January 31 - February 5, 2010

It began snowing on Friday, January 29, and continued though most of Saturday and it caused our pastor to cancel church services for the entire weekend. We were so disappointed as we had planned to go to our own church Saturday night; a rarity for us.

We were to sing in Erin and McKenzie, Tennessee on Sunday and services were canceled there also. So we sat at home and waited out the snowstorm. The kids enjoyed every minute of the snow. Even Grace, who we had threatened to throw her out in it, (we did lay her in it for a couple of minutes) was very angry when we actually brought her back inside. But everything was alright again when she got her hot chocolate.

We did get to celebrate Faith's fourth birthday at home. She pulled out her very best clothes and jewelry for the occasion and we enjoyed cake and ice cream in her honor.

Things were sort of upside down or backward it seemed because we were home all weekend and we left home on Monday for a 3 week trip. Usually we're gone on the weekends and coming home on Monday. But that's what we did, drove to Fort Worth on Monday and spent the night as we sang at a Senior's Bible study at North Richland Hills Baptist Church in North Richland Hills, Texas on Tuesday morning. Brother George Dixon and his sweet wife, Millie, invited us back after we had such a good time together the last time which was in September of last year.

After sharing a catered lunch with the folks at North Richland Hills Baptist Church, we drove up to Wichita Falls and found a hotel room for Tuesday night.

The following morning we packed up and took our time with a bit of shopping and some lunch and then moved into another hotel. I now have a new favorite hotel. If you've followed us very long in this blog, you know that Grace's favorite hotel to stay in is the HI Express and mine has been the Hampton. Tough call between the two but usually Hampton is a small notch above the HI Express. But my new favorite is Hawthorn Suites. First of all every room is a suite. It's not like you can be booked in a double and have the option to upgrade (which is something we've been doing more frequently – we just pay the difference out of pocket), every room at the Hawthorn is a suite. And second, there's an elegance and newness that compares with HI Express and Hampton. Third, and possibly most important, they have a large hot breakfast, also comparable to the previously mentioned hotels, but it's even better. At least the one and only Hawthorn we've stayed in had a better breakfast than other hotels. The other two hotels have hot eggs but they don't have dirty rice and taco seasoned ground beef to go with it! Plenty of hot sauce to pour over it and sausage on the side. Now we're talking BREAKFAST! It made this humble traveler very happy. It's the little things. Wednesday evening we found Overcoming Word Praise Center with Pastor Mark Graham. This is a very young congregation with an exciting story of how God is using this young preacher to touch a city. One of the things they do that's different from anything I've ever seen is on Wednesday evenings they forgo the worship with music and instead, have a declaration service. Pastor Mark's sister was telling me this before church and she asked me, “Do you know what that is?” I told her that I guessed it was declaring the Word of God over a person or situation. She confirmed that it was and I thought, “What a great idea! To have a declaration service and declare the Word of the Lord.” However they didn't have a declaration service that night but we had a fantastic time worshiping with the church at Overcoming Word.

Pastors Mark and Linda have 5 beautiful kids. Biologically they have 2 teenagers, and they have adopted Lexie, 6 years old and 2 brothers, Chris and Bubbie who are a little younger yet. The Graham's are living in and giving out the love of Jesus with their every day lives.

Thursday morning we continued west across Texas toward New Mexico, stopping in historic Santa Rosa, New Mexico at the Travelodge for the night. We got settled in our room and then enjoyed dining at the famous Route 66 Cafe. The original Route 66 highway ran right in front of the diner and it's now a novelty for those who stop by and eat there.

The following morning we drove northeast to Farmington, New Mexico

where we had

a great service at La

Plata Valley Baptist Church. Pastor Craig Seigel and his lovely wife, Connie work so hard not only with the pastoring but with cleaning and maintenance of the building and then owning and operating a muffler shop in Farmington. If that weren't enough, Brother Craig is still going to school simply to further

his knowledge. I'd say he has his hands full. The funny thing is it's usually those people who are working the hardest and doing the most that get the most done. Brother and sister Seigel's daughter, Lisa was at the concert Friday night to help with children if she was needed. She and Faith were fast friends and it was a pleasure for all of us to know her.

About 5 minutes into the concert, a family walked in and sat down. I was immediately attracted to them as there were 6 children and there was something about them that told me I'd like them so I approached them afterward. They introduced themselves as The Logan Tribe and indeed with Dad, Jason Logan and 6 of his 9 children (10^th on the way) they did seem to represent a tribe. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting 13 year old Sarah, Colton, Justice, Wyatt, Bailey Jo and Garrett that night. Sarah was so grown and a joy to speak with that I only hope I have the joy of meeting the mother who's raised her. Each of the children were a delight and I wasn't the least bit surprised to hear they were home-birthed and home-schooled. You can almost always tell.

The church had booked us at the Comfort Inn in Farmington and we paid the extra for an upgrade to a suite which provides us more square footage as well as a little more sleeping room. So after a good night's rest it was off for a long drive from the northwest corner of New Mexico to the southeast corner of the state. We landed in Hobbs on Saturday night and this is where I'll end this post as it's already long enough and I'm nearing my destination. Home is nearby and that means my writing time is over until the next trip. I've got some great news in the next post so I'll save that for a fresh new post.