Monday, September 19, 2016

First Week of September!

 15th Annual "Turning Hearts Celebration" at our friends' beautiful farm in Iowa!
 Crosby. Tractor driver. Yes! :)
Sweet attentive audience listened to Daddy talk on business and working together as a family.
We did a mini-concert (humbling...as these sweet farm friends are serious musicians!!) ate too much ice cream, met folks from all over, played football and so enjoyed a happy day of fellowship.
Can't you just picture all that? But wait!
We have 3 family phones and 3 family cameras. We took 3 pictures. Total.
Let the wailing commence. :) 
Totally packed week of events in KS, MO, AR, OK....and then back to IA. 
Love opportunities to show AGENDA in old theaters! This one was in Wichita, Kansas.
Downtown Wichita was full of street people with minds completely 
wrecked by drugs. We gave this man a tract after our event and 
he tried to steal (!) the maple syrup we were bringing our host.
Thankful for Charlie and his commanding presence. :)
He is incredibly gifted with homeless folks.
Three cheers for laundromats! 
Our lavender scented trash bags have been hauled into questionable neighborhoods across the land.
One of these days that bus is going to roll down the highway with a Bowers brother on top!!
Weeknight Bible Study in Kansas City.
Crosby generally gets the brother hand-me-downs in the boot department. 
Since little pink boots are an only an option for so long, 
we stopped at Kleinshmidt's to track some down with Daddy!
Charlie was very happy to meet this truck driver who was training for deer season 
and let him test his bow!
Happy little gathering of patriots and popcorn in Mansfield, OH.
Ended up in a major flash flood. We were extremely thankful the Lord kept the 
water out of the generator and got us out of town!
All lined up for polishing on Sunday morning. We ditched real shoes a long time ago but have 
gone through more jeans and boots than ever before on this trip!
Daddy preaching on Nehemiah "Rebuilding the Wall." We love this talk.
 Crosby's favorite bodyguard and her favorite new dress from a sweet little friend.
Sometimes we all just crash! Additional nappers elsewhere. :)
Carver squeezed in a hunting lesson on our way out of IA.
Late night pow-wow in our Wal-Mart parking spot and reminder to Carolina and Mama: 
"Pray with your eyes closed but not while crossing the Walmart parking lot at 9 am!" 
The Lord was good to protect our most distracted that day!
Oh my, my. Clearly we are WAY too at home in this well utilized mechanic shop!
Very special afternoon with great Aunt Mary in Lafayette, IN. 
She is Poppy's big sister, and at almost 97, she is young and sharp as ever! 
We sang for her church service and were so very blessed by "Great is Thy Faithfulness" 
and several other songs we all got to sing together.    
Homeschool headquarters for MO had amazing tables of free materials. 
Somebody hauled this to the bus where Charlie decided to...hmmm....balance his busy life? Ha! What a hoot.
Happy stop at our favorite farm in TN, and one of many creatures collected by the littles.
Yes. That frog is on someone's finger! :)
Adventure hiking!
So lovely! 
So thankful for these days and weeks full of the Lord's goodness and grace.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Noah Conference & The Ark Encounter

For several years now we've been looking forward to visiting the life size replica of the ARK!
Absolutely MASSIVE! So neat to see it in person!
What an amazing tool to share the Gospel!
Ran into sweet families we know from 
TN, FL, KY, OH, OK, MN,WA, IA, CO, NC, AL, GA, SC, and TX! 
Many of these have graciously opened their homes to us 
or hosted AGENDA meetings this past year. God is so good! 
Incredible what it would have taken to feed and water all those creatures!
Original Torah Scroll. One of many displays inside the ARK.
After an amazing visit to the ARK, the Noah Conference began.
One of many inspiring keynotes on discipleship and purposeful living.
Very FUN concert by the Stockdale Family Band!
Singing one of our favorites:"At Calvary".
Way too much fun stuff happening on the back row. :)
The one and only picture we have of Carolina's lovely little snack table a day or so after
hundreds of customers helped themselves!
 This was her latest entrepreneurial venture. :)
Singing together is one of our biggest tests. We are a family of chiefs... which is handy for battles but not for songs! The Lord is good and still gives us happy chances to do this together.  
Great visit with this Canadian missionary family about their ministry in Mexico.
Gathered several families for a bus style lunch (always Mexican something!) in KY.
Crosby with her newest little friend at the Creation Museum. :)
Legendary 2 hour ziplines at the Creation Museum!
Yes, Carver... boots are handy for moments like this, too. :)
For lack of brilliant thoughts: Christian working on his flower and insect photography. Ha!
The problem with being short. Thankfully nobody went over!
Followed up our time in Columbus, OH getting the bus fixed (a rather frequent occurrence!) with a weekend at our friends' home in TN. They graciously let us move in while they were out of town. We went in to do laundry and remembered what FUN an oven is!!! Cassidy invited some folks to dinner and Viola! We had YUMMY things and happy fellowship! 
Playing in the creek.
Risking life and limb is just so exciting!
Finally enough space and quiet for Daddy to get through his pile of taxes!
Due to a malfunctioning alternator, we ended up staying with our faithful friends who care for us often when we come to town. Beds for 11 were set up in about 5 minutes flat.
Truly amazing. Truly Southern. :)
When we pass out the next round of almonds and raisins, we'll remind the boys that YES!
You had a real breakfast this year!!
"Toothless in Tennessee" should be a song! :) Campbell lost his via the elbow of a very ambitious friend, and Chapman's came out via the fist of a slightly older brother who shall remain unnamed. They offered to knock out Crosby's so she would match them. YIKES.
The shipping department has a mobile location: Charlie's bed. :) Thankful to the Lord for the Post Offices He provides everywhere and for the wonderful people helping us spread the word!