Mike Rimmer spent a few days with US singer/songwriter JENI VARNADEAU checking out Stratford-upon-Avon, talking about cheerleading and learning about her new album.

The recording of a new album has allowed Varnadeau to release some of the songs that she's written over the past five years. "It was the songs that rose to the top. You write a lot of songs but they don't all make the album. These were ones that kind of stood out over time. Because it was written over time it was also recorded over time. I would just record a few here and there and then found producer Scott Williamson and worked with him on the last three. Working with different producers was very different to my previous albums, where we were like, 'Okay, we're setting up studio time. We're doing this album all at once. Here we go!' This was over time. A little piece by piece."

The album's title came from a line in the song "Hammer In My Hand" and Varnadeau just liked the sound of it. "I just bask in the Bible verses which say 'His mercies are new every morning' and 'In Christ you are a new creature. The old has gone the new has come.' I'm not who I was yesterday. I'm not who'll I'll be five days from now. So it's just kind of a statement for me that I'm something new in Christ and that happens every day."

One of the biggest changes in Jeni's life in recent years has been a painful one. On May 31st 2001, her only sister died. She shared the story. "My sister was a missionary overseas. She and her family were on vacation in Spain and while she was there she caught a virus. She had flu symptoms and a few of her kids had flu symptoms as well. She had four kids - very young. They came back to their country and she just never got better. It was a very sudden thing. Basically the virus, from what I understand, caused a condition that eroded her heart and she passed away."

Jeni continued, "She was my only sister. She introduced me to Jesus. She introduced me to Christian music. She introduced me to the French language, which I use a lot when we go to Europe. She introduced me to my husband Rory. She got me into singing. She taught me how to have quiet times and how to walk with God. So everything that is important to me came from her. She was five years older than me so she was a huge role model. And her being my only sibling, obviously that was a huge loss. Then her four kids not having a mom was just devastating."

She hasn't painted over the cracks, she has learned to go through the grieving process. She said, "I still grieve. It still hurts. I don't think it'll ever go away. I think one thing that has helped me grieve is to realise that I don't have to get over this. This is nothing I have to get over. I have to adjust. When I want to call her I can't. She's not there. But I don't have to get over the fact that she's gone. So that's just been a real comfort."

We talked gently about how she's managed to get through the loss. It's clear that God has stepped in. She explained, "When it happened, even though I had dreaded something horrible happening and all that, God surprised me. Yes, it's been horrible and yes, it's been hugely painful and it's difficult but at the same time God has been just as strong and just as gracious; even more so. So he surprised me and showed me in a real way that he was carrying me in all that. As difficult as it was, he is also that powerful to sustain me through it; and even more so. So that's how I was able to function and get through it all. I learned I didn't have to dread things. I didn't have to dread it because as horrible as pain is, God is there to be there with me. It took me two years to be able to write about it though."

The song she wrote is called "Miss You" and it's one of the many highlights on 'Something Changed'. It's honest and raw, sad and yet beautiful and it shows the way that Jeni is able to let her real experiences come through in songs to touch others.

In my favourite balti restaurant in Birmingham, at the end of a great day wandering the countryside, taking in a movie and in my case attempting to talk French with Jeni, Rory and Anne-Sophie, I sat back in my chair as we were waiting for the food to arrive. I watched the others as they were all chatting away in French, learning new vocabulary and new idioms. Jeni was storing this new knowledge away knowing that in the near future she'll be back to Europe, touring once again and connecting with audiences through her music and ChikChat. Like her sister, a missionary in a foreign culture.