New York, New Territory

July 30 – August 3, 2010

We left late, Thursday night, driving north to New York, a new state for us. On the way up Bobby informed me that he told brother-in-law, Timothy that we'd probably swing by my dad's house in Michigan on our way back to Tennessee from New York in order to see Tim and Kristy one more time and say goodbye. At first I thought he was a little crazy because it seemed so out of the way and we had said some pretty thorough goodbyes to the Halls a week earlier. But then I decided that was a pretty thoughtful thing for Bobby to think of and do.

We found the town of Friendship easily enough and met Pastor Duane Broadwell at the edge of town and he led us to our family suite where we would stay for the following two nights. When Bobby scheduled the date and asked about lodging, Pastor Broadwell told him that his church owns a single-wide trailer which is stocked with linens, dishes and a few toiletries. It was definitely different as we were accustomed to checking into a hotel room. The trailer was a '68 model with a long weather-worn deck connecting two exterior doors. It was tidy on the inside and stocked with dishes, plenty of groceries for us for the weekend, bedding and, yes, a TV.

After unloading and then resting a while, we got ready and drove to the little town of Almond where we ministered in Almond Union of Churches, another first for us. It was such a pleasant evening. I sat there on that front pew and felt a slight evening breeze taking me back to July 3^rd last year in North Dakota as we sang in a little church near Hazen where the breeze was so comfortable and the sky so clear as the sun set. (deep breath) Intoxicating.

There was food and fellowship after the service and I got some advice from a couple of the ladies about visiting Niagara Falls, which was something we thought we might have time to do on Sunday evening since we weren't singing.

I discovered Faith had swimmer's ear a couple of days before we left home and I was treating it with colloidal silver. But by the time we headed north she seemed to be doing better. When I put the children to bed Friday night in the trailer I thought, “yep, we got this thing licked!”

Saturday morning we were supposed to meet Pastor Broadwell and his wife at the church and then go to the starting place for those participating in the parade. Parade? Yes, this particular weekend was the Friendship Freedom Fair.

Pastor Broadwell didn't know how much he was asking of Bobby to ride on a float and lip sync his songs but we all joined in with him and I was proud of Bobby for being so cooperative.

We made it through the parade just fine and then found a cafe nearby to get a quick lunch. However, we didn't get our food in time and Bobby had to leave before his order was brought out because he was scheduled to sing on the front porch of the church at 1:00. I hurried the kids because I knew he wanted them to sing too and we brought Bobby's lunch with us.

We had the rest of the afternoon and evening off and we spent it relaxing at the trailer.

But wouldn't you know at bedtime, Landis began complaining of an asthma attack, Hope said her ear was beginning to hurt and Faith cried that her other ear was beginning to bother her! The scary thing was we forgot to bring Landis' inhaler. I had sent it to Kids Camp a couple of weeks prior but forgot to pick it up again from the church after camp. Now here we were away from home without it. Not the first time we've been in this situation. However, I did have a capsule with me in my medicine bag that works great for opening up the bronchials. I just wish Landis wouldn't refuse to swallow pills! I told him he HAD to in order to breathe but he still refused and I thought he went to bed. A little while later I found out he had sneaked into the kitchen, opened the capsule and poured the contents into a tablespoon of peanut butter. Whatever!

Landis woke me 3 times in the night because of the attack he was suffering with. The first time he needed to take another pill and his breathing was pretty labored. The next two times he woke me indirectly as I heard him vomiting in the bathroom. The third time he woke me it was 30 minutes before my alarm was to go off so I just stayed up. To give you the full story of how the night went, what was supposed to be 8 hours of sleep tuned into 6 hours of frequently interrupted sleep as Grace refused to settle down very quickly and Hope complained about her kicking. And Faith awoke crying 3 times and couldn't give me a reason why. My guess is that her ear was bothering her.

When I rose at 5:30 the fire whistle in Friendship was going off. The weather did not seem threatening although it was overcast, so I decided to get on the Internet and check www.weather.com to make sure there were no warnings of any kind. I mean, we WERE in a trailer, after all! There were weather threats so I checked my email quickly and saw I had a note from a dear friend in Michigan. She had sent a letter of encouragement the evening before and wow, was it encouraging! It was a timely note that God knew I needed to read that particular morning. I replied to it quickly and rose from the table to pace the floor and make some declarations. Sometimes you have to begin to remind yourself of who you are in Christ, Who's blood you've been washed in, Who bought you with His life, Who bore the stripes on His back for you, Who clothed you with His righteousness, Who has seated you in heavenly places, Who put the Devil under YOUR feet and Who intercedes in prayer for you! Yep, sometimes you just have to remember. So I paced, prayed and declared and I got fired up. I was sleep deprived and ticked off. Not ticked off at the kids but ticked off at the Devil for messing with us. After I reminded myself of who I was and what I had, I then reminded Satan of the fact that he's defeated and doomed and then I got ready to go to church.

Landis considered whether or not he could go to church and I considerately told him that we weren't gonna lay down to sickness. I told him that he WOULD go. He didn't have to eat breakfast, smile or even sing if just couldn't physically do it, but he would get dressed and be present.

The girls had a little pain in their ears but they were fine otherwise. I, on the other hand, was pretty fired up and asked Bobby if I may take some liberties when I gave a testimony. He didn't even ask what I was thinking of saying. He just gave permission.

The old church building where Friendship Bible Baptist Church meets is more than antique and it's beautiful with it's high tongue and groove ceiling and beautiful details in the carvings of the woodwork. The pews matched the floor in color and our voices reverberated in the room from all the glossy hard surfaces.

Landis sat very still, spoke a little and by the time the service began he was feeling much better. He sang with his sisters and even sang his solo and played his guitar. I want to spread the news that we as Christians should not lay down to sickness if we can help it and if we're physically able at all, to make ourselves go. I've heard people say, “I wish I COULD kick the Devil in the teeth.” I reply with, “Really? Well, you CAN!!! Get your sick little body out of bed on Sunday morning, go to church and make yourself praise the LORD!

By the time church was over Landis was fine.

Oh yeah, what was my testimony? I just told the folks in a nutshell about our night with sickness and lack of sleep and then proceeded to talk about how we as Christians in America are so fat, lethargic and complacent and we'd better wake up and realize that we'd better get into the Word and let the Word get into us. Instead, we've gotten into the worLd and allowed the worLd to get into us.

I really felt like the Lord wanted me to share the things I shared but before the service started, a brother began telling me about his physical ailments and then about the physical problems with his college-age son. His son's health has deteriorated so much that he had to quit college and move back home. I heard two more stories of sickness before church and word spread around the room about Landis' puny condition that morning. You might imagine that I began to doubt and was tempted to just give my usual testimony about our Grace and God's grace, kind of like, “church as usual.”

But I went ahead and shared what was on my heart and afterward the same man that shared his problems with me before church, expressed his appreciation for what was shared and admitted there were things about our healing that he'd never considered before. Thank you, Jesus!!!

There was a cookout in the yard outside the building immediately after church and then we said our goodbyes and headed back to the trailer to change clothes and pack up.

We had no concert that evening so we decided to drive 2 hours north to show the children Niagara Falls. It was a beautiful evening and we had a great time.

Our plan was to head west and drive as far as we could that night so we wouldn't have as far to go on Monday but our wait for our dinner at Denny's was nearly an hour and traffic was terrible leaving NF so we slept just on the west side of Buffalo. Grace woke us the following morning around 5:30 and for a change I was thankful since we had so far to go and had told family that we'd join them for dinner.

We enjoyed a great evening with my dad's brother, Moe and Aunt Ruth, Dad, and of course Timothy and Kristy and the boys. Moe grilled pork chops and Ruth put on a wonderful homemade spread of cheesy potatoes, salad with homemade dressing and corn.

Dad with his 8th grandson, Ethan Malachi Hall.

The St. Joe River runs right behind Moe and Ruth's house. Where there's water, there's Landis with a fishing pole.

The special treat was my brother, Joel bringing his new “acquaintance,” Candace. What a sweet gal! I really enjoyed meeting her and getting to visit with her a little while the others played some cornhole.

The real and final goodbyes (until next summer) to Tim and Kristy the next morning and we were on our way home...after we had some ice cream at the Nottawa ice cream store. Bobby HAS to stop there every time we're in Michigan.