October 3 & 4, 2009

My dad came to Tennessee to visit. His first visit in many months. He arrived on Friday evening from Michigan and we left on Saturday morning for Ohio. For the first time since we've been traveling together as a family in ministry, we finally sang in Ohio.

Saturday evening we found our hotel in a town we had a lot of trouble pronouncing...Gallipolis. Once we heard someone pronounce it for us, we remembered hearing the name before. A beautiful town on the Ohio River, Gallipolis had a Holiday Inn directly across the road from the church we were ministering in. Conveniently we girls could have a few extra minutes to get ready while the guys went across the road to the church and set up.

New Life Church of God meets in a building that was formerly a restaurant. Pastor Rick Towe and his wife, Ginny, warmly greeted us and made us feel right at home. We had a great service with some snacks following. While we were enjoying fellowship over hotdogs and chili, a gentleman at my table told me I attend church with his son and daughter-in-law. I was so surprised when he told me he was the father of Jonathan McClanahan. Jonathan, his wife, Essie and their curly-headed, handsome sons have attended Cornerstone Church for as long as I can remember. Jonathan also ministers in the local prisons. Mr. McClanahan applauded our pastor, calling him a "gem," and spoke fondly of how his family so appreciates the ministry they have received over the years.

I was thankful that we didn't have far to go from the church and we were able to get to bed pretty quickly only to rise early, taking the children in their pajamas out to the warming van at 5:00 a.m. (4:00 a.m. our time) so we could hit the road and make it from the south end of Ohio up to the north end, very near Toledo, by 9:00.

We arrived at Trinity Temple in Milan, Ohio by 9:00, just a few minutes before the pastor and his wife and I was able to get everyone dressed and ready for Sunday School on time. We had a few minutes to visit with Pastor Jack Kiskaden before church and quickly developed an appreciation for him and his wife, Diana, as he told us of their experience raising foster children who's father returned to their lives and wanted them back. Pastor Jack and Diana's hearts were broken when they gave up the children they had poured their heart and soul into. Another heartbreak came when one of the boys they had raised was found dead at what appeared to be a suicide but in Jack and Diana's hearts they know not only by the physical evidence but by the fact that they knew their son, that he was, indeed, murdered. The case remains a mystery that Pastor Jack hopes to solve one day.

We really enjoyed the music at Trinity. They had a full band and a worship team and Pastor Jack helped lead the singing. I forgot I was in northern Ohio because it sounded like we were in Kentucky...which is where Jack is from, by the way.

Bobby was told he could take as long as he needed and I was even allowed to speak a bit and then Pastor Jack preached a great 10-minute sermon. Diana was so sweet as she allowed the kids to choose some toys from a box to take home with them and then helped Grace and I out to the van and stood by the van until we drove away.

We found our way to the Interstate and headed west toward Cleveland. The kids got just a glimpse of Lake Erie as we drove through the east side of town and made our way toward Conneaut (pr. Conyo). We stopped an hour shy of Conneaut to reserve a hotel room. Bobby checked us in and took a load of luggage to the room while the rest of us waited in the van. We continued on to Conneaut and arrived at Family Fellowship Church just as it started to rain softly. I surprised the pastor's wife as I entered a side door near the kitchen and asked where the nursery was. Not knowing who I was she tried to think of a tactful way to find who in the heck I was before telling me where things were. Suddenly I realized how discourteous I was by not introducing myself and giving an appropriate greeting. You'd think by now I would know how to make a proper introduction and practice good manners. Even though Mrs. Tarasiak and I began with a rough start we soon got things turned around and got better acquainted while we waited for church to start.

Pastor Robert Tarasiak had such an interesting story as he, himself is a musician who formerly played guitar as a long-haired, drug-addict from Boston touring with a band in Europe. He and his wife found Jesus and moved to Honduras to minister to the lost. They've lived and ministered all over the world and have a sincere desire to see people find Jesus as their Savior.

One more good service for the weekend as 3 people came forward for prayer. God touched people and I'm thankful that once again He proved Himself to be faithful in blessing us.

We left by 8:00 Monday morning to get back home as we were in very near the northwest corner of Pennsylvania. We knew it would take us all day to get home but what we didn't know was that Dad would have leftover soup warmed up for us upon our arrival. Yes, I think I'd like to have a butler.

September 25-27, 2009

We headed out toward the northeast corner of Arkansas on Friday morning, the 25^th of September and approached Pollard looking for “Roadside Gospel” at the home of Mark Cave, Jr. and the Cave Family. After about five miles on dirt roads we saw a couple of balloons hanging from a tree branch on the left. Not sure if the balloons were for a birthday party, baby shower or Roadside Gospel, we slowed down to get a good look. Our questions were answered when we saw the homemade banner with Bobby's name on it and our gracious host waving us in. “Little Mark,” as his family calls him, was standing out under the brush arbor waiting for us and assisted us in getting parked and unloaded. We soon met Sunshine, Mark's older sister as she walked up the lane from the house. We fell in love with Sunshine immediately and a few minutes later, was privileged to meet her parents, Mark, senior, and Mary Ann.

Physically speaking, it was an evening of bugs, bites, and bumps, but our physical bodies with all its bumps and imperfections are only temporary and God in His goodness blessed us in a special way that night. We did not come prepared for the mosquitoes and after asking around for some bug spray I soon remembered I had all of my laundry stuff in the trailer. I tucked a couple of dryer sheets in the kids' pockets, or if they didn't have pockets, I tucked them in their underwear. I think it actually helped. We did get some bites but those happened before I remembered the dryer sheets. Well, all of the bites except for the bites on Hope's hiney. She sat in an upholstered chair during the service and the following week complained of itchy bumps. I took a look and sure enough, she had polka-dotted buns! I dabbed a bit of tea tree oil on each spot and she seemed to be fine after that. No harm done. I just had to write about it because it struck me as kinda funny.

As the service neared the end, people began to share and Mrs. Cave even preached a little bit. It was one of those services where you're not quite sure how to end the evening. We topped it off with some hugs and group photographs. Little Mark had given Faith his hat which she proudly wore as she sang, and Faith loved Sunshine so much she actually asked me if she could just stay with them and not go with us.

We had a bit of a rough night as Bobby decided it would in our best interest to drive all the way back home to sleep. We arrived home around 2:00 a.m. and then rose again at 7:00 to leave for Bon Aqua, Tennessee, near Dickson. Bobby was scheduled to sing at a festival called The Coupe where several other Christian artists were performing. This being the first year for this particular festival, it was not well-attended but we had a good time and was thrilled to see a familiar face...Mr. Pat drove out to see us...well...he came to see Grace...because it was her 11th birthday.

From Bon Aqua we continued westward to Memphis and then south, staying in Tunica for the night. The following morning we had only a short distance to Elaine, Arkansas where we re-visited Elaine Church of God for a lunch and then an afternoon concert. Back in November of 2008, Pastor Dan Wessell invited us to minister, having us come for a 1:00 p.m concert in order for other churches to be available to attend. He liked that schedule so much he decided to do it again. We arrived before the morning service was over and then joined the congregation for a lunch of grilled burgers and hot dogs. After filling our bellies we had a gospel concert and then headed north to Hughes. Hughes, Arkansas was one of the first towns we sang in back in February of last year but it was at the Church of God. This time we sang at First Baptist Church and we really enjoyed fellowship with Pastor and several other precious folks. Both Elaine Church of God and Hughes First Baptist were blessings to us and we pray for blessings in return to both of these churches for their warmth and kindness shown to us.

We endured another long late-night drive home. Wow. That's two in one weekend. Good thing we're so young.

September 18-21, 2009

Bobby succeeded in booking us back in Sheridan, Indiana at Christ Tabernacle Church of God of Prophecy. We had a great service back in August of 2008 when we were there before. God blessed our time together and He touched our hearts that night. I was impressed with Pastor Rich Barker and his wife Kathy who have eight children including two sets of twins. I got to visit briefly with Pastor Rich and then hugged Kathy's neck when she arrived at the church with about four kids in tow. I wish I could name them all but at least I have a



picture containing most of the Barker clan. The oldest of the children is married with a baby and is a youth pastor at a church in Kokomo. See? Doesn't Kathy look fabulous? Especially, when you consider she's carried twins twice, has four other children and is now a grandmother! Wow. Hats off! Another item of interest and something we have in common is that Rich and Kathy and the children used to travel together in ministry. They traveled in a fifteen passenger van and pulled a trailer. Once they had five children, Kathy told her husband she just couldn't possibly go on they went home and began to pastor a church. God's richest blessings to the Barker Family in Sheridan, Indiana!


I'd love to share with you one of our traveling "joys." After the service at Christ Tabernacle, Pastor Rich treated us to some quick food at Burger King. We didn't eat in with them because we told them we had to get moving. (We planned to drive three hours north to my Dad's house that night.) However, after we got our food, it was another 30 minutes until we actually rolled out of the Burger King parking lot. We put the wheel chair in the trailer and made beds in the van for the children to go to sleep. I changed Grace's diaper, fed her and took the other three into the restroom. But about 20 minutes after we left



Sheridan, someone called from the back saying Grace was stinkie. So I crawled to the back and changed her again while Bobby kept driving. Grace tends to battle with constipation and when she's stinkie, she's STINKIE!!! So now we're driving down the road at 10:30 p.m. with this incredible aroma called "Stink a la poop," and there's no trash can for miles. We were in the middle of corn fields. Bobby threatened to throw the diaper out the window but I wouldn't let him. Ha ha. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking how could anything so foul and stinkie come from such a little cutie? Don't let her fool ya. Some of you don't think about those kinds of experiences in a traveling ministry, do you?


We arrived at my Dad's house at 1:30 a.m. and after unloading, getting drinks of milk or water and getting everyone changed into pajamas, I was finally falling asleep a little before 3:00. Even though Dad stayed up waiting for us, he still got up Saturday morning and went to his favorite restaurant for breakfast, the Bluegate in Shipshewana, Indiana. However, we stayed in bed.


We enjoyed a beautiful Saturday evening in Three Rivers at Light and Life Wesleyan Church where my cousin, John Hostetler and his family attend. John was instrumental in getting Bobby in touch with the pastor from Light and Life. He also worked hard to advertise for the event and we really appreciate all of his efforts. John's mother, my dad's younger sister, Ann, came also as well as Dad's older sister, Sue Cole. A little extra kick to the evening was the fact that Christian



artist, David Meece hung out in the sanctuary after the service as he was giving a concert there on Sunday morning and was getting set up Saturday night. I told him my sisters and cousins and I used to sing in 3-part harmony, (and I broke into song) "Falling down you know I'm falling down and I don't understand why I keep losing ground..." David Meece attends Brentwood Baptist Church where his son is on staff.


If you are a regular reader of this blog you know that whenever we visit Michigan, we have to stop at the Party Store in Nottawa and have some Hudsonville ice cream. Sorry, but I don't think Bluebell has anything on Hudsonville. And the size of the servings at the Nottawa Party Store are crazy huge. We drove past the Party Store on our way back from Three Rivers, so naturally we had to stop and indulge. When I write that we ate at Burger King the night before (at 10 p.m.) and ate huge servings of ice cream after the concert the next night, you really need to know that I didn't order anything either time but had some bites of the kids' food. I sure wouldn't want you to get the wrong idea.


On Sunday morning we sang at Locust Grove Mennonite Church where several of my relatives attend. I admitted in the microphone that morning that I visited Locust Grove on an occasional Sunday evening as a teenager mainly because I was hoping to get a date. There was not an explosion of laughter as I had hoped for. I don't know if that was because they were thinking, "I KNEW it!" or they were simply shocked. I definitely had a reputation of being a little goody, goody two-shoes.


It was wonderful to see so many dear friends that I hadn't seen in years at Locust Grove and after church we were invited to have lunch at my Uncle Fred and Aunt Marilyn's home. She went all out with



mashed potatoes, roast, gravy, veggies, apple sauce, dinner rolls and chocolate pudding cake for dessert! Everything was delicious and we were so grateful for such a spread, not to mention the precious time we could spend with some relatives that we don't see as often as others.


We had only about an hour at Dad's until we had to leave again to go to his church near Topeka, Indiana. Dad went with us and showed us how to get to Morningstar Christian Fellowship. This congregation moved to this location near Topeka at the beginning of the year and changed their name from Plato Christian Fellowship. Plato, Dad's church, was the first place Bobby sang back in January of last year. I really like Dad's pastor, Jerry Stutzman, a dairy farmer who was formerly Amish and is hungry for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. My cousin Tobey who sings with his family group, The Schwartz Family, graced us with his presence as well his beautiful wife, Erin and their son Logan. Bobby invited Tobey up to sing an old MidSouth song with him and that added to the fun of the evening. Tobey is an accomplished songwriter and actually penned a southern gospel song that was nominated for song of the year in 2005 or 2006. We had a good time of worship at the end of the service and I was privileged to pray with a lady who used to be Amish and wanted prayer for her sister who is a drug addict.


Tobey and Erin joined us for some grub at McDonald's after the service and it began to rain.


The following morning we slept in as we often do on Mondays and finally found our way out of the house to go to the St. Joe County Grange Fair! We spent the majority of our time at the animal barns because my cousin, RoxAnne's children were showing goats and turkeys as they do every year. But I was also thrilled to see 2 gals that I graduated with along with their husbands and their daughters. I rarely get to see anyone I graduated with since I live so far away but to see Julie (Everitt) Mitchell and Diana (Pagels) Yeager in 1 afternoon



was a real treat. After the children grew impatient with us we finally took them over to the rides so that Landis and Hope could enjoy some excitement. Hope and Landis are actually in the photo above situated in the front seats (left side) of the ride that's hanging upside down. Hope was crying because she was afraid she was going to fall out. Poor girl was scared to tears. Grandpa took Faith with him to see the ponies, ride a kiddie ride and see a magic show. After about 4 hours



we left to pick up a birthday cake I had ordered earlier in the day, buy some ice cream and head to RoxAnne's house where I began to warm up some chili that Dad had made and I had packed in a cooler in the back of our van. Dad joined us as well as my mom's sister, Esther (RoxAnne's mom) and her husband Larry, and my cousin Danny and his new bride, Danae for chili, ice cream and birthday cake as we celebrated RoxAnne's son, Jeffrey and Grace's birthdays. Good food and fellowship was enjoyed by all and once again, I enjoyed visiting with my Aunt Esther again as we talked about heaven.


We left Dad's house at 9:30 on Tuesday morning and was able to spend 2 days at home until heading to Arkansas on Friday.