As you well know I'm way behind in my postings and the post written just prior to this one was written on December 18th, the events written about occurring in early November. December 20th was my last travel day as we were taking off for Christmas as a family and then I was planning to stay at home for several weeks, taking maternity leave and keeping Grace with me. My plans were to sew in January and the first half of February, have a baby at the end of February, and then do some catching up on my blog while re-cooperating after the baby. Although I did pretty good (good compared to how I behaved after previous births) about sitting still and resting, I found I was very busy whether it was because of visitors, feeding/changing baby Justis, or just being "mom" from my recliner. Obviously I did no blogging until now...the first week of May. I never would have imagined I'd wait this long. So, rather than try to remember details of trips, people and experiences from 5 months ago, I will summarize and consider myself caught up!
Our November tour to North and South Carolina was a busy one...and a tough one. We left on Saturday, November 6, and sang Sunday morning in Easley, South Carolina and Lincolnton, North Carolina, both return visits. This was our third visit to Lincolnton and this time, Pastor Joey Williams greeted us from the doors of his new facility...a former sock factory. By the way, no one got my joke using the word, "darn." Guess I'm getting old. Talk about space. This new building is and will be GREAT for this growing and excited church, Daystar Family Worship Center.
I mentioned the tour was a tough one. It was tough concerning our marriage. I'm sure we grew through the tough time, or rather, because of it, but it was probably the worst time on the road that we've had yet, at least it was for me. It was also the first tour we'd done with me being pregnant. What does that tell ya? It got stressful enough that when we landed in Clinton, North Carolina on Wednesday afternoon, our friend, Pastor Rodney Hall sensed the tension immediately when he met us in our hotel lobby. I thought I was hiding everything pretty good but he told Bobby later that evening, after asking him if he could get personal with him, that he said he could have cut the tension with a knife. Yikes!
We ministered (I hope) at a cowboy church in Greensboro, North Carolina the next night, Dunn, on Saturday night (return visit to Pastor Doug Howard's church), and Sumter on Sunday morning. We finished up this Carolina tour at Christian Fellowship Assembly of God in Hartsville, South Carolina where we met some of the most precious saints yet. Sister Gloria Joye Bowman and her husband pastor this congregation and we had a great time at their homecoming, Sunday afternoon, November 14. They were finishing up their fellowship meal when we arrived and when I got ready to feed Grace, Sister Joye insisted that I let her do the feeding. She spoke a little Spanish to Grace and immediately became her friend. Sister Joye and Grace took to each other pretty quickly and that's always comforting to me.
Because it was an afternoon service we were able to drive a while, stopping in Asheville for the night and then coming home mid-afternoon on Monday. My dad and his friend, Joann Riley were waiting for us when we walked into the house. They'd been staying at Kris and Mary's since Saturday and were going to be visiting for a week. They came to see us Monday evening because that was the only time we were going to get to spend with them as we were leaving for Oklahoma the next morning. We did a lot of laughing after a good dinner together, playing several rounds of Farkle.
Only that one night at home and we were leaving again the next morning. This time westward to Moore, Oklahoma where we sang for the Wednesday night service at Highland Baptist Church. Dave Evans is the pastor of this young and energetic body. We had a great night celebrating Jesus.
The following night we made our fourth visit to Chisholm Trail Cowboy Church in Enid, Oklahoma. We love Pastor Dan O'Daniel and appreciate his graciousness to us and his devotion to Jesus Christ.
We made our way down to Forth Worth. Colleyville, to be exact, to stay with Bobby's younger sister, Anita. This time we were privileged to meet her friend, David, who joined us for dinner at Texan Station at the Gaylord Texan and then he treated us to ICE! featuring Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang. It was "cool!"
Our service on Sunday morning was at probably one of the most raw and rustic places we've ever been. We left Fort Worth early and drove 72 miles north to Prairie Point, Texas where our GPS took us to a grassy/muddy lot out in the boonies. We pulled our van and trailer in to the middle of the field and parked next to the 40x30 metal building and waited for someone to show up. Now, I don't want to be misunderstood. We LOVED the folks! And we appreciate rustic and raw. But when you write a blog and you want to be honest so I was a little miserable with my open-toed shoes on that dirt floor. That was my fault. I should have worn appropriate clothing to cowboy church...like cowboy boots. Hope got poison ivy and the floor in the van was covered with little sticker balls from the sweet gum trees so we kept getting poked the rest of the afternoon until we had them all picked out of the carpet.
They had a turkey shoot after church, as well as horse riding and other fun. Even Grace got to shoot the gun, a first for her. The kids had a blast and weren't ready to leave but we had to move north to Calera, Oklahoma for the evening service.
We arrived early and had time to just sit so Bobby and I took advantage of the quiet time and were able to talk and work through some of the issues that had been a problem a couple of weeks earlier on the Carolina trip.
For the past several years we've been spending the week of Thanksgiving in Texarkana at Bobby's parent's house. We did that again this year and celebrated Thanksgiving with family that we rarely get to see. Brother and sister, Josh and Merranda, our nephew and niece, and Josh's son, Isaac were able to join us.
We sang in Greenville, Texas the Sunday morning after Thanksgiving and then headed home. We hadn't reached Texarkana yet when Hope announced to the rest of us that she had just led Faith in a prayer asking Jesus to come into her heart! There in the back of the van, the two had been sitting quietly talking for several minutes while the rest of us were talking in the front! As the kids were going to sleep later that night somewhere between Memphis and home, I sat in my seat thanking God that all of the children have given their heart to Him.
