Arizona Adventures

The LORD did some mighty and amazing things as we were traveling in Arizona this year. Oh, how we thank Him for the wonderful fellowship we had together and with so many of the new people we met on our trip. We were extremely blessed with nice weather, His peace as we played music for Him at all the RV parks we went to, and many traveling mercies. I was taught a lot of things on this trip, including the importance of being organized, working together as a team, joy even in the midst of pressure or trials, communicating with strangers and being a light in word and deed, patience with little ones, especially after a long trip in the car, and also putting myself in the place of the younger children - in the case of driving for 6-9 hours at a time (the little children don't like to read books that whole time, nor do they always just like to listen to an audio tape). I got to think about how they might like to do things WITH me :) and so spend my time investing in their lives as well as doing things I would enjoy on our car trips. Ahh, the LORD is so patient with His children, and even when we are slow to learn, He is right there beside us, encouraging to choose His path, and although it may mean self sacrifice, in the long run, that is what will count in eternity. For my little siblings, I want to be remembered as a sister who spent her time with them, made them feel loved and cared for, and who took the time to listen to what interests them. That was one thing that I thought about on this trip.

The LORD spoke some VERY amazing and strong things to me as well through a very encouraging source. I STRONGLY suggest that you all look into this. Here is a link with free downloads of the seminars/messages we listened to on the way to and from Arizona. Please take the time to check these out as I was encouraged, challenged and inspired by this man who is on fire for God. I learned so many things from Mr. Koning... I will have to listen to them again, but I have to say I was impressed and very encouraged. Please let me know if any of you check into these and let me know your thoughts. This is the address :
http://www.thoughtsonchristianliving.org/audio-index-ok.html

Here are a couple verses that the LORD has blessed me with during my personal devotions that I wanted to share with you.

"And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought..." ~Isaiah 58:11a

"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he life: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" ~John 11:25-26

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. Bu this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." ~John 13:34-35

"These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." ~John 16:33


I am really enjoying reading through John right now. I love the way Jesus shows love to us in each of theses verses. Isn't exciting that we have a future and hope WITH CHRIST???!!! That we who believe in the LORD Jesus Christ will be able to spend ETERNAL LIFE with Christ??? I am feeling very thankful to God for the gift of being His child, and knowing that through whatever comes my way, God is on my side. He will never leave me nor forsake me, and He loves me more than I could ever know. This makes me very excited and very thankful.

I wanted to share some pictures from our trip since we girls did not get to put up any during our trip. Maybe some of you followed our band blog that Mom kept up with. Enjoy the many photos!

Hannah, Dad and I were partners on the way down to Arizona. What a blast we had together - lots of laughs and fun. Special times for sure.
This was one of many truck stops we had to make on our way to Arizona. This was before we got to take off our coats and sweaters! :) Part of the time, Greg drove with Mr. Krell in his pickup to keep him company.
Hannah was fun to travel with. She kept Dad and I laughing :). Peanut also enjoyed Hannah!
Leah loves to play in sand or dirt of any kind. She asked me to take a picture of her. :)
The 4 little ones on a short hike we went on on our way down to Arizona.
This was our first program. We got to visit that church that morning, then we sang and played music that evening for that church. We were blessed there.
Leah, sitting with me as we were waiting to play our first program.
Leah is our snuggle bug. She and Greg look pretty cozy! Emily and Greg , posing for me.

Hannah and me on my birthday. Sisters are such blessings, don't you think?
For my birthday, we got to go to a Chinese restaurant! That was a real blessing, because for one, we never go out to eat! :) Secondly, the restaurant the GPS told us to go to first was no longer running, and so we were searching... the second one it took us to was way too small for our family, the next one was not a buffet (we didn't want to order ONE main thing- we wanted to try various things), and after quite a few minutes of driving around, Dad suggested "The Great Buffet". I said that was fine, but I was a little disappointed we wouldn't be able to try Chinese food. But guess what? As we stepped in the door, we were VERY surprised to find CHINESE!! :)
That was a real treat for me and a blessing. We had a fun evening.
We got to play music for my Mom's Aunt Ruth at her retirement center. We had a nice visit with her afterward.
We were privilidged and extremely blessed to meet this NEAT family, the Balyeat's at Gold Field. We realized soon after meeting them that we MATCHED!!! How fun that was. They "adopted" us and pretended we were a big family (which we are in God's eyes). We got to spend time with them after each of our families played music that day. There was also an extremely generous man who offered to buy EACH of us ice cream cones! -BOTH of our families!! That was very fun.
My family at Gold Field where we played 4 different times.
The little ones loved eating outside. They even had lawn chairs that were just their size.
Greg and Mr. Krell always enjoy "jamming" together. They were practicing a little song before our program.
My beautiful mother!!!! Love you, Mom!!!!
Amanda, playing her BEAUTIFUL classical piece (Amanda is wonderful at bluegrass and all, but her preference is classical, so we included her piece in our program).
This was a grange we played at one night... it was out in the middle of NOWHERE! Honestly, we thought WE lived out in the middle of nowhere. Not any more! :) We were thankful that quite a few arrived considering the location!
There was a time we got to go miniature golfing - the little ones tried it too!
One of the RV parks we played at served us dinner and dessert before we played! What a treat.
One morning, we got to visit some relatives of my Grandpa that live in Arizona part of the year.
Greg, introducing Mr. Krell! :)
We met some really neat people at this place. I had some really encouraging conversations here. We also met brothers that were in their 50's who were identical twins who really enjoyed OUR twins! :) That was fun.
Along with the programs of music and all, we had some time to do family days (as we played our music mostly in the evenings). We got to spend one day at the zoo, and we 8 took a sibling photo together.
On the trial, this is the way it was most of the time - Peanut in someone's arms! :) We girls took turns.
Us 4 oldest children
Best friends!!!
One strange cactus we found along the trail. Look at all the arms. It doesn't look too healthy.
Waiting for the others at the end of the trial (we 4 girls ran part of the way down and so came to the end before the others).

A rest along the way. This was a rock-climbing trail that took some work and poor Peanut got lots of burrs in her fur, so we had to carry her almost the whole way!
On a longer hike we got to go on, Mr. Krell had Sam for his buddy and as we girls waited at the bottom of the trail, here they came, pretending (yet not totally) to be so tired, they couldn't hold up their heads! It was pretty funny.
Dad and Mom with the 4 youngest right before on of our programs.
This is what it looked like almost the whole time Mr. Krell came in our trailer!!! :) Always a child or two on his lap, staring contests, questions, lots of laughing and good times.
Emily, squinting into the Arizona sun sky. Special sister!
God has given me such a special brother. Greg is amazing in so many ways, and I am so thankful for his love to me, for his friendship, for all the talks... I could go on, but I just want to thank the LORD today for my brother, Greg! Are they not blessings, girls?
The twins are best buds. They also share a lot of things - including the same day to lose a tooth! This is the third time that they have lost a tooth on the same day! :) They sure are twins in more ways then one.
We were blessed to be able to take a little "hike" down one of the RV park trails. What a blessing siblings are!!!
Mom and I took a walk one day close to the end of our trip. that was a really good time, talking about many things. We set up her camera to do a timed photo! :) I was very encouraged that day sharing my heart once again with Mom. Aren't Moms amazing?
What a goose! Silly smile, Leah.
Mom had to make a quick dinner for us all before we played our last show at San Pedro.
(it's always interesting working with RV stoves and having to light your burner at times and work with all the other differences than your regular kitchen)
Hannah, making her bed in her top bunk in the back of the trailer.
Sam has such a cheerful smile. This was our last real day in Arizona.
Rebekah is quite the artist. The LORD has given her a special talent (which I really enjoy since I can draw nothing!) :). This is one of her pictures (if you look close).
Emily has a gift of organizing, so before we came home, she worked hard to organize that cupboard! :) Go Emily!

We had to get "last day" pictures of almost every one! :)
Amanda, on the last DAY we were in Arizona for our music.
Before we left for home, we had to get a picture together at the last RV park we stayed at with Mr. Krell. He was going to stay on and do some touring of some parks, take pictures, hike around, etc. But before we went our separate ways, we took a couple pictures together and were sad to say good bye.
The children absolutely ADORED Mr. Krell. He was over several nights a week, and he always had some one wanting to sit on his lap. Mr. Krell was a huge blessing to all of us on our trip and such a wonderful friend to us all. We had to get a picture before we left him.

This was our last day of traveling. One of the first times Amanda and I got to sit side by side :) (we have all sorts of seating arrangements, and all the children love a partner to sit by, so we are always switching seats). Excuse the blurry picture. That was the best we got at that time.

Sam was SO excited to be almost home! He gladly smiled for my camera
There was a little problem - we lost the cover to the outside container that holds one of the main hoses we use for the trailer (we saw it pop off and roll to the side of the road), so before we went any further and we lost the hose, Dad and Greg taped up the container ends along the side of the highway!

I also have to say a great big HUGE thank you to my dear Daddy for all the hours and hours of work, driving, encouragement, directing, leading, ETC. he did for us on this trip along with every day in our family. God has given me an amazing Dad, and I am so thankful for him! Love you, Dad!


Leah was already enjoying playing the day after we arrived. She also still looks dressed for Arizona... there was still snow on the ground! :)

Hannah and the little children were playing "office" the other day - very thankful to have lots of space to use their things! :) It's amazing how much we take for granted - even the space in our homes to move around. We learned to be thankful for that (when in the trailer, you were always squeezing past some one and constantly saying, "Oh, sorry! Excuse me!" ;)
Even Peanut was very happy to be home!

Well, I hope you enjoyed all the photos. We had a blessed time in Arizona and can't wait to see how God can use us in the future.

May the LORD speak to you as you spend time with Him, our Redeemer, our Savior, the God of the universe who wants to be every thing to you.

Blessings to you all,
~Dani