Here, There and Everywhere

One of our five minute rest stops at the Gulf of Mexico. 

Sure sign we are not in Tennessee. :)

You can jump in the water, climb the trees and find crabs under the rocks here.
Love it. One stop shopping!

Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Daddy drove over this bridge in 1980 the night before it collapsed.

Our favorite speaker. :)

Singing and sharing (Starkey Road Baptist Church)

Great showing on Super Tuesday!

Wonderful visit with our Florida family was fueled by 
Bami's fabulous cooking, coffee, tea, singing and catching up! 

Back on the road. Very fun to be in a packed theater. Praise the Lord!

Catching up with more of our sweet Florida family after an AGENDA 2 event.

6 am: Had the beach all to ourselves. 
A local fisherman we visited with said SHARKS near the shore had been eating his fish all week. 
We thought no one was swimming because it was too EARLY!??
 Praise the Lord for His protection! 

Singing and speaking at the Villages.

The dedicated back row. :)

So many sweet folks help us tremendously along the way! We are incredibly thankful for them.

Happy dinner afterwards.

Daddy shared the gospel with Matthew
who was on the prison work crew landscaping next to the playground.  

Lina passed out million dollar bills to the other prisoners,
which they had never seen before and really liked. 

Part of the morning exercise team. Strangers always get a kick out of watching these episodes.

 Huge answer to prayer: very patient and helpful mechanics for the bus! 
They kindly let Charlie work with them on different buses all day long. 

Meanwhile, the rest of us were cozy in the only car available. 
Yep. We fit sort of like sardines.

Some need one. Others need two?! 
Waiting for the bus to get fixed near the beautiful campus at Stetson.

Bowers Bench Brunch, which we try to avoid but sometimes must resort to.
One bench, lots of people, lots of hamburgers and fries. Only the girls protest these situations. :)

Whew. Carolina sweetly keeping us happy and healthy. And cleaning up our crazy kitchen!

One occasion....they sit. :)

Keeping Crosby afloat. 
Christian is a gemstone!

Good news: He also got a haircut shortly after this.

Amazingly we can still roll up two swimmers in one towel!

Early Morning Lego Party. All our neighbors here spoke French.

Charlie and Daddy flew (sprinted) from Orlando to Spokane for a one day conference. 

Meanwhile, we pretended to be tourists 
because after all...what good homeschoolers would pass up Gator Land??!

Our sweet grandparents have seen way too many gators in their lives, but
came to where we were staying and patiently tromped around all day with us.

Crosby calls these FLUFFMINGOES. So we do, too. :)

This is campground God provided while Curtis and Charlie were out of town.  
So thankful for a central location, showers, laundry, and a pool! 
One of the thrills of bus living is washing clothes and people in the same day. :)

Family walk and frisbee. So good to be all together again! 

A truly incredible Southern garden

Our favorite flower blossom. Love and hearts. Sugar and spice.

 Peacocks camped out to see their reflections on the side of the bus.

So grateful for bits of down time here and there.
'Tis possible we love each other more in the open air. :) 

THREE WEEKS DOWN THE ROAD

It's officially been three weeks! Normally at this point we're thinking about home. And baking cozy things. And getting everyone back on a real schedule.

But for this season, we ARE home!

God has been so very good and WE PRAISE HIM! He masterfully orchestrated a very tricky sprint from Boca Raton to Orlando to Spokane to Louisiana to Texas...all in one week. He provided just the mechanic we needed to replace all 8 BATTERIES! He has given us sweet believers to fellowship with (just 10 feet away) at campgrounds. 

He has kept us well!

He has also given many unique opportunities to share the gospel. Some favorites are Charlie's long visit with a homeless man over hamburgers at midnight, the prison work crew landscaping at the playground (Curtis shared the gospel with a very open prisoner named Matthew), and the enormous cake someone gave us that we got to pass out to truckers with "million dollar bills" at the Love's Truck stop. Talk about fun. :)

These windows of fellowship keep us going when the road and our days seem LONG. Parking 65 feet of bus and trailer is a big thing. Finding post offices to ship from and hunting for packages lost on the way to Australia can be a big thing. Hustling 11 sinners out the door every night somewhat gracefully....HA! Big thing. Sometimes finding our shoes in here is a big thing!

But the Lord reminds us so often and so immediately WHY we are doing this. People need truth, they need hope, and mostly they need Him. And to God be the Glory! When we pile out to hug, sing, smile, and just BE THERE, He kindly takes our tiny loaves and fish (yes..we LOVE that story!) and multiplies them in ways we wouldn't even think to ask for.

Thank you for praying! We are so grateful!

Favorites from Week One

Started our adventure in the beautiful Smoky Mountains. 

One of Carolina's most timely signs. She blesses us with these often!

Morning energy burning must happen if we are to live peaceably together. Ha!

 Chapman campaigning. Daddy on a radio interview. Still driving!

 AGENDA shipping along the way.

Praising, praising the Lord for multiplying our little loaves and fishes!!
 Our films are distributed purely grass roots...neighbor to neighbor and friend to friend.
 It is a privilege to be part of what God is doing. 

One of the loads headed for the the post office. Some like us bringing in all our boxes, and some do not.
This one...did not. :)

Lina's art student hard at work.

The bathroom: a great place for school!

The fellas keeping things connected.

Energy burning continued....

Realized we set up the screen at home but never practiced with the sound system!

After bountiful sweat and stress, our friend Bo helped us figure it out!

Before the showing in Winston, NC.

Blessed by amazing girls who even feed us leafy greens on the road!

Never a dull moment in our Rock Tumbler. :)

Moving Out

We often call our bus The Rock Tumbler

and pray the Lord will use all of our bumping into each other
 to smooth out the rough edges. :)

A top source of tumbling when we all pile into this very tight space is STUFF.
Our goal with packing was to SIMPLIFY. EVERYTHING.

SO: 

Some saved their labeled artifacts in abundance for the next 13 generations.
and proceeded to find quiet corners all over the bus to stash them. 

Others thoroughly reduced their whole life to a Ziploc bag. Snack size.
Fits nicely in any drawer? Ha. :)

 Clearly, we are still working on moderation and decision making skills?!

    

 Beginning of AGENDA supplies going into the trailer.

The family closet being shrunk to bus size.

Carver getting a drywall lesson. Had a few too many riots among the cowboys. :) 

Our favorite moving company. All you have to do is feed them meat and they can go for days!

250 lbs of old Idaho farm table heading out the door. Seems like we just moved this in a few months ago?

Moving is really just about brain power. And coffee.

The last few piles, if you can believe it. Adorable errand boys. They find and deliver everything.

Thankful for film orders. God is so good! 

Chap loving that back vac bright and early in the morning!

 Oh yes. Got in the 11 ft screen for some of our showings at the last minute.

2:30 AM and all is well. And packed!
Praise the Lord!

Preparing for Another Adventure

What a blessed, wonderful year in Tennessee we've had! 

God has graciously answered so many prayers 

and given us sweet fellowship in huge doses all along the way. 

We have so loved our time here and the dear friends who 
have made us feel right at home.

Today we are moving out. 

And moving into our bus. For the next 9 months. :)

We praise the Lord for the chance to serve Him
 and work together as a family. 
We praise the Lord that the film is DONE!
     

Thought y'all might like to see some of the changes we made

 to fit our tribe of 11 in here a bit more gracefully. 

Assuming that's possible. Ha!

Carver bravely attacked the purple carpet from 1995. 
It's the same age as our Carolina. :)

Tile went next. No, we did not save it to make Pinterest mosaics!

Incredibly kind friends from church gave us a lesson on 
subfloors after a chiseling party.

Is it obvious who was NOT doing the chiseling??!

Also found a nifty stash of wires to everything we don't use!
Carver masterfully sorted them out 
and got to several that work.

Better, better, better! 

Wahoo! Floor is in! Sofas are in! We have DRAWERS now, too! 
Praise the Lord! More on our lovely packing moments soon...

Happy Fellowship from the Past Few Weeks

Scouting out the woods and weeds of rural TN.

 Whataburger after an AGENDA 2 showing. 11:30 pm...all is well!

Chapman's Cheesecake with sweet friends in Montgomery.

Carver and Dr. Morecraft at the American Village

Our ever lovin' Idaho Cousin Angie came to town! So much fun!

Blessed by these dear friends so often!
On this particular day they drove to Alabama in a snowstorm to pick up Lina, Cass and Charlie.

Our favorite singing family who introduced us to the adventures of bus living.
On tour and on their way through Tennessee.

With Clarence Thomas' wife Ginni. AGENDA fan and likeminded friend.
 Very fun to visit with her in St. Louis.

Wonderful Remembering WWII friends. They make the Bowers seem so calm and quiet!

Amazing family we met at the Creation Museum. Missionaries to Romania.
Huge encouragement to all of us. Loved our time with them.