January 14-18, 2009.

On Wednesday morning, the 14th we left Bobby's parents' home in Texarkana and drove to Altus, Oklahoma to sing at Altus Church of God. Pastor Bill, his very precious wife, Katrina, and son, Nathan were waiting for us at the front door of the church. When we arrived in Altus, the temperature was a balmy 60 degrees, but by the time church was over that night, the temperature had dropped to near 20 degrees! That arctic blast that we'd been hearing about had finally hit. What a GREAT service we had. There were only about 30 people there so the members that didn't show up simply missed out. At the end of Bobby's first song, I knew the Holy Spirit was in the room with us. A dear saint, Brother Austin, worshiped passionately in the middle of the room. He and his wife have been married 54 years and have a 25-year-old grandson with Cerebral Palsy. At the end of the service as I was walking back to my seat after giving a testimony, Brother Austin walked to the front of the room. Bobby asked him if he could help him and Brother Austin said he might not have spoken up in times past but felt led to prophecy at that moment. He told us that we should trust God because Grace is IN HIS HANDS. Then he looked at Grace and told her that she was very special and that God was going to do GREAT things through her and for her...IN HIS TIME, and he emphasized that last phrase. This was such a blessing and encouragement to me because it was in April of 2000 that I cried out to God one night in frustration telling God I just didn't understand. He said to me, “Becky, you just have to trust Me. I will do this thing that I promised but I will do it in My time when I can receive the most glory.” I don't have to get worked up and anxious and wonder if I have enough faith. I can rest in Him, KNOWING that it's His will to heal Grace and He'll take care of her and bring her up out of that chair in His time because she is in His hands. All I have to do is believe and trust Him to do what He said He'd do. That's what I'm doing.

The following morning we drove from Altus to Enid, Oklahoma where we sang at our first Cowboy Church which meets in a cattle sale barn every Thursday night. The temperature remained frigid and we wore our coats for the service at Chisholm Trail Cowboy Church. You can view the entire service at:
http://www.winterlive.com/chisholm_cowboy/login.php.
Bobby sings two songs at the start of the service and then he comes back at 45 minutes and does a 45 minute set including the children singing and my testimony. After church we picked up some soup to go and headed back to our hotel room to get warm.

Friday morning we drove back to Texarkana and had just enough time to pop into Bobby's parents' house to change clothes. I had to curl my hair and fix something for Grace to eat and just take it with us. We made a return visit to Partnership Church where Bobby and the kids shared the stage with the Hendrix Trio and Masterpeace Quartet. It was more of a fun evening with a lot of Southern Gospel music. Bobby's parents, Bob and Tena came and we topped the evening off with cake and ice cream as we celebrated Bobby's sister, Kathy's 29th birthday....AHEM, (cough, cough!).

We said goodbye (for a few weeks) to Bob and Tena on Saturday morning and drove across the bottom part of Arkansas back to Cleveland, Mississippi where we had the Econohell experience. We glared at the Econolodge and stuck our tongues out as we drove past it to the Holiday Inn Express. That evening Bobby was reunited with a family he hadn't seen in over 25 years, the Wilkersons. Mr. Wilkerson pastors Church of Faith on the north side of Cleveland. His daughter, Debbie, an old friend of Bobby's booked the date and I was privileged to meet her and her four beautiful children, Scott, Chelsea, Mike and Logan. Debbie and I were able to connect instantly as we shared the joys and woes of raising children with special needs. Her 18-year-old son, Scott has many mental and emotional challenges.

Bobby originally had a booking for Sunday morning in Grenada, Mississippi but it canceled. At first he thought he'd try to fill that spot but I told him I was glad that date had canceled because we were to drive to Benton, Arkansas that night. We enjoyed a very restful morning at the Holiday Inn, getting up when we wanted to and not to an alarm and eating a leisure breakfast in the lobby. We had a short time of devotion in our room and finally got on the road by noon and drove to Benton which is on the west side of Little Rock.

We met many sweet people Sunday night at Benton Four Square Church including a surprise visit from an old friend of both mine and Bobby's, Mark Hall! He and his beautiful bride have 3 cute kids now and are involved in a church in Bryant, which is bit closer to Little Rock. Mark has always been involved in gospel music and used to keep up with Mid South, looking up to Bobby as a kid. I met Mark after Bobby did in 1989 while at Stamps Baxter School of Music with two of my sisters. I went to college with Mark's older sister, Dusty, in the years following that.

As I write this blog we are driving home! When we crossed the river into Tennessee, the kids spotted the sign and cheered. They were glad to be back in Tennessee even though they still had 200 miles to go. Hope is the most excited because all she's been able to think about for the past 5 days or so is her clubhouse. Every day she's been mentioning her latest plans for decorating her clubhouse in the back yard. I don't know what has inspired her but she is certainly focused on it. Bobby and I told her it's way too cold and it will be nearly dark by the time we get home late this afternoon. In her disappointment, she went to the back of the van and went to sleep.

There's always so much to do when we return from a trip but it will be good to be home for a few days.