focus on the family’s
Should You
Read the
“Twilight” Series?
Christmas
Fiction
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Gift Tags to Make
31 Unique Gift Ideas
Discipleship. Relationships. Self-image. For teen girls. briomag.com $2.00
December 2008
Celebrates Christmas
31 unique gift ideas
December 2008
1 Seasonal Set of Dishes
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ISTOC K PHOTO
Fan-Club Membership
PHOTOS
2009 Road Atlas
28 Be a Servant For a Day
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Sheet Music
Sled
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23 Original Artwork
30 Game for Wii
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Breakfast In Bed
31 Waffle Iron
Free Night of Baby-Sitting
Travel-Sized Bible
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19 Themed Gift Basket
Pack of Movie Theater Tickets
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12 Board Game
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Scrapbook of 2008 Highlights
Beta Fish
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10
Entire Fiction Book Series
House Plant
Focus on the Family Radio Theatre
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Set of Scented Hangers
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Cooking Utensils
DVD of Favorite TV Show
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Magazine Subscription
Gas Card
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Monogrammed Note Cards
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2
Matching Paper Napkins, Plates and Cups
~ Pinata
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26 Donation to the Person’s Favorite Charity
Linen Spray
Predictable Gifts to Avoid calendar, socks, candle, prepackaged gift set, fruitcake, mug, candy cane, ornament, photo frame, cash, tin of popcorn, bath products, plate of cookies
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To make this Christmas unforgettable for someone else, the members of BarlowGirl set an example of using their good fortune to benefit others. by Martha Krienke
C
hristmastime often brings about blessings that seem simple yet will never be forgotten, from the candy cane and note from your favorite teacher to the picturesque view of a snow-covered mountain. Becca, Alyssa and Lauren Barlow of the Christian rock band BarlowGirl remember one of those unforgettable blessings from when they were in elementary school. Their dad had lost his job a couple of months before Christmas, and they were struggling financially. “He got a job at a flower shop, and some of the poinsettias weren’t perfect, so they were throwing away thousands of poinsettias,” Becca remembers. “My dad asked his boss if he could take the flowers home. His boss said yes, so he brought home a truckload of poinsettias. We had them decorating the house everywhere. The crimson red was absolutely stunning. 20
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“We ended up giving them away as gifts to people. I just loved that even though we were so poor at that time, God provided in beauty by sending us those flowers. Those memories of looking at the fireplace and seeing rows of poinsettias, there’s something about that I love.” Sing We Now A few years later, money was still tight for the Barlow family, and the girls suspected their wish for a baby grand piano might never come true. But while they tried to be content with the antique upright they already had, their parents conspired behind the scenes. “It was Christmas Eve, and my mom had taken us shopping all day. We had never gone shopping on Christmas Eve, but for some reason we had to go out that day,” Alyssa says. “My dad and my brother worked to get this piano in the house with a couple other guys. Then when we got
by Martha Krienke
home, it was sitting in our living room. We just burst into tears. I don’t know how my parents did it. Because we were a pastor’s family; we didn’t have a lot of money. It was a definite miracle.” For years afterward, the three girls and their four cousins, the Schell sisters, gathered around that piano, singing carols in four-part harmony. “They pretty much taught us how to sing harmony,” Becca says. “They’d have all of these songs memorized, and then they would teach us their parts. We found a love for singing, thanks to them.” The surprising thing is before BarlowGirl even existed, these seven cousins dreamed about recording a Christmas album together. Now nearly a decade and a half later, the fleeting thought has become a reality with this year’s release, Home for Christmas. “It was awesome, because for this Christmas album we had our cousins fly out to Nashville, and they sang on our album,” Becca says. “What
we did for the Christmas album is what we did as kids. We’d each team up with our partner, and we would sing the parts together.” Vocal Point Despite the hundreds of holiday songs to choose from, deciding on 11 to feature on this record was not difficult. They started by including each Barlow girl’s favorite two songs. And the rest just fell into place. “I think one or two songs didn’t make it because of public domain versus having to pay royalties, so we tried doing more classic Christmas songs,” Becca says. “But all of them made it that we really wanted on the CD. It was mostly about, Which ones are going to have the best vocals? That was the focus of this album.” Lauren says that even though it seems crazy, the three of them didn’t play any instruments on Home for Christmas. “It was different creatively. >>> december 2008 d briomag.com
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While on tour for Winter Jam 2008, BarlowGirl (L to R: Alyssa, Becca, Lauren) took photos for Home for Christmas in Vail, Colo.
Which Barlow Is This?
1Home for Christmas 2 It’s a Wonderful Life 3
She lost her voice one week before recording . She cries every time she watches .
She refers to her and her sisters as “us girls” during a conversation.
4
She would do anything to do a Christmas tour with Amy Grant.
(Answers at bottom of page)
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BA R LO W SA R AH BY
Acts of Worship Singing about and to the Bread of Life isn’t the only way BarlowGirl worships during the Christmas season. “We’re also constantly baking,” Alyssa says. “Ever since I was a really little girl, as far back as I can remember, we’d get baskets of our bread and cookies and walk to every house in the neighborhood and talk with people. We’ve built a lot of cool relationships through that over the years.” MaryAnn Barlow (mom) taught her daughters to look around for people, especially during this season, who need somebody. “She’s always taught us to be that person to those people and serve them by bringing them a gift,” Alyssa says. Through this tradition, the sisters have realized that Christmas is a lonely holiday for a lot of people who have lost loved ones or don’t have anyone to celebrate with. Whether for a widow, single mom or a nextdoor neighbor whom you’ve never met, giving a part of yourself can be an act of worship. “I think the coolest thing about the Christmas holiday is that you have an excuse to walk up to somebody and bless them,” Becca says. “People are expecting it more, so don’t be shy. Start finding people in your community who need to be blessed.” Lauren adds, “The holidays are a time to love and give.” Whether it be a red poinsettia, baby grand piano or banana nut bread. m
PHOTOG R APH Y
Something Different Among the timeless carols such as “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” “Carol of the Bells” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” Home for Christmas includes one original song written by BarlowGirl. The theme of “Hallelujah (Light has Come)” was taken from Luke 1. “We were trying to get the perspective of Mary’s being both the mother of Jesus but also that He came to die for her, to be her Savior,” Becca says. “Reading out of Luke, we were thinking, What did Mary feel during this time? The song is kind of a lullaby to her son. I’m really excited about it.” Another selection not found on many Christmas CDs is “Panis Angelicus.” Alyssa sings the lead in this Latin operatic tune. “For about two years in college I learned how to sing in Latin, French, Italian,” she
says. “So when this album came up, I asked if there’s a chance we could do a song in another language and put those two years of training to work.” Alyssa believes there’s something pure and beautiful about singing a hymn in the original language, so when she heard “Panis Angelicus,” she instantly fell in love with it. “The translation is so powerful. It’s all about Jesus’ being the bread of heaven and being our food and His body’s being the bread for us and the sacrifice He paid ultimately. It’s this beautiful worship song to Him,” she says.
Answers: 1. Lauren 2. Lauren and Becca 3. Alyssa 4. Becca
We put a lot of emphasis and time into the vocals. The vocal arrangements were separate from everything else, so it was like an instrument in and of itself. It was weird not playing an instrument, but it was freeing, too, to just work on the arrangements.” The result is a timeless collection of songs that stray far from what you’d expect from BarlowGirl. “We desired it to be non-rock, like what we listen to and what we enjoy during the Christmas season,” Becca says. “What we really wanted to do was make a CD my mom would listen to, that my grandparents would listen to. That was our desire.” When BarlowGirl began recording vocals for this album, the instrumentation was already finished. So between March and April, the girls were in the studio doing their best to get into the Christmas spirit as they sang. “We totally decorated the studio with Christmas lights and garland,” Lauren says. “We were only allowed to listen to Christmas music. Then in the lounge and in the studio, we were only allowed to watch Christmas movies. A Charlie Brown Christmas, Elf and It’s a Wonderful Life were always on rotation on the TV. And the studio was freezing! It felt like winter, so we got the Christmas vibe in there.”
Jonny 4, Ma
ddy 3
Best friends
Jonny and Me Having a brother with Down syndrome has taught me that we all have a little something extra.
Jonny and Maddy share a soda at a dinner theater performance.
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by Maddy Curtis
first until I Googled “Down syndrome” and “homecoming queen” and found it happens all over.
Ways We’re the Same
C U R TIS .
While my mom and dad have had to work hard to help Jonny reach his potential, they’ve worked hard to help me reach mine, too. Jonny and I share a love of Broadway musicals, and someday we hope to work onstage. God has given me the gift of music, and I love to Thanksgiving 2006 with big brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews sing. Seeing God’s plan for Jonny unfold has helped me see that He has a plan for me as well. Jonny’s Down syndrome and our love of music and acting are things that He built into us from the day we were born. My parents say having a baby is like getting a gift from God, then unwrapping it slowly to see what’s inside. Jonny’s little extra was obvious the minute he was born—his almond-shaped eyes, for instance. One thing Jonny’s taught our family is that each of us really has a little extra. But what’s most important are the ways in which we’re the same. m MA D D Y
out the best in people he meets. When he walks down the halls of our high school, he’s greeted with tons of high-fives and “Hey, Jonny!” For a while in middle school, I even worried that Jonny was more popular than I was. When I told my dad, he said that Jonny had a long road ahead of him. That he needed all the confidence he could get in these early years. That someday those people high-fiving and “HeyJonnying” him would be the people who gave him and other people with disabilities jobs. He also said that soon middle school would be over and that what I was feeling was pretty normal for a girl with an older brother in the same school. Eventually, he said, “This too shall pass.” I used to hate it when my parents said that, but as I’m getting older, I kinda see they’ve got a point. And the jealousy I felt about Jonny’s popularity did pass. Now I’m happy for him. And happy we live in a town where he can have a lot of friends. I’m proud of our high school, where four years ago a senior girl with Down syndrome was voted homecoming queen. I thought that must be a
PHOTOS
But we’re not exactly like twins, because Jonny has Down syndrome. My mom calls it “a little extra.” An extra chromosome on the 21st pair, which is why doctors call it trisomy 21, something I finally got when we made the DNA models with gumdrops and pretzel sticks in science class. Oh, yeah, here’s exactly where that extra chromosome would be in Jonny! The little extra he has in every cell of his body. The little extra that makes him different. But when I say that, I can’t help but think, Aren’t we all a little different? And isn’t Jonny more like me than not? Still, the differences are enough to make Jonny stand out in a crowd. And over the years, I’ve seen a lot of different reactions from people in all sorts of situations. But while I’ve heard of kids giving someone with a disability a rough time, I’ve never seen that in the places where we’ve lived. In fact, Jonny seems to bring
At a que n awa Cu t wit rds b rti h S s C te anhap ven ma n
addy 11
12, M Jonny
OF
Something Extra
Perform togethering called “G in a play odspell”
CO U R TES Y
M
y family sometimes talks about “before Jonny” and “after Jonny.” But I’ve never known life without my special brother. Not that we’re not all special—at least that’s what my parents say. We have 12 kids in our family altogether. Jonny’s the eighth; I’m the ninth. We were born 54 weeks apart, which means sometimes we’re more like twins than brother and sister.
Maddy Curtis sings and acts with her brother Jonny in Waterford, Va.
a share Jonny 8. y andake in 200 d d a M day c birth
Visiting Focus on the Family in 2002
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