March 27-29, 2009

Scott City, Cape Girardeau, Jerome and Marble Hill, Missouri

We enjoyed one last early Friday morning corporate prayer meeting at Cornerstone until the fall and started out for Missouri before noon. We sang that evening at Father's Arms Fellowship in Scott City and I can't express just how amazed I am at the sweet people we meet everywhere we go. Pastor Ken Strong and his wife both had the sweetest spirit about them and I, especially, enjoyed visiting with her at the end of the evening. Turns out they pastored a Mennonite church in Hesston, Kansas in the 1990's. Two other pastors attended the concert Friday night and one of them, in particular, Brother Jack Owens, was a blessing to our family. We see pastors every where around this country competing with each other instead of working together to accomplish something great for the Kingdom. We learned Brother Jack called Brother Ken when he was brand new in town and extended the right hand of fellowship and suggested they work together to reach the lost. He left after the service and returned with new testaments and candy for our children.

The children completed their schooling Friday afternoon in the hotel room and I asked them if they wanted to do their schooling on Saturday, since we had time to kill and then skip school on Monday. They did and I complimented them on a wise decision. We were allowed a late check out on Saturday afternoon and then met our friends, Wayne and Glenda Mayberry for dinner. After dinner Wayne and Glenda led us back to Cornerstone Assembly of God where we sang 11 months earlier. When we arrived at the church the weather was cool but comfortable, but when we left the church it felt like it dropped about 20 degrees and the wind really picked up. We knew there was a winter storm moving just north of us and we hoped we wouldn't be affected by it. After the service at Cornerstone, we drove northward and about halfway between Cape Girardeau and St. Louis, I went to sleep. But 30 minutes west of St. Louis on I-44 West, I was awakened by Bobby saying, “I can't SEE!” I don't remember him saying that but when I bolted upright, I saw the largest snowflakes I'd ever seen in my life blowing toward us. We were in that blinding snow that can make your eyes cross. We drove about 30 miles per hour down the Interstate and then slowed to 15 because the road was covered with snow and we could go no further. We pulled off at a truck stop trying to decide if we should just sleep in the van and drive the remaining 40 miles to our hotel in the morning and shower or try to keep going. Finally Bobby suggested that we just get a room where we were and pay for it and drive the remaining 50 miles to the church in the morning. That was the best decision. The infamous, Econohell....I mean... Econolodge came to the rescue as that was just down the street from where we were sitting. We carried each child in from the van plus our luggage through that wet, slushy snow and shivered our way to bed, getting to sleep by 2:00. And no. No one tried to open our door.

We meet the nicest people at our hotel breakfasts and often have something in common. For instance one morning we met a couple from Texarkana. Last weekend in Illinois we met a family with 8 children, although they only showed up to breakfast with 2 little boys and the baby she will be delivering in May. We saw their 15-passenger van the evening before and one of their teenagers. He is a pastor but they were ministering in his brother's church that particular weekend. They home school and they used to live in Tennessee but currently in Kansas. Yesterday morning we met Jim Chilton from Fairbanks, Alaska. Bobby always feeds Grace breakfast when we're on the road and I get the other children what they need before I eat. Mr. Jim decided he would appoint himself the waffle maker yesterday morning. We invited him to sit with us and we visited. He flew down to Sullivan, Missouri (where we were) to attend his daughter's wedding next weekend. He said, “She sleeps in on Sundays so I'm just waiting until she gets up and then I'll go hang out with her today.” Jim's wife, Amy is a Christian singer/songwriter so we exchanged CDs, thanked him for his help with breakfast and wished him well. What did we have in common? We both love Sarah Palin!

Apostolic Faith Church in Jerome, Missouri believes in reaching the children. God opened the door for Pastor Don Arthur to have a bus route in Rolla, the closest big town to Jerome, and it led to busing in children for Sunday services. At least 15 children stood at the front of the sanctuary yesterday morning in this small congregation of about 50 people. Pastor Donnie handed out awards for perfect attendance to three children, and certificates of baptism to two! I was impressed with their reaching and preaching to the kids and the perfect attendance in the middle of flu season. Go Church! So many small churches we minister in the congregates are aging and the next generation is missing.

It was a scenic drive back east through the Mark Twain National Forest to Marble Hill, Missouri to see our friends, Dan and Carmen Montgomery and their daughters Elizabeth and Essie Grace at Marble Hill Assembly of God. Once again the discussion before and after church was about the lack of enthusiasm in the church. One older sister said she was burdened to pray on Saturday night at bedtime and ended up praying all night long. She never slept a wink but felt fine the next morning. The Holy Spirit has been urging me to be a woman of prayer for the past ten years and although I'm a better pray-er than I was 10 years ago, I'm still not even close to what I ought to be. You'd think I'd discipline myself to have a greater prayer life because I really believe that's the way we'll see the manifestation of Grace's healing, specifically praying in the Spirit. I heard someone say recently that you should tell others what your goals are so that you're more likely to achieve them. How 'bout broadcasting your goals and deepest desires on the World Wide Web? Feel free to comment and ask me how my prayer life is. Hold me accountable.

Anyway, Pastor Dan and Carmen had pizza for just our two families down in the basement of the church and we had a fun visit talking about ministry, vacations, kids and home school.

After singing Friday night, Saturday night, driving four hours late Saturday night, rising early to sing Sunday morning, driving another four hours Sunday afternoon, and singing Sunday night, makes us very tired so our habit has been lately to sleep in on Monday morning. This morning was no exception and we didn't start out on the road until after noon. It's a beautiful day to travel and we're thankful that we can get home in time to have some daylight left for the kids to enjoy outside. I'm just glad that we did today's schoolwork on Saturday! :)

March 20-22, 2009

Farmer City, Illinois; Mishawaka, New Point and Muncie, Indiana

Into Illinois farm country! Farmer City is a small farming town (no kidding?) and we had a good small crowd in a small church Friday night, the 20th. The pastor, Mike Jenkins, looked and ACTED like John Ritter. I've never seen a pastor act like this guy did. I'm wondering if there's a serious bone in his body. I'm sure there is but it was rather refreshing to see and hear this guy get up and introduce us. It was a fun evening at First Baptist Church in Farmer City, needless to say.

Saturday morning brought new mercies of God and a relaxing drive back toward "home" but only as far as Mishawaka, Indiana. As we drove past Chicago, the children were able to catch a short glimpse of the Sears Tower 25 miles away. We sang at a Church of God of Prophecy and yes, it was quite different from the Baptist church the night before. I'm not saying one was better than the other. It wasn't...just completely different. Both groups of people loved the Lord, but Pastor Darren Huff was very serious and so wanted his congregation to have an encounter with God. I admired his deep sincerity. There was a lot of singing from the congregants Saturday night so it made our 3 and a half hour drive to Greensburg quite late. We arrived at our hotel by 1:30 a.m. and were all in bed by 2:00.

I rose at 6:30 and fumbled my way to the shower. We got ready, had our big hotel breakfast and were off to New Point before 9:00. The church, which was only 15 minutes from our hotel was pastored by a friend of Bobby's, Troy Caudill. New Point Baptist Church is another small group of believers but what a responsive party they were! In the middle of the altar service I noticed Faith being a distraction. Now...let me just say that perhaps in most churches like the one we were in yesterday, they thought nothing of this 3 year old twirling and dancing at the front of the church (no, it wasn't praise and worship time...it was decision time) but where I come from, the 3 year old ain't gettin away with that! I finished the song, put the mic down, calmly picked up the 3 year old, tucked her under my arm like a sack of potatoes and headed to the back of the church. I went to the farthest Sunday School room I could find and shut the door. The whole while, Faith is asking, "Whatchu gonna do, Mom?" I thought by the way things sounded that church was being dismissed anyway but as Faith and I came out of the classroom, after having our own "come to Jesus" time, Bobby had come to find me and said Pastor Troy had wanted us to come back in to be prayed for. Well, hallelujah! I, once again, calmly walked back into the sanctuary and took my place front and center while Pastor Troy had the entire congregation form a circle around us and pray for us. For me, it was timely...and precious.




















It was a bit backward but we drove back north for the Sunday evening service at Victory Temple in Muncie pastored by none other than Bobby's first cousin, Rick Bowen. We always have a great time with him and Ruth. Rick is very talkative and, I think, hilarious. We had a great service and afterward spent time with family over pizza and salad.

Another hotel in-experience. I like doing laundry on Sunday evening in our hotel if the facility is provided. However, it causes me to go to bed later than ever. Because of this and the fact that we didn't get much sleep Saturday night, we rose very late this morning. Last night I looked at the Guest Services Directory to see what time they closed the continental breakfast so I could sleep in but not miss my favorite meal of the day. Wow. I thought that 10:30 was a late cut-off but that's what it said, "6:00 until 10:30 daily" in black and white. Bobby went down at 9:45 to get some coffee and eat something ahead of the rest of us since he was ready before anyone else. He called a couple of minutes later saying they were putting the breakfast food away. He got a tray and loaded it up to bring it up for us. I took my hotel directory down to the front desk and showed them what they had printed. They looked at me as if to say, "And?" They simply said, "yeah, that needs to be updated." Now, you know, this is not something worth fighting about but their attitudes got all over me like white on rice. I went to the breakfast room, got another tray and loaded her up, the whole time fuming. When we left at check-out I pitched the page from the directory that I had ripped out, (since it needed to updated anyway) the same page that listed the breakfast times, onto the front desk and said, "update it." I believe I could read the young lady's mind but I can't write what it said. I walked out to the van with my family and then told Bobby I was going back in. Yes, I did feel kinda bad. I approached the front desk again as sweetly as I could. I began to tell her of the misfortunes we've experienced recently with people trying to come into our rooms and the only thing the hotel staff said both times was, "Sorry 'bout that." By this time 2 more hotel employees were gathered near. The first one offered to have her manager call me. I told her that would be fine but it wasn't the manager that I needed. I told her that the day that I grew up in the customer was always right. Instead of the response I got earlier about the wrong information concerning breakfast times, a better response would be, "You're absolutely right. We're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Please let us know how we can help you get the breakfast you need for your family as this was our fault." I think I will contact the manager and just tell him that I harrased two or three of his employees today. I heard a bit from FOX News this evening about it being a sad state of affairs when you have to train employees to be courteous. Courtesy. It's a lost art in this generation.

The week of March 15th, 2009

Bronson, Centreville and Burr Oak, Michigan

We left Nashville right after Friday morning prayer meeting, on the 13th, and drove to my cousin, RoxAnne's house in Michigan. We had planned on staying at my Dad's house just 6 miles south of there but when RoxAnne learned we were coming she insisted we stay at their house as we've done in past visits. Jeff and RoxAnne just had their ninth child, Katrina Grace, in January and have not announced plans to stop with her. Their children are, David, 14, Jeffrey, 13, Autumn, 12, Andrew, 9, Ashley, 8, Isaiah, 6, Esther, 4, RuthAnne, 3 and Katrina, 2 months. Add our 4 children and you have what's called a houseful. The second, Jeffrey, at age 6 months suffered some adverse events following routine vaccinations and today sits in a wheelchair. Because of the wheelchair ramp, the roll-in shower, the large, open house with wide doorways and the many children to play with it makes a very convenient and comfortable spot for us to set up camp when we're in the area.

Saturday evening we sang at Pleasant Hill Missionary Church south of Bronson and had a great visit with the young pastor, Corey, his beautiful wife, Crystal and their sweet kids, Austin, Ella, Anna and Eliza. This is a young family that has a desire to serve God with everything they have.

The Sunday morning service at Firm Foundation Ministries in Centreville was great. Many of my uncles, aunts and cousins attend this church and it's like a mini reunion seeing so many of them together. Pastor Don Smith and his wife, Lisa are precious, Spirit-filled believers ...from the SOUTH! Bobby and Pastor Don have more than their Christian faith in common, they have similar accents. We enjoyed an awesome time in praise and worship and I enjoyed myself immensely...I hope God did too. I told Bobby that last Sunday morning's concert was one of the most memorable concerts for me because we were reunited with family and friends, it was a Spirit-filled church, it was very well-attended, the people were responsive and to top it off, they blessed us above and beyond what we ever expected.

Sunday evening was another time of reuniting with friends and loved ones. New Covenant Christian Fellowship, formerly known as South Colon (I know – that's gross) Mennonite Church, pastored by Clint Zehr is the church I attended from nine months before I was born until age 21 when I moved to Nashville. We always love visiting with Clint and Lori and we had a little time to do that before and after the church service.

Jeff and RoxAnne only have dial-up Internet service and so every morning Bobby would take one of the children with him and go to nearby Sturgis to the Great Lakes Chocolate Company, do his work sipping his coffee and nibbling on chocolate. (just kidding) One of the children would go with him and do their schoolwork and I would stay at the house to do school with the others. RoxAnne homeschools her children and so every morning that's what our focus was. RoxAnne is so blessed to have distant cousin, Louetta Schwartz come to the house every day from 9 until noon to school Jeffrey! What a blessing this woman is! RoxAnne has her hands comletely full and Louetta has volunteered her time and services to give of herself. What a harvest she will reap. Naturally, Grace sat with Jeffrey in his schooling and I think she enjoyed it. She never disrupted or seemed to be bored.

Wednesday we took a break from the books and went on a field trip to the Science Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana along with RoxAnne's sister, Regina and her five children. We had a great day spending about 3 hours at the science center and then driving to Middlebury, Indiana to Regina and Merlin's house. Merlin and Regina's children raise goats and lab puppies and Mama goat, Samora had her first of triplets just as we pulled in the driveway. Merlin called one of his boys a couple of hours earlier and told him to check on her as soon as he got home because she was acting peculiar that morning. So it was with expectancy that the boys jumped out of the van and immediately checked on Samora's condition. Sure enough she was licking her little wet baby that she had just delivered. Everyone, including Jeffrey and Grace in their wheelchairs all went into the goat pen and gathered 'round to get a glimpse of the new baby goat. Samora couldn't work with an audience of children so most of us walked away. A couple of the children remained behind but kept their distance and were privileged to see the arrival of the second two babies. The rest of us were cuddling 6 beautiful lab puppies on the other side of the yard. The celebration of new life and God's creation was the icing on the cake of our field trip. We enjoyed a delicious homemade meal before we made the 1 hour drive back to RoxAnne's house.

We made sure to take the time to visit my 95 year old Amish grandmother. Reubmommy, as we call her, has not been eating much for the last 2 or 3 years. She just hasn't had a desire to eat. However, her appearance this time, surprised me on this visit as the reality that her life here with us is nearing it's end. This time the meager diet she's been living on greatly showed and I glanced at my Aunt Sue, who's been living with her, to express my concern. I may be concerned but there's really nothing to be concerned about when it comes to life slowing down after 95 years and eventually coming to a complete stop. Of course Reubmommy had quilts in frames and comforters lying nearby that she is currently working on...some of them for my children. We said our goodbyes and as usual, I wondered if it would be the last time I saw her.

Our week also included some visits with two of my uncles, Marvin and Merlin. Neither man is old, both only in their 50's, but both have been beaten with sickness and disease that has left them feeble, blind and slow of speech. Bobby asked me if it was difficult to see my uncles in such poor physical health and yes, it is heartbreaking. Nonetheless, we had good visits and I'm just glad I had the opportunity to see them, hear them and hug their necks.

Dinner on Thursday evening was a special treat as we broke bread with friends, the Mulletts. Mel and June, along with their 3 children, left the Amish church seven years ago and shared with us their testimonies of how they were raised, how they found Jesus, and how thankful they are for the assurance of their salvation. They understand God's grace a little better than most Christians, I believe, and Bobby and I were encouraged when we left their home.

We decided to not have school this morning (Friday) and instead slept in and then had a delicious brunch at RoxAnne's house with RoxAnne's mom and my aunt, Esther. Younger sis, Emily joined us as well. The Stevens are great with greetings and goodbyes. They came out to meet us in the driveway when we arrived a week ago and they came out to the driveway to see us off this morning. We loaded the van and were off again by noon, headed toward Farmer City, Illinois for another great weekend in ministry.

March 7 & 8, 2009

Felt, Balko and Altus, Oklahoma

The Bowen-mobile had a hiccup. I threw out a suggestion to Bobby on Thursday afternoon, not really sure if I even liked the idea myself, that if we left on Thursday evening, we could wash all of Elizabeth's bedding before we left. We had been planning to leave early Friday morning but there was no way we could get the bedding washed, dried and put back on the beds before we left. We were simply going to have to leave the beds as they were. If we left on Thursday evening, not only could we leave everything cleaner, we could get a little further down the road and stop to sleep when we got too tired. Bobby liked the suggestion and at 9:00 we drove over to his parents' home to say goodbye. But we only thought we were leaving. The battery light came on seconds after we left Bob and Tena's house. We turned around to stay in Texarkana one more night and found a mechanic the following morning to get the alternator replaced. Finally, we were on the road by 10:45 and enjoyed a beautiful drive to Clayton, New Mexico.

We were to sing in Felt, Oklahoma on Saturday but the pastor booked us a room in Clayton, New Mexico, which was 20 miles away, because there were no hotels in Felt. The next morning we took our time and waited until checkout to leave. The only plans we had were to sight-see a bit. We made a last-minute decision to drive on up to the Colorado line so the kids could say they've been there too. The wind was terrific and just to get out of the van to take pictures was a workout but we even got Grace out for a quick snapshot. After turning around and heading back south we came to the "fork in the road." Bobby was going to go the way "Laverne" (our GPS) was telling him to go but I argued that to go right would be to repeat what we've already seen and to go left would mean new and unseen country and it would be heading toward the Oklahoma line instead of away from it. He gave in to my suggestion and 10 minutes later we found ourselves on a 17-mile stretch of gravel road. Bobby was not happy with me because he had just washed the van. :)

Felt was not at all what I expected. I expected a town. However, Felt, Oklahoma is nothing more than about 20 houses, 1 school (65 students, K-12), 2 churches and a fire/community hall. There was no store, no post office and no gas station. Pastor Orden Hartley and his wife, Gayla welcomed us into their home to change clothes and then treated us to pancakes at the fireman's annual benefit down at the fire hall. Several of the folks went from the pancake dinner to the concert at First Baptist Church a hundred yards away. It's very seldom you can enjoy dinner and a concert on a Saturday night in Felt, Oklahoma. The people were very generous to us and once again we were amazed at how God blesses us over and above what we expect.

The Sunday morning concert was in Balko which was a good 125 miles from Felt. However, we only drove 80 miles to Gymon to spend the night at a very nice Comfort Inn, because, again, there weren't any hotels closer. I've always thought people tend to exaggerate the effects of that loss of 1 hour of sleep in the Spring. But after this weekend, I wholeheartedly agree that losing 1 hour can create great weariness. Between the sight seeing, fighting the wind, a concert, a 90 minute drive and an already late night, that 1 hour loss hit hard the next day. Another weariness factor was the fact that at 2:17 a.m. our hotel room door opened. YES! AGAIN!!! This happened to us at the Econolodge back on January 4th in Cleveland, Mississippi, and it was such a scare. When I heard our door open again, it was like a recurring nightmare. I flew out of bed and threw myself up against the door just like I did the first time. I waited for a push back or for someone to yell at me but there was silence. I looked through the peep hole but saw nothing. I dared not open the door but just waited a minute, my heart about to pop out of my chest. When I walked back to the bed, Bobby was still in bed but on the phone calling the front desk. He sounded accusatory when he told them someone just tried to come into our room. The clerk said that the guest must have been given a key that was coded to our room. It took us 2 and half hours to go back to sleep when this happened the first time but this time it took us less than 30 minutes. We've already been there, done that!

The following morning when we went down to breakfast, I approached the front desk and asked the lady what her explanation was for the break in. She said she had checked and the man's key was indeed coded for room 300 but he accidentally got off the elevator on the second floor and tried to enter room 200, which was our room. She concluded that our door must not have been shut correctly. I knew that was NOT the case because we had bolted the door and the safety lock was in place. Bobby let her know that from where he was seated across the room, in front of other hotel guests, I might add. We let her know in front of those other guests that the key that was used to open room 300 also opened room 200...our room. Not good! Interesting that this happened at another Choice Hotel. Choice Hotels runs Econolodge as well.

Balko is just like Felt in that there are no stores, no post offices, no gas stations. It's simply a cluster of houses and a church. But what beauty! It's so flat and quiet. There's no sound of a highway, or machinery. You can see for miles all around and hear nothing but maybe a bit of wind. You don't even hear the birds singing because there are no trees. Again, this little congregation called Balko First Baptist blessed us above and beyond our expectations and Bobby and I enjoyed a great Sunday School class. The teacher was actually passionate about teaching and the subject he was teaching on. He talked about the call of God on Nehemiah's life and of course paralleled that with the call of God on our lives.

From Balko we went south into Texas and drove 3 and a half hours to Altus, Oklahoma, a town we had visited back in January, singing at the Church of God with Pastor Estep. However, this time we sang at the First United Methodist Church...another first experience for us. The pastor, David Player, was such a surprise to us for he was filled with the joy of the Lord. We had never heard of a Methodist church having revival meetings but this is indeed what they are doing this week.

Pastor David was from South Africa, his music pastor was from South Korea and there was Bobby...from South Arkansas. What a diverse group. The guest preacher for the revival was Dr. Thomas Schwartz from the Tulsa area. Of course things were different from what we're used to as the preacher wore the long black robe and there were so many things written down including the message. But it was well-delivered and the thought struck me as he talked about the call on Jeremiah's life paralleling it with the call on our lives, that maybe God is trying to tell me something about His calling on my life. It was then I remembered the inspiring message we heard at the Cowboy church 2 weeks prior about the call of God on our lives.

Monday morning after rising, I found Pastor Davis' sermon from this past weekend and listened. I knew he was preaching on grace this month but at the end of the sermon I realized he'd been talking about being confident in the call of God on our lives!

Finally, as I schooled the kids in the back of the van Monday afternoon, I read the final chapter of a little mystery Grace and Landis had been listening to. I read the book when I was a preteen and for the first time noticed the author wrote about The Call that the story's character had answered as he accepted Jesus as his Savior.

I have always believed that I was going to be involved somehow in public speaking and perhaps even write a book or two. But I always believed it would be at a more “convenient” time. Nevertheless, I didn't avoid God's leading when doors opened for us a year ago to travel and minister as a family. I was not looking for such a thing to happen at that time. We all believed that Bobby would be traveling alone to sing on the weekends. In spite of what we thought should be happening, God led us and we followed willingly. I say all of that to explain that I have not resisted the call of God but have given myself to what is more than a notion that God wants to use us as a family to further His kingdom. I can also look back at the last 12 to 18 months and see where Satan tried to intervene with old and even some new temptations. There have even been some things come along that I never thought I could be tempted by. I don't believe he knows my future but I do believe he sees things that I can't see in the spiritual realm and perhaps he's seen things stirring in the heavenlies and has tried his best to halt whatever plans the Father has for me and my family.

So...what does God want to do with/through me? I don't know yet. Yet...there is a knowing that He wants to do so much more than what's been happening and what I can imagine. This is thrilling to me and I can't WAIT to see what He does this year. I think what He wants from me immediately is what the Sunday School teacher said yesterday and what Pastor Sarah teaches our choir week after week, “we must prepare to do what God's called us to do.” Whew! There's a quickening in my spirit now as I write this. I feel like crying and I think my heart just skipped a beat. God is GOOD!

February 28 and March 1, 2009

Warren and Ashdown, Arkansas and Paris, Texas

I spent my birthday traveling through the rain and sleet to Warren, Arkansas. We sang at First Freewill Baptist Church. The crowd was not large but it was bigger than I had expected considering the weather. We had a fun evening and yes, they sang Happy Birthday to me but get this, Landis accompanied on the guitar. Now that was a nice gift. I'm very proud of my children.

We struggled to stay awake as we drove on to Texarkana to sleep at Bobby's parents' home. We arrived there at 11:30 and we were all in bed by midnight. Up again a little after 6:00 to get ready and drive to Paris, Texas...a 2 hour drive. I got Grace dressed before we left the house but I got the other children dressed in the van. They did look funny walking from the house in the pajamas and church shoes. Upon arrival at The Lighthouse Church, we found a nursery with an adjoining bathroom and finished getting ourselves presentable.

Let me just paint a quick picture of our traveling adventures. I wheel Grace into the small bathroom so I can brush her teeth and fix her hair but I have to get out of there quick because the other children are making too much noise in the next room and there's an adult Sunday School class close by. As I try to pass between the wheelchair and the sink, my foot is turned sideways and my boot gets caught between the tire and the base of the sink. I can't move for just a second, at least my foot can't but I already have momentum and the rest of my body is still moving. I almost fall on my face. I take Grace back out to the nursery, get her out of the chair and lay her on the floor. She has a stinky and I change it. Just then a lady sticks her head in the door to say hello. We run her off very quickly with the stench from the diaper. Then I look in the mirror and see that the collar on the silk blouse that I just got back from the dry cleaners is nicely pressed on one side but standing up on the other side. I fold it down and hold it and press it with my hand. No use. So I have an idea. I remove the air freshener from the outlet above the sink in the bathroom so as to plug my curling iron in there. There's no power. I try pushing the reset button. It still doesn't work. The next closest outlet is in the nursery near the bathroom door. I have to remove the child safety cover first and plug my curling iron in. It works! Then I move Grace who is in the wheelchair over to the nursery door and park her directly in front of it so that no one can come in. Next I ask Landis to go play in a little hidden corner of the room where he can't see me. I remove my shirt and get down on the floor with my blouse and attempt to iron that collar with my hot curling iron. SUCCESS!!! When I finish you can't even tell it's not a professional job. Well, maybe it IS a professional job! Good thing I curled my hair before we left Texarkana...I wouldn't have had a mirror where the curling plugged in!

We had 10 minutes to spare before it was time to go in and find our place in the sanctuary so we had a quick devotion and I took the opportunity to share the basic concept of what Jeff Deyo shared with the choir last Wednesday night. I turned to Amos 5 and even asked the kids the same questions that Jeff asked us, “Does God hate music? Does God hate church?” Of course He doesn't but He hates vain repetitions, mindless singing and empty words. Landis led us in prayer, after a little encouragement, and then we went in for a great service. We enjoyed some good hard singing during the praise and worship time with some country pickin'. Bobby led a great service and...please pray for Faith. She's been refusing to sing with the kids. We changed the program just a little and she didn't like it. Now that we've changed it back for her sake, she still refuses to sing. I don't want to make too big of a deal about it but I want her back up there. She, like each of the children, add so much to the concert.

We had some people come forward for the altar service and God moved. The pastor said he could feel the presence of the Lord and I agreed. We had prayer and singing and praising. It was a good time.

After church a woman a bit older than me came to me and said that she could relate so closely to my testimony. She had been through a very similar situation when her daughter was born and her daughter, too, has CP. Today, her daughter is twenty four years old, has a masters degree and is engaged to be married. She lost her husband through it all but found a wonderful man who had also been through a tragedy with his daughter.

We enjoyed lunch and fellowship with Pastor Tom Calk, his wife, Pat and their youngest daughter, Skylar. Also joining us were Ms. Opal (what a sweet old saint) and Brother E.W. and his wife, Sandra. We had just enough time to drive back, skimming the north side of Texarkana but moving on to Ashdown. We arrived at First Assembly a little before 4:30 and was able to get set up and ready for the 5:30 evening service. Bobby's parents came as well as his aunt, Beverly Bowen. Bobby's Uncle Troy (Dink) passed away suddenly last July and it was the first time we got to see Aunt Beverly since then.

Another great time of worship before Bobby went on stage and around the third song, Landis leaned over and said he didn't want to do his part tonight, he was too tired. My heart went out to him and I understood but I told him he was very much needed and that if he'd do his part just one more time, he could have 4 or 5 days of real good rest. I was so thankful he didn't say any more about it and went on stage without any hesitation. Not Faith. :( Have ya started praying for her yet?

We had a quick bite to eat with Bobby's parents before going to our friend, Elizabeth's house just a few blocks from Bob and Tena's. Elizabeth works in Dallas during the week and only comes home on the weekend. She was gracious enough to give us permission to stay here for the week so as to cut down on drive time and mileage. We'll be leaving here early Friday morning to head to the northeast corner of New Mexico. (That's why we didn't drive all the way back to Nashville this week.) We'll sing in Felt, Oklahoma, which is in the tip of the panhandle, on Saturday evening. We'll go on to Balko after we sing, so we can be close for the Sunday morning service there and then a challenging drive down to Altus for the Sunday evening service. Stay tuned to see if next Monday's post confirms that we actually made it on time. :)