Third Time's a Charm!

October 16 & 17, 2010



Third trip to Ohio!!! This time we had a friend of Landis' with us as it was his parent's anniversary weekend and they needed a little time alone. We arrived rather late to our hotel in Conneaut (yes, the same hotel we stayed in 2 weeks earlier) and decided to go ahead and buy a second room because of the extra person.

The next day we drove back west a bit to the next town, Ashtabula and sang at the county nursing home. We don't do a lot of nursing homes but I sort of enjoy them.

They served us a lovely lunch there before we sang and when we were finished we drove back to Conneaut and made a visit to the park that sits right at the edge of Lake Erie.

Faith got out to the sand before I got out of the van. I called to her about getting her tights off...

...but it felt so good to walk on that sand in her tights...

...that she slipped away when I got distracted.

"Where did that Faith go?!"

Can you tell Bobby had the camera this time? There's actually pictures of Mom!

With only a little bit of time there we snapped a few pictures and then drove back to Ashtabula for a Saturday evening service at Church of the Living God. We met some precious folks there and one of them even asked if she could feed Grace. That's only happened one other time but of course I'm delighted as it's a nice break for me.

Back in Conneaut, we got sufficient sleep and rose the following morning to make a second visit to the Family Fellowship Foursquare church with Pastor Robert Tarasiak. They serve a simple but tasty breakfast there on Sunday mornings and we took part in that, of course. We enjoyed a wonderful morning service and then found Connie Smith's house a few blocks from the church where we enjoyed some homemade pizza and ice cream cake for Landis' 10^th birthday!

After lunch we headed to Akron where we found Springfield Baptist Church and unloaded equipment and set up the CD table for the 4^th time in 48 hours. Whew!

The next day was a typical day of driving for hours on end in a crowded van and struggling to get school done, BUT we made it. Another day of school and once again...home.

A Baby? A Baby!

October 5, 9 and 10, 2010

I took Landis with me to the ultra sound on Tuesday afternoon, October 5, because he had a Tae Kwon Do lesson following my appointment. Shortly after we left the house he asked me where it was we were going and why. I reminded him of the time he went with me to Faith's ultra sound. I quickly assured him I wasn't pregnant but I just wanted to go and make sure everything was OK inside of me. That answer worked for him and we arrived a few minutes early for the appointment. When I stepped in to see the doctor, I asked Landis to wait outside because I wanted to be able to speak freely with the doctor and keep Landis from hearing things that might cause him to worry about his mom.

The doctor asked me about my concerns and I shared with him briefly what I had been thinking. I told him that I had been, what I would call, “bloated,” but it was much more than that. He told me to just get on the table so that we could take a look. As soon as he put the scanner on my stomach I thought, “I'm going to look at the monitor because I need to see whatever is in there for myself. I'm not afraid. I can handle it.” As soon as I looked at the monitor I saw a perfect circle with a spine coming out of it and I recognized the picture. At the same time the doctor said, “Well, you're 'bloated' because there's a baby in there!” I felt incredibly dizzy and overwhelmed. The only thing that came out of my mouth was, “Oh my goodness!” over and over again. When the doctor asked me if I wanted to know the sex of the baby and that it was a boy, I so wanted Landis to witness this event but I hesitated in calling him in because I didn't know if I should tell Bobby first. But the doctor told me I was 17 ½ weeks along and he encouraged me to go ahead and let Landis in on the joyful news since I wouldn't be hiding my little secret much longer anyway. When Landis came in the doctor asked him what he saw on the monitor. Landis told me later that he recognized a baby but was doubtful because I had specifically told him an hour earlier that I wasn't pregnant. So I said to Landis, “Go ahead and tell me what you think that looks like.”

“A baby?” he asked.

When I told Landis he was finally having a little brother he clenched his fists and pumped his elbows back at his sides with an excited,”YESSSSS!!!”

As we drove away Landis told me that he'd stopped praying for a baby brother a long time ago but that night he was going to pray again. I asked him what he'd be praying about that night.

“To say thanks!” he said simply.

Both mine and Landis' thoughts were on the new baby and how we'd tell Bobby that night after getting our shopping done. We did a little bit of clothes shopping for Landis and then got groceries. I found the perfect card of congratulations for Bobby and then Landis and I schemed on how to deliver the news.

I knew that Bobby would not ask me about my doctor appointment until the kids were in bed so after everyone was tucked in, Landis, who had taken a picture of the baby in the ultra sound with my phone, would send the picture to Bobby's phone as soon as he heard Bobby ask me how my appointment went. So I'm standing just inside the door of his office and he asks me how it went. I spoke slowly in order to give the picture time to be sent and I started with, “Well, do you want to the good news or the bad news?” With a serious look on his face he replied that he didn't really care he supposed which came first. Then I really hesitated because the picture seemed to be slow in sending. When I only paced and stalled in telling him anything, he began to get a little nervous and thought, “is the bad news so bad that you don't know how to tell me?” It seemed like an eternity for the picture to send so I asked him where his phone was. Just as I asked the question, his phone chimed, telling him he had a message. As he reached for his phone, I reached for the card I had bought for him. He looked at the message on his phone, saw that it was from me, saw the picture of the ultra sound and I handed him the card at the same time. He recognized the picture of a baby and said, “A baby?” and smiled. Then he opened the card and saw that it was light blue in color. He opened it and read, “Congratulations the new 'little man' in your house!”

I thought it was the perfect card because in every concert Bobby sings a song called, “Little Man,” that talks about our sons (children) watching what we do and how we live our lives. It's a reminder to fathers, in particular, that they need to be careful because the little eyes of a little man are watching.

After he sat there for a minute taking everything in, Bobby stated, “I'm happy!”

Our second trip to Ohio was a quick one. We sang at New Haven Baptist Church on Sunday morning where Bobby only had about 10 minutes before the sermon. Of course I didn't speak. Many of the people were out sick, including the pastor, and a guest speaker filled the pulpit.

We wouldn't have been surprised if my dad had walked through the doors that morning because my brother had mentioned the possibility of Dad coming to Ohio that weekend and surprising us. He didn't show up that morning but later that afternoon on the way to Vanlue, I thought about it again and not long after I had thought about it, Dad called. He didn't say anything about seeing us, we just made a little small talk so finally I asked him if he was on his way to see us that evening in Ohio. He wanted to deny it at first because he wanted to make it a surprise, but he finally confessed to his whereabouts and told us he'd see us in an hour or so.

He did meet us about an hour later at Harvest Time Chapel, where we sang that night, but he wasn't alone. He brought a friend with him, Joann Riley from Three Rivers, Michigan. They'd been seeing each other for about a month and we'd heard some wonderful things about her from her long-time friends, Pastor Randy and Karen Helms when we sang at their church a couple of weeks earlier in Tampa, Florida.

We had a nice visit before church and then a service that started out very laid back but ended up being a meaningful time after all with God having a word for us. Then we went to eat with Dad and Joann back in Upper Sandusky where we visited for quite a while before saying goodbye to them. We went across the street to our hotel and they drove back to Michigan.

On our way home the next day we took the time to stop and visit some friends in Fairborn, Chris and Christine Rupp, and their two children, Conlan and Claire. Christine, who we still refer to as “Miss Bates” from time to time, was Grace's teacher at the Christian school she attended in Smyrna back in 2003 and 2004. We have kept in touch over the last few years and when she saw that we'd be in central Ohio she contacted me and invited to stop by for a visit. I'm so glad we had the time to do it. It was great to see them again and see where they live. She even made homemade bread to go with soup and salad, a delicious and healthier lunch than fast food. Thank you, Christine!

We got home a little later because of the stop in Fairborn but it was worth it. A few days at home before heading back to Ohio once more.

Conneaut and Jefferson, OH and East Springfield, PA

October 1-4, 2010

Packing for this trip was a bit burdensome as we were just finishing up the summer season and the previous weekend we were in Florida but we were headed to the cold north. I had worked hard the few days we were home that week to dig out the winter clothes for the kids and try to figure out who had enough clothes to sing in 3 times and were we all color coordinated each time? When we have a change of season like this it takes me 7 hours to pack for me and the kids. Once we're into the season a few weeks I've got the wardrobe down pretty good. I also had the problem of not only finding myself some winter clothes to wear but finding something that FIT! My clothes weren't fitting me right. They were too tight around the middle yet I hadn't changed any eating habits and actually tried to be careful about what I ate. Packing was a stressful job for this trip.

We drove on Friday all day to get to Conneaut, Ohio, (pr. “connie-ott”) which is in the very north east corner of the state. It's an old town, situated beautifully on Lake Erie and my kids know the town for Ms. Connie Smith, the promoter that lives there and TRAINS.

The railroad is big business there and until the town built an overpass at one end of town and an underpass at the other end, the town was used to waiting on trains. We weren't used to it and Saturday evening we sat and sat and sat as we waited to meet our friends for dinner at the Sugar Shack.

Let me back up just a bit.

As we got ready Saturday morning in our hotel room, I tried on a new blouse I bought at Cato. It was made in such a way that I thought it might disguise my large belly. All my of my britches were getting too tight around the waist and I was beginning to look “fat” and I was disgusted with myself! When I tried the blouse on and layered a sweater over it, I asked Bobby, “Do I look pregnant in this? I DO! I look pregnant in this! I'm not gonna wear this!”

Let me back up just a bit more.

In August I took a pregnancy test and it was negative so pregnancy was immediately ruled out. Our schedule allowed us to attend our own church a couple of weekends in September and when Pastor Davis gave the altar call, it seemed to be the perfect opportunity to go and ask for healing...or whatever it was I needed. On Saturday, the 18^th of September I rose in the wee hours of the morning to use the bathroom as I'd been doing the past several weeks and it dawned on me that I only wake in the night like that when I'm pregnant but since I wasn't pregnant, according to the pregnancy test I decided it had to be something else in there pressing on my bladder making me have to go. Suddenly I knew...there was a foreign object growing in me. I was rather sober through most of the day, glad to go to Cornerstone that night and especially thankful that we were having communion on a night that I could be there. Pastor Davis preached about dreams and made the statement, “You can't deliver the dream until you're able to carry the baby.” Of course he was speaking metaphorically but that statement totally stood out to me. I went to the altar that night, praying alone and not telling anyone my thoughts.

The following morning was when we got stranded in Decatur. Late in the morning, Bobby was downstairs in the business center on the computer. The kids started watching a movie so I took the opportunity to leave the room and go talk to Bobby. He removed his hands from the keyboard and turned his chair toward me because he could tell that I had something important to tell him. I told him that I didn't want to worry him but that I KNEW there was something inside of me that shouldn't be there. I had complained earlier of feeling bloated but now I told him that it was far more than bloating. There was definitely something in there. I told him I wasn't scared or worried. Cancer is curable physically speaking, and I was already healed by the stripes of Jesus...IF that's what it even was. Let me just tell you if I ever did find out that I had cancer I wouldn't tell anyone. I would NEVER go through the sickening and toxic rigors of chemo and radiation. These are routine treatments that statistics have shown do NOT work. They MIGHT delay things a bit but it's not a pleasant way to handle things. In spite of the fact that my mother passed away with cancer, I never give to the American Cancer Society or St. Jude's because I've seen cancer cured over and over by natural means, but not by traditional, costly pharmaceuticals. Cancer is a huge money maker so why would they want to eradicate it? No, I would quietly seek the help of a holistic doctor on the proper nutrition and supplements to take. As a matter of fact, I did visit a local health food store and went through a sort of physical screening. One of the things we checked for was the pregnancy hormone and again, it was negative.

From that weekend on I began to speak God's healing Word over my body and take communion early in the morning in my quiet time. Finally, Bobby told me that I needed to get an ultra sound so that we could find out, if I wasn't pregnant, just exactly what WAS inside of me. I scheduled the ultra sound for Tuesday, October 5^th at 4:00 PM. I'll share the results of that ultra sound in the following post.

Back to Conneaut. I wanted to change blouses but didn't have time and as we passed by the front desk and chatted with a lady from the hotel staff a minute, she made the comment, “Oh I see you're expecting. Congratulations!” Immediately I felt bad for her and I quickly said, “I know I look pregnant, but I'm not. I'm gonna have an ultra sound this week and find out what's going on in there.”

“That's a good idea,” she said.

Bobby was singing in an all-afternoon concert with other soloists and one local group. As a matter of fact, Mitchel Jon, better known to us and our Cornerstone family as Mitch Kenitzer, former choir member, praise team singer, and former member of the group, Three Bridges. We joked with Mitch about the fact that we have to drive all the way to Lake Erie to see our church friend from Nashville.

We had a fun and even relaxing day in spite of the smaller turnout than was expected and the dreary, rainy weather. I did run back to the hotel room shortly after we arrived in order to grab my laptop and change tops. Yes, I thought I had found something to hide my large belly.

One of the soloists, Jerry Garcia, introduced himself to me, asked about Grace and began to tell me about his family. He and his wife have adopted 4 special needs children and they usually travel with him but it just so happened that they were sick that weekend so we didn't get to meet them. He told me about each one of the kids, their uniqueness, and the gifts that they were. When he told me about his second oldest, Katie, who has Cerebral Palsy and Autism, he told me about a song that he sings to her that talks about limping to heavens' gates but running on the other side. Jerry seemed regretful that he couldn't share that special song with us that day but I told him I wished he'd sing it to Grace. He was delighted to do that and Grace was delighted to be sung to.

After the concert that evening and after waiting for the train for 15 minutes, we enjoyed a nice dinner with Connie, Mitch, Jerry, and the quartet, Circle of Friends.

It was nice to get back to our little hotel room early enough to get a decent rest before heading out to Jefferson the next morning.

We sang at First Baptist Church in Jefferson on Sunday morning and Bobby and Landis had to unload the equipment in the rain. I sat in the van with the girls with my Bible and couldn't understand why I had the uncontrollable urge to cry. I'm not talking about a few tears, I'm talking about pouring tears that I couldn't stop for a few minutes and the feeling that I did NOT want to be there. I wanted to be home! I hid it from the girls behind me and finally gathered myself together enough that I got my daughters inside and parked the van.

I knew that getting with other folks and forgetting about myself, I'd be fine and I was. Also, I met the sweetest old lady! I can say “old”...she was in her mid eighties. That's old. She had a wonderful testimony of God's faithfulness in her life and she was so encouraging with her promise to pray for our family. She even gave me her contact information and said I can call her any time of the day or night if I ever needed prayer.

The church served a wonderful fellowship meal after the service and it was there that a gentleman told Bobby and I that in all the years he's been attending First Baptist, (I think he said 35 or 40 years) he's never seen the pastor have a musical guest on a Sunday morning. Now that's the hand of God working on our behalf. Thank you Lord for favor!

There were a couple of hours to rest in the hotel room and then we drove just over the Pennsylvania line to East Springfield where we sang at the Federated Church. We had no idea what Federated Church was but the pastor, Dr. Edward Huntley explained to us that years and years ago, there was a Presbyterian Church and a Christian Church in town. The two congregations decided to come together to make one larger church. When trying to come up with a new name for the church one of the members suggested that because federated means a union of more than one entity, that they ought to call themselves the Federated Church. Obviously, the name was liked and it stuck. Not only did the name stick but the spirit of unity in this body of believers has remained for so long because of those seeds planted so long ago by those who've since passed on.

After service the youth group provided some pizza and Dip-n-Dots for themselves and our family in the Family Life Center (gym) where our kids played hard for nearly an hour and I enjoyed fellowship with folks with similar life experiences to mine.

We drove home the following day which completed the first of 3 consecutive trips to Ohio.

September 25-27, 2010

St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida

Bobby and I had planned to take a getaway the last weekend in September. We planned it way back in the spring. We didn't necessarily want to get away on Grace's birthday but it was the only weekend Bobby didn't have something already booked besides some time in December. We planned to attend a marriage conference in Fort Myers but of course Bobby, who was happy to go, wanted to get some bookings for us in order to make some money while we were down there. We had worked child care out with Pat and Mary Johnson months in advance and I was looking SO forward to our honeymoon. I'd even done a little shopping for the occasion. However...and that's a big fat however, because of the van being in the shop (Mr. Pat needed the van in order to keep Grace for the weekend), not to mention the fact that we didn't make any money the weekend before, I suggested to Bobby that we rent a mini van and the whole family go to Florida. I can't tell you how sad I was to give up these big plans I'd made for so long but was glad about one thing: I never felt right about doing a couple of concerts without the kids. I'm sure it would have been fine but there's just something about the kids' involvement in the service that cause people to like us quicker. (smile)

It was a long and not-so-easy drive from Nashville to St. Petersburg on Saturday. After arriving at the hotel while we were unloading the van, a gentleman who had stepped outside to smoke, smiled at Faith as she danced and sang a Christian song. He commented on her talents and I quickly told him he could come see her sing live in the morning as she was performing locally. He answered that he probably should be in church in the morning praying for his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers. He was in town to watch the Steelers play Tampa Bay.

Jehovah Jireh, our Provider, was once again faithful to us and we not only had two great services with at least 1 person giving their life to Christ Sunday morning, (no, it wasn't the Steelers fan) but we made twice as much money as we typically do!

Pastor Randy Helms and his wife, Karen, were so down to earth and enjoyable to visit with before church Sunday morning. We found out a few days earlier that the Helms knew someone that we were hoping to meet soon. My dad called me earlier that week and asked me if we were going to sing at a church in Florida with a pastor named Randy Helms. I said yes, of course and wondered how he would know that. He laughed and told me that his lady friend he'd been seeing for the past few weeks was long-time friends with the Helms! Dad had told Joann about Bobby and I and kids and she went to Bobby's website. The very next booking on our schedule was Glad Tidings Assembly of God in St. Petersburg and of course her thoughts were, “what a small world!” Needless to say we heard some wonderful things about the lady my dad is seeing long before we met her and that was comforting.

Randy and Karen invited us to a baseball game with their church family after the morning service but considering the children, wheelchair, etc., we felt we'd have an easier time having a leisure, sit-down lunch, allowing plenty of time to get to Faith Independent Missionary Baptist Church in Tampa for the evening service.

We had contacted Bobby's nephew, Brandon Sams, who is an EMT and lives in St. Pete, letting him know we'd be in town and really would be glad to see him. His work schedule allowed him just enough time to get off, drive home, shower and drive to Tampa. He and a friend walked in just as the service started.

We had another good service that evening and I think Brandon's friends' heart was stirred a little. He expressed something to me after the service that said as much. Visiting was Brandon after church was great, just not long enough. We had to move on and head north for a while so as to get a head start in the morning. We had a rental to return by 8:00 PM.

I had hoped to stop an hour before we actually did but we found a good place to stop for the night in Lake City. We found a Best Western, older, but our room had two kings so we had plenty of horizontal space. The following morning we visited with another home school family at breakfast before heading home.

Pat Johnson had come up the previous Friday and had dinner with us as we celebrated Grace's 12^th birthday. He came again on Monday evening to sit with the children while Bobby and I returned the rental van...which was returned in plenty of time.

I didn't get my honeymoon but if the children had anything at all to do with that man getting saved Sunday morning, it's worth giving up. Some day I'll know.

September 19-21, 2010

Stranded!

Yet another opportunity to attend our own church service on Saturday night and on Sunday morning the 19^th, we set out at 5:00 for Booneville, Mississippi. We had discussed several route options which consisted of going west on I-40 almost or even all the way to Jackson and then down to Booneville. Or we considered briefly going a more direct route down the Natchez Trace. However, we've driven that before and it can grow old very quickly with constant curves and no opportunities to buy coffee or go to the bathroom. The third option, the one Bobby decided to go with was to go south on I-65 to Decatur, Alabama and then west to Booneville. I wasn't sure this was the best way but decided to let him make the call and I went to sleep along with the children.

I awoke at 7:00 when Bobby used the brakes to exit toward Decatur and curve westward on the off-ramp. As we approached the city limits I told Bobby I smelled something hot. He immediately began feeling the inverter behind him and then checked his gauges in front of him. Everything inside the van seemed to be OK. While driving over the river I saw a Holiday Inn and thought about how it was right there on the river and looked like a nice place to stay. After the bridge we stopped at a light and as the noise of the engine became more quiet, we could hear noises and Bobby said he thought we had a flat. We turned right and was in front of the hotel so he pulled into the Holiday Inn parking lot, parked and walked around the van to look for the problem. He saw no flat and he began to think maybe I was smelling things and he was hearing things when he saw huge mess of grease coming out of the back end of the van!

Now there had been a slow leak and finally on the previous Thursday, Bobby had spent the whole day waiting on the van to be fixed. They simply put a new seal on the back end. But apparently the seal didn't hold and we now had a big problem. All Bobby said was, “Well, we're not going anywhere,” and then he called the pastor in Booneville. There wasn't even time for someone from their church to drive to Decatur, pick Bobby up and drive back to that service, as well as that evening's service were postponed. Then Bobby checked us into the Holiday Inn and there we stayed for the next 3 days!

Of course we didn't know we would be there that long. We had all of Sunday to sit and do nothing. I had considered the fact that I didn't get a day of rest that week and decided I would just have to do without. However, the Lord knew I needed and desired it and He gave me a day of complete rest in that hotel with nothing to do! While we waited we discussed some possible scenarios and how we would handle them. We decided that if the van would not be finished until Tuesday or after, that we'd rent an economy car, take the wheelchair apart and put it in the trunk, and pack ourselves into the car enduring the two hour drive back home. Bobby would then drive the rental back to Decatur and pick up the van when it was ready. On the other hand if the van would be ready by Monday evening, we'd just stay in Decatur until it was ready.

However, in all of this planning we forgot to remember how it usually goes with mechanics. Most of the day Monday the word we got was that they thought the van would be ready either by the end of the day Monday or before lunch on Tuesday at the latest. Of course the van wasn't ready on Monday but we thought we could stand to stay one more night and wait just a few hours on Tuesday. What actually happened was the van wasn't ready until late Tuesday afternoon. As a matter of fact, we ended up getting a late check out and waiting in the hotel lobby until 1:30, and when we realized that the restaurant would be closing in another 30 minutes, we decided to spend the money on one more meal since we couldn't go anywhere anyway and we were getting hungry.

The hotel staff got to know us and our story and were very, VERY gracious to us. We ate our own food we had brought from home Sunday morning and at lunch. We finally ate in the hotel restaurant on Sunday evening and that was the only meal the children didn't eat free. After that, whenever we ate downstairs they only charged us for Bobby and I. That was a big blessing. For the final meal on Tuesday afternoon, the staff didn't charge us anything and we had already checked out of our room by the time we ate!

Driving home, we contemplated how the week ahead looked a little scary as we spent the amount of money that we needed to make! We earned absolutely no money but sat doing nothing in a hotel room for 3 days. However, we knew that God would take care of us. We knew that we would not be homeless or go without food. I have been putting money aside for months in order to buy new living room furniture and other home décor but offered it to Bobby. You know I was glad when he said unto me that wouldn't be necessary. (whew!)

The following morning he went to check on the van sitting in the driveway and discovered we still had a leak. The first time he had it fixed it didn't work and in that case we shouldn't have had the same procedure done! We should have had a whole new back end put in. So this is what he did on Wednesday. We said goodbye to our van for several days which meant Pat Johnson came to the rescue when it came time to go to church Wednesday night. I had taken the car to an appointment but Pat came to the house and picked up everyone else. They didn't even have to disassemble the wheelchair as Mr. Pat's trunk was deep enough that the chair could lay on its side. After church I was able to take a couple of the children with me and Mr. Pat brought everyone else home.

We had an early morning prayer meeting at Cornerstone Friday but because we couldn't fit everyone in our car, I stayed home with Grace and the rest of the family went. I took my laptop into Grace's bedroom at 6:00 AM with the intentions of watching the prayer meeting live stream and sing and pray along with the rest of the church. However, it didn't broadcast so Grace and I had our own prayer meeting. I got so excited at one point I knocked a shelf off of her bedroom wall. You know things and people fail us; sometimes they leave us stranded but never leaves us stranded. He never fails us.

One of the things I prayed about was our lack of finances that week. I told God again how absolutely grateful I was that God provided for us so specifically. God didn't do anything bad to our van but He knew what would happen and He provided just the right place for us to break down. It wasn't just ANY hotel that we stayed in those 3 days without a vehicle, it was a Holiday Inn with a restaurant where we could eat 3 square meals a day, swim in a pool, use the fitness room and play in the arcade. I also told the Lord that I was not at all concerned about the fact that we lost money the previous weekend because money was no object for Him. He is the one who gives the power to get wealth. It's only by His grace that we can go out and make money in the first place. In that case I could see no reason to worry.

When Bobby came home from prayer meeting later he told me that a dear old friend stopped him at church and said he wanted to give him something. Bobby didn't look inside the envelope until later on and saw a check for $500! The following week Bobby got a call to sing background vocals for someone's recording and he came home at the end of the day with another $500! His Name is Jehovah Jireh – our Provider.

I wrote 4 posts at once. You'll have to read 4 posts back in order not to miss anything. Of particular interest to me are the posts from August 22-26 and September 5 & 6.

September 9-12, 2010

Yard Sale and Cape Girardeau, MO

I've been trying to sell our king-sized bed for many months. I've tried different avenues such as Facebook Marketplace and Craig's List. I even tried giving it away once but it seemed we'd be stuck with it forever. Bobby and I loved the luxury of a king bed but because we decided to exchange bedrooms with our daughters, the kind just didn't fit comfortably in the smaller bedroom we moved to. So the little girls were sleeping on the king. If Grace didn't do better in her own bed with padded rails, there'd be plenty of room for her in that bed too. Finally, Bobby suggested we have a yard sale in September and he was confident we'd sell that bed. We also discussed going ahead and selling some other furniture that we've had for years, is outdated hand-me-downs, and really needed to go.

So at 5:00 AM on Thursday morning, the 9^th, we stumbled around carrying furniture outside. We began welcoming customers at 7:00 and by 7:30 we had probably 2/3 of our furniture sold! By Thursday afternoon we had sold all of our furniture except an old painted dresser, (It's so old it used to belong to then bachelor, Robby McGee when he lived in a single-wide trailer!) and what else...the king-sized bed. It rained all day Friday so we kept everything covered up or inside. Saturday turned out to be beautiful but since we had pretty much made up our minds the yard sale was over, it didn't dawn on me until 9:00 that I should put the yard sale signs back up and set at least a part of the king bed out in the driveway. We were getting ready to hit the road by noon so we weren't paying much attention to the driveway and watching for customers.

But finally at 11:00 or 11:30, someone knocked on our door and my heart took the chance on hoping one more time. Sure enough, an older gentleman took that bed and gave us $100 for it. It's not what I had been asking but we wanted that bed GONE!

We had an easy drive to Cape Girardeau, Missouri and checked in at my favorite hotel chain, the Drury Suites. If you know anything about the Drury, you know they offer not only the complimentary hot breakfast, but also a good-sized evening snack called the "5:30 Kick-back" featuring baked potatoes and toppings, hot dogs, chicken wings or tenders, nachos, salad, cut veggies, soft drinks, tea and coffee!

While we were enjoying the evening snack (dinner) downstairs, Pastor Ken Strong from Father's Arms Fellowship in Scott City came in to check on us and join us at our table. We had a great time of fellowship for about an hour and we spoke with anticipation about the upcoming service in the morning.

We had a great service the next morning and it culminated to an altar call and then finally ended with Pastor Ken singing a duet with Bobby. They served a wonderful large lunch after church in the fellowship hall and then we were on our way back to our hotel room where I did something VERY unusual. I took a NAP!!! That never happens on Sunday afternoons these days! But it did that day.

We drove back toward the Scott City exit and this time turned right off the exit toward Chaffee where we sang that evening at Chaffee First Baptist Church. Another very young pastor leads the congregation here.

It was a joy to sing and speak to this welcoming congregation and we felt even more at home when Pastor Ken and his family walked in. Pastor Lucien and his precious wife from the East Cape Girardeau church where we sang in June were there as well. Actually, the pastor's wife from Chaffee First Baptist attended that concert in June and she encouraged her husband to have us come to their own church.

Upon arrival back at the hotel we promptly grabbed a couple of bags of popcorn from the lobby on the way up to the room and got settled in bed. But the lights wouldn't go out until the Titans game was over.

I enjoyed a workout and my quiet time in the fitness center the next morning and we made another easy drive back home.

West Tennessee

September 5 & 6, 2010

It was a privilege to attend services at Cornerstone again with an extra special treat of hearing John Bevere as our guest preacher. He spoke about God's empowering grace that causes us to live extraordinary lives. If you ever get a chance to listen to John speak, consider it a chance you can't pass up. God used this man to speak into my life in 2002 and what was said has undoubtedly changed my life.

The following morning we drove to Erin, Tennessee and had a good service at Erin Church of God of Prophecy. Afterward, we headed down to Bolivar where Bob and Tena joined us! This is because the church was pastored by Josh Clark, who, with his wife, Brittany, adopted Alayna and Haley, Bobby's great neices. What an answer to prayer Josh and Brittany have been as Bob and Tena were helping to care for these sweet little girls who's mama didn't want them. Bob and Tena love them so much but caring for two preschool-age children was taking a toll on them both. They didn't carry the burden alone, however. Another set of great-grandparents were caring for them. What is it about the great grandparents? I guess that's what makes them great.

Anyway, Josh and Brittany, relatives on the other great grandparents' side, showed up with their own two little boys and said they would like to adopt the girls. As I said, prayers were certainly answered the day Josh and Brittany walked in.

Brittany fixed BBQ beef, and delicious sides to go along with it, all for us to eat at the church before the service! It was a very kind thing for her to do and we ate well.

We had a lot of fun in that church service with so many children between us and Papaw and Mamaw there in Tennessee with us.

There was only a little more visiting but a lot of hugs and goodbyes before we left. We wanted to get home as soon as possible as we planned rise as early as we could stand to drive to Petersburg, Kentucky, which is just outside of Cincinnati to visit the Creation Museum.

It was a tiring schedule but we made ourselves get up earlier than if we were just staying home. If we wanted to kill ourselves we would have risen pre-dawn and tried to get to the Museum, which was 4 ½ hours away, by the time they opened. Instead we tried to get at least 6 hours of sleep and then pack some sandwiches and finally getting on the road by 9:00. That meant we didn't get there until 1:30 and entered the museum at 2:00. We only had 4 hours until closing time but we enjoyed every minute. I'd heard a lot about the place over the past year or two but, of course something like that is never fully appreciated until you go and experience it yourself. I think the part I enjoyed the most was the Noah's Ark exhibit. Very impressive! Something else I so appreciated about Creation Museum is that they present not only the Biblical story of creation but also, Darwin's theories. You won't find both of these presented side by side in our public school textbooks. I wonder why the world is afraid of doing that? (smile)

Landis and dinosaur. (Landis is in front)

The serpent in the Garden of Eden

Eve's remorse for her sin

Noah

King David...and Faith

I think Faith was feeding the "Zorse"

Jasper & Canon, GA

August 29, 2010

It was only 4 ½ hours to Jasper but we needed to leave by a certain time because we were meeting our friends, Wes and Marie Nolan for dinner at 5:00. We met at Pizza Hut in Jasper and their pastor, Ron Rucker joined us for dinner as well.

We were grateful for the two rooms they got us at the Super 8 and everyone was able to sleep comfortably.

We really enjoyed a great service at Cornerstone Church. The room was full and the folks were very enthusiastic. Bobby and the children sang and then Pastor Ron gave a great message out of Philippians concerning walking in the authority that God gave us in Jesus Christ. The altars were full at the conclusion of the service.

We had lunch with Pastor Ron, his wife and the Nolan Family and then took a long time to say goodbye to the Nolans out in the parking lot before driving to Canon by way of Atlanta.

Our evening service a return visit to Canon Church of God with Pastor Gary Steward. We love this guy. His birthday is near Hope's and when we were there in December of last year the kids surprised him by singing happy birthday to him during the offering. He's become of friend of Bobby's over the past several months and we appreciate the spirit of this man.

We had another blessing with two hotel rooms and rested well. With school on the road the next day it made the time go a little faster and we arrived home before the hour was too late.

Warren & Benton, AR and Ft Worth, TX

August 22-26, 2010

We did something really crazy. And you'll never catch us doing it again. But before I tell you about the stupid crazy thing we did, I wanted to write about something we did at home. We don't get together with friends very often for obvious reasons (maybe it's not obvious to you ...we're not home much) but we did enjoy an evening with the Luthe family on August 19th. We needed a new inverter in our van for our laptops and refrigerator. We'd blown up several because they were just too small. We were accustomed to plugging the refrigerator in for a few hours and then unplugging the frig so we could plug the DVD player and TV in. I could plug my laptop in when the TV was plugged in but not when the frig was plugged in. We definitely had it down to a science after destroying a few inverters and blowing some fuses. But after the last inverter died we decided to just get a big one and hook it up to the van battery under the hood. Bobby asked for his friend, Derick's help with this and we decided to have dinner together. We had just reminisced a week or two before our plans were made about how Charcy's dad, Charles had cooked for us when we visited him in Florida in 2007 on our way to our cruise ship and after we returned from the ship. Olive Garden and Amerigo's have NOTHING on Charles when it comes to Lasagna made with grilled eggplant. He made us a wonderful breakfast before that and later in the evening he even whipped up some caviar...my first, so I had nothing to compare it to, and I thought it was wonderful with capers. Since we had just enjoyed these memories the week before, Bobby quickly thought of asking Charcy if her dad would be willing to cook for us again. Charcy joked that her dad is happiest when he's cooking and once again, we had a scrumptious Italian meal including, bruschetta, baked ziti and chicken parmigiana...MMMMMMM!!!!

Chicken Parmigiana

Baked Ziti

Bruschetta

Begging Dog

Derick and Bobby were successful in installing the new 1500 watt inverter. However, we were 1/2 mile from home after driving nearly 50 minutes from the Luthe's when the van nearly stalled. We made it home and the next morning Bobby found that the casing of the utility wire that he had been advised to use (no, Derick did not advise him to use it) had melted, leaving the exposed wires to touch and short themselves out. He spent the rest of the morning hunting down welding wire and installing it himself.

The good news is now we can plug the refrigerator, 2 laptops and the TV in all at the same time! We're living in the lap of luxury. Ha ha!!!

Now, on to that crazy thing we did: we were to sing in Warren, Arkansas on Sunday morning, the 22^nd of August so all week I assumed we'd be leaving on Saturday late morning and sleeping in a hotel that night. However, on Friday Bobby said he was thinking we'd just stay home on Saturday to avoid paying for a hotel room and leave early Sunday morning to drive to Warren. Sounded good to me because that meant we could go to church. But when I mentioned that to Bobby he said I could go but that he would stay home and go to bed early. I was pretty close to being ready to go when I left for church with 3 of the children on Saturday evening. But when I arrived home there was a note from Bobby saying he re-checked and thought we'd better leave at 2:00 AM instead of 3:00 AM. He had gone to bed at 7:00 but I was almost sure he wasn't asleep when the kids and I arrived home a little after 8:00. I got them ready for bed but realized he had never fed Grace any dinner!!! So I had to get her out of bed and feed her something, brush her teeth AGAIN and then put her to bed AGAIN. I finished up with getting ready and was in bed by 11:00. Of course I was too wound up to fall asleep right away and then Bobby got up at 12:45 because he was concerned about what time I had set the alarm. I awoke when he got up so we got up before the alarm, got ready and left by 1:45.

I cat napped most of the way until it was time to get off the Interstate and still we had at least 2 hours to drive. I was traveling in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and was hoping we'd arrive at the church early enough for me to get changed before anyone showed up. That didn't happen the way it was supposed to either. Bobby parked on the side of the church building and I scrambled to get into the trailer and get my clothes before anyone came out to meet us but as I was pulling luggage out of the trailer to get to my stuff, Pastor Ricky Rawls met us and offered to help. I felt like a tramp standing there in my very non-church clothes, knowing I'd be ministering in a few minutes.

Now I know Jesus doesn't get hung up on whether I wear shorts or a dress or pants or a skirt. But I just didn't want to offend anyone right off the bat. So I mumbled a quick greeting and apology and ducked back into the van.

Another rough, HOT, crowded time of trying to get everyone ready on time. Some things just don't get done, like curling my hair, but I know for a fact that Jesus doesn't get hung up on that either. You just do your best with your appearance and go for it. The main thing is to be prayed up. You can sing all you want, talk all you want, smile all you want but if you haven't prayed, you are wasting your time!

It was a great morning service and I was totally entertained by the choir. We don't usually get to see choirs. We see choir lofts but they usually don't contain singers when we're there to minister. I say I was entertained because of the big yellow choir books they held, the false starts, and the hilarious sideways glances at each other when they were in doubt about what was happening. HOWEVER, I was moved to tears with the next song, “Oh what a Savior, Oh hallelujah, His heart was broken on Calvary. His hands were nail-scarred, His side was riven. He gave His life's blood for even me.” I sat there with tears streaming down my face not because it was sung with perfection – it wasn't – but it's so true that you can worship anywhere you are. You don't have to have moving lights and a great band to worship God. You just have to have people that are willing to abandon themselves and offer praise and worship with their voices to God. It's all a matter of the heart. I allowed myself just to meditate on every word they were singing about God's love for us and the sacrifice Jesus made.

The service was maybe a little abbreviated and then lunch followed in the fellowship hall. Somehow I got stuck at the back of the line and when I finally worked my way through the crowd to get to Grace who I was sure was waiting for me to get her a plate of food and chop it up, there was Landis already chopping Grace's lunch. All I had to do was show up, sit down and start feeding her. I was amazed that he would take the initiative and show such thoughtfulness to do such a thing. I made sure to thank him then and really fussed over him later that afternoon when we got in the van. It blesses me to see him pay the attention to Grace that he's been showing.

After lunch we went back to the sanctuary for another service, where we sang and spoke and glorified God. And then we were off to Benton!

Cross Roads Church was close to the Interstate but you had to exit the Interstate on the north side, drive parallel with it, cross over it and then arrive at the church which was on the south side of the Interstate.

We enjoyed a great time with these folks during the church service and also around the snacks in the fellowship hall after the service. But just because we were finished singing, didn't mean we could rest yet. We still had to drive 2 hours to Texarkana!

We arrived at Bob and Tena's (Bobby's parents' home) around 11:30 and after unloading a few things, visiting, and getting settled, we finally got to bed at 1:00! Exactly 24 hours from the time we rose to start that long day. Yes, we were tired.

And a day like this is not something we want to do again. Even if it means missing church on Saturday and spending the money on a hotel room. If we're going to minister we need to get some rest to give God our best.

We spent most of the day with Bob and Tena and at 4:00 Monday afternoon headed to Ft Worth, Trophy Club, to be exact, to Bobby's youngest sister's home. Anita Gossett moved from Texarkana to the Dallas / Ft Worth area nearly 20 years ago and has been employed by the same bank that entire time. Today, Anita is Executive Vice President of Bank of the West in Irving.

Bobby and Landis had seen Anita in 2008, staying in her home a couple of nights when Bobby sang for a Church of God convention in Weatherford. However, Faith had never really met her “Aunt Sissy” as she was only 4 months old when we all celebrated Bob and Tena's 50^th anniversary in 2006. Hope was only 3 at that time so she couldn't say she remembered her either. So we told the younger girls about their Aunt Sissy and showed them a picture of her at Bob and Tena's.

When we got our van and trailer situated in Anita's driveway later than evening, Hope and Faith jumped out of the van and met Anita at her door, screaming, “Aunt Sissy!” There was an instant connection, especially between Anita and Faith.

We were made to feel very welcome and enjoyed plenty of space for the next 3 days. But we had to get up and get going first thing the next morning as we made our third visit to the seniors Bible study at North Richland Hills Baptist Church in Ft Worth. Brother George and his wife of 52 years, Millie, lead this precious group of saints and we've begun a friendship with these folks and look forward to visiting them each time.

That afternoon we spent time around the dining room table and in the driveway doing school and that evening we took Anita to dinner. After filling up on Mexican food we went back to the house where we allowed the children to swim in Anita's pool into the post-sunset hour. Needless to say the children slept well...after we finally got them to sleep, anyway.

On Wednesday we were able to start school earlier in the day and the children had just enough time after school to have a quick lunch and then enjoy some popcorn and an afternoon movie with surround sound and projected on the wall. They even enjoyed comfy home-theater seating to make their movie-watching perfect.

While the kids watched a movie I was able to shower and get ready for church. After the movie there was just enough time to get the kids ready and drive to North Richland Hills to sing at First Baptist Church Smithfield where Anita joined us for the concert.

Toward the end of the service the lady behind us, who I noticed had communicated with the children a little bit, produced an animation of Faith dressed as a princess. We all fussed over her drawing because it so characterized Faith. It was adorable! Of course Hope had to have herself animated as well and after Landis asked for his own drawing, I couldn't help but ask of yet one more of Grace.

Princess Faith

Duchess Hope

Sir Landis

The artist, Lissa, began to think aloud of how she would draw Gracie and when I heard her mention the wheelchair I quickly asked her if she would draw Grace standing just like her sisters. She seemed delighted to do so and I was so impressed with those cute sketches that I asked Lissa to sign them all and I kept them put away and out of the hands of the children until I could get them framed and hung in their bedrooms.

Lady Grace

We had a short time a visiting with Anita at the house after church and then thanked her once again for her hospitality and kindness toward us and said goodbye, making plans to leave for home the following morning.

But the next morning after we'd been on the road for a couple of hours, Bobby asked me what I thought about staying in Texarkana another night! I gave him a look that said, “When can I go home?” Bobby's (our) old friend, Don Peek, was in Texarkana for a few days and Bobby hadn't seen him in 15 years. I could understand Bobby's desire to take advantage of the opportunity to see a dear old friend.

Actually, I wanted to see Don and his wife, Janet too, so we stayed at Bob and Tena's again and spent a couple of hours visiting that evening. We talked about just staying until Saturday morning and then driving to Jasper, GA from there but Mapquest suggested we drive through Nashville to get from Texarkana to Jasper so we figured it would be better to drive home on Friday and sleep at home, breaking the long drive up into two days.

Once again we were only home for one night but it's always good to be home.