January 27, 2006

I'm not sure how much of this is going to be a repeat of what Bonnie said in the family newsletter...if you're not subscribed go send her an email now. : )

We're in a parking lot in northern Florida right now.... we'll be on our way to Jacksonville tonight, Lord willing. The beach is right out the window here. It's kinda chilly with the wind but pretty.

We had a big weekend of concerts to start out tour, busy busy busy! The highlights of the weekend and following week as follows

1) We met the fun (and loud!) Kocher family in Pennsylvania! Read more about that here. We had a wonderful time hanging out with them. I can't believe we only live 6 hours from these folks! Yay!

2) We went to http://www.constitutioncenter.org/. We hardly ever go to museums so this was a treat! It was so neat to see the actually paintings of Ben Franklin, not just a print in a book. It was so, so much fun! The singing in a lobby was so cool! The acoustics in there were great! (Maybe that's why we (us + Kocher family) go an invitation to come back and do a concert?) Can you believe this, we're meet MORE musical families? Amazing.

3) We got to spend time with Aunt Josephine and some of her family in North Carolina


Prayer requests -

We all have colds. I felt like sleeping all day yesterday, in fact while we were driving around Wilmington, NC looking for Wal-Mart, Home Depot, a furniture store, and a music store that is exactly what I did. And of course I got a fever to go with it... I was having vivid hallucinations while trying to sleep last night and morning. LOL I would tell you what they were but I can't remember. You know how everything feels so weird when you're sick. We're suppose to sing Saturday and twice Sunday so keep us in your prayers!!!!! It might just be the MacDonald Family Instrumentalists (with Kleenex in hand) for the weekend.

Dad' has a tooth ache! :- (

Praise reports -

We ran out of diesel today right near the on ramp and a gas station!

We have met the sweetest people on this trip.

Wednesday night's church was very encouraging!

Bonnie is being so sweet and letting me use her computer. Thanks Bonnie!!

January 23, 2006

I wasn't expecting to be near a computer so soon...

OH MY MY!!!

We are having a wonderful time. In fact, so wonderful I don't have time to finish this post properly.

January 21, 2006

I'm sitting here on the phone on hold, so I figured I'd blog really quick.

Waiting.......waiting.....

Yay, she answered!

I'm going to leave you all with a verse.

"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord." Proverbs 21:30

Over and out!

January 19, 2006

I feel I need to apologize a bit for all the silliness that's been going on. I have blog ‘junkie’ tendencies and all this is just encouraging me… From now on, everyone has to be serious. Got it!?! : )

As this week closes, Lord willing, we'll be headed south and then west till we reach the great big state of Texas. I'm soooo excited! (I think I said this before.) There is nothing like traveling! Please keep us in your prayers for the next six weeks! The generator is out of warrantee now, so we are very much praying it won't break like it always does. We were watching the tape we took of our Grand Canyon Tour 2004 as we sorted cords and organized the sound system last night. Oh, to be on the road again, to see the road rushing past, the smell of diesel (which really grows on you), the anticipation of a concert, and to hear the familiar pickin' in the back seat. Ahh yes, the road. A place where time stands still, yet rushes past, so when you return home it seems nothing has changed but everything has. I don't think I'm making much sense. Maybe I've in front of that sewing machine too long?!

I've spent a week working on the curtains for the bus parcel racks. Twenty feet sure is a lot longer than it looks!

Oh and BTW, we went to Florida Tuesday. We were so dead tired when we got back. *yawn* Bonnie and I stayed awake on the trip home with lots of chocolate. How was Florida? Kinda chilly, snow in spots. But, we made it to our destination, did a concert, and came back a different way due to an ice storm. How did we do this all in one night? Lear jet or traveling the speed of light? You'd be right if you guessed neither.

Ahh, yes, Florida, Massachusetts. Not exactly your choice for a sunny vacation but the view of beautiful Berkshire hills is quite nice.

Oh, and the Dortignac Quartet has an incomplete sample of their first CD. Beautiful job guys! If you have dial-up be prepared to wait for it to download. If you have DSL what are you waiting for? Go download it now!

Now I have to get off here and pack and sew more curtains....

January 16, 2006

You should check out post #13 of this blog. My comment, which was stifled and cut short went something like this ....

I can give you a better deal than Jeremy & Caleb can on my original art. Now you can avoid the middle man! I take PayPal, well concealed cash, chocolate cakes, money orders, fresh fish (no salmon please) and credit cards.


Were not sorry!!! This text was not cut by JClog to protect their sales rate.


Now it doesn't matter who has the original, I'm sure they won't send you that one, so my copy is just as good as theirs.

Order before midnight tonight and receive free shipping on all orders shipped to Siberia! Place your order in the next 5 minutes and get a complementary signed yellow sticky note!

January 15, 2006

‘From SCD to mud fights!’

What’s next?

I thought maybe I should post something serious for a change! :) Thanks again Anna and Caleb for giving me a break from coming up with stuff to blog. :) What fun!

Several things come to mind -

*I’m starting to realize the opportunity (and responsibility!) I have to be a positive, Godly influence on younger people. I’m now getting to the age of being an ‘older’ person. (I know 21 isn’t REALLY old, but to an 8 year old it must be ancient!) It’s like you have instant credibility when kids find out how old you are. They want to be near you, imitate you, hang out with you, find out how you do thing. It's a wonderful open door to impact a young life which is so impressionable and moldable.

*The absolute beauty in God’s creation! I can’t remember a winter with so many nice colors in the sky. Either I wasn’t looking or I just didn’t care? I don’t know which!

*I’m so wonderfully blessed living in this country. We discussed the famine in Kenya today, 17 people die everyday. I have more food than I know what to do with. In other countries people are tortured, beaten, and killed for their faith. The worst problem I face when handing out tracks are people saying ‘NO!’.

*Our trip is coming up. I’m so very VERY excited! The Lord always teaches me something new when we’re out. What new adventure will he take us on this time? We’re working on some new songs to add to our program, along with a new feature of a corresponding scripture being recited before the song is sung by one of the children. That means Vincent will have to speak into a mic! (Sorry, Vincent, I had to say it!) We have three open nights in TX that we’re praying will be filled.

*If you have never memorized any scripture I would encourage you to. It’s been an awesome blessing for me to memorize John. (No, I haven’t finished yet!)


And thanks to Jeremy for the new colors on the blog!

January 12, 2006

I have found that I do not have any 'good' (inside joke) pictures of me. Vincent looked, I looked. Apparently we don't take pictures of us in strange situations! (Or maybe we just never get in to them?) I was getting worried. Surely there had to be some bad pic somewhere! Someone suggested staging something and taking a picture. Nah, I don't want to cover myself in mud, though we had plenty of it today because it was so warm. But then I remembered this pic. I had to delve WAY into the archives for this one. It actually was a trio of muddy children, including Vincent and Bonnie. But, I didn't feel I should put them through the humiliation of being blogged full of mud. Though Vincent looked particularly cute, with this sort of confused look on his face, "is mom happy with me? Should I smile? I think this was a bad idea!"

This is what we did for fun on Sunday afternoons while mom and dad took naps....that was a lot of fun.

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Yours Truly about 14 years ago.
(For those who can't do math, I was seven.)

So there Caleb! : P I beat you to it.

January 10, 2006

Some of us have never met the Caleb that keeps commenting and who eats sour cream with his fingers. SOOO, just so you have a better idea who this talented, homeschooled, funny, strange at times, normal at times, mud slinging (literally), person is, I'm posting a picture I recently came into possesion of.

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Ain't 'ee cute?

January 09, 2006

I asked my sweet friend Anna to be a guest on my blog for the day. Here are her answers to the "Seven things" survey. Thank you Anna! Great job!

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anna Naylor~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
___________________________________________________

Seven things I hope to do before I die:

Complete the Lord's purpose for my life...
Totally die to self! (Is that possible before death?)
Learn to love as Christ loves.
And just for fun, not a must...
Learn the viola.
Sail a yacht or ride a hot-air balloon to Hawaii.
Travel to every country.
Ride a dolphin. =D

Seven things I cannot do well:

Just seven??? =o Okay...

Sew clothes.
Memorize.
Express my self or my thoughts.
Train animals.
Fry an egg. (Unless you like yours quite well done or not done at all.)
Sing in front of people or sing harmonies.
Spell.

Seven things that would attract me to my future husband:

Determined and strong but not stubborn
Kind, compassionate, steady eyes
Loves the outdoors and playing sports, hiking, camping....
A leader
Enthusiastic
Patient
Encourager

Seven things I say often:

You want to play volleyball?
We should do something tonight.
Ya' know
Caleb Thomas, get your fingers out of the sour cream. jk Sorry, Caleb, I had to do it!!! =D
Like.
Hello, nice to meet you.
Goodness.

Seven authors, books or series I love:

The Bible
Fenelon's Seeking Heart
Charles Spurgeon
Elizabeth Pretince's Stepping Heavenward
Children's books with big beautiful pictures.=D
Outlaw Canyon
Patricia St. John




Seven movies I watch over and over again:
I don't like to list moves 'cause I so dislike recommending that anyone watch them, but here are some of my favorites. Note -I don't recommend them.=)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Roman Holiday
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Tale of Two Cities
You Can't Take It With You
Shirley Temple movies
The Last Flight Out

Seven people I want to do this:

Ummmmm????? I don't know many bloggers.

January 07, 2006

Thank you Lindsay for asking me to do this!


Seven things I hope to do before I die:

Walk as deep as I can with Jesus, my Savior, Redeemer and friend.

Become a decent fiddle player.

Memorize several books of the Bible.

Learn how to play piano by ear.

Learn to sight read music (vocal).

Make a BIG quilt!

Marry Mr. Right.



Seven things I cannot do well:
(I can’t do a lot of things well, good thing they only ask for 7, otherwise we’d be here a looong time.)

Knit. I just can’t get the hang of it, crocheting is my thing! I have to ask Bonnie or mom start the row and explain to me how to do it every time I try to knit….embarrassing!

Play tuba. It takes up way too much air. So, I have a great respect for the lowest of brass players. (Go Vincent!)

Stick to one instrument. Asking which one is my favorite is like asking which on my fingers is my favorite. It’s just too impossible!

End a piano piece in the middle. I can not bring myself to end a piano piece in the in the middle. I have to at least skip to the last page and play the ending. (Unless of course I get totally frustrated with playing in 5 sharps, then I just play a run that sounds good, with a chingering at the end.)

Sew with a pattern. Maybe I need to try that again…

HTML. Bah!

Sing bass. I just can’t seem to hit those low notes…



Seven things that would attract me to my future husband:

One lead by the Spirit with a firm commitment to Jesus and following Him above all.

Kindness and compassion, particularly for the lost.

Optimism.

Godly wisdom.

He'd have to enjoy music. How else could he put up with my hours of practice and constant desire to listen to music? (Thanks Lindsay!)

He must be able to sing harmony. (Confession: I formerly thought only a tenor would do...I think I’m past that.)

Want the amount of children God would give us.

Bonus: An interest in traveling. If he wanted to travel with us, that would be seriously interesting.

Seven things I say often:

“That’s a riot”

“wow”

“I hope…” (And that’s usually follow by something like ‘the roof doesn’t cave in on us” or some other such cheery words, I’m really trying to break this BAD habit.)

“Do your schoolwork!” (Talking to the chattering kids in the living room.)

“Should I make something?” (Ginger snaps anyone?)

“Get along!” (To bickering children.)

“That’s amazing,…praise the Lord!”

And a bonus: “ I should clean my room”


Seven authors, books or series I love:

The Bible (the book of James is one of my favorites)

Don Aslett books

The Reckoning

Christy

Color Me Beautiful

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

History books




Seven movies I watch over and over again:
I don’t like that watch ‘over and over again’ bit. How about,
‘Seven of my favorite movies’

White Christmas (I know, I don’t really believe in Christmas but, for some reason I’ve always really liked that movie)

African Queen (!!!!!!!!!)

My Fair Lady

Singing in the Rain

Just about any home movie

(two more?!)

umm…

Anne of Green Gables

Abbott and Costello movies



Seven people I want to do this:
Sarah

Anna

Mandy

Kendra

Krista

Kim

And whoever else wants to do this! (That means YOU!)

January 06, 2006

Anna requested more people pics...

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Daniel with the BIG blue eyes.

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Bonnie I get mistaken for twins...I wonder why?!

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Us in MO with SARAH!

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Matthew, Hannah, and Daniel got into some potent candy canes...

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A summer campfire.

January 03, 2006

This is my first post of 2006. Yay!

Since I posted about wasting time, I'm now going to have to be more careful about what I post! These pics won't take long to post I'm not going to worry too much about it.

This always gets me everytime we drive by.

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So, like do we drop the kids off through the window or what?

At a dairy farm in Kansas.
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She looks happy, doesn't she?


This was in front of a McDonalds on our last trip...
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Only in Kansas!