On The Road Again (And grateful for God's Protection!)

Last Thursday we left on the road again. We traveled to Regina the first day and stayed with some good friends, the Durstons, for Thursday night. We always have an awesome time with them! Friday we left for the Thousand Oaks Gospel Camp jamboree. It was a really awesome weekend with really nice weather. There was a really good turnout as well. There were over 1500 people in attendance for most of the weekend. We had a lot of fun hanging out with one of the other family music groups - the Waddington family - from North Dakota. We also got to spend a few hours with our friend, Judy Ford, who came out to spend Saturday at the Jamboree.

We left for Mandan, North Dakota Monday morning. We got held up at the border for almost two hours, which was totally unexpected. The complication was with getting our CD's into the States. But they eventually let us through, thanks to the fact mom is American. :) One of the border inspectors that inspected our van was a Christian and he said he had been praying that we would be able to get through the whole time. That was really encouraging, and it was soo relieving to FINALLY get through. We raced to Mandan for our 7:00 PM concert. We got there at about 6:45. We totally RACED the set-up and were able to do set-up in about 20 minutes.

After the concert (the smallest audience I think we've ever had...only 35 people!), we stayed in the church that night. Oh yeah, we also started having problems with the charging system on our van, but made it to Mandan. After the service, Dad found a GM dealership open until Midnight, and they agreed to look at our van that night. They had to replace our alternator, and were able to get it done by Tuesday morning. When it was ready, we left for Springview, Nebraska to do a concert at the New Hope Community church. The concert that night went really well as the people really seemed to connect with the music. A really neat group of people there. We also had to set up in record time that night, too! The group of believers there really refreshed us in many ways.

After the concert, Dad went out to our van and noticed that one of the hub covers on one of the trailer wheels had been worn off. A closer look showed that the entire bolt and wheel bearing had been totally worn off! Some men from the church helped jack up that side of the trailer. And lo and behold, when they lifted it up, the wheel fell off! Nothing had been holding it on! We were all a bit dumbfounded to say the least. We were SOOO grateful that God had kept the wheel on. There is no explanation for why it stayed on. If the wheel had fallen off while we were on the freeway, the results could have been devastating. It was such a reminder of God's protection and care for us. It can only be explained as a miracle. Praise the Lord!

Another huge blessing is that one of the men from the church was very experienced with fixing that type of thing (he actually builds trailers) and he was able to fix the axle and rebolt the tire on by 10:00 AM the next morning and he didn't charge anything. Such giving people there!

Today (Wednesday, June. 25th) we left Springview, NE and traveled to Ogallala, NE. Tomorrow we will go to Calhan, CO for the GospelGrass festivel for the weekend, and our concert tomorrow night.

I may not be able to do another update for a while. Thanks AGAIN to all of those who are praying! It means so much!

Back Home, Wedding, Birthday, etc. :)

Sorry it's been so long since my last post! Once we got home I got totally wrapped up in everyday life again.

We safely made it home on May. 16th. On the last two days of our trip our van started having issues though. But thankfully we made it home without breaking down. God showed Himself so strong through the whole trip answering all our prayers. The motor has been fixed since then. We had to replace both heads.

Once home we had a lot of yard work to do. :) We prepared and put in the garden and did lots of mowing and such. The younger kids all getting back to their school, etc. I've also had a fair bit of graphic design to catch up on for clients and such.

On June. 6th it was Judah's birthday. He turned 5 yrs. old. He is my little roommate and I love him to pieces. He has one of the sweetest personalities I know of. He has such a sensitive spirit.

Judah with his birthday cake:


This last Saturday (June. 7th) we had the privilege of witnessing my cousin Elizabeth Fehr marry James Heikoop. It was such a blessed wedding with lots of beautiful music. The whole day definitely brought glory to God. There were so many great friends there to catch up with as well. They will be living near Mt. Pleasant, Ont. It will be strange to have cousin Lizzy living on the other side of Canada now. We'll miss her a lot.

The signing of the registry:

Lizzy and James singing at the reception:


Later on this month we will be heading out for a mini to Manitoba for a jamboree and then down to Colorado. We'll be leaving around June. 17th and most likely getting back early July.

Until later!

Josiah