Christmas Concerts
Part 1: Ohio and Michigan

Bobby said he wanted to do Christmas concerts this year. The funny part of that is we had planned a year ago to set aside money for this December, and we did, but it was spent on that beast of a motor home sitting in our driveway. We made a decision to just take December off for this year since it was hard to book dates in December anyway and taking the month off would be good for us. However, because of the the motor home expenses Bobby changed his mind and booked dates by advertising Christmas concerts with the participation of the entire family. It went over pretty well and by mid November, he had 14 Christmas concerts booked! I thought it was ironic that last year I made plans for this year to work 11 months and take the last one off. Instead, I took 11 months off and am working the last month!

We took the songs from our Christmas CD and made out a program and assigned scripture for the kids to memorize to introduce a few of the songs and threw in something new...a skit! We sat around the kitchen table as a family and timed the whole thing, going over it a few times and we all agreed that by the time we did the last concert on December 18th, we'd finally be getting the hang of it.

It's gone well. We started the Sunday after Thanksgiving in Adger, Alabama and drove on to Carthage, Mississippi for the Sunday evening service. I had to get past myself in the first few concerts. Self-consciousness and all. The following weekend Bobby had a private Christmas party booked on Friday night, nothing on Saturday, a cowboy church on Sunday morning where they only wanted us to do 3 or 4 songs, and a family concert Sunday evening. The Sunday evening booking canceled and so Bobby decided to rent a car and just take Landis. I really wasn't disappointed in staying home with all the girls and Justis. We had a nice time at home even though it wasn't nearly as restful as my weekends with just Grace and Justis. I had a lot more schooling to do plus I had to keep track of Landis getting his work done out there on the road. Not to mention all the work that children are at home. Don't get me wrong, it's good work. I'd much rather have them here and causing me work than for them to not be around. But it is funny how when Bobby and 1 child are gone I tend to think there's no need for me to cook dinner and that I'll be having a mini vacation. Hello! I still have four children I'm responsible for! When Bobby and the 3 children leave for a trip, the house usually needs a lot of picking up but by the time they get home on Monday, I've had time to pick everything up, catch up on all laundry, and clean a closet or sew or bake something. Not so with most of the children home, but still, I was very glad to be at home.

It wasn't until Monday, the 5th, as we were awaiting the arrival of Bobby and Landis from Texas that I realized that we'd be leaving that coming Friday and would be gone nearly 2 weeks. I had to let that sink in a little as I'm not used to being gone that long lately.

On Tuesday, we had no home school as we were gone all day long doing Christmas concerts. One at 11:00 at Crossroads Baptist Church in Greenbrier and Tuesday evening at Life Assembly in Mount Juliet, where my sister, Mary, joined us, contributing her humor and clever writing. There were meals provided at both places so we ended leaving the house at 9:00 that morning, coming home at 3:00 to make a couple of wardrobe changes including changing Grace's diaper and leaving again at 3:30 to be gone until 10:00! Long day.

We headed out Friday morning, the 9th, about 1 hour after the planned departure time. However, my husband, who chides me about "always" having to wait on me was just as busy as me with his running around and getting that one last item or making sure something was tightened or turned off...something he doesn't have to worry about if I stay home. We drove to Columbus, Ohio and made it in time for the 5:30 Kickback at the Drury. Bobby had reserved a two-room suite at my favorite hotel chain for the second time in two weeks. I teased him that he's trying to romance me back to being on the road. On Saturday morning we drove the remainder of the trip to Cleveland and checked into the Hilton Garden where we had adjoining rooms. We sang that evening at Willoughby Baptist Church. Bobby and the kids had just been there in August but he was successful in booking a Christmas concert.

The kids can't get around doing school on the road.

Glenda was such a blessing. She booked the concert, arranged for the great hotel rooms and brought Chik-fil-A nuggets, slaw, waffle fries and brownies for us for dinner in the church fellowship hall! Mmmmm. Our concert had improved much since the previous Tuesday and the folks seemed to enjoy it.

We didn't get much sleep because of Justis waking up at 4:20 Sunday morning. Was I ever thankful for having two rooms as I closed the door to the girls' room so Grace wouldn't be awakened. I was up with Justis for an hour and then dozed off and on until my alarm went off at 6:00. We were able to get everyone up and ready by 7:00 in order to enjoy a long and leisure breakfast bar in the hotel restaurant. From Cleveland we drove east about 90 minutes to a little Methodist church near Jefferson, Ohio. The pastor there was older but very young at heart with a desire to minister to the children. They were advertising "Breakfast With Santa" and provided breakfast as well as clay gingerbread men for the children to paint. And although he didn't preach Sunday morning, he still had a mini sermon for the children at the front of the sanctuary before we sang.




Again, the Christmas concert improved but I started hearing regular reports of the short blonde to my left. Faith was beginning to steal the entire show with her lip syncing of every song, yawns, leg-crossings, animated faces and various and peculiar facial expressions she would use in response to mine or Bobby's singing.

We enjoyed a delicious meal with our friend, Connie Smith in her home as she graciously received us and allowed us to just watch the football game and rest. She outdid herself with the rigatoni, garlic bread, salad and pumpkin roll. What a nice autumn comfort meal.

The Sunday evening concert was another visit to Pastor Bob Terasiak's church, Family Fellowship Church in Conneaut. You can actually see Lake Erie from the church - I love it. I enjoy going to Conneaut because of it's unique personality and beauty. We love being able to befriend some folks over the years and Pastor Bob and Sister Marianna are two people we look forward to seeing.

Again the concert went even better than the last one and again, I heard a few reports of our drama queen but a surprise was after Pastor Bob introduced Justis, who was sitting next to Grace in his stroller, I had to ask our friend Connie to take Justis and change his diaper because I could tell by his face that he had just pooped. I knew there was no way that poop would all stay in his diaper if too much time elapsed. So I had to tell Connie from the stage right there in front of God and everybody that Justis had serious troubles in his diaper and would she please take him out to change?

The folks at Family Fellowship brought in some great snacks for after church and we filled up before driving two hours to Milan to our not-so-favorite hotel chain, Super 8! The nice thing about this place was it was yet another two-room suite with no less than three double beds! It was very basic yet clean. The kids did see a couple of lady bugs though. We got to sleep in a little bit, enjoy a more simple breakfast, and then hit the Ohio Turnpike, headed west toward my Dad's home in Burr Oak, Michigan.