From Up Where The Air is Thin and Cold

We have wandered a little deeper into the Wild West. :)  We are 5500 feet up in Butte, MT.  We were here this time last year and there was snow.  It was about 28 degrees this morning, but no snow yet!  Praise the Lord!  Montana autumn is so funny.  There was frost on the truck this morning when we got up, but it is nearly 70 degrees now.  The sun is shining and it's beautiful. 

Butte is probably the most fascinating city we've been too.  They call it the richest hill in the world.  It was a major mining town and extremely wealthy during the copper boom but eventually the population plummeted.  Now you can tour the mines and see tons of big beautiful historical mansions and buildings, but the city is small and financially struggling.  We look forward to doing some sight seeing tomorrow - another "field trip" day! :)

Our week in Bozeman was busy catching up on homework and booking.  We did have the blessing of visiting with a couple friends and enjoyed the gorgeous weather and scenery!

 I couldn't resist stopping my run earlier this week to take a few pictures!

I took this when I was out running errands one evening.  I love the sun just barely still visible on the tops of the mountains!

 

Yesterday we drove to Butte and then had a home concert outside of town.  It was a very intimate group with meaningful conversation and a rich time of worship!  What a gift to be consistently meeting new brothers and sisters in Christ and partnering with them in ministry!  I was especially blessed by my conversation with one of the women after the concert.  She shared with me the story of how God led her and her husband to move their family at a time and to a place that they never would have expected and about how He has faithfully and graciously confirmed that decision and blessed their obedience.  It is so awesome to her stories of God's work in other's lives! 

I took this from the care window on our drive from Bozeman to Butte.

This is the view from the "upper room" where we did the house concert -

this picture does not do it justice!

 

Today we had two services.  Both were at new churches and went really well.  God continues to grow our circle of partnering churches, which is so exciting!

 

Tomorrow is our day off and we look forward to exploring Butte and relaxing together as a family.  This week we travel Wednesday, have a concert Wed. night, then travel again Thursday and have events Saturday night, Sunday morning and Sunday evening.  It will be a long week and we'd appreciate prayers for strength, energy and traveling mercies.  Thanks!  

(I also updated the praise and prayer request page today :)

a little too long for a facebook post

This morning I found myself overwhelmed by some specific blessings in my life and I thought about doing a quick facebook post, but as the blessings added up I decided it would be a little too long for facebook.

I am grateful for my two sweet boys and their individual sleeping habits.  They make me smile!  Caden has NEVER needed much sleep.  He wakes up before the sun comes up and hides under his blanket reading with a flashlight.

Due to Caden's lack of needed sleep, there was probably never a baby who's sleep was more prayed over before birth than Noah.  Those prayers were heard and answered generously.  The rest of us can be up and moving with the sun shining bright and Noah stays curled in his sheet sleeping soundly! :)

I also found myself this morning so grateful for the privilege of homeschooling.  I am thankful that I can adjust my schedule and curriculum according to the needs of my children and I am so blessed to be able to incorporate and prioritize character development in our curriculum. 

I love my cozy little trailer, my loving husband, and this great adventure God has called us on.

My cup runneth over!

Bozeman and a Birthday

Okay folks, we are settled in Bozeman.  And with two laptops and good wi-fi, we are working diligently to catch up on....everything! :)  Josh spent the day sending emails & flyers and making phone calls while I homeschooled the kiddos, booked RV parks, and scheduled doctor/dentist appointments for when we go back "home".  It was great to have a super productive day!

Last week we ended our time in Billings with a few more concerts and some time with family and friends.  Saturday we drove to Bozeman, set up "camp" and then had a concert at a church a little way out of town.  It was a blessed event and the boy's had friends to run around with afterward so that was a special treat for them (especially after spending all day in the car).  Sunday morning we ministered at a church we did an outreach with last summer.  It was a gift to partner with the leadership of that church again and worship with the church body!  Sunday evening we were blessed to have the opportunity to visit with some friends here in Bozeman.  We were not expecting to get a chance to see them this time we were in town, so that was a fun surprise!

 The church we went to Saturday night was in a remodeled theater.  The building was beautiful!

 



Sunday Morning

 



Yesterday was my sweet hubby's birthday!  We spent the day relaxing as a family and that was a gift!  After such an insane three weeks in Billings, it was wonderful to have time to have fun just the four of us.  Below are some pictures of our fun at the Museum of the Rockies.

 

 

 

The rest of this week will be spent with typical "every day" stuff - booking, practice, homeschooling, etc...  Saturday morning we'll head to Butte for the weekend.  We are grateful for God's blessings on our travels so far and are praying that the snow holds off for a few more weeks! :)