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.