Monthly Archives: July 2010

Recent Adventures: WY and CO

Posted by —

0

We left Billings on July 15th and began our life on the road. As we journeyed south we spent some time in Yellowstone and Grand Teton Nat’l Park; both were packed with people and we actually heard these words as we scrambled for a campsite, “you have the absolute last spot in the entire park.” Not bad…Unless you were in the car behind us. Then we drove across the very exciting middle of Wyoming. We met up with David’s cousin and his family at Alcova Reservoir, which was a blast. We found the most perfect campsite overlooking the lake and spent a few nights there.

Even though we haven’t had the most calculated plans (not hard to imagine if you know David and I), we have ended up in the most beautiful places! We feel like God is guiding us to His favorite spots and giving us precious moments to enjoy in them.

Our next stop was about building relationships as we pulled into Douglas, WY for a night to visit David’s mom’s side of the family. They were happy to host us and we knew that it was time well spent to invest in those relationships. David’s grandmother was so excited to take us to her church and show off her grandson to all her church friends and tell them about what we are doing. A very special conversation I had with Grandma Doris was enough to make this whole trip worth our while.

Then it was on to Fort Collins, CO, a very cool town full of my mom’s family and some of my closest friends. We have been here for a week and plan to be here for one more. We have spent quality time with lots of people we love and we’ve taken this time to work on following up with people in the next few stops on our route. We’re seeing more doors start to open so we are encouraged. Also it’s been a good amount of time to recover since David had his yearly back-throwing-out. He’s on the mend and feeling much better today.

Yesterday was my first official opportunity to share my music in a church since we left MT two weeks ago. I shared at First Presbyterian in Fort Collins. The people there were so kind and excited to hear my songs. We spoke to many afterwards who were touched and went home with my CD to hopefully get SUPER blessed by it. Also, just as we suspected, opportunities for more are presenting themselves as we move forward with the small steps of obedience we have in front of us.

We feel so blessed that this is how we get to spend the first year of our marriage! And it’s not just adventure for adventure’s sake… we truly feel guided by God and entrusted with a ministry!

That is the quick update on the last week or two. Our plan after Fort Collins is to head down through CO, stopping in a few spots along the way and end up in Santa Fe in the second week of August to celebrate with some friends as they get married. Then we’ll head through Arizona on our way to San Diego and then eventually up the coast. I’ll post when I have concrete dates for shows in those areas!

Letting go of OUR plan, saying yes to HIS

Posted by —

1

Blogging seems to have taken a backseat to huge life events, hence the 2 months of silence from me. May was the month of finishing my CD and almost-the-wedding plans. June was completely full of family arriving in Montana to celebrate, a glorious wedding weekend, and a beautiful honeymoon on Maui. July already seems to be flying by as we are back in Montana for a short time to get ready to move in to “our” camper and head out to the open road! My real reason for not writing so far is that I really have no idea how to sum up all that has taken place, how to express the richness of these last couple months as God has brought so many dreams to pass. Should I just carry on and start writing about the next thing? Or should I attempt to share it all with you so that you know what’s been going on in my world?

Well, I suppose I could attempt to sum it up.

It’s all about relationships.

That is the theme of every story in the past weeks and months. Yes, there were some important events… but even in the ways that those events unfolded it was clear that God was clearing space for relationships to grow and deepen. Take our wedding for example: We had planned a beautiful outdoor event in the forest with a reception in the backyard of some family, with me thinking, “it’s June… the weather will be perfect.” Ha! The morning before the wedding day, a layer of snow covered the ground that needed to be very dry in order for things to go according to OUR plan. So that Friday morning plan B kicked into full gear. The only thing was, plan B wasn’t exactly planned besides the church where it was going to take place. As my plans came crumbling down, I watched as the friends and family that surrounded us rolled up their sleeves and dove in to make this wedding happen. And not just happen, but it was more beautiful than I could have hoped, because it had been built on the love and hard work of people who David and I have deep relationship with. As we stood in that room surrounded by people that love us, I felt so cared for and carried by them… much more than if they had just been guests at a perfectly planned event.

This theme of relationship continued into our honeymoon on Maui, the small island packed to the gills with people who have known me since childhood. In the plane on our way over the Pacific, I coached myself in saying “No” to people who wanted to spend time with us, since afterall, this was OUR honeymoon. But as soon as we arrived I felt my attitude beginning to shift. I was realizing that Maui isn’t just a beautiful place that i wanted to show David, it is an island of people that I wanted to show David. We talked about it and decided to throw ourselves into the lives of people that are incredibly invested in me and my family, and now, into David’s life as well. We spent such sweet time with precious people in those 2 weeks and not once did we feel overextended or like we didn’t have enough time for each other. And we were over-the-top blessed by them as they poured out on us with generosity and support of our new direction to share my music on the road. The blessing of God was unleashed as we said yes to HIS plan, which as always, was people.

And we feel that this has all be preparation for the next step which again will be about investing in and nourishing relationships we have across the country. Our entire route for our tour has been planned based on where we have a friend or family member who wants to host us and believes in my music.

So feeling very refreshed (and very tan) we are getting ready to head out this week! We will be making our way through Wyoming, visiting some family of David’s, and then on to Fort Collins, Colorado, where we’ll be spending some time with my family and I’ll be sharing music on a few occasions as well. (If you live in either of those places and have an idea of a way for me to share my music in your community, please let me know so we can make the most of every opportunity!)

This blog will be where I make frequent updates on our travels and share stories from the road, so stay tuned!

If you are reading this, it is quite likely that you are one of those people that we have the blessing of relationship with…. Thank you! We love you!