Happy Thanksgiving

November 22, 2007...My first Thanksgiving away from home; it wasn't bad. Granted I did miss our annual football game but as a friend reminded me, "I'm sure they'll be playing next year." Good reminder! I have to admit Thanksgiving day alone was not that exciting but the five days that surrounded it were quite exciting. Week one of tour we all, the entire choir, stayed together at a camp; since then we have been in host families. Until...Wednesday November 21. From Wednesday to Sunday we all got to spend time together at the same place. The first two nights were at the Church we preformed at; we slept on the carpeted gym floor. The second two nights were spent at a church camp, where we saw our first snow...this I will talk about it a little bit.



The day after Thanksgiving my Mom and Grammy came up to visit. It was nice to spend time and visit with them. I was even able to spend one night with them in the Hotel. They arrived Friday afternoon and came to the concert that night. Actually, Beth and I were doing laundry at a laundry Mat and they found the two of us there...as soon as they got settled into their hotel. Side note: Doing laundry for 26 children is quite expensive!!! Mom and Grammy came to the concert that night and Mom bought out the entire product table...everybody knows what they are getting for Christmas now!!



Saturday they came to the camp we were staying at and were able to spend time with the kids for a little bit. Not only did they get to spend time with the kids for the first time but it was the kids first time to play in snow. The night before Mom and Grammy came it snowed...oh about 3-4 inches. They arrived at the end of rehearsals....so...they got to see a bit of rehearsals and then play with the kids in the snow. It was a great time!!! The kids built snowmen...well half snowman half leaf man, they made snowballs and snow angels. I have lots of pictures on my picture site. Then they took, Beth, Rosette and I out for lunch and shopping. We ate at Chili's. Funny, restaurants you take for granted back home become five star restaurants when you do not get to go to many restaurants. After our outing we dropped Beth and Rosette back off at the camp and I stayed with mom and Grammy. They took me out to eat at some fancy, home-style chicken restaurant; it was nice. It was a set menu, so you ate what they brought out and boy did they bring out a lot. Chicken, Mashed potatoes, cream corn, rolls, cottage cheese, fruit, gravy, jelly, and to top it all off ice cream. When dinner was over we went Christmas light looking. There were a few houses that had already put their light up. Then it was back to the hotel. The next morning they came to church with me. This was the first Sunday we have not had a concert. So...the kids sang one song and then went to children's church and all the chaperones plus Mom and Grammy stayed for the service. It was a nice visit, I am so glad they were able to come! After church we headed our separate ways; them to the airport and us on to our next concert.






One more reminder of home came Monday night. My host family went over to another host families house and we had a hot dog roast!!! The Uncle had built a ka small fire and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over it. Some of the kids tell me they ate 26 marshmallows...this I can not believe...but they did eat a lot! I stayed by the fire as long as possible for many reasons. One it was very cold outside!!! Two it reminded me of our camping trips back home...I was wishing Mr. Fordinal, Mr. Urban and Mr. Dillow were all with me and had their guitars. Third it reminded me of our annual girls weekend at the ranch...for that I wished Cassie was there with her guitar. Last but not least reason number four...I love the smell of campfire and I wanted it to sink into my coat as much as possible....oh and it did.
The past few days have been very enjoyable. I had a great Thanksgiving holiday and I hope all of you did as well!




P.S. if you go look at my picture site I am aware that I spelt marshmallow wrong in every picture!

God is good!!!

1 Corinthians 8:6 "yet for us there is one God, the Father from whom are all things and FOR WHOM WE EXIST and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and THROUGH WHOM WE EXIST"


"Auntie my seat belt will not enter." "Okay...keep trying." A few seconds later (Bridget) "God is good Faulanta" (Faulanta) "yes I know" (Bridget) "the seat belt was not entering and the Lord gave me the wisdom (pointing at her head) to fix it."
"Auntie the trees are worshiping God" (Prisca) "What did you say?" "When the trees sway back and forth they are worshiping God." "Yes, you are right."
"Out of the mouths of Babes." How convicting a simple, innocent statement from a child can be. How often do I give God the glory in the big things, much less the small ones. When Prisca mentioned "the trees are worshiping God." I was reminded of my first week of tour. We were driving through Indianna and I looked up at a cluster of trees after I had just finished reading "the trees/creation growns for their redemption." The Lord used that time in my life to remind me how great He is and how we take so much for granted. The trees know the Lord's goodness and cry out while we step over it every day. We exist for God...just think about that statement for awhile!!! I did not create God He created me. I am a bondservant.


I can't believe Thanksgiving is only two days away...my goodness!!! We will be staying at a camp together for a few days, over the thanksgiving holiday. I am very excited. I will miss our annual T-Day football game but hopefully me and the boys will have a place to play our own game of T-Day football. On Friday my mom and grandmother are suppose to be flying up to visit...another exciting event!!! One other exciting event happened last night...I was able to talk to three dear friends on skype...that made my night. I miss you all!
We are now in Nebraska now; we will be heading for Kansas on Wednesday. There is never a dull moment.

HUMMER!!!

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 "To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." In this verse "worthy of his calling" is referring to salvation not neccissarily our career in life. I used this verse though because after researching it a bit, I came across a very good quote that fits where my life is right now...“May God fill you with all that good which is pleasing to him.” (Oldshausen). I like the fact it says "all that good which is pleasing to HIM." Not the good which is pleasing to me...the good which is pleasing to me might be an easy way out. The good which is pleasing to the Lord might be placing me in a host home that I might find a bit stressful...maybe they have young kids that want to wake up at 8am on my day to sleep or maybe I'm just not use to the way they do life. Yet during that time I could easily go crazy the Lord is using it to stretch and grow me...that is "the good which is pleasing to him." That's just my little verse for the week. Moving on...






"Hummer! Hummer!" A word wich is all to familiar. Hummers are a big deal to these kids. From the time they have arrived in the states anytime we are driving they are searching for a hummer and when they find one we all know about it. And so it happened we sang at a church where a host family had a HUMMER! Not just one but two. The kids and I'm not gonna lie some of the Aunties and Uncles were excited. The host family that the car belonged to took girls so three girls got to ride in the hummer. Actually 6 girls because she gave my girls a ride to our host families house because of how excited they were. It was all to cute. Okay I can't lie...I still don't see a hummer as an amazing vehicle I see it as a gas guzzler...but I like the fact that the children get so excited. We took all the kids pics infront of the hummer...they loved it!
I want to share a story on the innocense of these kids. Last night the host family I stayed with had a stuffed animal that talked. It was Eore from Winnie the Pooh. You could press his leg and he would talk. When we pressed his leg he said..."go ahead ask me a question." So Julian just steps right up and says "What is your name?" When he didn't respond she asked again "what is your name?" Then I explained that he was a stuffed animal and could not respond back...it was cute! Two months into it and there are still so many things that haven't been seen, heard or done.




Like I said two months into it. It's hard to believe that two months ago today I landed in Indianna to prepare for my adventure. It seems like it's flown by and yet it also feels as if we've done about six months worth of work in the last two. I would not trade it though...I love it all..the hecticness (if that's not a word it is now), the traveling, meeting new people, seeing new houses, the kids and the other chaperones. I just want to end with one verse...Proverbs 16:9 "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps."