This photo was taken a few days ago by yours truly.




Well, The CD is coming along. Our graphic designer sent us the proofs and we sent her the final typo fixes. The proofs look so cool! It's hard to believe this is actually winding down and all this hard work and stress is going to pay off.

Keep up your prayers for the people in the south so devestated by Katrina. What a mess those poor people are in. It's very strange how we've had the TV on so much watching this unfold. It's much easier to imagine yourself in their postition when you actually see it opposed to hearing about it on the radio or reading about it online.

I fixed the link to Lindsay's blog. I had the http twice. That would do it. Yep. Sorry girl!

Just put Grace's blog on the list. It's showing up but not working. : (

Touching on what Grace said in the post 'Knight in Shining Armor'. How true we sometimes place such a big importance on 'requirements' for our future mate to live up to. After you've lived a while you find no one is perfect. No one. Not even your parents.

Parents have some really good thoughts about mates and waiting for 'Mr. Right' to pop out of the woodwork. They've lived a lot long than us and have our best in mind. Don't worry about how tall, how short, how strong, how weak, if he has green eyes or blue. If you're seeking God and His will, He will provide us with all we need for life. Even a mate. In the mean time enjoy being a single girl!

The birthday boy was blindfolded and disoriented and driven to a wooded area where we unblindfolded him and climbed a mountain with friends. He was so anxious to get the blindfold off. =)




Thanks for all your b-day greetings for him!

The buzz around here is Katrina. Fox News is playing it up big. (I suppose it really is big, but the media likes to play bad things up. Too bad they don't do the same thing with good stories.) With concerns for human life and oil prices which are expected to rise in result of this storm, it’s not a pleasant subject. (Just what we need for our trip, higher fuel prices!) Those poor people trapped down there. I just got up to see the TV. Some crazy kids are out on the beach getting splashed by 60 ft. waves. Crazy! They are predicting New Orleans to be under 20 ft. of water by tomorrow this time. Serious stuff. A lady in line to get into a shelter said 'pray, it's in the Lord's hands'. That's all most of us can do.

Happy Birthday!

Vincent my ‘big’ brother turns 16 today.
That means he’s old enough to drive a four-wheeler on public trails, get his driving permits, and of course now he will be motivated to fix the Honda in the driveway.

Drop him a happy birthday note here.

Oh, he's calling me to help him cut his hair......

Bye!

I was walking to work Monday. It was a beautiful day, we've been having some real winners recently. The fall weather in New England is so perfect! Nice and cool at night and 70+ during the day. So, I'm on my way to work. I pass an apartment complex on my route and once in a while I see this old guy standing out on the driveway just hanging out, watching people go by. This time he was sitting on a bench. I've been having a better response from people who know me at least by face as opposed to total a stranger on the sidewalk. I'd waved and said hello a couple times to him so I figured I wouldn't have a problem breaking the ice. I walked up and said "Hi" and offered him the IQ test. Turns out he's extremely hard of hearing. He wasn't too sure about the IQ test so I started talking to him and asked if he was good enough to go to heaven. He had to have me repeat myself several times loudly for him to understand the question. He told me he had relatives who were nuns and priests so he was pretty sure he'd go to heaven. I asked if he'd broken any of the ten commandments. Turns out he did lie but I couldn't get him to admit he had stolen anything. Remember, I'm yelling all this 6 inches from his face. I left him with a "Are you Good Enough to go to Heaven?" tract. I hope he reads better than he hears!

I painted the rest of my room! I just have a little trim to finish but I'm not going to work on that till next spring. The red really makes my room look smaller but I'm ready for the cozy look. That white made it look like a hospital. I only put one coat on so it looks textured. Someone suggested I put a glaze over it to finish it off. While I was waiting for the paint in the mixer at Wal-Mart I found the glaze for $12.and something. But, you know, I like the way the wall looks now. I'm not going to fix something that ain't broke!

Home sweet home. Just got back from the last concert of the season. Yay! We were short a lot of people but we managed to pull of on hour worth of stuff. Bonnie did an excellent job on the trumpet with her sidekick Lauren. Half of us were under the tent and the lower brass section was unprotected, except for Mr. Cass who remembered his umbrella. Thankfully it didn't rain.

Since I blogged last we bought a whole box of tracks. In the box was one of the coolest books I've ever read! Every Christian should read Out of the Comfort Zone. (Can't find underline tool.) I couldn't put it down. It's the autobiography of Ray Comfort, a Christian and street preacher. He also started started this ministry. It was a very inspiring read! What God can do with people willing to let Him use them. So, I've been starting my witnessing journey by passing out tracks to everyone who will take one. First day everyone took them, probably a good thing, since that encouraged me to pass out more. Today I got 3 or 4 rejections. "Do not be weary in well doing." Vincent was upset he didn't think to bring more with us to band. We played in the center of town with people milling around. He ran out and had to use mine. Bonnie made copies of the "Why Evolution is Stupid" and gave it to three people in band. We needed more of those too.

Here is a young man putting Ray Comfort's teaching into practice. Way to go Kaleb!

Singing in the Rain

We didn’t actually sing in the rain. But it was raining outside!

The band had a concert up in New Hampshire yesterday evening. They invited us to do intermission. We left really early to get a good spot to park the bus. It was a nice drive in our ac equipped bus. It’s been SO hot up here. I groaned about the short stretch of ’road construction’ that made the normally scenic town look like a war zone. Bonnie told me I shouldn’t complain about those things, lest I sound snobby. Well, we find a parking spot and get out. Hissssssssssssss. What is that!? The back tire has a bolt with a head the size of a quarter right through it! We’re assuming we picked it up at the construction zone.Ehem. Our first flat ever. Funny, how we were just talking about flats and how we had never gotten one. Vincent slapped a chain on it and we were able to drive home no problem, but they are going to change it soon, before the inspection.

So anyway, we unloaded our stuff and brought it under the tent they provided. Eventually the director arrived and we discussed where to have the concert, indoors or under the tent. We thought indoors would be the best bet. So we carted our stuff inside through the rain. We only did bluegrass and a cappela so we didn't have a huge amount of stuff to carry. The band sounded great! Mr. R wants to take us all of us tour to Canada and Europe. Hehe. We had a whole row of trumpets! Bonnie did an awesome job holding down the 1st part by herself last week but the band sounded a lot fuller with six trumpets, instead of two. The audience was warm and friendly, not typical New England. We got home really late, but all and all it was a fun evening!

Get a load of this puppy.

Suhweet. I wonder how it plays.

Back from the New Hampshire concert. We're beginning to get followers coming to concerts. : ) It's always fun to talk to people afterward. I felt bad for this one gentlemen who came up to afterward and said this is the place he came to die and that is was a crazy house, people yelling at night etc. He said we made his day. I'm not sure if he was a Christian but he smiled and nodded when I talked about Jesus. I'm going to be praying for him. I can't imagine being trapped in a place like that. I know things could be a lot worse. *Bonnie just handed me a green bean. Fresh from the side porch garden. That was good.* Anyway, I was reading a book about nursing homes. This country needs to reform nursing homes, but I'm not interested in having the government do it. Federal funding is not the answer!

Oh bother. Blogger is not showing my last post.


While we were at my grandfather's house we had a little learning session about Calvinism. It was a straight forward talk and very informative. I took three pages of notes. After I get all my notes together I would like to post it here. I'm convinced that Calvinism is not Biblical. I never really had to think about it before. I've never worried if I was 'chosen'. It's never been an issue. Now I know why I believe the way I do. God has given us a free will. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Continuation of VA trip.

This all seems like old news now that we've been to Maine this past weekend. The Wednesday service in Woodstock, VA went very well. Our friends there fed us fried chicken. Yum yum. The people we met were so supportive!

Ok, new trip. Maine was so much fun!! Last time we went to Maine I thought I'd never ever want to go there again. Rain rain rain and blah. This time the sun was shining and things were exciting! We met the White family, the children and grandchildren of old friends of my grandparents. We did a few concerts while we were up there. I left the music at the morning church. So at night we pulled out the extra music and hymnals. We got by. We are home now, resting up for the next trip. : )

We’re really putting a big push on this week to work on the inserts for our project, Honey in the Rock. I thought the recording part was hard! Just pray we get it all done in time for the trip coming up.

I'm looking at the date of my last post. Wow.

We had a wonderful time on our trip south. Virginia was great! Before visiting on relatives we stopped at a state beach on the VA Bay, right near the Bay Bridge Tunnel. It was cloudy and even rained a bit while we watched the tide come in and watched some friendly looking dolphins swim near by. That was neat. I've never seen dolphins so close in person, I got a few pictures from the shore. The kids insisted they could hear the dolphins 'talking' under water. Very cool.

The family reunion was so fun! The second day was really fun with a game of keep away in the pool. Food and fellowship was great. (Hello to Megan and all the cousins!)

Next, off to two concerts on Sunday. They both went well. Even though we unloaded and loaded in the rain for the morning concert. We got to see old friends and make some new ones. God bless y'all! Auntie Val and family got to see us in the morning concert. She seemed quite concerned that Vincent wasn't smiling. LOL She should have been at the night concert. Vincent nearly ruined some of the scripture songs because he was laughing! (I won't tell them why Scott.) We had a great time after the concert jamming with some people. We lingered there talking for a while.

Dad then ferried us over to northern VA to visit my grandparents. My grandparents are celebrating their 50th Anniversary this month! Congratulations to them! While we were there visiting we installed a brand new counter top. Spiffy looking. We split wood for four hours straight. While I was stacking the split wood I got stung by a mad bee on my left pointer finger. Ouch. After we finished the wood I jumped in the bus for a cold shower. I can't remember the last time a cold shower felt that good. I can't imagine having to work out doors in the south for a long period of time. Brutal. Mom was almost convinced I had heat stroke, because my pulse was so high. I think everyone was a little spent. Uncle Rob and the kids went down to the lake to cool off. The lake was a little too dirty looking for me. I suppose I could have gone in. But, I really don't like the idea of touching some slimy unknown object at the bottom of this lake.

Someone is bumping me off the computer. : )

To be continued.......