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.

Days 5-6: Belle Fourche to Rapid City

Saturday night we arrived in Belle Fourche where luke played a concert for a smaller youth crowd but it was great, its been a big change going from a full band to solo so the feedback was really encouraging for Luke. We were also taken care of like kings it was really nice for the boys and I cause our hotel had pool which is what we did while Luke had his concert. We also got to spend some time with the Youth Pastors Clay and Miranda and really connected with them, they have awesome hearts for the Lord and the Youth in their city. We also went to their church this morning and luke got invited to play a song for their service, and we even ran into a couple who used to live in the valley, what a small world it is. We finally started towards Rapid City since Luke will be playing here tomorrow, and we have a lot of site seeing to do in this area. We went to TATANKA Kevin Costners Interpretive Center about the buffalo and Native Americans, or I should say Luke and Noah did. Gabe was sleeping and I didn't feel like killing my back walking through the center carrying him, so we stayed and napped in the car. Then we drove through Deadwood, saw where Wild Bill was shot and then drove through Lead an old gold mining town. Tomorrow we stay again in Rapid City and are going to the Reptile Gardens and maybe Mount Rushmore before lukes show, and then we start making our way to Junction City. So there will definately be good pics tomorrow!

Day 2-4: Butte, Billings, Birthdays....fun!!!

Wednesday we arrived in Butte where Luke and I lead worship at Abundant Life for their youth service. Luke was still struggling with a fever but worship was great the kids entered right in which is always awesome to see among teens since that can be such a hard age to walk out, so it was encouraging to see them excited to enter in. We were blessed by a great family that not only fed us a wonderful dinner but housed us to (Thanks so much Michone, Jacob, Daniel, Rachel, Ezekiel, and Joshua). We headed to Billings Thursday morning not to long of a drive so the boys did great, and lukes fever broke in the night so he was feeling much better. Luke taught on worship at New Life church to their youth worship band and while we had planned to camp out for a few days here in a tent, the youth pastor Danny and his wife Laurie (and their 4 amazing kids)invited us to stay in their home (and they fed us) which was an awesome blessing. Laurie who is a super mom (I mean seriously like superman only in mom form) opened their home to us despite a twisted ankle, cold, and planning her sons birthday party. Not only this but she invited the boys to Micah's party which was a blast. Then tonight we had a night of worship in their house with a few of their friends, words just can't express how great and blessed we have been here, and everywhere we've been so far. It's been wonderful meeting new people and making new friends and family. Tomorrow we are headed to Rapid City SD a six hour drive and then luke plays, please keep us in your prayers while things are going well we are still fighting off sickness and the boys need a lot of covering just being out of their usual environment and having to keep moving is definately going to be a stretch on us all. Miss you all and Blessings from us!

Day 2

We left Yesterday at noon and headed to Missoula where we got to go to the G Love concert (I won some tickets off the radio before we left) while our good friends Tom and Erica watched the boys a nice little treat before our extended time of no breaks from them. Today we will be heading to Butte where Luke will play, while on the subject of luke please keep him in prayer healthwise, not only does he still deal with a lot of backpain but he seems to have come down with some kind of bug and is running a bit of a fever...I guess it wouldn't really be tour if someone wasn't sick, but seeing how hes the "driver" I would much rather it had been one of us. We love you all and thank you for all your thoughts and prayer.

2 days to go!!

So we've finished all of our inside projects, we've gotten the yard as prepared as possible just in case it snows before we come back, and with the amazing talent of Zach and Adam we now have a beautiful stamped sidewalk (yeahhhh!), and I also have to give a shout out to Tony Crouteau Jr. for helping luke reorganize the sheds so I didn't have to. I've got one suitcase packed (the boys) and a whole house to clean as well as a few loose billing ends to finish up tomorrow but then its off to the great wide open...well missoula.....check in again soon

Preparations

So this is my first time blogging so hopefully this is all set up correctly. Anyways the countdown has begun exactly 6 days 12 hrs till we leave on our family tour and the chaos has commenced. As we rush around finishing home projects (which we have put off for the past month)and making lists of what needs to get done I feel the anxiousness to just be gone already setting in. So I will update as often as possible once on the road. Blessings everyone