Daily Lessons

This morning, I was just marveling at the goodness of our God and His faithfulness to teach me His ways. I am excited about this journey He is taking our family on.

Well, since I didn't have access to photos before, I want to add a few here of before we left and our journey since then...

We got to practice in a community center building before we left for Arizona. We went over intros, solos, the whole 2 hour program, which actually went quite smoothly! Praise God!

This was our joyful audience. It was fun to see their enthusiasm, because they enjoyed dancing around the room during part of the time!

I so enjoyed playing together - what a special time to draw together and work on a common goal!

The guys always add a special humor to the atmosphere! This is during Mr. Krell's solo.

Amanda is so good at taking care of details and making sure we will all be fed for meals in advance.

It was sad to leave our animals - Shredder knew days in advance that something strange was going on, probably when Dad pulled the trailer up to the house and we started going in and out with loads of stuff. He sat and watched us leave - this is especially hard for our animal lover, Bekah.

Fab and Manda were car buddies a lot of the time. When Greg offered to drive though, I squeezed in the middle - in a van packed with food, instruments, and living equipment for 4 weeks, squeezed is a pretty good description! :)

Mr. Krell's heat went out during the drive through Utah and Nevada which are quite cold, so the guys (Greg and Mr. Krell were driving partners a lot of the trip down) bundled up in coats and blankets to keep warm.

Em was ready to go!

Our time in Arizona has already held many blessings. I have been able to practice what I read in my time with Him in the mornings. Simply ask for growth :) and the LORD is faithful to respond and teach us. On the day we traveled from Kingman down here to Salome, the LORD had some new adventures for us which we did not expect. That's what makes them adventures, right?

I am so thankful for parents who keep us together, who are full of love and encouragements the whole trip through.

Fab has come along as not only an "adopted sister", but a Spanish tutor, friend, confidant, child entertainer/watcher, helper, and blessing!! We are SO grateful to the LORD for allowing us this incredible time with our dear sister!! Here, Hannah and Fab are working on Spanish greetings! Hannah has come very far already and has a notebook with many words she is daily practicing.

Special sisters - I am so grateful for the time to pour out our hearts and talk about deep issues and what the LORD is teaching us. That is how our relationships have grown and blossomed. Praise God for the gift of communication and relationships.

We took a trip to Walmart, which was entertaining! We had 3 different carts to push and somehow with all the sound equipment, instruments and things in the car, we fit all the groceries too! :) The guys graciously posed for me, even though I realize a camera is no their favorite thing to see!

So, as we were headed down the road, we stopped at a truck stop to fuel up. This turned into about a 3 hour stop, because we headed to Walmart while Dad took care of the truck... which ended up in the mechanics to fix a U-joint which is pretty important. We were so thankful we did not have to play a program that evening, so we relaxed and hung out at the truck stop as we waited for Dad to return. Mom read aloud to us in the folded trailer, we played a few games of "Blink" and enjoyed each other as we waited for the fix. Praise God for a close mechanic who was skilled and had the parts close that we needed.

THEN... as we headed down the road AGAIN, only 15 minutes into our journey, Mr. Krell's back right tire blew out and we had to pull over right away. A NEW adventure. We were definitely praising God it was a rear right tire and our guys were easily able to change this tire within 30 minutes or less. The rest of us watched, learned and some others explored the rocks!

Skilled in so many ways - they were a very capable team to change these tires. We were ALSO praising God that the lug nuts were loosened from last year when the same thing happened on the rear left tire. :)

 I was so blessed, because the LORD gave me this opportunity to reflect on what I was reading that morning in His Word:

" Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" ~Ephesians 5:20

"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." ~Colossians 3:17

"Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah." ~Psalm 62:8

Isn't it incredible how the LORD shows Himself faithful to His Word? When we are in trouble He is there to call out to and He delivers us with His mighty hand. We were on the road again, safely and thankfully.

Look at this tire! Praise God for protection and all the tools necessary for a quick fix.

Happily playing outside after refreshing showers.

Mama ran to the grocery for a few necessary items.

The girls enjoyed the fresh air after being cooped up in the car for 4 days!

Peanut enjoyed new smells and new places to explore.

Greg asked that we not bring "unnecessary" items on the trip which just clutter up the trailer. So I decided from day 1 that this hand project would not be and "unnecessary item". :) I was pleased to finish it BEFORE we arrived in Arizona. Project 1... Check (Greg gave us a limit of 3 projects to bring!) :)

It was so fun - Fab had her birthday on the road with us, so we celebrated with a hike up a precipice overlooking the big park we're staying at and had a picnic lunch.

The girls table

Then we went on a CUTE hike - usually I wouldn't call a hike cute, but on THIS trail, we got to see TONS of hidden stuffed animals, rock pictures on rocks, and little treasures here and there. It was a constant game of "eye spy" almost! :)

 After our hike, we all enjoyed a quiet afternoon until we had to prepare for our program that evening!

Trip to the showers!!

Our faithful friend is always doing something fun with the little ones!! Fab and I had fun braiding the little girls' hair for the evening.

Mama was ready!

 Before we headed to the building, we had a time of family prayer and committing our time to the LORD that He would be glorified through the music. I pray this was true.

Since this is a new park to us, we decided to wear our old outfits because we didn't know for sure that we would have time to wash our clothes before the next program. :) I'm excited about the new outfits though... Pictures coming soon.

Hannah's joy and servant's heart are such a joy and blessing to our family!

We had a special family day yesterday and Greg was given this funny shirt - I'm surprised he wore it all day! :)

 This morning, I was challenged in the Word to look at 1 Corinthians 13, and although it is a very familiar passage, I wanted to look at it with new eyes and a willingness to learn something new. This might be very obvious to you all, but I was challenged by realizing that if I am helping out with hair, doing dishes, spending time with my siblings, helping clean, playing music and serving my family... but it is not done out the the motivation of love for my Savior and for those around me, it is worth NOTHING!! This might sound easy or even simple, but truly when we look at our motivations of why we do what we are doing, it makes me think - did I do this for me or for the LORD? I want all I do to be for the glory of the LORD and out of a true servant's heart and I was challenged and asked that today my actions would spring from a love for the LORD and others that my actions would not be in vain. This caused me to just seek the LORD for a renewed desire to check all my motivations.

"1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." ~1 Corinthians 13:1-3

 

 Thank you all for your prayers and faithfulness in thinking of us! We miss you all!

Until next time,
Blessings,
~Dani

P.S. I'm sorry for such a long blog post. I know every time I do a post, it turns into pages long almost, but it's hard when you can only post a day or two a week - so much goes on in such a short amount of time! :) Thanks for bearing with me...