Back to Life, Back to Reality

I have a good excuse for not writing for so long!  Really I do...Okay, I know I always have good excuses.  Perhaps someday I will be a "real" blogger and I'll write every day or several times a week, but alas for now I am what I am (a sporadic, undependable, wanna-be blogger). :)  And I'm okay with that.

Now, back to my excuse. 
We took a vacation!  Woohoo!  That's right - a real, bona fide break from work.  We rested, played, visited with friends, stayed up late, slept in and loved every minute of it.  However, all good things must come to an end and now we are back to reality...kind of. 

We are home for a week spending time with family and doing a little bit of recording.  Our Spring is a little unique this year.  We were in Northern California and Oregon the past several weeks.  Now we're home.  Next week we'll head to Portland for a couple weeks, Yakima for a weekend, then home again.  That will finish up our Spring.  At the end of May we'll head east for our Summer tour and spend most of the summer in eastern Washington and Montana.  That will be our longest tour of the year.

I mentioned earlier that we're doing a bit of recording this week.  We are finally beginning our attempt to record a worship album with my vocals.  It has been nearly four years since I have recorded anything, so I am a little bit nervous.  (to learn more about why I did not record/sing for a few years you can listen to "Sarah's Testimony" on the home page of our ministry website www.onehopeonetruth.org )  I am confident that God will accomplish His will in our lives and if He desires for us to record a worship album, then He will bless our efforts.  Josh and I are pursuing this because we believe it is what God has as a next step for our ministry, but we remain surrendered to whatever He chooses to do or not do in this recording process.  We would greatly appreciate your prayers and will keep you posted on how recording goes.

I am off now to chase around the cousins. :)  I'll write again...eventually ;)

Quick Update and a New Page on My Blog

We are enjoying our time here in "northern" California and can't believe it's almost over.  We'll have one week home at the end of this month and then we have some events in Oregon and Eastern Washington before heading to Montana in the summer.  I can't believe how time is flying.  I feel like it was just Christmas.

 

 

 



Good Friday was a powerful service.  We interspersed Scripture readings leading up to the crucifixion, with worship and Josh's message.  It was a blessing to connect with a new church and spend time reflecting on the power of the cross. 
Sunday morning we celebrated the resurrection at a church we shared at last summer.  It was a blessing to serve with them again.  (Josh even led worship by himself at the small sunrise service, so the boys and I could sleep in ;)

 

(The boys are having Sunday School for with their stuffed animals)

 



Last night, we led worship at a recovery ministry and Josh shared his testimony.  We have done several of these kinds of services and it is always such a gift to be a part of God's work there. - And man oh man do these men and women worship!!!  I am always blown away by the privilege of worshipping with them! -
Last summer we ministered at a different recovery ministry in this same town and a lot of those same people came to see us again last night.  One of those men (who had heard Josh share last summer) approached Josh and told him that the last time Josh shared was the first time this man had ever heard of the concept of allowing Jesus to be Lord (not just Savior)!  God used the message Josh shared to grow this man as well as many others!  What a gift when we hear stories like this!

We will be taking several days off as a family next week and are greatly looking forward to some extended rest and refreshment.  God is so good to allow us that time!

I added another page to my blog.  You can see the tab on the right side of this page.  To check it out click on "Guide Me In Your Truth".

As always, thank you all for your prayer and support!

                                         just for fun:

I am ABSOLUTELY  in love with these trees!!!

Back Home on the Road

I think every time we go "home" to Seattle, we realize how much more "at home" we are on the road.  Several times when we were back my boys expressed their eagerness to get back on the road and back to their home - the trailer.  We left our trailer in California for this short trip and we stayed with friends and family.  It was such a gift to have people so willingly open their homes to us, but it also left us all feeling a little unsettled.  We have become travelers at heart for sure, but we all still like to have a place to land and our own beds to sleep in.  We are praying earnestly that God would give us a home in Seattle, where we can "rest" and "settle" when we're back visiting and doing local ministry events.

Our time back was very full!  We left with our hearts and truck overflowing! ;)  Caden turned 9 a few weeks ago and we were able to celebrate his birthday with family and friends.  We ministered in a few new churches and were able to reconnect with some friends from our home church.  Noah attended AWANA twice with his cousin at her AWANA club and then both boys went once at our home church.  Josh spent time with our pastor and I was able to spend precious time with friends and family, including a special date with my niece and a day out with my Mama!  In addition, we ran many local errands, including everything from wedding ring repair to dental fillings and stitches removal! :)

Helping Auntie with yard work.                Beware of these crazy ninjas!

 

 

 

      

                   One of my beautiful sisters           Josh putting his carpentry skills to work.

                          - I have two more :) -

 

We are back in California now.  The sun is shining and we are settled in our little home.  We drove 9 hours on Friday.  Then we drove another 4 on Saturday to pick up our trailer.  Our RV park was about 45 minutes from where our friends were "trailer sitting", so we were able to get the trailer parked and situated by early evening on Saturday.  I then went to the grocery store while the boy's recuperated.  Sunday we had an hour and a half drive to our morning church service, then a short break before our evening service at another church.  Despite our great fatigue, both services were wonderful and we returned to our trailer Sunday night in awe once again of God's powerful hand and his amazing graciousness at including us in His work. 

 



This week we are playing catch up at home and ministry management projects (i.e., flyers, press releases, RV park booking, bookkeeping maintenance, etc...)  We look forward to ministering at a Good Friday worship service on Friday and then leading worship on Easter.

I'll write here again soon.  But in the meantime, be sure to visit my Praise and Prayer page, which I updated today. I'll also be adding a new page to this site soon so keep your eye out for that.