August 28 - September 6, 2009

On Friday, the 28th, we drove to Arkansas and spent the night at Bob and Tena's, Bobby's parents' home. The following day we made a 3-hour drive to Durant, Oklahoma where we met some wonderful folks at Grace Baptist Church. We didn't get to meet Brother Daniel, the music pastor. Bobby had been communicating with him up to the day before the concert when he called to say that his father was very ill and he felt he needed to be near him as he believed his father was at the end of his life. So we regretted not getting to meet Brother Daniel but we were blessed to meet Pastor Anthony Williams. Pastor Anthony is one of those people that you like as soon as you meet him. He loves people and you can tell. A lot of people came out for some gospel music and we had a great evening.

The next morning we drove down to Celina, Texas to make a return visit to Trail To Heaven Cowboy Church. We first met Pastor Kevin Landis and his beautiful wife, Sharon back in February of this year. We enjoyed seeing worship leader, Ricky Coulter again but missed most of his precious family as most of them were home under the weather. It's fun to go back to a church you've already been and reunite with friends. Some of the church leaders had a meeting after church and brought lunch for themselves. Since we had a four-hour drive that afternoon they were generous enough to load us up with hot plates to take with us on the road. What a blessing!

Another return visit - two in one day! - this time to see Pastor Bill and Katrina Estep at Altus Church of God in Altus, Oklahoma. We met this precious couple in January of this year and had the best time in the service as well as visiting with them before and after the service. That night back in January, when we arrived in Altus it was windy but the temperatures balmy. But by the time church was over the temperature had dropped significantly and the wind had not died down at all. But the atmosphere in the sanctuary that night was thick with the Holy Spirit as one of the saints, Brother Austin prophesied concerning Grace. And this night in August was equally as great but the friendships as well as the temperatures were warmer. And, like January, we went to Pizza Hut after the service and talked and laughed with Bill and Katrina like we'd been friends for years instead of a few months.

I got a call the week prior to this saying that my grandmother, Mattie, or Reubmommy, as we call her, had stopped breathing for a minute or two one night and that we should expect a call announcing her passing soon. I got that call on Sunday afternoon just before we arrived in Altus. It was a call that I knew was coming and that I figured I was ready for. Yet, when you hear those words it hurts. But Reubmommy was 95 years old. She was tired and so ready to lay down and give up the ghost.

On Monday as we drove back toward the Dallas/Ft Worth area, we called airlines and travel agents and discussed our options concerning getting me or all of us to the funeral in Michigan. We were scheduled to sing at a senior's bible study at North Richland Hills Baptist Church in Fort Worth on Tuesday morning. If we had money to throw around, the easiest thing to do would have been for the whole family to get on a plane in Dallas after singing and fly to Chicago where my dad or brother would have gladly picked us up, attended the funeral on Wednesday, stayed a day or two and then flown back to Dallas in plenty of time to sing the next weekend in East Texas. I don't need to tell you that we don't have money to throw around, do I? I could have flown alone, but I hated to leave Bobby with all of the children. I checked into just Grace and I flying but I found out that Grace can't fly unless she has a particular car seat, which we don't have. So just before we met our friends, Mark and Anne Lunsford for a late lunch, we made the decision to make a crazy drive from Fort Worth, Texas to Burr Oak, Michigan in nineteen hours.

Yes, we got to see Mark and Anne Lunsford again. Well, we have seen Mark recently but we hadn't seen Anne in years and it was a delight to talk with them both again and catch up on their lives. After lunch, Anne went back to the house to wait for us while Mark took us to Hope Fellowship, Pastor John's church in Frisco, to give us a quick tour. We didn't get to see Pastor John but saw a couple of familiar faces there and met some new ones. The church building feels very urban and contemporary and we were impressed with the size of the sanctuary and the quiet, theater feel when you walk in. Then Mark led us over to their massive home where, this time, Anne gave the tour and explained how they have twice the house in Texas as they did in Florida but for the same amount of money they sold their old home for.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with the seniors at North Richland Hills Baptist Church on Tuesday morning. We shared a table with three beautiful grandmas that helped me with keeping my girls in line and spoiling them as well. To top it all off, we shared in a catered lunch and after changes of clothes, visits to the restrooms and some quick reorganizing in the van and trailer, we were ready to hit the road at one o'clock. Our stops were few and very quick with one big stop in the northeast corner of Arkansas to put the wheelchair in the trailer and make beds for the children to sleep for the night. We did our usual thing of me sleeping until about four o'clock and then driving to the finish line. At one point I had to stop to visit the lady's room and get another coffee and I literally ran in and ran out for time's sake. We made it to my cousin, Roxanne's house at exactly nine o'clock, eastern time, which left us with thirty minutes until it was time for the funeral to start. We unloaded luggage, cleaned up, changed a diaper, and made it to the funeral by 9:40, figuring we'd just sit in the back of the room. However, my brother, Joel, who was waiting outside the building for us, had seats saved up in the front of the room with the family.

We left Grace and Faith at my cousin's house and I tried my best to prep Landis and Hope with what they were about to experience. My grandmother was amish and the service they were about to sit through would be the longest, most boring service they would ever sit through, but it was going to be something they could say they did and live to tell about it. They both did very good and the service actually went by pretty fast. I joked later that I had prayed before hand asking God to reveal something to me that was being said as the two preachers both preached in Pennsylvania Dutch, and He did! Every time those preachers said a line in English, I understood every word. By eleven o'clock we were kneeling for prayer and another five minutes later, we were standing to pray some more. I was glad they decided to allow one more viewing before the service was over so I could take one last look at her but as I passed by the casket I decided that I'd always prefer to remember Reubmommy the way she looked a year ago. The lack of food and the wasting away had really taken it's toll on her little ninety five year old frame. Her eight children gathered around her casket one more time and said goodbye, some taking it harder than others.


As soon as the service was over Bobby, the kids and I rushed back to RoxAnne's house to pick up Grace and Faith and take them with us to the cemetery. I figured we could run back and pick up the girls and make it back to the cemetery in about the same amount of time it took a slow procession of buggies to parade 2 miles down the road. However, when we drove up, they had nearly finished with filling the hole with dirt. They didn't waste any time and seemed to be ahead of schedule. So Landis and Hope got to participate in the burial a little bit along with other cousins.

Faith stood next to the grave of her great-great grandpa, Bishop John H. Troyer.




I couldn't help but get a photo of this "kleine maedel" as she was taking her first little trip past the graves of so many ancestors.


We stayed an extra day to rest up and then made a mad dash back to Texarkana on Friday, the fourth of September. We left before dawn, drove non-stop and pulled into Bob and Tena's drive at ten p.m. Another day to rest up and then a full day of singing in Atlanta, Texas and Hope, Arkansas.


On Sunday morning we ministered at Cross Creek Cowboy Church. Bobby's sister, Judy and her husband, Deano Townes came out as well as our old friend, Pete Sams. Cross Creek meets in probably one of the most authentic cowboy church buildings we've seen yet. It was very rustic and the smell of cedar filled the air inside. It was definitely outfitted for cowboys and cowgirls in it's decor. It looked like a good place to have a square dance. Like a couple of the other cowboy churches we've attended recently, there seemed to be growth and momentum and like the others, there were a couple of baptisms at the end of the service and one couple came forward to be received into membership.


An added bonus for Landis was when after church, Pastor Todd showed him how to hold and throw a rope.


After lunch at Olive Garden and a little rest at Bob and Tena's, we headed east to Hope, Arkansas to make a return visit to Hope Family Church and see our friends, Pastors Jeff and Pam Smith. Jeff and Pam have a very unique story of how they met and the lifestyles they had before they surrendured their lives to the Lord. They were having revival services and asked Bobby to lead the worship this particular night. They also had a guest preacher and then following the first sermon, Pastor Jeff was tagged and he gave a second sermon. Following the second sermon we enjoyed communion together and then at just the right moment, the barbacued ribs were brought in. Since the children weren't singing tonight, Hope stayed in Texarkana with her Papaw and Mamaw and went to church with them. Hope would have had four helpings on the ribs. The girl can eat ribs. We knew she'd hate it that she missed them. The aroma was incredible and that's why I say they were brought in at just the right moment. Had they brought the ribs in during church, the saints wouldn't have stayed in their pews. Needless to say with so much on the schedule that evening, we didn't get back to Bob and Tena's until nearly ten thirty.

The following morning we made the long drive home again. Happy to be home for a couple of days.