On January 12, Bobby debuted his solo career! He sang at my Dad's church, Plato Christian Fellowship in Lagrange, Indiana on Sunday morning and at his cousin, Ricky Bowen's church, Victory Temple in Muncie, Indiana that night. But on Saturday the 12th, he sang in a bar! Ha ha. Yes, my brother arranged for him to sing at Welch's in Sturgis, Michigan on Saturday night. When Joel called to ask Bobby about it, Bobby hesitated but I encouraged him to go for it, remembering the place as Welch's Steak House where Grandma and I had eaten a couple of times. I knew there was a bar in the restaurant and a small stage but I didn't realize until we drove in that the business is KNOWN as a bar now. Yeah...Welch's Sports Bar and Grille! Alrighty! It was great. He did so well, singing his praise and worship and Christian country to the heathens. I hope someone heard something that night that ministered to them. I told Bobby that's where we ought to be preaching and singing. However, we're not gonna make a habit of it. Welch's paid him well and the crowd seemed to receive him well enough. He sold one CD for the evening when he went in early to do his soundcheck. It worked out well that he didn't sing until 9, so I was able to put the kids to bed and leave them with Dad. My cousin, Kurtis, sang and played from 11 - 1:00 and that along with Bobby's appearance drew several family members out so I had a lot of people to talk to and hang with.
Sunday morning we pulled into the gravel parking lot next to the little white country church on US 20 about 5 miles east of Lagrange and Hope cried, "Oh Grandpa has a BEAUTIFUL church!" Funny! Bobby had his first church concert/program/service and it went great. We got to see a bunch more family and had a wonderful meal in the church basement afterward. Oh and Hope sang a solo, Jesus Loves Me. I was so proud of her. She wasn't bashful, she kept a perfect tempo and pitch and she didn't hesitate a second when Bobby asked her if she wanted to come up and sing a song. Landis can sing but he's too self-conscious...wonder who he gets that from? Plato paid Bobby very well and he sold nearly 30 CDs!
After lunch we headed two hours south to Muncie. I fed Grace a smoothie I had made at Dad's that morning while Bobby set up and did his sound check. Ricky had asked ahead of time if I'd be prepared to give a testimony that evening so I took about 5-10 minutes and shared. I didn't want to take too much time because, believe it or not, Bobby talked and talked and talked. He was so concerned about talking on stage but he didn't have any problem Sunday morning or Sunday night...except that he didn't sing enough! Anyway, I kept it short ...and spiritual (hee hee), Bobby and I sang, "Is It True" (Dan Smith) and then he and Ricky had an altar call and several people responded and THEN Ricky had Bobby and I come up together and he laid hands on us and prayed over us!!! That was the highlight to me! Totally unplanned and Spirit-led. It was kind of like a prayer of dedication or sending off.
Victory Temple had a couple of hotel rooms for us (Dad was with us too) and so after being treated to Pizza Hut, we retired to our rooms and got settled to sleep. It's not easy taking our children to a hotel. Grace needs most, if not all of a bed to herself. She kicks whoever she's sleeping with until they wake up and you never want to lay anyone on a hotel floor - yuck. However, this was a Holiday Inn Express and very clean and nice! With the two rooms we could put the 2 middle children in a room with Dad. Grace could have the lower 2/3 of a bed in our room while we divided the top 1/3 with pillows so Faith could have her own space - about the size of her crib. Grace was so tired, and I think, comfortable, that she slept throught the whole night and didn't wake anyone else. Faith, on the other hand, took a while to settle down and then fell out of bed just before daylight. Overall, it was a restfull night and the kids enjoyed Disney TV while I slaved over a great continental b'fast and brought it up to the room for them. Grace was enjoying her instant oatmeal and Disney so much that she screamed when I wheeled her out of the room and down to the lobby. She kinda liked the hotel life and didn't want to leave it. Ha!
God blessed us so richly through this weekend. He was with us every moment and prepared the way for us so well. We couldn't have asked for anything more. Bobby actually made twice as much money as he had expected to, the kids behaved very well, our van ran very smoothly and I could feel the prayers of friends working. God is good. Bobby asked me at one point if I'd like to travel with the family every weekend. Funny thing is I was thinking about that very topic at that moment. I told him it wouldn't be too bad if we had a full-size van with a lift and got in a routine. However, I wouldn't want to miss my church EVERY weekend.
We had an easy ride home and Dad stayed with us here all of last week. He left on Monday morning to stay at the Kelso's. He may be back next week or he may go home. He's retired so I guess he can do whatever he wants.
We're looking forward to another family weekend - this time to AR, OK and TX. Bobby's folks are in Texarkana and he'll be singing in Southeast OK and Northeast TX February 16th and 17th.
