Tour with 31

Just to add a new twist I've decided to try out wordpress for my blog site. We'll give it a go...what do you think?

As I write right now, I am sitting in a church in Fredricton, New Brunswick. Intersting thing though, is I've been to this church before. I came here with choir 30 and I remember so much about it. It was weird to walk through the church and remember all the things that happened the last time I was here; all good memories though.

Well as I mentioned we are in Canada, we crossed over last Sunday. I love Canada...out first stop was in Moncton, NB...another place I had also been too. In fact it is the very place Stacie joined up with us (choir 30 for the first time). I also remember the church we stayed at there as well, it was a great stay!

We are coming to a close and only have 2 more JOH concerts left, one of those being tonight and then I will head home for a bit. I'll be saying good bye to hotels and hello to host families. Good bye to fast food and buffets and hello to home cooked meals!!! Yeah! On this tour we do indeed at a lot of buffets and one of our boys is quite enthusiastic about trying new food especially if it comes from the country we are in. We went to the Ponderosa buffet the other day and there were brussel sprouts on the buffet. I would not even eat brussel sprouts I'm sure not going to make the children eat them. But Lubega went and grabbed not just one but three. I asked him "Lubega do you know what those are." To which he reponded..."no, its Canadian food and we are in Canada" So he ate them all, since they were Canadian food and we are indeed in Canada...I did not want to burst his bubble, why stop a good thing. He also loves crab legs from chinease buffets, he has a broader food spectrum than I do that is for sure!

Welp that's about all I can think of to write for now....

At it again!

I guess I could update this a little better, now that I have time. I remember when I started tour...I would sit down one a week and update this blog as tour progressed I became pretty consistant in updating it once a month. However towards the end of tour I just fell off the map when it came to blogging...sorry about that one.


Well it is hard to believe that its been over a month since I sent all my children back home. I will just be honest with you all and say...that was not an easy thing to do. I don't think you are ever fully prepared to say good bye to 33 people you love so dearly. Its so true that we truly were like a family. Of course there are times you get frustrated to the enth degree with people, even the children, yet you never lose your love for that person. I can truly say any frustrations or problems I had on the road are gone and worth nothing and I truly miss every child and every chaperone more than words could describe. They say when a woman gives birth there is a hormone released that allows her to forget a lot, not all mind you, but a good deal of the pain of child birth. The end of tour is like that hormone. You say good bye to all the chlidren and all the other chaps and while you remember the hard times and struggles the times of laughter and joy far out weigh them all. We'll call it the end of tour hormone.


We said good bye and parted ways on December 27th. The children plus David and Beth all headed out that day. Barb, Jenny, Terse, Stacie and I all stayed in a hotel that night. After we said good bye the five of us got a hotel and then a cab and went to down town New York. We went to rockafeller center and then to dinner. Walked into all of one store and then all decided to head back to the hotel. No lie I think we were back by 11...the next day we all parted ways as well. I will not lie it was sad and hard. I think the first week or two or three or four I was back home I struggled with being depressed. Although I was glad to see everyone, it was hard because I had been touring and living life by a schedule and in a bus with 33 other people and then came back home to a some what quiet room and no schedule...I did not know what to do. The time I did get to spend with family and friends was great though. For my birthday my mom through a little get together at El Fenix and then Sarah Estes invited some people to play games at her house...I enjoyed and was blessed by all of that.


I have been so blessed to be part of choir 30, I can not put it into words. I miss them all teribly. I have been able to keep up with them a bit...Beth, David and Rosette, Mwai and Abraham let us know how the kids are doing. For those of you who have asked how are Beth, David and Rosette doing...I think they are all doing well. Beth made me a bit jealous by telling me all the Kenyan food she was eating one night, David is up and working and Rosette has been very active with her church. Barb, Jenny, Terese and Vic are going to meet Stacie and myself in Illinois at the end of this month.

Stacie and I decided we would tour again so we are both now out on the road with choir 31. One of our stops is in Illinois, Jenny's home state. Vic, Terese and Barb are all flying in to Illinois to stay with Jenny, see the choir and see us as well. Ironically enough...all three of them will be on the same flight for the last leg...to funny eh? Vic coming from Calgary, Barb from Winkler, MB and Terese from Washington state will all arrive at the same time on the same flight for Jenny. Jenny that makes your job of picking them up pretty easy eh?



Well as I said, Stacie and I are on the road again. We left early in the morning on the 25th of January. We both had the same flight out of DFW it was at 7...PS I dislike early morning flights. We arrived and hit the ground running. We arrived in North Carolina, the entire choir picked us up, bus and all. Then we traveled about an hour and a half and picked up Julia. After picking everyone up, we headed for the hotel. We had an early bed time and a full day the next day. The next day, was happy birthday to you here is 12 hours of rehearsals...that might be a bit exagerative but close. The time flew by however and it was fun. Sharye made the announcement it was my birthday on the bus and so everyone sang to me. PSS...I dislike the happy birthday song...all you can do is sit there while everyone sings to you...We had dinner at the golden corral and there someone also mentioned it was my birthday...ergo the song was song yet again and this time I had to stand up. My birthday was nice, thank you all for the phone calls and texts. The next day was our first concert which I have to say went off rather well. Since then we have preformed in GA and FL and after Florida I believe we are heading to AL. We are hitting all the southern states and that's exciting because many of them I have not been to. This tour is different then the church tours it is honestly like a broadway type production. My main responsibility on this tour is Assistant Stage Manager and when it switches back over to the church tour I'll be the admin yet again.


I will try to keep you all updated. May the Lord bless you as you go throughout your day or night!

At it Again!!!

Wow! I guess its been quite awhile since I've updated this blog. Tonight might not be the best update; we are all watching American Idol at the same time. Well I guess I will start with the last few months of choir 30. I guess the last place I left off was when I forgot what county I lived in when the President asked me. Well since then life has been just as busy. There is a base house in Carolina that is just amazing! We were able to spend 3 weeks at this house, it was amazing! We were able to spend amazing quailty time together. I have to say it was my best time with the kids ever. There was a trampoline at the base house and I had so much fun. After the base house we headed for Baltimore where we had a 3 week run of a Christmas show. At the end of that we headed to a small place in New York for our final Camp together. I enjoyed our last camp so much, just hanging out in the snow with our kids. They all recieved a suitcase full of clothes extra to go home with, they were thoroughly excited. The kids went home on December 27th and since then have began school. I miss them all so much!


After a night in New York with the girls I headed back home December 28th! I think the first week at home was surreal for me. About 8 or 9 days later I recieved a call from Marci our choir manager. She asked if I wanted to head back out on the road and so here I am helping out with choir 31.

Sorry this is so short. I don't know when I'll have another chance to write...but we are about to play dutch blitz! Hope you are all doing very well...hope to write a better update soon!!!

What Mr. President...? No I don't know what county I live in!

Oops...I guess it's been awhile since I've updated this thing. Sorry ya'll. Life has been so busy. To make a long story short...I was able to come home for a short bit... really the entire reason I came home was to go to the State Fair of Texas. No one knew I was coming and still some may not even have realized I was home. I did not get to visit everyone because the trip was so fast. It was fun to be random and spontaneous though. Those are my favorite kind of trips...the unplanned ones.
I flew back into Buffalo, NY and that is where I met up with the choir. It was the day they were crossing the border so once they made it across the border...the entire bus just picked me up at the airport. Once I got in the bus... Barb told me Terese was coming back early from her holiday so we can go to DC. I must have had a puzzled look on my face because she said.. "didn't I tell you about that?" But I think the expression on my face answered that question for her...because she proceeded to tell me that we are scheduled to sing at an International Summit where we will meet the President.


So that was really neat...the following Monday we drove from upstate NY to DC. We don't generally have trips that are that long... but the kids liked ridding in the bus when the sun went down and of course eating McDonalds. So we arrived and my two roommates Erin and Rachel...happened to be driving through DC the exact time we were doing sound check for the event. They were able to meet the kids and hang out just for a bit...I was so excited that some of my friends finally got to meet my choir.


The next day to add to the excitement was the actual performance and afterward a picture with President Bush. That man has at least 16 body guards. We were all taken to a back room and put into position to wait on the President. Four police officers came in and left…I guess to start the car. A few minutes later 8 police officers with big bullet proof vest and large black bags walked in and following them was President Bush and behind President Bush were 8 men in suits and ear pieces. The President came and greeted the children and talked a bit then took a few pictures with us. After the pictures he chatted with us again. He asked were the children were from and then Auntie Susan told him that Stacie and I were from Texas. Now my dad had told me if I get to talk with the President to make sure I tell him I’m from Iredel because he would know where that’s from. So President Bush asked me “where in Texas?” Being the obedient person I am I told him “Iredel…DeSoto” Oh goodness are these places even close to each other….um…no! Anyways…Iredel seemed to ring a bell so he asked me, “What county is that in?” Oopss… I told him… “You know if you hadn’t of asked I could have told you but I can’t think of it right now. It’s on the tip of my head.” I told him it was 50 miles from his ranch…he then asked, “What direction?” Did I know…no I did not…I stuck out my arm and pointed and said “that direction.” Then I said “it’s by Hico, Stephenville, in that area.” He said, “Okay you are west of us.” I said “sure” The he finished by saying, “that’s good country I can’t wait to get back there.” It was really neat just to be able to talk with the President for a little while.

Our last place to stay in New York was Rifton, NY at a place I would equate to a Amish Community; except they had electricity and cars, but they lived in community and no one carried there own money. They shared everything and I know to us that sounds a bit weird and awkward. But I have to say I really enjoyed staying with them. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. Plus everyone had their own responsibilities and chores they took care of. The kids after half a day of school then did crafts. Not the take a paper plate and draw a cute smiley face on it craft...no no... crafts like basket weaving or other crafts that can really be used. The boys learned how to farm. It was just a really neat atmosphere...I wish we could have stayed longer.

We are now in Virgina and making our way to North Carolina where we will have a bit of a break and maybe some downtime.

One Year

It's already been over a year since this crazy road trip began...is that not amazing! I think so...

Over the last few weeks we've done some pretty neat things. We took the kids to see Niagra falls. That was a lot of fun. We went on a boat ride, Maid of the Mist, it took us right up to the falls. I'm not going to lie I was a little nervous...when there is water hurling down at who knows what rate over these massive falls and some guys voice on the intercom on the boat telling you the water is 180 ft. deep please do not get to close to the edge...it's not an easy feeling but it was a lot of fun.
After Niagra we headed to Toronto. Being in Toronto was a busy time for us. The kids sang at an event called OneXOne...it's a non-profit organization that helps countries around the world. Something like that. We arrived in Toronto and stayed at the fairmont hotel...I saw Sawyer from LOST when I was walking through the Lobby. We arrived at the venue and walked the red carpet. Once by ourselves and the kids sang a song, again with Matt Damon and then the last time with John Legend and Wycliff Jean. If you are like me you are probably wondering who John Legend and Wycliff Jean are....they are apparently really popular R&B singers. The kids sang with a 14 year old girl her name is Nikki Yonofsky...she was amazing...the kids also sang with a group called the Canadian Tenors...they were also amazing. Probably my favorite people from that evening. They really seemed to enjoy the time they spent with the kids...they were a lot of fun. We of course overwhelmed everyone in the swimming area...when we all walked in with 26 children in tow...we cleared the area out really fast...which was fun for all of us. The chlorine in that pool was so high...my vision was blurry the rest of the day.


We also took the children to the Canadian Parliment...that was pretty neat as well. It was quite impressive...that was in Ottawa, ON. While we were there we got the kids to stand in front of the parliment building so we could take a group shot. But apperantly everyone else wanted a group shot with our kids as well. People would just come hand their camera to their friend and stand behind the kids. It was crazy we really had to wait a few minutes for all these random people to leave and stop taking photos so we could take our own group photo...is that not nuts!
A quick story: the other day Terese was leading devotions and the story talked about mopeing around. She asked the children do you know what it means to mope? Faulanta raised her hand and stood up and said "Yes, Auntie it is when you have that stick with the white stuff and the end and you clean/mop the floor" We all had a laugh at the cuteness of that. We have such great children.

We have now done over 200 concerts and have another 2 coming up tomorrow...on the road again..

Assurance!

It’s true! We are just a couple of weeks shy of the one year mark! Boy! How time flies. This time last year I had just arrived home from Uganda and was busy tying up lose ends and home; preparing for my departure with this amazing group. What an amazing adventure it has been and continues to be.


In the course of the last year we have…not even the last year let us start in February when the choir was in Port McNeil, Vancouver Island. Since that concert in Port McNeil we have driven through, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, dipped down into Maine driving through Vermont, and come back through New Brunswick and are currently in Nova Scotia. On August 8th we were in North Sydney, Nova Scotia; this is as Far East as we could go. On that day we had officially traveled from the Far West of Canada to the Far East a spanse of 2970 miles. That is not all the traveling we did however for in each province we zigzagged and covered the distance of 10,996 miles and that is just since February! During these travels thus far we have put on 181 concerts and we still have 55 or so to go!

It is an amazing feeling and indescribable comfort to know you are where you are suppose to be. Last week I had the opportunity to go down and sit by a river with a friend. We sat there and just listened to the water as it rushed over the stones beneath. After a few minutes of sitting and thinking she asked me, “what are you thinking about?” My response, which was exactly what I was thinking about was, “I wonder how many people have said or can say, ‘they don’t want to miss a moment of their life.’ They wake up with a since of purpose and not wanting to miss anything that the day has in store. Even if things are not always perfect they know they are where they are suppose to be and can not think of anything better to be doing in life. Because that is where I am.” Indeed friends and family that is where I am.


Sometimes I have thought to myself how can I have such a peace and joy. I live in a bus with 8 other adults and 26 children; I am a nomad. Tour is not always the easiest life, but I have found it incredibly rewarding. As I have had these thoughts of how can I have such peace and joy in the midst of sometimes being incredibly exhausted, I came across this line in a book written by John Piper. “Therefore, this man of INDESTRUCTIBLE JOY was ‘a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.’” (Isaiah 53:3) I am not saying I have had much sorrow or grief while on tour…quite the contrary but there are those times of growing and being stretched. When I first read this it seemed to be an oxymoron; indestructible joy and grief. Then I realized the since of joy and peace that I have is not based on my circumstances or surroundings. The since of joy and peace that I have is firmly based in the Lord and the assurance I have in Him and where He has me at this time in my life. It reminds me of when Ester was told in Ester 4:14 “ For if you keep silent at this time relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this.” If I had not joined choir 30 this tour would have still gone on as planned but my life would not be the same. All the things the Lord has taught me while on tour and the way He has stretched me and made me grow would not have ever happened. The Lord has placed me on this tour at this time ‘for such a time as this.’ What an amazing feeling! What an Amazing Lord!


Now I would also like to tell you some things we have done over the past month or so. We stayed in Gananoque, ON. The house I stayed in was right on the beach! The girls and I got to ride sea doos and go fishing. (I just had a nice little chat with my Papa on the phone; just thought you all would want to know that). The rod and reels we fished with were open face rods and I am normally no good with them. But I wanted to have one good cast...so I threw it out there and I'll be if a Pike did not jump on the end of that line! (I'm trying to write in a Texas accent) It was the biggest dad gum fish I had ever caught! Lots of fun! After the fishing adventure we traveled down into Maine. I had my first lobster! We went to a 'resteraunt' right on the coast...the boats where tied to the dock we were eating on. Sarah, who was the detail person at this church, took some of us out for lobster. She took me around back and we ordered a medium lobster. They pulled Mr. Lobster from the tank and sat him on the scale. The next thing I knew Mr. Lobster was Mr. Red, dead and on the plate in front of me! It was an interesting experience...can't say lobster is my favorite but I had fun trying it. At this same church there was a family who raised shetlin ponies. So they brough two of their full grown ones and a 2 month old out for the kids to see. All the kids got to go for a ride in a wagon pulled by the horses. They also were able to take the baby for a walk. The baby shetlin was as big as them...he would run and then the children would run while holding on to the rope that was leading the horse; thus they would just go in circles and I would laugh.


This morning we were on breakfast television but thankfully it was not live so we did not have to be there at 7! We got to sleep in till 8 and arrive at 10 or so. And that's about it for now!