Desert Happenings

(I started this days ago and now we are home safe and sound. There are lots of pictures to share and adventures to write out, so slowly we will try to catch everyone up on our blog here. Thank you for any faithful readers who still check our blog!:)

 Each day has been full and showered with many blessings. It is hard to keep up and write about them all, but here are a few highlights I would like to share.

One of my favorite songs that Emily has sung on this trip has really spoken to my heart, and I have to share the words with you. I'll post the words under each picture - but to hear Emily sing it brings conviction and chills. It's called "A Living Prayer".

In this world I walk alone with no place to call my home

Somehow we convinced Fab to join us on stage to play the shakers to one of our songs, which was a great delight and kept Amanda and I laughing. When Amanda and I start laughing, we can not look at each other if we are trying to stop. On stage was one of those moments! :) Good memories.

But there's one who holds my hand

A friend we met 3 years ago was at Rincon East to welcome us and to bless our family!

The rugged road through barren lands

The way is dark, the road is steep

Daddy always made the sound work so well for us on stage and enjoyable for the listeners. Thank you Dad, for all your hard work! Each building holds a new challenge, whether the shape is odd, the ceiling is low, the room is echo-y or whatever.

But He's become my eyes to see

The strength to climb, my griefs to bear

Em was SO excited to feel the green grass under her feet. In the desert, you RARELY ever see grass or really anything so green anywhere.

The Savior lives inside me there

Hannah is our faithful CD table girl - she does a great job interacting with the people! Bekah was helping her set up.

In your love I find release

A haven from my unbelief

Bekah and Fab were enjoying making jewelry with Hannah. Lots of designs and creativity came out of these beading "parties" :).

Take my life and let me be

The twins did so well on their piano piece. They are playing a duet, "The Circus is Coming" and after one round, they both get up and switch spots and play the same thing! There were times it didn't all come together smoothly, but I was proud of them for continuing on and still smiling! Great job, Sam and Beck!

A living prayer my God to thee

The LORD also has been speaking to my heart on this trip, reminding me that prayer is essential to living a victorious life! When two or more are gathered, I have seen the power of answered prayer, but also just of binding hearts together and iron sharpening iron. I have been starting out my day with prayer aloud with my sister on our runs, and when we pour out our hearts before the LORD, this strengthens us with His power, with new resolve for the day

In these trials of life I find

Another voice inside my mind

He comforts me and bids me live

One of the great blessings to me on this trip was our time to sing together as a family, whether it be in the car or in the trailer, besides on stage! We truly missed our piano and morning hymns with one of the girls leading us with their incredible sight reading skills, but we worked on and I think improved some of our a cappella!

Inside the love the Father gives

These dear faithful friends have come to listen to us for several years, blessing our family with meals out, love and friendship. They came to 3 or 4 of our programs this year! What a great time we had with them. God has put so many special people in our lives - we are SO grateful.

In your love I find release

A haven from my unbelief

Take my life and let me be

Miss Hannah has some very special cheerleaders who have come to our programs 3 or 4 years in a row now too - during her solos, you will hear from the audience, "Go Hannah! Go Hannah!". These are some special friends to our family.

A living prayer my God to thee

take my life and let me be

 Now, each program holds its own challenges and hardships for sure. At his RV park, Amanda's violin bridge decided to snap in the MIDDLE of a fiddle song. It was a surprise and a little disturbing. We had to think quick and figure out what songs we could play that didn't require 3 fiddles. The LORD gave wisdom and we got through the program (even with instruments who do NOT like the dry hot desert and thus get easily out of tune AND Greg breaking another string). There was a purpose in it all and one of the OTHER big lessons the LORD continues to teach me is to give thanks in ALL things. Even if we can't understand WHY or how this would help us, we are to thank Him for His wisdom in each circumstance He allows for our refinement and our purification.

A living prayer my God to thee

A beautiful moon-rising before our program one evening!

THIS is Picacho Peak... it's a lot bigger than any photo can portray.

The whole family came along for an invigorating hike!

The little ones did SO well on the trail. They were always on the look out for a new beautiful rock or snail shells we found EVERYWHERE!

This crew plus Mom, Greg and our 5 other RV park friends went PAST the Saddle up to the peak! What a hike it was - we've never climbed so high nor in such a treacherous style :), but it was definitely a special adventure. Mom put more pictures on the family blog as I was not able to bring my big camera to the peak because I needed both hands to climb and couldn't have it hanging from my neck. :( Sadly I missed the view from the top to record with my camera, but Em and Mom brought theirs along and we got some beautiful shots.

Another very special part to our trip in Arizona on one of our "off" days was a dear man who befriended us years ago set up for all 12 of us to go ATVing! What an adventure it was! What was intended to be a couple hour treck into the desert turned out to be 6 hours of dusty, delightful driving through the dry desert at some top speeds (depending on who was driving!!! Hehe). We were all so blessed by these sweet people who willingly shared their vehicles with us and all the way down to HANNAH got to drive a vehicle! :) What a delightful day.

This was the sweet man who set everything up for us. He went to a lot of work to make a special memory and give us a huge highlight to our time at Saddle Mountain! He was my driver (and passenger as he GENEROUSLY let me drive a good portion of the way.) There was SO much laughing and just a wonderful time we had!

What a special memory!

The LORD taught me a neat lesson this day. For my birthday, I received a special Leatherman tool which I started to carry everywhere (you never know when you will run into an unexpected cactus, which proved true MANY times on our trip! It was actually very handy). I brought it along on this trip and it fared well all the way down the mountain. We were on our way back to the RV park and rode in the back of our guide's pickup the mile or two back, and as I was out walking with my little sisters, I noticed my Leatherman was gone. I started searching and searching. It was nowhere to be seen. I started praying, thought maybe it fell off in the truck because I KNOW it was on me in the truck because I felt it. So I went back up to our friend's house to check in the vehicle. He and his wife were helping me, and couldn't find it. As we talked, our guide went to his garage and pulled out one of his own Leatherman tools and GAVE it to me. I wanted to refuse because I didn't want to take it from him, but he insisted. Wow - what a blessing. I still was curious as to what had happened to my own Leatherman though. We took a trip to the places I had walked and stopped, and my whole family was helping. It was gone. I have to say I was very disappointed, because it was pretty special to me. But I decided that if the LORD didn't want me to have it, He could use it elsewhere, possibly for someone else. I remembered that morning I was just giving over my possessions to the LORD: my camera, my knife, my books, my health, my family, my life... and so the LORD decided to test that I guess. I was tested. :) But I decided to surrender and give that to Him... and let me tell you, it was AFTER we had looked everywhere and AFTER I surrendered and gave it to my LORD that He told me ONE more spot I hadn't looked: in the van (where I didn't ride home). I had grabbed my camera which was put in there after we got home and as I leaned over the seat to grab it, it slipped off my skirt and fell into a box. There it was. I was rejoicing and praising God. Now it might seem small to you, but I believe God doesn't care about the size of our troubles or worries, He cares about them all and often times it when we are willing to give them up to Him that He doubly blesses us. That's what happened to me. I went back up to our new friend's home to return HIS Leatherman, but as I handed it back, he said, "the thing about gifts is that you can't give them back!". So I now have two tools that are actually different. God is so good and He delights in showing us some of His mysterious ways.

May the LORD bless you as you seek His face, as you search His Word and learn His ways for you. I want to continually be open to hearing how He would have me change and what He is speaking to me through the smallest of circumstances.

Because of Christ,
~Dani

P.S. More pictures and stories to come in the following days (hopefully not weeks, but you never know around here! :)