Halloween!!

Yes I thought my blogging days were done but Luke thought it would be nice to continue here and there, so what better to post on then Halloween. Firstly I am conflicted on even celebrating the holiday, but growing up with it I find it hard not to give in to loads of free candy, plus we don't celebrate it in its true reasoning so that helps me feel not so bad. Anyhow this year being the way it was Luke is gone, we just got home, I didn't have anytime to make any good theme costumes this year so I was a bit bummed, but despite my glum the boys looked super cute and had lots of fun getting free candy (which I have already raided, and no I probably won't have any left for you Luke..sorry). So I hope you enjoy the pics of the boys and the pumpkins two of which Noah carved by himself ( I am so proud) and we made soup of (fortunately this there will be some left for you Luke : )) Happy Halloween

Illinois, Fargo, Ambrose, and Canada.....And at long last HOME!

Thats right we have made it home after 8 weeks of tour and yes we are all still alive and sane. I think I had left off in Ohio were we had just left impact, I did have some wireless along the way but we were driving so long each day I didn't really have it in me to blog, so I'll just fill in now. First the amazing thing about Ohio is that in the two weeks we were with Impact we saw about 4000 people give their lives to Jesus, they had already been going a week and a half when we got there so the running total when we left was up to 7,ooo or so and I just checked yesterday they were at 10,000. They are such an awesome group and we were really blessed by what God did in us personally in just the short time we were with them. On to Illinois, Luke had a show in O'Fallon Illinois doing worship at a church, unfortunately Luke lost his voice on the way to the show and so I sang and Luke backed me up...an interesting night to say the least. We then moved toward Fargo North Dakota where Luke had a show and I would have to say this day was the most beautiful scenery wise for me. We drove through the state of Iowa and it was amazing I have never seen grass in so many different colors it was like watching a sunset on the ground for 6 hours. Unfortunately two of Luke's North Dakota shows were a bust and didn't work out for different reasons but we made it to Ambrose where my parents have their farm and got to do a little bird hunting, a little guitar picking with some good ole boys in the town bar, and some relaxing before our trip to Canada. And then there was Canada. When we left Illinois we had been in 85 degree weather, nice....when we headed north it got colder, and colder, and colder. Not only that but there is always that last week of tour when you know its the last so you just can't hold everything together anymore. What I'm getting at is I was cold, tired, and pretty cranky, okay very cranky, not to mention we drove 8 hours in a car almost 4 of the six days we were in Canada. Actually I'm making it sound way worse then it really was, I honestly couldn't believe I had made it to this point without completely losing it, and while yes I was a bit more irritable I think all and I did quite well, Luke's shows all went great up there and we were blessed with some new friends and some future shows for Luke. Of Course now that we are home the boys are really driving me crazy. I think because we were always out or at other peoples houses they actually toned down their craziness a bit but now that we are home they are back to normal. I' ll post a few pics from a couple of the days to finish up this part of the family tour blog. Overall it was a wonderful experience I couldn't have asked or prayed that it would have been any better, in fact I loved it and wished we could go along with Luke a lot more now that I know how good the boys can do. Luke will leave on Tuesday for a short week long tour be back a few days and then head into Canada for another short one right before Thanksgiving. Really I don't know what else to say, thank you everyone who supported us in going on this, those of you who helped us on the road and let us stay at your houses, and all of you who prayed I know thats why it went so good. Love you all and see you in the next post, whenever it may be.

Thank You Ohio and Goodnight!

Last night was our last night at Ohio, today we move to Illinois and then we start our drive North towards North Dakoty and Canada! This last week was such a blast we got into Elida and moved into our host family Monday night then on Wednesday Taylor, Joel, and Melfred from Tech moved in with us so we had lots of company which means there is never a dull moment. We connected so much better this week which we've concluded it usually takes at least two weeks to become part of something, which has made it really hard to leave now. I feel like I'm rambling but I can't seem to put coherant thoughts out right now, which I am going to blame on the Nyquil, yes thats right we are sick with lovely sinus colds, luke and I actually also got some kind of food poisoning and spent Thursday in the bathrooms, but the boys are good which is always helpful, unfortunately luke has a concert tonight and is losing his voice right now so we are just praying for a quick recovery like a few hours from now. Anyhow I am going to keep this short and just post some new pics from our time with Impact.Theres one of Luke playing at one of the shows, the another is the boys showing off some of their Ohio garage sale scores, then there one of Melfred our new Australian friend who was trusting enough to let luke shave his head and now has a large M to sport for the rest of his stay here in America...I am still sorry for that Freddy. Then the guys from a show call God Rocks (kind of the christain version of the wiggles) posing with gabe cause noah refused, and lastly our friend Ronny on the ride down to Dayton for the last show sleeping with the boys. Love you all and hopefully I can summerize a little better, like the fact that I didn't even mention how many people we saw give their lives to God during impact but I'll have to do it another time as we are suppose to be leaving right now. blessings and lots of love.

Ohio, Ohio, Ohio...

We are now into our second week in Ohio, we had wireless only for a few minutes last week so no blog, I apologize. We rolled into Middleton Ohio last Monday and got set up with our host family that quickly got rearranged due to really unfortunate circumstances. Mike and Nikki, our original family are youth pastors at a Baptist Church there and have one boy 14 months and she is currently pregnant but on the day we arrived she was put on bed rest due to the fear of a miscarriage, so rather than add more stress on her with us staying at their home, the pastor of their church had a cabin that was in use but they were able to open it up for us. So we got our own little space to hang out in, a real blessing since at the end of the week Gabers came down with the pukes for a day....lovely. Hes all better now and no one else has gotten it so I think it may have been something he ate. Luke opened for Team Extreme (the muscle guys) twice last week and did a show for Mikes Youth Group, and also went to a detention center where he played and then got locked in (a pretty funny story) apparently he looked like he belonged there, just kidding. So while we were busy somewhat there seemed like a lot of down time, its also been a struggle to really connect with everyone here on Impact since we are joining the tour a few weeks after its already started. But despite feeling separate or disconnected Gods been really stirring Luke and I about our lives and where we would like to be, which is really awesome. We have now moved to Elida Ohio and to a new home that we will be at this week. We have a show tonight that we will be doing worship for the team before they perform, and that is what we will mainly be doing this week. Well that is pretty much it blessing to everyone, thank you for your prayers, 3 more weeks and were all holding together quite well.

Farewell Junction City...Hello St. Louis

So I'm way behind on blogging but we haven't had wireless since we came to St. Louis and I've been a bit lazy. Luke did his concert in Junction City Sunday night and we had a surprising turn out for the night, not only in numbers but also in the fact that 70 % of the crowd was 65 +...even more surprising they all stayed for the entire concert with the exception of one older lady who left after one song in fear of a heartattack(not a joke she actually told us it was making her heart beat to fast). It was an awesome night and God blessed us hugely in the finance department. So we stayed up till midnight with the Cousins painting toenails (yes the little boys wanted their toenails painted too and the cousins of course did it) and in the morning we left with a newly decorated van toward St. Louis..see pictures above. Now we are towards the end of are stay here in St. Louis and as every visit is in St. Louis we are well rested, and very well fed. Luke's Grandma has a gift of making sure no one is ever hungry at any time of the day and her cooking is to good to ever say no to so I am now 10 lbs heavier. We've also gotten to see almost all the family here which has been awesome since we only make it down here every couple of years and this is where all of lukes family is. We've also made sure to hit some major highlights of the town, the zoo, the magic house, etc... Tonight I think were going to the boat. We leave in 2 days to meet up with impact world tour. So far so good I haven't gone off the deep end and the boys are still alive...in fact we've actually had quite a bit of fun so far, almost half way there, one month to go!

KC to Junction City

Thursday evening we strolled into Kansas City to stay with our friends Jesse and Melissa Fellers. Melissa had to work until midnight so I didn't get to see her as much as I would have liked but we had a lot of fun hanging out with Jesse and Amariah. It was good to catch up even though we didn't have to much time together. The next morning we were off to good ole Junction City to meet up with the fam (my sisters that is). The drive was only 2 hours but after two days of 6-7 hours in the car with the boys I was a bit on edge to say it nicely. That seems to be the hardest part of traveling, the boys have been doing great staying with people and being out of their usual element its just been the driving and being stuck in the car that seems to be the most trying on us all. The boys were thrilled to see their cousins whom they refer to as their "friends" and Cassia and Caleb had even made a paper ballon/pinata for them filled with way to much candy. I think this has been Lukes favorite stop yet since Caleb recently got a Nintendo Wii which Luke has only separated himself from for sleep and food so far (just kidding). Today we've just been chillin' Jess and I went to garage sales this morning and soon were going to be hitting up the playground. Luke will be playing here tomorrow night so that should be fun. Overall though its been a nice and much needed break since the boys have been entertained nonstop by the cousins. Blessings everyone thanks for all the prayer!

Days6-8: Rushmore,Reptile Gardens, and Really Cold Camping

So I had left off my last blog in Rapid City where we had stayed in a hotel. We got up the Monday morning with plans to go to the Reptile Gardens, and then Luke was suppose to play a show that night, and the people would house and feed us. When he called to check in though they had him down for October 15th instead of September which meant that we were pretty much on our own for food and lodging, we decided to go the Gardens and then Mount Rushmore, and find a campground from there. The Reptile Gardens was pretty cool, the boys had a lot of fun seeing all the alligators and snakes, and Mount Rushmore was really neat. It was a little smaller than I had always imagined it to be, but definitely amazing. We decided on good old tent camping and stopped in Keystone to see if anyone had any recommendations. We lucked out and there was a campground only a mile up the road but......it was closed as were all the forest park campgrounds, fortunately though with my good eyes I spotted a campground that wasn't gated and we found a really great camp spot. After a gourmet dinner of hot dogs and spaghetti we got all situated and sat around the campfire and then headed to bed dressed in long johns, stocking hats, and jackets. To top the evening off our brand new air bed deflated leaving us on hard ground in 40 degree weather, all I can say to describe the night is AWESOME. We got up bright and early and headed to the crazy horse monument, which we admired from the road and then headed to the Jewel Caves which were alright (I am pretty partial to the Lewis and Clark Caverns), plus after an hour and a half in the cave Noah started getting cave crazy and the tour kept going...it was only suppose to be an hour and 20 minutes. After that we decided to drive through the Custer State Park where they are suppose to have an amazing herd of buffalo, we saw 1 yes 1 buffalo in the entire park, and a lot of wild donkeys which stormed our car looking for handouts. We then went back to our tent and made plans of how to make it through another night of cold and decided that the boys and I would sleep in the van and Luke would sleep in the tent alone......yes it was cold again, but Luke survived. And that was the end of our stay in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. Which by the way I have decided if we ever move to South Dakota I am going to become a Park Ranger. Today on the mark of our one week gone we got back into the van and drove for 7 hours till we arrived in Sioux Falls where we splurged and got another hotel rather than our original plan to camp in Nebraska, and tomorrow we will go to KC Missouri to visit Jesse and Melissa before we move on to Junction City KS to stay with my sister and family. Amazingly we are all well and don't have a runny nose or anything else, and this really is amazing considering how many people have been sick that we have been around, so all the prayer must be working. Miss you all and I really mean that, of course 5 weeks to go.