Featured
Posted on November 21, 2011
by Brian Petersen 
0 
Tupac Shakur’s “Changes.” “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child. Notorious B.I.G.’s “Mo Money Mo Problems.” “Where is the Love’” by Black Eyed Peas. These are just a few of the massive hits that have helped shape today’s R&B/Hip Hop sound. And all were mixed by Tony Maserati.
One of the most respected mixing engineers on today’s scene, Maserati has played a major role in defining current R&B and hip hop aesthetics, and has mixed over 250 releases for dozens of superstars ranging from Sting and David Bowie to Macy Gray and Alicia Keys. A two-time Grammy winner, Tony was recently nominated for his third, for his work on We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things by Jason Mraz.
After completing his studies at Berklee’s program for production and engineering, Maserati got his start the New York scene in the mid-’80s and before long Tony had hooked up with early rap legends like Heavy D and Brand Nubian. Perhaps best known for his work on such hits as Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs,” Mark Anthony’s “I Need To Know” and R. Kelly’s “I Wish,” most recently Maserati has been hard at work on new releases from John Legend as well as Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas.
Maserati says “I have been using Waves plugins from the beginning of my immersion in digital workstations. I’m looking at my computer screen and more than half of the tracks are Waves plugins. From dynamics and EQs to special effects, most of the tracks that recording engineers send me have Waves plugins on them, making it easy for me to save their work and edit or just start from one of my presets.”
Read more: http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=5451#ixzz1QmqjYFqN
Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Kiss, David Bowie
Any producer is only as good as the music he helps create. By this standard, Eddie Kramer must be regarded as a legend. In the course of a production and engineering career that has spanned 30 years, Kramer has been behind the boards for the biggest names in music – The Rolling Stones, Traffic, Peter Frampton, Carly Simon, Joe Cocker, Johnny Winter, David Bowie, The Beatles and Bad Company, just to name a few. But he is perhaps best known for three long-term associations in which he not only helped create some of the most important music of the rock era, but also set standards for rock production that set him aside as a true innovator. His work with Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Kiss produced music which continues to influence rock musicians and producers today.
Born in South Africa, Eddie studied classical piano, cello and violin at the prestigious South African college of Music. At a young age, his interest switched from classical to jazz. He moved to England at 19, where he recorded local jazz groups in a home-based studio and installed hi-fi equipment as a hobby. In 1964, he joined Pye Studios, and recorded a variety of artists including Sammy Davis Jr., Petula Clark, and The Kinks, demonstrating a versatility, which Eddie possesses to this day.
In 1965, Kramer established the sophisticated KPS Studios, which, despite its rudimentary 2-track recording capability, gained such a reputation that in less than a year they were bought out by Regent Sound. They enlisted Kramer to oversee construction of their new four-track studio.
Getting “Experienced”
Kramer’s next stop was Olympic Sound studios where he developed a fantastic reputation among the bands of the time – Small Faces, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Jimi Hendrix, among others. His association with Hendrix was the most powerful one, and the one that lasted the longest. Kramer engineered every Hendrix album from “Are You Experienced” to “Cry of Love,” and after Hendrix’s death co-produced the posthumous releases “War Heroes,” “Rainbow Bridge” and “Hendrix in the West.”
In 1968, Kramer came to work at the Record Plant in NYC, engineering Hendrix’s “Electric Ladyland” LP, and also worked with Vanilla Fudge, Joe Cocker, and NRBQ. In 1969, Kramer went independent, producing Johnny Winter’s first LP and engineering Led Zeppelin II, acknowledged by fans and critics alike as perhaps that bands most influential work. This led to work on five albums with the band, half of their overall output. This pairing provided some historic moments. As Eddie tells of one particular session, “Zep II was mixed over a two day period in New York, and at one point there was bleed-through of a previously recorded vocal in the recording of “Whole Lotta Love.” It was the middle part where Robert (Plant) screams “Wo-man. You need it.” Since we couldn’t re-record at that point, I just threw some echo on it to see how it would sound and Jimmy (Page) said “Great! Just leave it.”
Woodstock
Soon afterwards, Kramer was recruited to record the Woodstock festival for both the album and the movie. “I arrived at dawn and was struck by the sight of the sun rising over what appeared to be the stage. The show was scheduled to start by lunchtime. That panic pretty much set the tone for the entire concert. All of us in the crew had Vitamin B shots, so that we would be able to stay up for three days. The whole thing was recorded under the most primitive of conditions, but we got it done,” says Kramer. “Woodstock was 3 days of hell and drugs”.
Woodstock established Kramer as one of the most important live music producers of the rock era, starting a series of artists recorded live which would ultimately include Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Kiss, John Mayall, The Rolling Stones, Peter Frampton, Joe Cocker, Curtis Mayfield, Santana, David Bowie, Derek and The Dominoes, and others.
Electric Lady Studios
Hendrix quickly hired Kramer to build a state of the art studio. After 13 months and a million dollars, Electric Lady Studios was complete, and Kramer served as its Director of Engineering from 1970 – 1974. During this time, in addition to producing the posthumous Hendrix records, Kramer produced records by Carly Simon, Sha Na Na and Peter Frampton, and engineered albums for artists as diverse as Dionne Warwick and Lena Horne, David Bowie’s “Live at the Spectrum” and “Young Americans,” featuring “Fame” with John Lennon, and Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy” and “Physical Graffiti,” among others.
In 1975, Kramer left Electric Lady Studios to work with the No. 1 band in America at the time and produced “Kiss Alive.” In addition to producing “Rock and Roll Over,” “Love Gun,” “Alive II” and “Double Platinum” for Kiss, Kramer worked on Ace Frehley’s first solo record, Led Zeppelin’s “The Song Remains the Same” (the album and the movie), Peter Frampton’s historic “Frampton Comes Alive” LP, and The Rolling Stones “Love Ya Live,” three of the most popular live albums of the rock era. In the last three decades, Kramer has produced countless bands from Anthrax, Motley Crue, and Twisted Sister to Buddy Guy, Sting and Carlos Santana. He produced the Hendrix tribute album, “Stone Free,” for Warner Bros., which features tracks from artists such as: The Cure, Eric Clapton, The Spin Doctors, Seal/Jeff Beck, Slash/Paul Rodgers, and others. The album has generated approximately $1,000,000 in charitable funds which have been donated to the United Negro College Fund as musical scholarships to The Berklee School of Music, Julliard School of Music, and The Dance Theatre of Harlem. Since 1997, he has remastered all of the Jimi Hendrix albums from the original master tapes for Experience Hendrix/MCA. Eddie won a Grammy in 2002 for his work with Carlos Santana and Michelle Branch on the single, “The Game of Love.” Eddie has also worked with Lauren Hill on her new album.
Eddie’s photographs may be viewed at www.kramerarchives.com.
Read more: http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=3385#ixzz1Qmoxf8yK
In this exclusive video, producer / engineer Val Garay explains how the Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter® helped shape the sound of hit records for artists like Linda Ronstadt, Neil Diamond, The Four Seasons, and James Taylor.
Shooting and interview by Brian Petersen for Waves at the Village Studios in Los Angeles. Assisted by the legendary Phil Towne.
Related plugin: Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter®
Read more: http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=11701#ixzz1NXoWf5Xa
http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=11701
2011 Senior Recital of Trevor Gomes at Biola
Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com
Email Brian Petersen.
© 2010 Brian Petersen
Waves Grammy Congratulations NAMM 2011 from Brian Petersen on Vimeo.
Video by Brian Petersen for Waves
http://brianapetersen.com/
http://www.waves.com/
Chris Lord-Alge
Jack Joseph Puig
Manny Marroquin
Ross Hograth
Andrew Scheps
Dave Aron
Val Garay
Stevie Black
Scott Martin Gershin
Rob Arbittier
John Mills
Nic tenBroek
Michael Pearson Adams
Jordan Rudess
Jack Joseph Puig is among the most sought-after producers and mixing engineers in the music industry.
Jack Joseph Puig is world-renowned as a producer, mixer, and engineer, blending the sounds of the past three decades to create a unique contemporary aural tapestry. As one of the industry’s most in-demand engineers, Puig has manned the controls for a veritable who’s who of major artists.
Recently, Jack Joseph Puig collaborated with Waves on The JJP Analog Legends, which features four precision-modeled plugins based on rare gear from his own studio. Here are some photos of a recent session with Jack as he explains the front and back end of the plugins.
Check out his plugins
http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=7306
Read more: http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=2327#ixzz17TnrjKyH
About JJP Analog Legends
JJP Analog Legends is the result of an ongoing Waves research and development project that has lasted over 3 years.
Fairchild compressors are among the very rarest pieces of recording gear; it’s rumored that less than 50 were originally manufactured. One of the first things we discovered when testing Fairchilds is that each model sounds different. In fact, even within the same stereo module, each channel can sound and behave differently! Only a few fortunate studios in the world have multiple units, with the opportunity to compare the subtle differences between them. And so, our quest for the best sounding Fairchild led us to producer/mixing engineer Jack Joseph Puig, well-known in audio circles for his enviable collection of hard-to-find gear.
Jack loaned us his very best sounding unit, and we painstakingly analyzed and modeled its every attribute, replicating its sound and behavior to the point where the software was virtually indistinguishable from hardware. Jack was an indispensable part of the development process, greatly assisting the Waves team by testing and fine tuning the software models of his hardware, as well as contributing an extensive library of his personal presets.
So when you fire up the PuigChild, it’s almost as if you were working together with Jack Joseph Puig in Ocean Way studios. Better yet, it’s as if he loaned you a Fairchild. And not just any Fairchild; his BEST Fairchild.
Read more: http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=7665#ixzz17TpKxhKD
Among his clients:
The Rolling Stones, U2, Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, Fergie, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, Klaxons, Panic At The Disco, Weezer, Counting Crows, Pussycat Dolls, Goo Goo Dolls, The Black Crowes, Switchfoot, No Doubt, Mary J. Blige, and more.
Puig has produced hits for the Verve Pipe (“Freshmen”) and The Black Crows (“Good Friday”), among others. Calling Ocean Way his home, Puig has spent time both as an engineer and as a producer and sees the duality as a plus when dealing with today’s Top 40 rock acts, many of whom ask him to mix their albums as well. He has also mixed albums for Hole, Collective Soul, Green Day, Mick Jagger, Lisa Loeb, and others.
Puig’s Picks
The vintage hardware modeled in the JJP Analog Legends are among the rarest, most coveted pieces in the audio world. The PuigChild 660, PuigChild 670, PuigTec EQP-1A, and PuigTec MEQ-5 are based on these acclaimed units.
About Fairchild: Among gear aficionados, the stereo Fairchild 670 is considered the most coveted of all compressors, not only because of its pristine sound, but also its rarity and price: 670s routinely go for tens of thousands of dollars on the vintage market. (They originally cost less than $1000.) With 20 vacuum tubes and 4 hand-wired transformers in a hefty 6 rack-space chassis, these hard-to-find units weigh in at a robust 65 lbs.
Designed by Estonian-born Rein Narma in the early 1950s, both the stereo 670 and its mono counterpart the Fairchild 660 use single push-pull amplification stages with extremely high control voltages. Both variable-mu limiters are unique in that they use tubes for gain reduction as well as amplification. Compression takes place directly in the audio path, rather than being routed to a separate circuit.
Prior to the 660 and 670, Narma’s Gotham Audio Developments had built consoles and components for such luminaries as Rudy Van Gelder and Les Paul. Shortly after Paul asked Narma to build a limiter, Sherman Fairchild caught wind of the project, licensed the design, and hired Narma to come onboard as the company’s chief engineer. After his stint at Fairchild, Narma relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area and became vice president of Ampex, pioneers of multitrack recording equipment.
About Pultec
Custom-engineered and built by hand, the original Pultecs have long been a top choice of leading recording and mastering engineers. Pultecs are renowned for their ability to accentuate individual frequency ranges without significantly altering other frequencies.
In 1951, Gene Shenk and Ollie Summerland of Pulse Techniques Inc. introduced the first passive program equalizer, the EQP-1. Using equalization circuit designs licensed from Western Electric, the initial Pultecs suffered the gain insertion losses typical of passive filters. So, they added a gain makeup stage, using a push-pull design with multiple vacuum tubes. The result is the classic we’ve come to know as the EQP-1A.
Conceived and created for broadband equalization, the EQP-1A features four low boost/cut frequencies, three high-cut frequencies and seven HF boost points, along with a bandwidth control for shaping the high boost curve. The EQP-1A and the MEQ-5 together comprise one of the best known equalization chains in audio history.
More about Jack Joseph Puig
Jack Joseph Puig is a Grammy Award-winning music engineer and producer with a long track record of successful productions, beginning with the mid 1990′s production of Tonic. Following this breakout success, Puig went on to work with Hole, Jellyfish, The Black Crowes,[1] John Mayer, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Green Day, The Counting Crows, No Doubt, Klaxons, Panic at the Disco, Stone Temple Pilots, U2, and many others. Puig has shared Grammy Awards with The Goo Goo Dolls, Sheryl Crow, Vanessa Carlton, John Mayer, Fergie (Black Eyed Peas), U2, and No Doubt. In 2006 Jack Joseph Puig became a E.V.P. atInterscope-Geffen-A&M Records. He has signed Klaxons and Charlotte Sometimes. As a A&R man he works with Shirley Manson, Ashlee Simpson, Klaxons, Charlotte Sometimes, The Counting Crows, Puddle of Mudd, and The Like.
Prior to his mainstream music production successes Puig rose to prominence as an engineer in the Contemporary Christian music scene of the mid-eighties. He worked mainly on Myrrh Record releases. He engineered for Christian acts sych as Amy Grant and Russ Taff. Some of the records he engineered were Grammy-award winning works such as Grant’s landmark 1985 LP Unguarded.
Partial discography
- Semisonic – Feeling Strangely Fine (1998) m
- Robbie Williams – I’ve Been Expecting You (1998) p/m
- John Hiatt – Stolen Moments (2005) e/m
- Bette Midler – Some People’s Lives (1990) m
- Jellyfish – Bellybutton (1990) e/p
- Bette Midler – For the Boys (soundtrack) (1991) m
- Jellyfish – Spilt Milk (1993) e/p/m
- The Grays – Ro Sham Bo (1994) p
- The Black Crowes – Amorica (1994) e/p/m
- Tonic – Lemon Parade (1996) e/p/m
- Weezer – Pinkerton (1996) e/m
- The Black Crowes – Three Snakes & One Charm (1996) e/p/m
- Talk Show – Talk Show (1997) m
- Big Wreck – In Loving Memory Of… (1997) m
- Hole – Celebrity Skin (1998) m
- Goo Goo Dolls – Dizzy Up The Girl (1998) p/m
- Sparklehorse – Good Morning Spider (1999) p/m
- Stone Temple Pilots – Revolution (1999) m
- The Counting Crows – This Desert Life (1999) m
- Beck – Nicotine & Gravy (1999) m
- No Doubt – Return of Saturn (2000) m
- Green Day – Warning (2000) m
- Collective Soul – Blender (2000) m
- Five For Fighting – Easy Tonight (2000) p/m
- Shelby Lynne – Bridget Jones’ Diary, original soundtrack (2001) m
- Tricky – Blowback (2001) m
- Remy Zero – The Golden Hum (2001) e/p/m
- The Rolling Stones – 40 Licks (2002) m
- Phantom Planet – The Guest (2002) m
- Sheryl Crow – C’mon C’mon (2002) m
- Vanessa Carlton – Be Not Nobody (2002) m
- Vanessa Carlton – A Thousand Miles (2002) m
- The Counting Crows – Hard Candy (2002) m
- Switchfoot – The Beautiful Letdown (2003) m
- Stereomud – Every Given Moment (2003) m
- The Ataris – So Long, Astoria (2003) m
- Stereophonics – You Gotta Go There to Come Back (2003) m
- John Mayer – Heavier Things (2003) e/p/m
- No Doubt – The Singles: 1992-2003 (2003) m
- 311 – Greatest Hits ’93-’03 (2004) m
- Sum 41 – Killer Queen(2005) e/p/m
- Aqualung – Strange and Beautiful (2005) m
- Son Volt – Retrospective 1995-2000 (2005) m
- Black Eyed Peas – Monkey Business (2005) m
- The Rolling Stones – A Bigger Bang (2005) m
- The Rolling Stones – Biggest Mistake (2005) m
- The Pussycat Dolls – PCD (2005) m
- Mary J. Blige – The Breakthrough (2005) m
- John Hiatt – Chronicles (2005) e/m
- Goo Goo Dolls – Let Love In (2006) m
- Dashboard Confessional – Dusk and Summer (2006) m
- Fergie – The Dutchess (2006) m
- The Academy Is – Santi (2007) m
- Macy Gray – Big (2007) m
- U2 – Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur (2007) p/m
- Lifehouse – Who We Are (2007) m
- Queen Latifah – Trav’lin’ Light(2007) m
- Puddle of Mudd – Psycho (2007) p/m
- Klaxons – Golden Skans radio remix (2007) m
- Eric Clapton – Complete Clapton (2007) m
- Panic at the Disco – Nine in the Afternoon (2007) m
- Charlotte Sometimes– Waves and the Both of Us (2008) p/m
- Jack Savoretti - Harder Than Easy (2009) m
- Kylie Morgan (country artist) 2010
I love being part of a team where I get to see people live out their adoption in Christ and defend the rights of the orphan and widow.
Project Hope at Grace EV Free celebrated its third Orphan Sunday by hosting Sunday services called, “Defending the Fatherless.” November 7 is internationally recognized as Orphan Sunday and the event was tailored for the church body with preaching, sung worship, testimonies, prayer, and exhibits with tables from local ministries to help Christians defend the fatherless. I’ve included the sermon video below with some photos of the fun event. Enjoy and God bless you!
You can download the sermon audio or listen online by visiting the Grace EV Free website here.
You can also check out the original post from Project Hope here.
Click on these photos to view them large. Photos by Brian Petersen and Erik Bergen.
Click on these photos to view them large. Photos by Brian Petersen and Erik Bergen.
From a photo session for Waves by Brian Petersen with Tony Maserati in Studio D at the Village Recorder in West L.A.
The man behind the sound of the Black Eyed Peas, Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, Puff Daddy, Beyoncé, Usher, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Jason Mraz, Macy Grey, Mary J, Blige, Rob Thomas, Sting, David Bowie, Tupac Shakur, Ricky Martin, Notorious B.I.G.
Read more: http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=8873#ixzz13PWelf3l
Visit Tony’s site at http://tonymaserati.com/
Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com
Email Brian Petersen for licenses regarding this image. © 2010 Brian Petersen
About Tony Maserati
Widely regarded as the principal architect of the legendary New York Sound, Tony Maserati is one of the world’s most respected mixing engineers. In a dazzling career with countless hit records for superstars ranging from Sting and David Bowie to Macy Gray and Alicia Keys, Tony has done more than simply make the songs sound great. He has played a major role in redefining the aesthetics of R&B, hip-hop, and pop.
After completing his studies at Berklee’s program for production and engineering, Maserati got his start at the legendary Sigma Sound Studios in New York during the mid-’80s, hooking up with early rap legends like Heavy D and Brand Nubian. Working closely with Bad Boy Entertainment’s roster of heavyweight talent—including Mary J Blige, Faith Evans, Notorius B.I.G. and Lil Kim—he helped create what became known as the sound of New York hip hop. It wasn’t long before he was leaving his mark on smash pop hits including Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs”, Marc Anthony’s “I Need to Know”, and R. Kelly’s “I Wish”.
Today, as an active producer / mixing engineer as well as instructor at Tisch School of the Arts / New York University, Tony mentors up-and-coming engineers and artists. He’s won two Grammy® awards, one for Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love” and one for Sergio Mendes’s Timeless, and is the recipient of a 2006 TEC Award. He is an active member of The Recording Academy, and this year received his seventh Grammy nomination, for Jason Mraz’s We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
Maserati says “I’ve been using Waves from the beginning. From dynamics and EQs to special effects, most of the tracks I’ve mixed have Waves on them. Waves did an amazing job turning my personal processing chains into custom plug-ins.”
Selected Discography
- Marc Anthony: “I Need To Know”
- James Brown: JB (Best of the Best)
- Mariah Carey: “Honey,” “The Roof”
- Destiny’s Child: “Survivor,” “Bootylicious”
- R. Kelly: “Like a Real Freak,” “TP-2″
- Jennifer Lopez: “Play,” “Ain’t It Funny,” “I’m Real”
- Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera: “Nobody Wants To Be Lonely”
- Maxwell: “Fortunate”
- Mýa: “Best of Me”
- Notorious B.I.G.: “Mo Money Mo Problems”
- Puff Daddy: “Been Around the World”
- The Simpsons: The Yellow Album
- Jessica Simpson: “Sweet Kisses”
- Tupac: “Changes”
- Vitamin C: “I Know What Boys Like”
- Anouk: “Hotel New York” Album
- Jason Mraz: “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.”
Shots from a photo session with the legendary Chris Lord-Alge at Mix L.A.
Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com
Email Brian Petersen for licenses regarding this image.
© 2010 Brian Petersen
Joni Eareckson Tada is an evangelical Christian author, radio host, and founder of Joni and Friends, an organization "accelerating Christian ministry in the disability community." www.joniandfriends.org/
Quotes from Joni Eareckson Tada that I wrote down from this time:
“If it were not for my accident I would not be sitting here telling you about the power of the risen Christ and the joy of his sufferings.” -Joni Eareckson Tada
“God wrote a book on suffering, and its name is Jesus.” -Joni Eareckson Tada
“I have learned in my quadriplegia that Jesus is real. He is the man of sorrows to be sure, but the Lord of joy.” -Joni Eareckson Tada
Download the full size images from this gallery here.
Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com
A photoshoot from the miracle baby who will forever be a testimony to the power and provision of the living God.
Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com
Email Brian Petersen.
Read the story about Hannah here http://www.ocregister.com/articles/melody-250764-hannah-baby.html?pic=1
Little Girl Mends Hearts
By Lou Ponsi
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Melody and Jason Lietzau never considered adoption.
Why would they?
It was mid-2008 and the La Habra couple already had two healthy boys. Plus, Melody was pregnant.
Still, the Lietzaus, who adhere strongly to Christian faith, believe God sometimes has other plans.
In October, 9 ½ weeks into her pregnancy, Melody visited the doctor for a scheduled checkup. The news was bad. The baby’s heart was not beating.
The loss felt crushing.
Four days later, Melody and Jason were at Sunday service at Grace Evangelical Free Church in La Mirada when the pastor delivered the Bible passage James 1:27.
“Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Orphans?
Suddenly, adoption wasn’t just an option, the couple saw it as an obligation.
“We felt like the Lord just spoke to our hearts,” Melody says.
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
“We know this is a long and difficult process and believe that the Lord doesn’t always call us to easy things.”
That’s a line from a November, 2008 entry in the blog Melody started to chronicle every step of her family’s adoption journey.
Since they had the boys, Jonah and Noah, then ages 3 and 6, the couple wanted a baby girl. After some research, they learned that there was a need for adoptive parents in China.
They even picked out a name: Hannah, which in Hebrew means “Gift from God.”
After filling out what seemed like reams of documents required by their adoption agency, they were approved in December 2008.
Then they got some mixed news:
The wait to adopt a healthy baby from China could be at least five years.
But a baby with special needs?
That could happen much faster.
The couple opted to adopt where the need was greatest. What’s more, they already knew a little about “need.” Melody, now 32, has a congenital heart defect; she’s lived with a pacemaker in her chest since age 20. Adopting a baby with a similar medical issue made sense.
The next step was telling the boys.
“Could we get eight?” Noah asked, when told that they might be getting a sister from China?
Melody wrote about it on the blog.
Perhaps Noah was watching too much of ‘John & Kate plus 8.’
In the months that followed, the couple filled out more paperwork. They also took required adoptive parenting classes and opened their home to social workers who examined every nook and cranny. But, mostly, they waited.
In a blog entry from September 2009, Melody wrote that her heart raced every time the phone rang
“I feel so helpless. A little girl is waiting to get the care she deserves and we are eager to help her get it and there is nothing we can do.”
THE CALL
On Dec. 9 2009, Melody got the call.
A baby girl named Li Chun – a name assigned by an orphanage director – had been abandoned at three months old, in an elevator in a Hunan hospital.
She could become part of their family. A photo would be sent via e-mail.
Melody says the five-minute wait felt like five hours.
Finally, popping up on a computer screen, came an image of a little girl with expressive eyes and a tuft of black hair – their daughter.
Hannah was born with a serious but treatable heart condition. The Lietzaus’ were told that with care and the right surgeries, she could survive and eventually lead a normal life.
A FIGHTER
On April 10, Melody, Jason and Hannah landed at LAX, ending the couple’s trip to China to pick up their daughter.
But a new trip was starting.
First, the boys, Noah and Jonah, got to meet their sister. They’d been driven to the airport for that purpose.
But the first stop after that meeting wasn’t home – it was Children’s Hospital of Orange County, CHOC, where doctors were waiting to check out Hannah.
After the examination, they decided that Hannah would need surgery in less than a week.
Then, a few days later, Hannah’s heart began failing. Her condition was worse than anticipated. The Lietzaus were told Hannah had about 30 percent chance of coming out of surgery alive.
The doctors offered the most horrific question a parent can hear: Should we just make her comfortable, or do you want to go through with the surgery?
Melody says their faith didn’t leave room for such a question. And when it came time for the surgery, Melody whispered this into Hannah’s ear:
‘You are a fighter. And you have a story to tell.’”
The surgery, scheduled for five hours, was done in three. Hannah sailed so easily through the procedure that surgeons skipped one phase of the operation.
“There was never a doubt… God has brought us to this point for a reason,” says Jason, 33.
These days, Hannah is bright-eyed, alert, giggly, playful and the prized baby sister of her big brothers.
“I like to play with her blocks and make her giggle,” Noah says. “She likes to imitate and roar like a dinosaur. I like her. I like having her here.”
She isn’t walking yet, but rolls all over the place and tries to crawl.
“She is a little fireball,” Melody says. “She is a happy little girl.”
The Lietzaus also welcome readers to visit their website (www.youbelong.net/lietzau) where dozens of journal entries and photos tell their story.
Cross of Jesus Christ : Good Friday and Easter church worship background
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.”
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Ted Blaisdell mixing the album, “So Much Joy,” in Studio E at the Westlake Studios
Produced by Walt Harrah
Engineered by Brian Petersen
Mixed by Ted Blaisdell at the Westlake Studios
Mastered by Robert Hadley at the Mastering Lab
Album design by John-Mark Warkentin
tedblaisdell.com/
A fortified wall in northern China, extending some 2,400 km (1,500 miles) from Kansu province to the Yellow Sea north of Beijing. It was first built c. 210 bc, as a protection against nomad invaders. The present wall dates from the Ming dynasty.
The Grace Choir and Orchestra celebrate Easter and Christ’s resurrection in the new building at Grace EV Free in La Mirada, CA.
