November 23-29

The week of Thanksgiving we spent time with the Bowen Family in Arkansas. They decided to have a family reunion on Thanksgiving day. Now, a reunion to me is descendants of the great, or even, great-great grandparent consisting of hundreds of aunts, uncles and first and second cousins from several states who haven't seen each other in many years, or perhaps never. However, this “reunion” was more what I would call a family “get together” and only included the family of Loy and Myrtle (Smith) Bowen who had 4 children, 3 sons and 1 daughter. Bobby's dad, Bob, is the only remaining son and his aunt, Peggy, is looking (and acting) absolutely fabulous at 76 years of age. A special treat was seeing Bobby's cousin, Ricky Bowen, who drove all the way from Muncie, Indiana. I wish we could have seen Ricky's sister, Regina, her husband, Elwyn and their sons, Dustin and Dylan from Temple, Texas. I haven't seen them in at least 15 years, when Bobby and I were newlyweds. Dustin and Dylan are grown now and serving the church, following the footsteps of their parents. As a matter of fact, Dylan won first place in Short Sermon at the General Council of the Assemblies of God in Orlando last summer. It's only 5 minutes long so check it out.

For such a young guy he's very impressive with his passion, delivery and his ability to captivate an audience. Could it be that he intimately KNOWS the One he preaches about? I do believe he does.

Of course there was a bounty of food available at the “get together” and plenty of laughter and hugs. Following the late lunch in the fellowship hall (we met at a church), we migrated to the sanctuary

where Bobby led us in an all-inclusive concert. We had trios, duets and solos as Bobby played rhythm, his dad on bass, nephew, Aaron on drums, and cousin Jimmy on piano. We had a good time reminiscing, encouraging each other and of course, praising the Lord.

We had to rise very early Sunday morning to leave Texarkana to make it to Searcy, Arkansas for the morning service. Of course we put shoes on the kids and led or carried them to the van where they could continue sleeping. This was another return visit and we were glad to see Pastor Jim Cantrell and his family again. A big blessing this time was meeting Pastor Cantrell's parents. In February of 2009 I wrote about his dad having heart surgery and not doing very well. But God raised him up and restored his health. Pastor Cantrell's brother was also there again and this time let Grace know how much she meant to him. He seemed very emotional as he simply spent some time sitting with Grace after the service holding her hand and talking to her, even helping her out to the van.

Driving back toward the west, we stopped in Vilonia for a lunch at Annie's on US 64. I asked them if they had a website because I figured I'd want to mention them in my blog, but they didn't. So...if you're ever in Vilonia, Arkansas, a half hour north of Little Rock, stop in at Annie's and enjoy some good viddles and a free ice cream cone after your meal.

We found a room for ourselves in Conway at the Microtel. When we have to buy our own room, we usually try to stay at Microtel because they're usually new, clean, cheap and they have a window seat which Landis uses as his bed. After settling there and making a couple of quick wardrobe changes, we drove to Houston Assembly of God near Houston, Arkansas, yet another return visit. Pastor Michael McDaniel was difficult for me to read the first time I met him but I soon liked him and appreciated he and his wife very much. We had served there exactly one year earlier, the weekend after Thanksgiving, and just like last year, we met again in their multi-purpose room with the adjacent kitchen. They had arranged tables and chairs because we would be eating immediately following the service and we had a good group of people show up in spite of the cold rain outside. Bobby's long-time friend, Steve Secrease came to say hello just as he did last year also.

There was one small puzzle that to this day we haven't figured out. I'm only writing about it because I thought it might get a laugh. I'm not angry about it or fussing at anyone. Even though people were seated at tables for the concert, everyone either sat on the side of the table that faced Bobby or they turned their chairs around...except for one dear old saint. Now, I don't have any idea if she was a “crotchety old saint,” as I've heard my pastor tag them, or if she was confused or simply having one bad day, but one lovely lady decided to sit with her back to Bobby and keep a negative countenance on her lovely face. She finally turned around and looked toward the stage when she heard the children singing, but she promptly turned around again when Bobby continued his solos. It struck us as odd, but again, we don't know what her reasons were.

We had some “delicious” fellowship after the service (if you know what I mean) and headed back to Conway to sleep. However, after traveling 5 miles on a winding, wet road in the dark, we got a call from the pastor saying that he found a purse setting on one of the tables and thought it might be mine. (Ahem!) It was. If you were to assume that Bobby was not too happy about having to go back, you'd be right. The only thing I can say in defense is that it was only my church purse, meaning, it doesn't have anything valuable in it. Just stuff for the kids to play with during our concerts. Why do I always have to be the one to lock myself out of the car? Or lose my purse? Or misplace my keys? Why does HE always have to be so perfect? Does anyone feel my pain? :)

November 21 and 22, 2009

We made our second trip to Neosho, Missouri but this time, instead of driving across southern Missouri on US 60, we stayed on the Interstate and drove up through St. Louis. It was a few more miles but easier driving and took about the same amount of time.

As soon as we arrived at our hotel, I began bathing children just as quickly as I could and then getting them in bed. We made very good time and I was able to get in bed at a decent time, myself, getting a great night's sleep.

We easily found our friends at Monark Baptist Church. They were right where we left them 1 year ago. (wink) We always enjoy the Sunday School classes there and then had a good service following. Pastor Melvin is a humble and unassuming man with a small but caring congregation that is passionate about feeding and serving those in their community that are struggling financially.

They shared a light lunch with us and then we headed down to Bentonville, Arkansas where we made yet another repeat visit to Calvary Temple Church. Bobby's long-time friend, Chad Jones, is a real blessing to us as he helped us with this booking and introduced us to his great church.

We had another good service, although there weren't quite as many in attendance as a year ago, and then, as usual, had a fun time of fellowship with Chad and his family. Chad's mother, sister and niece were down from Minnesota to visit Chad for an early Thanksgiving, so we were introduced as we sat down to eat together at Denny's. But the most fun was outside afterward. Check out this video of Grace cruising Denny's parking lot.

It's difficult to see because of the lack of light but Bobby pushed Grace away from him and after she'd go so many yards, the wheelchair would do a slow 360 and then roll right back to him. She loved it and so did the kids.

I'm really trying to change my ways and go to bed earlier and get up earlier. So after getting my 8 hours, I rose early and got dressed to go to the fitness room. However, Grace awoke too. I knew that if I left her in the bed, Bobby would have to sleep with one eye open in order to make sure she didn't wiggle off the bed so after giving it some thought, I decided there was no reason I couldn't lift Grace into her chair while still in her pajamas and take her with me. She enjoyed getting to go with me so much that she didn't complain a bit when I put the TV on Kenneth Copeland while I walked on the treadmill. She listened intently to the teaching while eyeballing the swimming pool in the next room. Then we had breakfast together. Grace and I slowly savored our rare quiet time together over a delicious breakfast. What was even more rare was the quietness in the hotel room while the rest of the family went to breakfast later on.

A drive south through the western edge of the Ozarks to Texarkana and that's where we planted ourselves for Thanksgiving week...with family.

November 9-16, 2009

It was so beautiful in El Paso that I hated to leave and go back to the cold, rainy east but we did. We really wanted to take the children just over the border into Mexico but we were advised that it was not safe these days and besides, we needed passports. So we did the next best thing. We drove east on I-10 until we got to Fabens, Texas. We chose to exit here because the Interstate almost touches the Mexican border here on our atlas. We drove south through the small town and in a matter of a couple of minutes we found ourselves on a narrow dirt road between cotton fields and soon saw a fence in the distance ending our road ahead of us. We slowly drove until we couldn't go any further, got out and approached the fence. My first remark was, “There really IS a fence.” A tall, dense, iron fence went as far to the left and to the right as we could see. Peeking through the rust-colored iron screen we could see where the Rio Grande was several yards ahead of us,

although we couldn't actually see the river itself. We took a few pictures in front of the fence but after hearing gunshots in the distance on both sides of us, we decided it was time to get back in the van and move on down the road.

As Sam Goodman of the Happy Goodman's used to say, “Once you get out of Texas, you're almost there.” We drove through Texas all day long and into the night. The kids and I went to sleep but at 3:00, Bobby stopped just inside the Louisiana border where I got some coffee and got behind the wheel. I drove through Louisiana and Mississippi and stopped just shy of the Alabama line.

We drove right into Tropical Storm Ida somewhere in Alabama. By the time the sun rose on Tuesday, it looked like this.

A far cry from yesterday.

I was so glad when Bobby, who got behind the wheel in Alabama, stopped the van in Bremen, Georgia and by 2:00 Tuesday afternoon, although we were all dirty and damp from getting rained on, we were settled in a clean, dry hotel room. We finally got cleaned up, schooling done and plenty of rest.

We wished we could have driven a little farther on Tuesday in order to be closer to Rockingham, North Carolina but we made it to our destination in 7 or 8 hours and in plenty of time to sing at Highland Acres Church of God on Wednesday night.

The rain continued but let up a little for load-in and load-out again. But it started up again as we were driving away from the church. We slept soundly and drove the next day to Lincolnton to sing at Daystar Family Worship Center. We sang at Daystar back in May when we were having motor home troubles. We had such a memorable evening with this family of believers. Pastor Joey's wife, Tracy, and her sister-in-law, Paula made such an impression on my life that night after the service, that I believe these new friends will probably be women that I will keep in touch with the rest of my life.

Again, the Lord was present in our assembly and He was allowed to minister. I believe there were a couple of men in the service that night that broke through some spiritual walls that have holding them back from receiving what God has for them. I love the photo of Pastor Joey praying for a hurting brother but I want you to know that I was NOT snapping pictures during the altar service...my son was taking pictures with my phone and I didn't know it. Although I scolded him and told him not to be taking pictures of people during alter calls, I was glad to have this picture.

Friday was a day off, however, we did do a taping for a local Christian television show in Dillon, South Carolina. An old friend of Bobby's, Jim Owens, hosts a show that goes into 20,000 homes weekly. Bobby and Jim first met back in the early 90's when both were doing the Christian Country Music circuit. Bobby, of course, sang with Mid South and Jim sang in a duo called Rivers and Owens, also affectionately called “Liver and Onions,” by Mid South.

Bobby lip-syncd 4 songs followed by a solo interview first and the kids watched from behind the cameras. But when it was time for the children to sit in front of the cameras, everyone was ready except Faith. Considering she's not bashful about singing on stage, she's such a ham and loves to make people laugh, I am shocked when it comes to how she hangs her head or runs the other direction when someone wants to take her picture. We decided it was best to ignore her lack of posture when we were positioning ourselves. But by the end of the countdown and as the first words were being spoken she sat straighter. Jim asked Landis and Hope a couple of questions toward the end of the segment, completely ignoring Faith so as not set himself up for an awkward moment. But Faith didn't appreciate being left out so she threw in her 2 cents worth and then we thought she wasn't going to stop talking. I'm sure you can hardly wait to see this video so I'll be sure to post it later when it's ready. Sarcasm strikes again.

On Saturday evening we returned to Rockingham and sang at New Vision Free Will Baptist Church with Pastor Joel Simpson. Joel was actually the pastor at the church where we sang on February 28 in Warren, Arkansas, but he was out of town and we didn't meet him that night. Bobby caught up with him later and found out he was out of town the night we were at his church in Warren because he was in Rockingham applying for the position as lead pastor there. So Bobby asked him if we could come to his new church. We did and it was a real pleasure to meet this young pastor and his family.

We were scheduled to go back to Dillon on Sunday morning to Jim Owen's church. He pastors a church just outside of Dillon and again, this was one of those “special” congregations that knows what worship is and they have a desire to be in God's presence. We had a rich service and following a spirit-filled altar service, a leader in the church spoke to Bobby and I concerning the days ahead for our ministry. It was very encouraging and it gave us some things to ponder and pray over.

Jim and his wife, treated us to lunch and then we were on our way to Pageland, where, once again, we had the privilege of worshiping the Lord with a group of on-fire believers at Hope Family Worship Center. We're always grateful for those dates where we can receive as well as give. It's so exciting to come in to a church that's fired up about Jesus Christ and their hearts are expectant. Pastor Ricky Malloy led us in praise and worship accompanied by Pastor W.J., lead pastor, on keys. The people were very responsive through the whole service (no sleeping) and then we had a victorious altar call to end the evening. What a great day!

November 2-8, 2009

I didn't mention in the last post that the previous weekend was the first in a trip lasting nearly 3 weeks. We spent Monday and Tuesday, November 2nd and 3rd in Texarkana doing things that we really didn't have time to do at home like, having the kids portrait made. The guitar belongs to their Papaw.

On Wednesday after lunch we drove to Oklahoma to sing again at Eagle Heights Church of God with Don and Kathy Frankkum in Dewar. We had a short time of food and fellowship before the service with just the Frankkums and us and following a good service we made our way over to Oklahoma City to spend the night.

The following morning, Thursday, the 5th, we rose and after breakfast pointed our van in a northward direction toward Enid. We made a second visit to Chisolm Trail Cowboy Church with Pastor Dan O'Daniel. The last time we were there we nearly froze as the services are held in a cattle sale barn and there is no heat in the building. We had coats and jackets but the January air turned frigid and I think it got down to about 12 degrees...no kidding. The temperature was much better this time and the welcome back was appreciated. As usual, Pastor Dan had a relevant and easily applicable word from the Lord. Since the building is rented, the banners, sound and any other fixtures used for their church services are folded, rolled up, and moved out quickly like clock work when the service is over. Oh, and check out the celebratory (or whatever it is) dance that Faith enjoyed with Pastor Dan.

On Friday morning we headed back south. We had a very long day of driving ahead of us as our destination was Big Lake, Texas, which is about an hour south of Big Spring which is about an hour and a half west of Abilene. We arrived in Big Lake around 10 or 11 p.m., and saw the only hotel in town on the corner of the main intersection. There were certainly no extras, including no breakfast the next morning. But it was a good nights' rest and running water. That was all we needed. When we set out looking for breakfast the following morning we realized there really wasn't any place except the convenient store/gas station diagonally across from the hotel. We drove back and forth up and down the main road a couple of times hoping that we'd see something we'd missed the first time through. But finally when we landed in the convenient store, we found the most helpful, accommodating clerk behind the counter at the little grill. He made some special orders for us and was very gracious. While we were finishing up our breakfast, a tall man in a black cowboy hat approached our table and introduced himself as Pastor Buddy Helms from Bethel Baptist Church. He then led us to the church where we unloaded and while Bobby set up, the kids and I did school. Yes, it was Saturday but when you're in a dusty one-horse town on a Saturday with nothing else to do all day, you might as well make it a school day. There were children's tables and chairs as they have a day care in this building during the week. So it was perfect for us to hang out there all afternoon doing school and the kids had room to move too. Actually, we didn't do school all afternoon. We were hurrying to get the school work done before our friends, Mike and Irene Munoz and a couple of their children called to let us know they had arrived in town. They drove down to Midland from Lubbock the night before and spent the night at Mike's mother's home. On Saturday we planned to meet up and visit. It was so good to see them again. Bobby and I met them right after we got married. They lived in the same apartment building we did in Hermitage. We were together almost daily and sustained a good friendship for several years. They had four children when we met them and we enjoyed watching those kids grow. Right after I announced I was pregnant with our second child, Landis, Irene told me she was pregnant with her fifth child. I guess he was considered a surprise by some but Irene had been saying since I first met her that she wanted another baby. Elijah was born 3 days after Landis but when the boys were only 8 months old, the Munoz's moved back to Texas.

In June of 2006 after celebrating Bobby's parents' 50th anniversary with them in Texarkana, we were about to return to Nashville when we found out Mike and Irene's second son, Sean, had passed away at 24 years of age. We had literally just driven onto the Interstate but turned around at the first opportunity, rented a small car, taking Landis and baby Faith with us and leaving Grace and Hope with Mamaw and Papaw. We made an 8 to 9-hour drive out to Lubbock from Texarkana, hugged our friend's necks, reminisced and prayed with them before turning around and driving through the night back to Texarkana. It was a whirlwind of a trip and we were exhausted but it was worth it to see them. I wish we hadn't gone under those circumstances but I was tickled that Landis and Elijah got to meet for the first time, as far as they were concerned. In 3 hours they had become good buddies.

Mike's dad, Martin Munoz and his beautiful daughter, Sarah, joined us for the concert that night in Big Lake and after hugs, laughter and near tears, we said goodbye to Mike, Irene, Miranda and Elijah once again. And, once again, Landis and Elijah had become friends. At the beginning of the afternoon, Elijah was very reserved and stayed close to his parents. Landis whispered his frustrations in my ear but I told him to start slowly and ask Elijah a few questions about himself to break the ice. An hour later the two had finished their corndogs and chicken, sitting side by side in a booth and giggling. Irene said he hadn't opened up like that with another kid in a very long time. It made me proud of Landis for not giving up but pursuing a friendship.

We drove out into the dark dusty night across West Texas stopping in Van Horn to spend the night. We had dressed the children in pajamas before leaving Big Lake so they could sleep in the van and we could tuck them into bed once we arrived at the hotel. We found our room by midnight and the following morning we carried the children (still in their pajamas) back out to the van just before the sun rose. As a matter of fact, it was just getting daylight as we carried them outside and into the van and when they opened their eyes to have a look around, they were surprised to see the desert mountains and the palm trees. They ate the muffins and milk that we'd brought from the hotel and then changed into their church clothes at 80 miles per hour. I had to get a picture of the speed limit sign on I-10 between Van Horn and El Paso because that's not something we see everyday. About 30 minutes west of Van Horn, Bobby realized we were about to cross into Mountain time...which meant we could have slept an extra hour! Oh well. Nothing can be done about that now. Better to be early than late.

We arrived in Horizon City and found the elementary school where Family of Hope Church had their church services. Upon meeting Pastor Ron Kelly and his wife, Lori we immediately had this mutual feeling of like-mindedness. We just clicked right away and enjoyed some time of fellowship with them during the Sunday School hour. When the service started there was such an excitement in the room and when the first song kicked off, the congregation rose to their feet and began to worship. After the first couple of songs Bobby told them they could sit down if they wanted to. The service continued that way through the end and we finished with a large group around the altar in prayer. What a treat for us to meet this group of believers and worship with them.

Pastor Ron and Lori took us to lunch after church and conversation came so easy for us as we enjoyed each others' company a little longer. They even decided that they wanted us to come back for Easter Sunday. We were absolutely delighted for the invitation and are already looking forward to it.

After a very short rest in a hotel room, we drove further into Old El Paso and found First Assembly of God. We thought, by the looks of the old antique building that we had things figured out long before we met the pastor or anyone else. We figured that the evening service would be a far cry from the exciting and on-fire service we'd been privileged to be a part of that morning. But by the end of the evening we realized we were dead wrong and although the demographics were somewhat older than the morning church, they were just as much in love with Jesus as our friends in Horizon City.

There was food and fellowship offered following the service and at one point, I felt exasperated as Grace screamed in anger and the room we were all in had a lot of reverberation. I can't remember now why she was so upset but it doesn't matter. When Grace gets so upset you can't reason with her. The only thing that can be done to quiet her is to distract her with a thought away from herself. I did get her to calm down a little but after the screaming episode, I felt so alone. I'm not exaggerating when I say that her screams cleared the room a bit. People had finished eating for the most part but their conversation and fellowship was cut short because they couldn't hear each other anyway. Then a moment later a middle-aged couple approached us and smiled at Grace and I. They asked about Grace and then I asked them to speak some Spanish for Grace. She finds it very amusing to hear someone chatter in a foreign language. So he obliged us and Grace giggled at him with tears in her eyes. Then he told me he personally has seen 4 people raised from the dead. He reminded me that God wants to heal Grace and before he walked away he said he believed by the time he saw Grace again, she'd be on her feet. What a sweet and faith-filled man and wife. They were precious to me, just think how much more precious they are to God.

After a couple of late night loads of laundry, we rested and then rose with just enough time for breakfast the following morning. It was an absolutely beautiful day and I think the fine weather encouraged us as we knew we had a lot of driving ahead of us if we were to make it to Rockingham, North Carolina by Wednesday night. Onward!