frowners never win! So let the son shine in! Face it with a grin! Just open up your heart and let the Son. Shine. In.

http://www.concordsmusic.com/

March Madness

Well, it is March 11 and there's been no madness in March for The Concords. The last month and a half had been so slow. We have not sang very much, so we have been working on other thing in our lives. Amaber and Ashley and I are still staying busy with school. This week was midterms.... I have all A's! I know, yay me! Ha!

Tomorrow night, we are having new Concord pictures taken at AJ Productions in Pt. Pleasant, WV.We can't wait to show them to you!

Please continue to keep Wes in your prayers. He is in the Top 2 for a job close to home. I'm praying he gets it so he can be home more! God has a plan, though. Whatever it is, we will go with it. We're just hoping His plan is to give Wes THIS job. It seems to be perfect. It is close to home, the other workers are happy, and most are Christians. Who doesn't want to work t a place like that?!

I'll let you see a few pics from our shoot soon!

Check in with us soon!
Elizabeth

Dear Blog: I did not forget about you. Love, Liz

So, it's been a long time since I actually blogged (minus the Miss America video). Truth is, there's not much going on with The Concords... we sang once this month in Gallipolis, Ohio, which was great! They said they can't wait to have us back!  We are currently trying to pick new songs for our new CD. People are constantly emailing songs to us.... many of them that we love! James Rainey, an AMAZING pianist, is doing the music for the new tracks. He recently came off the road to spend more time with his new wife, Laura. He has played for many gospel groups, such as The Stamps, and, the most recent: Ron Blackwood.  He and his wife moved to Gallipolis about 2 months ago. 

We're very sad to tell you that The Gospel Border Tour has been cancelled. We're really unsure of why this conclusion was made. The onlly thing that we were told is that they needed to figure outsome PR stuff on the other side of the ocean. Maybe next time, I guess. Everything happens for a reason.

This last month was a bit trying for our family.  Our cousin, Gary, drowned after falling off of a barge on which he was working.  He was only 25. He had no chance due to the current of the Ohio river, tug of the boat, and the icy cold water...not to mention it was in the middle of the night. One thing I have learned from this: Losing one life might bring eternal life to many others. This accident woke up many of his friends, co-workers, and family members. They learned that you MUST be ready to pass on and ANY given moment.  My family heard words come out of some people's mouths that we never thought we would have heard.  I must say, God knew what He was doing when he called Gary home. RIP Gary Thanks for the great memories I have of you!

Amber, Ashley, and I started our Spring semester at the University of Rio Grande last month. I must say, I am one busy chick! Well, we all are. The girls are busy with Education classes, working on campus, and cheerleading for the Rio Storm!! I'm busy with 20 credit hours, and two internships, working at Rio, taking pics (www.wix.xom/EAPhotography/home), editing pics, babysitting my nieces every Friday, and... well, I think that's it...maybe. Haha! Trust me, I'm NOT complaining! I'm very thankful for my jobs, my nieces, and my school. I'm especially grateful for my schooling because it is COMPLETELY free!!!!! And in one year I will have my Associates in Communications, Bachelors in Mass Communications, and a BS in Public Relations! Shew! I'm also going to minor in Photography, but if that means Ill be there an extra semester, I think Ill just take the digital photography class and be done with it! In the meantime I am taking complete advantage of my scholarship.

As many of you know, Wes is still working in Columbus. You probably also know that we both hate the situation since I must be here; he must be there. We are praying and praying for a job to come to him. It's been really hard on us, especially being newlyweds. Most people look forward to spending time with their new spouse. We just get the weekends. Even though it's very trying and stressful (for me especially), I'm having faith that God has something in store for Wes and I. We are, however, very grateful and appreciative that he has a job in this economy. We have learned to be patient and give it to God.  I keep telling myself what The Greenes' song says "You don't have to understand... God has another plan." Amen!

Keep me and my entire family in your prayers! God knows our needs.

Blessings,
Elizabeth

P.S. Feb 5: Happy First Birthday, Mister Lincoln! We love you!

(I love this pic.... I took it! Ha! Isn't he just so stinkin' cute!)

Miss America talks about Faith!

Royal Performance

If anyone knows my sisters and I in the slightest bit, you MUST know that we LOVE pageants... yep! Being in them, watching them, directing, emceeing, performing, helping, whatever! We love them! We have been very active in pageants for many years. I have been the longest... since fifth grade to be exact. I started with Miss Preteen Ohio (where I placed top twenty!!), then did National American Miss (13th out of 178), and went on to do others. I was Miss Gallia County ( my favorite) in 2007, which is like Miss America to some in Gallia County.

Last year, Amber competed in the Ohio Cinderella State pageant. She won the State Talent award. Ashley competed in Miss Columbus Teen, where she placed 1st runner up. Both pageants were under the direction of Mrs. Judy Kyees, a noted pageant director and coach. She is a genius!!!!! She invited us to sing the national anthem at the 2010 Miss Columbus Teen pageant. She also want Amber to sing "Red Letter Day," Judy's fave song from our CD. We felt as if we sang the Star Spangled Banner better than ever. It's truly amazing to  hear to hoops-n-hollers from the audience, as well as the screams, when you know you nail a song. What better song to sing than one that praises our soldiers for their hard work! Well, other than a song about Jesus DYING for us! hehe!

Thanks, Judy, for inviting us to your pageant. We hope you invite us back. Congratulations to miss Avery Stump on winning the well deserved crown!

Til next time, ya'll,
Lizzy!!!