August 15 & 16, 2009

It had been four months since we'd seen Bob and Tena, Bobby's parents. That was a long time considering we'd seen them about every other week through the winter and early spring. Or at least it seemed like we saw them that often. We got there just in time for dinner Monday evening which kicked the week off the right way. We spent several hours at our friend, Elizabeth's pool again, ate out, did some shopping and (sounds like vacation, doesn't it?) did something different this time: we spent quite a bit of time at... school!

Bobby's friend of many, many years, Sheila Lynn, works as a chef at Texarkana College, a branch of Texas A & M. Sheila went to culinary school and began her career as a chef in Nashville and then moved back home to Texarkana and began working at the college just a couple of years ago. When Sheila arrived at the school, the cafeteria fed a few students but was not a popular place to hang out. She began interviewing students and asked them what they would put on the school's cafeteria menu if they were in charge. An overwhelming majority said they would like some hot home-style meals instead of just the burgers, pizzas and hotdogs they had grown accustomed to. Sheila got to work planning a new menu and figuring out how to not only create better meals for the students but how to give back to the community and make the college cafeteria a place that Texarkana would be attracted to. Every night the cafeteria offers a different "home-cooked" meal with Thursday always being catfish night. The line goes out the doors with people waiting to eat catfish. When Sheila's boss saw what was happening, he promoted her and gave her more liberties. Actually, what he said was, "you can do whatever you want (when it comes to managing the cafeteria)."

So Bobby, the kids and I ate three or four meals down at the cafeteria (because Sheila gave us several meal passes) and on Thursday night, Bobby, as well as Sheila and another gentleman provided musical entertainment while the folks had their catfish.

At the end of a fun and relaxing week, we drove back to Texas where, on Saturday night, we sang in Allen which is an extension of Dallas. Brother John Myers, a church planter, was hosting a kick-off at an old fire hall for a new cowboy church in Allen. It was with great delight that we got to see and visit with Pastor Mark Lunsford and his youngest daughter, Samantha. Pastor Mark and his wife, Anne, first came to Cornerstone Church, our church in Nashville, back in 1994 to be our music pastor. I joined the choir in January of 1995 and became the piano accompanist for Wednesday rehearsals as our pianist extraordinaire, Pastor Davis' wife, Gail, felt it necessary to work with the band the entire rehearsal time. Pastor Mark really helped me with gaining confidence in my piano playing. I began working as a receptionist at the church office in April of 1995 and Pastor Mark would introduce some new music to me to begin practicing so I could be ready to play for the choir at the next rehearsal. There were a few times that he'd give me something to practice and I would tell him the next time that I saw him that I just didn't think I could handle the piece. He'd insist that I could handle it and that all I had to do was keep practicing. He told me he had confidence that I'd be ready for the rehearsal because he believed I could play what he gave me. And you know, I did what he asked and my piano playing really improved over those three or four years that I played for the choir rehearsals. Obviously, I was nothing like Mrs. Gail, who has a masters degree in piano, but I was able to contribute in a big way and be a help and that's always fulfilling.

In 1997, I bought Bobby a twelve-week old Dashchund for his 34th birthday. I told Pastor Mark what I was doing and I think he got more excited than I was. The evening after I gave Bobby his new four-legged baby, Pastor Mark and Anne took Bobby and I to PetSmart to get "a few things" that our little Buddy was gonna need. We covered every inch of that store and by the time we were ready to check out, our cart was heaping full. Then Pastor Mark got in front of our cart and pulled out his wallet. I looked at Anne and said, "What's he doing?!" Anne just gave me a motherly look and said, "Just let him go. He doesn't do this kind of thing very often, so enjoy it while he's in the mood."

Pastor Mark and Anne had a little dog of their own but were not able to have a baby. Revival broke out in our church and we did something unusual for Cornerstone, we met for church services every night for a week without those services being on our church calendar! One night we had prayer for those people who were trying to conceive and Pastor Mark and Anne were one of the couples we prayed for. That was in March of 1997. In June of the same year, they found out they were expecting and a month later they found out they were having twins. Morgan and Sydney were born in January of 1998 and just a few weeks later in February, Pastor Mark announced to the choir that Bobby and I were expecting our first baby due in September. Then in March Pastor Mark called me in his office one day and told me that he and Anne were expecting their third baby of the year due in December! I laughed in shock and said that God had definitely healed him of whatever it was that was preventing him from having children and suggested he take his healing seriously.

On September 26, when our day of happiness suddenly turned sad and Grace was rushed down the hall to be put on a ventilator, Pastor Mark, Anne, many family members and friends who came to celebrate this new life with us instead circled around my bed and we prayed for God to spare Grace's life. It was Pastor Mark who led us in prayer and declared that we would give God glory in this situation no matter what happened.

The Lunsford's third daughter, Samantha, was born in December and a tiny baby Grace and I visited Anne and Samantha the day after she was born. Today they have three beautiful redheads and live in Texas where Pastor Mark is now an associate pastor at Hope Frisco working alongside Pastor John McKinzie.

So now you can see that we have a rich history with Pastor Mark and Anne and that's why it was such a treat to see him (Anne was sick and in the bed) and Samantha in Allen. We did enjoy fellowship over a meal after the concert. We have hopes to see them when we return to the area the last of this month.

We were scheduled to sing in Red Oak which was on the opposite side of Dallas the next morning so we slept on that side of town in order to have a shorter distance to drive the next morning. We ministered at Lone Star Cowboy Church which is led by Pastor John Coe. This is a growing body of believers and it was a joy to get to fellowship with them. They have two services, one at 8:30 and another at 10:30, the second one being much larger, of course. After the second service Pastor John wanted to meet with his leaders up at the front of the room. He continued using his microphone so we could hear what was going on in this meeting. So many things he said reminded me of another Texas native pastor who I love dearly. He encouraged his leaders and made sure they understood that it was because of their willingness to serve that they were seeing momentum and growth. I caught on quickly that one of the things Pastor John struggled with was keeping up with the new faces coming in the doors on a weekly basis. This, too, sounded very familiar. I heard him talk to his leaders about the area that each of them were assigned to sit in every Sunday. They were charged to look for new faces in their section and greet those people, get acquainted with them and get some information from them in order to write something down for their pastor. I was liking what I was hearing. It sounded good to hear a pastor talking about the "problem" of keeping up with all the new people and keeping his leaders involved.

Pastor John was very kind to take us out to lunch after church and we had a good visit with him.

Again, I was successful in getting the children to take naps while we drove southeast of Dallas to Jacksonville. Bobby's cousin, Mike and his wife, Rose attend Enterprise Baptist Church and this is where we were led to minister Sunday evening. Mike's nephew, Clint, and his wife Cathy drove all the way from Sulphur Springs to attend the concert and say hello. We had a good evening and after the service, a young mother with a four year old daughter and 6 month old son, came up to me at the front of the sanctuary and thanked us for coming and that she enjoyed the evening. I asked her some questions and found out that she was a brand new Christian. She lived just a few miles from the church, was at a low spot in her life and showed up one Sunday out of desperation. She accepted Christ as her Savior and now, as a single mom, has a whole new church family ready to help her and put their arms around her. It was very encouraging to me.

We made the three hour drive back to Texarkana that night, slept and drove home on Monday. What? More cobwebs in my house??? I need to stay home for a change.

August 7-9, 2009

It was great to be home, even if it was only for two days. Wednesday night, the 5th, after church we finished up our re-packing of the trailer and at midnight headed out for Texas. There are several reasons we like leaving at that hour, like, sleeping children, less traffic, cooler temperatures and again I say sleeping children. :) We sang Friday evening in Vidor at New Covenant Full Gospel Church pastored by Wendy Underwood. There was a strong smell of mothballs when we got out of the van to go into the church but I didn't think too much about it. Shortly after we arrived Bobby told me that Pastor Wendy warned us to keep our eyes open for snakes. Since Hurricane Ike last year there has been an abundance of snakes and the moth balls keep them at a distance. Pastor Wendy apologized about the smell but personally, I'd rather smell moth balls than step on a snake.

We had a great service at New Covenant Full Gospel Church and before we left there Pastor Wendy had us scheduled to come back in March of next year! Pastor Wendy leads an enthusiastic group of believers at New Covenant. They showed up and showed support for their pastor and for the special service that night. And you know what? When the people showed up, God showed up too. He was there! Imagine that! He is true to His Word that when two or three are gathered in His Name, He is there.

On Saturday morning we drove north to Waco where we received a hearty Texas welcome from our brothers and sisters at Sparks Memorial Methodist Church. I don't think anyone ever decorated a cake in our honor but we were tickled to see a big white sheet cake that said, "Welcome Bowen Family." Wasn't that "sweet?" But they didn't just have cake. They had a spaghetti dinner complete with salad, bread sticks and a variety of beverages. They went all out to have a great evening and we did.

We slept nearby at the Hampton and the following morning drove about an hour to Milam County Cowboy Church in Rockdale, Texas. Their church services are held in a community building at the fairground. Attending cowboy church really is a different world from what I'm used to. We pulled up and there was a man on a horse running on the track outside the building. Everyone wears their blue jeans and most of the men wear their cowboy hats and big belt buckles. It's reminds me of what it might have been like going to church back in the 19th century. There's nothing old fashioned or outdated about it. It's just that when you see the horses and the hats it reminds you of ...cowboys. Hmm.

When we arrived, Bobby unloaded his stuff and was inside setting up while I stayed in the van with the kids as we do many times. While I was getting the children ready, a woman came to the van and introduced herself as Valerie Herod and offered to help with the kids. Even though I didn't really have anything for her to do, I appreciated it so much that she would take a step forward to say hello and offer a hand. She did visit a bit as I finished with the kids and told me that her husband, Michael's life was changed back in the 90's because of the music ministry of MidSouth. Michael went from a life that included alcohol and a lack of commitment to being surrendered to Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, the ministry that he received back then led him to form a music ministry of his own called "Broken Chains Ministries," named after the popular MidSouth song.

The large room was full for the church service and how great it was to see two young boys getting baptized in the big horse trough. There were others that had recently been baptized and yet more that would be baptized in the coming weeks. This is a good sign that a church is doing something right. Pastor Greg Spears preached about witnessing and did a very quick illustration as he approached someone in the front that he had prepped and propped with a bowl of Blue Bell ice cream. He walked up to the guy in the front and talked about how he loved ice cream. Then he took the bowl of ice cream and began eating it in front of us telling us how cool, sweet and creamy it was. He paralleled that with telling people how much he loved Jesus and what Jesus means to him. What Pastor Greg didn't know was that there was a 10-year-old girl, also in the front of the room, that is a huge fan of ice cream. He couldn't possibly know that he dared not talk about how good the ice cream was and then go so far as to eat that ice cream in front of her and not offer her a bite! He had no idea that he was setting himself up for a revolt right there in the church service. We managed to make it through most of the sermon but toward the end when things got the most serious, I had to take Grace out of the room so as not to distract. We simply stood outside the doors and faced the side of the building. I struggle with taking Grace out like that because I don't want her to think she can fuss and then get taken out to have fun. I want her to be bored and dissatisfied with leaving the service so I let her stare at a blank wall. When I heard Bobby's voice in the mic a few minutes later, Grace and I re-entered and finished out the service. She's very attentive when her Daddy is singing.

After the service Valerie presented the children with a huge basket FULL of goodies to keep their hands busy and their bellies content while going down the road hour after hour and we thanked for her kindness and thoughtfulness.

I succeeded in getting the children to take naps as we drove from Rockdale to Cleveland, Texas for the evening service. We were a little surprised to see a parking lot full of cars and a crowd of people gathered outside the building at First Baptist Church. You'd know I was kidding if I told you they were there waiting with anticipation for us to show up, right? Seriously, much more exciting things were going on. A baptismal service was just starting when we arrived and thirty young people were in line to be baptized. How exciting to see such signs of growth in both the morning and evening services!

Another fun surprise for Bobby was that when he stepped out of the van, long-time friend, Tommy Alexander and his wife, Billie greeted us. Tommy helped Bobby set up and then during the concert, Bobby asked him to come up to the stage and sing a couple of songs with him. Tommy, like Bobby, is a former member of the MidSouth Boys back when they were a quartet. He's also a very good songwriter and Bobby joined him on a couple of his best works. It wasn't the first time Bobby and Tommy sang together at this particular church, for it was New Year's Eve of 1982 that Bobby was hired to sing and play bass for the MidSouth Boys at First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Texas. It was a sentimental reunion for both of them.

We enjoyed a good time of fellowship over some of McDonalds' culinary best and the following morning we were northward bound for Texarkana where we spent the week with Bobby's parents.

August 2, 2009

Sunday morning we said goodbye to Dad and drove to South Bend, Indiana which was about an hour and a half away. We found Forestbrook Missionary Church and met one of the sweetest pastors yet, Ronald Drake. We had a blessed morning serving the Lord there and then enjoyed a delicious fellowship lunch in their basement. We left in a bit of a hurry because we thought we were pressed for time to get over to Crowne Point, Indiana, which was just south of Gary. But Pastor Drake reminded us that we'd go back into central time on the way which helped a lot.

Mary and her boys went to church with Dad in the morning but after lunch said goodbye to him and drove to Crowne Point to meet us at our hotel where we had a few minutes to freshen up. We drove north of the hotel to East Lake Baptist Church where we had a great evening. As soon as we arrived we met Derrick and Meggan, the music/youth pastor and his wife. Mary and I had a good time visiting with Meggan in the nursery talking about kids, health and following the call of God.

Since the Kelso cousins were with us, Bobby had all of the kids come up to sing. It was definitely entertaining as Faith, who is prone to dance, inspired cousin, Ivan who ran circles around her while she wiggled and jumped in place. It was a great show and although there was dancing and silliness, I believe people were ministered to by the time the service was over.

We grabbed some fast food before going back to the motel and the following morning set out for HOME! We played musical vans throughout the day as the children wanted to take turns riding with a cousin.

Finally, after six weeks and 9,000 miles, we arrived home, safe, sound, happy, blessed and...HOT. We walked into our house where the air conditioning had been turned off but wouldn't turn back on. After a hot sweaty night and following morning, we found someone to come out and charge the unit and we began the cool down. So in spite of the fact that the heat and many little cobwebs greeted us, it was a sweet homecoming because of being gone so long and because Pat Johnson and Derick Luthe took such wonderful care of our place while we were away. Mr. Pat and his son, Nathan kept the yard cut and Derick, with the help of others like Pat, poured a concrete slab in our driveway. Now we have a small parking lot big enough for eight cars and it's going to come in handy when it comes to loading Grace between the house and the van, especially when we get the ramp built.





We have so much to be thankful for and a couple of weeks after this trip as I write of this account, I rejoice in the fact that our ever-faithful God woke us every morning with beautiful weather. We can only remember two days of rain on our six-week trip. He kept us all healthy. He blessed us financially. He provided for us in so many ways. He blessed us with new friendships and most importantly, lives were impacted, including our own. Yes, much to be thankful for and on Monday evening, August 3rd, I was thankful for HOME, sweet home.

July 27-August 1, 2009

We crossed the border back into the good old US of A Monday before noon and began the long journey across Montana by way of US 2 until we finally found Interstate again. Bobby had planned to stop for the night somewhere in North Dakota but I let him know that I would be just fine with not stopping. I didn't sleep much when I was supposed to during the hours of twelve and four but was ready to go with a hot cup of coffee when I got behind the wheel at five.

I pulled us over at nine the next morning to eat breakfast near Eau Claire, Wisconsin and we gave the van a break while we went in the Flying J to eat. Faith was very whiny when we went in and even after holding her tightly for a few minutes, she was still fussing. We found out why at the breakfast table when she started gagging. We tried to be discreet as I caught what came up in an empty cup and placed it on the floor. Sure, it's gross but what are you supposed to do when your child is puking right NOW? I laid her down in a nearby booth and she slept while the rest of us ate. When we finished, the girls and I went out to the van before Bobby and Landis. I was preparing a bed for Faith in the back behind the couch and Hope was rolling Grace around in the sunshine. Just as I got Faith settled and was straightening up the inside of the van, I heard Hope crying for help and some commotion to follow. I turned around in time to see Grace's wheelchair start up the ramp and fall sideways off of it with Grace in it. Immediately two people were at our side trying to help us. We got Grace turned upright and checked for bumps or bleeding. Hope cried, of course, and, of course, Grace didn't. She doesn't cry because of pain. Hope felt better when Grace, who had a bump on her forehead, smiled at her. Whew! What a morning...after not sleeping much.

Faith slept for a couple of hours and was perfectly fine when she awoke. Bobby said that he thinks that Faith's stomach just got worked up by the washboard bumps he and the girls felt as I drove through Minneapolis/St. Paul. That could have been it. Either that or it was a 30 minute bug.


It took us 32 hours to drive from Maple Creek, Saskatchewan to Burr Oak, Michigan (I drove a whopping five of those thirty two hours). It wasn't that bad but it wasn't always great. This photo of Grace says a whole lot more than my words can say. I can't remember why, but she was mad. Oh, and I guess you see Hope behind Grace. Um, yeah, there's some "movement" from time to time. But you know, as many hours as these kids spend in the van, we don't want to make them sit the whole time. If they do, they might get fat.


After just getting on the Indiana Toll Road and Chicago being behind us, I called Dad to let him know where we were and he mentioned telling my sister, Mary, that he was planning on making breakfast in the morning. I asked him why he would tell Mary that he was making Bobby and I and the kids breakfast. He hesitated and chuckled after realizing he had just let the cat out of the bag. Mary made a last minute decision the Friday before to drive to Michigan with her three boys and meet us at Dad's. It was supposed to be a surprise and Dad slipped. He usually does. :) Oh well. It was still a surprise. We were surprised a couple of hours before we were supposed to be surprised. Life was good again after hugs, baths and food.


Mary and I planned out our week and cleverly planned some time for just the two of us to get away from all the children. We had a great week which I think I can summarize in a few sentences. Let's see, we had pedicures while Dad, Bobby and the kids went to a matinee, had dinner at my cousin Gina's house in Middlebury, Indiana, had breakfast with Dad at the Bluegate in Shipshewana, did a little shopping, visited my sister, Kathy and her girls, visited my mother's grave, had ice cream at the Sand Lake Party Store, visited Reubmommy (my ninety five year old amish grandmother), roasted weiners and enjoyed the fire, and Uncle Joel took the older kids fishing. It was a great week with BEAUTIFUL weather and toward the end of it I thanked Mary for driving up and surprising us. She, in turn, thanked us for coming home...to the U.S., that is.


Mary took some pretty good photos and posted them on her blog. Check 'em out.

July 24-26, 2009

Friday morning we had our first hotel breakfast with hot eggs on this long journey. We stayed at the HI Express in Missoula, Montana and they always have good breakfasts. I'm gonna rant just a bit here as I complain about my weight and the surprise gain. The writing of this post is occurring on August 8 and before leaving on this trip I changed out some clothes from home. A pair of pants that fit very well before the Canada trip are now SNUG. I was so upset I stumbled and stammered over my words trying to spit out my horrible discovery to Bobby two days ago. While on the previous trip, I saw myself in pictures and thought, "Man, I look fat!" Then I started feeling fat. I ate pretty minimal amounts of food, especially in the evenings (except at Nowell's house) so I decided that I had to back off of the hotel breakfasts. Every hotel we stayed in, as nice as they might have been, lacked protein for breakfast. Finally on the third week, while in Idaho, I decided to bring my own peanut butter in and spread it on some toast. It still wasn't a great breakfast but at least I was eating some protein. There wasn't even any fruit in most places. Just...BREAD! Waffles, bread, danishes, muffins, juice and coffee. But even after changing my breakfasts I still had gained a considerable amount of weight and then two days ago it hit me...sitting! That's all I've done for the last six weeks. Oh, there's been some walking at Mount Rushmore, Sandy Creek, and the Lewis and Clark exhibit. But not enough to counter the hours of sitting in the van day after day. I have clothes to exercise in but only about once a week did we stay in a hotel with a fitness room. I don't feel safe walking or running outside the hotel. So I must just take advantage of the opportunities to exercise when I get them. That may mainly be at home. The problem with the last trip was that I was not home for six weeks and I confess this weight gain really caught me off guard. If we do something like this next year, I'm gonna be ready. The good news is, I can lose the weight and I will. Told you I was gonna rant.

So, back to Missoula and the hot eggs. We set out on Interstate 90 and then cut cross country on US 12 eastward to Interstate 15. We only made it as far as Conrad. We could have gotten closer to the Canadian border but Bobby wanted to stay in a Super 8 because he's racking up points and there were no more Super 8's north of Conrad. It was good to retire a little early for the evening. I got a couple of loads of laundry done and some kids in bed a little earlier than usual. It's also been our custom on this trip to schedule our border crossings to the north first thing in the morning so as to arrive there with a cleaner and more organized van and cheerful children.

Saturday morning we had our breakfast of bread and peanut butter and then headed north to cross the border one more time. The previous two crossings were done at Pembina, North Dakota but this time we crossed at Sweetgrass, Montana, a place Bobby had crossed before. However, there was something Bobby forgot about this crossing. We pulled up to the agent's window and answered the usual questions, "Where are you going? How long are you staying? What will you be doing? How many in the vehicle and their ages? Do you have any firearms or tobacco? What's in the trailer? Do you have cash in excess of ten thousand dollars? (To which Bobby always answered, "I wish.") But then the agent gave us instruction on where to park and for all of us to come inside. Oh great! I tried to act happy to be there because I didn't want the kids to worry about anything. But you can't help but feel somewhat criminal in a situation like that. When we walked into the building Bobby finally remembered this was routine for this particular border crossing. Bobby had remembered that Sweetgrass was where the band had been held for six hours one time but not until we walked into the building did he remember that it was routine for everyone to have to get out and come in.

MidSouth was held up here because the inspection agents found about fifteen posters on the bus. That doesn't sound like a big deal but when the guys had been questioned about everything on board and promised the agent that everything they had said was true, it didn't go over too well when the agent found some un-accounted for posters. When the guys said, "Oh we forgot about those," the agent sarcastically replied, "Uh huh! Alright, everyone inside." It took six hours for everything to be taken off the bus and the bus gone over with a fine-toothed comb. Fortunately the guys weren't singing that night so they didn't miss a concert. I know that if Bobby ever suggests we cross at Sweetgrass again, I'll be sure to remember why we don't want to cross there. We weren't held long either and were soon on our way again without any other inconveniences.

I have to admit that at one point, Grace screamed out once and that's usually something we scold her for and try to stifle while in public. However, this time I looked over at her and whispered, "Do it again!" I thought maybe if she pitched a fit they would move us ahead in line and hurry us right on outta there. That screaming she does sometimes will make your eyes cross.

We arrived at Maple Creek, Saskatchewan around 4:30 in the afternoon at supposedly the only motel in town. I sure don't want to offend anyone but I have to say the weekend was a bit rough mainly because of the motel. I think writing about it helps me see the humor in the whole experience and I can enjoy it now that I can look back at it. The building looked a bit primitive and when we walked into it late Saturday afternoon, the temperature inside was at least one hundred degrees. There was a small window air conditioning unit stuck up in the corner of the room and after we turned it on, it

began the uphill climb of trying to cool that room off. We unloaded and tried our best to freshen up before heading out to find the town park where Diamond Willow Cowboy Church had a semi trailer set up for a stage. The Anglican Church across the street from the park was celebrating their one hundredth year on this same evening so the two churches decided to combine their efforts and have a bigger event together rather than compete with each other.

As Bobby set up and Grace, who had already eaten stayed in the cool van, the other three children and I went across the street to the Anglican Church's tent where they had burgers and stuff. Just in case you're wondering what I ate, I'll tell you. I had a hamburger patty without the bread, mustard, slaw with vinegar dressing and a bottle of water. See? I'm telling you I didn't eat that poorly on this trip. My problem is I sat way too much. Have you ever heard of "secretary's spread?" Well...how 'bout "road trip spread?"

The town folks brought their lawn chairs and sat at the opposite end of the yard from the stage. Of course we didn't have lawn chairs so I stood behind the trailer/stage which was enclosed except for one side, with steps coming down the back side of it. Fortunately, the monitors were great so I could hear our children sing very well from where I stood at the bottom of the steps on the back side of the stage. UNfortunately, Faith, who's trying to hear that third part has started singing like she's tone deaf half the time. Every now and then she harmonizes but much of the time it sounds like she lacks talent and her wavy singing caught Landis and Hope off guard and they began to giggle. They giggle/sang their way through their song and when they were finished and as Bobby approached them and took his guitar back from Landis he said, "That was awful!" The audience didn't hear him but the kids did and I knew it was going to break Hope's heart. Sure enough, I watched her face as she walked down the steps and her weak smile faded with each step down until at the last step she broke into tears, grabbed my waist and sobbed saying, "I sang TERRIBLE! (boo hoo)" I laughed and assured her it was Faith that sang terrible. Bobby is usually very good about telling the kids he's proud of them and I don't think that one negative comment will scar the kids for life or anything. It made me laugh, but I'm kinda weird.

Our room was still stifling when we got back to it between 9:00 and 10:00, but we got ready for bed and just tried to lay very still without blankets. As the kids complained, Bobby and I told them this is how it used to be every summer night for us as kids. Between the heat, the hard mattress and Grace deciding she didn't want to sleep, we did not get a good night's rest but thankfully by dawn the room had cooled considerably. We ate breakfast at the motel restaurant and then sought out Maple Creek Assembly of God where we met a wonderful pastor and his wife, Hans and Janet Martens. Pastor Hans is originally from Denmark and used to call himself an athiest. His greatest joy in his youth was pursuing theological arguments with Christians. He walked into Maple Creek Assembly one Sunday and just sat and listened with doubt and skeptism. Little did he know that he would not only believe in and live for the Almighty God, Creator of the Universe one day but that he would actually shepherd that very congregation. He and Janet are passionate Christians and now his greatest joy is seeing people come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. He gave an altar call the morning we were there and two or three made some life-changing decisions that morning following the service. Praise the Lord!

Not as importantly, but still something to praise the Lord about was that our room was still very cool when we returned after church. We decided to snack just a little for lunch, lay down for naps and then eat a meal before we sang that evening. Before the morning service, Janet told me that the city was threatening to turn the water off so she suggested I might want to make sure all the children have used the bathroom, etc. By the time church was dismissed, indeed, the water had been turned off. What I was surprised about was that the water was turned off to the entire town of Maple Creek! So we had no water in our motel room and when we walked into the motel restaurant we expected to be told they were closed but they weren't. I asked them how they were able to stay open and the waitress told me they were using bottled water for all of their H2O needs.

Well, Sunday evening, the 26th had arrived. Our last concert in Canada for this tour. We drove south of Maple Creek to Cypress Hills Inter provincial Park (like our State Parks). It was "Inter" because half of the park was in Saskatchewan and the other half in Alberta. The setting was absolutely beautiful and considerably cooler in the huge cypress trees. The pastor from Saturday nights' cowboy church, Ross Pollock, scheduled Bobby to sing in the park's amphitheatre. Heritage Road sang in the same spot a couple of years earlier so Bobby knew how to handle the steep climb and narrow path that led up to the stage. We had a great turnout of campers with lots of children and it was rather moving when Bobby called all the little boys up to sit on the stage while he sang "Little Man." Then he turned it around to total nonsense when he called all the children up at one point to sing, "If You're Happy and You Know It" and added the verse, "....let a burp!" Why I didn't think to get it on video, I'll never know. Sorry ' bout that. Ross and his wife, Claire, along with another family joined us for ice cream on the campground before we left. Only in Saskatchewan will you find folks willing to stand in near darkness, in sub-sixty-five temperatures, beating away the giant mosquitoes just to eat some ice cream. I took Grace to the van because I couldn't beat the mosquitoes off of her and myself at the same time (yes, we did have on repellant) and in my haste to try to get Grace up the ramp, into the van and the doors shut again before I attracted all the mosquitoes in the park, I nearly cut my little finger off in that folding ramp. I screamed silently for a few seconds and then looked at my finger to see if it was still attached. It had broken the skin but it was still attached. I fed Grace in the dark van with only a few of the little guys buzzing in my ears.

Bobby had said if the water wasn't turned back on when we got back to the motel room, we'd go ahead and leave town. It was on and we had a much better rest the second night because the room had cooled off and stayed that way but I rose early on Monday morning, showered, dressed and even started loading the van before anyone else got up. I was READY to GO!

July 20-23, 2009

I squeezed two loads of desperately needed laundry into Saturday afternoon's (the 18th, during the music festival at Sandy Creek) schedule and couldn't fit it all in so I did one more load at the local laundromat on Monday morning before the rest of the gang awoke. There was no Wifi at the dorm so while I waited on the dryer I drove down to the hoppin' and happenin' coffee shop/gas station where I could buy thirty minutes of time on the Internet, looking for comments on my blog, cleaning out my inbox and sending a "tweet."

We got back on the Trans-Canadian Highway, also known as Hwy 1 heading west. I like the names of the towns so I'll tell you we started out just west of Moose Jaw and then drove through Swift Current and Medicine Hat, stopping in Lethbridge to sleep Monday evening. After Lethbridge we got into the mountains of British Columbia. We didn't allow the television to be turned on the whole day Tuesday as the movie was outside the van. I had figured we'd see snow-topped mountains but those we saw weren't tall enough to have snow in July. Still, the beauty was a lot to behold and we kept the camera on most of the day. Moose was something else we were hoping to see but never did. However, Landis saw some wild elk grazing not too far off the road. The rest of us missed it. The kids would get accustomed to seeing the same mountains for a couple of hours and ask to watch TV but when we made them look out the windows again, they would get caught up in the wonder around them for a while.

We were scheduled to sing in Troy, Montana Wednesday night. However, our destination for Tuesday night was Sandpoint, Idaho. About thirteen years ago Bobby sang in Sandpoint with MidSouth and while he was there he called, telling me how beautiful the place was. He told me he'd take me there some day and sure enough, thirteen years later, he kept his promise. Little did we know we'd have four children with us.

The following day, after driving through Sandpoint to have a look around, we headed out for Troy, Montana to find Troy Community Baptist Church. We met some precious people waiting for us to get there, who helped Bobby with his set up. It was unusual for the kids and I to be surrounded by children back in the nursery while I got the girl's hair fixed. Most churches we sing in are running short on children but this church had a slew of them. It definitely makes a difference what that pastor's vision is and what he's living out before the congregation. He and his wife raised three of their own and had a great time doing so which caused them to consider foster care and adoption. So a couple of those little ones were his.

After Bobby finished setting up his gear, he and Landis, Pastor Cam and sound man, Brian, sat down and just visited. Bobby and Landis had many questions about the beautiful area we were in, the wildlife and, of course, the quality of fishing. It didn't take but just a few words from Landis for Pastor Cam to know that he was a passionate fisherman.

We had a great service with all of those kids, including my own, seated on the front row. Of course it wasn't as quiet and still as I like it to be but you've got to make exceptions. I was just so thrilled that there were children present that it really didn't matter about the stillness factor. When it came time for me to give a testimony, I decided that rather than lose the interest of the children, I'd rather sit on the front steps of the stage so the kids could see me better and I'd make my testimony kid-friendly. I think it went fairly well considering I'd never done that before. Kids always stare at Grace and want to know what she's all about so I explained to them who Grace was, who God was in her and what He's done in her as best I could.

After the service, someone asked me if I had seen Pastor Cam. They were looking for him and couldn't find him anywhere. The rest of us were enjoying ice cream in the fellowship hall. When I just finished feeding Grace, Pastor Cam walked into the fellowship hall and announced that he had a fishing rod and small tackle box for Landis and wanted to give it to him with our permission. He didn't see Landis, who overheard the statement from across the room. Moments later, Landis was practicing his cast in the gravel parking lot and Bobby and I were thanking the pastor for his thoughtful gift.

"What you didn't know," I told him, "was that three days ago Landis was complaining that he hadn't fished on this big Canada trip yet. We had talked about fishing on this trip months ago when planning the trip and realizing that he wouldn't be able to go to Kid's Camp with our church. When he complained I told him he just needed to pray for an opportunity to fish and I was sure God would give it to him. The next day I looked in the rear-view mirror and didn't see Landis in the back of the van so I yelled, 'Landis are you back behind the seat again?!' I heard a small 'yes.' So I told him to get out of there immediately. He came back with, 'but I'm praying.' So I backed down and told him to come out of there when he was done."

It's funny how sometimes we listen to God's leading and we don't even realize it's Him speaking to us? I think Pastor Cam was surprised and even happier after hearing the story. Then he told us of a great little fishing spot and said we wouldn't even need fishing licenses because it was in a state park.

We had decided that afternoon on the way to the hotel that we'd stop on the way back to the church that evening and take some pictures along US Highway 2 that runs between Troy and Libby, where we were staying. The highway and Kootenai River run together and the scenery is picturesque. To make the picture even more interesting there's a waterfall, a railroad track running through, and a swinging bridge has been added over the river at one spot. But because of the ice cream social after church we didn't have enough sunlight to take pictures after church so we rescheduled our picture-taking for the following morning. On top of that we added a little time to fish. With a full schedule of leisure activities in the morning, we knew we were pushing ourselves to get to our Thursday evening concert on time. There was a detour onto a narrow dirt road at one point but we did barely make it on time.

It was one hundred three degrees when we arrived at the Outdoorsmen Church near Missoula, Montana on Thursday night. Pastor Mark and his wife, Sacha have just recently been holding church services in their own building. They had been having church at their home in a tent. People from all walks of life were driving as far as an hour and a half to get there. They truly have a unique ministry at the Outdoorsmen Church as they reach out to the people of western Montana who love to fish, hunt, hike, and...eat. This congregation divides itself in half. One half meets every Wednesday night and the other half meets every Thursday night. Not only do they meet for church but they bring dinner and eat together. There was no air conditioning but we managed just fine and had a good service. After the service Sacha told us that nearly a third of the folks there were unsaved people that just want to come and see what's happening at the Outdoorsmen Church! Evidently they'd been coming. Now that truly is exciting to see that many young families coming out on a Thursday night to the house of God out of curiosity. It's my prayer that seeds were sown into some of those hearts by something we sang or said.

Of course the evening couldn't be complete without a little archery at the Outdoorsmen Church. After Landis asked enough questions, one of the adults took him and Hope out behind the building to practice a little archery which, of course, thrilled Landis. Indeed, a new experience for him.



(Above) Looking across the plains of Alberta toward the mountains of British Columbia. Sorry 'bout the middle picture taken through our dirty windshield. Remember, you can click on a picture to blow it up and then you can see the mountains in the distance better. The third pic was taken right after taking a pic in front of the British Columbia sign.



(Above) All the sweet children that came to the service in Troy. A ten year old girl, Constance, joined us just before the service started. I don't know what the crazy lady's problem is...maybe she can't handle all those kids on the front row.



(Above) Looking at a waterfall and the swinging bridge at Kootenai National Forest.



(Above) Landis' rainbow trout caught with the fishing rod that Pastor Cam gave him.



(Above) Bobby singing at the Outdoorsmen Church. Hope lost her first tooth at a church in Kentucky, her second tooth at a church in Indiana and her third tooth while at the Outdoorsmen Church in Montana.



(Above) Scenic overlook on US 12 in western Montana.