May 6-10, 2009

Horner and Jane Lew, West Virginia and Fredericksburg and Arrington, Virginia

Before writing about our travels I have to take a moment to write about Landis' bike accident last Wednesday afternoon, the 6^th of May. I had just told Landis to sit down to do his school work because Faith and Nikolas (Sterban) had just laid down for naps. Instead of obeying and sitting down to do his work, he sneaked out the back door when I wasn't paying attention. As I was feeding Grace her lunch, I heard some horrible screaming. The kids are always making loud obnoxious noises, so I went to the back door not sure if was going to be telling them to be quiet or actually see that someone was hurt. When I stuck my head outside, I saw Landis limping toward the house screaming with blood running down his left leg. The blood didn't upset me and I figured if I washed the blood away, the cut wouldn't be that bad. I went back inside to get a cup of water and returned to the back door to meet Landis. But when I saw his leg I got a little queasy and immediately was in a tizzy about what to do next. What I saw was a 3-inch-long cut toward the inside of his leg from the shin. He got sick to his stomach and I could tell he was afraid. My first reaction was to get angry. I began giving orders to everyone and told Landis that if he had stayed inside to do his work like he'd been told to do, this would have never happened! My next thought was, “Am I going to have to load Grace, Landis, Hope, Faith and Nikolas in the van, take them to the ER and sit with all of them in the waiting room?” I called Bobby and he didn't answer so I called Chele. She had been singing background vocals on his new project. I was so relieved when she answered her phone and told me she had just left the studio and was on her way back to get Nikolas. I told her I had an emergency and what the situation was. What a blessing that she was able to be there 20 minutes later and stay with all of the children while I took Landis to the ER. Just before we reached the hospital, he said softly, “I wish I would have stayed inside.”

Of course we waited a couple of hours in the ER but the good thing was that Pastor Billy and his wife, Lynn came to see us and I really enjoyed getting to know them just a little better. As soon as the needle was introduced, Pastor Billy made his exit. Yes, ironically, Cornerstone's favorite tattoo artist is afraid of needles. Landis was a tough little booger as he got a tetanus shot in the left arm and then a couple of numbing shots into his wound. Would I have taken his place? Are you kidding me?!?

I didn't sleep Thursday night but for an hour. Bobby wanted to leave but as I couldn't finish with baking and packing, he just went to bed. He got up at 4:00 and the kids and I got on the motor home to go to bed while he drove.

At one point in eastern Kentucky, Bobby filled the gas tank and when he did I noticed a strong scent of gasoline, but didn't think much of it since he fills the tank directly beneath my bed. By the time we arrived at Jackson's Mill in Weston, West Virginia, we knew there had to be something wrong because again, the scent of gasoline was tremendous and starting to make us feel sick. We saw no leaks and proceeded to check into our suite.

The 4-H All Star Suite the church had reserved for us was beautiful and accommodating. There were two bedrooms, a living room, dining/game area, large bathroom and kitchenette. The building itself was modeled after George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate near Alexandria, Virginia. After unloading a few things, we found Georgetown Community Church near Horner. Indeed a very quaint little church in the wildwood, it was nestled in the middle of a clearing in the woods. While we waited on the pastor to arrive, we opened the windows of the motor home, stepped outside for some fresh air and set out trying to find the gasoline leak. I saw something dripping near the opening of the tank, scooped some up with my finger and sniffed. Wow! It was dripping at a fast rate apparently from the main gas tank. Here was a temptation to get discouraged and rightly so. But we had to remember that God said if He gave us the motor home, He gave it to be a blessing and not a burden. Somehow He would work all things for our good and His glory.

Pastor Jay Burkhart, his wife and co-pastor, Beth and their two beautiful daughters sang several songs along with close friend, Terry Patterson before Bobby sang Friday night and we had a great time in music. Only God can bring complete strangers together and in a matter of a couple of hours, two or three families can seem like one. Beth was so easy to talk to and Susan Patterson, Terry's wife was especially interesting to talk with as she was an expert in biblical nutrition and health.

The following morning Bobby and Terry dropped the motor home off at a nearby garage and then went to the local AM radio station to do a swap shop program. I tried tuning in but could only find static on the two clock radios in our suite. I checked on-line but there was no streaming. I hear I really missed a great show as folks called in to try getting rid of their cats, albino ferrets, and white male alpacas. One lady said she was a Randy Travis fan so Bobby told her he was the next best thing and proceeded to sing, “I'm gonna love you forever. Forever and ever Amen...” CLICK! (She hung up on him!)

God blessed us again that evening in Jane Lew at Broad Run Baptist Church where Sister Susie and her precious husband greeted us and made us welcome. At the end of the program after my testimony, Bobby asked me to stay and sing one more song with him. I was honored but just before we sang, Sister Susie reminded us of the love offering and took the opportunity to tell us about a young man that had recently been killed in a hunting accident in the community. The testimony that night hit close to home for them and it stirred some broken hearts in the room. I whispered to Bobby that maybe he should sing “I Can Only Imagine.” I sat down and enjoyed the song with the rest of the congregation.

We had a long drive to Fredericksburg, Virginia, especially since we had to stop every 100 miles to fill the auxiliary tank. The mechanic that looked at it in Weston, Saturday morning simply said, “You have a gas leak.” Evidently he didn't want to work too hard on the weekend so he diagnosed but offered no surgery. The solution, then, was to fill up the auxiliary tank and use that exclusively because it seemed to be working fine. We just needed to stop more often. The kids and I went to bed and when Bobby reached the hotel at 2:00 a.m. he simply locked us in the motor home and checked himself in.

My beautiful rose bouquet given to me for Mother's Day from Bobby and the kids was a great surprise but traveling was not conducive to keeping those roses lovely. I had to dismantle my bouquet Sunday morning. I'm glad I took several pictures of it first.

We sang at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, a great church pastored by Todd Pyle, who, after hearing Bobby say who he used to sing with, realized he and Bobby go back many years as Mid South was one of Pastor Todd's favorite bands as a youth. Pastor Todd shook Bobby's hand before church and had no idea who he was until the service began and Bobby told everyone who he sang with. So when he stood to preach after Bobby sang, he surprised Bobby with his realization.

After the service I told Pastor Todd and his wife, Denita, that we so appreciated a growing church and a pastor that preached the Gospel message and actually followed it up with an altar call. What a pleasant surprise to see a pastor who had a passion to reach the lost, made a presentation of the Gospel and pleaded with people to make a decision for Jesus Christ.

We enjoyed an absolutely beautiful drive across country to Nelson County, Virginia, where Earl Hamner Jr., the writer for The Walton's is from. Matter of fact just before we reached our hotel in Lovingston, we passed a sign for Walton's Mountain Museum.

Mr. Jim Hall, his son, Ricky and Ricky's wife, Lori met us at the motel and gave us directions to the church in Arrington, which we drove to only 30 minutes later. Kingswood Baptist Church, pastored by Carroll Martin is another little church in the wildwood and is surrounded by some of God's most lovely creation. From the church parking lot you can see mountains and valleys miles away. We ministered to a great group of people Sunday evening where 3 or 4 congregations were represented. Pastor Brian Duncan and his family traveled over 4 hours from Winchester to attend the concert Sunday evening. Reverend Stan Ogden and his wife, Sheila, from Bethel Church of The Brethren in Arrington, attended as well. A great addition to the evening was when Bobby invited Ricky Hall, who sings tenor for the well-known quartet, The Crestmen, to sing a song with him. Ricky led the first verse, and then held a strong tenor in the remainder of “Sin Met Grace.”

After the service, a lady named Lisa approached me who told me she could relate to my testimony so well as she had a 16 year old son born with Cerebral Palsy, who, the therapists said needed no more physical therapy! He was fine. They introduced me to Brandon a few moments later and as I looked into his sweet smiling face I joked with him about taking my daughter, Grace, out on a date some day. He wanted to meet her and give her a hug. When I introduced him to her and told her how he no longer needs a wheelchair or any kind of therapy and how he gets straight A's, she fixed her eyes on him and never took them off. I think she was impressed and encouraged. It was a sweet moment.

Mr. Jim treated us to Italian food at Vito's across the road from our hotel afterward. The fellowship was so great and got so thick the owner had to start vacuuming the floors to get us to leave.

We had requested a tour of the White House for Tuesday, May 12 but were denied. However, we still planned to take the children back to D.C. to the Smithsonian and National Zoo, but because of the problems with the gas tank, Bobby heavily considered taking us back home on Monday to drop the motor home off with our mechanic and continuing the tour in our van. Pastor Martin from Kingswood Baptist Church learned of our troubles and contacted a trusted mechanic friend of his to look at the motor home at our motel on Monday morning instead. I will continue with that story in my next post.

Once again, another full and busy weekend and one tired family by Sunday night. We didn't get to bed until 11:30 and when I opened my eyes on Monday morning, being awakened by Grace's “talking,” I expected to see something like 7:30 on the clock. I couldn't believe my eyes and had to check all 3 time-telling devices in the room to confirm that it was really 10:15! I felt like a bum for sleeping that long but I was so thankful for the good rest. We must have been tired!

As I finish up my writing, I'm holding my breath. We're passing through Tightsqueeze, Virginia. Suck it in!