​We have been in Indiana for the past 10 days.  We are going home tomorrow.  

I say "Home" but as Tommy and John boy have informed me several times on this trip, "Home" is wherever we are!

I contemplated staying "home" this trip, but about 3 days before we were to leave, Tommy said "the person who goes on a journey, has a story to tell."  So I packed  my bag and came!

I'm glad I did.  Yes, it has been a bit inconvenient, but we were together, and that's what counts.  I dreaded it at the beginning, but the time has flown by and I DO have stories to tell.  Lots of stories!

Everywhere we went I prayed for a good audience, and the Lord answered that prayer!  It makes a difference if you have a responsive audience, and so far we have!  Today is our last show, and I am praying the Lord will come through for us once more on this trip.

We have been rehearsing "Hallelujah Chorus" for several weeks now, and performed it at the first place...a church camp that was raising money for the camp.  We actually had two performances at the camp...one at night and the other the next day.  They raised the money and we felt good about our "show".  The Hallelujah Chorus is NOT easy, but we made it through.  The rest of the show also went really well.

Our next show was "Star Queen" our musical about Queen Esther from the Old Testament.  There was a family on the front row...a Daddy and his three children...who had lost the Mother to cancer a few months back.  All through the show they were engaged...even the youngest boy.  He was about 6 years old and even though he had a hard time sitting still, he was "with us" the whole way.  At some point in the show, one of the little girls  got so caught up she muttered "OH NO!" at one of the actions in the play.  Of course the audience loved it!

When a child engages like that, you feel like you "have" them!  When Hamman (the bad guy in the show) comes off the stage to scare the audience, he went straight for the little boy, who curled up next to his Daddy...not sure if Hamman was serious or not.

One of the women in the audience, would barely let Tommy do his thing for booing him!  A very appropriate response, by the way.

We have spent most of the week at The Gathering Place....a huge metal building sitting in the middle of flat Indiana.  Our good friend Joyce owns it, and she opens it up to us to stay in any time we are up here, and we are up here a lot!  She has it decorated for Christmas, and when we aren't performing or working on our script, we have had some restful moments sitting in front of her fire, or talking with her over dinner.  

When the Lord said we would have houses, and lands and family if we followed Him, it has truly come true in our lives.

So, step outside your door, and start collecting stories.  Your life will be fuller and richer for it.  Merry Christmas!

​During December, we go into the schools in Knox County and read The Polar Express.  We take a huge van decorated inside to look like a train car.  We serve hot chocolate, give out silver bells and candy canes, and when the children leave it is "snowing".  

Every year has it's moments.  This year, a "moment" came with the very first group.  Other years we have had the older children.  This year we are focusing on first grade and pre school.   The WONDER is still there!

As the first group stepped into the "train car". one little boy sat on the very first row.  Some children are smiling, some are laughing, some are in awe, and some just look sad.  This little boy looked sad.  

The first thing we do is pass out hot chocolate.  When the little boy got his, he  spilled it in his lap. The "train car" is very cold.  We have a heater but it is still cold.  

He didn't say a word, but the look on his face broke my heart.  I don't cry easily.  Tommy is the cry baby in our family.  However, I immediately found my eyes filling with tears.  It only got worse as Tommy, who was standing right next to him, came to the rescue.  He reassured him that all was well and he would clean him up and get him more hot chocolate.  The little boy sat there, never blinking and barely moving...one arm was kind of floating in the air, like he didn't know what to do with it.  

As I prayed for this precious little boy, I asked the Lord to bless his little life and give him joy and happiness.

On a brighter note,  when we told the kids to use their imagination, one little girl raised her hand and said "I imaginate all the time!"

This Christmas season, I pray that you imaginate all the time and I also pray you don't spill your hot chocolate!  If you do have a spill, just remember a little boy and pray he has a wonderful life.

​We have a boy coming to our Thursday night Bible Study who is currently living in a half way house.  They have moved him several times.   He is back in the second house in which they placed him.  He texted that he would like to come to Bible study and would we pick him up.  He said he was in the first house where he had lived.  Just to be sure though, I had him text me the address.

John boy put the address in the GPS, but Tommy and I remembered where he had lived.  So, we didn't pay any attention to the GPS and went merrily on our way to the first house.  

However, when we got there, it was a totally different address from the one John boy had entered.  We thought we knew better than that machine.

"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."  Psalm 119:105.    The message Bible says "By your words I can see where I am going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path."

How many times have I thought I knew better than God, the direction I should take?  We had words (our GPS talks) and we had light (direction) for our dark path.  Did we take it?  NO.  So we ended up on the other side of the river instead of the place we should have ended up.

BTW, he DID say First House...his mistake.  But he gave the right address...our mistake.