Humble Pie and Leaf Verde

We had a great crowd at Leaf Verde tonight. About 90 people came to "The Barn". We saw some people we recognized and were  so blessed to have my cousin's wife attend. We also met some people from home -- Spokane and even closer... from Tekoa!

I ate humble pie tonight as I first fell forward onto the stage and then backward off the side of it. It was quite the sight! Greg was great at filling in the awkward moments while I tried to regain my composure. I think I'm going to be a little sore in the morning. :)

We will be moving on to Buckeye tomorrow and playing at Cotton Lane RV in the evening.

First Country Baptist of Surprise & Saddle Mountain Church

What a refreshing and wonderful time the Lord provided at First Country Baptist on Saturday night. We were so blessed by these special people. The Lord brought us there and I hope we encouraged others as much as we were encouraged!

Pictures to follow...

Sunday morning we attended the church at Saddle Mountain RV. We shared for 1/2 hour and then we were greatly challenged by the teaching. The Lord keeps putting us in contact with such wonderful people; just like at home!

Desert Shadows, the Van, and Leaf Verde

The internet has been very inconsistent (as I have been mentioning and trying not to complain), but I am thankful to be able to send an update today. There is still not enough bandwidth to post pictures, but Dad and Mom, I will try to do that soon! :)

Yesterday we ventured through Phoenix to Casa Grande to play at a park we were at last year. We saw some old faces (I mean ones we had seen before) and some new faces. Hannah's cheerleaders from last year attended again. It was wonderful! Though we were struggling with sound equipment issues before the program, it all came together. The Lord is faithful.

It is always a great pleasure to talk to the people at the park. There are a lot of common questions though, so we have decided we probably need to have a part of the program that deals with the 10 most frequently asked questions! What would be your question if you didn't know us?

Bryan was prompted to go to a particular mechanic near Buckeye and we found out he is a Christian. He is going to be very reasonable in replacing the transmission. Don't quote me for sure on that...I just make sure everyone is dressed correctly when we sing; I don't know about cars.  When the mechanic heard about what was going on, he responded, "Oh, that's probably an 1890" or some mechanic lingo like that. He and Bryan went on a test drive and indeed that was the issue. We should have it back tomorrow and praise the Lord we don't have to drive anywhere tonight as we are playing here in the Leaf Verde park and will be only a few miles down the road tomorrow, so should have plenty of time to get the vehicle back tomorrow. God got us through the desert until we could get help.

This park (Leaf Verde) has been wonderful in Buckeye. It is an excellent place to be and the people are so friendly and helpful. I highly recommend it. We look forward to the show tonight.

I would ask prayer for energy and health. All are well, but we are running late hours and becoming a bit tired. You all are a blessing!

Some pictures & the Birthday Girl

This road sign was a mystery to us. We haven't seen the ocean anywhere nearby...

Bonita Vista RV

Grandma and Beck

Dave & Greg

The birthday girl and Leah

Grandpa & Grandma took us to The Cracker Barrel for Dani's birthday. Here we are just waiting a couple minutes to be seated.

On to Buckeye

We are still not able to update with pictures, but tomorrow we will try to upload one at a time.  If we have time after church and the big birthday celebration. Dani is turning 19 tomorrow!

Last night we played at Bonita Vista in Apache Junction. We were blessed to be visited by two couples that are old friends. It was very special to have built-in supporters in the crowd. It was a wonderful group of people and the young children, especially, had a good time visiting with the attendees.  Sam and Rebekah continue to have fun doing their piano duet for the group, though one of the two seems to be a little quieter about the whole thing...Any guesses?  Leah runs up to the stage when it is time to do her solo. We are never quite sure after that whether she is going to do it or not, but then she gets going and as soon as she finishes the last note, she runs off the stage.

Today we moved to a nice RV park in Buckeye called Leaf Verde. Very good people here...

The girls were going to bake a cake (a real one), but we didn't have enough time. We needed to head to Surprise for a concert at First Country Baptist Church. What wonderful and appreciative believers we met there. Many are just pleased to see a family together with happy children and parents. We are a real oddity these days, and I thank the Lord for it.

Greg played "Behold the Lamb". I'm so glad he did as that song is very worshipful. But tonight was challenging for him...as he played the lid to the piano kept sliding out and covering up the keys. He had to push it back twice! It is always good to be flexible and ready for whatever challenge there may be. And...we did find the missing outfit!

Goodnight!

An Update

I would love to post some pictures, but I am going to have to wait for a better connection in the coming days. And then we will flood you with pictures! We have had wonderful and interesting times. God has been so faithful and He is growing us in faith and patience.

We had a great time at Desert Palms in Salome. We also enjoyed some fresh fruit from a roadside stand. That was a treat.

The guys and gals parted ways yesterday as I wanted to meet up with my relatives in Surprise and the rest were bringing the RVs straight to our destination. I so appreciate eastern Washington and the traffic in Spokane! So many lanes of traffic buzzing around and driving by two mishaps on the roads didn't help!

We were blessed and encouraged to have friends that we met last year in Apache Junction waiting at the new RV park, ready to provide some pizza!

Then, on to get ready for the concert and missing outfits.  How can things be missing in such a small place? So, plan B...

The concert at Sunset Resort was a huge blessing for us. The people were warm and it was wonderful to visit with so many. I can't express what a wonderful night it was, (after a very stressful day). God be praised.

Update you soon!!!

The Final Leg of the Trip

This was the nice view we had on a hill when the RV was acting up again. Prayers and a little more gas got us going again. 

Dave always carries a gas can...

Dani is always ready with her camera. :)

A happy dog and a beautiful girl

Here are the "trees" out here in the Joshua Forest

We arrived! Our van is still not acting right and Dave continues to nurse his RV. We are very thankful to be in one place for a couple nights. We can also pack away the space heaters for a while. (Sorry to all our Washington friends).  This RV Park, Desert Palms, in Salome has beautiful cactus all around and a golf course in the background. No, we didn't bring any clubs.

The children love the rocks...everyone is beautiful. God is an amazing Creator.

Sam hurried to get on his shorts.

Sam also  caught the sunset for me

We had a "warm-up" concert at the Bingo night, inviting the residents to attend the next night.