Home Sweet Home (Already?)

Well, I expected to blog tonight from VA but the Lord had other plans!

The Lord has been working on me about trusting that His has everything under control and when trials come to talk to Him about it. When we were going through a rough spot on our trip the Lord called my attention to I Thessalonians 5:16-18 which says “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”. Being able to pray through your problem is such a comfort. That little song “Just a little talk with Jesus makes it right” would be appropriate just now. Through thick and thin the Lord is there to talk to. It’s just so awesome. The Lord will give you peace which surpasses all understanding. Praise God!

Let me start the story from where I left off last time. The generator broke at the Godin’s house for the sixth time! Not good. We spent Friday afternoon playing kickball with the Godins. Lots o‘ fun! I think I did too much yelling and laughing while we were with them because my throat was bothering me. : P We left their house headed for the Peach State and our next concert for a combined church banquet. They fed us a huge meal before we sang. Praise the Lord my neck started feeling better as we started singing! The concert went well until the very end when I announced the last song, thanked them for having us told them we ‘always have a good time in Alabama‘. Some old lady in the front yelled "Georgia". I forgot we crossed the state line into Georgia 2 hours previously. Woops. Can you tell I've been traveling?! Everyone had a good laugh on me. ; ) The Godins came up and played with us for the last few songs. We said our goodbyes in the parking lot and waved until they were out of sight. Lord willing we’ll see you guys next year! (Btw Kim, Vincent and I both came down with poison ivy! )

We did a string of churches Saturday, Sunday morning, and night. Saturday’s church was so sweet! They gave us a food ‘pounding’ (which we had never heard of before), hook ups, a full church to sing to, a scrumptious meal and fellowship. It was so fun and a great time of ministry. Bonnie and I sat across from a mom and daughter from New Bedford, MA transplanted to North Carolina. We had a nice time talking to them. (Hello Judy and Samantha!)

Sunday night we started out of the parking lot after the concert and dad said, ‘we’re going home’. Huh? We still have five concerts left and we wanted to stop to visit our grandparents in VA. So, dad drives almost all through the night and we wake up in Pennsylvania, not Virginia. (The fall colors were gorgeous by the way! Better than Massachusetts.) Because the generator isn’t working we won’t be able to keep the heat working which is kinda important in the great white north. So, we arrived back HOME (!) at about noon today a week before schedule. Dad called the generator place and they said they had the part in stock and they might be able to get it fixed so we could still make it to our concert on Thursday in Delaware. Please pray they are able to fix it and we’ll make it to all our DE/NJ concerts!

In the meantime we're enjoying being home. It's going to be so cool to sleep in a bed that does move. In our quiet little town the leaves have fallen and are falling. We had a big pile out in front of the house! The color on the trees is just about blah as far as New England colors go. We missed last year’s foliage so it looks great to us! Quite a bit of yellow this year. It was in the 60’s and we had all the windows and doors open! We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day to arrive home. There is a cheery fire in the wood stove and mom and dad are chatting with the neighbor. Garlic Girl (Bonnie) made oatmeal cookies even though she’s sick. Poor thing, she still can’t hear and the cold is moving into her throat. Sunday night she just about lost her voice! She’s doing better but still has a ways to go. Here she is on the guitar in Georgia a few nights ago. (Thanks to Kim for the picture!)



Till next time…

Whoa... a barber shop quartet just came on the on radio…..reminds me of the Dortignacs.
(I wish you guys had a CD.)

Yikies, I'm long winded tonight.

What a week!

Time is going so quickly. Soon we will be back home and working on the house and hopefully planning another trip. : ) I think we're getting ready to go back home. Some of us were ready about a week ago! Bus fever is setting in. Not that we haven't enjoyed being on the road. I may have said this is a previous post but this has been the best trip yet. We just grow weary working and living in a house that rocks, sways, and shifts with every turn and corner.

Yesterday and today we have been staying with our friends the Godins. (Eleven kids and counting.) We played a type of hide and seek on the woods yesterday in camo. What a blast! Very fun. Poor Bonnie had to stay home because of her ear! Kim, Kristian and I hid in this cool little cave until Vincent scared us out. We crossed a log bridge very quickly and I lost my balance and fell into the stream! It wasn't very deep but I screamed anyway. : p My throat hurt last night. (Bad!) So we're out in the woods with wet shoes and several people hunting us down. Lots of thorns and briers out there. I think I should have worn a hat! We came in for lunch and had a practice session together. It so fun to play with other people! We worked up a few songs to do together at the concert last night. The concert went well and the food was delicious!

This morning I woke up and bent my head to look at the clock. Ping. Ouch. It's now not a good idea to turn my head to the right, up or down.

Bonnie's ear is doing about the same. It started to drain this morning and she had a garlic and peanut butter ball this morning. (Yuck.) We still love her ever though she has a slight garlic odor.

11 days until we get home!

We left Jan-Kay Ranch Friday...Bonnie has a good story which I hope she blogs soon. The morning we left....well, I won't tell the story. It's Bonnie's to tell!

Jan-Kay Ranch has a web site which you can check out here. Jason of 'Jason and Julie' who we invited for supper wasn't feeling too well so we just had Julie over. We had a great time visiting with her! It's just amazing all the people we've been able meet on this trip. PTL!

This morning we drove through Memphis, TN area and saw where dad lived when he was 12. I'm surprised how much he remembers considering he was only there for a year. We're in Alabama tonight and for the rest of the week. Looking forward to seeing all our friends in 'Bama!

I've added two people to my links bar. Welcome to Krista and Mandy! I'm not sure how many hits I'm going to get you two but at least I won't have to hunt through the history to find your sites. : )

We've slept next door to the 'Ripper' the rhinoceros for 4 nights now. We saw the cougars being fed today. They started hissing at us as soon as we got close to them. They just crunched those chicken thighs down no problemo. Gulp. Wow. The female got really close to the cage and Bonnie touched her whiskers. Here are a few pictures I took today. It's really hard to photograph animals in cages!

Today was more relaxing than yesterday! Bonnie and I helped dad work on the trailer that needed to be fixed. After all out work was done we went around and took pictures of the animals. Bonnie and I played 18 holes of miniature golf. I'm not sure who won. We has a good time laughing over how long it took us to get some of those balls in.

At the dock they have lots of paddle boats and canoes. The sign on the boat house reads 'no swimming'. Matthew said ' Well, if I fall out of the boat I guess I'll have to drown." : )

We spent the better part of yesterday and the day before power washing four buildings and painting two little 'houses' inside the Horse Palace here at Jan-Kay Ranch. A lot of on your feet work. My left wrist started clicking last night, don't know if that has to do with the painting. A hot shower felt really good!

The boys went down to make faces at the monkeys. I'm not sure the monkeys enjoyed it but the boys had a fun time. The barn cats are so adorable! That's one animal I wouldn't mind having at home. A little kitty to snuggle up to. I don't like independent cats that just give you a cool look and slink off. The only cat a see on a regular basis is Pharaoh, the spoiled brat. : ) But I think he's cute. The bengal tiger looks very regal and jaguar very sleek. Don't think I'd like to take those cats home. : P I heard it 'meowing' all the way from the horse barn. Mr. Coates said you can hear them roar from 3-5 miles away. Bonnie and I explored out behind the imitation kangaroo's cage in search of the little piglets we knew were back there. Bonnie turned up a whole bunch of them while I was photographing a bashful peacock. I tried to get a shot of the lamb but as soon as he saw the camera he turned around, as if to say 'I do NOT want my picture taken!'. I caught up with Bonnie in time to see a whole lot of squealing hogs and little piglets stampede across the road. It was a riot! The piglets looked really huggable with their little tails waging and legs flying but the adults looked plain mean. Particularly the black ones. Bonnie found one sleeping pig in among the hay rolls and she startled it. Since he was a very large hog it took him several tries before he got up. LOL The prairie dogs who kept poking their heads out of their holes looked very comical. Vincent got really close to one by waiting out near one of the holes. When he appeared Vincent promptly tried to knock it out with a hedge apple. Missed!

We met Jason and Julie and newly married couple who work here at the farm. We're suppose to have them over to supper Thursday, our last day here.

Today Bonnie and I cleaned 14 toilets, 14 sinks, 12 showers and mopped all the floors in the cabins. The pool felt so good this afternoon! Vincent and the boys moved firewood and hay. Dad, Bonnie and I ran into town (not literally, we were in a car) to go shopping. We stopped at a quaint looking music store but the door was locked and the open sign up and a was dog barking inside. Strange.

While I'm uploading a picture of our safari I'll fill y'all in on the past two days.

Sunday was great! We had big crowds morning and night. I don't really measure concerts by how many people showed, it's much better to connect to the audience then to be packed out, but it's nice to sing to a full church. The carpet at night was a cool red color. (I mention this because red is one of my very favorite colors.) We did a lot more talking at the night service I think then we have ever done before. The people were awesome. They said if we ever got tired of living in Massachusetts we should move to Paris. (Texas, not France.) That's what the church in Glen Rose said too. : ) Texans are so nice.

We're here today at an exotic animal campground. It is unbelievable!!!!!!!! The Lord has been doing so many cool things on this trip why should I be so surprised. We weren't expecting lions and tigers and bears! (Oh MY!) The camels where my favorite...they were very, very friendly and wanted us to pet them. Bonnie said they had a very smug look on their faces. LOL. They were very cute.

We might be staying this whole week helping these people out. I can not believe all the work that goes into this place. Anyway, if we stay that means I could possibly blog all week! That would be interesting for a change.

I really would like to tell y'all about the OK part of the trip. I should mention, since I've already mentioned the D's and N's (though not in depth), we got to dine with the talented Mrs. Lyman and family (Mr. Wid) Monday night! We went to Ceci's, a first for all of us except for them. Those cinnamon rolls hit the spot and the pizza was great. Thanks again Izzy and Ironman!

Alright here's our Texas safari pic # 1

Whooops. That pic is a little small. Sorry!

The guys just came in from the pool sing "Church Policy" LOL I'm in the hallway and they had to walk over me.

Till tomorrow ....
(or whenever I get around to blogging again.)

Ok, this is going to be really quick.

The Lord had been so good! This past week was so cool. We met two LARGE families this past week. Go here and here. We played v-ball and stayed up late. So much fun. I found out I'm not good at volleyball, but it was fun anyway. I've also decided I can't play or sing anything. ; ) Not really, but both these groups were so good! And they give all the glory to God. It's really nice to hang out with people who love the Lord. (God bless you all!)

I've got to go watch the video we made of the Dortignac pizza night. What fun!

I'd really like to get some pictures up but I'm using a friend's computer and the laptop is not handy.

So if you've gottn this far in my post and haven't clicked on the two links I provided go do it now. =-)

Till next time....

Praise the Lord of all His mercies! We've been in and out of Iowa since Wednesday. The transmission drop off went well and we got to spend some time with the Miller's. Mr. Miller was so funny and hit it off well with Nathan our coin collector. Mr. Miller's collection is quite impressive. : )

The bus camp went well. Surprisingly well. We all got our allotment of grease under our finger nails and it looks like we'll have more busses to strip next year.

I really enjoy weekends on our trips. Meeting new people and doing concerts. It's a great time. This weekend was no exception. We met the Froiland Family and they gave us a mini concert after the 'walking tacos' experience. They played some really cool cowbells. We have to get some of those! I want to post a picture but mom needs the phone, so I don't have time to upload it.

Thanks to Izzy for blogging our shedule! Looking forward to see you.