October 22-25, 2009

Back to Arkansas. Isn't that how I started my last post? Yes, it is. Maybe I should write a song called such. This time we went straight to Texarkana. We swung by Bobby's parents home and picked up his mother who was standing in the driveway waiting for us. We were running a little behind because of a delay west of Little Rock. It had rained quite a bit and I think there was an accident. However, thanks to the aircard and the Internet, we were able to find a bypass around it. Although many others took the same route and slowed us down a lot, it was still faster than sitting still on the interstate.

After picking up Tena, we drove over to Texarkana College where Bobby sang to folks who like to come out to the college on Thursday nights to eat fish. Our friend, Sheila Lynn, has really made the local college cafeteria a popular place with her home-style dishes and Thursday night fish fry's. And when she added the live entertainment with the fish, it added an element of fun to the evening. Sheila does most of the entertaining, singing classics such as, "Walkin' After Midnight," "I Fall To Pieces," and "Crazy," and the people love it. Bobby has sung there twice now and although his gospel music is appreciated, Tena and I advised him that the next time he sings at the college, he ought to have some Buck Owens and George Jones material ready. We told him with his vocal abilities, the folks would go crazy.

Bobby's dad had been working that afternoon and evening, delivering a car to Dallas, and was not able to join us but Bobby's sister, Kathy was there as well as her son, Josh. Just a few days before, Hope heard Josh's name mentioned and asked, "Who's Josh?" We told her that Josh is her first cousin and that it was a shame that she didn't even know who he was. So it was extra special to see Josh and introduce him to his "little" cousins.


The following day, Friday, we rested and on Saturday morning we drove over to Chidester, Arkansas (population 369) to a festival put on by the local churches as a ministry to the community. It was a little chilly but there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it soon warmed up. The atmosphere was that of 60 years ago with unlocked doors, trust, and small-town friendliness. The face-painting booth was a popular spot for my kids and before long they had taken over the activities there. When I caught up with them, they had all been painted, (Grace too), Hope had a paint brush in her hands and Landis was designing new ideas for the girls that were supposed to be running the booth, to try.

My main job for the day was to feed Grace and man the CD table, but I did get to tour the tiny school that 11 of the children of Chidester attended. One of the mom/teachers, Tonya, was especially friendly and went out of her way to visit with me, show me the school, and even take Faith to the bathroom for me. Tonya told me that the local public school closed a couple of years ago so instead of transporting their children to the next town, the community decided to open up their own community school. The parents volunteer teach and use mainly Christian curriculum. It's basically a home-school co-op and it seems to be working well for them.


All of the food offered at the festival was free of charge and there was no lack in the variety, quantity and quality. Those church ladies know how to set the table and we enjoyed things like baked potatoes with all the fixings, nachos, hot dogs, BBQ chicken and ribs (with homemade BBQ sauce) and catfish! Not to mention the hot chocolate and coffee in the cool morning hours and all the cold bottles of water you could drink in the afternoon.

Of course the stage was in the main area and gospel music was provided by the local groups and bands with Bobby being the main musical attraction. A band of 3 young guys from Magnolia played after Bobby and I got a chance to talk to the lead vocalist just before they sang. I found out he and one of the other guys were newlyweds and the third guy was still single. They were strongly considering moving to Nashville the first part of next year to pursue a recording contract. I asked him if he knew where he and his bride would be attending church in Nashville. Since he had no leads on churches yet I told him all about Cornerstone, how to get there, the webcast, Pastor Davis' testimony in a nutshell, etc. He seemed grateful for the information and encouraged in the pursuit of his musical dream.


Other things our children got to participate in that day was a quail race, Bible quiz, bounce house, a story time, and a scavenger hunt. When it was time to leave, the kids were a bit reluctant but the last thing Landis and Hope participated in earned them each a goldfish. I wish I could have snapped a picture of Landis' face as he ran toward the van with that goldfish. He came running toward me holding that fish in a bag of water out in front of himself screaming, "look what I got!" With painted faces, messy hair, dirty clothes, helium-filled balloons, live goldfish and candy, they rested in the van as we drove on toward our next destination which was Meridian, Mississippi.



So often I hear my children complain about traveling, about missing things at our own church and not being in their own homes, so shortly after leaving Chidester I said to them, "I just HATE traveling and going to these different places every weekend, don't you?" Landis quickly yelled, "No WAY! I LOVE it!" I loved hearing that.

We made it to Meridian at a decent hour. Well...at least enough time to get to bed and get a good night's rest. We found Anchor Christian Life Center the next morning and met Pastor Richie Ables, his beautiful wife, Dena and their son Brady. He had promoted this particular Sunday as a family day with a homecoming feel, challenging his congregation to invite friends. They even had a specific number of people they were hoping to have in attendance and he went so far as to tell his people that if they reached that number, he'd shave his beard. The room was almost full and we had a great service in spite of the fact that the attendance goal wasn't quite reached and the beard was allowed to stay. A delicious potluck after the service and warm greetings sent us homeward where we were able to arrive in good time and sleep in our own beds. However, only 2 days at home and we'd be off again.