Driving through Tennessee one beautiful morning on this last trip, we heard the story of “The Volunteer State”. I hadn’t thought too much about their slogan (every state has one!), until Christopher researched it on the Internet and read aloud to us the history behind it. As he read the stories of men who had given their lives for others, and done incredibly heroic deeds which resulted in the sacrifice of their most precious gift, themselves, I was amazed. My Grandad is a veteran of the Vietnam War, and in fact, was awarded a Purple Heart. It’s only by the grace of God is he still with us, because he nearly lost his life from enemy combat.

Thank you to those of you who are working (and those who have already fulfilled their time of service) to keep America the land of the free. May each one of us never take that freedom from granted.

Most of all, my heart is grateful to my Lord and Savior, who bore my sin upon the cross, and gave His life to ransom me.

Only for Jesus,
Sarah

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. . . . Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:15 and 17).

Last Wednesday, if you were at our house, you would have seen all nine of us loading all our instruments, gear, and then ourselves into four different vehicles (two from close relatives ) and heading down to our local feed store. We decided it was time to take individual shots of each person with their instrument, as well as another group photo. Dad had been at this feed store for grass seed last year, and he thought it would make a great backdrop for the photos.

We were on a schedule: we had about 10 minutes for each person’s photo session, which included finding the next location in the feed store “storage area”, and working with the different lighting, etc. Christopher took the main photos with Joseph backing him up, and I just took photos of the whole scene. Grandad and Grandma came along to watch, and it was quite the family event.

We ended with our family photo on the loading dock. Then, we all loaded back up, and drove home, where Nathan, Melanie, and Abigail joined us for our “normal” family picture in our new house’s backyard.

Sarah for the family

It isn't always easy to find a natural pose for someone, so part of Christopher's "job" was to work with the pose.

Here we have Grandad and Grandma watching, Christopher getting his camera adjusted, Mary holding the light reflecter, Joseph taking other angle shots, and finally Jesse .

Dad and Mom in front of a neat old doorway.

Okay, so you just saw the previous picture, and here's what they look like from the angle of Christopher's camera. Pretty amazing difference!

"Alright, 1-2-3, smile!" Anna stood nearby watching (she had hairbrushes and such items in her bag if we needed them).

Peeking around the corner where Christopher was taking Joseph's photo.

A picture from Joseph's camera.

Getting the light reflector set just right...

Together on the back dock of the feed store.

“O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation”
(Psalms 95:1).

Hopefully you aren’t tired of Abigail pictures yet–here are a few more. ~Sarah

Jesse and Abigail--uncles and aunts alike enjoy Abigail .

Abigail and Anna--we celebrated Anna's birthday last week, so here is Aunt Anna and Abigail.

Abigail's face lit up when she saw my camera, and she delightedly reached for it. I have a feeling she'll be pretty easy to photograph .

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. . .” (Proverbs 17:22)

We are grateful to be home and are enjoying getting back into the swing of things. We were missing life back here in Leavenworth with Grandad, Grandma, Nathan, Melanie, and Abigail. At home, we are always “running” into each other. Maybe Grandad and Grandma are coming back from their walk, and we chat a little, or Nathan, who is working on unloading his car, might come over to talk.

Our Saturday was filled with bus unloading, giving Uriah a bath, and house work. When we start taking everything out of the bus, we’re amazed at how much we put into it for our trip. Dad and Joseph are working on painting and installing trim in the house. It is beginning to feel like we are actually going to move in soon.

Jesse and Christopher washed Uriah last weekend, which was quite a job considering he had only been washed one the entire trip. With the leaky windows, a truck wash was not a thing we wanted to do .

Christopher worked for several hours trying to clean the bugs off the front of Uriah.

These are the drying racks for trim after it is sprayed. Joseph invented them. There is lots of trim that goes into a house!

Joseph cutting the trim into the correct sizes he needs.

We found our garden had produced greatly while we were away (the above picture is only partially what we harvested)! I processed lots of vegetables to be used next year, and we even made green salsa with the green tomatoes.

Every Friday and Tuesday that we’re healthy we have Grandad and Grandma over for family Bible time. This Tuesday night we were especially excited because we were able to invite them back over, since we are now all well. We always look forward to our time with them.

It was wonderful to be able to go back to our church at the nursing home this Sunday. It is always such a delight to see the joy on their faces as we talk to them. Before we left on our trip we gave the residents itineraries of where we were going to be. We also wrote them postcards every Sunday so that they would be stay updated with our travels while we were gone.

Anna

“From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord’s name is to be praised.”
Psalms 113:3

Nathan and Melanie e-mailed us lots of Abigail pictures to post on the blog, so enjoy! We’re about to do our annual family photo, and it’ll be a true joy to have Abigail in the pictures (and maybe a challenge??!!); it’s been a long time since we had a little one around . ~Sarah

A favorite picture of mine--Abigail looks truly delighted!

Is that the camera again?!

A new "do"!

"Can I help too, Mommy?"

Nathan and his little girl.

With Mommy in the kitchen.

Reading the Bible together.

Melanie and her little girl.

We took Grandad and Grandma and Nathan and Melanie out to dinner after we came home Tuesday night to thank them for all they did for us. Mom (who doesn't have a cold ) held Abigail for awhile during dinner, and I'm not sure if the flash surprised Abigail or she was just being a little fussy . Mom enjoyed having some "Grandma/Granddaughter" time with Abigail.

I know there have been some hints about wanting to see pictures of Abigail, so enjoy the one above! Right now we’re keeping our distance because we do not want to pass our colds on to her. We’re anxiously awaiting the time we can hold her again . Truly, children are a gift from our Lord Jesus.

“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward” (Psalms 127:3).

Sarah

It was a little before 5 p.m., when we arrived at home! We hurried to unload because a storm was just about to hit . We were surprised by the greeting on the front door (via Nathan)…

We try to decorate the door each birthday with a message and Scripture, and what a nice surprise to see the front door when we arrived home!

Sarah for all my family

It’s hard to believe that the conferences are all finished, and we are headed home—almost . We are going to take Uriah back to the place that worked on it this summer to get our leaks fixed, among a few other things.  We’re here in Columbus, Ohio, for the bus work, and hopefully tomorrow everything can be taken care of, and we’ll be on our way home Tuesday.

Time for our final conference report .

Lighthouse Gospel Church was situated in the small town of Port Burwell, just down the street from the shores of beautiful Lake Erie. We are grateful for this church hosting the conference.

Isn't this a wonderful entrance sign?!

Friday night held a full house. Even the balcony was being used, and several children were lined up, watching through the glass partition. Saturday again brought many families, even some that had driven awhile to come yet that morning. Those attending the conference were an incredible group, with hearts that were very open.

In between music and Building a Vision, this picture was taken.

Christopher sharing about Evangelism Saturday morning with the young people.

Several children shared with me how much they have enjoyed the Moodys, and one girl said they actually named their dog “Maple” after the dog in the book . It is such a delight to see the joy in the children’s faces as they talk about the Moody books.

Several girls who enjoy the Moodys.

There were many young families at the conference, and it was wonderful to see all the little ones, and their parents who desired to raise their families for our Lord Jesus. There were also several older couples that came, and the ladies shared with Mom what a blessing the sessions had been.

Keeping Hearts session

Truly, our hearts are very full with how the Lord Jesus has worked on this trip. May He bring lasting fruit.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

Sarah for the rest of the family

We wrapped up our sixth, out of seven, weekend conference, and what a blessing being in Shelby, North Carolina was! As we’ve found so far on our weekend conferences, many families drive from several hours away and stay at local hotels. The family who coordinated the conference came to our Winston-Salem conference two years ago.

This group was the most punctual, receptive group we’ve had so far ! When I peeked into the room before the How to Start and Run Your Own Business session was to start, I was surprised to see several rows of young people ready . Usually there is a light crowd right after lunch, and people filter in as the session is going.

Dad and Mom sharing their hearts

Dad talking with another father after the conference Saturday.

Christopher talking about his harmonicas...

Meals were provided Friday evening, Saturday lunch (Chik-Fil-A!), and Saturday dinner. It is a true blessing for us not to try to go out somewhere or take the time to get something in the bus. Thank you!

Joseph, packing up equipment after the sessions. He does such a good job!

A cute little brother and sister--Anna did a great job capturing this one! (She took quite a few of the pictures for this post.)

This little girl drew a Moody picture .

Anna with a little girl who colored several pictures for our family.

Our hearts are full with what the Lord Jesus continues to do. We have a busy week ahead of us!

Joyfully His,
Sarah for the rest of the family

Magog, Quebec. When a person thinks of the word Magog, it may bring to mind the mention of it in Revelation. Magog, Quebec is a quaint little town nestled among the rolling hills and small mountains in the southern edge of Quebec.

We were going to spend Monday and Tuesday nights at a camp outside of town, and the hosts had graciously arranged for us to stay in a small home there. When we drove in Monday afternoon, it became apparent that Uriah couldn’t turn around, plus trying to get in at night in the dark would be practically impossible with the trees. So, we backed out of the camp (with John directing Dad and several of the family had windows open and were cautiously watching out the sides), and we went to the church. Dad and another father drove around town to find a hotel for us to stay at, while the rest of us unloaded for the conference.

The first night we did our normal Encouragement for the Homeschool Family conference, but then the next evening, we gave our Gospel Bluegrass Concert with an evangelistic emphasis. We weren’t sure what the “Quebecians” would think of bluegrass, but it was obvious they enjoyed it. Dad also preached from God’s Word warnings about the danger of being lukewarm. “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would that thou wert cold or hot“ (Revelations 3:15).

Practicing Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday afternoon we attended an outdoor baptismal service for two young people, who were the children of the conference coordinator. It was a blessing to see their obedience to the Lord: they braved the cold temperatures to proclaim their faith in the Lord Jesus.

Two families there in Quebec graciously provided us with lots of food: from homemade crescent rolls, to breakfast foods, to ice cream, to lunch for today, and much more! Thank you for blessing us.

A basket of donuts with maple syrup that was given to us.

Joseph doing another tune up beforehand.

A group of us girls Tuesday night.

Helping carry out boxes last night.

The fall scenery has been so pretty the last week. There was a pretty maple tree outside of the church in Magog, and Mary and I took some pictures there.

We were calmly driving down the road this afternoon through New Brunswick, enjoying the rolling red hills dotted with yellow, and the streams that trickled through the trees.

Beautiful scenery

When Dad urgently exclaimed, “We’re in trouble!!” and started hitting the brakes. I glanced into the rear view mirrors to see what the problem was and saw smoke poring out back of the bus. Dad told the boys to grab the fire extinguisher as he pulled to the side of the road. I had meanwhile hurried to the back, because Christopher was asleep and I was picturing the whole bus to be in flames in a matter of minutes. As soon as the bus door was open, the boys jumped out with the fire extinguisher and ran to the engine. After ensuring that Christopher was awake, I followed the rest. They had found that there was a big coolant leak, and we lost all of it. The “smoke” was actually steam from the coolant coming in contact with the hot exhaust pipe.

Dad surveyed the damage and soon started to work on repairing the leak. From our collection of tools and supplies he used the following: hose clamps, black tape, and a scrap piece of radiator hose that wasn’t the right size. After Dad taped the hole, he split the hose and used hose clamps to clamp it over the black tape and the hole. Since we didn’t have enough water to put back in the system, Dad sent Christopher to see if he could find some water nearby. Christopher headed across the highway, which wasn’t busy, to the wooded median. He found a large puddle which looked as if it had been apart of a stream at one point. The water looked relatively clear so we filled up as many used anti-freeze bottles as we had. We filled the system and were thankful that Dad’s fix was successful.

Joseph

John--pouring in the water and antifreeze.

John, picking up the cones. See the coolant on the pavement?

Even though the coolant issue wasn’t on our agenda we were grateful for how the Lord blessed.

1.    We had the supplies to patch the hole.
2.    That the highway wasn’t busy.
3.    Beautiful scenery
4.    Water nearby
5.    Cool temperatures

Tomorrow morning as soon as the businesses are open we will start looking for the proper hose to replace the make shift repair.

“But my God shall supply all hour need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phillipians 4:19).

Serving Jesus,
Anna

Another weekend conference is complete, and our hearts are rejoicing in our Lord Jesus. As we drove through downtown Moncton, it was so pretty: old, large stone buildings graced with brilliant red, yellow, and orange colored-maple trees, people briskly walking along the streets, with a mission in mind, stately churches, and quaint restaurants. As we were driving through the city, we think we made a few people a bit nervous as they backed up to allow us room to turn on some narrow streets . It took us a little time to figure out where the best place would be to park Uriah: he requires at least three or four parking spots! Highfield Baptist Church graciously allowed us to have the conference in their facility, which was a blessing. They were in the midst of a remodeling project, but they spent several hours cleaning up an area for our book tables.

The boys are a wonderful help to setting Dad and Mom each conference.

Friday night dinner was provided, and each meal has been such a blessing. We know it isn’t an easy or quick task to prepare dinner for 9 people, and we’re grateful. Our music concert went well, with the addition of Anna’s new demonstration of what a violin sounds like compared to a fiddle.

Saturday goes by very quickly, as we move from session to session. Two moms had lunch ready for us, which was again a blessing. Several families drove from a distance to attend. Christopher talked to a father after the conference who is a street preacher, and they enjoyed discussing evangelism. Packing out seemed to go very smoothly as many people helped us (which was even more of a blessing since there were stairs involved to getting our things out to the bus). Then, our conference coordinator brought pizza to us at the hotel—and we enjoyed hot, fresh pizza for dinner.

Joseph Setting up Sound

Book tables, from a level above.

A family who attended the conference this weekend.

The street preacher and Christopher.

Our conference coordinator was not from Moncton but rather from a city several hours away. She did an incredible job with having all the details in order, welcoming our family, and making sure everything was ready, and we are grateful for the work each coordinator does.

Only for Jesus,
Sarah for the rest

Yesterday (Wednesday) had a little unusual twist. We were going to set out for an afternoon of sightseeing, but one of the tires was low on air, so we needed to find some place to get the air put in the tire. The Lord provided a truck tire center (in the small town we’re at!), and not only were they able to look at the tire, they spent two hours fixing the problem (there was a hole in the tire). On top of that, Dad couldn’t believe how little they charged. We decided to change our plans for the afternoon, and instead went back to the Confederation Bridge, which is a 13 km bridge that connects New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island. We enjoyed our time there, and we’ll be headed out today for the original sight-seeing goal: North Cape.

There is often a camera around .

Joseph and John climbed down a pile of rocks.

Confederation Bridge

Walking back to Uriah after looking at the bridge.

Only for Jesus,
Sarah for the rest

We were about to exit for a quick rest stop, and one of my sisters asked me if she needed her hair fixed (after resting this afternoon). I said that no, it was okay, and anyway, we weren’t going to see anyone we know. Upon coming out of the very busy rest stop, a family hurried after us. Come to find out, this was a family who had e-mailed us a few weeks ago and had invited us to stop by their home in Maine as we passed through. We didn’t have time, so we had had to decline the kind offer. About an hour before our stop, a fifteen-passenger van had passed us, and the parents waved at us, and seemed like they knew us. They took the next rest area, but we didn’t. We were shocked when we both ended up at the same stop about an hour later, and to find this was the family who had invited us to stay at their home! What a blessing to spend a few minutes chatting with the family.

The family who had invited us to stay at their home, and we met at a rest stop!

Sarah for the rest of the family

We are driving through heavy traffic this evening. We are now in Massachusetts, and we just came through a slow down.

It was interesting to watch the "sea" of vehicles part to allow the ambulance to go through.

Thank you for your prayers for our safety. We have had a couple of close calls today, but the Lord has protected, and it’s not even raining right now!

Serving Jesus,
Sarah

Yesterday completed our fourth, out of seven, weekend conference. Each one has its own special characteristics and uniqueness.

We arrived safely in Charlottesville early Friday afternoon. The coordinators provided dinner for us before hand, which was delicious. After Dad opened the evening with prayer, he began with asking how many families had driven over an hour, and about 50% of those there raised their hands. He progressively went up and was at 5 hours, and still two families had driven at least that far.

John with a few helpers.

Sarah and a friend.

Sisters

Watching her little sister during a session.

Saturday morning we planned to arrive at the church around 8, but we found a slight issue with our windshield wipers after we began driving.

Working on the windshield wiper blade.

So we stopped briefly, took care of it, and were on our way. When we came to the church, we were all surprised that it was locked! Our coordinator made a quick trip to someone’s house to pick up the key, and we did a whirlwind 15-minute set up in each of the four rooms .

A mom provided lunch for us, and had it all set up when the lunch break came, and that was a blessing. We can talk as a family for quite awhile after a conference, sharing the different conversations we had with others. Our hearts are overwhelmed by the working of our Lord Jesus in the lives of those attending.

I saw this little girl showing her million-dollar bill tract to the little boy. Christopher gives some tracts out to the children after his Evangelism session, and I enjoy seeing the children walking around with their tracts.

A mommy and her little one

John talking with some people after the conference.

We’re headed north today—we’ll be stopping for the night in Freeport, Maine, which is about a 700 mile drive. We will likely be driving through rain most of the day, although Hurricane Kyle will not directly hit where we’ll be tonight. There will be wind and rain, and the rain adds an interesting dimension to being in the bus, since we have leaks . Dad refers to Uriah as a metal tent. This has become even more real now that it leaks–truly, a metal tent complete with leaks. We’ll be driving to Prince Edward Island tomorrow.

We're starting to see signs of fall, and we're enjoying it. The fog was very pretty this morning as we drove out of Charlottesville.

Only for Jesus,
Sarah for the rest

We were blessed to spend a day on a farm with some friends. It was a restful time, although it did include an exciting “round up” of the cows. The three calves needed vaccinations, so our boys helped their boys herd the cows. Everyone had a good time, that is except for the calves.

The cows are coming soon.

Here they come!

The cows ran the other direction, so the guys were talking amongst themselves about a new plan.

Mary and Anna -- we watched the action from outside the fence!

Making progress!!

Here they come! Finally!

A not so happy cow.

"Run!" Although the cows had gone most of the way up through the chute, they were turning, and when one of the family's sons saw the look on the cows faces, he was prompted to urge the boys to run! Sure enough, the cows soon were trying to make another exit.

Yep, here they come.

Getting the cows back up the chute.

This cute little dog was getting in the way of the cow herding, so Mary held her.

Success! Joseph held this calf while the shot was given.

John and two of their boys.

Three of the family's children.

Playing music together.

This little guy was diligently following along in his Bible during our family Bible time.

What is Anna doing? Dumping a cupful of water out the windows (see below).

We’re very grateful for our new windows, and the amount of air they let in. However, we’ve also found that when the windows were installed, they didn’t seal them well. So, we’re having significant amounts of water inside the bus due to the heavy rain. Some of the children put cups or soda cans underneath the leaks, and then they empty them out as they fill up.

One of the "water catchers."

We’re on to Charlottesville, Virginia for a weekend conference. Thank you for your continued prayers!

Serving Jesus,
Sarah for the rest

After a jam-packed Thursday full of trip preparations (and for some of us early into this morning ), we are happily off for Oklahoma City! Everyone pitched in yesterday for all that needed to be done. Some of the boys worked on the bus, others worked on compiling more Chore books and MOTH books, another WalMart run was made, lots of organizing was done in the bus, many boxes loaded into the bays, and numerous other things.

Mary and Anna compiling books.

There was much work to be done!

Mary helped Dad as his errand girl.

John and Jesse loading the bus.